#I don’t really dislike anyone but again most hates Is Not Elijah

[countdown-til-sanders-take-over]

So whos your favorite chnt character? Least favorite?

SOREN BALTIMORE MONITOR DE CAMPAMENTO NÚMERO UNO 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

[hyperactivewhore]

How do you think Klaus’s and Hope’s relationship would be like if he was still alive?

I know that when he died, they had a good relationship - but to me, after everything Hope had went through, I don’t find that really realistic. Honestly, if he had survived, I think Hope would be pretty resentful towards him. He did abandon her for years (he could’ve called, texted, or something but he chose to let Hope believe that he didn’t love her). He put her at risk multiple times so he could see his brother while pretending Hope doesn’t exist and ignoring all her calls. He flirted with Caroline while Hayley was in danger. He made Hope believe that Hayley’s death was all Elijah’s fault.

And I’m not trying to deny that growth Klaus had throughout the series. I do think he has changed in some ways. But at the end of the day, he’s still Klaus. He’s still controlling, possessive, and manipulative. He still harbors this secret desire to be the loved the most by everyone around him. He was threatened every time Rebekah dated someone he didn’t seem ‘worthy’. He greatly disliked the fact that Elijah chose to erase his memory and shacked up with some Nazis (mostly because Elijah erased HIM and didn’t love him anymore). He absolutely hated that Marcel fell in love with Rebekah (not because of any normal reasons like Rebekah is his aunt and literally watched him grow up - but because he didn’t love Klaus the most anymore).

I can see him being possessive and monopolizing all of Hope’s time/attention to make up for the years he lost and because he wants her to love him more than anyone else. Which is why I disagree when people say that he would love Lizzie/Josie/Landon/ or any of Hope’s potential love interests. He wouldn’t outright kill them like he he did with Rebekah’s lovers (as I said, he did grow throughout the series), but he definitely wouldn’t embrace them into the family with open arms. At best, he would be standoffish. At worst, he would be one of those annoying creepy parents that tell their child’s boyfriend/girlfriend “I’m the number one person in their life. I loved them first.”

Honestly I’m trying to think of a time when Klaus actually accepted one of his siblings love interests into the family. Marcel and Hayley don’t count. He literally adopted Marcel as a son. He raised Marcel and brought him into the family before Marcel and Rebekah got into their sick little relationship. He first accepted Hayley (not because of Elijah) but because she was the mother of his child and then because he actually grew to like her. But other than Marcel and Hayley, I don’t think he was ever really that welcoming to any of his siblings’ girlfriends/boyfriends. Maybe Keelin? But did Keelin and Klaus even talk?

So, yeah, Klaus wouldn’t disapprove of Hope’s relationships whether it romantic or platonic. But I don’t think he would encourage it or embrace any of Hope’s friends as family. I do think he would fuss and throw a tantrum if Hope prioritized any of her relationships over him. Wasn’t he jealous of the mere idea of Hope liking Elijah (someone he loves and obviously views a family)?

Honestly, if he was still alive, I don’t think Hope and Klaus would have a good relationship. With her resentment towards him for the years of abandonment and his role in the death of her mother, Hope would probably prioritize her friends/school over her relationship with her dad. And I think Klaus, with his jealousy and controlling tendencies, would have a major issue with Hope prioritizing anything else over him.

If the show had good writing Hope would absolutely resent him at first.

I think a good part of why Hope forgave him in canon in season five was because she was gonna die at first, and then he was the one who would die and she was grieving enough, she had already lost her mother a week ago and I dont think she wanted her father to die having a bad relationship with her. She was in pain, she was vulnerable and she knew she was never gonna see her father again, so she chose to let go from all their issues and just spend their last days together.

But it's just so bad developed. I believe Hope resented Elijah not just because of his "part" in her mother's death, but because of how much Klaus loved him as well. Hope was begging for the attention that Elijah didn't want and yet received every single day just by existing, and even her mother was clearly still hung up on him. How would that make a little girl feel? Imagine you grow up hearing stories about your loving uncle, who continously prioritizes family, only for him to turn around, force himself to forget all of you, leave your mother and your father unable to fully move on with their lives and the moment you finally see him again after almost a decade, he hasn't only "killed" your mother, now he's gonna take your only living parent - the one who had no problem ignoring your existence because he was too busy staring at his brother playing the piano - with him as well.

Hope knew Hayley was still in love with Elijah even years after their breakup, her mother basically asked her in the afterlife to tell her uncle she still loved him, her own father endangered everyone in New Orleans, including herself and her kidnapped mother, just because Elijah broke his heart: he did not care he was driving both of them closer to their deaths, his brother had hurt him and he needed to make everyone around him pay, his own daughter included.

In my opinion, Klaus’s priorities have always been very obvious:

Klaus himself

Elijah/Hope

Whatever love interest he feels like entertaining at the moment/Rebekah

His other siblings/Marcel = Hayley, in case he's seeing them as family at the moment

And yes, in that order. Klaus didn't know how to parent his child now that Hayley was gone and Elijah dying no matter what, and most importantly, he didn't want to. He only knew what Hope meant to him, not who she was (which, personally, infuriates me. If you're gonna create a show centered around a magical baby who shouldn't even exist in the first place and the insane maniac who happens to be her father, at least make her father get to raise her).

The Originals being centered around Hope was, in my opinion, a big mistake. Her existence wasn't a problem for me (if anything, I would make her first appearance later in the show, season three/four, perhaps), but for a show called The Originals, the Mikaelson sure don't appear a lot. I think that's the biggest problem people have with the show, not the Mikaelson being out of character, which is ironic, in my opinion, considering only klaroline and kalijah stans seem to believe that.

In the universe's canon, I just can't see Hope having a stable relationship with any of her paternal family, her father included, had he lived. I'm not saying they would've been constantly fighting, but I do think it would be a constant fragile line in their relationship where Hope would just try to ignore how much he hurt her during her early life, only for them to get into a fight about it, and then go back to ignore it. If Hayley had lived or been resurrected, I see Klaus and Hope's relationship being kinda the same as what I stated, perhaps slightly more sour, perhaps not, because I certainly see Hayley being mad at Klaus for being so careless with her life.

I personally believe Hayley and Cami wouldn't have allowed anything of what happened to the family in season five, Elijah and Klaus practically switched personalities, all the klayley and klaroline moments were so obviously meant for Camille and her relationship with Klaus, Caroline was absolutely out of character, and everything was very rushed and poorly developed.

Thanks for the ask!

[palettepainter]

What is Damian like in your Zoophobia AU?? I know the fandom is split between thinking he's a little sh*t and the other half arguing he's just a teenager, and lets face it we all did some dumb stuff as teens. Is your older Damian more chilled or is he still the same as when he was at Zoo pheonix academy?

Ah yes, nothing like a pipping hot cup of headcannons to start my morning. AND about one of my fav characters!

So I can see both sides of this argument. On one hand Damian is a teenager and yeah, we've all done some cringy an immature things...but Damian is also the literal spawn of the devil - that's going to cause him to be a bit of a shit

So Damian in my NGAU is still an ass. I've got nothing against people making Damian out to be a can do no harm innocent child with some anxiety thrown in, but me: He's an ass.

Damian's parents do genuinely love him, but for the most part growing up Damian was often watched and cared for by his nannies and tutors (being raised more or less by Tentadora and Styx). As a child he is chaotic, baby demons naturally have magical outbursts as they mature, but Damian - being the son to the most powerful demonic being - his magical outbursts where...a lot. Tantrums where even worse. I get the impression that though Damain's parents do love and care for him, he wasn't really coddled a lot. Yes his parents did hold him as a baby, but once he was toddler aged he was pretty much given to Tentadora and Styx

Damian can't and doesn't get away with anything with his parents, they are stern, and will not stand for their own son disrespecting them. Damian's parents are the only people he'll listen to when he gets an earful from them. Tentadora and Styx however? Tentadora babied him, and even when he's in ZPA she still coddles him, her pwecious lil gingersnap. Like Hilda said in one of the Zoophobia chapters Tentadora's wild and unruly ways rubbed off on him, and more often then not Damian would be able to brush off his wrong doings with a 'hehe whoopsie'

In Zoophobia he flirts with Kayla even though she's in a relationship, he gets petty when Zill and Kayla do anything remotely affectionate, he shoves Jack into a locker when he plans to sabotage Zill's and Kayla's anniversary, he mocks Zill for mourning his breakup with Kayla, he sets Kayla's piano on fire during the ZPA short despite claiming to love her so much and deflates blame when Jack tries to reprimand him for his actions, he destroys his room and most of his belongings (shown in a Zoophobia chapter), he once again shrugs off his literal demonic tantrum on the surface world as nothing and mocks Autumn when he tries to stand up for them again Rusty

Yes Damian does have his moments of being kind and caring, but those moments for the most part are far and few between and are only for select people.

In my NGAU Damian is still a little shit..but he's gotten better. In ZPA he was very neglectful of his cousin Jack, he was his meal ticket, his place to crash when the palace was too much, and gives little thanks to Jack. The years of having to put up with Damian's behavior lead Jack to snapping and giving Damian the full lecture: it's not okay for him to just show up, eat the food he payed for, trash his home and leave. It's not okay for Damian to flirt with his best friends girlfriend now wife. It is not okay for Damian to pull pranks, sometimes dangerous pranks, on him and then brush it off for laughs later when Jack got anger. It is not okay for Damian to view him as his meal ticket when he had no money to get dinner. It's not okay for Damian to treat him the way he does, and he is not welcome at his home if he continues to behave this way

Damian is shocked at his usually quite cousin snapping, and waits for Jack to groan and walk away or roll his eyes in annoyance, to brush off the problem like he always does. But he doesn't, he just scowls at him. Damian ends up leaving in a huff, and for a short while he ends up homeless, he hops about from place to place and occasionally crashes at Addison's, but with Gustav around (whom Damian still very much dislikes) he didn't stay long. One day he bumps into Elijah, an old friends with benefits lover he'd had back in ZPA during their final year. Elijah is full of smiles when he catches Damian...and then asks why Damian looks like he hasn't bathed in a week, it's cuz he hadn't.

Damian didn't really get a say in the matter when Elijah basically dragged him home, dumped him in a bath and made him an actual meal. Damian thanks him but doesn't stay long, Jack's words had..hurt him in a sensitive spot and he hated to admit it, so he didn't want to stick around with anyone. He considers going back to the palace, to become the hell ruler his parents wanted to him to be...but he ends up back at Elijah's. He ends up eating meals with him, laughing with him, crashing on his sofa - only this time he watches a movie with Elijah. Elijah, though kind, was a big turn around from when he lived with his cousin. When they became offical the first thing Elijah did was make him get a job, bills don't pay themselves.

Damianis slowly learning to take in others feelings, it's a slow, slow, SLOW process. He still doesn't understand why dropping a bucket of spiders on that innocent looking child in the park is wrong, it's funny! But he's getting there

[tweedlydumbtweedlydoo]

Elijah Mikaelson x Reader

Request: You don’t like coffee or chocolates like most people and Elijah finds out. 

// Anon request:  Would you be able to write an Elijah Mikaelson x reader where the reader doesn't like coffee or chocolate like most people do and every morning Elijah makes her a coffee and he's always giving her chocolates and then one day he notices she drinks the coffee only cause he made it and she's kept all the chocolate he's ever given her in a box? ///

A/N: I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for your request. :) xx

**MASTERLIST**

Requests: {OPEN} CLOSED

I am currently taking requests for:

The Vampire Diaries/The Originals

Elijah Mikaelson

Damon Salvatore

Criminal Minds:

Spencer Reid

Derek Morgan

Supernatural (I’m only up to season 2, so please don’t request something with spoilers)**

Sam Winchester

Dean Winchester

********************************************************************************************NOT MY GIF, CREDIT TO OWNER

You didn’t mean for this to go on so long, but here it was 6 months into you and Elijah’s relationship and you’d yet to come clean that you didn’t like coffee or chocolate. It was the first morning he had woke up to make you coffee before work that started all this. You just couldn’t tell that sweet face and smile that you didn’t like coffee. So, since then, he’s woke up every morning before you and made you a cup of coffee while you get ready for work, which you drank even if you disliked that bitter taste. You loved him and you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. It’s the same with the chocolates. It became a habit for him to get you flowers and chocolates every Friday and surprise you at your work and take you out to lunch. It had been the sweetest gesture anyone had ever done for you and it was too late now to tell him you have the stash of all the chocolates he’s ever given you in your desk drawer that will never be eaten.

It’s Friday morning and you’re getting ready for work when he comes up the stairs, the steaming cup of bitterness in his hand. That smile though, it made you melt and you’d do anything for him. “Here you go, love.” He smiles, setting the coffee on the counter next to you, “2 sugars and cream, just like you like it.” 

“Oh, thank you,” You smile up at him and then continue to do your make up.

 He leans against the door, watching you, “Aren’t you going to take a sip?” 

Internally you groan. Usually he leaves after he gives you the coffee and you pour some of it down the drain, so you don’t have to drink as much. You then take a sip, flashing a smile, “It’s good, thank you.”

 He presses a kiss on your forehead, “I have to go, but I’ll see you at lunch when I come by today?” 

You nod in response, “Have a good day.” After you hear the door shut, you pour the steaming cup of bitterness down the sink.

 ~

 It was around lunchtime and your head was buried in your work. You opened one of your drawers to grab another pen, but you were met with all the chocolates Elijah’s ever bought occupying the drawer. It was full and you knew you would eventually have to throw them out. 

“Afternoon darling-”

 You quickly slam the drawer shut, turning in your chair to face him. You flash him a smile, “Elijah! Hi!” 

He questionably furrows his eyebrows at you, “Everything alright?” He asks, walking in, chocolate and flowers in his hand.

 You quickly nod, standing, “Yup! Ready for lunch?”

 He sets the flowers and chocolates on the desk, “Hiding something in there?” He points to the drawer. 

You shake your head, leaning against your desk, “Nope. Just… some you know office stuff.”

He nods, not fully believing you, and slowly walks over to you, “So... you wouldn’t mind if I…” Before you know it, he’s thrown the drawer open. 

“No-” you start, but it is too late. He is already seen all the hidden chocolate.

 He frowns, looking up at you, “Are these all the chocolates I’ve ever given you?”

 You groan, plopping into your chair, covering your face with your hands, “Please don’t be mad.”

 “Love, why would I be mad?” He bends to your level, pulling your hands away from your face, forcing you to look at him, “What’s going on?”

 “I don’t like coffee… or chocolates.” You whisper, biting you lip quickly adding an apology.

“We’ve been together for 6 months and you’re just telling me now?” He asks, standing. 

You stand as well, “I’m sorry, Elijah. It’s just... I don’t know!” You groan, “You made me coffee that first morning I stayed over, and you looked so happy to do it and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

 “Angel, you’re telling me, everyday for the past 6 months, I’ve been making you coffee, that you hate, yet still drink and every Friday for 6 months I’ve brought you chocolates, only for you to hide them in your desk drawer?” You can tell he’s holding back a smile. 

You bite your lip again, nodding, “yes...” 

He then chuckles, shaking his head, “I love you..” 

You blush, “I’m really sorry you’ve wasted so much money on coffee and chocolates.” 

“It’s alright. Next time, be honest with me? No matter my feelings.” His hand brushes against your cheek and he presses a soft kiss to your forehead. 

“Deal.”

 “Now, how about that lunch?”

*******************************************************************************************

xx 

[livlepretre]

So we’ve established that Klaroline was set up horribly and never made much sense—plus it totally wrecked Tyler’s storyline, but were there any other ships you thought were ooc or done very poorly? Or any ships you wanted to see or thought had good potential? I still wish the show was willing to admit what was really happening with Klefan in the 20s...

Well, first off, I agree with you about Klefan with the power of a thousand burning suns. It’s so very very very clear that Klaus and Stefan were ALSO involved, and that they were involved in a messy ménage à trois with Rebekah. That detail makes Klaus insisting on Stefan going with him that summer so much more potent-- like, of course Klaus wants Stefan there, of course it’s this bizarre messed up power dynamic where they were definitely sleeping together that summer but Stefan has no idea that he and Klaus have a history, he’s just high and angry and depressed and this force of nature has entered his life and knows just exactly how to get him off?? And the angst that would cause with his reunion with Elena-- the idea that they had true love, but probably less than a month after he leaves with Klaus, he’s sleeping with him? Devastating. The fact that Klaus is so jealous over Stefan, the way that Stefan goes after him like an angry ex in season 3? Fantastic. I love this ship. I approach TVD as though this is canon because honestly it has to be?? The subtext is basically vibrating so hard it reads as just plain text. 

This also brings up the thing about Klaus calling Stefan “brother”-- Klaus has a weird incest thing to him. I’m not sure I would call this “a ship with potential” but I do think there is a really strong implication that Klaus is sexually obsessed with his sister and I understand that TVD was never going to go there as it was a CW show, but considering they are vampires and just how WEIRD their chemistry is on the show and the whole thing where they were definitely both dating Stefan, I tend to headcanon this as well. It’s part of why things are so fucked up between them. 

I suppose on to the final hinge of this triangle, this is the ship I most regret not really getting in TVD: Stefan x Rebekah. I remember after 1x03 aired, I was convinced that we were about to launch into a sickeningly angsty (read: I lived for this) situation where Stefan would be in love with both Rebekah and Elena, through no fault of his own, and be unable to put one before the other (at least, not without a really long and epic emotional arc). I really enjoyed this idea in particular because Rebekah so embodies the parts of Stefan that Stefan most loathes about himself, the parts of him that he works so hard to suppress, but which are also very deep and intrinsic elements of his character. Elena represents a different side of himself: the person he tries to be, that he tries to change himself into, with lesser and greater success. It would have been a really fascinating ship that would have given some real tension to Stefan in season 3 and also lent Stelena its first real obstacle. 

Obviously I wish there had been some actual Elijah x Elena and some actual Klaus x Elena, because everything pointed that way and it would have been FUN, but the show seemed to think that Elena could only have so many love interests, which, shame. 

In some of my more lucid moments when I can tamp down my die hard Delena feelings, I can admit that Damon x Bonnie would have been a great ship. I don’t personally like the idea of it because I really really am all in for both Delena and Stelena, but it probably would have been utterly magnificent. 

As for what I think was handled poorly:  

Salt under the cut. 

obviously klaus x caroline 

I was never very happy with Steroline... a little surprising to me that I disliked it when I actually received it, because I shipped it pretty attentively in season 2, at the height of my interest in the show. My main issue with it was that by the time it happened, the show had pretty much convinced me that anyone other than Elena would always be #2 in Stefan’s eyes-- from what I’ve seen of the finale, it seems like the show went out of their way to reinforce Stelena again at the end, even though Stefan had married Caroline by that time. I suppose I just think what we actually got really sucked for Caroline, and it makes me sad for her. 

Elijah x Katherine-- Loved the idea that they would find a way to be together-- and even that Elijah would overlook how cruel Katherine had become (not that he should be throwing stones, or, in Elijah’s case, pebbles). HATED how quickly he left her to pursue the plot of the Originals-- I was NEVER given a satisfactory excuse for that-- the idea that they would still burn for each other 500 years later, that they would finally have a chance to be together, and what? Elijah discovers Katherine is in fact Katherine, the monster he and his brother made, so he ditches out? LAME. ALSO the fact that he didn’t come to her bedside AS SHE LAY DYING in 500 Years of Solitude?????? UNACCEPTABLE. This was WASTED. (But also. Because of this ship. I had to hear with my own ears “the sweet peasant girl you fell in love with way back when is dead”. UMM. EXCUSE ME. Nothing about the flashbacks imply Katerina was a peasant? Girl obviously had the connections to go to England? I’m so embarrassed for Elena’s wild lack of understanding of any basic history, I curl up and die every time I hear this Godforsaken line.)  

Elijah x Hayley-- OOC! I pretty much hate this ship. Mostly because if Elijah was going to pull what he did with Katherine, he ought to have been wrecked by it, not forgetting about Queen Kat and falling for random mean teenager Hayley. Maybe if it had been introduced later in The Originals, but it was like whiplash for me as a viewer and it set me against it right away 

Bonnie x Enzo-- look, I understand that people are into this ship and say it’s really well done, and I can admit that I haven’t really seen enough of the later seasons to judge fairly, but my gut feeling to encountering this has always been wtf? I just have a lot of trouble grappling with the idea of Bonnie with a vampire. The thing about Bonnie is that she’s consistently just about the only one with their head on straight. She knows vampires are THE WORST. and also, does no one remember that time that Enzo murdered Stefan? I DO. I SURE DO. I can just about buy the idea that over time Damon would get under her skin enough that I could see Damon x Bonnie, but this thing with Enzo strikes me as bizarrely out of character for her. Girl is too smart for this!! 

Anything pertaining to Silas/Amara/Quetsiyah-- kill it with fire 

OH and anything pertaining to Caroline x Alaric please smother it with a pillow-- I know a lot of people are into teacher x student as a kink and that Caroline had grown up by then, but teacher x student has and at this point probably always will squick me to no end and I hate the way that this ship brings Alaric’s character down, because Alaric is just so wonderful and has gone through so much grief, he should just get to not have this storyline tainting him 

[ovvnwords]

WANTED  CONNECTIONS  ....  hi  here  is  a  list  of  connections  i  would  really  really  want  for  my  gremlins.  inspo  from  all  places  ;  music,  movies,  pins,  etc.  i’ll  post  this  in  the  server  /  put  it  linked  in  my  pinned  post  but  for  best  results  send  me  a  dm  on  d/scord  bc  i  suck  at  things!  thank.

AVIVA  ROUX  .  podcaster  /  content  creator (  meg  t.  stallion )  !

GIRL  GANG  !  not  necessarily  ‘girls’  but  yk  what  i  mean.  very  close  knit,  always  hanging  out,  never  one  w/o  the  other,  etc.  i  like  the  idea  of  them  all  bein’  kind  of  different  ----  breakfast  club  style?  (  aviva  cld  be  the  *jughead  vc*  i’m  a  weirdo  for  example  ).  idk  i  think  it’d  be  neat  n  interesting  cld  even  have  group  chat  edits  n  things  on  the  dash  frankly  i  wld  just  like  for  her  to  have  some  friends!  inspo  ( one  ,  two )  .

PODCAST  PARTNER  ! the  shane  to  her  ryan,  so  to  speak.  the  show  talks  about  mysteries  and  internet  oddities  and  different  spooky  things ( they  borderline  on  true  crime,  but  they  don’t  necessarily  go  into  detail  about  cases  if  that  makes  sense  )  .  i  think  the  dynamic  of  a  outrageous  thinker  to  her  pessimistic  ideals.  inspo  ( one  ,  two ,  three  ,  this  tag  ) .

YOUNGER  SIBLING  !  i  like  to  imagine  they’re  pretty  close,  maybe  close  in  age?  i  don’t  rlly  have  much  to  say  about  this  one,  should  probably  put  it  on  the  main,  but  i  love  sibling  connects  so  !

HATEHSHIP  !  someone  she  jus  can’t  stand  yet  can’t  stay  away  from.  maybe  they’re  an  asshole  but  damn  cute,  or  another  reason.  inspo (  one  )  .

ROOMMATES  ! like  to  imagine  it’s  a  bunch  of  them  living  friends-style,  either  in  the  same  apartment  or  even  building  (  or  wld  that  be  jersey  shore  style.  idk  ) but  it  cld  be  fun  especially  if  they  don’t  get  along  all  that  well  but  the  rent  is  nice  and  they  make  it  work.

FIRST  CRUSH  ! eeeeeeeeeeeee  they  cld’ve  met  when  they  were  children  and  had  one  of  those  one  day  long  things  in  elementary  school  where  they  broke  up  bc  they  didn’t  share  crayons  or  something  JSDVKJDFVKJV  they  could’ve  remained  friends,  been  neighbors,  had  crushes  or  a  fling  in  high  school  .

EX  SQUAD  !  i  like  the  idea  of  aviva  having  a  solid  friend  group  in  high  school  that  all  aren’t  good  terms  with  each  other  for  whatever  reason  ..  don’t  have  to  figure  it  out  asap  i  just  love  the  tension  thts  all.

BEST  FRIEND ��/  RIDE  OR  DIE  ! someone  who  has  her  back  and  vice  versa.  supports  each  other  thru  thick  and  thin,  gives  each  other  the  whack  on  the  head  they  need  every  once  in  a  while.  inspo  (  one,  two )  .

FLING  /  FWB  /  HOOK  UPS  ! kind  of  self  explanatory.  aviva  doesn’t  really  have  a  preference,  if  she’s  attracted  to  u  she’s  attracted  to  you,  has  her  fun  but  s*x  isn’t  really  her  idea  of  a  fun  thing  to  do  24  /  7  .  like  to  imagine  she  mostly  goes  for  women  ( hey  ladies  .... )  !

EX  PARTNER  ! i  like  the  idea  of  them  being  super  cute  n  lovey  dovey  in  hs  but  then  maybe  one  of  them  went  off  to  college?  they  had  a  falling  out?  ended  on  not  so  great  terms?  the  possibilities  are  endless  to  be  frank!

RIVAL  /  ENEMY  /  SOMEONE  SHE  JUST  CAN’T  STAND  !  ig  this  could  be  more  chemsitry  based  but  they  just  avidly  dislike  each  other  for  one  reason  or  another?  can’t  stand  each  other?  petty  tweets  /  subtweets  etc  etc  .  could  be  fun  n  juicy.

FRIENDS  !  self  explanatory.

DAWSON  ELLIS .  unemployed  /  formal  journalist ( chris  pine  )  !

FRIENDS  !  self  explanatory.    he’s  40,  so  rlly  he  just  kinda  vibing.

RIVALS  /  ENEMIES  !  i  like  the  idea  of  just  hating  each  other  since  high  school  and  just  have  this  burning  hatred  for  each  other  even  after  all  this  time  …  chuckles.  inspo  (  one  )  .

PEOPLE  HE  TAKES  UNDER  HIS  WING  !  idk  what  this  could  entail  maybe  he  jus  likes  one  of  u  youngins  …  doesn’t  want  to  see  u  in  the  same  path  he  went  down,  tries  to  steer  u  straight  a  little  bit.  stuff  like  that.  very  dad  like  as  if  he  has  a  maternal  bone  in  his  body.

EX FIANCE ! heheh .. i plan on making this a wc possibly, but i like the idea of someone who he dated for a long period of time after he graduated and left irving, eventually who he proposed two. maybe his addiction could have caused a strain, maybe it was because he was traveling so much, or some other reason but then they broke it off. they came back to irving for one reason or another, he came back bc he’s sober now, there’s tension. kind of based on exile by taylor swift + bon iver .

EMPLOYER  !  this  man  needs  a  job.  so  ........    hands  on  hips  who  is  hiring.

FRIENDS  FROM  HIGH  SCHOOL  !  if  anyone  grew  up  in  irving  /  or  was  in  hs  around  the  time  he  was,  it  could  be  quite  fun  to  reconnect.  old  friends  yadda  yadda  yadda.  

SOMEONE  WHO  KNOWS  HIM  ONLY  FROM  HIS  SISTER  !  smiles  at  jean  so  wide  .....  yes  dawson  is  leonora’s  annoying  lil  brother.  he’s  very  elusive  (  or  so  he  thinks  …  )  so  .  we  cld  do  something  with  that  perhaps.

ELIJAH  PALERMO .  little  league  coach  /  student  (  lukas  gage  )  !

THE  LAST  PALERMO  SIBLING  !  yes  …  this  is  on  the  main  but  i  imagine  elijah  and  them  to  be  very  close  and  it’d  be  fun!  sorry  for  the  grey  hairs  though.

BEST  FRIEND  !  this  is  someone  elijah  trusts  more  than  jus  abt  anybody  ..  including  his  siblings  maybe.  they’re  always  together,  never  apart,  besties  forever.  causing  chaos  and  mayhem.  probably  co-parent  georgia.  knows  each  others  fast  food  orders,  encouraging  their  bad  behaviors  …  

EXES  !  i  like  to  imagine  elijah  is  the  type  to  rush  into  a  relationship  then  have  it  all  turn  to  shit.  could  be  on  good  terms,  bad  term,  neutral.  

EX  FRIENDS  !  along  the  same  vein,  maybe  they  had  a  falling  out?  one  of  them  just  didn’t  want  to  be  friends  anymore?  they  just  stopped  talking?  give  me  angst  thank  u.

FRIENDS  !  hes  so  talkative  and  annoying  please  give  him  more  friends  …  my  personal  favorites  are  old  couple  bickering  /  complete  opposites  /  good  or  bad  influences  /  new  age  “thembo  summit”  where  there’s  no  got  damn  thought  in  anyones  head  just  vibes.

FLIRTATIONSHIP  !  they  flirt  …  they  give  each  other  eyes.  and  yet?  nothing.  wtf.

HOOK  UPS  /  FWBS  !  they’re  hot.  and  he  has  eyes.  it’s  basic  math.  

RIVAL  /  ENEMY  !  i  like  to  imagine  elijah  didn’t  mean  to  be  rude  /  or  did  something  bad  to  this  person  but  he  did,  even  accidentally,  but  now  they  hate  him.  or  even  mutual  hatred  <3  constant  subtweets  n  petty  comments  in  public  …

PARTY  BUDDIES  !  theyre  always  together  at  parties  …  self  explanatory.  

PARENT  OF  KIDS  HE  COACHES  !  self-explanatory.

CLASSMATES  !  must  go  to  community  college,  but  otherwise  self-explanatory.  

WILL  THEY  /  WON’T  THEY  !  i  love  this  kinda  shit  ..  theyre  constantly  acting  like  a  couple  but  also  aren’t  one.  everyone  is  dying  to  know  like  …...  so  isn’t  eli  <3

HATEHSHIP  !  they  hate  each  other  .  but  also  f*ck.  then  hate  each  other  again.

ROOMMATES  !  pls  give  him  a  roommate  this  fucker  can’t  function  by  himself.

KALANI  MADDEN  .  student  (  auli’i  cravalho  )  !

PEOPLE  SHE  TEACHES  ASL  !  this  is  my  favorite.  pls  pls  pls.  she  uses  asl  as  her  primary  source  of  communication,  she’s  most  comfortable  with  it  due  to  her  hearing,  but  many  people  don’t  know  it  so  pls  let  her  teach  ur  muse  i’d  love  it  so  much.

FRIENDS  /  BEST  FRIENDS  !  i’d  love  to  have  a  lil  squad  ..  lil  baby  squad  or  even  just  a  best  friend  who  they’re  always  sharing  tiktoks  over  videos  and  having  sleepovers  and  going  to  wendys  at  1  am  bc  they’re  bored.  

RIVALS  /  ENEMIES  !  people  who  just  don’t  fuckin  like  her  bc  she’s  annoying  like  i  understand.

PEOPLE  WHO  DON’T  TAKE  HER  SHIT  /  HATE  HER  DRAMATICS  !  pls  hate  her.  punt  her  to  the  moon.  

PEOPLE  SHE  SPOILS  WITH  HER  PARENTS  MONEY  !  pls  let  her  sugar  mama  u.  she  will  buy  u  legit  anything  if  ur  nice  to  her.  

FLIRTATIONSHIP  !  this  wld  be  a  bit  cute  ..  almost  a  will  they  won’t  they  vibe.  they  flirt.  they  smile.  they  make  googley  eyes.  they  subtweet  each  other.  it’s  messy  and  cute.  

BAD  INFLUENCES  /  GOOD  INFLUENCES  !  people  who  lead  her  either  down  a  really  good  or  really  bad  path.  

PEOPLE  SHE  KNOWS  BC  OF  HER  BROTHER  !  self-explanatory  but  also  kind  of  need  him  for  this  so  .  hehe  .

HER  BROTHER  !  on  the  main,  but  pls  bring  this  kid  her  parent  (  almost  )  .

PEOPLE  SHE  KNEW  BACK  IN  NYC  !  self-explanatory.  her  family  is  very  wealthy,  famous  in  the  social  scene.

[misssophiachase]

Right of Way

For @klaroline-events KC Bingo - Enemies to Lovers - On AO3 and FF

At the Palm Beach Equestrian Club, Klaus Mikaelson is the prince of the polo field and Caroline the showjumping darling. They immediately dislike each other but, at the same time, can’t seem to get out of each other’s way.

right-of-way (noun) \ ˌrīt-ə(v)-ˈwā \

1: a legal right of passage over another person’s ground

2: in polo - when a player has the line of the ball on their right, they have the right of way (ROW). Enforced to keep all players safe and avoid collisions on the field, players may only enter or cross the ROW if they can do so safely and with enough distance.

Present Day (February) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“I hate you.”

“Well, I hate you too, Forbes,” he growled, “now are you going to keep talking or am I going to have to...”

Before he could go through with his threat she’d pushed him up against the stall door, his intense gaze only increasing her desperation.

“Has anyone told you that you talk too much, Mikaelson?” He didn’t respond, just leaned in impatiently, his mouth claiming hers greedily.

Caroline pulled him closer, grabbing ample handfuls of his number 3 polo jersey. He was warm and familiar against her skin and a delicious aromatic mixture of spice and sandalwood. She’d never admit it, but Caroline loved being close to him post match. They’d just won convincingly, no surprises there, but he was always more needy and urgent and the sex decidedly more explosive.

His mouth travelled down her neck and Caroline had to bite her lip to stifle a moan. She wanted to take her time and enjoy him but given where they were that wasn’t an option. Plus, she knew from experience that he would make it up to her later.

He was trailing kisses along the length of her collar bone now, his lips teasing the swell of her breasts and his tongue close to delving into the valley between them when she heard a noise in one of the far stalls.

It startled them and broke up their kiss. They started at each other intently, panting but at the same time holding a silent discussion with their eyes. Should they risk it or should they move apart and avoid suspicion? It seemed like a fairly easy decision. No one could know they were together but the strong magnetic pull between them made moving seem inconvenient.

A further noise and subsequent horsey neigh made them realise that, unfortunately, it wasn’t going to happen. Not now anyway.

“I don’t like you that much anyway,” she reiterated, shrugging her shoulders. If he was offended by her comment he didn’t show it. His crimson lips curved into a knowing smile, a rogue dimple making an appearance in his left cheek.

“The feeling is mutual, love. Don’t miss me too much.” He was walking purposefully through the stables before she had a chance to reply.

Asshat.

Caroline hit her head against the stall a few times, hoping that it would somehow allow sense to prevail but unfortunately she knew if he kissed her again she wouldn’t resist. She was supposed to hate the guy not be rubbing up against him every chance she got.

Caroline felt a soft nuzzling against her shoulder, looking up into the warm and expectant eyes of her chestnut mare Coco.

“Don’t start,” she murmured, patting her nose affectionately.

How did she get here? How did they get here?

It had all started out so innocently. You don’t like the person, you ignore them.

Simple, right?

10 months earlier (April) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

Equestrian was the way of life in Wellington. In fact, if you didn’t ride, compete or spectate there was no point in actually living there. Home to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre and to the famed Winter Equestrian Festival, they lived, breathed and everything else horse related. Caroline’s mom and grandmother had both competed at a national level and were local legends in her hometown.

She was following in their footsteps and out of the three she possessed the most natural talent. While skilled in dressage, her forte was showjumping and there were hopes she’d one day compete in the Olympics for the USA. As much as Caroline loved horse riding, she didn’t love the pressure associated with it.

Her best friend Kat competed with her from a young age, but she maintained she only stuck it out because she couldn’t resist a hot guy in jodphurs.

It was a Tuesday, Caroline remembered because she had her private lesson. After arriving at the club, she noticed a few new faces. Two guys and a girl, all around her age. The brooding blonde was especially good looking, he looked kind of familiar but she wasn’t sure why.

He also seemed generally unimpressed with his surroundings as the director Jenna Sommers showed them the facility. Caroline hung back, but was still close enough to overhear.

“The stables were built in 2017, there are sixty 12x12 stalls, twenty wash stalls, specialty hay and grain storage, multiple dressing rooms, laundry rooms, office space, full sized kitchen and bathrooms. There are three arenas, one covered, one sand and one grass.”

“And the polo facilities,” the blonde interrupted, clearly impatient. His voice was very English and his tone incredibly brusque.

“The Polo Club is adjacent. It spans nearly 250 acres and includes seven state-of-the-art tournament fields that can accommodate multiple games simultaneously.”

“I suppose that will have to do,” he muttered. Caroline knew she was biased but the polo club was internationally renowned and held many top level national and international competitions, this guy was clearly hard to please.

“Oh, Caroline,” she didn’t realise just how close she was. Jenna was looking at her curiously and she could tell was relieved by the interruption. “Meet the Mikaelson siblings, they’re new to Florida and the States. Caroline Forbes is one of our very best show jumpers.”

They seemed intimidating from the outset as they looked at her expectantly and Caroline wasn’t quite sure what to say, until she managed to get something out.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

The good looking one’s eyes flickered over her attire briefly before looking away. Charming. Well, two could play at that game.

“Rebekah is the same age, Caroline,” she said, gesturing to the blonde girl. “Maybe you could take her out to the arena for your lesson so she can look around?” Caroline figured it wasn’t a suggestion but an order.

At first Caroline thought Rebekah was incredibly uptight. Katherine would say she had a stick up her ass and Caroline was secretly glad her best friend wasn’t part of the welcoming committee.

She found out that the family were members of the exclusive Cowdray Park Polo Club in West Sussex and Rebekah’s older brother was skilled in polo. Rebekah excelled in dressage and was quite heavily involved in competitions like Caroline.

“So, I take it this isn’t that impressive compared to your previous club in England?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Your brother didn’t seem very happy with the polo facilities.”

“Niklaus isn’t happy with anything,” she drawled.

“Niklaus?”

“He hates it but I do it just to annoy him,” she offered, a slight smile crossing her face. Maybe there was a less uptight side to her after all.

“No, I meant that name sounds familiar.”

“He’s one of the best polo players in England and beyond, but don’t tell him I said that because I will deny it,” she groaned.

Now, it was all coming back to her. Caroline didn’t play polo but knew she’d seen him on the cover of quite a few magazines. He was incredibly good looking but from what she’d seen, he was clearly arrogant and self absorbed too.

“None of us are happy that my father was transferred for work but Nik is feeling the move the most. Elijah is off to Yale so is only passing through town and Kol is Kol.”

Caroline wasn’t sure what that meant, but she was certain she’d find out.

4 months later (August) USA v Argentina Display Match, Palm Beach International Polo Club, FL

“Look at that South American stallion in action,” Katherine purred from the sidelines. “And by that, I don’t mean the horse.”

Caroline rolled her eyes although it wouldn’t be Kat if she wasn’t checking out the talent.

The annual display match was a big event on the club’s polo calendar. People from all around the country and overseas attended and it was one of the premiere fashion events of the year. Although Caroline enjoyed it, something was making it less that way. Or someone if she was being specific.

Klaus Mikaelson.

Watching him take the field like he owned the place was a bad enough start to her day. In the four months she’d had the displeasure of knowing him, Caroline had decided that he was one of the most arrogant, conceited and smug idiots she’d ever met. Of course, the other girls at the club didn’t share her feelings and were all vying for his attention on and off the field. Caroline thought they were all pathetic for not seeing what she saw.

That he was an ass.

Caroline had every intention of steering clear of the guy but it seemed as if everywhere she went, he did too. It didn’t help that her and Katherine had been spending time together with his sister. It also didn’t help that he looked so attractive annoying her. Whether it was a flash of those dimples or a curve of his crimson lips, Caroline found herself doing all that she could not to jump him. And she hated herself for that. It also meant she was moody more often and it clearly hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“The grouchy look on your face is doing nothing for that stunning Burberry dress, Care,” Kat insisted. Caroline looked down at the white, fitted ensemble thinking her friend was right that it didn’t match her personality.

“Why do we have to watch this?” She growled, noticing Katherine was about to interrupt. “And I don’t want to hear about the South American stallions."

“Well, unfortunately the club has this really annoying policy whereby all younger members need to be present. Apparently, it helps with publicity and that means more members and we all know what that means.”

“Money,” she murmured. “I don’t like it but I get it. But since when did we become the cheerleaders for the guy’s polo team? I don’t see any of them at our show jumping meets.”

“As much as you don’t want to hear this, polo is more popular and it doesn’t hurt that the club’s star player is the best advertisement they’ve got.”

“If you say his name…”

“The club has hit a gold mine with Hottie Mchottie as a member and I’m inclined to agree.”

“You did that on purpose.”

“I could have meant anyone,” she smirked. “Okay, maybe. I have to admit, I love the way he riles you up, it’s like watching live action foreplay.”

“You have a one track mind.”

“And you, my dear, are in denial.”

“I can’t stand him and his pompous ass.”

“Talking about his ass again, are we?” Kat teased. “Anyone would think you were obsessed.” Caroline gave her a look which plainly said she wasn’t interested in engaging. “Have you considered relieving some of that sexual tension with him in the nearest stable on a strategically placed haystack? You might find that helps with your general mood.”

“Well, on that rather weird and erotic novel type note,” she growled, annoyed that Kat probably had a point. She couldn’t stand the guy but there was no denying her attraction. “I’m going to get a drink and then spike it so I don’t have to deal with your wild opinions.”

“Best thing you’ve suggested all day, get me one too,” she called out to her retreating back. Caroline could hear her laughter and it wasn’t helping improve her mood.

“Why are you in such a bad mood?”

What was this, pick on Caroline day? She looked over at Kol Mikaelson standing by the buffet table, his plate piled high.

“You realise you can come back again for more, right?”

“This is my third helping,” he said, gesturing to his food. “I don’t know why they insist on these tiny plates.”

“Probably so people like you don’t hoover up the entire buffet in one fell swoop and leave nothing for the rest of us,” she offered. “I’m surprised to see you actually.”

“Really? This is my dream come true, free food and beautiful women.” Caroline fought the urge to roll her eyes.

The youngest Mikaelson had always been an enigma to her. Kol had absolutely no interest in horses. Period. Unlike his sister and brother he only attended the club on social occasions. She actually found him to be the most fun, not that she’d ever admit that.

“Of course,” she sighed knowingly. “I’m not sure why I said that. I can see the food has been a hit, how about things on the girl front?”

“Not yet, but it’s still early. I have to say Katherine is looking…”

“I’m going to have to stop you there,” she interrupted. “I love my best friend but she is a pariah and will devour you and not in a good way. Plus, she likes older guys.”

“Well, that explains her checking out Elijah,” he muttered, referring to when his older brother visited the club on a break from college a month earlier. “Any other friends for me?”

“Not any I’d introduce you to, Kol,” she joked, noticing his face falter slightly. “The day is still young though and I’ve caught April Young checking you out.” Given the way his expression changed, Caroline figured she’d buoyed him slightly.

“Of course she was,” he grinned. “So, why so glum, sugar plum?” He asked, placing his plate down and looking at her earnestly. “Usually Niklaus has to be in at least a half mile radius for this kind of reaction.”

“This has nothing to do with…”

“I’m his brother and, trust me, I know the signs,” he advised. “I assume you’ve heard about the Winter Festival then?”

“Well, it’s held every year,” she replied.

The Winter Festival was the premiere equestrian event running from January to April every year in their hometown of Wellington. It was considered the largest and longest-running competition in the world and attracted varying levels of riders from all over the US and beyond.

“Yes,” he drawled sarcastically. “I meant about you and Niklaus doing...”

“Me and Niklaus?” His face was ashen now, clearly he’d misjudged the situation and her reaction. “Doing what exactly.”

“You’re going to have to ask him,” he blurted out, holding up his plate of food like a shield between them. “I have no intention of being the messenger who gets shot, especially when I’m so young and handsome and have so much to live for.”

“Gee, how dramatic. Just tell me, Kol, “ she pressed. “Trust me, my anger will be squarely directed at your brother. If you need any proof just look at precedent.”

“He told me that you two are going to be the faces of the festival,” he mumbled. “Do all the publicity and promotional things for it.”

“Unbelievable...” she scowled. “I’m going to kill him.”

She was gone before Kol could offer any rebuttal.

45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“No need to tell me how wonderful I am, Forbes,” he smiled, walking towards the stall leading his stallion Jet.

He’d happened upon her pacing outside his stall, her white dress doing nothing to hide her delectable curves. He’d almost lost concentration multiple times during the match thanks to that particular ensemble. Klaus wasn’t one who lost concentration often but was starting to realise that Caroline Forbes did something to him that no one ever had before.

Sure, he liked to give her a hard time and revelled in the way she reacted but she’d commanded his attention for months now. No one even stood a chance when she was in his line of sight.

It started when they met. Those golden waves and blue eyes were mesmerising but if Klaus was being honest it was the slight dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose that really drove him crazy.

“I’m not one of your pathetic, sycophantic groupies,” she hissed, finally coming to a stop and placing her arms across her chest defiantly. “I hear you’ve been making decisions on my behalf.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” he said, leading Jet into the stall and removing his bridle. Klaus wondered how long it would take for the news to reach Caroline.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You can’t just go around making decisions on my behalf,” she argued.

“The festival, I assume?” He asked feigning innocence. “They needed two photogenic, equestrian talents to promote it. If anything I thought you’d be flattered.”

“Wow, you really think I’m going to fall into a giggling heap because you called me both photogenic and talented? You picked the wrong girl.”

“I didn’t pick anyone…”

“Oh no you don’t,” she shot back. “I just spoke to Jenna and apparently it was all your idea.”

“She asked me for suggestions and I obliged.” Klaus figured that at least sounded half true, even if it wasn’t.

Klaus knew that if he was going to be stuck doing publicity then the only person he wanted by his side was Caroline. Yes, it was selfish, and now, probably in hindsight, a little creepy sounding but he wanted her to see there was more to him.

“If that’s true,” she accused.

“If you do this then think of all the benefits.” She gave him a curious look and Klaus knew he had her attention. “Sponsorship, fame, fortune.”

“Just because you want those material things doesn’t mean I do,” she answered. “There’s more to life than all of this.” Klaus detected a sense of sadness in her tone, like show jumping wasn’t her only ambition in life. Before he could respond, she did. “Anyway, why would I make a pact with the devil?”

“You know, I’m much nicer once you get to know me, Caroline.”

“Says Satan,” she drawled. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Well, you’re going to have about six months to see it,” he replied.

“This is not happening,” she insisted. “I’m going to tell Jenna that this was all your hair brained scheme and I want no part of it.”

“Now, even I know you won’t do that,” he said, knowing he was right. If she backed out on this it would be frowned upon by the upper echelons at the club, not to mention her family. “Look, maybe you might even have a bit of fun. Did you ever think of that?”

“I’ve never associated you with fun,” she murmured. “More like the impediment to it.”

“We’ll see about that, love.”

“If we’re going to at least pretend to be friends, don’t call me love.”

Klaus watched her walk away, her hips wiggling hypnotically from side to side. Jet nuzzled into his neck, almost like he was thinking the exact same thing.

“Hooves off, boy, I saw her first.”

2 months later (October) - Municipal Beach, FL

“Why exactly am I wearing high heels on a horse on a beach?” She asked, as someone touched up her make-up. “I think this is up there with the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s supposed to be artistic.”

“Well, it’s not. Anyway, who asked you?” She shot back, as he held onto the reins of her horse. “You get to wear comfortable footwear at least.”

“If it’s any consolation, red is your colour,” he said, gesturing to the patent heels she was wearing. She groaned, no doubt moving around in order to get more comfortable, but given she was wearing a matching ball gown, Klaus knew it was no mean feat.

“I’ll tell you where you can stick your consolation, Mikaelson.”

“Now that’s not the way for a lady to speak, is it Jigsaw?” He spoke to the horse she was atop.

“Remind me never to agree to do this again,” she mumbled, leaning down so she could say it in his ear.

Klaus couldn’t help but laugh aloud, she’d been saying it ever since the publicity campaign began in September. Photo shoots had become commonplace for them but they’d also just finished a nation-wide interview blitz where he’d be charming and Caroline had no choice but to follow suit. He might have also held her hand a couple of times and gone out of his way not to deny a possible romance between the newest equestrian darlings. The media had eaten it up of course and Klaus was in no rush for it all to end. Luckily, they still had a while until it all wrapped up.

Her frustration with him seemed to only add to his need to be near her. Klaus knew it was a tactic she employed and that the attraction between them was not only one sided. Caroline seemed to make it her aim in life to keep her distance but Klaus could feel it in her looks and her touch.

“You secretly love the attention.”

“Not bloody likely.”

“Someone’s clearly been around me too long,” he teased hearing the ‘b’ word.

“And don’t I know it,” she groaned, then attempted to sit upright again in the saddle. In the process her left shoe fell off and landed on the sand. Klaus sprang into action, kneeling down and picking it up. He noticed her looking downwards from the saddle and held it up to her foot.

“I think there was a fairytale about this once.”

“That’s fantastic,” the photographer shouted excitedly, what seemed like a thousand clicks sounding out from his camera. “Smile, Caroline, it’s your very own Prince Charming.”

“You’re never going to let me live this one down, are you?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“Never, Cinderella.”

One month later (November) - Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

“That’s not the right of way,” he insisted, watching as she attempted to get the ball further down the field. “The line of the ball needs to be on the right.”

“But it’s my right of way,” she argued, moving the ball again.

“No, that’s cheating.”

“You are no fun, anyone ever tell you that?” She laughed.

“They want the faces of the festival to play in the charity polo tournament,” he said. “I don’t think the organisers would take too kindly to you breaking the rules.”

“Polo is entirely too civilised for my liking, far too many rules.”

It was at that point, her horse stopped dead in the middle of the field and no amount of encouragement was going to move her. Klaus swept in and took possession of the ball and rode the rest of the distance to score.

“Hey, that’s not fair! My horse is broken,” she shouted.

“That’s no way to talk about Scout, is it girl,” he grinned, trotting closer so he could rub her ears and mane affectionately.

“Sabotage, that’s what this is,” she growled. “I should have known when you gave me one of your fifty million horses for practice.”

“I have three and every polo rider should have a few to choose from,” he remarked. “And as much as I love Coco, she’s not a polo pony.”

“She wouldn’t cheat like this little lady.”

“Says the biggest cheater of them all,” he teased, nudging her slightly.

Caroline, not wanting to be outdone, pushed back until it became a full on play fight. Catching him by surprise, Caroline pulled at one of his stray curls causing Klaus to reel backward and off his horse completely. It had been raining overnight so the field was wet and muddy in parts. Klaus managed to fall right into one of them.

As much as he wanted to get angry and be upset, Klaus couldn’t help but think her melodic laughter was contagious and he started to follow suit. Pretty soon they were both in fits of laughter and Caroline wasn’t expecting him to reach up and pull her off the saddle and into the mud with him.

“Hey! That’s not fair!”

“Says the girl who started it,” he joked. “I don’t know, I think mud is a good look for you.” Before she could react he’d smeared it across her cheek.

“You did not just do that!” Caroline threw some back, hitting him square on the chest. “This means war, Mikaelson!”

“Bring it on, Forbes,” he provoked, pulling her into the mud with him.

45 minutes later

“I think we can safely say that our first polo practice was a disaster,” Caroline murmured.

They’d both showered in the centre’s bathroom facilities and were sitting outside waiting on some clothes to dry. Klaus was trying not to notice just how good she looked in a towel, her usually creamy skin tinged pink from the hot water.

“I don’t know, I personally thought it was a lot of fun, especially when I pulled you into the mud pit.”

“Of course you did,” she drawled. He noticed her eyes riveted by a stray water droplet running down his bare chest. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one currently distracted by the view. “I, uh, didn’t think you had it in you, to be honest.”

“Have what in me?”

“I thought you were far too into yourself to let loose and have a bit of fun,” she offered. 

“Wow, you really think that badly of me?” He asked, not exactly surprised by her account of him but also slightly offended. “Talk about judging a book by its cover.”

 “I’m sorry but you seemed unimpressed with everyone and everything here after you arrived in town.”

“I was homesick,” he replied honestly. “I still am sometimes. I never wanted to leave England. My whole life was there, my friends, my family. Florida is like a whole other world and I wasn’t sure how to act.”

“Yeah, it is intense.” The empathy reflected in her eyes was enough to tell Klaus she was reconsidering her views. “You do that confident, smug act a little too well.”

“Trust me, it was difficult. This place is like horses on steroids, well you know not the animals themselves.” Klaus couldn’t believe how stupid he sounded, he decided to blame it on her being barely dressed.

“I know exactly what you mean, although Wellington is all I’ve ever known.”

“You said something about there being more to life than this,” he recalled. “What did you mean by that?”

“The dreaded legacy.”

“Family pressure?” He guessed. Klaus knew from asking around that both her grandmother and mother had been champion riders.

“This life was it for them,” she murmured. “This is all they’ve ever known and they want me to follow in their footsteps but I’m not quite sure that’s what I want.”

“You mean there’s more to life than this equestrian dream?”

“I want to get out of Wellington, go to college next year and see what else is out there.”

“Have you ever considered talking it out with them?”

“Many times,” she shared. “But I chicken out every time. How do you start a conversation like that?”

“My step father is the opposite,” he offered. “Mikael thinks riding around on a horse is extremely unmasculine and that I should be doing more practical things in my life, like concentrating on college.”

“Wow, he sounds like a real…”

“Ass?” He answered for her. “I think he hoped this move would make me reconsider polo but I don’t really know anything else.”

“We are an extremely pathetic duo.”

“Maybe we need to do something to cheer ourselves up,” Klaus suggested, trying to ignore just how much he wanted to pull off her towel and play out every single fantasy he’d had starring Caroline.

“I’m not going to roll around in the mud again with you, Mikaelson.” He could tell by the way she was looking at him, biting her lower lip as her eyes devoured him, that she wasn’t opposed to it at all.

“I could think of other, more clean, ways to pass the time until our clothes are dry?” She clearly didn’t need to be asked twice.

“Now that you mention it, I think I missed a few spots,” she smiled, pulling him up by the hand and leading him towards the showers.

“I’d be more than happy to help with that, love.”

The tension that had been building between them for months finally dissipated in a shower stall. Her back up against the tiles as he moved inside her, the hot water falling down on them. Time stood still and they only emerged once the water ran out and they were forced back to reality in a cold burst.

As relieving as it was, Klaus was disinclined to ask too many questions in case the spell was broken. Caroline seemed just as reluctant. Suddenly, being near each other was all that mattered and any talk about their feelings pushed into the background.

Present Day (March) - Competition Arena, Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre, Wellington, FL

(Caroline)

“Only one circuit between you and the championship, Care,” Kat smiled, giving Coco an obligatory good luck sugar cube.

Caroline barely heard her best friend or the announcer over the loudspeaker, she was too busy trying to get into the competition zone. Usually, it was easy to block out outside influences but she’d been struggling for the last few weeks.

It had all started when Klaus decided to ask the question they’d managed to avoid for months now. They’d finished their ‘picnic’ at a secluded spot they secretly visited and rather than redressing and leaving as usual, he’d asked the question.

“What are we?” She’d frozen to the spot, unable to respond. They didn’t do this, they didn’t talk about their feelings or wherever this was going between them. They didn’t do anything.

“Klaus…”

“You and I both know that things can’t continue like this.”

“Why not?” She cried. “We’re having fun, we’re enjoying ourselves. Let’s not ruin what we have.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what we have,” he murmured. “I know that you make me happy and that the last few months have been the best of my life.”

“So, why do we have to put a label on it?”

“Because no one knows about us, we hide away like we’re ashamed of being together. I don’t want to do that anymore because I love you, Caroline.” He’d never said that before and she wasn’t quite sure how to handle it, especially mid-fight. His gaze was as intense as it was imploring.

“It’s just…” Caroline broke off, unable to explain how she was feeling and what she wanted. She knew she had strong feelings for Klaus but it scared the hell out of her. “You’re going to Oxford in the fall and…”

“So, you’ve had enough of me then? This was all just a game to you?” She knew it wasn’t a game but it was difficult to find the words. She was expected to keep on the equestrian track in the States and the thought of him leaving her there was too much. 

“Of course not,” she murmured, her gaze now firmly downcast to avoid his gaze. “I just don’t know where this is going and the sooner we realise that the better.” 

He was gone before she looked up and they hadn’t spoken since.

“Caroline, hello?” Katherine asked, waving her hands in front of her face animatedly. “Where did you go? If that was a sex trance, I want to know all of the dirty details.”

“I only told you about that because you’re my best friend, but I have no intention of going into detail, even if you’re giving me those pleading, sex-starved eyes.”

“No fun, bestie,” she pouted. “So, why do I sense there’s trouble in paradise?”

“There’s no trouble,” she offered. “We’re actually not seeing each other anymore. It’s really for the best given...”

“Are you dumb or blind or both?”

“It’s not going anywhere, he’s off to England in the fall and then what? I’ll still be here doing what I do.”

“And you sound so excited by that prospect.”

“You’re going off to Columbia, Rebekah to Harvard and I’m going to Brown, not because I really want to go there but because it has the best equestrian team.”

“You need to tell your mom that this isn’t the life you want.”

“Easier said than done,” Caroline groaned. “Did I tell you that I got into Oxford?”

“What do you think?” Kat drawled. “How could you not tell me this, I’m only your best friend.”

“I only received the letter on Thursday.”

“So, I’m officially confused. You want to go to Oxford, you always have. Doesn’t this mean that all the moaning and groaning about Klaus and a possible future is redundant?”

“Kat…”

“Caroline, I say this with love, but you’re an idiot. Yes, your family wants one thing but I think you’re old enough to make your own decisions. Plus, I bet the equestrian team at Oxford is pretty good, you know if you want to keep your options open.” She did have a point.

Caroline didn’t have time to respond though because one of the guys they knew from the polo club came running towards them frantically.

“Please tell me that’s not some new and really bad dance?” Kat asked, looking at him curiously.

“There’s been an accident on the polo field.”

“What happened?” Caroline asked, her stomach dropping. It could have been anyone but for some reason she felt like it was him.

“Number 3,” he panted. “Opposing team broke the right of way, there was a collision and he was thrown off his horse.”

“Is he okay?” Caroline asked, all composure lost. She didn’t care who knew just as long as he was going to be okay.

“They took him to hospital by ambulance, he was unconscious,” he replied.

Caroline handed Katherine the reins, and they held a conversation with their eyes. The decision about what to do was the easiest one she’d made. No championship was worth it, she was going to the hospital.

1 hour and 45 minutes later

(Klaus)

“He always was the most dramatic one in the family.” Klaus heard Rebekah’s voice as he started to come to. They all knew she was the most dramatic but liked to pretend she wasn’t.

“Oh, look,” Kol exclaimed. “I guess Rebekah having a voice like nails on a blackboard has finally come in handy. Welcome back, Niklaus.”

“Is this a nightmare?” He managed to get out, his gaze trained on his younger siblings.

“Wow, you made a joke,” Rebekah cooed. “Looks like big brother is back with an even worse sense of humour.”

“Can I have some water,” he rasped, his throat dry, not to mention a splitting headache. “And as much as I love your comedy act, can we please keep the yammering to a minimum.”

“Oh, he’s definitely back,” Kol joked. “How about I get some water and you find the doctor, Beks?” She hated that nickname and her scowl confirmed it.

They both left the room and Klaus had to admit he was happy to enjoy the silence and just close his eyes for a moment.

Although he wasn’t at fault, Klaus knew he’d been off kilter for a few weeks now and might have had a slight lapse in concentration. It was bad enough he hadn’t seen Caroline since their argument but the worst part was that she didn’t even seem to want to try and make things work for them. She also seemed embarrassed for some reason and that hurt more than Klaus had imagined.

Sure, things started off fun and as much as Klaus liked that he knew things couldn’t continue that way. Yes, he was off to Oxford but he hoped that she’d offer to try rather than giving up. He even told her he loved her and nothing. To say he was hurt was an understatement.

“Oh my god,” he heard her voice, almost like he’d summoned her or something.

“Klaus.” He could hear the emotion and the slight wobble in her voice. “What have you done?” He heard her take a seat at his bedside and felt her take his hand. Klaus knew he should have opened his eyes but he was curious about what she might say.

“Please tell me the other guy looks worse and if not I’m going to kick his ass.” Klaus had to fight the urge not to smile. She was incredibly adorable when she was being jealous.

“Can you please just open those pretty eyes so we can talk? I want to tell you what an idiot I was last time I saw you.” As much as he wanted to do just that and gloat, Klaus stayed still waiting.

“Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn about it,” she muttered. “A couple of things.”

“One, I was an idiot and if you expect me to admit that when you’re conscious, think again. Two, I was scared about losing you and what we have because my family has these overwhelming expectations and I was trying to be all things to all people.” Klaus figured she was just about done and then she continued.

“Three, I want you and I want us and I love you and I really regret not saying that the other week. And finally, four, I got into Oxford and I really want to go but I don’t want you to think I’m some crazy weird stalker..”

“You got into Oxford?” His eyes flew open and he spoke before thinking, he was that shocked.

“You were awake the whole time?” She growled, squeezing his hand tightly.

“Ouch, Caroline.”

“You deserved it,” she insisted, before relenting and loosening her grip. “Yes, I got into Oxford.”

“And you love me?”

“Well, there’s no point in asking given you heard it all,” she muttered.

“And you were an idiot?”

“I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”

“Probably not,” he smiled, pulling her closer. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way. Hang on, aren’t you supposed to be competing right now?”

“I was but decided I needed to be here,” she replied. “I need to start doing more of what I want with my life. But don’t let it go to your head, Mikaelson.”

“Come up here,” he asked, pulling her onto the bed so she was laying beside him. She felt familiar, comfortable and like home. “I want to make up for the last few weeks.”

“You want to do it in the hospital bed?”

“No, but someone is clearly over eager,” he chuckled.

“I’m so glad I’m in a hospital right now because I’m going to be sick,” Kol groaned, walking into the room with the doctor and Rebekah on his heels.

His reaction was predictable but Klaus and Caroline didn't really care, they were far too immersed in each other to even respond. Not when they had a future to look forward to and, after all of the initial animosity, it was most definitely worth it in the end. 

[fandom-necromancer]

Finding a new Home

This was prompted by an awesome anon! You gave me a lot with this prompt, so I split it in two parts so you don’t have to wait too long! The second part will be up later today!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

[Part 2]

Gavin had never been one for family if he was being honest. He hadn’t contacted his parents in ages, and he was content with that, after how they had parted. But one thing he did regret: Loosing contact with his brother. They had always been a good team and when they fought it was the normal fight between siblings, nothing really hitting deep. Now that he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut, he asked himself when exactly they had become estranged. Maybe it was when Gavin had parted ways and moved that he had forgotten to stay in contact? In any way, the call of his brother had surprised him. It had been nice to hear from him personally, instead of over the news for once. Maybe that’s why Gavin had never rang him up. Elijah was successful, had built up a multi-million-dollar company from scratch and lived in luxury even as he was thrown out of Cyberlife. Now after the revolution he had been reinserted as CEO and struggled to clean up the mess left behind. Gavin knew what was happening in his brother’s life because everyone did. He sighed, eyeing the sleek looking villa. Well, he certainly lived better than he did.

‘Let’s get this over with.’ He stepped through the by now melting snow and tried to scrape the worst of the cold mud off on the doormat before ringing the bell. It wasn’t long until a beautiful blond woman opened, showing him a polite smile that immediately screamed android to the Detective. It was confirmed by the soft blue LED and the overly gentle movement. Android. Likely early model. Of course, Eli would have a personal receptionist in his own house. ‘Welcome, Gavin. Please, come in. I will tell Elijah you arrived.’ Gavin stepped in and waited for her to depart. It threw him a bit off balance as she stayed and watched him push off his dirty shoes. But then he heard something metallic drop somewhere deeper in the house and hurried footsteps, as Elijah Kamski entered the hallway. ‘Gavin!’, he called, shaking his head. ‘Is it 4pm already? Thought it was earlier. Sorry. This is Chloe, my… assistant? Partner? We err… Doesn’t matter, how are you?’

By now Gavin had kicked his shoes in some far corner and stood up again to unsuccessfully duck out of a hug. ‘God, it’s been so long, Gav. You look… Well, I wanted to say good, but you’d always seen right through my lies. The revolution still got you?’ ‘Having to wake up far too early every day when you have insomnia and some really unhealthy relationship with coping mechanisms still got me, Eli. Some people have to work to survive.’ ‘Still the pessimist, I see?’ Elijah fidgeted with the seam of his probably very expensive shirt. ‘Let’s not argue, at least not until we sat down. Do you still hate coffee as much as I remember?’ Gavin chuckled. Anyone who learned he had once despised it thought he lied them blank in the face. ‘No, not anymore. Once you depend on it, you adapt. Kind of an addiction at this point.’ ‘Well, then Chloe, would you be so kind to prepare us some coffee?’ ‘Of course’, the android answered with a small nod. ‘I’m already on it.’ ‘Thank you darling. Come on, Gavin, we have a lot to talk about!’

The man lead him into a large living room that looked more expensive than Gavin’s entire home. They sat down on a ridiculously plush couch and soon Chloe came with a tablet of coffee, cups and unfitting to the whole atmosphere of rich assholeness, a plate with Gavin’s favourite cookies from the dollar store he near worshipped. Gavin raised a brow, but didn’t say anything as Elijah filled his cup. He didn’t say anything to the fact that Eli’s darling apparently was more than one person. It was weird enough to sit with his brother again after near twenty years of silence. One step after the next.

It was quite nice, actually. Although a lot of time and money had changed, Elijah was still the damn know-it-all big brother that reacted badly to critique and Gavin’s damn jokes. It was getting dark sooner than thought and Elijah got quiet suddenly. After they had been talking and laughing, the sudden change in atmosphere was almost tangible in the air. ‘Everything alright?’, Gavin asked. ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘For what?’ ‘For only inviting you now and not far earlier. So much time and I never once called you.’ ‘Hey I didn’t call you either, so don’t think too much about it. You did now and I’m happy you did.’ It was rare for Gavin to be this understanding, but he meant it. ‘Yeah but I have to admit I had the idea only because I need your help. I didn’t call you to have a nice chat, although it is nice to talk to you again.’ Gavin shrugged. ‘Hey, not everyone is a damn saint. What do you need?’ ‘I… I think I better show you.’

-

‘Okay, I think you know better than most what deviancy is and how it affects androids and humans. I mean… You where there.’ Elijah led him to a door that slid back to unveil a staircase upon touch. ‘But Cyberlife designed some androids that are unable to deviate. Some because they were meant to help stop deviancy and some as experiments of those sent back to the labs.’ ‘Yeah, I know’, Gavin nodded, following behind. ‘Got to take a few of them back myself, they are illegal now.’ Elijah just shook his head looking miserable. ‘And you don’t have a problem with that?’ ‘Not exactly the most empathic one to ask these questions, Eli. I don’t especially like these toasters.’ ‘Then I hope I can change your mind’, his brother said, evading his eyes. ‘Deviancy gives them freedom, not a consciousness or soul, Gavin. They are bound to orders, but they emote and they… They live.’ Gavin huffed at that, but shrugged. ‘Maybe. But the law makes sense. I mean it would be weird for deviant androids if Cyberlife started producing them again, only this time not able to be free. Better ban them altogether.’ ‘Then I guess you would have to arrest these few’, Eli sighed and opened the door to the cellar. Gavin stepped next to his brother inside the room and looked into the eyes of five androids, looking their way curiously. ‘These are the only non-deviant androids I could save from decommission.’ ‘You got to be shitting me’, Gavin laughed humourlessly to play over his surprise. ‘No. They were to be killed and I can’t allow that. They are my creations after all. Cyberlife is responsible for their actions. I wouldn’t have said that a few years ago, I’m sure. But they are alive. Just not free.’ Gavin swallowed, meeting the five faces. ‘And what would you want me to help you with?’ ‘I have to find places for them to stay. They can’t live in my basement, but their guardians have to be trustworthy. I don’t want them to end up at Cyberlife again. I want them to have a good life out there with a human or android that treats them right.’ ‘That doesn’t order them around…’ Gavin nodded. ‘Well, shit, you do know I’m not the most social person, right?’ ‘I know. But the only one who I can confide in. Will you help me?’ Gavin wanted to just laugh at him, curse and leave, but for once his conscience acted up. He had always been one to value justice and despite his dislike, he couldn’t just condemn five… people. ‘Yeah, alright, fine. I will try my best.’

-

‘Hey, okay, my name is Gavin, do you have a name?’ Gavin sat on Elijah’s couch three weeks later. He had visited him quite regularly now to speak to the androids with varying success. Four androids had already found a place to stay, even if it was just a temporary thing. Tina could have been convinced to take the Tracy-android with the condition that she could always drop the plastic at Elijah’s if it didn’t work out. By now though, Tina couldn’t keep her mouth shut about how cute she was. With every break Gavin suffered through he was more convinced that Tina wouldn’t let her android go ever again.

The other two Tina helped finding a home for. One to stay with her parents who needed help in the household but would never allow any human to help. By the time of her mother’s birthday, the android was already included in the family photo. The second one Chris could get to safety. He had seen Tina’s android and she had to come clean. Chris immediately was on board and soon found a place with his brother.

Now Gavin sat with number four, an android that looked exactly like Connor. Elijah had told him it was an RK900 though, an updated model. What was confirmed shortly after: ‘I am an RK900 unit. I have no designated name.’ ‘Okay… err… RK900, what is your purpose?’ ‘I am a military android. A purpose wasn’t yet determined.’ ‘Shit.’ Gavin shook his head. Military didn’t sit well with him. You couldn’t just assign a soldier to anyone. ‘Eli, do you have the specs for him?’, he shouted into the house. ‘Yeah, I will copy them for you!’, came the answer. ‘You can look into them at home.’ Gavin sighed, then fake smiled at the android. ‘Okay, then. Do you have any preference who you would like to live with?’ ‘I will serve who I am assigned to.’ ‘No wishes then’, Gavin mumbled, crossing out that point. ‘I would wish to work with someone competent’, the android surprised him by speaking up unprompted. ‘Well, that we all do’, Gavin grinned. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t think you working with anyone isn’t that realistic. You can’t deviate, so chances you can ever be employed are slim. Especially with the military.’ ‘I am also designed to work with law enforcement’, the RK900 clarified. Gavin grimaced. ‘That’s also very unlikely. Don’t worry, I will try to find a place for you. How does being a companion android or caretaker sound to you?’ ‘I am not equipped for that outside the field of war or agencies.’ Gavin sighed. Maybe not all of the androids here could find homes. This one certainly would stay here forever.

-

‘Congratulations to four androids finding forever homes’, Gavin cheered, toasting with his coffee mug. Elijah responded with the same gesture, only far less enthusiastic. ‘That leaves you with the RK900. Any plans yet?’ The CEO of Cyberlife shook his head. ‘No. He has no interest in life with us. He spends most of his time in stasis in the basement. I can’t imagine how boring that must be.’ Gavin sighed. The time he had spent with the androids had made him soft. Elijah had been right. These were living beings, only bound by orders. With the right person who looked out for them, they could experience freedom that was nearly as real as the one deviancy promised. Taking that away from them… ‘Do you… Do you mind me going down there and talk to him a bit?’ ‘Not at all’, Elijah said. ‘I still hope we find a way for him.’ Gavin just nodded, before leaving his coffee behind and head towards the cellar.

‘RK900?’, he asked, switching on the light in the now pointedly empty room. ‘Gavin’, the familiar voice greeted him, and the android stepped out of his corner. ‘You came to visit again.’ ‘Yeah, how are you?’ ‘I am… without a mission.’ ‘Yeah, I thought you would be bored as hell down here. Why don’t you keep the light on?’ ‘I don’t need it and it wastes resources and money.’ ‘You can’t just stay in the dark all the time.’ ‘I can.’ Gavin sighed. ‘Why don’t you go up there? Maybe that would make it better?’ ‘A change of location won’t give me something to do’, was the easy answer of the machine. ‘I am similarly… bored up there as I am here.’ ‘Phck, I’ll try to find a place for you to stay, I promise. But I don’t think it’s very likely. I’m sorry.’ ‘You don’t have to. I am grateful. But I am no RK800.’

That made Gavin hesitate. He looked the android up and down. If one didn’t look to closely and if he wore different clothes… ‘RK900, don’t worry. I think I got a brilliant idea! You won’t be stuck down here much longer!’ Gavin grinned at him, then hurried off towards the living room.

‘Elijah, I need a RK800 uniform. Give me two days to speak with Connor, then the RK900 will have a place to stay!’ Elijah frowned at him. ‘With Connor? You hate him!’ ‘It’s for the RK900, okay? Let Connor be my problem. With how sentimental he is, this might just work.’ ‘Wait, what are you planning, Gavin, I can’t follow.’ Gavin took his brother by the shoulders. ‘We will disguise him as an RK800, they look very similar. I will convince Connor to tell Fowler another one of his “brothers” turned up and make a side comment how I am the only one who is still without a partner. I will play the grumpy asshole a few days so everyone has their fun and then RK900 will be accepted at the force no problem! I will look out for him!’

[>next part]

[squeezeofthehand]

A (late) Review of Moby-Dick: A Musical Reckoning

I saw Moby-Dick: A Musical Reckoning by Dave Malloy last month, and I can basically divide it into “The Good, The Bad, and the Racist/Queerphobic/Ableist etc”

Some background: As most people who’ve ever spoken to me will know, I have a special interest in Moby-Dick AND Dave Malloy/Rachel Chavkin musicals (I truly believe that Great Comet is one of the best works of all time) and I consider Malloy and Chavkin both to be my biggest heroes and inspirations, at least when it comes to their respective style of writing and directing. That being said, they’re not perfect. I waited for this musical for about two years, and music/set/etc wise it exceeded my expectations, but it also majorly let me down in a lot of ways.

The Good: The cast! The crew! The set! (It was literally The Pequod - like, they got rid of the stage.) The lighting design in particular was really good - thank you, Bradley King. Manik Choksi, Andrew Cristi, and Starr Busby are gods. I do not have a singular bad thing to say about the cast or the design team! Even the stuff that was tacky/campy (i.e. some of the puppets) was tacky/campy in an enjoyable way. And the “fun” parts of the show were REALLY fun - the fact that they invited the audience on stage, the fact that they TRIED to make Moby-Dick more accessible even if they didn’t do it perfectly at times….the music, when not problematic, was BEAUTIFUL. Listen, I’d be lying if I said Dave Malloy wasn’t one of the best composers when it comes to skill. Everyone in that show sure can act, and sing…the band too, was marvelous, I heard no errors from anyone. This is, what, a three hour long show? And the cast/band was just like, “oh, no big deal.” Which makes “the bad” and “the racist” even worse because these people deserve better. This show deserves better, it deserves to be better.

The Bad: Well, as a book fan, I disagreed with a lot of characterization…most of which can fall into The Racist etc, so I’ll just focus on the “bad but not inherently problematic” here. I really didn’t agree with a lot of things about Ahab’s characterization, i.e. I did not read him as just a bad white guy who’s the epitome of privilege. Stubb, on the other hand is, a canon white supremacist in the book and that barely gets acknowledged in the ways that it should. I do get what Dave was trying to go for, especially in re: Ahab & climate change, but this wasn’t the show for it - or at least, Ahab wasn’t the character for it. Which brings me to my next point: Most of the time, I’m a fan of the quirky Malloyian anachronisms and parallels to modern day issues, but I feel like he was trying too hard here and stepping out of line. Loose adaptations can be fun, anachronistic adaptations can be fun, even INACCURATE adaptations can be fun…but this just wasn’t. It didn’t feel like Moby-Dick, but more like a story vaguely inspired by it. If that had been what he was going for, it would’ve been fine, but he really acted like this would be an accurate adaptation of the book, so I felt let down. The only anachronism/breaking of the fourth wall that I somewhat liked were the talks of Melville and Hawthorne, honestly, and even those I’d sacrifice in favor for accuracy to the source.

And now…The racist/etc.

So. 

Where to begin? I suppose chronologically. Queequeg. Who, according to Dave Malloy, is a stereotypical flamboyant queer person of color! and also a quirky cannibal! He’s trans in the musical, apparently, but there’s not much indication of that in the show beyond from him wearing a binder and a skirt. Now, I am all for trans Queequeg of course, but he was a caricature in this particular adaptation. I do not blame Andrew Cristi. I blame Dave (and mayyyybe the costume designers to some extent). I felt baited. Also, early production rumors and quotes said that there would be a song in which Queequeg saved someone from drowning. That never happened. It pains me to say it, but he didn’t feel that much like an important character (due to the bad writing -- again, it has nothing to do with the actor). 

Additionally, Dave Malloy said that Queequeg and Ishmael would be a clear gay relationship…but the musical left so much room for them to just be interpreted as friends. It somehow became less gay than it is in the original Melville novel. The marriage was excluded, as were the quotes about them being a cozy and loving pair and about Queequeg holding Ishmael like a wife. They were replaced with the “I don’t wanna sleep with a cannibal” song, which was fun to watch at first but way too grossly stereotypical for me to genuinely enjoy it. Queequeg deserves a fun and light-hearted song, but he does not deserve a racist/homophobic one. My advice? Replace it with the actual chapters from the book, please. I do like the fact that The Pacific was a romantic duet and that they sing directly at each other during Squeeze Of The Hand, but those two songs are mere scraps especially compared to, for example, the Bosom Friend chapter of the book. It looked like they were going to kiss during The Pacific and I was very disappointed that they did not. Perhaps the team should keep the songs the way that they are for future productions, but add more romantic staging.

Pip-not-Pip/Elijah/??? (Ashkon Davaran’s character) and Fedallah were also major, major, issues. Not the actors, I love them. Not the book characters, I love them. But the musical characters.

Basically, Fedallah gets this 20 minute long monologue that can be summed up as “religion is bad” and a lot of other things including but not limited to egotistical fake-woke praise on color conscious casting and how badly America is fucked. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Fedallah is Parsi and Zoroastranian in the book (and it is NOT good rep in the book by any means, trust me, I’ve been calling Malloy out on his racism but I can’t act as if book!Fedallah was anything less than an ~exotic caricature~ either). However, that’s beside the point, at least in this review. Musical!Fedallah is not Parsi nor Zoroastranian. Don’t read this the wrong way, I’m all for Black Muslim rep! But with a character who is already canonically something else? Take a white character and make them a Black Muslim, I encourage that, but when a character is already something else, no.

If the monologue was influenced/written by the actor, that’s one thing and I’d have less issue with it, but I think Dave wrote the vast majority of it, which…yikes…

My constructive criticism: Cut the Fedallah monologue. If the creative team still wants the actor/character to have the same amount of stage-time as he does now, replace it with a different monologue, maybe something from the book? Something about whaling history?

Another thing that needs to be cut or at least completely rewritten: Tambourine. The song starts off with an ableist verse that can be summed up as “you think you’re crazy because you get nervous on the subway? No! I’m more crazy than you!” Don’t take this as me saying that Pip’s trauma/PTSD shouldn’t be addressed at all, but this is the absolute worst way to address it. The song also has a lot of performative lines such as “is god cisgender?” Which, considering this is the same musical that also has trans bait, I truly hate it. Not that I think God should ever be viewed as a cis white man, but much like the “America is awful” stuff in the Fedallah Monologue, this is an offensive and fake-woke way to address such a topic. 

Part IV was really heart-wrenchingly beautiful. No criticism there.

To summarize by part-

Part I: Cut/replace the campy Queeqeug song, but otherwise keep it as it is.

Part II: Cut/replace the racist and xenophobic Fedallah monologue.

Part III: Cut/replace Tambourine. The rest of the Ballad Of Pip (starting with Kim Blanck’s beautiful song) is alright. Good, even.

Part IV: Great! No editing needed besides from the typical tweaking that writers may choose to do after their first draft.

In general: Make Ishmael/Queequeg more obvious, make Queequeg less of a caricature, do some major editing to Fedallah and Pip-Not-Pip/Elijah/???. Tambourine and Fedallah’s Monologue need to be completely rewritten, but I get that the creative team may not want to take scenes away from the actors, which is why I encourage them to remove all of the racist bs and create something completely new/different for the actors to perform. 

I understand that Moby-Dick is clearly a work-in-progress on all levels. I do not dislike for the show for being a scrappy rough draft. I judge it for its racist, homophobic, ableist, etc messages. Dave has acknowledged that this first copy is far from perfect, and I sincerely hope that the racism/etc. is the first and main thing that he fixes. 

[unproduciblesmackdown]

My only problems with that bmc theory you mentioned is that 1) bmc was already really popular and 2) that’s kinda body shaming Roland :/ but yeah I agree that he can’t really sing for shit lol. And I hate how his go-to thing when he’s singing (it’s super evident in loser geek or whatever) is to just throw his arms out in a t pose

you should have problems with every part of that theory because everything in that post is about how the arguments are terrible and absurd, and i’m gonna use this opportunity to straightforwardly lay out why all that is, but first let me talk about the problems you did find with it

1) yes 

the off-bway run of bmc is unusual because it did (and existed because) already have popular support/demand. they absolutely had no motivation to try to increase its popularity. they already had that fully covered. 

2) yes

nothing wrong with having a preference or an attachment to the first portrayal you saw but there is no real reason to legitimately dislike or resent will roland’s performance to the degree that anyone wants to act like they have objective justifications for this. i will freely blame a ton of this on the fact that will r is not a super lanky guy who sort of looks like elijah wood’s fey woodland cousin or something, and he has a nasal voice, and the fact people find this less attractive leads to this extra resentment that gets rationalized as some kind of problem they have with his performance. surely i will come back to this but for now i’m going to argue against my own fake arguments

they didn’t approach will only because he was in deh and thus ~famous~ or famous by association or whatever. like i said in an earlier post, they were considering will for the part of jeremy even before will was considering himself for the part, as he said he didn’t consider auditioning for that role until it was suggested to him. and then he made it to callbacks, which means he was seriously considered and they already saw merit in the idea of casting him for the part. the fact that he didn’t get it doesn’t mean he wasn’t good enough: people Don’t Get The Part all the time and it isn’t for any certain reasons. for example, earlier will got cast in the black suits, while george salazar also auditioned and didn’t get cast, and yet we wouldn’t use this as evidence that george wasn’t necessarily good enough. not to mention that will would’ve been getting involved in deh at around that time of the bmc auditions, so evidently he was already good enough to be involved in like, any production.

also, the part of jeremy wasn’t the only change in cast between the productions. and they didn’t seem to leap on the opportunity to get Big Names involved, and in fact, they’ve said they didn’t want to do that. and, again, they did not need a popularity boost, they were in the unusual position of already knowing they had an audience. thus there’s no reason to believe that will’s casting, and will’s casting alone, was some sort of grab for increased attention on the production.

joe iconis had worked with will for years prior to 2018 and it’s just kind of ridiculous to suggest that will auditioned for his play and got turned down because he was terrible, and it’s only due to the fact that he was then cast in deh that made joe go “hm that roland guy can’t sing for shit and i’ve just been too polite to Not cast him in a previous musical of mine and work with him dozens of other times but he’s in a Popular Broadway Musical now so hmmm, maybe we’ll make a sacrifice to the quality of this show to get a popularity boost we don’t need” like

obviously it does not make sense. will was not Only offered the role because of being in deh. and, by extension, he was not offered the role in spite of any kind of inadequacy on his part. or in spite of anything at all.

also there is no indication that will connolly was just like, ditched or something. initial castings and casting changes are done for any number of reasons. and it’s not like joe iconis exactly has a reputation for ruthlessly screwing over people he works with, nor does will roland…and casting changes are basically inevitable if a show goes beyond one run or has a particularly long one. and it’s not unlikely people will have a preference or consider the first performance they see to be kind of the standard in their eyes, and there’s nothing wrong with the end of someone’s run / a casting change being bittersweet, cuz all of that is just how it’s gonna go. but like there’s no reason for animosity towards the replacement cuz then you’re gonna always hate everyone but the o(b)c

again like. maybe people really aren’t aware that will roland was cast in a musical of joe iconis’s back in 2012? the black suits? ben platt was there? george salazar wasn’t? will was 1/6th of the cast and did plenty of singing. and that was 3-4 years prior to him auditioning for bmc and getting the part for the off-bway performance, and as people tend to backhandedly point out, he only gets better with time and experience, and he was already doing great vocally in the black suits. he did that 2012 run, and then the run tbs had in 2013 as well. like, joe had plenty of experience working with him there. why would he think will is bad at singing.

also will was involved with joe’s work even prior to his graduation

will was also involved with bmc producer jen tepper’s work prior to his graduation. had a solo in the “if it only even runs a minute” show

they’d know how good will is. they had already been willingly involving him in various works for years, over and over, prior to will auditioning for bmc. the fact he didn’t get the part the initial time wasn’t due to them thinking he can’t sing, okay. and already right there you have the issue that apparently a bunch of randos figure they just have better judgment than the industry professionals. 

also, you can prefer will connolly’s voice, but it’s not even A Valid Argument to say that will roland is a bad singer. like, this isn’t even about opinion. he is a good singer and this is an objective statement. He Is Very Skilled. his vocals Are Good. this is not opinion it is essentially fact. you may not like them but to say he’s bad is just to say either you don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about or are willing to skew your own perspective or just say whatever to pretend to justify this preference as “one of these is the performance i like better and the other is a performance that is inarguably Bad and Incompetent”

one thing is that will is so good that he makes it seem easy. he pulls off shit that you don’t even have to recognize as taking a crapton of skill. there’s all sorts of performances of his available and the way he’s able to emote during his singing isn’t just his also-strong acting, but it also requires the vocal ability to deliver quick shifts and jumps between differences in volume and pitch and soft/fragile vs forceful/angry and that requires a ton of skill and control. speaking of control and the stuff i’ve just said, there’s also a lot of smoothness to his vocals and consistency which reflects not only the quality of his vocals but also the control and endurance and knowledge of how to handle a performance within individual songs but also an entire show and also a string of shows.

like, dunno what to tell you. like i said before, these industry professionals think he’s good enough. the people he work with think he’s talented. i put myself through reading bmc reviews and i don’t remember anyone saying anything suggesting will’s vocals weren’t up to par, but i do remember a lot of acknowledgments about the opposite and how his performance is stellar and showcases great vocal talent and ability, whether or not the reviewers took to the rest of the show as a whole. and yet people who are mad about him not being will connolly have the take that he can’t sing. pretty wild how the people who would probably know better than you or me all consider will roland to be a very strong singer!! must be because they don’t know as well as various random people who resent will r.

it’s just a bonus when people argue he can’t sing the high notes. i’m guessing i need to say it’s called a falsetto? he has a gorgeous one and the way he’s able to snap right into it is kind of breathtaking? and the fact that joe iconis wrote lgw Specifically For Will Roland’s Voice, specifically designed to showcase and play to his strengths? and that this song, written by a professional composer to be ideally paired with will roland’s voice, features that falsetto so generously? hmmmmmmmmmmm

like, there’s so many amazing and beautiful performances of his online and like every available performance kicks ass and is certainly Vocally Competent but like, if you listen to this and think “he can’t really sing for shit” then you’re just telling on your own flawed judgment n Shit Taste lol…..like, again, to say he can’t sing is objectively incorrect.

also, there’s this. 

i’m also very suspicious of people just interpreting his singing as “bad” because of the fact that his voice is just nasal. or suggesting that he can’t have as ~serious or dramatic~ impact. for unspecified reasons. but what i am going to specify as “because he has a nasal voice and i have an automatic association with this meaning that the character is unsympathetic and a joke”

i now slowly turn around and pull down a slide reading “jared kleinman”

again, not like the “will roland was only cast for clout” idea holds any water in the first place, but it’s just extra good how his character in deh seems to be written off by like, everyone, from reviewers to casual audiences to most more-involved fans of the show alike, and largely overlooked or maligned, despite all characters getting an equally sympathetic treatment, and all of the teenagers being very similar in what their flaws and weaknesses are and what their desires are. 

like i and other people and mike faist will tell you, yeah jared’s character provides a break from Heavier scenes into lighter tone, which is necessary for good pacing, but that doesn’t mean that the character and the things he says aren’t serious or genuine. watch me avoid going off into a longer tangent about jared and bringing it back around to will roland: it just Sure Is Interesting that the character is one that tends to be seen as unimportant or even dispensable despite being absolutely crucial to multiple elements of the play. hmm

and anyways it’s kind of funny that you’d really have to already be a fan of will’s to like, make his casting in bmc make you care about bmc if you hadn’t already (#me, lol) and like. otherwise it’d be like “hey this guy who’s in bmc was in deh” “oh really that’s neat” and maybe it’d make some new people pay attention, but not to the degree that it would like, be expected to carry the show’s sales or anything lol. plus uhhhhh haven’t noticed the marketing saying anything about WILL ROLAND of DEAR EVAN HANSEN and you’d think that if they’d deliberately cast someone who sucks just cuz he had a part in a well-known show, they’d uhhhh take advantage of that? and yet. 

that theory’s total shit is what i’m saying

and it’s interesting that will has a nasal voice and isn’t Serious Enough and his Singing is Bad

by interesting i mean total shit

i’m also totally gonna say that people are mad at will for not being super tall and super skinny and seeming attractive to them.

absolutely gonna say that. there is a real, documented bias towards considering someone seen as Attractive as being more sympathetic than someone who isn’t. for example i am tilting my head 270 degrees when anybody decides jeremy is an unsympathetic character. i am tilting my head 583 degrees when anybody decides that will roland’s performance as jared is the Unsympathetic one. my eyebrows are so raised they’ve just graduated college. 

just yknow people are mad at will roland b/c they don’t find him as hot as will c and resent him for not seeming attractive enough and like, there’s the people who will at least own this and insult him for being too ugly for their tastes and their inability to keep their shit to themselves, and then there’s people who also have this inability to keep their shit to themselves but don’t wanna say they think he’s too ugly for their tastes and will instead be like mmmm dunno the way he follows the written changes to the script is bad………mmmmm idk he just can’t sing ://…………mmmmmmm his performance isn’t the same so uhh fuck him for not being will connolly………………://///……….

i don’t know if anybody sees him as fat rn, there’s this window of being Average where i truly cannot see it even though its supposed to just be Objective Judgment territory. but that sure never helps. also he just doesn’t have the willowy fragile body type of will connolly’s at all, no matter what. and that also cannot ever help. couldn’t’ve helped when he played jared either.

maybe it’s an utter coincidence that the majority of his film roles, where your body and face are always gonna get hq closeups, and in which we also have audio of one’s nasal voice, have him as Nerd Types who aren’t meant to be particularly sympathetic. not saying this is all him being typecast based on being written off from certain types of roles as characters meant to appeal to the audience / win sympathy, except, my eyebrows have now finished grad school.

in fact, although the realm of live theatre may be more “”forgiving”” of these superficial traits, it’s not as though will’s roles haven’t been largely uncool losers in various ways lol…but all of them have been sympathetic. he’s even mentioned how being cast as a romantic lead way back in school changed how people saw him. and here he is in a role where he feels like he isn’t allowed to be the main character even in his own life, and where he feels that he can be treated Like a well-liked, attractive person, but not necessarily be one. will roland is out here just outright saying how lgw is about himself and about you and about me (and for trans and non-hetero fans) and people are really out here going “he’s ugly he shouldn’t have this role” like, i’ll freaking slap you, lord

again. loser geek whatever alone is evidence that the take that He Can’t Sing is objectively false. and it is. move on. love yourself

also just thanks for mentioning the thing about throwing his arms out. that’s just like, one of the peak examples of “i resent will roland for not being will connolly but i need to invent justifications for this” and deciding that totally arbitrary things about him are reasons to be annoyed by him, and thus to think that there’s anything actually wrong with it. like, so he has a tendency to gesture with both arms out whereas other people don’t always do this? you’re mentioning loser geek whatever and it’s pretty crazy how when you watch him perform the song he actually employs a variety of gestures and you’re just picking out the one thing he does and going “ugh god you’re killing me will roland” like god….of all the arbitrary inconsequential things to focus your dislike on and pretend it’s a Legitimate Critique, this one’s a classic. if anything it’s a quirk that puts an individual stamp on things in the midst of all the other ways he moves and gesticulates during songs, but yeah, i suppose you could just decide you hate it. truly, between will roland putting his arms out and the people who see this as some kind of real flaw, whose reach is greater……..

anyways the point is none of you have any real reason to be bothered by will roland, and every “oh my god he’s so incompetent” take is ridiculous, and at least the people who outright insult him based on appearance are being honest about their bullshit since it’s all insults anyways. the oc album is right there. the performance with will connolly also continues to be right there. everybody just might consider why they’re so resentful of will roland for having the part, and also consider getting over it.

[thatfanficstuff]

Bound - 12

Pairing: Niklaus Mikaelson x OFC

Warnings: None. Except Esther. Esther’s a bitch. Oh, and language. And a bad Avengers nod.

A/N: So I have an outline to keep me on track. The whole middle section wasn’t on the outline but they insisted. Enjoy my friends.

***

When I woke, I was laying on the couch with my head in Nik’s lap while he held one of my hands. “Hello, love,” he said as my eyes fluttered open. The smile he gave me had no happiness behind it and I knew instantly whatever was wrong went beyond me passing out.

“What happened?”

He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Do you recall what you said earlier to Elijah and I about not remembering whether or not you ate?”

I was completely confused for half a second. I never said anything about not eating. And then it hit me. The odd inflection he placed on the word remembering.

“I do hope she is all right, Niklaus.” Esther. The Original witch bitch was here.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as Nik ran his thumb along my skin in a comforting gesture. Once I was certain I had composed myself I turned so I could see the rest of the room. My gaze took in each of the siblings in turn before finally coming to rest on Esther. “Who is this, Nik?”

He squeezed your hand. “Cassidy, this is Esther. My mother.”

I widened my eyes in feigned surprise and tried to sit up.

She waved a hand through the air and gave a sickeningly sweet smile. “Don’t sit up on my account, child. It is obvious that you need your rest.”

The weak smile I gave her would hopefully have her thinking I was feeling far worse than I actually was. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you.”

“I believe I should take Cassidy to bed, Mother. She still looks rather pale to me.”

She pursed her lips. “Of course, Niklaus, though I do hope to spend more time with her.”

“I’m sure she would enjoy that,” he answered with a fake smile. He nudged my shoulder so I would sit up.

I continued to play the invalid and let him help me to my feet. He swept me up in his arms and I bit my lip to keep from complaining. It was all part of the show. “Elijah, fetch my fiancée something to eat and bring it upstairs if you would?”

“Of course, brother. Anything for our beloved Cassidy.”

I let out the breath that had caught when Nik called me his fiancée. These two were certainly laying it on a bit thick. I thought two men that had been alive for a thousand years would be better actors. If the looks Rebekah was giving them were any indication, I wasn’t the only one that thought so.

When we reached our bedroom, Nik sat me down and began to pace the floor. I snatched my phone from my pocket and set up a group chat between me and my two favorite Mikaelsons.

What the actual fuck is going on?

Nik pulled out his phone and frowned at it before rolling his eyes at me. I gave him wide eyes and pointed at my ear. Anything we said could be heard by anyone else in the house. He didn’t acknowledge the gesture, but he texted back so he must have agreed.

N: Why would I know any more than you at this point?

C: Because I passed out????

E: You are the one that kept mother’s corpse.

I snorted a laugh and Nik glared at me. A sharp knock at the door interrupted. Elijah entered without waiting for anyone to answer. He smiled at me, humor dancing in his eyes as he put the plate in his hand on the table near the door. His attention returned to his phone.

E: What are we going to do about this?

N: I have Maddox looking into it.

C: I bet if I kill her I could get my magic back.

Nik’s shoulders went tight and he gave me a look that said I better not even think about trying.

N: Yes or your magic is gone for good.

E: You would likely die in the attempt. She was powerful before. With your magic added to hers, who knows

I groaned in annoyance, both at the fact they were right and that the witch bitch was alive and well. I fell back onto the bed and tossed my phone to the side. The men continued to text but I supposed they’d let me know if it was something I needed to pay attention to. I wiped a hand down my face. There had to be a way out of this.

Suddenly remembering the conversation downstairs, I grabbed my phone and sent a new message.

C: btw what’s with the fiancée thing?

Elijah raised his eyebrows as he looked at his brother, his lips twitching in amusement.

E: afraid mother won’t approve of you living together before marriage?

I laughed and quickly slapped a hand over my mouth to quiet myself. I loved that these men could have me laughing even in a time like this. I needed the stress relief, that was for sure. Nik scowled at both of us before striding across the room and digging through his nightstand. I sat up with a frown to watch him. Finally, he stepped away and slammed the drawer shut. He turned to face me, his clear blue eyes looking me over.

“Give us a moment, brother,” he asked without turning to Elijah.

“Of course.” A minute later Elijah was gone.

Nik flopped on the bed and pulled me down with him until we were laying face to face. He pushed a stray tendril of hair away from my face and behind my ear. “I know that I don’t say it very often, but I love you, Cassie.”

I grinned. “I didn’t realize how much I liked you and Elijah calling me Cassie until you called me Cassidy in front of your mother.”

He hummed. “Well, it would be a shame for her to pick it up and start using it. I’m rather fond of it myself and would hate to have to find you a new nickname.”

I let out a soft giggle. “It’s not much of a nickname when it’s only a letter shorter than my full name. You know that, right?”

He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “Hush.” He took a deep breath. “I assumed that this was understood, but I suppose I should know better.”

My brow furrowed as I frowned at him.

The hand that wasn’t propping his head up appeared between us, black velvet box clutched in his fingers. My heart raced as my gaze darted between him and the box. “Is that…” I trailed off, unable to voice the question. I was going to feel like an idiot if there was a pair of earrings in there.

The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Open it.”

I shifted so my hands were free but I was still leaning on my elbow. My hand shook as I took the box from him. The lid snapped open with little encouragement from me. I sucked in a breath and tears immediately flooded my eyes. Nestled in the velvet was a ring. The most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. And it was absolutely perfect for me.

The round stone was surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds held in place by two bands made of rows of diamonds. It must have cost a fortune, but it was simple, elegant. I plucked it from the case and held it in the fingers of my left hand. I couldn’t believe he’d picked out something so stunning for me. 

“Do you like it?” His voice was soft, uncertain.

I tore my gaze from the ring to smile at him. The hand that held the ring found his face and pulled him forward for a kiss. We separated only far enough for me to lean my forehead against his. “It’s amazing, Nik. I love it.”

He put more space between us, his smile as he looked at me, made him even more gorgeous. His hand wrapped around my own and pulled it away from his cheek. After plucking the ring from my grip, he shifted his hold so he could slip it onto the appropriate finger. Before he had it settled fully in place, he looked from it to me. “Marry Me?”

My head fell back as I laughed. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”  

***

I barely had time to enjoy my newly engaged status before Elijah came to retrieve us. An irritated expression on his face made it clear it wasn’t his idea. Nik linked his fingers with mine and led the way to the living room.

Everyone was settled there with varying unreadable expressions on their face. It was Esther that broke the silence. “Why did you not tell me you were proposing to the girl, Niklaus? We could have made it a family occasion.”

Nik cleared his throat. “Yes, well, she’s not marrying the family, is she?”

She stood then. Even her fake smile was tight with displeasure. She really didn’t like my hybrid. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, she is. That’s what marriage is, trading one family for another. For the bride anyway.”

“Things have changed a bit, mother, since the last time you were around,” Elijah interrupted. He stepped between us, obstructing my view of her and handed us both a glass of champagne. He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Congratulations, sister.”

My face heated at the sentiment and he stepped away only to turn to Esther again. “Besides, she’s already family.” He returned to his post on the other side of the room, his dark eyes watching as the rest of his siblings gave us their good wishes.

His mother came last. She settled her hands on mine and I resisted the urge to shiver from the chill of her touch. “I am so glad that my Niklaus found someone like you. You are exactly what he deserves.”

I wasn’t quite sure how to take that considering her obvious dislike for Nik. Nik’s hand was resting on my back and his fingers dug in slightly with her words. I didn’t know if it was a warning to curb my tongue or a sign of his irritation. I gave her the sweetest smile I could muster. “Thank you so much. That means a lot.”

Suddenly, the witch bitch smiled and it sent a shiver of unease up my spine. “We shall have a ball to celebrate this momentous occasion. I have just decided.”

The siblings exchanged glances amongst themselves. The only one that appeared moderately happy by this news was Rebekah. Well, of course she would be excited about a ball.

“I’m not certain that’s necessary, mother. We do like our privacy,” Nik argued.

“Well, I believe that it is. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your mother, would you Niklaus?” Her voice had an edge to it that made me want to smack her.

“Of course not. He was just surprised is all. It’s a fine idea,” Elijah intervened. He probably didn’t trust either of us to be diplomatic.

I might have managed. I just had to keep reminding myself that she could turn me to dust with a snap of her fingers. “Actually, I think what Nik was getting at was that normal people don’t have balls anymore.” Okay, maybe I couldn’t behave. She just irritated the piss out of me.

Esther’s jaw went tight as she looked me over and the tension in the room became a palpable thing. I just kept my gaze locked with hers and a stupid clueless smile on my face.

Oddly enough, it was Kol that broke it. “If you’re going to be part of this family, sweetheart, you really must learn that we have never been normal.”

My gaze darted over to him and his cheeky grin. He gave me a wink and my smile shifted into something far more sincere than it had been. 

***

Please don’t spoil the surprise for anyone if you’re commenting. Thanks, loveys!

[elejah-wonderland]

Always/3

Fanfiction

Part 3

Elijah Mikaelson x reader/Elena

ft Klaroline

Summary: Elijah and Y/N/E are happily married, until one night changed everything. What happened - read and find out. 

This is fluffy and so very alternative universe. I hope you like it. Here is quite a lengthy chapter. Thanks for reading and liking. I so appreciate it. xoxo

tags @rissyrapp20 @dendrite-lover @cassienoble2000 @elejahforever @hides2000 @captainshurley

_________

Y/N/E watched Elijah through the window as he walked over to his car. 

“How do you feel after - your first meeting?”- Bonnie now asked Y/N/E.

“He’s ni-ce”- Y/N/E replied.

“He is quite an amazing person from all I have heard about him.”- Bonnie continued. 

Y/N/E now turned around and looked at her psychiatrist.

“I will go - ho-me to him?”

“Yes. He is your husband. Unless you don’t want to. You can go to your parents -”

Y/N/E now shook her head. 

“With him. I wa-nt to go with - him.”

Bonnie nodded in ok. They now sat down to talk more about how the meeting with Elijah went, thought it was obvious that she was fine with him. Still, Bonnie could tell by her body language that she was apprehensive. 

And so -three months had passed since Y/N/E woke up.Thee months of intensive speech therapy, exercise, helped her immensely to get back to life, as she said. Only thing that remain was the locked memory of her previous life. Bonnie explained to her an Elijah that she might get it back in time, but she might never get it back. Y/N/E didn't seem to be affected by it much.

"She could feel resigned. Sometimes people do that. She focused all of her strength to speak again. That was her main preoccupation. And rightly so, she has done tremendously well. Some don't manage what she has in such a short time. She is a fighter. But, you still have to be very patient with her."- Bonnie said as she sat down to speak with Elijah the day of Y/N/E's release from the Clinic.

"That is something I got plenty of"- Elijah said-"I understand that nothing can be rushed an it's the last thing I would ever do"-

"You have suffered along with her. It would be good that you speak to someone to. There are support groups, but if you son't prefer that I know an excellent therapist. Camille O'Connell."

"Thank you. I'll consider it"- Elijah said and now got up.

"There are strong people, and I see that you are one, but everyone has limits. You're only human. An I am not saying that's a bad thing. -Bonnie said.

Elijah nodded a little, understanding what she meant.

"I will still see her here every week for a session."- Bonnie said as it was obvious that their talk came to the end- "Good luck"

"Thank you for everything you and your husband have done."- Elijah said now putting his hand out to Bonnie. The psychiatrist now shook it and said-

"That's our job.”

Both of them then went to Y/N/E, who was still busy packing some of her stuff to take home.

Bonnie's Flashback

Day before, in the session with Bonnie

"So, do you feel ready to go home?"- Bonnie asked.

Y/N/E took a moment and answered it-

"Yes and no."

"And how do you feel about Elijah?"

Y/N/E looked at the flower bouquet he had brought her the day before.

"He is nice."

Bonnie wrote a note down.  It was the same feeling she expressed after meeting him the first day at the Rehabilitation two months earlier. She then looked at Y/N/E. She was now looking at the photo that she had put in a frame-

"I feel good around him. Everything he said to me looks like we had a happy marriage. And he has done so much for me"

"So, you are happy to go home with him?"- Bonnie asked.

"Yes."- Y/N/E said.

Bonnie noted down that Y/N/E was positive about Elijah, but her demeanour showed that she didn't express anything that made her feel more than just feel good around him.

Elijah now took the bags and waited a little till Bonnie and Y/N/E said their goodbyes. Although Bonnie was her therapist, she got attached to the woman. She considered her her friend. Y/N/E gave her a hug. Then turned to Elijah, who asked if she was ready and Y/N/E smiled a little nodding. Inside she still felt quite apprehensive. It was like entering the world with new eyes. Everything, every day was like she had been put in a book of collage art. One chapter was her art, the other her husband, her parents, her friends, herself. Everything was jumbled up. 

As they got into the car, he asked-

"What would you like for dinner?"

"Pizza"- Y/N/E replied.

"Pizza?"- he said surprised. She never like pizza for some strange reason.

"It as on my dislike list. I want to try it and see why I dislike it so much."- Y/N/E said.

"All right. Do you want to pick up something from your like list?"

"Red wine, but I guess I cant have it because of my medication"- Y/N/E said.

"You used to like beer. We can get you a non-alcoholic one"- Elijah suggested.

"Beer, really? Jenna didn't write it down."- Y/N/E now said.

"When we met you would always order beer. And then you stopped. Well, you stopped drinking alcohol altogether."-Elijah explained.

"Beer then"-Y/N/E agreed and now asked him-"Do you like pizza?"

"I do. Kol, Klaus an I would meet on Fridays - it was a long time ago- but yes- and it would be playing cards. Then we would always ordered some"

"Why don't I like it?"- Y/N/E inquired.

"You were always eating healthy. You hate junk food actually."

"Oh, yes, Vicky told me"- Elena said now turning to look out of the car window. The streets looked familiar to her. But she didn't know for sure exactly where they were. He could feel that it had discourages her slightly.

“Can we put music on? I have - this- “- Y/N/E now produced an USB with the music Bonnie had helped her choose.

“Yes, of course”- Elijah now took the USB and put it in the car player.As the first song started, Elijah’s eyes glittered with tearfully, but this was a happy glow, as the first song was strangely something he listened to - Photograph - Ed Sheeran.

He glanced at her and she now at him-

“I know it is not something you listen to”- Y/N/E said, and Elijah now gasped thinking she remembered something.

“You remember what I- listened to?”

Y/N/E shook her head and replied-

“Vicky told me what you listen to.”

“Oh.”- Elijah exclaimed a little, and then the second song on the play list was  Greta Van Fleet - Highway tune.

That she took the trouble to put the songs he liked warmed his heart. They had quite a bit in common, like watching old movies, they loved art and shared also a great interest in Opera, but when it came to pop music, they were the total opposite, and she could not understand how he could love the heavy stuff. 

Now, as she played with the fingers to the beat of the drums on her thigh, he had to ask-

“You like the song?”

“Yes”- Y/N/E replied-”and - I would like to learn to play drums.”

“You want to learn to play drums?”- Elijah was stunned.

“Yes. That is strange?”

“It is - unusual. Ahm- but - if you want to - we can arrange it.”- he replied.

“Thank you.”- Y/N/E said.

And they continued listening to the most unusual playlist put together. An hour later they arrived what was their home. As Elijah parked up, and they got out, Y/N/E looked around.

"This is our neighbourhood.”

"It looks really nice."- Y/N/E said.

"Trying new things could be a new adventure"- Elijah now said thinking of her wish to learn to play drums.

"Adventure"- Y/N/E repeated and continued-"I think I like adventures, at least that's what I wrote in that intro for one of my exhibitions. Did I keep a diary?"

"As far as I know you didn't. You wrote a book of essays about ceramics, sculpture. You were about to publish it when-" "The attack happened?!"- Y/N/E stated.

She could for the first time see that it was painful for him to say it.

Y/N/E's Flashback

A few weeks before

Y/N/E looked at the photo of her and her best friend Vicky Donovan.       

She was told by Elijah that her best friend was coming to visit her. She was an actress and lived in Los Angeles. She had read all the well wishing cards she had send her.

"I am so sorry I couldn't come earlier"- Vicky said as she hugged Y/N/E.

"It is fine."- Y/N/E said.

The women got out of the hug and just looked at one another. Y/N/E knew her from the pictures and what Elijah had told her. Everything else was blank.

Vicky then sighed a little and in her bubbly nature said-

"So, everything is - wiped off?!"

"Almost everything. I remember something about myself when I was little."- Y/N/E explained.

Vicky hugged her friend again.

Y/N/E asked her to tell her all about their friendship. And finally about Elijah.

"You married the greatest charmer on this planet"- Vicky said-"every girl wanted him. And he had so many affairs."

"Really?"- Y/N/E was surprised.

"Ok. Don't get this wrong. He is dark, tall and handsome, and deep inside like absolute goodness."

"So, he was with lot's of other women?"

"Yeah, but when he fell in love with you, he only had eyes for you"- Vicky said-"and you didn't make it easy for him."

"Tell me."- Y/N/E said.

"Ok. Here it goes. Ready?"

Y/N/E nodded.

"Right. You first met in this bar. I think it was called ‘Daniel's’. I knew his sister-in-law Sophie."

"Kol's wife?"- Y/N/E interrupted her.

"She is a designer. I met her when I worked as a model"- Vicky explained-"anyway, he was hooking up with a woman -Hayley, I think was her name- and both Sophie and Rebekah couldn't stand her. You know Rebekah-"

Y/N/E swayed with her head implying  that she now didn't really know Rebekah anymore.

"Oh, yes"- Vicky smiled a little apologetically and continued-"Rebekah is the best, but if she doesn't like you- then she is your worst enemy. But she really liked you. The moment she met you she was like your best friend."

"So, I didn't want to be with him cos he was with that woman?"- Y/N/E asked.

"Sort of. You were also kind of dating this guy- Mason Lockwood."

"Kind of?"

"You were off and on. You didn't really want to be serious with anyone."- Vicky explained.

"Then how did it happen? How did I get to marry Elijah?"

"You kept seeing each other. You two both loved that bar. And you just would talk. Like forever. Seriously. You two would sit on the bar and just talked about anything. Your art. The stuff that was going on in the world. New York. Why the spring is better than the autumn. Or why you loved Easter and he loved Christmas."

"So, we started as friends?"

"Pretty much. Although- you were both falling hard and didn't really know you were. And we all watched it and we were all like- get a room already!"- Vicky said.

"And? How then."

"It was for Halloween bonfire night. Rebekah would always organize these theme parties. And we were all invited to the Hamptons."

Y/N/E now got up and looked for the album and then showed her friend the strange photo of her and Elijah in costume.     

"Ah, yes. Wow. Yes, that's it."-Vicky said- "this is the night you made your mind up that you will tell him that you choose him"

"Choose?"- Y/N/E was surprised it had come to the point she had to make a choice.

"Well. Elijah told you how he felt a few days before the party. And he saw you with Mason in the bar and though you broke up with Mason already, but Mason had to kiss you in front of Elijah. And it was all a bit ridiculous. Elijah thought that was it."

"But then I went to the party"

"Yeah, we went to the party"- Vicky said-"and he was there, all completely broken."

"What happened then?"- Y/N/E was eager to find out.

"You went to him and - told him that you choose him- and it's not like you ever had to choose. You were so in love with him already."

     Taking her bag Y/N/E gave Elijah a significant look now saying-

"I don't know how this will go, but I am ready for this new adventure!"

Elijah put a little smile on and nodded.

"Shall we follow the white rabbit then!?"- he said.

"The white rabbit?"- Y/N/E asked.

"Ok. I will get the book. You will understand when you read the story-"

"Tell me just what it is about?"-Y/N/E said as they got into the elevator.

"It's about this girl Alice- she went through a rabbit hole..."- Elijah started.

__

Elsewhere

Rebekah an Klaus walked in ‘Daniel's’ discussing his latest sail boat design. "This will be state of the art boat. Limited edition"- Klaus said. "Oh, you think about anything else except for your boats?"-Rebekah said sitting down at the bar. "Sometimes"- Klaus said looking at the direction of a blond who was sitting at the bar not far from them. 

"Right"- was Rebekah's comment looking at her phone. She was so eager to phone Elijah to find out how he and Y/N/E were getting on, but she didn't want to intrude on their privacy really.  Klaus had picked up on it and now advised her not to make the call.

"They are fine"- Klaus said.

"You didn't see her. She is Y/N/E, but the way she looked at me was like her doppelganger was looking at me- like someone else was in her body."

"Sure things are not like they were- she has to start over but I believe that Y/N/E, the Great, will conquer this memory thing. Anyway, they need time alone"-as he said that, he got up and walked away to the rest rooms. Kol and Sophie walked in and Rebekah put her phone on the counter waving at her brother and his wife, who had someone with them, someone Rebekah knew all too well. Her heart fluttered as they approached her an she said a faint hi to the man.

"We found Matt lurking outside Tiffany's actually"- Kol said "Tiffany's?"- Rebekah as surprise to hear it. "Yeah, getting an engagement ring"- Sophie said "No, just a bracelet for Vicky - it's her  birthday on the 18th of August!"- Matt said. "But that's like two months away"- Rebekah said "I am in New York just for a couple of days"- Matt explained. "So you're here for- to get her a present"- "No, My mom is not well"- Matt said-"Vicky is on a movie shoot in Toronto, she will be down here this weekend."

The  subject swayed to Y/N/E, who was now walking around the penthouse apartment slightly stunned with the place. Soaring ceilings,marble fireplaces and stunning paintings sparkled in Y/N/E's eyes. A spiral staircase off the living room opened into a luxurious bedroom with an Italian glass chandelier marveling the room. Out back was a private garden, lush with greenery, drenched in sunlight. This was their home. She couldn't believe it. She gazed out in the New York skyline now. 

Elijah, who had just ordered the pizzas, now found her on the terrace.

"Hey-"- he said dearly-"so, how was the tour?"

She turned to him with marvelled eyes -"Are you some kind of a prince, because this definitely looks like a miniature palace"

"No prince, I am afraid"- Elijah said-"just an ordinary guy. Oh, you think this  place- You  inherited it. It's actually yours"- "What? Really?"-Y/N/E looked surprised. "You lived here already when I met you. This place is your muse, your inspiration, because of your grandmother. She supported you as an artist."

"Supported me?"-

"Your parents wanted you to study medicine. But you just wanted to do your thing."- Elijah continued.

They now walked to the kitchen, which was entirely different, very eclectic in style.

"Can I cook?"- Y/N/E asked as Elijah plated out the pizza for them. 

"Yes. There-"- Elijah now showed Y/N/E the photo- on the wall.      

"I have to learn about myself through photographs- "- Y/N/E looked at herself. She had no memory of that. 

Elijah now remembered what Bonnie told him - "We are dealing here with retrograde memory loss. There is no access to  events that occurred, or information that was learned, before the injury. It tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical and declarative memory, while usually keeping  procedural memory intact with no difficulty for learning new knowledge."

"So, that means she can't remember anything about what she had done previously."

"Yes, all of that is locked away. There is explicit and implicit memory- People use explicit memory throughout the day, such as remembering the time of an appointment or recollecting an event from years ago. Explicit memory involves conscious recollection, compared with which is an unconscious, unintentional form of memory. Remembering a specific driving lesson is an example of explicit memory, while improved driving skill as a result of the lesson is an example of implicit memory. it's what we call procedural memories. They are automatically retrieved and utilized for the execution of the integrated procedures involved in both cognitive and motor skills, from tying shoes to flying an airplane to reading."- Bonnie explained.

"That means- she will know how to drive a car?"- Elijah asked.

"Yes. But she will not remember learning how to drive, the lessons, for example."

"Come on, let's see if you like the pizza!"- Elijah urged Y/N/E to sit down and for a moment enjoy herself. 

"You did all this."- she sat down at the hub area-"all these photos- telling me my own story?!"

"We have always loved photographing everything around us. I have so many - they are all stored on the computer."- Elijah said.

Y/N/E now took some pizza finally and was absolutely indulging in it. 

"This is sooo good!"- she said in amazement. 

Elijah smiled happily. This was the first time in a very long while that he felt good inside. Seeing her there enjoying the pizza, something she wouldn't ever eat, he thanked the universe for the moment. 

"So, what is next on the list"- he asked.

"Food?"

"Anything-"-he said.

"I don't know yet. I will make a list. Dr Bennett told me to write things down- I think I will start a diary."- Y/N/E said.

"That's a great idea"- Elijah said taking a swag of beer from the bottle. 

Y/N/E did the same.  

****

In the bar, Rebekah, Kol, Sophie and Matt where talking about different topics, whereas Klaus, way too intrigued by the blonde woman,on the way back from the rest rooms now stopped by her, and in a very slick manner addressed her having heard her speak with a distinctive New Orleans accent -

"Sorry, do you happen to be from New Orleans?"

"I am."- Caroline said-"so?"

"Nothing. Just haven't heard 'where y'at?' for a long while"- Klaus said.

"Oh, yeah"- Caroline gave him a look of 'you're really doing this as a pick up line

"Klaus Mikaelson"- he introduced himself-"that bunch over there are my sister, brother, his wife and and my sister's ex- I am pretty harmless- you can ask them"

"Not interested"- Caroline said and now asked for another Bourbon cocktail. 

One thing Caroline Forbes didn't know was that Klaus Mikaelson never gave up so easily, even though this very moment he put his charming smirk on letting her be. He rejoined his siblings. 

Caroline looked after him as she took a sip of her second cocktail. He and his small crowd seemed to have great fun as they joked and laughed. And she nursed a broken heart and the last thing she needed was a guy. Still Klaus gave her a sweet look a few moments later. Caroline embarrassed slightly that he caught her looking at him clumsily made out she was asking for the waiter's attention. 

"A message!"- Rebekah said as her phone buzzed and it was Elijah.

"And?"- Kol and Klaus said in one voice.

Rebekah read out- 'All good"

"Is that it?"- Rebekah was miffed about the short message. 

"What do you want him to tell you"- Kol remarked -"everything will be fine! A round of drinks for everyone!"

Celebrations were in order. This message felt like finally they could start over again.

At the Mikaelson penthouse, Y/N/E and Elijah were going through the different files of photos he had collected and organized on his computer

"So, here- all sorted by year, events, holidays. You can feed it into your computer later."- he said.

"OK. Let's start then- "- Y/N/E said opening the first file- it started with the Bonfire night when they first kissed and she told him she loved him. Then series of photos from parties, exhibition openings, their first trip - New Zealand.  

He had to explain why New Zealand. And that they did the bun then series of photos of their wedding prep.

"Vicky said we eloped!?"- Y/N/E uttered looking at him-"is that why we have no wedding photos?" "Yes. You came to my office - it was sometime in the middle of the preparations all flustered-

Elijah's Flashback retelling Y/N/E how it came about

"I am sorry that I am bothering you at work- but I just can't do it!" "What Y/N/E?" "The whole wedding thing"- "You - are you - what is going on?"- Elijah said feeling as if someone ha pierce him straight in the heart. Y/N/E noticed the sad streak appear in his eyes fearing that was it-she is cancelling everything. She approached him and kissed him wrapping her arms around his neck- "OMG- did you think I was calling it off?"

Elijah nodded slightly.

"Why?"

"You looked so fed up- and we've been together like little over six months- and maybe you got cold feet?"- Elijah said.

"My feet are warm. Very. I just don't like the whole planning thing- and it feels like the wedding planner just took over everything- and I hate the whole guest list and the venue is not right. This is supposed to be about you and me. And I just want to go - elope. There is a place called Mystic Falls in Virginia. I booked the hotel on my way here."

"You did?"- Elijah was stunned.

"We can get married in a private ceremony- they have this beautiful gazebo. I called Vicky and she is all up for supporting us to elope!"- Y/N/E explained.

"Wow! Really?"

"Really!!"- Y/N/E's eyes glimmered with eagerness and cheekiness.

"Ok. Let's do it!"- Elijah agreed-"Your wish is my command!"

And they eloped. The only thing  she took was the wedding dress. Vicky could not go with them as she got a role in a TV show and they took off, asking two complete strangers to stand as their witnesses. 

"You would always do things on an impulse. Maybe not always"- Elijah explained-"but quite often. You were fearless, open, loving, caring, dreamy -"- then he stopped as he realized he said were-"you are- I am sorry- I don't know why I said it in past tense-"

Y/N/E touched his hand instinctively, like always had done when he was sad or frustrated. This was the first time she had touched him after she came out of the coma. If an onlooker could see the moment in slow motion the way he looked at her, her hand on his, then him raising his eyes at her, looking at her with his heart nearly bouncing out of his chest - Y/N/E realized how deeply in love he was with her. This man, that she didn't know, that she had this amazing history with, made her feel all fuzzy inside, but still something kept her away. She didn't know why she felt like something inside of her was holding back. She felt like an outsider in her own life. She didn't know herself, who she really was- just from all the stories people had told her. She didn't even recognize herself in the photo when they first showed her. 

Elijah noticed the frustration taking over and now trying to calm her suggested they take a break from the stories about the past-

"It's been a long day. We don't have to do everything in one day"

"No...no we don't."- Y/N/E said-"when do I have to take the medication?"

Elijah looked at the clock- "in an hour. Do you want to have a little rest?"

"I don't know"- Y/N/E said getting up- "I really don't know."

They stood there in their glorious living room looking at one another enveloped in a limbo. This was never going to be easy. He knew that. The men that left her for dead, took a great part of their lives away.

Flashback

More than a year ago

The attending surgeon got out of the OR. Elijah, Rebekah, Miranda and  Greyson stood up all to hear how the operation went. And the attending asked Elijah to follow him to his office.

"Why?"- Elijah was breaking apart inside.

"Please follow me to the office"- Dr Parker  said.

Elijah went, leaving Rebekah to deal with Greyson and Miranda.

In the surgeon's office, Elijah waited for the news as if he was in  front of the firing  squad.

"This is not an easy thing to say-"- the surgeon paused for a second-"did you know that your wife was eight weeks pregnant?"

"Wha-"- Elijah felt like someone took his life away as he assumed from the surgeon's face what was coming-"it didn't-?"

"I am afraid not- we could not save it- I am really sorry"- he then explained about the rest of the operation.

And why did he think of the most saddest moment in  his life right now- inside he was scolding himself for letting his own deepest sadness overwhelm him- especially on this day that was going so well, on this day when she came home.  

And again, impulse or just plain human feeling,  Y/N/E walked to Elijah, and they looked at one another for a second and just went into a hug. This was Y/N/E, this amazing human being, that had the gift of compassion, selfless completely and utterly. 

_______________

[lalainajanes]

Based on those posts about Therapy Humans that float around. IDEK guys this is not my genre.

Star Crossed World

A persistent beeping fills Klaus’ tiny berth, bouncing around the metal walls. Echoing, growing louder, snapping Klaus out of the first stretch of decent sleep he's managed to get in weeks.

The words that spill from his lips, unintelligible and thick with exhaustion, are not appropriate for company.

Luckily, Klaus has none.

He scrubs a hand over his face, absently wonders when the last time he shaved was. Grooming rather fell to the wayside when you’re only company was a disembodied voice.

The A.I. had come with the ship, an unfailingly cheerful presence that had introduced itself as Josh. Klaus had grown up with various AI’s – his mother preferred them to human servants who tended to be noisy and have an excessive amount of opinions – but they’d always been carefully programmed and unable to speak unless spoken to. Speaking to them was strongly discouraged because, as his parent’s had insisted, it wasn’t as if they were equals.

Josh was far more verbose than any of the AI’s Klaus was accustomed to. He exhibited curiosity about Klaus and where he’d come from. Had even managed to execute some tact, and move on to more general subjects, once his inquiries about Klaus’ well known family had been met with terse replies.

Josh also offered suggestions unprompted, many of which were incredibly helpful since Klaus was new to the mechanics of a ship. A few were less welcome – Klaus was perfectly capable of researching brothels should he desire to. He did not need a rundown of which ones were purported to be the most cleanly and which offered non-standard services. He was well aware that the endorphins released after climax improved a human’s mood.

As aggravating as that conversation had been Klaus hadn’t considered activating the protocol in Josh’s programming that would prevent him from speaking out of turn. Having another entity attempting to nurture him – even ineptly – was novel and the part of Klaus that was homesick, that missed his siblings desperately, appreciated it.

For an AI Josh was also a little on the sensitive side so Klaus makes an effort to keep his tone from being harsh, “Is the ship on fire?”

Before retiring to his bunk Klaus had issues a single order, that he only be awoken if the situation was life and death.

He’s been suffering through a drawn out bout of insomnia, a common side effect to adjusting to living in space. He’d read about it while he’d been hastily throwing together plans, had figured he could deal with it. He’s finding it’s much more difficult than anticipated.

Having spent his entire life on the biggest, most prosperous, planet in The Aesir System Klaus had been less prepared than he’d realized for life on a ship. The terraforming on Odin was designed for human comfort – the temperatures were perfectly regulated, vegetation flourished and the air was filtered and fresh. Before spending his life’s savings on a ship that had seen better days Klaus hadn’t spent more than a week onboard one. As a child his family had taken occasional jaunts to the Vanir planets though even those had stopped once his mother’s parents had passed on.

Had he been a less stubborn sort of person Klaus might have already given up. His hands were covered in bandages (because he’d run out of skin fixative and it wasn’t cheap). Every muscle in his body ached constantly, strained by the physical labor required to keep the ship running on his own. He was lonely though he’d never admit that. He’d kept to himself the few times he’d had to make a stop planet-side for supplies, did his best not to seem hopelessly out of his depth when he took in terrain that defied logic, traversed cities filled with species he’d only ever read about.

As children the acquaintances he and his siblings cultivated had been strictly monitored. They weren’t permitted to interact with anyone who could possibly reflect badly on the family name. Mikael had wanted to be Chancellor, had no qualms with using his children as bargaining chips to fulfill his political ambitions.

Klaus had always hated it. Had preferred to keep to himself rather than dive into the den of snakes his father considered company befitting a Mikaelson.

Finn had been lucky enough to fall in love with his handpicked bride. Elijah chose duty, gave up Katherine Pierce for the daughter of a top ranking general. Though Katherine was an obnoxious harpy, in Klaus’ opinion, and he thought Elijah well rid of her, his dislike was personal, unlike Mikael who thought her too low born to ever be family.  

Klaus had thought his turn was coming, had been dreading the parade of plastic smiles worn by acceptable possible spouses that he’d have to endure.

A heavily buried family secret had saved Klaus from such a fate though it had cost him. In his old life he had access to every comfort, luxuries most people could only dream of.

When he’d left the home he’d grown up in he’d only had a hastily packed bag containing essential personal belongings and a few small trinkets he’d stolen away with. His access to the family accounts was cut off though Mikael hadn’t been able to touch his personal ones. Klaus imagined he’d tried, took great satisfaction in imagining how he must have fumed at being denied.

It was one of the things that kept him going.

“The ship is in perfect working order,” Josh tells him. “You’re being hailed by a courier ship and it’s urgent.”

That made no sense. Klaus hadn’t ordered anything- wouldn’t because the courier ships charged ridiculous fees. He sits up, reaching for a tablet. “What is it?”

“The manifest only lists a single package aboard,” Josh supplies helpfully, even as Klaus accesses the information himself. “From a University on Thoth.”

“Tell them I don’t want it.” It certainly sounded like something he couldn’t afford.

“I can try. But when I told them you weren’t available they insisted their delivery is time sensitive and must be opened within the next two hours. And, that as it was sent in your care, you’ll be held liable for its expiring.”

“The package is alive?” Klaus exclaims, shooting to his feet. Honestly, only an AI wouldn’t think to lead with that information.

Josh isn’t really capable of variations in pitch put the pause is long enough to seem pointed. “It’s obviously a Therapy Human. What else would come from Thoth?”

Klaus’ only knowledge of the planet was vague recollections of Rebekah begging their mother to plan a shopping trip. Something about how the fabric produced by their artisans being the best in the galaxy. “I don’t want a Therapy Human,” he says, reeling. “I don’t need a Therapy Human.” He hurriedly pulls on a shirt, sits to tug on his boots.

“Humans are social creatures,” Josh remarks and Klaus assumes that’s a disagreement.

“Can’t I send it back?” he asks.

“One moment,” there’s an extended pause and Klaus waits anxiously, pacing the few steps his cabin allowed.

“I’ve scanned the typical contracts. Returns are permitted if the Therapy Human doesn’t suit.” Well that was a relief. Unfortunately, Josh’s next words make it clear that Klaus wasn’t quite off the hook. “Which rarely happens, according to the information packet, since selections are carefully done to ensure the best match. It would be your responsibility to return Caroline to Thoth.”

“Caroline?” Klaus asks.

“Your Therapy Human,” Josh supplies.

Klaus groans, running his hands through his hair as he considers his options. Thoth was on the outer edges of the galaxy, a cluster of planets far outside the usual shipping lanes. A trip out there would cost a fortune in fuel and he had no contacts out in that direction, no way of picking up any income when he got there. “How much would a cryosleep set up cost me?”

Josh quotes a figure that would just about eat up all of Klaus’ emergency money.

“Fuck,” he grits out.

Josh is unsympathetic. “You’ve about ninety minutes left in your provided timeline. What do you wish to do?”

Klaus has very few choices and not a single one he’s especially thrilled by. He grabs the ladder and hoists himself up. “Begin docking procedures. I’ll accept the delivery.”

He’d figure everything else out later, starting with who exactly had seen fit to order him a Therapy Human, when he wasn’t in a time crunch.

Klaus hadn’t bothered to check the time on Odin when he’d placed the call. He’d been seething, his hands shaking with the effort not to smash something (because he couldn’t afford to repair anything – not now). He’s viciously pleased when Kol’s face fills the screen, eyes half open and disgruntled. He squints, “Nik? It’s the middle of the night. You’d better have a damned good reason to be interrupting my beauty sleep.”

Were this a call made for a more friendly reason Klaus might have taken the opportunity to needle his brother’s vanity. “You got me a Therapy Human?” he spits out. “Had you been imbibing something illicit again?”

Kol perks up immediately, “Oh, did she arrive already? How wonderfully efficient. Do you like her? I picked out a pretty one, just for you.”

Klaus grits his teeth together, sucks in a shallow breathe through his nose and tells himself he has to be calm. He wasn’t sure how Kol had managed to impersonate him but he needed more details before he contacted the Thoth University where Caroline had been trained. He might be furious but he’d like to avoid landing Kol a lengthy prison sentence.

Though it was entirely possible that his brother would manage to change his mind.

“Why is Caroline under the impression that she’s been corresponding with me?”

Kol grins, obviously immensely pleased with himself. “The thing with procuring illicit substances, brother, is that one meets all sorts of talented people. “I’ve got all the family videos at my disposal. Putting together a voice sim was a breeze. I told her I was shy and she didn’t push for a video call. Probably part of her training.”

“And how is it that you have a copy of my I.D. chips?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets, brother.”

“How did you pay for it?”

Kol shakes his head in mock disappointment, “You’ve no imagination, Niklaus. Do you think I’d only copy your I.D. chips? Dear old dad has quite the clever stash of hidden accounts. It’ll take him ages to realize one’s been emptied, and he’ll never trace it.”

Klaus mulls that over. Kol was alarmingly clever, particularly in matters of mischief. He’d rarely been caught, even when they’d been children and logically he should have only gotten better at covering his tracks. He has one last question, “Why did you get me a therapy human?”

Kol sighs in annoyance, “Rebekah’s in cahoots with your ship. Managed to hack in and download your vitals. She knows you’re not sleeping and she’s afraid you’re going to get space dementia and stop eating and wither away. I told her you’d do something far more dramatic like steer your ship into a star and go out with style. She wasn’t comforted for some reason. So I promised to take care of it.”

Right. Klaus makes a note to call Rebekah more often. He’s been careful not to do it often, afraid she’d be punished for refusing to cut off all contact with him. Evidently that had been a mistake if she’d gone to such lengths.

“And your mind jumped to Therapy Human because…”

“I always said you were a little off, didn’t I?”

Klaus resists the urge to ask further questions, well aware that Kol wouldn’t offer more info. Had he been closer, still in his family’s favor, he might have been able to exert more pressure. He’d just have to accept that this was, in Kol’s mind, a good deed.

“Tell Rebekah to send me a list of times she’ll be free to talk without mother hovering. We obviously need to have a discussion about boundaries.”

“Yes,” Kol says blandly, “I’m sure a discussion will immediately cure our sister of a lifetime of meddlesomeness.”

He cuts the feed without bothering to reply. His timing is impeccable because he hears the squeak of boots on metal approaching. For a moment his heart beat picks up, a kick of fear, before he remembers that he’d told Caroline to come find him once she’d eaten.

He’s been alone for weeks, had become used to being alone. It’ll take some adjusting to another presence. He’s only got the door to the cockpit open a hair and she raps her knuckles on it. “Come in,” Klaus offers, spinning around in his chair.

She smiles, open and friendly, the sort of smile that’s impossible not to respond to. She’s changed out of the thermal jumpsuit she’d been wearing in her cryochamber into a pair of snug black pants and a soft looking blue sweater. His eyes linger on the length of her legs for a too long moment before snapping back up to her face. She is, as his brother had said, very pretty. Her skin’s the sort of fair that requires protection from the sun and Klaus wonders if it could possibly feel as smooth as it looks.

Perhaps he should have paid more attention to Josh’s brothel rundown.

She’s got a bottle of water in one hand and she lays the other on his shoulder briefly. Klaus stiffens under the touch and she notices, “Sorry. My training emphasized tactility. But I understand if you’re not accustomed to it. Would you prefer I didn’t touch you?” She helps herself to the co-pilots chair, curling her legs up and swiveling to face him.

It’s been a long time since Klaus has been tongue tied in the presence of a woman but he’s finding words difficult. In truth he has little objection to her touching him but he knows enough about Therapy Humans to understand she’d find the thoughts racing through his head off putting.

He clears his throat, “Caroline. May I call you Caroline?”

Her brows furrow, “You’ve been calling me Caroline for weeks,” she says slowly.

Any lascivious thoughts immediately flee Klaus’ brain. He had to tell her the truth. “No, that’s the thing. I haven’t. You’ve been speaking to my brother.”

Her denial is immediate, “That’s not possible. Clients are vigorously vetted.”

“I’m sorry but I’m afraid my brother’s talents for deception are unparalleled.”

Caroline studies him intently, weighing the truth of his words. She wraps her arms around her legs, “Why would he do that?”

“Honestly? I’m not entirely clear. If I had to wager I’d guess 10% genuine concern for my well-being, 20% compassion for our sister who does fret over much, and 70% a desire to see if he could do it.”

Her nose wrinkles, “If that’s the case I wonder how he did such a decent facsimile of appearing appealing when we spoke since he’s obviously a cretin.”

The tiny burst of jealousy that settles low in his gut is unwelcome, “Oh?” he asks. “Appealing how?”

She shrugs, “I thought you, or well, he, was lonely. Were the things he told me about your family a lie?”

Klaus bristles, “What precisely did he tell you?”

Caroline’s eyes don’t leave him, soft with empathy, “That you found out your mother had an affair. That the man you thought was your father is a harsh man and that he was always hardest on you. That you left everyone and everything you’ve ever known behind instead of continuing to try to play the role of the perfect son.”

Klaus’ lips press tightly together, embarrassment and anger roiling through him.

“You don’t have to say anything. Just know that I’d never tell anyone things I learned in confidence. You don’t have to worry about that.”

He nods tightly, reaching out to make minute (and not strictly necessary) adjustments to their flight path.

Caroline seems content to let him have his silence, watching the stars with great interest. She sips steadily at her water and once she’s done Klaus offers another. She’d been under for a month according to the data they’d been transferred. All because of his brother’s machinations. The least he can do is ensure her comfort. “I’m fine,” she murmurs. “Thank you, though,” she twists to look at him once more. “Actually, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Were the drawings yours? Or did your brother do those too?”

“Drawings? They were probably mine,” Klaus says. “Kol’s hopeless with a pencil or paints. Why?”

“They’re why I picked you.”

Klaus blinks, surprised. “You picked me?”

She hums a confirmation, smirking playfully, “What, did you think I was ordered out of some catalogue? Please. Do you know what the demand for Therapy Humans is like? We go where we want.”

“And you wanted to come to me?” Klaus asks incredulously.

“There was one of a forest. Not the kind of forests we terraform now but one like the pictures from Old Earth. Where the trees could grow as high as they could manage and they tangled and every shade of green you could imagine was only broken up by pops of other colors where flowers grew wild. My mom used to tell me bedtime stories. A princess who escapes her castle and finds friends in a forest. A maiden in an enchanted sleep under the cover of trees, waiting for true loves kiss. A girl, who wanders off the path, finds danger but defeats it. I loved them but it had been forever since I’d thought of them. The drawings brought it all back.”

“Are you close to your mother?”

“I was,” Caroline answers, sorrow in the words.

“I’m sorry.”

Her eyes close for a moment, and Klaus sees a hint of wetness, wishes he had something to offer her. She shakes her head, “I’m fairly certain that I’m not the one who’s supposed to cry so let’s talk about something else. What’s the plan now?”

“I have to figure out the best course to Thoth. What we’ll need for the journey.”

Her head turns to him sharply, “What? You’re taking me back?”

Klaus gestures around him, “A Therapy Human isn’t in my budget, love. Nor do I need one.”

She tips her head to the side, a hint of challenge in her blue eyes, “Really? You’re happy in this teeny metal box all by your lonesome? That’s not what Josh said.”

Klaus glares at the ceiling well aware that they’re not technically alone. He’ll have to remember to make sure that a recording of this conversation doesn’t get played for Rebekah. “Josh shouldn’t be gossiping. And happiness has little to do with finances in the real world, I’m finding. ”

She waves a dismissive hand, “My contract is paid for the next year. I won’t cost you a cent. I have a generous stipend for food and clothing and things. What if I want to stay?”

That takes him aback, “I… hadn’t considered that.”

Her smile is teasing, “I’ll forgive you for being self-centered since you’ve been in hermit mode for months but don’t make it a habit.”

“Do you want to stay?”

“Maybe. Stand up, let’s test something.”

Klaus thinks about arguing but something about the set of Caroline’s shoulders tells him he’d be wasting his breath. He rises slowly, watches warily as she does the same. He sucks in a gasp when she steps into him, tucking her face into his shoulder. “This is a hug, Klaus. Try it.”

Tentatively he winds his arms around her, finds he can’t help but savor the weight of her body so close to his.

He tenses when she makes to pull back but manages to resist holding her tighter.

“Huh. You’re not as terrible at that as I anticipated.”

That’s the oddest approximation of a compliment Klaus has ever received.

“Did you hate it?” Caroline asks. “While some humans function better with regular physical contact there are some that are touch averse.”

He hadn’t hated it. Not at all. Klaus shakes his head. “It was… fine.”

Caroline beams up at him. “I can work with that. I’ve always wanted to see the rest of the galaxy. Didn’t have the money to travel but, when my aptitude test scores came back, I figured becoming a Therapy Human was my best shot. You’re my first assignment and I’d rather not fail it.”

Klaus thinks about pointing out that she wouldn’t be failing anything given the circumstances but Caroline plows ahead. “What if we try it out? Give me a month, you can chart a course vaguely in the direction of Thoth. Just… a scenic route.”

No one would ever accuse Klaus of being a pushover. Twenty minutes ago he’d had a plan but somehow Caroline had blown it to smithereens. “A trial,” he says. “Fine.”

She hugs him again, more aggressively, all soft curves, warm skin and exuberance, and Klaus acknowledges that he’d never had a fighting chance. He can easily see a month stretching two, two stretching into the full year. “You’re not going to regret this,” she tells him, sounding almost smug.

Klaus isn’t sure if he will or not. If she stays the year, if they work together, what happens then? Would he want to let her go? Could he convince her to give up her job and stay just because he wanted to?

Was that even possible?

He hears her yawn, an insistent one that sends a shiver down her whole body. “Let’s get you to a bunk,” he murmurs and she nods against him.

“Please. Cryosleep is weird and I’m exhausted.”

He’s read that, isn’t surprised when she stumbles when he begins to usher her out of the cockpit. “We can talk more tomorrow.”

While she slept Klaus would do some research, figure out just what the rules and boundaries were. He’ll get Kol to send him everything even if he has to induce Bekah into histrionics to make it happen.

He’s been aimless since leaving his home planet. It’s probably long past time to start planning for his future.

[kyliafanfiction-archive]

I’m making my own post here, but this conversation is jumping off of comments that @cantspeakfae made here (x) I will requote the relevant bits below

What is it about these characters that they are seen so differently by each person?

What do you guys think? Is it the writing that takes everyone on a different journey even though we’re all watching the same show? Is it the explanations for why they’re doing what they are? Is it the characterization itself that makes us want to forgive them? The accent? Their hair? They way they look? Do you see yourself and mistakes you’d make, or do you see something you wish you could be?

I’m genuinely curious. Why do some people think Angel is unforgivable for losing himself and killing people but refuse to hold Willow accountable for doing the same? Why do people think of Andrew as a sweet, harmless Geek when he took part in the trios disgusting actions? How can two characters do the same thing but only one of them be seen as the bad guy?

What is it for you, personally? The way you live, what you’ve been through, how the story is presented?

Add onto the thread, or even just inbox me. This is something I’ve been curious about for a while.

Although this was about Buffy characters, I’m not going to talk about Buffy characters - much. At the end of the day, apart from the characters we’ve basically all agreed to hate (e.g. Warren Mears, Catherine Madison), I like basically everyone. I may have some specific issues with specific characters, but there’s no one that I find truly ‘unforgivable’ in the broad sweep of things or any character that I hate and can’t at least partially get behind - to varrying degrees.

I have famously said I have major issues with the way Spike was written and handled by the writers, and as such have major issues with storyline, but as a character independently, I like Spike. 

No, what I want to talk about is Damon Salvatore and Klaus Mikaelson.

Because I love Damon. Oh my god, favorite male character on TVD, second favorite TVD character overall (right after Caroline Forbes, and yes, there is a certain weirdness in that, given their history as character). 

But I hate Klaus. I hate him on TVD, I usually hate him on the Originals (every time he manages to get out of the hate-hole, he drops back into it within a few episodes). I despise Klaus and usually seeing Klaus defense makes me want to rage, rage, rage, all the day long. I am bamboozled by people who like Klaus as much as some people seem to.

Objectively, when I try to step back, it becomes hard to say with any certainty that Klaus is any worse than Damon. We don’t know the raw kill counts of both - Klaus has lived longer, but Damon has a lot of kills behind him. Objectively, they’re both horrible mass murderers.

Now, I could (and I will in a minute) make a case for why Damon is an ever so slightly better person than Klaus, but at the end of the day... I just like Damon more. I like his character more - so I’m probably cutting him more slack.

As a character, I like Damon more - his wit, the way he’s used in the story, the way Ian Somerholder delivers his lines, his badassery, his open embrace of his own poor moral standing-

And that, at the end of the day, is a core part of why I would make the case that Damon is a better person - because for me, intent, motivation and perception of your own actions

Damon knows he’s a villain of sorts. He embraces it. He accepts that he does bad things and that makes him bad. He owns what he does, and what it is. He accepts that he’s an impulsive, selfish, murderous monster. He says it himself - he’s the guy that does the evil things because others won’t. (Now, whether or not those evil things he does are really necessary sometimes to protect the group is a different discussion.) 

He considers himself the evil brother, and more or less accepts it. He tries, at times, to be better, to varying degrees of partial success (usually brief though), but he knows what he is, what he’s done, what he was. And when he feels himself slipping, when he believes he can’t keep himself under control - it may have been the Cowards way out to put himself to sleep until Elena woke up, but... he firmly believed that he would not be able to be a good person without it, and he didn’t want to put his best friend through that disappointment over and over and over and over again. Damon is an emotional coward, and a monster, who kills out of impulse, turns his humanity off to avoid dealing with his own sins and the weight of them (even if its usually specific/personal sins, rather than the broader death toll) and sometimes kills and lashes out because of his own pile of baggage and self-loathing and his need to stay the bad guy, to keep the expectations low. 

This is all horrible, immoral stuff. On most other shows, Damon would be the guy that needed to die a long time ago, but TVD and the Originals are weird in that respect. Either way, none of the context, motivation or reasoning or even his own embrace of his own evil changes the fact that he is doing some truly horrible shit and is an objectively terrible person.

But... I like him, and I give him more slack than Klaus because of all those reasons... and because I like him.

By contrast, Klaus is the hero of his own story. Klaus is the forever aggrieved victim - everyone is always out to get him, he’s the only good person in a world of traitors and enemies. He’s the master of the world, rightfully, and anyone who doesn’t acknowledge his mastery and give him whatever he wants, when he wants it, is... stealing from him. Whenever his siblings come at him for his many offenses against him, whenever someone calls him out for his sins - his offenses against them directly, usually - he acts as though they’re the villain, that they have no legs to stand on. At one point, he even says something like ‘because I could never live up to your righteousness, Elijah’ (or something to that effect) with harsh scorn and sarcasm, rejecting the notion that he’s ever done anything wrong, or that Elijah has any right to say he has.

Klaus generally  has no awareness that his actions - constantly daggering his family, murdering friends and allies when it suits him, betraying whoever he has to, mass murder in general (and then being all like ‘what did I do?” when the friends or loved ones of his victims come after him). He awareness that he does bad things, or that people aren’t going to just fall in line because he’s Klaus Mikaelson the Magnificent.

I don’t think that the reasons Klaus kills are as acceptable - he kills for ambition, usually pretty petty ambition, he kills because he sets impossible standards for others to follow, he kills because he sees them as the sinners against him, the Godly hero, the man who is constantly being offended against. Unlike Damon, he doesn’t see what he does as bad. He grasps that others may see it like that, once in a blue moon, but usually? Not so much. Usually he doesn’t seem to understand why people turn on him or don’t like him. Why the world doesn’t just give him what he’s owed.

Klaus feels entitled to it all. Damon doesn’t, not really. Klaus views himself as the hero. Damon understands he’s the villain, even when he’s arguably not (though there are times when he’s unquestionably the villain). Klaus kills because he loves being feared, because he loves power, because almost everyone in the world is more of a cardboard cut out to him, than a person. Damon kills out of self-loathing and impulsive hunger. And sometimes to get at Stefan.

At the end of the day, both are terrible people. But personally (and possibly for biased reasons), I find Damon an ever so slightly less terrible person. I love Damon, and hate Klaus. I think Damon is just a touch better than Klaus. This is not to say no one can like Klaus, or even that other people can’t think Klaus is a better person. I can’t understand why anyone would like this perspectiveless egomaniacal fuckjob of a monster, but people have every right to, and I wouldn’t go after them for it.

This is my personal perspective. My take, built on my idiosyncracies, my tastes, my experiences, my perspective. Everyone has their own take, their own view, their own reasons for liking those characters they like and disliking the ones they dislike.

At the end of the day, its probably just that I find Damon more entertaining than Klaus, that Damon tickles my narrative tastes and ‘narrative kinks’ (for lack of a better way to put it) better than Klaus. Its from that point that my views of the comparative morality no doubt in part come from. I remain convinced that I’m right, but... 

Of course I think I’m right, you know? I’m not gonna think I’m wrong.

[yootaesowlwrites]

Give Me Strength Chapter 12;

Staring at her cabinet filled with liquor she tried to remember the last forty-eight hours of her life but it was a complete blank, her cabinet had been filled since she lasted opened it but she couldn't remember if Santino had stopped by, which bothered Alex because the only times she can't remember is when she used heavy drugs and drank too much and she couldn't remember doing either of them, but what bothered her the most was the fact that she didn't want to drink anything.

Her morning routine usually included coffee with a shot glass whiskey or vodka inside of it but not this morning, something was stopping her from touching the bottles and she had no idea why, letting out a light sigh she closes the cabinet and leaves the kitchen.

"Wait, Damon kidnapped her?" Elena asks, she was completely shocked by Damon's actions. "I might not like her but she didn't deserve that, she doesn't deserve such a death like that." Elena states, Stefan nods his head. "All that happened just because she spoke to Elijah?" Elena asks, Stefan once again nods his head. "Wow..."

"Why do you dislike her, Elena?" Stefan asks, he wanted to know and he wanted clarity on the situation, Elena thinks for a minute.

"I told you, she gave Jeremy drugs after our parents died." Elena states. "She almost ruined his life."

"And why do you think she's on drugs? Always Getting High?" Stefan asks, he didn't wait for her to answer him. "Nobody was there for her when her parents were murdered, She wasn't made to feel comfortable in your home," Stefan says. "Jeremy must have seen that it helped her and decided to try it himself." Elena lets out a sigh. "She lost her parents at a much younger age than you and Jeremy."

"I uh..." Elena sighs. "Oh gosh, how could I forget, I was there the night it happened," Elena says. "She was such a wreck," Elena states, but then started to wonder how Stefan knew about the incident. "Wait, how do you know about that? It happened before you and Damon came back."

"I entered her mind," Stefan admits, Elena frowns and crosses her arms over her chest.

"You entered her mind? Stefan, that's an invasion of privacy." Elena says.

"I know it is, but the story of Alex has been twisted so much and I wanted to know the truth," Stefan says. "I know I shouldn't have done that, but I wanted to know what actually happened." Elena lets out another sigh.

"What did you see?" Elena asks, she was curious what Stefan could have seen in Alex's mind.

"The moment she sneaked out of your house when she met that Jayden bloke, the first time she had received drugs," Stefan says. "I've heard when a person is broken their world becomes black and white, her mind was faded, she wants some colour in her life and it doesn't seem like anyone wants to give her a chance."

"She could have come to me, I would have helped her." Elena states. "Why didn't she? Why did she decide to sneak out?"

"Do you remember that feeling you had when you lost your parents?" Stefan asks, Elena nods her head. "That was how she felt, but she only difference, you had Jeremy, she didn't have any other family," Stefan says. "She needed somebody to understand that pain but there was nobody there, and that is why she and Jayden became friends."

"Why with him?" Elena asks, Why him of all people?

"He lost his mother not that long before they had met, they bonded with each other because they understood each other's pain," Stefan says. "Jeremy went searching for her because he didn't want to bother you with his grief." Elena slowly nods her head. "He thought it helped her, but if you've been pretending your entire life that you're all right, you can fool anyone."

"I can't... I didn't, gosh, I should've been there for her, but I was just too caught up with popularity." Elena mumbles. "Jeremy hates her." Elena states. "I need to call him."

Alex leans against her car with her head against the door and her hand on the door handle debating if she should go and buy a coffee or if she should stay home, her decision was made for her when she heard one voice she thought she would never hear near her home again.

"Alex! Alex, wait up," Jeremy calls out, Alex quickly climbs into her car and locks the doors, she puts the key into the ignition and starts the engine, she looks in her mirror and reverses out of her driveway, Jeremy stops by her lawn and watches as she speeds away from her own house, she looks in her mirror and saw Jeremy's figure getting smaller and smaller.

Alex parks her car outside the Mystic Grill and climbs out and locks the doors, she walks steps into the grill and looks around and saw Matt working the bar, she lets out a sigh but walks towards the bar anyway, the guy hated her with passion for giving his sister drugs, worst of all, he blamed her for Vicki's death's even though she hadn't seen Vicki before her death.

"Hi, Matt," Alex says with enthusiasm, Matt looks at her and frowns.

"You can't get alcohol here," Matt states, Alex, frowns but quickly shakes his statement.

"No thank you, you might just poison me," Alex says. "I want some fries." Matt leaves the bar and goes to the kitchen to go place her order and she sits down at the bar, Santino walks into the Grill and spots Alex, a smirk tug at his lips as he makes his way towards her.

"Well, Hello there stranger, where have you been?" Santino asks taking a seat beside Alex. "I stopped by your place yesterday morning and you were nowhere to be found." Alex thinks for a moment, trying to remember where she was the previous morning. "I uh refilled your cabinet."

"Thank you," Alex utters, it bothered her that she couldn't remember where she was. "I uh don't remember, I must have blacked out or something." Alex leans against the bar, still trying to remember what had happened.

"Must have been one hell of a one-woman party," Santino says, Alex slowly nods her head.

"It uh must have been if I can't remember anything," Alex says, trying to play it off.

"Do you want me to buy you a drink?" Santino asks, she wanted to puke just thinking about liquor.

"I uh, no thank you," Alex says. "I still need to be sober when I go to buy some groceries." Alex quickly says. "I don't need to be pulled over by a cop for reckless driving and then be sent to rehab or something." Alex jokingly says causing Santino to chuckle.

"We would not want that," Santino says, Matt returns to the bar with a scowl on his face.

"Your fries will be out in a few minutes," Matt says, Alex nods her head.

"One bourbon." Santino orders, Matt takes out a glass and pours the liquor into the glass before pushing it in Santino's direction, watching hi making sure he wouldn't give it to Alex instead.

"Trust issues much?" Alex mumbles, deciding to mess with him. "You seem pissed, Matt, what's wrong?" Alex asks, with sincerity in her voice.

"Nothing." Matt snaps at her, Alex lifts her hands up.

"All right, I don't want to fight with you," Alex says, she lowers her hands and turns her attention back to Santino, Jeremy walks into the Grill and looks around before spotting Alex at the bar, he makes his way towards her with one thought in his head, to apologize.

"Hey, Jer," Matt says spotting Jeremy.

"What's up m Matt?" Jeremy says, he then looks at Alex and smiles softly at her. "Hi, Alex." Alex almost glares at him when she did turn to look at him.

"Jeremy." Alex acknowledges him, she didn't have anything to say to him.

"Can we talk?" Jeremy asks, he knew it wasn't going to be easy to talk to her but he was hoping to at least get a few words in before she told him to piss off.

"No, Jere, are you doing drugs again?" Matt quickly intervenes. "That isn't the answer." He says worrying about his friend, Jeremy looks at Matt as Alex rolls her eyes and looks away from Jeremy.

"Oh, no, Don't worry Matt, I'm not doing that again," Jeremy says. "I just need to talk to her." He looks back at Alex. "It's kind of important." Letting out a long sigh she stood up from the chair.

"Fine." Alex agrees. "I'll be right back for my fries, keep them safe," Alex says.

"Certo, Tesoro," Santino says, Alex leads Jeremy to a quiet corner in the grill so they could talk privately.

"Okay, what do you want? You made it perfectly clear that you never wanted to talk to me again about maybe a year ago." Alex states.

"I uh wanted to apologize to you, I forgot that you uh lost your parents as well, not just Elena and myself," Jeremy says. "And we should have been there for you when you lost yours, and we weren't." Alex could almost feel the anger bubble up inside of her. "I'm sorry."

"You're not." Alex states. "You're not sorry, so stop lying to yourself." Jeremy was about to protest but Alex wasn't finished. "You hate me just like everyone else in this stupid small town, and if I'm going to be honest right now, We both know that you wouldn't have come and talked to me if you didn't suddenly remember my parent's death." Alex crosses her arms. "So, please, keep hating me, just know this, there is nobody that hates me more than I hate my fucking self." Alex begins walking back to the bar before spinning around. "Thank you for wasting my time!" Alex arrives back at the bar as Matt placed her fries in front of Santino.

"Why do you look so upset? What did the bloke want?" Santino asks.

"Oh, nothing, he just suddenly remembered my parents were killed!" Alex says loudly, Matt suddenly remembers that night when it was shown on the news about their tragic deaths. "If he didn't remember he wouldn't have wasted his time nor my time." Alex picks up her fries and walks away from the bar looking for a table, Santino stood up from the barstool.

"I'm going to need another one, Mate," Santino says, pointing to his empty bourbon glass, Santino walks towards the table Alex had sat down and sat down across from her.

"I'm really glad that only a handful of people like me, and I'm even more thankful you're one of them," Alex states, picking up a fry.

"Careful, you might just make me cry, love," Santino says, Alex chuckles and pushes the fry in her mouth, she looks past Santino and saw Elijah with Jenna entering the grill, they walk towards a table that was being occupied by Alaric, Damon and some girl. "What are you staring at?" Santino asks while looking over his shoulder.

"Nothing," Alex says, Santino looks back at her. "Nothing."

"If you insist," Santino says, Jenna spots Alex and excuses herself before making her way towards Alex, Elijah follows behind her while Alaric glared daggers at Elijah.

"Alex! How are you?" Jenna asks, Alex smiles up at Jenna.

"I'm okay, and you?" Alex asks.

"I'm good, hey, you remember, Elijah, right?" Jenna asks, Alex nods her head and glances at Elijah.

"I remember him." Alex states.

"Great, then I'm going to invite you to a dinner party tonight at the Salvatore boardinghouse, You're welcome to join us," Jenna says, it almost felt like an itch in Alex's brain as something tried to remind her what had happened the last time she was there.

"I uh don't feel like dressing," Alex says, trying to come up with an excuse.

"You don't have to dress up," Jenna says, Alex could feel Elijah watching her.

"I'll uh think about it," Alex says, she could feel a headache coming on as her brain continued to try to warn her.

"If you do come, it's at six," Jenna says, Alex nods her head and gives Jenna a smile.

"I'll think about it."

[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12 you’re here] - [13] - [14] - [15] - [16] - [17] - [18] - [19] - [20] - [21] - [22] - [23] - [24] - [25]

[laufire]

I was tagged by @equusgirl (thank you! this seems fun ^^

Rules: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag some friends

Fandoms:

Shadowhunters

The 100

The Vampire Diaries/The Originals (I want to talk about both so whatevs)

The First Character You Loved:

Magnus. His pilot scene in Pandemonium was cool lol

I think it was actually Octavia? Man, I loved Octavia in season 1. She was gr10 in the pilot.

Caroline, from the “yeah, this is a competition” moment. And she wasn’t dethroned in my heart since then xD In TO it was Marcel, in the backdoors pilot. He was so. damn. charming. I was the poster girl of the heart eyes emoji during that whole episode.

The Character You Never Expected To Love So Much:

Actually, Isabelle is a deviation from my usual faves, IMO? In another world, I would probably be stanning Maia or Alec. But in this one we got the yin fen storyline, which was what made me go from a casual viewer to... well, what I am now xD; besides, shipping Rizzy the way I do enhances my love for both characters. Ergo, they’re my faves, with a head start for Izzy xD

Murphy, obviously xDD I didn’t really haaaaaate the guy in s1 (I rarely hate the characters it’s obvious we should hate. My loathing in s1 was reserved for Klak and Finn xD), and between hearing a bit of what was going on with him from fandom and watching the s4 finale, I expected to like him when I’d catch up, but I have to say “how much” catch me by surprise lol.

umm... Klaus? As in, I always liked him, but now I have feels for the guy and it feels weird xDD And I guess I never expected to grow warmer wrt Damon? I mean, I’m still glad he was de-vamped at the end and clearly aware of the new power imbalance between him and Caroline hehe (revenge!!), but season 6 made me fond of the guy wtf. In TO I wasn’t surprised by my love for anyone, but I guess Klaus counts?

The Character You Relate To The Most:

Raphael, hands down. Which might have to do a little more with projecting than I’m comfortable with, but well. 

I often joke that I relate to Bellamy’s love for Raven, but aside from that, I don’t really see myself in any of the characters.

TVD is another case where I don’t strongly relate to anyone in particular. If you include TO, I’d say Vincent. 

The Character You’d Slap:

I’d slap more than one, if only because how satisfying slapping people can be xDD. Umm. I guess Clary? But not as much now as in s1 or even 2a, now she just bores me.

Look. With characters like Klak you have to do more than just slapping. If I slapped Klak she’d kill me, period, the sadistic little shit. I’d strangle her and be done with it xD I guess I’d slap Jasper, if he was still alive.

Again, slapping anyone in TVD/TO would be extremely risky xDD, but pretending for a moment that I could get away with it, Stefan and Elijah are my top candidates, yup.

Three Favourite Characters (In Order Of Preference):

Isabelle, Raphael, and Maia.

Raven, Murphy, and Emori.

Caroline, Bonnie and Qetsiyah on TVD, Klaus, Marcel and Vincent on TO.

A Character You Liked At First But Don’t Anymore:

I don’t think I’ve reached that level with anyone in Shadowhunters, but it’s only been two seasons, there’s time :P

As I said, I used to LOVE Octavia, back when I watched season 1. Then, like everything that wasn’t my OTT love for Raven, or my OTT hate for Klak, that feeling faded when I left the show, and I didn’t feel anything for her when I came back to it, either way. Then the whole showdown with Monty’s mother happened and I can’t help but resent her ever since tbh. 

I guess I don’t love Tyler like I used to -season 6 was an extreme let down and, after he left the show, I basically tried to focus on other stuff. His return in s8 still angered me, and my recent rewatch awoke all my bittersweet feelings for him, but it’s not the same. With TO, I guess I liked Freya when she showed up and now I dislike her almost as much as Elijah or Rebekah xD (her attitude wrt Davina’s sacrifice rubs me the wrong way. At least own up to how little you cared about her ffs, instead of trying to appear like the victim).

A Character You Did Not Like At First But Now Do:

Umm... I guess Jace? I didn’t hate him or anything in s1, but I resented his status in the narrative. I mean, being comfortable with his current, diminished position obviously means he’’s not one of my faves lol, otherwise I’d feel bitter. But I liked him a lot more in s2.

I guess Murphy counts? I didn’t dislike him per se, but I remember I thought leaving him alive was a huge strategic mistake on Klak’s part that really showed her ass, so.

Damon in TVD. I can’t think of anyone in TO? My feelings have been pretty consistent there. Though I guess I liked Kol a lot more than I ever did on TVD, where I was mostly indifferent. 

Three OTPs: (I decided to read this as 3 OTPs for each fandom because I can)

Rizzy is my number one, as everyone knows xDD. The next ones would be Banecourt and Morninwood (Maryse/Valentine. That’s the ship’s portmanteau, fight me), with an honorable mention to my OT3, Relizzy (Izzy/Meliorn/Raphael). 

Braven and Memori are tied at the top and I’ll forever refuse to choose between them. The third position is trickier, but it’d be either Finn/Raven (damn those feelings) or Wellamy.

On TVD: Klaroline, Bonkai, and Qetsilah. On TO: Klaroline again (it’s a TO ship now biotch!), Kolvina, and Mincent (Marcel/Vincent. A gr10 rareship with too little content ¬¬)

I’m tagging @ravenbells @obijuanjabroni @grapecase @lesbiancleophas @kirstenchronicles @kickassfu and anyone else who wants to do it, just @ me ^^