#❝ there i was‚ a gangster-turned-vampire on the loose ❞ 「 headcanons 」

[troublewithvampires]

//the new mutuals aren't all caught up in what is my MOST self indulgent ass piece of salvatore lore and i need to Fix That

anyway when sal is very content and happy he purrs <3 it's not a conscious thing but it IS something that happens. and yes he's very embarrassed by it.

[troublewithvampires-a]

Billy Whitebread Headcanons

(picrew link)

his real name is jason booth, but he starts going by billy regularly after the fall of bonesaw vic's. sal's silly little nickname just stuck.

he has tried multiple times to grow a beard, and every time he's given up and shaved it off because he didn't vibe with it.

he's a convicted felon--when he was 19, he was arrested for breaking and entering as well as felony drug possession with intent to distribute.

in modern verses, billy is in his early 50s, though magic supernatural bullshit from his interactions with the fae has increased his natural lifespan dramatically. he isn't sure by how much, though.

he's big into grunge, and his favorite band is nirvana.

his right ear is pierced but his left isn't. no he didn't understand the connotations behind that when he got it. he likes to wear a simple gold earring most of the time.

he has some tattoos, notably a series of sigils on his back to ward off certain supernatural beings, especially ghosts n' shit. salvatore delights in telling him that they're stupid and don't do anything but make him look like a moron.

he also has the name of one of his ex-girlfriends tattooed on his left thigh. she dumped him about a month and a half after he got it. he tells everyone it's actually his mom's name.

it took a lot of time and effort, but he did eventually manage to kick the smoking habit he developed while working at the zoo. he also doesn't drink for the most part anymore, but he does still occasionally smoke weed.

post zoo, billy dresses formally most of the time, but he still keeps a lot of his old band tees and jeans from the early 90s. his most prized article of clothing, though, is a worn leather jacket.

he paints his nails on occasion. his favorite color to make them is purple.

he has some scars, most notably a cut along his jaw and several clawmarks on his back. his shitty sigil tattoos help cover them up.

in modern verses, he absolutely posts thirst traps on instagram. they're surprisingly good. salvatore has an instagram account just to comment on those and make fun of him.

he tends not to use specific labels for himself most of the time, but for all intents and purposes he's a bisexual cis dude.

billy is 5'10.5" but likes to tell people he's the full 5'11".

his hair is naturally brown but he bleaches it regularly.

he has a pet rabbit named clara. she likes to sleep on his pillow.

[troublewithvampires]

repost and bold what your muse can do!

( italicize for something they're capable of but not good at per se )

swim / scubadive / read and write / do calligraphy / ride a bike / ride a unicycle / ride a motorcycle / drive / draw / sing / play an instrument / maintain a rhythm / converse in a language / converse in more than two languages / converse in more than four languages / do basic maths / do algebra / understand structural formulas / read a floorplan / assemble ikea / build a working piece of furniture / build a house / sew a button / customise clothes / make clothes / bind a book / use a vacuum / clean windows without leaving streaks / boil water / make pasta / remove the pit of an avocado / cut bell peppers / cook / bake / basic first aid / cpr / close a bullet wound / fire a gun / load a gun / shuffle a deck of cards / shuffle a deck of cards one-handed / play or read tarot / use matches / use a lighter / make a fire without either / code / start a computer / hack / steal a car without keys / pick a lock / kick down a door / throw a punch / put an opponent smaller than them into a chokehold / put an opponent larger than them into a chokehold / intentionally break a bone / make a cast / chop down a tree / put up a tent / make a knot / create a shelter without tools or brought materials / make a cocktail / cut a line of cocaine / change a diaper / recite a nursery rhyme from memory / recite an important religious code from memory / recite the table of elements from memory / recite all pokemon in the pokemon song from memory / recite a 10-digit code 24 hours later after only reading hearing it once / tell a person’s zodiac sign / tell a person’s age / play football / play basketball / play another ball sport / iceskate / use an audio recording device / use a camera / tattoo / do a piercing

tagged by: @swxpped

tagging, with no pressure to any of y'all <3: @rejectshumanity @egokilled @sinshosted (for ava <3) @yaksha-garden aaand @arcanescholxr

[troublewithvampires]

//finally got together a visual for my ideas on how salvatore's human disguise works-

basically, salvatore's human disguise, as you can imagine, helps him appear like a normal human. it makes his eyes appear blue (like they were when he was alive), hides his pointy ears, and makes his teeth look normal. but he's not *actually* changing those things about himself--it's all basically a glamor, one that doesn't hold up to closer scrutiny.

if he were to bite you in his human disguise, for example, you would feel the sharp teeth.

also, yeah, he can't really do anything about the scars on his face or body. those are there permanently no matter what he does to hide his appearance. sorry, man.

[troublewithvampires]

@chaieyestea said: 💐 (feral about Sal, feral about flower symbolism. puts them together in a blender and shakes it)

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

//YEAHH YEAH YEAHHHH!!!! ok before we start i wanna just call out that a lil bit ago i started writing a short story about salvatore centering around flower symbolism, but i never ended up finishing it. i kinda wanna do that now but we'll see idk it's 2 am

so i am gonna interpret this prompt as just collecting a batch of flowers that have symbolism relating to salvatore and themes around him as a character--i'll only do five, but trust me i can keep going.

but i do also wanna say i just imagined someone actually *giving* him flowers and how flustered and embarrassed but flattered he'd be. he'd call them a dumb bitch and insist he hates them but then he'd hold the flowers close and refuse to let go of them.

now. the flowers. disclaimer: i am not an expert on flower symbolism and my research into these was very brief. once again under the cut <3

Persian Speedwell - travel, kindness, loyalty, protection.

the symbolism here is probably a bit obvious--salvatore is a character for whom loyalty is important above all else. he was taught from a young age to value loyalty and to *be* loyal, never turning his back on those who depend on him. this also extends into him being overprotective of those he cares about, especially post-vampirism.

i also think travel fits in well, because i imagine him and jason travel around for a while before they settle down with their daughter. for many years, it's just them against the world, really, traveling around in jason's shitty van.

and as for the kindness part... well, sal would argue that one doesn't apply to him, but it definitely does. he's not good at being compassionate, but he *can* be very kind.

Wolfsbane - misanthropy

once again, a bit obvious. though i wouldn't classify sal as misanthropic most of the time, it's undeniable that he has a lot of anger in his heart, a lot of deep-seated rage an despair at a world that he views as having abandoned him at best, and actively hurt him at worst. in many ways, sal is deeply angry and hopeless.

another reason i list wolfsbane here, though, is that wolfsbane in particular is a plant associated very strongly with the occult. while it's more heavily associated with werewolves, i think that's a fun connection to make for a supernatural character in general.

aaand lastly. well. wolfsbane is very poisonous, and it's a staple in both historical and modern fiction for that. (not to say that it's only ever been used as a poison in *fictional* settings, of course, but still.) i haven't found a specific correlation in terms of how it's been used throughout history, but i think it's interesting that in fiction, wolfsbane (or aconite in general) is sometimes used for assassinations of powerful figures.

salvatore was never, like, the leader of the gang or even particularly powerful in the mob, but he *did* have some power as one of nickels' most trusted men. arguably, his death was an assassination in that sense. (and it also later led to nickels himself being murdered, so. welp.)

Coltsfoot - justice shall be done

i'm tying this one to salvatore's desire for revenge against those who hurt him, especially victor. while i don't think salvatore is *completely* lacking in self-awareness about his craving for vengeance, i also think he sees it as dishing out justice more than anything. justice shall be done, starting with every person who contributed to salvatore's downfall and eventual murder.

but even for people who didn't hurt him, sal does not have a hard time at all justifying killing people. not to say he thinks he's always in the right for doing so and that he's always ~dishing out justice~ but... ok a big example that comes to mind for me on this front is like. so the vampires who turned sal.... sal fucking murdered them. all of them. and he justified it to himself because he figures... vampirism is a fate worse than death, and these things would've gone on to kill and turn dozens more people if he let them go. so, it's better to kill them all.

Mourningbride - unfortunate attachment, "i have lost all"

YEEEEHAW ANOTHER BUMMER ONE!! okay anyway-

i associate this flower with sal in the sense that, like... very few of the people he was close to pre-vampirism actually reciprocated that care and devotion he had for them. salvatore has been exploited and abused throughout his life, and he doesn't really have a good sense of healthy relationships with other people, and he's incredibly easy to manipulate if you know what you're doing. "unfortunate attachment" indeed.

the other symbolism thing is pretty self-explanatory tbh. sal loses everything, and then he dies, and then he's brought back as a vampire and has to pick up the pieces.

Dandelion - overcoming hardship

i wanna end this on a good note, but i think dandelions are a really good flower symbol for salvatore. because i think they embody a lot of who sal is and the person he became post-vampirism. he was put through a horrific traumatic experience and turned into a monster, and yet he persists. he keeps going and he's not going to stop.

i also really love to connect the fact that dandelions are considered weeds in many places to the general lack of regard a lot of people in sal's life pre-vampirism had for him. he was useful, yes, but as a tool rather than a person. the person was a weed, but the tool was useful sometimes.

i'm very tired rn but like. something something the imagery of dandelions growing in cracked concrete vs salvatore emerging from the smoldering remains of the warehouse he was turned in, covered in blood and ash.

--

and as for a favorite flower of sal's... honestly, one of his faves is forget-me-nots! not for any particular reason tbh, but he likes them a lot. if he received a bouquet of those he would be very touched. they're also his go-to flowers to give those he cares about--even if he doesn't really get flower symbolism, these ones aren't hard to figure out. it's one of many ways sal may try to express love for someone without really knowing how to.

[troublewithvampires]

@chaieyestea said: What are Salvatore's thoughts about himself in a parental position? Would he be a good father? A strict one? A lax one? Could he be there for a kid at all, physically and emotionally?

//chai i am giving you the biggest platonic smooch on the forehead right now. with tongue. thank you for this.

anyway this is something i think about a completely normal amount (<- lying through his teeth). this is going under the cut since it's fucking long lmao

What are Salvatore's thoughts about himself in a parental position?

so. fatherhood isn't something salvatore has ever really thought about or considered as a possibility for himself. i think when he was younger he might've idly fantasized about it, but it was less out of a desire to be a father and more out of a desire to be The Man Of The House.

baby sal didn't really understand the gender thoughts he was having, only that being told that he could be a housewife and a mom was *viscerally* upsetting to him, and he sometimes retorted that, actually, he'd never do that. he'd never be a *mom*, he'd be a *dad*, if anything.

(his mother interpreted this as him just being a little contrarian asshole as he was often wont to do, rather than it possibly being an indicator of something deeper.)

but, beyond that, sal didn't put much thought into it, and once he started working for the mob, he threw out any idle fantasies about fatherhood. it was never something he was super interested in, and after a certain point he figured he wouldn't be able to take care of a kid anyway. men like him don't have children, and that's fine.

(part of this also tied into sal's internalized ideas about gender and sexuality--he wouldn't be able to have children the "traditional" way for a man, so what was the point?)

then, when sal was with bruno, he actually began considering the idea of becoming a father again. bruno talked about it a lot, and he suggested several times that he and sal should run away together, have some kids, and just... be happy. and y'know, sal really liked that idea, up until bruno made it clear that he expected sal to detransition and be his wife in that scenario, tying sal being a *woman* to the fantasy of being happy and having a family. so sal threw it out again once things ended with bruno, and he decided that was it. he wasn't meant to have a family, even *if* he wanted to.

and then sal was killed and became a vampire, and he had much bigger things to worry about.

so, to finally answer your question: salvatore doesn't think of himself as a parental person. even when he considered it previously, he didn't take it super seriously. he isn't caring enough, and he's not a *good* man, so who would trust him with a kid?

(and then he ends up with a kid anyway, but this post isn't about izzy.)

Would he be a good father? A strict one? A lax one?

salvatore is actually pretty decent as a father! he's not so good at the emotional aspect, but he actually... treats kids as people. which sounds weird but in all verses where he ends up raising kids, he has a particular kind of gruff compassion for them where he doesn't like to talk down to them and instead tries to be like... honest and upfront and *listen* to them. he's not very good at it every time, emotionally stunted as he is, but he's actively trying.

he's the product of a household where he was treated as a burden by the adults in his life, and he'd never want to make a kid feel that way if he could do anything about it.

though, and i hate to say it, i think sal is actually a bit better equipped in many ways to care for a daughter than a son. not to say he's *incapable* of raising a son, but that would require him to deal with the toxic masculinity he was raised with *much* more directly or risk actually hurting the kid. (not to say he wouldn't have to with a daughter, but still! sal's got very bad internalized ideas about gender, and it's hard to drop those.)

in terms of how strict he'd be, i think sal would be pretty strict, but not overly so. he expects his kids to have their shit together and not slack off, but i also think he's not the type to just dish out abusive punishments in the name of discipline. again, he treats kids as people rather than little aliens or dogs he has to train and keep in line.

sal values loyalty and obedience, but not *unquestioning* obedience. he's the kind of dad who's completely fine with his kids calling him a dick and not showing him *respect* if they feel he doesn't deserve it. but at the same time, he wants them to understand that he's on their side. even if they disagree, he's on the same side.

so, overall, i think he'd be a pretty good dad by the time he actually has any kids. i'd like to mention tho that he does have previous experience trying to care for a child pre-vampirism, and it goes fucking horribly, but we'll get into that here in a sec...

Could he be there for a kid at all, physically and emotionally?

physically? yes. emotionally? it definitely depends.

salvatore struggles deeply with emotional vulnerability, and though he gets better by the time he ends up with any kids, he's still not *perfect* by a long shot. it's hard for him to be open, and it's hard for him to encourage that same openness in others. however, he's actively trying.

he encourages his kids to just... talk to him, and he can listen. he can't always offer good advice for tricky emotional or social matters, but he can listen and he can take their worries and struggles seriously.

(like in my plotting with teddy, we've talked about sal sitting down with stan and just hearing him out regarding his family and depression, in a way no one has before. actually listening to him and letting him vent. not just brushing him off and taking his struggles and concerns seriously. and in the end, sure, sal doesn't really have any advice to offer, but he can at least make it clear to stan that he's not alone and that there *is* at least one adult in his life who takes him seriously.)

(contrasting this, though, with a scene between victor and sal, when sal is in his mid-20s and victor is 14. victor comes to sal after a traumatic event and seeks out comfort, but sal shuts him down pretty brutally and tells him that he needs to *stop fucking crying* and get his shit together, or he'll be easy prey for any of the men around them. very much speaking from experience, because that's what happened to sal. but at that point, sal isn't capable of breaking the abusive cycles he's been trapped in, and it results in him *really* fucking victor up for a while. post-vampirism, he's much better about this, but pre-vampirism sal is a toxic little cunt with a chip on his shoulder.)

as for being there *physically*, oh, very much so. sal is definitely an overprotective dad in many respects, completely unafraid to throw down to protect them. he's always been an acts of service motherfucker, so the best way salvatore knows how to show affection is *physical* action and being there. no kid of his is gonna wonder if sal cares about them, if he has anything to say about it.

best example for this.. this post isn't about his daughter izzy, but on several occasions, izzy threatens her bullies by telling them that her dad's gonna kill them if they don't stop. and she's not wrong! sal definitely wouldn't just go be violent with a child, even a little *shit* of a child, but he's not afraid to put the fear of god into them a bit if they mes with his baby. sal backs up and protects his own, especially children.

and lastly. i just wanna share. salvatore's approach to parenting in many ways is, like... "no one protected me, and i'm not making the same mistake with you. i'll make sure you stand on your own, but i'll always catch you if you fall."

[troublewithvampires]

//thinking about the first time salvatore tries to smoke after he's turned

(CW: emeto/vomit mention)

it's immediately after he escapes the first warehouse he was held in, as he stands there watching the fire blaze. the other vampires are dead, as is the human salvatore forced to help him escape. sal fished a cigarette off the human's corpse before he set the warehouse on fire.

smoking had always been comforting to salvatore, a way to ground himself in the current moment. so, when he lights the cigarette on the flames before him, that's what he expects to happen. he'll smoke for a bit and it'll be okay.

but that's not what happens.

as his shaking hands bring the cigarette to his lips, his shoulders droop with relief. the acrid smoke fills his lungs with a pleasant burn, scorching him from the inside out. at least, until he realizes it feels different. it feels wrong. breathing out smoke doesn't feel the same when there's no relief tied to the action, no catharsis.

abruptly he chokes on the smoke, coughing raggedly as he doubles over, one hand going to his throat. another cough has him retching, and soon he's vomiting onto the concrete. it comes out as thick, black, rotten bile, searing his throat as it leaves him and pools at his feet. distantly, he realizes it smells.

the force of his vomiting has him collapsing. the cigarette falls to the ground and burns itself out. for several long moments, he lies there on the ground, shaking slightly as he stares into the roaring flames before him.

there's no going back now.

[troublewithvampires]

ᴍᴜꜱᴇ ᴅᴇᴍᴇᴀɴᴏʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀɪꜱᴍꜱ ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ.

ᴇʏᴇꜱ. avoids eye contact when nervous, maintains eye contact when nervous, avoids eye contact due to being neurodivergent, enjoys eye contact as a means to read and convey emotion, looks down when emotional, looks up when emotional, cries openly, wipes tears quickly, suppresses tears, wandering gaze when lost in thought, holds gaze while thinking, seeks out eye contact for reassurance, seeks out eye contact to gauge enthusiasm during conversations, eyes move constantly during conversation, expressive eyes, emotions only evident through eyes, uses eye contact to intimidate, looks up while thinking, looks down while thinking.

ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ. clasps behind back,  rests in lap, fidgets with clothes,  twiddles thumbs,  chews at nails,  pushes back cuticles,  draws patterns on table/counter surfaces,  animated gestures while speaking,  only gestures to emphasize,  utilizes sign language,  speaks only through sign,   callouses,  scars,  smooth,  wrinkled,  worn,  soft,  delicate,  boney,  slender,  thick,  veiny,  touches others while speaking,  reaches out while laughing,  reaches out to comfort others,  reaches out to seek comfort,  places face in hands when exasperated,  places face in hands when exhausted, places palms over eyes to hide when overwhelmed,  rests chin in hands, taps fingers when impatient,  taps fingers when nervous,  taps fingers while thinking,  scratches scalp,  strokes chin,  rubs back of head,  toys with objects around them,  runs fingers over surfaces while walking by.

ᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ. chews lip,  chews at inside of cheek,  licks lips,  bites tongue,  chews on straws,  resting frown,  resting smile,  neutral resting expression,  resting pout,  grinds teeth,  flexes jaw,  covers mouth when laughing,  covers mouth when shocked,  covers mouth when concerned,  hands to lips while thinking,  covers mouth when chewing,  chews with mouth closed,  chews with mouth open,  smirks,  grins,  subtle smiles,  wide smiles,  sad smiles, intimidating smiles, menacing grins,  openly smiles,  tries to suppress smiles,  bares teeth when angry,  lips quiver when emotional,  stutters,  speaks quickly,  speaks slowly,  good pronunciation,  poor pronunciation,  moderate pronunciation,  purses lips,  sucks in lips,  holds mouth open when shocked or confused.

ʟᴇɢꜱ. bounces leg when 'nervous', draws knees to chest when sitting,  draws knees to chest as a means of comfort,  sits on knees,  sits with legs criss crossed,  sits with legs spread open in chairs,  crosses legs when sitting in chairs,  sits with one leg folded under the other,  places feet on furniture,  never places feet on furniture,  sits on counters,  sits on desks,  sits on tables,  sits on edge of seat,  sits hunched over with forearms on knees,  arches one knee up,  sits on the arm of chairs/couches,  feet on dashboard,  swings legs back and forth when sitting somewhere elevated,  wiggles toes when nervous,  wiggles toes as a general tick,  shuffles feet,  kicks foot into ground,  stomps feet,  loud footsteps,  quiet footsteps,  silent footsteps.

ʜᴀɪʀ. runs fingers through hair,  tugs at hair,  picks at scalp,  chews on hair,  twists locks of hair while thinking or nervous,  smooths out locks of hair while thinking or nervous,  prefers hair out of face,  prefers long hair,  prefers short hair,  wears hair back,  keeps hair down,  smooths back hair,  plays with other’s hair while talking,  plays with own hair while talking,  strokes hair to 'comfort' others,  likes having hair stroked for their own comfort,  braids others’ hair while talking,  braids own hair while talking,  flips hair out of face,  pushes hair out of face,  leaves hair alone even when falling into face.

tagged by stolen from: @lancelot-sharpkeen <3

tagging: steal it! <3

[troublewithvampires]

BOLD THE MUSE’S AESTHETIC (SPOOKY EDITION)

Reblog and BOLD all of the themes that apply to your muse’s aesthetic or mood as a character.  ( repost, don’t reblog! )

From this

Bloodied knuckles | Tear stained cheeks | Rust | A busted lip | Claws | Fangs | A bloody nose | Chattering teeth | A dark space underneath the bed | Scratching noises on a wall | Creaking metal | Fog | Dancing under moonlight | Blood dripping from lips | Heavy breathing in the dark | A feeling of unexplained dread | A figure in a dark corner |  Dirty peeling wallpaper | A bloody handprint on the wall | Sobbing in the dark | Bite marks on the skin | Eerie whispers | A hood covering a stranger’s eyes | The growl of a hidden animal | The sound of a blade being sharpened | A deep, dark forest | Walking on the streets alone at night | A cobweb-filled, abandoned building | Eyes darting in paranoia | A heavy beating pulse | The feeling of being trapped | Struggling to get out a scream | Boards covering broken windows | A quiet graveyard | A gas station in the middle of nowhere | A road that never ends | Heavy fog rolling in | The scent of blood in the air | Eerie old photographs | Walking along traintracks at night | A chill going up the spine | Gathering crows | A dusty, dimly lit study | Mist over a deserted cobblestone street | Ghost towns | Shadows around a campfire | The sound of chanting | Church bells tolling | An orange harvest moon | A broken down carnival | A dirty stuffed animal abandoned | Wiping bloody hands on fabric | Nightmares | Waking up in a panic | A power outage | Heavy lightning storms | A secret trap door | The feeling of being watched | Fear from trauma | A Ouija board set out on a table | An eerie doll | A scream of anguish and pain | Withered plants | A room that’s been forgotten and gathered dust  | Owl eyes in the dark | Curled, dead tree branches | A ritual altar | Flickering candles | A lantern held up in the dark | Fear of being followed | Creaking floorboards | Repressed, horrible memories | Clenched teeth | Soft, echoing piano keys | An old book covered in dust | Many pairs of glaring eyes | Stumbling in pitch black darkness | Being stranded in the middle of nowhere | Tarot cards on a table | A trail of blood

[troublewithvampires]

salvatore siblings mega post.

just realized i've never made a post talking about sal's siblings? wack.

anyway, i don't have drawn visual references for sal's siblings, but i do have like. approximations. these aren't completely accurate but they're definitely close. (picrew link)

sal has three siblings, of which he's the youngest: jesse burke, beth armstrong (formerly burke), and martin burke. in modern day, beth and martin are still alive, but jesse died in the late 1990s.

more info and approximate faceclaims and picrews under the cut! this is really fucking long, though, so no one is obligated to read all of this. it got out of hand very fast.

short summaries:

jesse was a stockbroker who was involved in a lot of white collar crime and helped establish some of sal's mob connections. he and sal were closer than the other siblings, who were pretty distant. after sal went missing, jesse investigated himself and found out he was murdered--shortly after, victor had him... eliminated.

beth is retired now, married to her long-time best friend and mother to three children, who each are adults now with their own children. she became a mother younger than she was ready to handle, but she was determined to do right by her daughter and make a good life for herself.

martin is an army veteran, having fought and lost a leg in the vietnam war. in modern day, martin is happy with his long-time romantic partner, a man named carson, and their six dogs. after sal disappeared, martin and beth became close again, talking after years of bitterness.

content warnings: non-graphic talk of drug abuse/overdoses, suicide, terminal illness, transphobia, and abuse.

jesse burke - 1934-1999 (died age 65)

(approximate faceclaim: eric stoltz) (age in picrew: 35)

jesse was very close with beth and martin when he was younger, but after their father's death he began emotionally drifting apart from the family. he never had much of a chance to bond with baby salvatore, but he did what he could to help out around the house.

from the age of 16, he was basically the man of the house, despite being only a teenager at the time.

still, the moment he could, he left home to attend university (studying finance and business), and he found it was a breath of fresh air. he had a lot more to worry about with his studies, but he felt like he could breathe for perhaps the first time. so while he stayed in touch with his siblings, he rarely, if ever, came home after he left to go to school.

very book-smart and charismatic, very good at finding the right people to be friends with and making sure to leave an impression on them. though he was very intelligent and a hard worker, his greatest skill was identifying the right people to mingle with and making the right impressions on them. truly a king of networking.

this charisma helped get him in the door with the right people to get his foot in the door in wall street, and by the 1970s he was working with a prestigious stockbroking firm. jesse got to live his best 'wolf of wall street' life, without a care in the world.

as an adult, he actually was on pretty decent terms with salvatore, unlike his siblings. sure, they rarely talked, but he really respected what sal was doing. it wasn't legal, sure, but they were both making names for themselves away from their family. they were both businessmen, and jesse thought that was all that mattered.

jesse also was pretty accepting of sal being a man. he didn't *get* it, sure, but he saw no reason to question it and never made a big deal about it one way or the other. his little sister was actually his little brother? oh, cool. well at least he's making something of himself, unlike the other two.

he was so impressed with sal, in fact, that he helped sal with networking. jesse is the one who introduced salvatore to mario gianette, aka nickels. he was the *in* sal needed to finally start working with the boss he worked with until he died.

in the mid 70s, sal completely cut ties with their mother and other siblings. jesse reached out to him after this, and the two had a drink together. they didn't talk much, but they enjoyed each other's company.

in the early 80s, sal introduced jesse to his closest associate, victor bonicelli. jesse and victor got along very well and started working very closely together. sure, jesse wasn't directly involved with any of the *super* illegal shit (in his words), but he helped keep the operation running financially.

when sal disappeared in the mid-80s, jesse was devastated--much more than he was when his mom passed the year before. he had a very public breakdown and was strongly urged by his bosses to take a break from work. for the first few months, he tried to use his money and influence to *find* sal, to no avail.

in the meantime, he ended up leaning a lot on victor. sal was victor's best friend, right? so they could grieve together.

a few years later, jesse discovered that victor was behind salvatore's disappearance. before he could do anything with this information, though, victor had him taken care of.

in the late 80s, jesse's firm was the subject of numerous criminal investigations into his mob connections. before he knew it, all of his business partners were turning against him to save their skin, and he became the scapegoat for all of the debauchery he and his associates had been up to for years.

jesse was arrested and spent ten years in jail, losing basically everything he had in the process. during this time, he wrote dozens of letters to salvatore--he knew sal would never read them, but the guilt for working with his brother's killer was eating him alive and he had to atone *somehow.*

when jesse was released in 1999 on parole, he just kinda... fell off the map. about a month later, he was found dead in a hotel room after an overdose.

beth armstrong - 1938-present (still alive)

(approximate faceclaim: jane seymour) (age in picrew: 32)

beth is the middle child, and she certainly acts the part. with an inferiority complex a mile wide, she's always been keenly aware of the fact that she's not as impressive as her siblings in many ways. she's not as nice as martin, not as smart as jesse, not as hard-working as salvatore. she was just beth.

beth has never been very family-oriented, but as the siblings' mother had to spend more and more time away from home to earn the money to care for them, she was often stuck caring for her younger siblings.

she began to resent this as she got older. she'd always been outspoken and fiery (how else would anyone pay attention to her, after all?), but she became doubly so during her teen years and into her early 20s. she threw herself headlong into activism, right around the beginning of second-wave feminism and the flower power movement.

beth still lived at home in this time, helping take care of her younger brothers and the house when she could, at least up until she was 23 and their uncle clarence took sal away and enlisted him to work with his mob buddies. at the time, beth was fucking pissed at her mom for allowing it, which led to them having an explosive argument one night.

beth said some things she regrets, calling her mom an irresponsible cunt who never should've been a mom, and anna fired right back--she told beth to her face that she didn't know the first thing about motherhood, so she had no room to talk. she was *nothing* and would always *be* nothing to the people around her unless she got her shit together and stopped being such a self-righteous little bitch. after that, they nearly stopped speaking altogether.

about a week later, beth left home, moving out to live with a friend for a few months before getting an apartment by herself. she was determined never to go back.

for a few years, beth took a few odd jobs to get by, never really settling into one career. she tried to keep in touch with her siblings, but jesse was an asshole and martin seemed to be turning the same way. as for sal... beth never really understood him, and she was fine with that. she never approved of the shit he was involved with, but she knew he didn't have a choice. i think beth pitied him, but there was a part of her that was bitter. sal was at least *something.*

(and in regards to sal being trans... beth never knew about that, really, and as far as she knew, he was a cis woman forced to dress as a man to make money for their selfish irresponsible mom.)

then, when beth was 26, she had a drunken one-night stand with a man named robert, which resulted in her getting pregnant. robert gave her no way to contact him, and she couldn't find him in the end to tell him about his baby.

she didn't know what to do, and for a time she spiraled, terrified of what the future held. she couldn't have this baby! she couldn't be a mother. she didn't want to be a mother. but it seemed she didn't have much of a choice--abortion wasn't legal at this point, and beth couldn't in good conscience put the baby up for adoption.

eventually, she moved back in with her mom--anna seemed eager to meet her grandchild, enough so to forget about the previous animosity. by this point, sal had moved out entirely, but beth didn't pay much mind to that. she figured he was fine, happy somewhere with their uncle. aside from the money he sent each month to support her and their mom, she didn't care at all.

before she knew it, beth was back where she was before, living with a mother she constantly butted heads with. however, this time around, her priorities were different--she had her own kid to think about. beth was determined to be a better mother than anna, no matter what.

her daugher, allison, was born in early 1965, a tiny girl who screamed and wailed from the moment she was born. and beth... was apprehensive, but she loved this baby. and as she held her newborn, beth promised her in a quiet voice that she'd give her a good life. allison would never grow up feeling unimportant--beth would make sure of it.

in the years that followed, beth began throwing herself headlong into being a family woman. the same passion she once threw into activism was now dedicated to making sure this was a healthy, stable household for her daughter. she didn't always succeed, though, and in her desperation to make things be okay, she drove the family apart. martin moved back in for a short time, and he grew angry and bitter at her constant fretting that they needed to be a family and she needed to take care of them. she couldn't understand why he wouldn't cooperate with her, and he couldn't understand why she cared so much.

when her mom got sick, beth became even more entrenched in being a caretaker for those around her. she and her mom never got along, sure but the idea of living in a world without her made beth's head swim. she was constantly stressed trying to keep things together, but still, they fell apart.

in the mid 70s, beth ended up in a screaming argument with salvatore about this very issue. she thought he was being selfish for not wanting to come home and see their mom before she died, even though beth had once been the same way. by the end of the conversation, beth was in tears, and she told sal to go fuck himself. he told her to do the same. and they never spoke again.

beth kept living with her mother up until 1977, when allison was 12. that year, anna passed away. about a year before that, beth met a man named joey at her job as a waitress, and they'd hit it off right away. he was the new cook, and he was the first person in a long time to treat beth like she really mattered. they were fast friends, and they had a close bond. thicker than thieves in every sense of the word.

so, when beth came to joey in tears after her mother finally passed, joey had no problem moving beth and allison and into his place right away. not as a romantic thing, but to make sure his friend and her daughter would be okay. they had nowhere else to go, after all, and he had the space and money to be able to help them out.

beth, joey, and allison settled into their new life together gradually, soon becoming a close little family unit. joey and beth's relationship remained platonic for years, but they co-parented allison very well. for all intents and purposes, they were her parents.

to make things easier, eventually joey and beth decided to get married. not out of any romantic interest in each other, but just to make sure they could take care of allison and be there for each other. while living with joey, beth was allowed to really be herself, not forced to take care of everything and keep a splintering family together against all odds. it was... freeing. beth had two more children with joey (a boy named scott in 1979 and a girl named rebecca in 1982), though no romance blossomed between them still. they were happy to coparent as friends, with no spark of anything between them.

so freeing, in fact, that beth decided to leave the past behind. she wasn't interested in the sinking ship that was her old family--she had a new family, after all. one that loved and appreciated her.

still, she wanted to do right by her siblings, so she did keep in touch with them, to some degree. she never spoke to salvatore again, but she did send him one last letter that their mother had written him, as an attempt to offer some kind of closure. she never heard back, but she didn't think much of that.

... until sal went missing one year later. beth was shocked when she heard the news, and she spent the evening bawling into joey's chest. though she hadn't spoken to sal in years and had written off her old family for the most part, she couldn't help but wonder what could've been... sure, salvatore was an asshole, but still! it put something into perspective for beth: even if her old family was shit, they were still family, and she didn't want to lose them.

in the aftermath of salvatore's disappearance, beth reached out to martin, and the two started talking. they caught up, and over time they began to mend their damaged relationship. it wasn't perfect, especially because jesse never returned any calls from either of them, but it was real. the road was rocky, but it was there. for the first time in decades, beth's family began putting itself back together.

in modern day, beth is still married to joey, has retired from a fulfilling career as the manager of a grocery store, and her three children are now all adults with their own children. she is loved, and she is happy. she's had a lot of hardships in her life, but she's satisfied with where she is now.

martin burke - 1944-present (still alive)

(approximate faceclaim: paul blackthorne) (age in picrew: 33)

the youngest of the burke siblings, and the one who was hit hardest by their father's disappearance. martin always idolized their dad, and he never had much time to process that grief.

as a child, martin was always very kind and pacifistic, but both of those qualities certainly became less prominent with time. the older martin got, the angrier and angrier he became, and by the time he was an adult, he was *deeply* cynical and bitter towards those around him.

almost the moment he turned 18, martin left home to join the military. he grew up on stories about his cousin, scott, who was (in his father's words) a war hero during world war 2. martin was never close with scott, but he wanted to follow in his footsteps regardless.

after all, dad always talked about how great scott was. maybe becoming the kind of man his dad could be proud of would make martin feel closer to the old man.

anyway yeah lmao martin fought in the vietnam war. he was never particularly patriotic, but he went into the war thinking he'd be a *hero* and could *be a great man* just like scott. that didn't happen, though--instead, martin was severely injured in his first battle, and soon after he was medically discharged and sent home.

for the first few months after he came home, martin lived with his mom and sister beth while he recovered. his left leg was completely fucked, and ultimately it had to be amputated. he had to re-learn how to walk and function, and he also had to deal with his family.

during this time, he interacted with salvatore a few times, and he grew to resent sal for the pure, simple fact that sal had an *out.* he didn't *have* to be there, because he had a *job* and a *life* and *friends* who loved him, and he could just fucking go and never come back.

one day, martin met a man named carson, a nurse at the local hospital who was charged with helping martin with his physical therapy. immediately, martin was a huge dick to him--what kind of man took a job as a fucking *nurse* outside of combat?

carson quickly put that bitch in his place and martin shut his mouth REAL fast haha!

eventually, carson and martin became very close, and over the course of several years, they fell in love. eventually, they moved in together in the late 70s. after that, martin mostly stopped talking to his mother and sister, though he keeps in touch sometimes. he's much happier with carson's family.

when sal went missing in the 80s, martin was... unsurprised, but he was definitely upset by it. for a good few weeks, he wondered what could've been if he'd stayed in touch. maybe he could've done something. ultimately, though, he decided to just... move on and not dwell on it too much. enjoy the moment with the love of his life.

he had similar reactions to the deaths of jesse and his mom--sure, it sucked, but he had to keep going. and at least he had carson to lean on, as well as other friends he made over the years.

carson and martin are like... that old gay couple that's been together for decades, married in all but name. they're bonded for life, and they're enjoying growing old together with their dogs. (they have six dogs total: bandit, roger, pirate, zeus, ziggy, and princess)

modern day martin is still a little jackass, but he's settled down. he's no longer as angry and bitter, and now he's just like. a sweet old man.

[troublewithvampires]

@triggerbigger said: Has Salvatore ever struck someone in anger?

//oh for sure he has! when he was in the mob, salvatore was known for having a nasty fucking temper. a lot of his temper was for show, sure, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. because sal had the compassion basically beaten out of him at a young age, so all that really was left was his anger.

i will say, he was good about never turning this temper on his fellow mobsters without cause. he could rein it in for them. but for the average person? oh, fuck no.

on one memorable occasion, salvatore broke a man's arm in three places after the guy accused him of cheating at poker. it can be argued that this was self-defense b/c the guy got violent first, but he kept going past that point just to show that he's not one to be messed with, as well as just b/c he was fucking pissed.

post-vampirism, this temper is still there, even if salvatore doesn't indulge it as much as often. but like... the entire vampire fight club 'verse is basically that. him taking out his aggression and anger at other vampires in a formal environment.

[troublewithvampires]

@modestmuses said: Is Salvatore a follower, a rebel or a leader?

//the answer depends at what point of salvatore's life we're talking about, but for the most part i'd say he considers himself a rebel. at his core, however, he's definitely a follower--it's just that he won't follow just anyone. and in modern day, sal doesn't have anyone he's willing to follow to begin with.

salvatore was a pretty rebellious kid, lashing out at the authority figures in his life (his mom, mainly) and a world that he viewed as being against him from the start. his mom definitely did what she could to keep him in line, but that only made him angrier in the end.

then, his uncle clarence came to the picture. clarence did not take as kindly to sal being a little shit and refusing to listen. if he was going to work for clarence and his buddies, then he'd need to fucking *get his shit together.* and he did. it was a hard lesson to learn and it took multiple years (and multiple *harsh* punishments), but salvatore definitely latched onto the sense of purpose and belonging that following orders in the mob gave him.

by the time he met nickels and swore loyalty to him, that's who sal was. a follower. a tool that could be fucking *deadly* in the right hands, but certainly not one that could be wielded by just anybody. sal's loyalty was, above all else, to mario gianetti, and he would follow that man to the end.

of course, that didn't happen. salvatore was murdered, and the dogged loyalty salvatore showed for nickels led him there. vic saw value in salvatore as a potential tool for him to use, but he *also* saw that sal wasn't going to be that for him. if he tried, sal would turn against him. so... sally had to go.

post-vampirism, salvatore is a rebel. he doesn't *have* a leader to follow anymore, and he's pretty much taken his life into his own hands and gone on the warpath in search of revenge against victor. even though he has people he's loyal to in the main verse (such as billy), he doesn't like to just *follow* anymore.

[troublewithvampires]

//was gonna try to write tonight but i am so so absolutely exhausted after work today so no dice on that

that's ok tho, not gonna beat myself up for that.

instead i have some notes under the cut for my favorite vampire/stupid stoner duo

sal is lying flat on his back, jason's head pillowed on his chest, arms around each other. they're both warm and safe and so fucking cozy, just starting to doze, when jason says something quiet, murmured against sal's skin.

sal, even with his enhanced vampiric senses, doesn't quite pick up what he said. he opens his eyes to look at jason curiously, lifting one clawed hand to stroke his long hair. "what was that?" he asks softly. jason squeezes him a bit tighter and looks back at him, meeting his eyes with a gentle little smile.

"just thinking out loud," he hums. "don't worry about it, sweetheart."

sal is going to worry about it.

"you keepin' secrets now?" sal tries to keep his voice casual and light, but he can't help the slight spike of anxiety he feels. he knows jason wouldn't hurt him, but he's nervous regardless that he's fucked up somehow. before he can start properly spiraling, though, he feels jason press a kiss to his collarbone.

"nah," jason replies. "just…" he sits up a bit so he can look at sal fully, leaning on his elbows. "i was thinking… would you ever wanna get married?"

sal's heart leaps into his throat and he blinks at jason. despite himself, he feels tears beading at the corners of his eyes, ones he doesn't really know what to do with. "i-" his voice cracks, and he swallows before trying again. "are you askin'?" jason looks a bit nervous now, but he's still smiling.

"i… guess i am," he says with a sheepish chuckle. "shit, i was planning to ask you in a much more romantic way, but i guess this works." he takes a breath as if to settle his nerves. "salvatore o'malley, i love you. will you marry me?"

[troublewithvampires]

//sal doesn't even like johnnie walker whiskey that much

[troublewithvampires]

//climbs back on here

i am still shadowbanned for the moment but i wanted to at least tell y'all about my ideas to rewrite this mans. i'll update his carrd and bio n such here soon

not gonna talk about why i'm removing certain things bc that could be a whole separate post, but for now. just know this is how i'm taking salvatore away from bonesaw vic's entirely.

content warnings under the cut: salvatore-typical talk of dehumanization, forced/involuntary confinement, and starvation

instead of the zoo, salvatore was kept in solitary confinement for eight years as victor's personal plaything-slash-attack dog, never fed or allowed social interaction unless victor had someone he disliked and needed to have executed. a whole zoo operation allowed for too many chances for sal to escape, and this was the most effective way to keep sal in his place and isolated while driving it home that this was meant to be salvatore's personal hell. he wasn't a person, he was a tool, and so victor kept him as one.

(and by executions, i mean victor would feed people to sal as a punishment for double-crossing him, reducing salvatore down to a tool for him to use to keep his men in line.)

as for how he escaped? vic got careless during one of the executions, and salvatore seized his chance. he wasn't able to kill vic, but he was able to claw his face up bad before escaping into the night to lick his wounds.

the problem that arises here, now, is that this removes the natural avenue for him to have met billy/jason, as well as the root of their bond centering around billy helping salvatore escape. that's something i'm still gonna figure out, but i do have a few ideas brewing for that! road trip verse may end up being canon LMAO.

but yes, these are my thoughts! still workshopping the details, but regardless this is at least the general direction i want to go to make this character mine.

[troublewithvampires]

@bxtsence said: Romance headcanons: 5, 25, 32

(romance headcanons - open)

what is your muse's ideal first date?

i'd say this depends on the person tbh. sal doesn't necessarily have a single ideal first date, and ultimately it depends a lot on the psrson in question.

however, sal would *love* to take someone on a drive out of the city limits and into the countryside, as far from the light pollution as they can get, and just look up into the stars. let sal tell you space facts while stargazing with him ✨️

does love and romance mean a lot to your muse? do they seek it constantly or let it come when it does?

so i think romance does mean a lot to salvatore, but not in the sense that he *needs* it for the sake of romance itself. what's really important to salvatore is having people he can depend on and who depend on him in turn.

sal is grey-aro, meaning he doesn't often experience romantic attraction. however, he isn't romance-repulsed necessarily--it's just not something that he seeks out often or desires above all else.

sal's definitely the type to let romance come as it does, but he *does* to some extent seek out the kind of trust that would be required for romance to form down the line. sal just wants someone he can trust, really.

does your muse have an ideal "type"?

lol i was actually thinking about this earlier- so my general answer here is no. sal doesn't have an ideal type for romantic partner--because really it's less about the person themself and more about what kind of bond they'd have with him. however, i can definitely list some traits that are common threads in the kinds of people he's into.

sal likes people who are strong willed, who have a sharp tongue and don't let the world walk all over them. at the same time, however, he greatly admires gentleness--people who've been through hell and came out *kind* are mystifying to him. and someone who's both of those things can very quickly earn his respect and admiration.

he also likes people he can tease and who tease him back, who he can bounce off of and joke with.

most of all, however, sal's type is someone he can relax around, who he can feel safe with and trust to have his back as much as he'd have theirs. he's a loyal motherfucker, and he *needs* a partner he can expect that same level of loyalty from.