#and I didn't know how to reconnect him with Nina

[crushedsweets]

neeed to hear the context behind ur most recent art. please enlighten us

you guys dont even know how excited i get when someone asks smth like this abt my art or headcanons or au.

i actually wrote liek a fucking essay oh my god im so sorry anon ill have the actual drawing context after the big bolded caps

TW for typical creepypasta story type stuff

anyway ok UNNECESSARY BACKSTORY: liu spent a long time trying to just psychologically recover from everything. he hated jeff and he hated the memory of everything. jeff signature murders would occur every now and again, each time liu would fall into a deep depression. the murders stopped for a while, and everyone believed jeff 'retired' or died. liu was conflicted about it. until Jeff committed his final full-blown 'jeff fashion' murder (janes family) in tuscaloosa alabama. liu had another breakdown and ended up moving to tuscaloosa because he was completely convinced he needed to find jeff again because he could fix it (or die trying and he'd be fine with that too)

nina was always one of those girls obsessed with 'true crime' but like.... the murderers instead of the cases. she was 12 when jeff's first rampage happened and she just fell head over heels in love with this freak. she began to act out, miss school for days, sneaking out to meet older people, etc etc. eventually she did the classic jeff smile cut into her face(she pussied out on making it like jeffs, so she has cleaner, less noticeable scars) . she started getting severely bullied (for being creepy and worshipping a literal murderer) and her parents sent her to live with her grandparents in mississpi. she started stalking liu through social media and whitepages when jeff was presumed dead. but eventually, jeff's final murder happened in alabama(a state away from her) and after turning 18, she ran away to go find jeff convinced he would 'save her' from the life she created for herself. nina got wrapped up in slenderman business because of her constant Tom Foolery. she met her idol

JEFF IS A BAD PERSON IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. he did a beautiful job in using his #1 fangirl and enjoying the worship. she scrambled for pennies to afford an apartment, she'd sleep on the couch if he wanted to use her bed, she's ride her bike hours to go get weed or something from rando drug dealers that give better deals to pretty girls, make him food, do his damn laundry, literally anything and everything bc THATS HER MAAANNNNN (no he isnt.)

jeff DOES NOT GIVE A FUUUCK about everything nina does for him . one day he finds her trying to creepily get into contact with liu (and liu actually responded) and he loses his shit and stabs her and goes on and on about how 'you ruined your own useless fucking life your family is never going to take you back you did this to yourself' etc. he didn't intend to kill her only cuz he knew she'd forgive him and he liked all the shit she gave him

NOW ABOUT THE DRAWING ITSELF:::::

afterwards nina gets patched up from jeff stabbing her, she has some weird 'liu will save me' spiral (not romantically just in a very literal 'he can fix this' way). liu's been on his own spiral since finding out jeffs alive which is the only reason he even gave nina the time of day. eventually she ends up at his house to 'talk about jeff' bc she sent him creepy pics proving she knew jeff yadayadayada.

im not sure the exact conversation i imagined for the drawing, BUT liu eventually says something that sets nina off and she tears at her stitches and breaks down and drips blood all over his kitchen talking about 'I CAN MAKE HIM LOVE ME AGAIN I JUST NEED YOUR HELP PLEAAASEEEE' or something.

liu's a good man, much to his own detriment, and can't help but comfort this kid who's bleeding and crying in his kitchen at the fault of his own brother. he's all too familiar with wanting to repair his relationship with jeff, despite the amount of rage, betrayal, misery, etc he felt at jeffs hands. he doesn't ACTUALLY want to reconnect with jeff, but it's a very deep internal longing for the baby brother he once had that VERY RARELY overshadows his hatred

i want to reaffirm that liu does not feel positively about jeff at all, does not want to see him, and only moved to alabama b/c of a long ass mental health crises and is now too wrapped up in new financial commitments(plus jane) to move again. and now he feels obligated to help nina

he just misses being a big brother :( not so much the jeff part

also none of this at all is shipping at all i am terrified at the idea of people taking anything romantically . even if nina is in 'love' with jeff its purely for the story/horror . ITS ALL REALLY BAD

[simwithsparkles]

Nick, Margo and their parents. 

[missymurphy1985]

There's Something About Kate (Cillian Murphy X fem!OC)

Follow up to The Heartache.

For those who didn't read it... Cillian's wife, Lucy, passed away from cancer a year ago. He hasn't worked since, concentrating on raising their 9 year old daughter Ava. Kate was their Macmillan nurse, and also lost her husband six years ago to the same disease. They've reconnected recently, having had a couple of dates. Lots of you said you wanted more, so this story follows their blossoming relationship. For reference, Cillian is 30 in this story.

Masterlist

Warnings - mentions of characters deaths (not Cillian or Kate) / fluff / eventual smut (not yet)

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @peakyciills @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @peaky-cillian @misselsbells06 @datewithgianni @heidimoreton @jardinsecos @bitchwhytho @gypsy-girl-08 @queenofkings1212

Kate sat on the small stool in her bedroom and winced while her best friend and flatmate Nina pulled and twisted her hair.

"If you don't keep still, I'll shave it all off!" Nina snapped, smacking Kate's shoulder playfully.

"I asked for a French Plait, not a form of medieval torture!!"

"Do you want to look good for your date or not?!"

She sat on the stool in silence, gritting her teeth and allowing the torture to continue.

"It's just dinner, Nina.."

"Oh shut up. It's a date and you know it."

"It's two friends catching up over a plate of hot food and a glass of wine!"

"Exactly. A date."

Two weeks earlier, Kate had dinner with Cillian and Ava at his house, after bumping into them in the cemetery earlier that week. Ava had stolen much of the conversation, and Cillian had invited her back, but her work schedule was relentless. It had taken until tonight to be able to plan anything with him, but they'd messaged back and forth almost daily. And to say the messages had been slightly flirtatious would be an understatement. She felt like a teenager again.

She'd only dated twice since Jack's death six years earlier, it had taken her nearly five years to come to terms with his loss. Her last relationship, which in all honesty was more of a fling than anything else, had ended a few days prior to that chance meeting in the cemetery. He was a dick, and only interested in one thing - he led her on, had his way with her, then disappeared. All in the space of just three weeks.

Not this time, she promised herself. Slowly. Take it slowly.

An hour later, she made her way inside the restaurant. Telling the concierge her name, he led her towards a table at the side of the room, where she found him sitting inside a small booth. Glass of wine in one hand and his phone in another, pressed against his ear. She approached the table and he ended the call, standing up and giving her a gentle hug, she blushed as he kissed her cheek softly.

"Ava," he chuckled, putting his phone in his pocket.

"Checking up on her old man?" Kate laughed, sitting opposite him.

"Cheeky. Yep. She's been nagging me all day. Wash your hair. Wear the expensive aftershave. Don't forget to floss."

"And did you follow her instructions?"

"Always do, she terrifies me," he laughed, and Kate couldn't help but feel her heart jump a little.

The two of them talked. At no point during the meal did the conversation falter. No awkward silences. They talked about books, movies, her job, his job, Ava... And it felt comfortable.

He offered to walk her home, her house was only a short walk and he lived not much further after. He had his hands in his jeans pockets, and he offered her the gap between his elbow and ribs. Smiling, she slotted her arm through the gap and they walked side by side.

"Can I ask you a question?" Cillian asked, after a brief silence.

"Of course."

"How long did you wait, after Jack?"

"About five years."

She felt him tense, and look away over the river. Squeezing his arm, she stopped him and turned him to face her. Her hands now stroking his arms.

"Listen, Cillian, everyone is different. It took me that long because I had to rebuild my life again. I had to sell the house, move back home, work out a new plan." He nodded, feeling her hands move down to hold his.

"I like you, Kate, I really do. I just.. I feel like I'm cheating on her, you know?"

"I like you, too. And that's normal. I still feel like that about Jack sometimes."

"Have you done this with anyone else?" Kate nodded.

"Recently actually. But he was a prick... Only wanted me for one thing and fucked me off after he got it."

"Shit..."

"Yep, he was actually," Cillian chuckled at the swipe at your ex.

"For what it's worth, I'm not like that." Kate simply nodded. She believed him, but she was in no hurry to test the theory.

"What, shit in bed?" Kate laughed as she watched his cheeks burn.

"Holy fuck, no, I mean..." She watched him struggle for a few moments before nudging him playfully, linking her arm back into his and continuing their walk.

He listened to her hum a gentle tune as they walked and admired the Liffey. He recognised the melody, but couldn't place it, and there was no way he was interrupting her to find out what it was. It soothed him, somehow.

"This is me..." Kate unlinked her arm from his and looked up at the two-storey townhouse. Cillian's hands stayed in his pockets, suddenly completely unaware of what to do. What to say. He was back in the shoes of a teenager again... Although he was sure it was easier back then. Kate sensed his nerves, and took the lead.

"I had fun tonight, Cillian. Thank you." She squeezed his arm and gave him a smile, which he returned. She stroked the side of his face, and turned around to head up the steps to her front door.

She looked back a couple of times and saw him still stood there. The third time she looked back though, she nearly screamed as he was stood right in front of her, on her doorstep.

"I'm sorry, I just - " he paused, seeing her startled expression. Instead of finishing his sentence, he kissed her. Not a full kiss. Their lips simply met softly, his fingers stroked her cheek gently. He pulled away after a few moments, smiled, and headed back down the steps.

Turning around at the bottom, he looked back up and smiled to see she was still there, smiling right back at him.

[countessofravenclaw]

1 and 7 for the drabble prompts <3

I wish we could talk more often. Let me hug you

"Did I mention yet that we got invited to a wedding in a month?" Nina said as the girls were driving back after their shopping session.

"No, whose?" Luna asked her from the front seat.

"Well, technically I didn't get invited anywhere," Nina clarified, "It was for Gastón and plus one. The wedding is Isla's goddaughter's. Full-on black tie, very big event. The family is apparently some older Columbian family who nowadays live at little bit north of Buenos Aires."

"Huh, do you remember the name?" Ambar questioned, "I don't think I know any Columbian families."

"Gastón said that he didn't remember how his parents even know them. Elizabeth Gomezelia, I think." Nina tried to remember. "Uhm... Gastón said that she apparently used to have a crush on him when they were 13... they haven't talked since."

"At least this is for her wedding and not some other attempt to reconnect," Ambar remarked.

"Oh, I am not threatened or anything like that. I already have the ring." Nina laughed, "We actually already sent the RSVP that we're going. I need to remember to talk to Jazmin about this."

"Gomezelia..." Luna mumbled all of a sudden. "LIZZIE! Oh my god!"

"Luna, you okay?" Ambar asked after scolding Luna about never scaring the driver.

"Yes... but I just realize... Lizzie. When we still lived at Cancun before Sharon bought it, it was the vacation house of this Columbian family. I used to play with their daughter often. Her name was Elizabeth. Nin it has to be her." Luna explained, "I wonder how she is doing. I don't have her contact, but I would love to catch up."

"Well, I can ask Gastón if he has her contact," Nina suggested.

*

"Luna?!" Luna saw a blonde woman enter Jam & Roller where she had been waiting. Nina had gotten her Elizabeth's contact and they had set up a meeting. "It really is you! It has been years!"

"Lizzie!" luan bounced to meet her, "Let me hug you!"

"It literally has been over ten years." Lizzie said as they sat down with smoothies, "How are you here in Buenos Aires?"

"Mom and Dad got a job her in 2016," Luna explained. "I thought you lived in Columbia."

"We moved here a year after they sold the mansion. How did we never run into each other?"

"I did upper secondary at Blake South college," Luna continued selling tales, "I am a professional rollerskater now, and I work here occasionally to train teams."

"Well, that is not a surprise." Lizzie nodded, "I went to a boarding school, and graduated as a cosmetologist last year. I am hoping to open my all salon. Well, after the wedding."

"I heard about that. Congratulation!"

"Thank you. I could say the same for you." Lizzie looked at the ring in Luna's finger. "How did you get my number? Don't get it wrong, I love to meet you again, I always wished we could have talked more, but my number has changed at least twice after Cancun."

"I heard you know the Peridas," Luna explained, "I got it through them."

"Yes, Isla Perida is my godmother. I was christened a little bit later on when I was 9. How do you know them?" Lizzie's eyes went to Luna's ring again. "He... He is not your fiance, is he?"

"Who?"

"Gastón Perida."

"Oh, no no no no no no no, no." Luna burst out laughing, "Could you even imagine?" Once Luna got herself under control again, she looked up and saw Lizzie's perplexed face.

"Gastón is my best friend's husband." Luna took her phone out and showed Lizzie one of the pictures that had been taken at Gastón and Nina's wedding. "Nina told me about your wedding invitation and I recognized your name from there."

"World really is small." Lizzie shook her head laughing. "Only thing I have heard if him through the years is that he was at Oxford."

"Oh yeah, they moved about 1.5 years ago. He is Matteo, my fiance's, best friend."

There we go! I don't know how many people remember the Columbian girl Sharon though was Sol for a slip second, well here is a reunion

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Previously you said that you didn't think Nina delivered a very strong performances of Katherine/Elena, and since I've seen other people comment about that too, it would be interesting if you could dive deeper into that? I haven't watched the finale, except from the SE scene (who I personally think was just as good as all scenes between Paul and Nina / Stefan and Elena) and Stefan and Lexi's scene, so I can't really make a stand point on the matter

To be honest, it’s difficult to distinguish between the performance being poor and the writing being poor, because I do feel like Katherine and Elena didn’t have enough adequate screen time for us as viewers to be able to reconnect with them. Bringing them both back for just one final episode seemed so rushed and I think that partly plays into the reason why the performances felt so poor. I mean, I’m pretty sure Katherine only got three scenes and Elena a few more than that, but still barely any real screentime or dialogue. Her main scene was basically the final scene where we had her voice over as she wrote in her diary, but to be honest, after the direction the show headed in after Elena was gone it felt kinda wrong to have her finishing the show, even though she was the one that opened it and was always the main character.  But to delve deeper into this I’ll analyse Katherine and Elena separately, because it’s just easier that way. I also won’t really discuss how the writing affected it, because I’ve already explained that I do feel the poor writing contributed to it, but you asked specifically about Nina’s performance, so that’s what I’ll focus on. 

Katherine: Her portrayal of Katherine was so much worse than her portrayal of Elena. I’m assuming it’s because Katherine is more of a challenge to play because she’s so different than Nina, which Nina herself has even said in the past. It didn’t even remotely feel like the same Katherine to me. I have to admit, that the small details did affect my perception of her being Katherine and by that I mean her appearance. I understand that Nina is a real person off-screen that has changed and aged since she last played Katherine in season 5, but she just looked completely alien to me. Firstly, what was that hideous wig!? I’m still in shock at how bad it was. Her hair line was like 10 inches further forward than it was supposed to be and apparently there’s hairdressers in hell, cos her hair was a damn lot shorter than it was when she died. Even her make-up didn’t look right. I know Katherine’s signature look is the dark eyeliner and red lipstick, but it just looked so trashy. Then there’s the issue of Nina’s body language. The walk, the hand gestures, the posture, it was all wrong and none of it felt like Katherine. Katherine stands up right, when she walks she struts in an almost seductive and arrogant manner but there was none of that. The exaggerated facial expressions are one of the main things that have always separated Katherine from Elena. Usually I can tell just from seeing a gif whether it’s Elena or Katherine based on the way Nina is moving her lips when she speaks, because with Katherine it’s much more pronounced and dramatic. Nina did try and do that, but she didn’t go far enough. Her face looked stiff a lot of the time and the expressions were just lacking. Katherine has always been a character that communicated a lot physically, so through her expressions, her gestures etc. and all of that was stripped back completely. Then there’s the eyes and the smile. That vindictive and cunning smile Katherine had was no where to be seen and the glint in her eye to go along with it was also gone. Basically, Nina put on a deeper voice and did a more pouty face than she would as Elena and that was it. But everything that we know Katherine Pierce to be was gone in that finale and I wish they would’ve just left her alone instead of resurrecting her for absolutely no purpose. 

Elena: Again, the first issue I’m obviously going to mention is the same as Katherine - her appearance. The wig was atrocious and that alone was enough to make her look nothing like Elena to me. Nina’s strongest performance throughout the entire finale was by far the scene she had with Paul. There was real emotion in that scene that felt genuine. Other than that, I can’t really criticise her performance of Elena much more than that, because she didn’t particularly do anything wrong, it just didn’t really feel like Elena to me and I do put that down to the writing and time. 

I know I said I wouldn’t talk about the writing, but I can’t help myself haha. I understand the writers wanted to bring Nina back for the finale since she was a part of the show for so long and played two of the most important characters, but in a way it didn’t fit for Elena and Katherine to come back. In regards to Elena’s character, she was already up in the air anyway, because she’d been pretty poorly written since she became a vampire. It’s like the writers got confused between vampire and human Elena and she lost her personality and identity because of it. She was one person in season 4 when she first transitioned, another in season 5 and another in season 6, then in the last 2 episodes they made her human and did a complete 180 on her character by trying to make her the exact same Elena she was in season 1. Then she slipped into a coma and suddenly woke up in the finale, so we had all of 5 minutes to try and get to know who she was again and it just didn’t work. To be honest, Nina did ruin the show by leaving in season 6 and we all know it. The ending we would’ve gotten if she would’ve stuck around until the end would’ve been a million times better for certain. The writers have basically just winged it for these last two seasons to squeeze the final bit of money and life they could out of it before bringing it to an end. But Nina should’ve never left and this finale just proved why. 

As for Katherine, her character’s story ended a long time ago. They already unnecessarily dragged it out by making her a passenger in Elena’s body, which really served no purpose but to bring her back again for that pitiful finale was just wasteful and pointless. Katherine’s story had already had closure and although bringing her back could’ve been epic if it would’ve been done correctly, it really sucked. 

In the end, I basically think Nina’s return ruined the finale. I could write a million alternative endings I’d prefer to see, but this is just one of them: 

A villain (not Katherine) threatens Mystic Falls for who knows what reason (the writers always find some pathetic, small reason and turn it into a big one). Stefan, Damon, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Alaric all work together to defeat the evil. 

The person that dies is Elena. 

Right after they’ve defeated the villian everyone comes to the realisation that Elena is really gone and they’re all grieving for Elena 

We get a sweet Defan moment where they confess their love and cry over Elena being gone, but we can clearly see their relationship is finally on track and stronger than ever

At the same time we get a sweet Baroline moment where the girls grieve for Elena too 

After that, Stefan and Caroline come together and just sit together in front of the fireplace taking comfort in each other

In the meantime we cut to a Bamon scene, they’re maybe watching Steroline from a distance and Damon comments on how lucky they are to have each other. They basically chat about losing Enzo and Elena and their shared grief of simulatenously losing their partners and best friends. 

Some time after, maybe a week or two, we see Steroline go on honeymoon to distract themselves and just get a break 

Bamon decide they should go on a roadtrip to deal with their grief and just rediscover themselves. We see them driving off in Damon’s camaro. 

We jump forward 10 years or so and get a similar montage to what we got in the actual finale, of Matt being sheriff with Vicki and Tyler watching over him, Bonnie is with Ric and Caroline and they’ve set up a school for magical kids because of the girls and because Bonnie is inspired to use her magic for the purpose of teaching other witches. Damon arrives in his camaro with Stefan, who is dressed in a doctor/paramedic uniform. Damon goes right up to Bonnie, slips his hand around her waist and kisses her, whilst Stefan goes to Caroline and does the same. 

Like honestly, I would much rather have seen that than what we actually got. I just feel like despite all the constant Elena mentions, the show actually outgrew Elena in those two seasons that she was gone and the characters that stayed until the end deserved to be the ones that got the happy ending and were there to see it out. It kinda felt cheap that the characters that essentially carried the show for the last two seasons were completely cast aside and Elena who had been back for all of two seconds stole the show and took front and center stage. The show basically reinvented itself during seasons 7 and 8 and I do completely understand why the writers wanted to go back to the roots and try to recapture the essence of season 1. I thought I’d want to see that myself, but I can’t shake the feeling of how wrong and out of place it all felt. With how things developed and progressed, to go back to Elena at the end felt like taking a thousand steps back. Watching the finale really hammered home to me that it wasn’t about Elena like I first thought. It wasn’t even about Stefan either. It was about all of the characters that were left, the ones that had been on the show since the beginning and been on the complete journey. Elena wasn’t one of those people. 

And I’m aware that I’ve gone off on so much of a tangent, so I’m going to end it there. But my main point is that Nina’s performances were so terrible because the writing was terrible and the writing was terrible because there was just no room for Elena (or Katherine) in the finale and the writers forced it. How could Nina perform to the best of her ability when she hadn’t played those characters in years, the material she had to work with was so bizarre and OOC and when she was basically stepping into a completely different world of TVD than what it was when she was on it way back in season 6?