#[ hope mikaelson // cursedbcrn ]

[foundationsbuilt]

Hope Mikaelson ( @cursedbcrn​ ) said ‘  i’ll pay you money if you sit still.  ’ 

Shifting a glance over at her,  without having missed a beat in his response,  he deliberately notches up the arrogance in his smirk.  ❝ I’ll pay you money if you crack a smile. ❞

[savagevillain]

❛ If there is anything worth dying for, this is it. ❜

Shaking his head, almost unconsciously, Klaus finds himself unable to voice what seems so obvious to him. There is nothing — absolutely nothing — in this world that is worth her death. There are a few things he might hesitate to sacrifice ( his siblings being one of them ) but nothing would be worth her death. ❛ You owe nothing, least of your death. ❜  Something sharp is lodged somewhere in his depths, preventing him from speaking all he knows needs to be explained. For all his Shakespearan rants, words fail him when he needs them most.

[fightforbetter]

Hope Mikaelson ( @cursedbcrn ) said ❛ Sometimes the world turns good people into bad people. ❜ 

That was unfortunately true. It happened more often than not, in their world. When faced with cruelty and terror and the destruction that comes from their naturally violent natures, goodness was not something that one could easily hold onto.

❛ I guess all we can do is try our best anyway. ❜ 

Hayley reached out to her daughter, brushing the loose strand of hair away from Hope's face and tucking it gently behind her ear. She was so beautiful, inside and out, and it astonished Hayley, even to this day, that she could have had a hand in making her. Hope Andrea Mikaelson was what had proved to Hayley that the world could in fact still be good, in spite of how horrible it could be and how horrible she was. Hope was the first good thing Hayley had ever done.

❛ And being bad one day, ❜ Hayley went on, thinking about those she had met and known over the course of her life, the family not the least of them, ❛ doesn't mean someone is bad forever. Like you said, sometimes its what happens in our lives. Our choices matter, more than anything. We can wake up any day and decide to do better tomorrow. ❜   

It wasn't easy, it would never be easy, but it was worth it.

[fightforbetter]

Once upon a time, Hayley would have never believed that she could willingly be parted for her daughter, of her own choice. She had sworn that she would always be there for Hope, always and forever, since before her daughter had even been born. Their separations had either been essential to Hope's survival or punishment from Klaus. But this, the last almost forty years —  this was her own fault. She had turned her back on her daughter and the shame was overwhelming.

First, there had been anger and humiliation and betrayal, so overwhelming that she couldn't see past it. She had been violated by her own daughter, had her choices ripped from her, had committed atrocities in that numbed state. She had to come to terms with it on her own, without Hope anywhere in the vicinity. She couldn't look at her without seeing the smile that the girl had worn as she uttered turn it off, like she had any right. Or of remembering what had come after, from her or her daughter.

She had failed as a mother.

Even once the anger had faded, she couldn't face Hope without facing how much she had failed. So even as the anger lessened, the distance never did. If anything, it grew.

She asked the family about Hope ( her daughter was still her daughter; in spite of everything, she couldn't not know where she was, even if she could not bear to reach out herself ) but that was the extent of it. And then Ella came into the picture, and it was everything that Hayley needed. She felt like a true monster after everything that she had done, including the way she had treated her own daughter — but Ella needed her, Ella needed care and nurturing and a mother. And Hayley, desperately, needed to be a mother. She still asked about Hope, until Hope disappeared.

It went against everything in Hayley not to go searching for Hope, except for one little fear that nudged around in her brain when she thought about the possibility of finding her daughter with no humanity again. She'd done it once, why not do it again? And she'd turned Hayley's humanity off once, so why wouldn't she do it again? Hayley could not go through that again. And Ella needed her.

Ella still needed her when Hope returned, Freya bringing the news which had made Hayley sink to the floor with relief and an abundance of shame — because her daughter had disappeared off the face of the earth and Hayley hadn't even looked for her, not in three long years. What a terrible mother she had turned out to be. And still, still, she didn't go to her. She stayed with Ella until Ella had grown too. She was a good woman, a kind woman, in spite of her temper. So Hayley did something right, she supposed. Not everything, but ... something. Someone.

And now there's a letter with Hope's handwriting, Hope's name, and Hayley's heart is in her throat. This is what she's wanted for decades, for her daughter to reach out, because she's always been too scared to do it herself, not knowing who Hope would be when she did. She's still scared. The years have been long, in spite of the way immortality twists everything up and around until you've blinked and missed a decade. She hasn't known Hope for so long, longer than she had known her. She's been an absent mother, a bad one, to her eldest daughter.

It's about time she faced up to that.

I would like to see you, is all Hayley can bear to write in return. She adds her address. She doesn't live at the compound anymore, too full of memories. She built a home for herself and Ella, closer to the bayou, closer to the wolves, and remained even when Ella left. She wonders if Hope will like it.

HAYLEY MARSHALL ( @fightforbetter ) asked for ﹟  recovering together﹕ sender  &  receiver  recover  from  a  bad  experience 

The thing they don't tell you about immortality is how... long it lasts. Maybe such a thing shouldn't have been so surprising to Hope but she supposes it's different because she's never thought she would have to live without her mother.

She's never thought she would have to do it twice.

Both times were brought about by her own hand too, and maybe this is just the universe's way of telling her that she never deserved the goodness that was in Hayley Marshall-Kenner. That no matter what, her father's monstrous temper that people always believed was inherent in her, could never be fully tempered by the fiery pragmatism of her mother even though it was Hayley who raised her and left her indelible mark on Hope.

So she gives Hayley the space she asks for, watching from afar with the occasional comment from Marcel or other members of their family. No one comforts Hope or tries to reassure her, not that she would have listened to them had they tried in the first place. She doesn't know what they tell Hayley, if Hayley even asks about her eldest daughter.

Because that's a new thing she's heard about through the grapevine. Hayley had taken in another child, a werewolf orphan. A replacement. She disappears for three years after hearing about that, and when she re-emerges to the public life, Freya makes her swear that she'll never do that again, not without telling someone. Hope wants to ask whether it was because they were afraid she had died or whether they were afraid she flipped her humanity again, but the question sticks in her throat. She never does know for certain, but she imagines it's a little bit of both. She doesn't have the heart to tell them she spent most of it in a self-imposed dessicated state because Hope still hasn't quite learned how not to run away from the things that hurt her.

She settles in California, letting the salt and sand act as a balm to her wounds. It's easy enough to buy a house on the beach, secluded enough that no one bothers her (or worries about her immortal age), but close enough to a major metropolitan area so she can hunt easily. Hope spends her days walking along the beach or setting up her easel to paint another sunset. She finds a new life, one completely divorced from her former one, with no ties to her family, other than Kol and Davina halfway across the state. And no one understands better than her Uncle Kol the need for some distance.

Immortality both drags on and goes by in a flash, one of those paradoxes that doesn't make sense, probably spurred on by the imbalance of nature that it occupies. Thirty years go by in the blink of an eye and Hope realizes she's not had a mother in her life longer than she had one. It's a brief moment of selfishness that has her sending the letter to Hayley, the first she actually puts stamps on and drops into the mailbox, but not the first she's written. There's a room in her spartan house, dedicated to the letters she has written to Hayley, to Klaus, to Freya, Josie, MG, Cleo, and the handful of others who have remained important over the years. It's equal parts therapy and catharsis, and she understands why her father kept journals. A few have been sent back and forth over the years, but never once to Hayley.

She doesn't expect Hayley to answer and she doesn't know what compels her to keep sending her letters after she doesn't hear back from the first one, but she does. Nothing heavy, but small updates on her life, trying to let her know that despite everything, she's somewhat okay. In case she was curious. When a month goes by without hearing back, Hope is ready to give up again, the rejection searing enough to make her walls fly back up sturdier than ever. If her own mother can't love her, then what hope, no pun intended, did she have for anyone else managing to do that?

Two days later, a letter arrives. A week later, she's flying back to New Orleans for the first time in decades.

[nexusvcrti]

NEXUSVCRTI    ;      an independent and highly selective roleplay blog for HOPE MIKAELSON of cw’s the originals and legacies.  written by arrow.  multi-ship and multi-verse with a heavy emphasis on plotting. 

low-activity. mutually exclusive and private ; oc and duplicate friendly.  will contain highly triggering content and mature themes. must be 21+ to interact and follow. 

formerly cursedbcrn.  estab. june 2020. rebooted nov. 2023

carrd. / verses. / memes. / personal lore. / tvd multi. / multi. / yj multi. / promo.

[shadowbrn]

hope  mikaelson  (  @cursedbcrn  )  said  to  kaleb  hawkins  ;  ❛ fool me once, i’m gonna kill you. ❜

❝  okay  mikaelson,  calm  down,  ❞  maybe  it  wasn't  the  best  way  to  talk  to  the  tribrid,  but  kaleb  sometimes  felt  like  the  only  one  who  didn't  let  himself  fear  hope  .  .  .  and  it  kind  of  gave  him  a  bit  of  an  advantage,  for  lack  of  a  better  word.  ❝  no  one  is  out  here  trying  to  fool  you,  and  no  one  has  to  resort  to  murder.  you  just  need  to  hear  me  out,  i  promise  not  to  set  off  your  murder  reflex.  ❞

[dvarapala]

❛ you always see the good in people. even me. ❜

soft & sweet // @cursedbcrn

“breaking news: hope mikaelson is actually a good person. more at eleven.” udyati chuckles at her small joke. “all jokes aside, though, you are a good person. you’ve stepped up for your classmates time and time again. you are a good person, to whom bad things have happened. you are a good person who made choices. whether those choices were good or bad, i cannot tell you. only you can tell that to yourself. anywhoozies, a bit of an open door, this, but it’s not all black and white. there are shades of gray. and, aside from that, i also like to believe that there’s more good in people than bad. well. most people. there are always exceptions and before you start with me: you are not an exception, hope mikaelson. you are a good person and i will always see the good in you. i will always see that which is there.”

[vrake]

@cursedbcrn​ sent ⚠️ a text meant for someone else. - josie

[ Text  →  Hope ] : I don’t know Lizzie, there’s just something about her... like we’ve met before. Look. I can’t explain okay? But I wanna help, maybe we can also figure out what happened to Malivore if we help her. And she seems nice, it wouldn’t hurt you to be nice as well.

[foundationsbuilt]

It wasn’t what he had been expecting  —  though he didn’t actually know what he had been expecting. Another argument, perhaps, for that seemed to be all they did these days. To condemn him and shun him and ignore him , like he  —

❝ I ... ❞  But what could he even say to that? I love you too? He had no right to love @cursedbcrn anymore, did not have the ability ( the freedom ) to love her. She had been perfect for him, for his family, until she hadn’t been, and the words that would have been so easy to utter, to announce, even though speaking of his feelings came so difficult to him, now felt like a betrayal. 

But then, he was betraying her by not saying them.

Because he did love her. It would not hurt like this if he didn’t. 

Walls broken, crumbled by the impact of her confession, had him scrubbing roughly at his face. Perhaps it would block out the world for a moment longer,  keep it away from the pair of them like the Hidden Room used to. It had been so easy, once. He wished, desperately, they could go back.

❝ How did it come to this ? ❞ The words were muffled against his palms. ❝ How did we become this ? ❞ 

[savagevillain]

❛ Now I’m asking you, for once, trust me. ❜

She didn't understand, how could she? She wasn't a parent, didn't know what it was like to feel your heart beating in the body of another. It's wasn't precisely Hope that he didn't trust, it was the world around her; fear invaded every sense when he thought about all the people and all the things that could harm her, the agonies of countless torments this planet could bring to his child ... To willfully welcome it into herself, putting herself in harms way; he couldn't stand for it. He wouldn't. She was a child. As her father, it was his job to shield her.

❛ It's not you I don't trust, Hope. ❜  His tone was almost weary, but he met her eyes evenly so that she could know he wasn't lying.

[fightforbetter]

@cursedbcrn​ said ❛ We aren’t getting through this one. ❜

She wished she could say that wasn’t true. That there was nothing they couldn’t get through if they stuck together. It was the same statement ( the same lie ) she had told Hope all her life, filling her head with promises of family and loyalty and always and forever. And yet now —

❛ No. ❜ It was quiet, barely a breath. Not quite daring to break the silence that fell between them, heavy and thick, full of unspoken memories that didn’t feel like they belonged to her. How could they belong to her, how could she have been the person who — how could Hope — It felt insane. It was insane. ❛ No, ❜ she repeated louder. ❛ I don’t think we are. ❜

How could they get through this when Hayley couldn’t even look at her? 

[hurtemback]

“ i know you’re probably about to go into shock so pay attention. don’t take the knife out. this won’t kill you if you stay down and let me go. ”

Instinctively, Faith wants to grab onto the hilt of the knife and yank it free, but she knows from experience that Hope's right, so her hands hover over the knife and bleeding wound with clawed, clammy fingers. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she musters the waning breath to speak. "Not my first rodeo, girlfriend." Maybe in death she'll find the redemption she was looking for before she came to New Orleans. But New Orleans isn't Sunnydale, and she's not about to go jumping off from any buildings this go around. Stubborn even with a knife sticking out of her, she tries to roll over onto her side where it'll be easier to attempt to get to her feet. In the process, a few tears fall from the corners of her eyes. Gross. She hates crying in front of people. "I'm not lettin' you go, Hope. You gave me a place, so guess what? I'm making sure there's still a place left for you when you wanna stop playin' games."

That minuscule speech took a lot out of her, yet she still manages to get to her knees in front of Hope like she used to back when her mother forced her to go to church. Except back then there was noticeably less stabbing involved and she didn't date J-man. Teeth clenched, she turns her head up to Hope. "What can I say? You used to like how stubborn I was. You liked the push. But now it’s my turn to do the pullin’."

[sanguionus]

@cursedbcrn​ sent  “ So, then leave. Out of everyone, your presence is the least necessary.” bc she hates me.

 Like a stake piercing through her skin, so painfully close to her heart that she could feel the life slipping past her fingers. Jade wasn’t so delusional to think everything would go back to how it was before she left. She was deeply aware of how cut her absence, her departure would cut through to Hope. She knew, even before leaving, what it would cause Hope. And she hated herself every second she was away because of it. But after the time she’s been back and around the girl, she was... hoping for things to... improve  ( if only a little bit ). But she should’ve figured after a time of only cold silence and avoided glances, she should’ve expected the cutting words.

 She took an involuntary step back, her jaw setting as she looked down. She wasn’t complaining when she asked what the point of being there was... not really, the question had slipped out when she noticed no one was getting nowhere near close to find what they needed to take down the new monster that never seemed to stop coming to the school. She closed her hands into tight fists, taking another step back, away from the table where the book she was reading was.

 Nodding sharply, jaw clenched tight, she dared a look at the girl. Forcing herself to ignore the rest of the squad around them.  “ Right, of course... i’m sorry.”  the last words coming out before she could stop them. And she wondered too what exactly was she apologizing for? Leaving... or coming back. She looked at the book, reaching forward to close it with a frown before steeling herself. Fingers touching the paper lightly.  “ No, you know what... I think I’m staying, if that’s just fine with you.”

[dottirmikaelson]

@cursedbcrn​ liked for a short starter

“I see her now. Thanks for nothing. Out of my way.” The sound of heels clicking across the floor increase in intensity as Rebekah carves a straight path to her target, a woman who cannot be stopped by anyone but those of her own blood. Chin held high, she’s certainly about to put a stop to something herself, however. “My darling niece. Decided to start taking things into your own hands, have you? Who cares about danger and working as a team these days, is that right?”

[fightforbetter-a]

@cursedbcrn​ sent 😙 for my muse’s reaction to yours being super affectionate.

She had been lying on the sofa, mindlessly flicking through the channels, when Hope slumped down beside her, curled in close as not to fall off the edge. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around her daughter, kept them pressed up against one another in the small space. The familiar and always comforting scent of Hope enveloped her, like the softest blanket after a rough day. 

❛ Oh, I do your cuddles. ❜ Hayley pulled her closer, buried her face in Hope’s hair, briefly, then tucked her daughter’s head beneath her chin. ❛ You alright, sweetie ? ❜  Not that she didn’t appreciate the affectionate ( always; if she had it her way she’d have Hope in her arms every minute, where she could keep her safe, secure, loved ), but she’d already noticed her daughter’s quietness on the way home from the Salvatore Boarding School. Hope wasn’t really the kind to move in for a cuddle, Hayley being the instigator of their physical affectionate for the most part. So ... something was up, that she knew. ❛ Orrrrr, if you’d rather not talk about it, we can totally watch a movie. ❜ Remote still in hand, she twisted her wrist around to present it to Hope. It was never good to push her to talk when she didn’t want to. Hopefully this way she’d open up herself, once she felt comfortable enough to do so. Hopefully. 

Even if Hope never spoke tonight, she would appreciate having her there with her. Hayley missed her so much when she was at Salvatore. She missed the days where this kind of thing was common, Hope huddling in close whenever she wanted. Why did her baby have to grow up ? 

[lordofthestrix]

Continued from (x)

“Pity. I was already breathlessly awaiting our time to share other whispered confidences under the clandestine refuge of a midnight snack.” There was a slight distance to the sardonic understanding that characterized their exchanges today. Tristan's attention still roamed above the fields of Hope's tale with the sharpness of a bird of prey intent on fully capturing the nature of an intriguing hunt.

“And that's the solitary clue you had the chance to extract from this underling? Peculiar. To hurt those the object of our hatred holds dear represents an universal reaction. Your family doesn't lack a picturesque repertoire of looming shadows whose jaws would relish in devouring anything a Mikaelson cherishes in darkness and oblivion. And yet still...You make for a peculiar target.” He observed her with an air of imprecise interest as further deductions on her mysterious visitor continued. “Don't you find it intriguing? Being chosen as the focus of their revenge, whatever this may be, in spite of the chimeric uniqueness of your power, both by birthright and by your conquest over your once hollow foe? You are either dealing with someone who still perceives you as the weakest link of your family, a possibility I have no doubt might ignite that ferocious pride of yours, or...There could be something else at play beyond the usual delights of vengeance. A figure with something to prove, perhaps. Or it could be that your impolite visitor is seeking something they can only obtain from you.” An aura of that strange familiarity only centuries could uncover still stalked the issue, inspiring him for one last unformed connection.

“Those recent cases involving disappeared wolves you mentioned last time. Did you manage to find any explanation to their vanished voices from the local chorus of moonlight howls yet?”

@cursedbcrn​