#when I wrote this I think of Stefan and Damon when they’re around Elena

[eywaseclipse]

Absolutely nothing hotter than when the female protagonist is being threatened, and the love interest does that small step forward wedging himself in between her and the threat. The little smirk of “try me. I dare you, MINE.” Type shit without having said a word. You know exactly what I’m talking about honey! I need to to include this in a chapter or I’ll explode.

And it’s not necessarily that she can’t handle herself or that she’s his property. Because if you get it you get it..🫠

[zalrb]

any update on an SC vs SE commitment/consistency (or lack thereof) post? lol. 👀

OK all I'm saying is...

she says this

then proceeds to ... dig up time capsules?

elena, after “i won’t love a ghost for the rest of my life”

elena, after “then we’ll just let him go”

stefan left because he didn’t think it was safe being around caroline but he wrote her letters every single day explaining himself but she didn’t give him the chance

but cries about him not being there and apparently not getting so much as a postcard from him

and ices him out

but elena...

and when he calls her, it inspires hope

and i’m not saying caroline should’ve abandoned her family and go on the run with him but if we’re talking about commitment, she could’ve opened the letters and written back.

in fact when stefan says he’s walking away again in 8x13, caroline’s like fuck you

but ok

and complains about it to damon.

but elena...

let’s see, what else....oh!

with the added...

which makes sense cause

how inconsistent of them!

damon talking about caroline getting stefan to his “aha! i love her moment”

stefan talking about elena getting lexi to her “aha! he’s telling me he loves her”  moment

damon telling stefan about caroline since he apparently doesn’t know her

stefan telling damon about elena

because he knows her best

this one is interesting

because of how much they’re put at odds as opposed to being a partnership even after this speech

but stelena...

what else... yes, lily having to tell stefan to tell caroline he loves her

stefan just doing it with elena

ah yes

can we also appreciate that when stefan “gets her message”, he doesn’t tell her directly, but tells...

and can we also talk about how in season 3 he says this

and in 8x16...

mmkay.

[imaginefan]

Changing *Part 3*

Damon Salvatore X Reader

Word Count: 924

Requested: @starstruckpeanutcowboyhorse

Request: changing part 3!!!!!!💗💗

*Part 2*

Since the incident with Katherine Damon hadn't left your side, if you went to work so did he, if you were at home so was he and you weren't finding him as annoying as you used to, he was actually quite funny when you weren't trying to hate him. Neither of you had heard from Katherine either and you were starting to think that everything could finally go back to normal when she showed up at the Boarding House begging for help.

You were there with Damon. He had a drink in one hand, his other was wrapped around your waist as you sat on his lap talking mindlessly while gently running your hand through his hair "Damon!" You both heard the yell of his name from the front door and while you hoped that it was Elena you felt Damon tense up which gave you the impression that it wasn't "Stefan!" The call for his brother made him relax a little as it seemed that she wasn't looking for him specifically but he still gripped you a little tighter as footsteps approached the doorway of the living room. "You didn't answer." You groaned when Katherine came into view. "That's because I don't care what you have to say," Damon answered with a shrug as he took a sip of his drink offering you some as well. "You will when you hear what's coming," Kathrine argued and you looked at her frowning. "Don't," Damon warned but you decided that it didn't matter who was telling you, you all needed to be aware of a potential threat. "What is coming?" You asked and she smirked as she looked at you. "There are a group of hunters that intend on destroying the doppelganger lines and that means that this problem doesn't just involve me." She said as she crossed her arms. "Elena and Stefan are in anger too." You finished before sighing and dropping your head to Damon's shoulder turning and hiding your face in his neck. "Well, thanks for the heads up Kathrine, we'll be seeing you." You saw him wave as you got up and reached for your phone on the chair beside you. "They'll kill me." She complained. "Your chances here aren't any better." He said as he glances down at you, hand running over your neck where she had bitten you before. "They'll kill me if I leave." She pleaded and you frowned as you looked at her. "Hunters don't usually scare you, what's different about these ones?" You asked, she looked at you for a second before deciding that it was better to just answer you. "They are vampires just like us... Old ones." She answered. "Older than you obviously." You guessed as you wrote a text for Elena and the rest of the gang alerting them to a problem. "Ever seen them before?" Damon asked. "No." She answered, "but they've heard of me." "So you've said." Damon muttered "Scutch." He patted your thigh to get you to move off of his lap as he stood up "fine you can stay here." before you knew what was happening her had vamp sped across the room and snapped her neck "but your not a guest." "Damon, what are you doing?" You asked. "I'm putting her downstairs, you wait here for the others." He said as he picked up her body, you nodded as you waited for the rest of them to get there greeting them one by one Damon coming back up at some point and pulling you back into his hold as you explained everything that Katherine had told you when she got there.

"Wait so where is she now?" Caroline asked as she looked around the room. "She's taking a nap in the cells downstairs," Damon answered as he vaguely gestured in the direction of the stairs. "Woah your not messing around." Elena laughed but Damon just laced his fingers with yours as they continued to joke. "Jokes aside what are we going to do about this new threat?" You asked. "Well if they're older than even Kathrine then we're going to need help from her no matter what way we look at it." Stefan shrugged. "Well, there is one other option that you could try before all that." You answered. "I know you guys don't like him but if those vampires intend to destroy the doppelganger line doesn't that destroy Klaus' plans too?" "You think that he's just going to kill a couple of people for us?" Caroline asked. "Well not if we ask him to." You admitted. "So?" She asked and you just looked at her and smiled. "Really?" "Mhm if you were to tell him about a new threat on Elena's life one of three things is going to happen one; he gets rid of the threat himself and claims we owe him something, two; he shows up here demanding something before he helps or three; he does nothing and we are left in the same position that we were in before." You explained. "When you say it like that it sounds easy," Bonnie said and you nodded. "I know but it's better the devil we know right?" You asked clapping from the doorway made you swing around, you all looked over to see Klaus was already standing there. "It seems I've become predictable," Klaus smirked as he leant against the door frame "now why don't you all tell me about the vampires that have shown up on my door step to threaten me and my family?"

Requests and general question!

[we-pay-for-everything]

It was actually a great idea to erase Elena’s memories of Damon. The main criticisms against Delena were:

Elena changed too much. She excused Damon’s behavior and was no longer the Elena we knew. This is very much true, but fans conveniently forget how these changes weren’t just specific to Damon. Elena changed all around and every relationship of hers was impacted. 

Elena didn’t really love Damon - it was the sire bond. Again, the show makes it very clear this isn’t true, and Elena shutting off her emotions got rid of the sire bond anyway (and, presumably, reverted Elena back to factory settings). 

Even though those two points were easily refutable already, Elena losing her memories completely invalidates them.

When Elena forgot the good in Damon - every selfless thing he’d ever done was erased from her mind - he really became just a serial killer to her. Damon was now just Stefan’s bad brother. 

(Side note, once she stopped loving Damon she still did not go back to Stefan. Because she’s not in love with him. Even though Elena was left with positive memories of Stefan, and no Damon to mess with her emotions, that wasn’t enough for her to realize she’d made a mistake letting Stefan go. She still didn’t want Stefan because they had really drifted apart in season 4, sire bond or not.)

Back to my point, since Elena forgot about Damon’s qualities, she became an even harsher version of her season 1/2 self. High school Elena was compassionate and saw the good in Damon quite easily, because she was equally exposed to Damon’s good and bad sides - for every horrible thing he did, he did something equally selfless (and Elena understood why he acted horribly anyway). But memory-less Elena knows every shitty thing Damon has done and none of his redeeming qualities. She’s not in a mood to be compassionate or forgiving; she thinks her younger self was crazy for getting caught up in Damon. This means that, when she falls for Damon again, she isn’t being influenced by a sire bond, or by her age (she’s no longer a teenager), or by dependence on Damon (because he saved her life a lot back then). Elena has no reason to fall in love with Damon a second time, yet she still does it, knowing she’s better off without him and that he is, to quote her, a “serial killer”.

If Elena decided to ignore Damon’s actions it’s not because she was dependent on him or because he changed her. When Damon comes back, Elena is doing great and has no need for his drama in her life, nor any incentive to make excuses for his personality. She chooses him anyway, before even getting back her memories. Of course, she’s somewhat swayed by the knowledge that she had loved him, but that is just a reason for her to give him a chance - everything else is on her. 

Point is, Elena loves Damon because of Elena. Of course she’s a different girl from the early seasons, but she changed on her own and not for Damon - she’s not being a different version of herself around Damon, she’s just a different Elena. If you refuse to accept the new Elena, then you have to be consistent and refuse to accept all of her relationships outside of Damon. Fans can always ignore the seasons they don’t like and feel that Delena isn’t genuine because Elena changed. I can understand that, but she didn’t change for him. I mean, maybe she did - the writers changed Elena for Delena to happen - but the writers also wrote Elena and Stefan for Stelena to happen, right? And made Elena excuse Stefan’s behavior like his killing spree was meaningless? They’re characters, that’s kind of the point. Delena post season 3 wasn’t fully organic, but that’s just bad writing. Stelena also had a lot of bad writing. I don’t know what else to say... Delena’s love story still makes sense, it’s coherent and everything adds up. As long as the narrative is coherent, a writer is free to do whatever they want, even if we don’t have to like it.  

[landonkirbyappreciation]

Bad English. What I mean with Alaric is that he is here from the beginning and from what I understand he has written books about it. He saw all the sacrifices, and the consecrated. How Squad can like Damon, Elena, Bonnie, Stefan and the rest, not understand Hope and be reluctant to go the extra mile to save Landon. Unless these details, Alaric, pass through the books.

Writing about the fight against destiny, I started to think, angrily why then they are fighting with the destiny of the twins, why not leave it the old way?

As for the "payment" of the composition for their behavior, I do not even mean Hope (I wish her the best), but the universe itself repaid them for thinking that they were doing well and actually being hypocrites. I do not wish them death, they think that in this world that it is the simplest solution and no punishment. I want punishment.

With the lack of a scene with Landon and the Necromancer, I meant that at least I wouldn't have known that Landon was in pain and only Hope cares about it. He's been somewhere, but he's back and he's safe, it's hard for me to describe. I guess the principle has no body, the viewer of the tower is alive, but the rest finds out when it appears. Unless they had other plans but the pandemic spoiled them and more film crews were impossible and they chose something that would later surprise the viewer. It just didn't work out, and it's still technically season 3, even HBOGO in my country signs it like that. Additionally, I started to wonder if it wasn't necessarily a fake Landon but maybe a different personality that broke Clark's neck. He has Landon's knowledge of his character traits but a different perception of the world, maybe even remnants of the "original" Phoenix, who will take control to protect Landon, though probably too complicated and these lyrics are as usual unnecessary ammunition for the anti, like the one in the musical episode. Forgive the mess at ask, I thought and wrote.

Ok gotcha! Exactly! That’s so true, and I’ve actually thought about that as well. All the TVD/TO characters were so devoted to saving who they loved and did the kind of stuff that Hope has been doing to save Landon all the time. Those characters fought and made sacrifices to save each other, and the Legacies characters know that. Alaric knows what happened, like you said, he saw it all. He’s gone to great lengths to save who he loves, look at what he did with the phoenix stone when he was trying to get Jo back. And he’s still willing to do whatever it takes to save the twins, yet Hope goes too far to save Landon? And same with the rest of the squad, they’ve most likely read the books Alaric has written and know about the characters from the past shows and what they did for each other. And Caroline, the twins’ mother, was involved in all of it too. Plus the twins know Damon, Elena, and Bonnie as well. Yet they, along with the rest of the squad, are judging Hope for trying to save Landon? And they’re not willing to, like you said, go the extra mile to save Landon? Even though they grew up around people who did that for who they loved and the only reason any of them are even there, are even at that school, is because of people who went the extra mile for each other, just like Hope is doing for Landon? It’s pretty sad.

Idk if they’re even doing much to fight against the twins’ destiny with the merge at the moment. It was weird because Josie almost seemed like she’d accepted that it’ll happen and she might die. Idk if Caroline is still looking for a solution, or if it will end up happening anyway?

Ok yeah, I get that, I would also like to see the characters face some sort of consequences for their actions and the damage they’ve done to both Hope and Landon. Rather than being painted as good friends when they’re clearly not.

Oh ok! It definitely would’ve been less sad to not have to know Landon was suffering. For me, I wanted to know and be able to see everything that was happening with Landon jmo. But yeah, I do wonder if the pandemic changed any of their original plans for s3 or altered them in some way, I think it’s definitely possible. But true, it is still technically s3. And do you mean in 3x16 when Malivore stabbed Clarke in the neck? Or when the real Landon broke his neck in 1x16? With Malivore, we do know he has all of Landon’s memories so he would have knowledge of his character traits. It would be interesting if there are any parts of Landon’s phoenix side that could protect Landon. I’m still hoping we’ll see him get his phoenix powers back soon. And you’re totally fine, no worries!

[targaryenkaz]

lazy sunday

Sixth work for @klaroline-events kc bingo!

Prompt: Arguing

Alt S5 I guess? Kinda fluffy? I don’t even know, I wrote this so quickly 😭

“Now, what do you want? Haven’t tortured Mystic Falls enough?” Caroline yelled at him, standing on the other side of the sofa, just as her friends stormed in.

 “Torture? I seem to remember saving you feeble fools on the odd occasion,” he retorts back.

 “Oh, Klaus Mikaelson, the saviour,” she drawls sarcastically. “We were only ever in danger because of you, remember? Here, you wanna take another bite,” she turns her head as if offering her neck up to him, and he can see her struggling not to laugh.

 “Don’t flatter yourself love; I have far better things to do with my time than concern myself with you, I do have a city to run,” he responds, voice vicious but is trying hard to contain a smirk. He doesn’t see a gleam of humour in her eyes though. No, he sees a genuine flash of anger and hurt. He’s probably imagining it; she is a theatre major after all. And what a talent, as he knew she’d be, to convince even him that this fake argument is real.

 “What is going on?” Stefan demanded, coming to stand between them.

 “Caroline, are you okay?” Elena says, touching Caroline’s arm and drawing her back.

 “I was fine until this interloper,” she spits the word at him. Bravo. Very well done, sweetheart. The venom in her tone is unparalleled. “Decided to storm into my house just before you guys got here,” she continued.

 “What do you want, Klaus? Thought we finally got rid of you and the Rat Pack,” Damon drones.

 “I need help with a curse,” Klaus says, improvising. “It requires a Bennett witch. I stopped by Caroline’s house in case you were together.” Not his best, but it works. Really, he’s a little ashamed of himself. He hasn’t made it this long, a thousand years of terror and conquering, by not having back up plans upon back up plans. He just didn’t think he’d require one when having a lazy Sunday fooling around with his girlfriend on her couch while her mother is at work.

 He’s having a typical American teenager experience he realises and suppresses a semi-disgusted wince.

 “What curse?” Bonnie asks

 Well. Think.

 “It concerns Kol. He’s in a coma.” he thinks quickly, remembering that Caroline told him Kol, despite his occasional sadistic tendencies, was the witch’s favourite. “He’ll be fine, I just require a few hairs and a vial of blood from a Bennett witch.”

 Caroline glares at him from behind Stefan, so Klaus subtly shifts his shoulders up and down as if to say what else am I supposed to do?

 “That’s all you need?” Bonnie eyes him suspiciously.

 “Yes, Kol will be right as rain after that.”

 “It’s not Bonnie’s responsibility, Klaus. They’re your family,” Caroline cuts in.

 Oh, so they’re back to the fake arguing. Fine by him, he does love to see the fire in her eyes.

 They keep it going for a few more minutes, he barely remembers what he says but she’s clearly heated, very committed to the role. From the corner of his eyes, the Mystic Falls gang look both bored and frightened of the fight in front of them.

 Matt Donovan bursts through the door mid-argument. “Hey, what’s going on?” He says, looking around confused.

 “What are you doing here?” Caroline asks, suspending the fight.

 “I text him for back-up.” Elena says, eyeing him, “With a Mikaelson, you never know.”

 Klaus does not understand the idea of calling Matt for back-up at all, but he doesn’t really understand Elena either. It probably made perfect sense in her mind.

 “You know what, I’ll do it,” Bonnie sighs deeply. “Just, please, don’t start yelling again.”

 “Bonnie, you really don’t have to,” Caroline says.

 “It’s not a big deal, Care. It’s far from the worst they’ve asked of us.”

 “I’ll need a container for the blood, so I can transport it back home safely,” Klaus adds, ignoring the very sharp look Caroline sends him. She keeps staring at the side of his face, perhaps waiting for him to cut in and say he doesn’t need the blood.

 Oh no, he won’t be the one to give up the act. If anyone can out-stubborn Caroline, its him.

 “There might be a test tube in the bathroom. We’ve got all kinds of fun things laying around these days,” Caroline says eventually.

 “I’ll help her look,” Matt says, hurrying out of the room and away from Klaus as quickly as he can. The idea of Matt being so terrified in his presence does bring a smile to his face.

 They stand awkwardly for a moment. Caroline perches on the end of the sofa, Klaus takes the other end while her friends shuffle the feet.

 “What are you guys doing here anyway?”

 “We were heading for the Grill,” Stefan answers Caroline’s question. “We dropped by to see if you wanted to come.”

 “Oh, yeah. Cool.” More awkward silence.

 “So, you’ll really leave us alone after you get the blood?” Elena asks.

 “Correct.”

 “You do that, take Bonnie’s blood and run back to your kingdom,” Caroline says bitterly.

 He’s a touch confused. The fake argument was over. He figured he’d leave, wait until her friends depart and then return so they can resume the fun they were having. Perhaps she’s just trying to make their argument very, very convincing.

 “My kingdom will be very glad to have me back,” he snipes back, half-heartedly. “The place might be burning without me.”

 “I’m so happy that New Orleans makes you so happy that you can just leave Mystic Falls behind,” she’s on her feet now, towering over him and he’s starting to realise he’s miscalculated at some point.

 He stands as well, somewhat cautiously. “I didn’t realise Mystic Falls required my presence.”

 “What the hell is happening?” Damon mumbles.

 “It doesn’t require your presence, believe me, Mystic Falls manages just fine without you, but it was your home once, right? You’d think that you’d care about it just as much as New Orleans, but no,” she drags the word out. “Your new home and it’s residents seem to fulfil you just fine.”

 Ignoring the fact that he first lived in his new home almost two hundred years before Caroline was born, he focuses on what she’s saying, trying to figure out where he’s upset her. She’s not one to keep quiet when he irritates her. “The residents of New Orleans mean less than nothing to me, and I could never truly leave Mystic Falls behind,” he responds mildly.

 She softens a touch, pushing the hair out of her face, a nervous tic he recognises, before crossing her arms and scoffing. “That’s what everyone says. They say that Mystic Falls is important to them that they would never forget about it or make it less of a priority and then they do.”

 “I’m starting to think blondie doesn’t mean Mystic Falls when she says Mystic Falls,” Damon says.

 “Yeah, obviously,” Elena snaps, shushing him.

 “Oh my God,” Stefan whispers.

 “Would you shut up,” Klaus turns to bark at them.

 “Hey, don’t talk to my friends that way,” Caroline yells at him.

 “Lover’s spat,” Damon sing-songs in the background.

 “Caroline, if this insolent fool doesn’t shut up, I will tear his heart out,” Klaus snarls

 “Seriously, Klaus?” Caroline says, sounding exasperated.

 “See!” Damon waves a finger between them. “These two are acting a little too familiar for some guy who just barged in.”

 “Yeah,” Elena says, something dawning on her. “How did he storm into your house? Don’t you need to keep inviting him in?”

 “Yeah, and how does my blood help take Kol out of a coma? Bonnie chimed in, coming down the stairs with Matt reluctantly following, a small beaker in her hand. “What are the exact details of the curse?”

 Klaus and Elijah made up a whole fake mythology once, but for the life of him, he can’t think up a single lie in this moment.

 He waves a careless hand, “Well, you see.” Nothing follows.

 “Oh my God,” Stefan says again, mouth gaping.

 “Are you guys…” Matt trails off.

 Klaus and Caroline look at each other, he keeps his face placid, leaving the decision up to her. A wounded expression crosses her face before she turns back to her friends and says simply, “Yes.”

 There’s a deafening silence.

 “I have so many questions,” Damon says before Elena cuts him off.

 “We need to talk about this later,” Elena says to Caroline, her eyes then shifting from her to him, again to Caroline and back again, “but for now we’re going to leave you guys be. To talk it out or…whatever.”

 Elena ushers them out the door, Bonnie hovering for a moment.

 “Does this mean I can keep my blood?”

 “Yes, of course! I’m so sorry, I never would’ve let you go through with it.”

 “A Bennett witch’s blood may come in handy one day, so if you wouldn’t mind.”

 They finish speaking at the same time, Caroline pivoting to face him and gracing him with the full force of her glare.

 “You don’t have to give blood, Bonnie,” she says to her friend sweetly, though he can hear the underlying irritation at him in her tone.

 “This is so weird,” the witch mutters looking at them. “I’m gonna go.” She turns back at the door to look at Caroline. “Good luck?”

 They stay quiet as they listen to her friends climb into Damon’s car. The last thing Klaus hears before they drive away is one last, “Oh my God,” courtesy of Stefan, practically shrieking now, as the new information must have finally processed.

 “Are we going to be passive aggressive or have a conversation like adults?” He asks Caroline.

 “Are you kidding me?” She says, teeth gritted and scrunching her hands like she wants to crush his skull.

 “Obviously, you have a problem with things said in a fake argument,” he says, fighting impatience and failing. “You’re bothered by me saying whatever I had to for them not to suspect us, so have at it, love. What terrible sin have I committed now?”

 “You’re right, just silly little Caroline, how dare she be upset that her boyfriend is ashamed of her,” she says cheerfully, but he can’t be fooled when there’s silver sheen to her eyes. Then her words catch up to him.

 “Ashamed?” Has she lost her bloody mind? He supposes he better ask. “Have you lost your bloody mind?”

 “Well, you just said that you didn’t mean the things you said when we were arguing, you just wanted to make sure they didn’t suspect us. What am I supposed to think?”

 “That I was trying to protect you from their scorn.” Now it makes sense. He forgets how young she is sometimes. “I’m not in the least bit ashamed. I thought you’d want me to say anything as long as they didn’t figure out our secret.”

 “They’re going to find out eventually and it’s been months, so I don’t know,” she fidgets with her hands, “I thought maybe we’d start telling people soon.”

 A grin tugs at his lips. He was convinced he’d have to coax her to tell people, and that it would take years. To be honest, Klaus had settled in for the long haul. He must be pretty good at this whole boyfriend thing if they’re this ahead of schedule.

 Come,” he says tugging her to him. “Let’s meet those fools you call friends at the Grill.”

 “You don’t have to,” she says, half-heartedly.

 “I know I don’t have to, I want to.” He kisses her until she softens and drapes her arms around him in the way he loves. “Our official debut as a couple. How the Mystic Falls gossips will sing.”

 He knows he’s won when she giggles, rolling her eyes.

 “We can go meet them later, after…” Caroline says teasingly, pulling him down onto the sofa, to settle between her thighs as he gets to work finishing what he started.

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Can you do one of your metas on Elena, her strengths, flaws and why you (and I!) still like her despite the fact that many understandably don't?!

Yes! Thank you so much for sending this in. I love any opportunity I get to talk about and defend Elena, because I think she’s such an unfairly hated/disliked character.

I actually wrote a very in-depth meta about Elena before here, but since I did it a couple of years ago now some of my opinions and thoughts have changed since then. What I speak about in the sections about Elena being a Mary Sue and her strengths and weaknesses are still what I think, so it’s particularly worth reading that, because that’s relevant to this question.

The thing is with Elena is, yes, she’s a flawed character, but characters should be flawed because human beings are flawed. Elena’s flaws are exactly what make her relatable and real. Based on what I’ve seen in fandom over the years the main reasons people seem to dislike Elena are because she’s selfish, a Mary Sue or undeveloped as character. In my previous meta I explained why she’s not a Mary Sue, and I stand by that. As for the selfish part, I agree with it wholeheartedly. Elena is selfish, but who isn’t? I don’t understand disliking or hating on a character based on their selfishness because selfishness is a natural human trait that is instilled in all of us. In fact, most of us have to actively try to not be selfish and to be more considerate of others, because we’re naturally hard-wired to think of ourselves first. I would argue that Elena isn’t anymore selfish than any other character on the show and that rather than selfishness, it’d probably be more accurate to refer to it as self-centredness. And you might think those two words mean the same, but to me, selfishness is actively choosing to put your own well-being above others at the detriment of those around you. Self-centredness is a tendency to think about yourself first and to be oblivious to the impact that has on others around you. So, I’d say that Elena was self-centred rather than selfish. She had a tendency to think about how she felt and how things affected her and wasn’t always able to see how others around her were feeling or how they may be affected. The claim that Elena was undeveloped is also a valid argument. I like Elena but even I’m not blind to the incredibly poor characterisation and development she had. I understand the writers intentions with Elena, but unfortunately, it didn’t really work. It felt like Elena never really went beyond her original character profile. It’s like the writers sat down in a room and decided the core traits they wanted her to have in the pilot episode and season 1, but they never really went beyond that. So for me, a big part of the reason I like Elena is because of the potential her character had and the fact that I feel like she’s unfairly hated, as I’ve already mentioned.

Overall, I really don’t think Elena was that flawed, except for her self-centredness and indecisiveness. The biggest flaw of her character was the inconsistent writing that failed to fully build upon her as a character or explore her nuances and sacrificed her characterisation and development for the sake of her romantic relationship. I think that over the years people have exaggerated her flaws in open rebellion against the writers who plugged Elena as this wonderful, selfless heroine whom everyone worshipped and adored. Whenever there’s a character like that people deliberately search for their flaws. This kind of writing also tends to turns people off the character and instead they start to root for the ‘underdog’ or the character that is sidelined (in this case, Bonnie and/or Caroline). So a big part of the problem with Elena’s character comes from the writing and the way in which the narrative constantly centred on her, put her on a pedestal and tried to push her as being special, which people begrudge.

Ironically, the reason I love Elena is because I don’t think she was special. She was just a very normal girl who wanted what most teenagers want - to get through high school, have fun with her friends and live some semblance of an ordinary life with happy moments in between. She wasn’t perfect, she wasn’t special, she was just a girl that tried her best in impossible situations. She didn’t always make the best decisions and she wasn’t always the embodiment of empathy and compassion, but she showed amazing strength and resilience in the face of adversity. Time and time again she experienced tremendous traumas but she dealt with them as best she could, and in the process remained an optimistic and kind soul. Her resilience was undoubtedly her biggest strength. It still astounds me that Elena was able to overcome so much pain and trauma. 

When people criticise Elena’s character, I think they fail to consider that although we’re not explicitly told it Elena consistently exhibited signs of depression. She explicitly said that after her parents death she didn’t want to live, she stopped enjoying her hobbies such as writing and cheer leading, but most significantly, she displayed reckless behaviours and suicidal tendencies. Unfortunately, her suicidal tendencies have been brushed off as being acts of “sacrifice” to save those she loved. I’m not saying they weren’t sacrifices, but her willingness to die was not normal for someone with a healthy mindset. I would die to save someone I love, but it wouldn’t be an easy decision. And perhaps that makes me sound like a terrible person, but I don’t want to die. I have a strong desire and instinct to live and sacrificing my life for someone I love is something I’d do, but I’d be absolutely terrified and heartbroken. However, when Elena was faced with the possibility of her own death, she didn’t seem to care. She passed it off as “I’m doing it to protect the people I love”, but whether that was true or not it doesn’t change the fact that she was going to die. The way Buffy reacted to finding out she was going to die is exactly how I would expect a teenager to react to receiving that kind of devastating news (x). Elena never reacted like this at the prospect of dying. In fact, when she died in 3x22 she seemed at peace, as though she was okay with the fact that she was dying. Afterwards when she woke up in transition she literally said, “I was ready to die”. It’s strange, because I always accepted that Elena didn’t want to be a vampire and that she was heartbroken at the start of season 4, but on reflection it doesn’t make sense. Elena has been around vampires and she knew that although it has it’s cons, she could still have a relatively normal life. Plus, she had a support network around her, particularly Caroline who had literally gone through the process of becoming a vampire two years previously and who had adapted to it brilliantly. I look back now and the only explanation I have for Elena’s reaction to becoming a vampire is that she wanted to die. Lets not forget that a few episodes later in 4x06 she tried to kill herself. She was under the influence of the Hunters curse, but all the curse did is bring her own self-loathing and suicidal thoughts to the forefront. And notice how in her relationships with Stefan and Damon she made some sort of reference to how they provided her with a reason to live. About Stefan: “After my parents died I kind of felt like I didn’t know how to live anymore. Like I didn’t want to. But then being with Stefan, somehow I just figured it out. And that’s what love should be. You should love the person that makes you glad that you’re alive.” About Damon: “ I’m not sorry that I met you. I’m not sorry that knowing you has made me question everything, that in death you’re the one that made me feel most alive.” Elena actively searched for something to live for in her relationships with Stefan and Damon, which just demonstrates to me that outside of those relationships she felt she has no reason to live. That’s hardly healthy and also explains why her relationship with Damon became so intense in seasons 5 and 6 to the point that she described him as being the one that defined her and felt that she couldn’t live without him. 

I could continue assessing this aspect of Elena but it’ll get too long. The point is that Elena endured a lot of hurt and trauma and people crap on her for some of the shitty decisions she made (none of which are really that bad, they’re just generic incidents of self-involvement that we’re all guilty of) without taking into account the context of her character or her mental state. Even the fact that she entered into relationships with vampires as a human is indicative of self-destructive tendencies. Regardless of the humanistic qualities Stefan and Damon had, the fact that they were vampires was obviously only going to bring strife to Elena’s life, but she disregarded that and chose to be with them anyway. Elena had a lot of deep-rooted emotional issues that she didn’t really ever get to deal with because every time she tried to make progress and heal something else traumatic happened to her. People don’t want to accept that Elena was a victim because the narrative placed her as the victim, and it pisses people off, but whether you like her or not she was a victim. Almost everything that happened to and around Elena was as a result of what she was (the doppelganger) or who she was connected to (Katherine, Stefan and Damon primarily) rather than her own decisions or actions.

She was also a victim of the writing. I don’t want to bring ships into this too much because that’s a separate issue, but Elena’s entire characterisation was sacrificed for the benefit of her relationship with Damon. The writers had to change her in certain ways to make that relationship work and instead of Elena having the kind of development we generally expect characters to have (whereby they change for the better), she actually regressed as a character. Elena’s entire character was built around the idea of her being compassionate, empathetic and nurturing, and being a good friend, girlfriend and sister, but all of that immediately became null and void when she got into a relationship with Damon. How could we believe that Elena was compassionate and a good friend/sister when she willingly entered into a relationship with a man who abused and raped her best friend (Caroline), murdered her brother in front of her and kidnapped and threatened him later on in the series, brutally attacked her other best friend (Bonnie), murdered Vicki and turned her into a vampire and killed Aaron. Those are just the bad things Damon did to Elena’s friends and family that I can recall from the top of my head. And this is also a core aspect of Elena’s character that people have a problem with - her entire characterisation no longer stands when she gets into a relationship with Damon. No matter how much the writers tried to tell us post season 4 that Elena was a kind, selfless and caring person, friend and sister, being with Damon automatically invalidated all of that. For Elena to make sense as a character and exist in that relationship, they had to completely re-establish her entire personality and core traits and the writers couldn’t be bothered to do that so just swept it under the rug. The problem is that fans don’t turn a blind eye to things like that they notice it.

So the big question here is why do you, and I, and others still like Elena? Well, I can only speak for myself, but I like Elena because (prior to season 4) she was a genuinely sweet and kind-hearted person that was relatable and had lots of potential but that was done a great injustice by the writing. Elena could’ve been one of the best loved characters of all time if the writers had known how to handle her, but they lost her character amidst the triangle drama and her relationships with the Salvatore brothers (honestly, I think if the triangle didn’t exist, Elena would’ve immediately been a more well-liked character generally). She didn’t do anything to warrant the terrible things that happened to her and has been consistently bashed by fans who nit-pick the minor examples of self-centredness she displayed and overlook all the kindness she showed and the hardships she endured. The horrendous traumas she suffered through have been glossed over but honestly, as a 17 year old girl that went through everything she did, she showed incredible strength and resilience. For that alone, I cannot do anything but love Elena Gilbert.

Also, as a side-note, on a more personal level, I relate to Elena a lot as a character that’s considered flat and boring and that people see as lacking in conviction. I’m always very insecure that I’m dull, that there’s nothing interesting about me and that people will find it difficult to like me or connect to me because I’m a very neutral character. I also worry because I don’t have a specific path in mind for my future or one thing that I’m passionate about and want to dedicate my life to. And I feel like people a lot of people in real life really are like this. Not every single person in the world is super deep and multi-layered with really well-defined personalities. Not everyone is fun, vibrant, charming and charismatic. Likewise, a lot of people don’t know exactly what they want out of life (in fact, I’d argue people who know what they want are in the minority of people). A lot of people are just dull and ‘ordinary’ and don’t have their lives mapped out. We have this tendency to analyse characters based on their traits, their strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, desires, fears etc. which is fun and I love to do it, but real people are more complex than that. If I asked people that know me to describe my core personality they probably wouldn’t be able to (hell, I don’t even think I’d be able to!), because you can never really articulate the essence of what a person is no matter how hard you try. People are contradictory and personalities, feelings, thoughts, morals, beliefs etc. are very changeable. There are core aspects to who we are, but people can change the way they think or behave or what they believe all the time depending upon circumstances and experiences. Elena may not necessarily have a core personality or characterisation that is maintained across the series, but in a strange way, that makes her more human to me than any other character. And I relate so much to the way that Elena never really knows what to do when it comes to making important life decisions. It’s important to remember when analysing Elena that despite Nina looking (and being) older than 17, Elena is supposed to be a 17 year old girl. Most teenagers that age don’t have a clue who they are, what they want or who they want and are just living day to day and seeing where life takes them. That’s exactly what Elena did and since she “made it” it gives me hope that I will one day too.

Thank you so much for asking, lovely! I tried to keep this short, but I have a lot of thoughts and feelings when it comes to Elena. Hopefully I made sense, because I felt like a lot of this was very muddled and explained terribly.

[jbuffyangel]

No More Julie Plec Shows

Warning: This is a rant after dedicating 9 years to Julie Plec shows.

The upside of The Originals ending is that I am free.

No more Julie Plec shows for this blogger, folks. You must hold me to this. If I even think about turning on Legacies then you must stage an intervention.

I won’t say The Originals series finale was the worst series finale I’ve watched. No, that title will always belong to How I Met Your Mother, but TO comes close! What a hot friggin mess.

Romance and Shippers Are Not Dirty Words

But let’s start with the PR blitz Julie did before the episode aired last night. After building her career off romance and the loyalty of shippers, JP declares 45 minutes before The Originals signs off that “It was never a show that was meant to thrive on romance.”

That’s just stupid.

The Originals has all kinds of shippy ships to ship and Julie Plec milked them for all they’re worth until she decided to kill off 50% of her cast, including the female protagonist of one of the largest Originals ships.

I am really tired of writers using romance to bait and hook viewers, but then arguing the show “isn’t about romance” (like it’s some kind of dirty word) because they don’t have the balls to make an endgame decision. Nor do they want to listen to the complaints of the fans they baited because, GASP, those fans want a happily ever after for their faves. 

Writers tell us to fall in love with the relationship, but then are angry when we fall in love. The Originals is about family and ROMANCE, so let’s not argue otherwise because it’s nonsense.

Also, if all you care about is the romantic storyline in a show THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AND YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH OF A FAN AS EVERYONE ELSE.

I wouldn’t say the finale was without romance. Freya & Keelin and Marcel & Rebakah were allowed happy endings. This is no small victory because the way this woman torpedoes ships these couples were not a done deal by any means.

However, the three largest ships on the show were all but ignored (Klamille and   Haylijah) or had the rug yanked from under them (Klaroline).

The Ending

I was spoiled on the ending for The Originals before it aired, but that didn’t  make it any easier. It was still a disaster zone. Klaus decides to kill himself to save Hope’s life and Elijah kills himself too because... why not?

If you are a hard core Vampire Diaries fan like myself then you know the original ending Plec and Williamson planned was for both Stefan and Damon to die. They would spend their hereafter looking after Elena living her human life (and she’s married to Matt or someone other rando). So, I couldn’t help but feel this ending was spectacularly lazy and recycled.

I do not have a problem with Klaus or Elijah dying. I have a big problem with both brothers dying. Elijah and Klaus existed in a toxic, co dependent relationship for the better part of a thousand years. Julie decides instead of freeing the brothers from that toxicity, they’ll go all in on joint suicide because family.

The preferable options were:

Option 1) Kill Klaus and Elijah lives

I am not a huge fan of killing Klaus merely because I think it lets him off the hook too easily. Yes, there was character growth with Klaus, to say otherwise is madness, but one or two decent things doesn’t outweigh a thousand years of being a monster. Klaus even asks Elijah in the finale if his sacrificial death makes up for all the years he was awful and Elijah basically says, “Yeah you’re good.”

I disagree, but whatever Klaus dies. I do like the symmetry of Klaus wanting to kill his daughter in the pilot and dying for his daughter in the finale though.

This gives Elijah a chance to find happiness and purpose beyond redeeming his brother. Julie argued they already gave Elijah that story this season and he discovered all roads led back to Klaus. Uhhh... Klaus showing up on Elijah’s door asking for his help to find Hayley isn’t exactly Elijah finding his way back to Klaus, but okay.

This is what drives me nuts about Julie Plec. She acts like all of these choices just happened to her. YOU WROTE IT LADY!!!!! Stop acting like you’re an innocent by stander in all of this. THE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL AND YOU CAN MAKE THEM DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Klaus argued against Elijah dying for Hope because what kind of man would he be if he allowed his brother to die for his only child? Well, I don’t know Klaus, the kind of man who always lets Elijah toe the morality line and do the emotional heavy lifting. Why stop now? (By the way, they could have easily magicked a way for Elijah to steal the Hollow and deny Klaus any say). But yes, I agree, Hope is Klaus’ daughter and he should man up. 

If Klaus is going to die then at least give Elijah a chance at real happiness with the woman he truly loves- Hayley. So, let’s not kill her Julie!!!

Option 2) Kill Elijah and Klaus lives

This is my preferred ending. After they killed Hayley, and made Elijah culpable in Hope’s mother’s death, I thought this would be a fitting end for Elijah. He saves Hope’s life, is free of the eternal torment of living forever, spends eternity with Hayley, and sacrifices himself for Klaus’ redemption. This would instill a deep desire in Klaus to be a good guy for the next thousand years.

Julie also argued immortality is it’s own prison and what were we expecting in a show about vampires (meaning - they are all going to die). I agree with that statement in terms of Elijah and Rebekah, but not Klaus. He reveled in his immortality. Klaus loved being the strongest creature on earth. So, death isn’t a reward. In that sense it makes his sacrifice more selfless. However, I would have preferred to see Klaus earn his redemption by using his immortality for good for as long as he used it for evil. And yeah, if Caroline wants to come along, and they make a stop in Paris, I have no problem with that.

Closure

The Originals writers introduced the afterlife just like they did on The Vampire Diaries finale. We were able to see Josh and Hayley in heaven and at peace. However, The Originals did not give us this glimpse with Klaus and Elijah, their two main characters. Julie instructs us to essentially imagine their peace. That’s like stopping at the 1 yard line and telling the crowd to imagine a touchdown. It doesn’t count. JUST CROSS THE DAMN LINE!

At the end of the day, fans want closure from a series finale. They want to know  the characters they love are going to be okay. This is why the Parenthood finale remains the best ever. You can have heroic deaths, but leaving the character open ended even after death is a little mean. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask to give Hayley & Elijah fans a scene of them dancing in heaven 

or reuniting Klaus with Cami.

But that would make the show too much about romance I guess.

Family

If you want to believe Klaus and Elijah were each other’s happy endings that’s fine, but that’s a tough pill for me to swallow. The Originals was about family, but for most of the series (and their time on TVD) they were people related by blood doing absolutely despicable things to one another. 

Yes, they rallied time and again, particularly when it was in service of Hope. I’m not going to say they didn’t love each other or their familial bond meant nothing. I too get warm and fuzzy about “Always and Forever” but there was plenty of toxicity to go around.

One of my beefs with the finale is it sort of glazes over a lot of that. It was more like The Originals: A Christmas Special than a finale. They look at pictures, make wishes and Klaus waxes poetic about how he secretly adored Kol (despite daggering him and generally making his life miserable for a thousand years). I mean... okay? Feels a little disingenuous, but maybe I’m soulless.

The two familial standout moments for me was Klaus saying goodbye to Hope and Klaus apologizing to Rebekah while making sure she can take the cure if she wants. Stellar all the way around. I felt all the feels and those moments were truly earned. 

Caroline

So… what was the point of having Caroline on the show other than baiting the Klaroline fandom and ensuring their viewership? Cause I got nothing. 

Klaus and Caroline didn’t need closure. They had plenty of that on TVD. Caroline made it abundantly clear she was going to live her life without Klaus, minus a hot up-against-a-tree hookup to get it out of her system. And that’s exactly what she did.

What made Caroline’s presence on The Originals so enjoyable (other than it’s Caroline and she’s sunshine) is it felt like the characters were going somewhere new. We’ve had seven years of Klaus and Caroline dancing around their feelings, but the finale offered more of the same. We get a couple more “if only” moments and a tepid kiss.

Yes, Caroline kept the voicemail. Yes, she enjoyed all the wonders of New Orleans Klaus wanted to show her. Yes, she finally confirmed she cared for Klaus (but anyone who didn’t know that is daft). Yes, Klaus finally earned her respect and had a legitimate shot at a relationship with her for the first time, which makes his sacrifice so noble.

Eh. Caroline already had her noble, sacrifice-it-all-in-the-name-of–family love story (looking at you Stefan). 

Everything with Klaus feels spectacularly redundant for her character.

And to not follow through on this line is criminal.

But that isn’t really the reason I’m ticked. It’s Julie Plec’s explanation for why Klaus and Caroline can’t be together.

It would dishonor Stefan.

Look, nobody (and I do mean nobody) loves Stefan Salvatore more than me. I subjected myself to an additional four years of crap storytelling just to make sure Stefan was okay in the end (yeah I know I could have just watched the finale, but I couldn’t abandon him) only for JP to kill my beloved in the FINAL FREAKING EPISODE.

But this “honoring Stefan’s memory” thing is crap.

Stelena Side Bar

Time to get real for a second. (D*lena and St*roline lovers now would be the time to look away).  Stefan ended up with Caroline because The Vampire Diaries did him dirty with D*lena and they couldn’t get Nina back for their planned (yeah you read that right) Stelena endgame.

Julie Plec loves to put all the blame for how TVD ended on Nina Dobrev’s shoulders.  Yes, Nina left the show and when she left in Season 6 I knew it was game over on Stelena and any hope of a reunion was lost.

I love Stefan, Caroline and their friendship. I begrudgingly got on board with the romance angle because sweet holy Zeus I needed something to be mildly entertained by in Season 6-8.

But let me be clear. Under no circumstances do I favor St*roline over Stelena. 

Caroline Dries absolutely could have put Stelena back together before Nina Dobrev left the show. In fact, that was the direction the show was headed. Elena lost her memories of Damon and suddenly she’s taken aback with the gorgeousness of Stefan Salvatore.

(BECAUSE WITHOUT THE FREAKING SIRE BOND SHE STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN WITH STEFAN SO WHY DIDN’T HER LOVE FOR HIM RETURN THE SECOND SHE FORGOT DAMON? OH THAT’S RIGHT IT WAS GOING TO UNTIL THE WRITERS SCREWED ME OVER). The memory loss storyline was going to be to D*lena what the sire bond was to Stelena.

Then all of a sudden the show turns on a dime. Stelena rebuild is over and it’s full throttle on St*roline. The episodes Dries/Plec would have been writing in January (right around the time Nina let them know she was leaving) put Elena rapidly back together with Damon. Then they dance in the street for some inexplicable reason in her final episode.

Kevin and Julie wanted Nina back for the final 16 episodes of Season 8 to put Elena back with Stefan, but she was unavailable. Guess what cupcakes? You had Nina for the same amount of episodes in Season 6. You had a half season, give or take, to rebuild Stelena. 

There was absolutely no reason why STEFAN couldn’t have been the one waiting for Elena to wake up. Quite frankly, Damon’s struggle to maintain control would have been a lot more interesting because he would’ve had nothing to lose. Stefan would have focused on saving his brother the final two years of the show, only for Damon to sacrifice himself in the end. Damon would have earned redemption, proved he was finally worthy of Elena, and gave Stefan & Elena their happily ever after, WHICH WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN.  

How do you not kill Damon after he says, “Because I am the big brother. I’m sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.” THAT’S THE PERFECT DEATH LINE. 

No one can anyone argue to me that Damon was the better man. (To be fair they were both terrible people, but Stefan was far less terrible IMHO.) Damon telling Elena Stefan is the better man before she wakes up makes a hell of a lot more sense than Stefan saying that about Damon, but whatever. The point is, the choice wouldn’t have been Elena’s but Damon’s (rather than Stefan’s) and it’s so freaking perfect I want to scream.

Anyway, back to yelling about Julie. So, she heaps all the responsibility on the ending for TVD on Nina because she loves to straddle fandoms and refuses to make a damn decision. Not that the D*lena ending was anything to write home about. Y’all got screwed over too. One crappy kiss and five seconds of holding hands isn’t exactly the glimpse into their happy life together that y’all deserved. Sweet mother of Moses, the Stelena fandom had a better glimpse of Stefan & Elena’s happy human life in 5x18.

Stelena side bar over. Back to talking about how ridiculous it is that Caroline can’t move on.

2) The Vampire Diaries had a big old conversation between Lexi and Stefan about how vampires have more than one great love because they are fucking vampires and live forever.

This was said after Elena chose Damon (for absolutely no reason other than it was Damon’s turn to get the girl) and Stefan was driving off to Cleveland or something. This was a difficult for me to accept in terms of Stefan’s character because he lived like 150 years without love until he met Elena. She brought him back to life. So TVD arguing that Elena was not Stefan’s only great love was kind of ridiculous, particularly since Elena was still alive. 

The only reason JP/Dries wrote this line was to smooth the path for a potential St*roline romance. And why? Because immediately after this scene with Lexi, Stefan drowns in a safe all summer while Elena bones his brother. So, yeah they needed to cook up some hope for his character and, at that point, Elena was SO NOT IT.

So, now that Stefan is dead VAMPIRE Caroline can’t move on? The same Caroline who was Stefan’s second chance at love? Is a basic level of consistency really too much to ask? No it is not.

3) It’s been a DECADE since Stefan died. Caroline can move on because it’s HEALTHY

What an abysmal message to send to widowers. Sorry folks, if you lost your spouse you are suppose to live alone for the rest of your life because falling in love again dishonors your spouse’s memory. 

If this storyline was taking place a year or two after Stefan died, then sure I can see the argument for Caroline moving on too fast, but that’s not what is happening here. There was an 8 year time jump. It’s been nearly a decade!!!

Let’s take the vampireness out of the equation as my friend @lipstickandwifi so eloquently said. A woman marries in her twenties and her husband tragically died the day after. She’s now in her thirties and someone from her past, who she always has had a connection with, is back in her life. And her children are almost grown. The answer is: GO FOR IT.

Also, Stefan would never want Caroline to be alone for her immortal life all in the name of his memory. He’d be the first one to say it’s okay to move on. 

He may not love her object of affection, but he’s dead so he doesn’t get a say. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T BE SO WILLING TO DIE FOR DAMON, STEFAN. I have some anger issues I am still working through.

So, once again Julie Plec is pulling some bs reason and blaming Stefan for the reason Klaroline can’t be together rather than have the lady balls to say, “I didn’t want them to end up together.” Instead, she plays out forty different scenarios in these interviews, each one pandering to a specific fandom and giving them their happily ever after, but “INSERTS NONSENSE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE.” And Julie deflects any and all responsibility in the choices she made.

The Spin Off

The real reason Klaus, Elijah and Hayley all died is because of Legacies. I’d also say that’s the reason Klaroline didn’t end up together too. Julie Plec wanted Elena 2.0 - Hope to be an orphan so she can rehash the same story she told on TVD (complete with love triangle). Julie blames all these deaths on the actors not wanting to reprise their roles. It has nothing to do with Julie’s need to keep collecting a paycheck. Nope, not at all!

Absolutely no one can argue Legacies did not impact the ending to The Originals to me because it did. It’s fact. Julie Plec admits as much in countless interviews. Anything argued to the contrary is a PR campaign to get jilted viewers to watch the next show. I refuse.

2 shows + 263 hours of television + dozens of ships = 0 endgame couples. That's my shipper maths for Plec shows.  Congratulations to the ships that survived. The rest of us got screwed over. I end yet another Julie Plec show with booze.

And to the sweet summer children anxiously awaiting Legacies, tattoo this on your heart “DO NOT TRUST JULIE PLEC.”

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Thus, this closes the door on both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. At least I can rewatch TVD S1-S3 (and 4x01 as the series finale). There’s always Season 4 of The Originals too.

[princess-of-the-worlds]

After an attack, Klaus needs to be reassured that Caroline is okay. Smut ensues 😊

this turned out a bit long (around 2.6K). and guess who wrote smut for the first time ever. i hope it didn’t turn out too awkward or strange. 

Say Yes To This

After her high school graduation and Silas’s defeat,everything quiets down in Mystic Falls. It’s not perfect, but it’s relativelymore peaceful than it has been in the last few years since Stefan and Damonwaltzed into town.

Caroline attends Whitmore for four years, and Klaus staysin New Orleans. It’s not an easy separation, but the winter, spring, and summerbreaks she spends with him makes the pining more tolerable. Even with theMikaelson home empty, Klaus’s siblings having moved around the world to createtheir own lives, and Klaus and Caroline doing practically everything together,she still doesn’t manage to confess her feelings to him.

She doesn’t understand why. There’s nothing stopping her,nothing stopping them.

Either way, once she graduates Whitmore, she says goodbyeto Bonnie and Elena and buys a one-way ticket to New Orleans, moving intoKlaus’s house and getting a job as an intern at a nearby broadcasting station.

Still, then, not everything is perfect, which Carolinelearns the hard way when a coven of witches kidnaps her from a party that Klausthrows a month after she moves.

When Klaus storms into the abandoned mansion that they’veimprisoned her in and slaughters all the witches in a blur of blond and amber eyes,she raises her perfectly-shaped eyebrows at him in apprehension. “Really?” sheasks in her trade-marked tone of sarcasm.  “That was a gorgeous Armanisuit that you just ruined with all that blood.”

“Considering that I just saved your pretty blond head,sweetheart,” Klaus shoots back, “I don’t think you have a right to becomplaining.”

Caroline rolls her eyes in response, standing up andbrushing the dust off her clothes once Klaus snaps the chains that are now freeof the witches’ magic. “They wanted to use me as bait for you, so I cancomplain all I want.”

Klaus scowls, no matching quip ready on his tongue, and itis only then Caroline realizes how panicked he looks. Only a person who trulyknew Klaus would know to look for his slightly widened eyes, the whiteness ofhis knuckles, the flaring of his nostrils.

“Klaus,” she begins reassuringly, “I’m fine. You saved me.The witches couldn’t do me too much harm anyways.”

“If I had gotten here one moment too late,” Klaus statesblandly, “it’d have been a different story.”

He’s right, and Caroline knows that.

Caroline had been drifting through the crowd all evening,at the center of the party, conversing with guests and sipping champagne, allwhile remaining under Klaus’s vigilant eye. The moment he turned even theslightest, the coven pounced, injecting Caroline with a syringe of vervain thatthey’d mixed with a sedative before cloaking her and dragging her away. Theonly way they’d gotten in was because of a loophole they’d found in theMikaelson home’s wards.

They’d been in and out, and none of Klaus’s witches haddetected a thing, so, indeed, Caroline was very lucky that Klaus found her.

She stares at Klaus, really looks at him and seesthe beauty of his face, like the Greek gods carved his features from marble,and how the blood plasters his white dress shirt to his chest, revealing theripples of his muscular abdomen.

There’s a stray drop of blood smeared along the sharp ofhis jawline, and she wants to lick it off.

“Klaus,” Caroline gasps suddenly, struck by how much she wantsKlaus.

“Did I tell you,” Klaus murmurs, the rasp of his voicecausing wetness to pool from her pussy and dampen her panties, “how ravishingyou looked tonight?”

“No,” Caroline says, her breath catching. “Why don’t youtell me?” She moves backwards, away from the iron bedposts she was chained toand more towards the dusty bed itself, thoroughly aware of every movement andshifting of her body.

“You’ve always been brighter than the sun, but, tonight,you were irresistible. No one could draw their eyes from you,” Klaus drawls ashe stalks forwards, following Caroline. “Every time you moved, your dress wouldshift, and I would catch a glimpse of your panties. I wanted to pull them offwith my teeth. My cock has been perpetually hard all evening.”

“I could give you a hand with that,” Caroline repliessolemnly.

She tugs at the silk ties of her dress that are knotted atthe nap of her neck, and they give way. The dress plunges to the dirt-streakedfloor, pooling around her bare feet.

Klaus lets out a sudden rush of breath as his eyes feast onher blond curls knotted up in a bun, the graceful curve of her bare neck, theswell of her breasts beneath the black laciness of her bra, the smooth flatnessof her stomach but still with the faint stretch marks from her chubbier yearsas a human, the tiny black panties that cover her pussy, and then the miles ofthe porcelain skin of her shapely legs.

Caroline reaches a swift hand to pluck the pins from herhair, which falls to curtain her exposed throat and brush against the hollowsof her collarbone. “Your turn,” she tells Klaus, punctuating her statement witha crude thrust of her chin towards the clothed and prominent bulge between hislegs.

“I wasn’t aware we were playing strip poker, sweetheart,”Klaus comments with unreadable eyes, his pronunciation of sweetheart onlymaking her wetter. Still, when she levels him with a stare, he begrudginglycomplies.

First, he shucks off the black coat and tosses it behindhim. Then, he undoes the buttons of his dress shirt at an agonizing pace atwhich Caroline nearly complains until she notices the mischievous quirk of hislips.

“I’m surprised you haven’t died of blue balls by now,”Caroline remarks stalely, conveying just how unimpressed she is withKlaus’s little show.

His smirk widens as he finally, finally, speeds up.

Klaus allows his shirt to slip backwards and fall into aheap behind him. Then, in true dramatic Klaus fashion, he tears his dressslacks off until they’re joined by only a few threads. He kicks off his leathershoes and stands in front of Caroline buck-nude.

His chest is lean but still shaped with enough muscle tolet onlookers realize that Klaus is formidable enough in a fight. The familiarfeather tattoo is inked on the corner of his left shoulder. Towards the slopeof his hips, a trail of fine brown-blond hairs leads downwards, and Carolinefollows that trail with her gaze until her cerulean eyes land on Klaus’s cock,hard and red and already dripping precome, nestled between his muscular legs.

Her mouth waters, and her pussy clenches around air as sheimagines running her hands over his member and taking it inside her.

She can feel more slick gathering along the crotch of herunderwear, releasing a sharp, earthy scent that Klaus sniffs at and smilesviciously.

A cool breeze filters its way into the room, likely throughthe cracks in the roof, and her nipples pebble under the thin lace of her bra.

If possible, Klaus’s cock swells even more, to the pointwhere Caroline briefly wonders if it’ll even fit inside her.

“Now, what?” he demands with eyes that are hooded withlust, lashes fluttering slightly as he blinks.

She doesn’t reply, only reaches around herself to unhookher bra and drop it to the ground and then slowly and seductively ease herpanties off her hips.

Caroline takes a steady step towards Klaus, and he growls,his eyes immediately glued to her creamy breasts that sway hypnotically as shewalks.

She wants to keep on this teasing façade, but she can’ttake it anymore! She needs to run her hands over Klaus’s shoulders andabdomen, needs his cock in her, needs his lips on hers.

With a blur of speed, she collides into him, her nipplesbrushing against his skin as their bodies mold together. His lips descendroughly onto hers, and she rises onto her tiptoes to thread a harsh handthrough his already ruffled curls.

His kiss is dirty but oh so sinfully hot as histongue roughly fucks into the warm and wet depths of her mouth, tracing overher teeth. She nips at his bottom lip, and he growls menacingly into her mouth,trailing a hand around her hip and over her ass. The same hand squeezes her asscheeks tightly together, tracing a finger lightly over the tight furl of herass, before continuing to flick elegant fingers against the lips of her pussyand press briefly against her clit.

Her knees buckle slightly, and she keens, but, just asimmediately, the hand is gone from where she wants it the most.

Klaus snakes the same hand between them to roughly clutchat her breast, smearing the wetness from her pussy everywhere, and pinch hernipple. Caroline hisses and retaliates by hooking a leg over his hip andgrinding the warmth and slick center of her pussy against the velvety,unrelenting hardness of his cock.

Klaus tears their lips apart. “Don’t tempt me, love,”he warns.

Caroline snorts. “You know, for all your reputation, youturned out to be all talk and no actual action.”

He freezes in place, and Caroline watches his eyes darkenwith lust until the pupil is no longer visible. She worries at her lower lipwith her teeth as he clenches his teeth and harshly breathes out.

Then she squeals in surprise as Klaus hoists her up andtosses her abruptly onto the bed, the momentum stunning her enough that for amoment she stares up at the broken ceiling.

Just as she recovers, he crawls on top of her and snarls,“I’ll show you action.” It sounds cheesy enough that she would havegiggled, but then he ducks his head and mouths at her breast and swirls histongue around her nipple. She throws back her head and moans.

Klaus takes his time, lavishing her breasts with his tongueand tracing patterns into the skin of her stomach with his fingers. Helanguidly trails his mouth lower and lower, sucking bruises into her porcelainskin that heal and quickly disappear.

He’s teasing her, and it’s killing her. He’ll move hisfingers and mouth near and around her pussy but never actually touch heraching, dripping center.

The asshole is playing a manipulative, psychological catand mouse game!

“That’s it!” Caroline finally snaps when the lust and needis too much for her to bear. She shoves up at him, using the leverage ofher legs around his waist to climb on him and straddle him.

“You likely expect me to complain,” Klaus says coyly, “butI like this view just as much as the last one.” Predictably, his eyes arenarrowed and focused on her chest.

She rolls her eyes and looks down to see Klaus’s cock,still hard and weeping drops of precome . “Aww,” she says to it in a falselysaccharine tone. “Does somebody feel a little neglected?” She bends overto press a kiss to its head, and Klaus grits his teeth audibly. Caroline licksthe sharp, bitter taste of Klaus’s precome from her lips, and he watches themotion with rapid eyes.

Then she reaches down and firmly grips his cock in herright hand, squeezing slightly, and he throws back his head and groans.

Caroline smirks, realizing that she has found one ofKlaus’s most sensitive points.

With quick movements, Caroline shifts onto her knees andpositions her pussy over Klaus’s cock. Slowly, she brushes the head against herfolds, ghosting it over her clit. She relishes in the fact that Klaus’sexpression has become agonized.

She’d tease him more, but she can’t no longer tolerate herown lust, which has only been growing.

Carefully, Caroline sinks down, the walls of her pussystretching to fit gradually expanding to accommodate his length, which reachesspots that no man has ever before and presses everywhere.

“Huh,” she remarks simply, glancing down to where they arejoined. “That went well.”

Klaus groans in response. “Sweetheart,” he manages to say.“Move.”

“Alright, alright,” she says hastily. “Impatient,” shemurmurs under her breath, knowing quite well that he can hear her.

If having Klaus inside her felt amazing, thenactually moving is heaven on earth.

She rides him swiftly and mercilessly, moving up and downin sharp, jerky motion while her breasts jolt in rhythm. With each movement,the head of his cock is shoved up inside her, and she bites her lip out ofpleasure.

Klaus can only keep his head thrown back, expressionwrecked, and eyes closed, his neck curved alluringly.

“Who knew that Klaus Mikaelson was so submissive in bed?”Caroline remarks sharply, surprised that she can still string words togetherdespite how overcome she feels.

Riding Klaus’s cock is a thousand times better than fuckingherself with her largest dildo, especially since she can feel Klaus like ironrebar in her but pulsing and warm.

Klaus’s eyes flutter open, and he smiles crookedly. “Iassure you, I can be quite dominating when I want to, but I enjoy all kinds ofsex.”

Caroline hums and briefly wonders what it would be like tostraddle his head with her thighs and shove her pussy into his face until hehas no option but to eat her out.

That idea sends a thrill through her spine as she realizessex with Klaus bring out her kinky side in a way that no sex has before.

She moans enthusiastically, steadying one hand against theplanes of his chest and using the other to cup her breasts and massage andsqueeze.

“Enjoying yourself?” Klaus asks dryly, but then she slamsdown on him, and he’s back to being at a loss of words.

Beneath her, the muscles of Klaus’s legs draw up tighterand tighter as his spine begins to lift off the bed. He worries at his lip.

“Close?” Caroline asks, and, when Klaus confirms it with ashaky nod, she reaches down to rub at her clit furiously.

Moments later, she moves one last time on Klaus’s cock,which combined with the friction on her clit is enough to send her over, andthen he stiffens and comes inside her in a flood of warmth, his spine archingeven more of the bed.

He cries out her name when he comes.

She pants and then lifts off Klaus’s cock. Both of theireyes wander to her pussy, and they watch curiously as his come sticks to herthighs. She lifts her eyes and meets Klaus’s before he surges forward.

He flips them over and shoves three fingers into her pussy,fingering her roughly enough that in a matter of seconds her walls tightenaround him and she comes a second time, blacking out for a minute.

When she rouses, Klaus has wiped their come with his suitjacket and is smirking at her. “That was satisfying,” he says dirtily.

She eyes scratches near his collarbone that are healing andrealizes that she left them there in the chaos of her second orgasm; sheflushes red. “If you insist,” she shoots back, still blushing.

“Round two?” he questions.

She shakes her head. “I will definitely say yes, seeingthat you gave me two more orgasms than most men do during the first time.But…just not here.” Caroline casts a wary look at their battered surroundingsbefore staring at the dirty bed they had just defiled and the bodies scatteredaround it. “I could use a blood bag, actually.”

Klaus must really be satisfied if he doesn’t teasinglyoffer her blood from one of the willing humans they keep on retainer. “I coulduse some refreshments,” he agrees.

“Good,” Caroline says as she slips off the bed. “But, nexttime we start with you eating me out until my legs collapse under me. Capiche?”

He nods. “Of course, sweetheart.”

[couragehopelovefaith]

My (very late) opinions on “the Vampire Diaries”-finale

Yep, I know that I’m very late watching it, but better like that than never, right? I’ve been a hardcore fan of this show since the day one and it never went away, not even during the last seasons without Elena. I loved the show when she was in, but was also satisfied that the famous Salvatore-brothers came in the focus later. As for the finale, it had some ups and some downs (in no chronological order):

+ Elena’s last monologue was beyond amazing and brought me to tears

+ Bonnie saving the day with Enzo, her Grams and the witches and being the one who wakes Elena up - and getting to find some time for herself and to live the fullest. I also liked that she got a chance to kind of settle things up with Stefan before…THAT thing happened. :’(

+ Vicky meeting his father and Matty one last time and leaving this show beside Tyler was somehow poetic.

+ Caroline and Rick honoring Stefan by building that school and Jeremy helping them

+ Klaus’ letter to Caroline

+ Caroline actually understanding Stefan’s decision even if it tore her apart

+ getting to see almost every important departed character (especially Elena’s family and Liz)

+ parallels to earlier seasons without them becoming cliché (“Hello, brother..” </3 )

+ Caroline and Damon bonding scene on Stefan’s grave

+ Stelena goodbye-hug and the scenes between brothers… so bittersweet and sad at the same time!

+ Matt continuing Elena’s wish and continuing Liz’s job

- the most important thing: Stefan’s death. I know that it somehow makes sense since this was his story after all. The guilt was burning him inside and the fact that he found peace with his best friend by his side is beautiful. But nevertheless, I can never get over his departure. He was one of my favorite character, if not even the favorite, and he deserved a lot better than he got. He had already sacrificed quite enough! Plus, yes, it’s a fact that Damon was redeeming himself during the series and Stefan was flawed as well, but all this talk about Damon being the “better man” both in general and for Elena really made me sick.

- I will possibly get some serious hate about this, but remember we all have right to our opinions and I don’t mean to hurt anyone. I just don’t really like Delena being endgame. I’ll admit that sometime in season 2 and 3 I was fascinated by their understanding with each other and was wondering what they would be like together. But when they actually got together, I somehow lost my interest and thought they were better as friends. I also kind of dislike that they took some Stelena symbols and tried to turn them into Delena’s thing (the necklace, for example).  It was always Stelena for me. I’ve heard that some people think that they were dull and cliche, but in my opinion, they’re exactly the opposite. Both Stelena’s goodbye scene in 6x22 and 8x16 were better and filled with more emotion and chemistry than Delena’s  goodbye dance and final reunion - even though the latter one could be PARTLY explained by the the feud between Ian and Nina (still, Ian should’ve been more professional about it, since there were huge Delena-fandom waiting for that big reunion). In my eyes, Stefan belonged with Elena, Caroline deserved a chance with Klaus after spending some time alone (and fortunately kind of got it briefly in the Originals) and Damon… I don’t actually know. At one point I really wanted Bamon to happen, but after watching Bonenzo’s epicness I was knocked off my feet. Besides, watching Damon and Bonnie’s strong dislike to each other turn into this bickering and honest friendship is one of the most beautiful thing in this series. I liked him the most with Rose and was kind of sad that they didn’t include her in the finale (she could’ve, for instance, watch him with sad smile on her lips and try to comfort him while he was on his brother’s grave while Damon subconciously knowledges her like Caroline did with Liz - or something.)

- the fact that we didn’t get any Elena/Matt or Elena/Alaric-scene after her waking up or the last Damon/Bonnie-scene for that matter. We would’ve deserved longer finale.

- the fact that Bonnie didn’t get to spend the rest of her life with Enzo (even though she sensed him by her side. I’m so conflicted about this because of the reasons that I wrote earlier).

- the misuse of Queen Katherine Pierce. I was glad to see her one last time, but the fact that she prepared this huge plan and when she finally returned, all she got was getting pushed around and getting killed again really fast. That was disappointing, to say the least. It was somehow fitting that he died with/by Stefan, but she is far valuable and stronger than they made it seem in the finale. Even after all bad things she did, I would’ve loved to see her reunite with Nadia. At least she lives forever in our hearts. Nina is always great in what she does, but I think that because of her absence from the show her performance as Katherine wasn’t as juicy and witty as usual. But I will forever be amazed how she managed to play four characters (+ with or without humanity-difference) so believably. One of the best actresses of our generation.

That’s all I have to say, I guess. Feel free to add or comment. This show has left its mark in me and I won’t stop watching it anytime soon. #vampirediariesforever

[thevampirediariesdiary]

1.19 Miss Mystic Falls (part 1)

So I watched this episode, and then spent multiple hours paralyzed in the face of writing anything about it.  Miss Mystic Falls is classic, iconic Vampire Diaries, and I unabashedly love it.  So naturally, that meant I eventually wrote so much that I decided to break the recap post into two parts.

Stefan pulls into the school parking lot in his flashy car, since it was a “waste to leave it sitting in the garage”.  Are we talking about the car or you, Stefan?  And how many analogues do we really need to see that Stefan wasn’t living life to the full and now he’s going whole hog? Elena asks him if he’s okay now, and he says, “Well, the worst part is over.  Now all I wanna do is spend as much time with you as possible.”  

“I’m okay with that,” Elena says, and kisses him.  But when she tells him they shouldn’t be late, he tells her to go on ahead so he can get his stuff.  Which isn’t technically a lie, because he does get his backpack – out of a trunk full of empty blood bags.  Womp womp.

Poor Alaric has had his lesson plans for the month waylaid by town pride, because apparently the town founding is more important than World War II.  His long-suffering teacher-ness gives me life, even though it’s a quality rarely on display. But both Bonnie and Stefan are back in school, so at least he has a full classroom, finally.  

Damon is being harangued on multiple sides, which is funny, because he actually seems to be minding his own business for once in his life.  Liz tells him there’s been another break-in and blood theft at the hospital, and John Gilbert suggests that he and Damon put their heads together to solve it. Damon agrees, but since Liz openly dislikes John as well, he isn’t nice about it: “Whatever I can do to keep this town safe, even if it means spending time with you.”  

I enjoy this, because it means his friendship with Liz is genuine enough that Damon doesn’t feel like he has to be generically-nice vampire-hunter guy all the time - he can also be day-drinking, arbitrarily-belligerent guy.  Then, as if this indignity wasn’t enough already, Anna shows up on his doorstep to tell him Pearl feels horrible about the whole debacle with Stefan getting tortured. When asked why Pearl isn’t there herself, Anna says, “She doesn’t really do apologies.”  “Well that’s a coincidence,” says Damon acidly, “since I don’t really do forgiveness.”  But they realize that neither of them was responsible for the hospital break-in, so what do you know, communication does have some uses.

Bonnie and Elena have a strained conversation. Elena had called to tell her that the tomb spell failed, and Bonnie says after that she didn’t really want to come home. But Caroline and Bonnie talked every day, apparently, and now that Bonnie’s back Caroline offers her a distraction: helping her prepare for the Founders Court and the Miss Mystic pageant.  

Stefan gets home and immediately gets pounced on by his brother, who wants to know if he has any stories from school to share. “You’re making smalltalk,” Stefan accuses, “…why.”  “You seem awfully chipper lately, less doom and gloom, more pep in your step,” Damon says, demonstrating said ‘pep’.  “You think it’s because I drank human blood again,” Stefan supplies.  “I mean I don’t wanna brag, but I would definitely take responsibility for this new and improved you,” Damon says. (Somewhere on the other side of the country, another vampire in a black leather jacket laughs and says “who am I kidding, I love to brag!”)  “Alright, well, I hate to burst your bubble but, I’m clean,” Stefan tells Damon.  “Yeah, not possible.”  “Not only is it possible but it is quite true.”  Damon isn’t swayed: “Stefan, let’s be serious for a second.  You spent the last century and a half being a poster child for Prozac, and now you expect me to believe this new you has nothing to do with human blood, nothing?”  Stefan just shrugs, repeats, “I’m clean.”  Damon’s voice raises an indignant three octaves: “You’re lying.”  “Believe what you want,” says Stefan.  But basically five minutes later Stefan goes downstairs to his creepy blood fridge and Damon pops around the corner and asks when he was going to share that he’s a closet blood junkie.  And Stefan, caught in the lie, completely reverses his previous stance: “So I’m drinking blood again, you’re the one who shoved it on me, what’s your problem?” Damon tries to explain that the problem is that Stefan is being obvious and they’re trying to keep a low profile here, but Stefan just adopts a “poor you” voice and says, “Have my actions negatively impacted you? I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”  Damon tries a different tactic, and asks about Elena, but Stefan says that nothing’s changed, he’s the same person as always – so Elena doesn’t need to know yet.  This frankly insane statement seems to get through to Damon, and he abruptly gets serious: “Look Stefan, you’ve been off the human stuff for years, if you’re having trouble controlling it –”  “I’m not having any problems,” Stefan interrupts him, shrugging smugly.  “Who do you think you’re talking to?” Damon says impatiently. “I know what it’s like, that Jekyll and Hyde feeling, there’s that switch, sometimes it goes off and you snap.  Right now is not a good time for me to be worried about you snapping!” Stefan answers, “I know that it pains you to see this, but I’m fine.  Okay?  I’m fine.  So, please, do me a favor, and back off.”

Side note: they do some really interesting stuff with lighting in this episode.  In the second half of this scene, Stefan is lit by the open fridge:

And Damon is, for a good portion of the scene, just a silhouette in the doorway:

Stefan is perfectly visible, if dimly lit; Damon on the other hand appears in total darkness, you can’t even see his face. But then again, Stefan, who appears more clearly, is lit by the very thing keeping him underground. And Damon only appears shadowed because the light from the stairs is directly at his back. All he has to do is turn.  Instead, of course, he steps forward to stand next to his brother.

Elena and Caroline and the other candidates interview for the Miss Mystic Falls position.  Caroline’s extremely impressive litany of extracurricular and volunteer activities is juxtaposed with Elena’s confession that she’s been distracted this year, but takes the nomination seriously, and regards it as a legacy from her mother, who believed in community, honor, and loyalty.  

John barges into the Salvatore house and complains that Damon has been dodging his calls.  When Damon asks why he’s even bothering with the charade since it’s pretty clear he and Isobel aren’t interested in catching vampires, John answers, “Isobel and I have a mutual interest.”  Damon’s eyes flicker for a moment, then John goes on to explain that there’s a stolen Gilbert invention that he and Isobel are looking for in the possession of Pearl. Damon, to John’s ever-so-satisfying surprise, tells him to leave: “I only entertained this whole blackmail scheme cause I thought you and Isobel could lead me to Katherine.”  But if John knew anything about Katherine, he would know who Pearl was.  “I’ll tell the entire council what you are,” John says, confused that this isn’t working the way he planned.  “Go for it,” Damon tells him, “I’ll kill every last one of them, sever your hand, pull your ring off and kill you too.” 

The Miss Mystic contestants and their escorts have dance practice.  “Flirt with your eyes,” instructs Mrs. Lockwood.  

“This is ridiculous,” Elena says. “You’re only saying that cause you don’t know how to do it,” Stefan tells her. “Sorry only one of us was around when the dance was invented,” Elena retorts.  Stefan grabs, twirls, and dips her while she giggles – more voluntary dancing from the newly-non-inhibited Stefan – before Mrs. Lockwood informs them that there’s no touching in this part of the dance, it’s just about the “simple intimacy of the near touch”.  Once she steps away, Stefan says, “If you ask me, the near touch is overrated.”  “You seem to be in a good mood,” Elena comments. “That a bad thing?” Stefan says, sensitive as ever to accusations that something might be off with him. “Would you prefer me to be brooding and tortured?” “Hey, I’m not complaining,” Elena says, and reaches for him to reassure him. 

“No touching,” he tells her, joking again.  

And honestly, all of this would be exceptionally adorable, except that I’m pretty sure Stefan is basically in the middle of a manic episode. It’s never explained flat-out in a convenient vampire-fact, but based on Damon’s Prozac comment earlier and everyone commenting on Stefan’s mood shift, it seems like having a healthy diet of human blood keeps a vampire’s moods steady.  So his many decades of only animal blood made Stefan a little bit broodier than he would be naturally, and now that he’s pretty clearly drinking more blood than his body actually needs, he’s buckets of fun and impulsivity.  He’s a diet-induced manic-depressive.

Caroline and Bonnie arrive, Bonnie filling in as Car’s escort while Matt works.  Caroline is, of course, anxious about her competition, particularly the sympathy vote Elena’s guaranteed because her parents died.  She knows it must seem unimportant to Bonnie, but confesses, “I want this, and I actually deserve this!”  Elena pulls Bonnie aside and Bonnie finally tells her what’s wrong: “She died for nothing….That’s just it, there’s nothing you can do.  I blame [Stefan], him and Damon.  But I’m not gonna put you in a position to choose sides.  I’m just having a hard time with it, okay?”   

Meanwhile, Stefan gets completely overwhelmed when a kid falls playing basketball and skins his knee.  I know this is teen vampire bread and butter, but I don’t buy it. Ignoring the many everyday scrapes and papercuts and half-healed shaving mishaps that people regularly walk around with, half of the population is actively bleeding one eighth of the time, you can’t tell me that this is the first time Stefan has encountered the smell of blood all day!  Give me consistent vampire fiction or give me death!!  Either you’re in control all the time, or you’re not, because there is ALWAYS blood. 

Alaric shows up to the Gilbert house to chauffeur Jenna and Elena to the pageant.  “I thought I was driving,” John says, pitifully.  “No need,” Jenna tells him.  Alaric grins at John.

Nothing is working out for Uncle John the way he wants.

Anna’s hair is, like, the Ideal 2000s Messy Bun.

She tells Damon (who, look at that, is gorgeously lit) that she was supposed to participate in this very event back in 1864, before everything happened.  “Ah,” he says, unsympathetically, “nostalgia’s a bitch.” But he helpfully shares the information he has about John and the Gilbert device. 

next up: Miss Mystic part two, everything goes to shit

[zalrb]

The Ferris Wheel {SE Drabble}

You can thank the Kdrama Crash Landing On You for this drabble. There’s a scene where the two leads are drunk and start admitting things to each other that they can’t admit when they’re sober and I was like, Bah! SE could’ve totally had a scene like this! So I wrote one.

Elena and Stefan stumbled into the carnival grounds, laughing loudly and passing a half-empty bottle of Damon’s favourite bourbon back and forth. Elena was in possession of the liquor and after a hearty swig, she giggled mischievously.

           “Hey, Stefan, you’re a football player, go long.”

           “What?”

           The words were barely out of his mouth before Elena threw the bottle clear across the park and Stefan had to vamp speed to get in time and keep it from smashing to the ground.

           “SCORE!” she yelled.

           “You mean touchdown,” said Stefan.

           “Score, touchdown, homerun, who cares!”

            “Hey, drunk lady, you’re being incredibly loud.”

           “I REPEAT, WHO. CARES?” said Elena. “There’s no one here!” She started twirling around in circles, her arms wide above her head. Stefan sipped from the bottle, watching her partly exasperated and partly enamoured.  

“We have the whole place to ourselves,” she said. “Like last time.”

“Ah well,” said Stefan. “Not quite like last time.” And with that, he sped off.

Elena threw her hands up in the air. “Hey, don’t take off with the bottle!”

She sped after him and found that he stopped in front of the ferris wheel. She gazed up at it and smiled brightly, the memory of their first time on these grounds together intensifying her light-headedness.

           “What a night,” she whispered.

           Stefan pressed his lips together. “You’re a vampire now, you can get to the top.”

           She looked at him. “Race you,” she said. “Extra points if you don’t spill any booze.”

           She barely finished the sentence before Stefan jumped, rocketing upwards, and she had to go after them. They landed on the top seat at the same time.

           “I won,” said Stefan.

           “No, you cheated so you could win and you still lost,” said Elena, laughing. “I think I’ll take a celebratory drink, thank you.” She took the bottle.

           “Hold on, you didn’t win, if anything it was a tie,” said Stefan.

Elena continued to giggle and Stefan gazed at her, smiling, his expression becoming more serious, almost wistful. She turned to him.

           “What?”

           He shook his head. “Nothing.”

           “No, come on,” she prompted. “It’s me, you can tell me anything.”

           Stefan took the bottle of her hand and drank from it. “Even if you’ll hate me for it?”

           Elena scoffed. “I’ve never been able to hate you, Stefan. I can’t do it, it’s not in me.”

           He sighed and then regarded her, the weight of what he wanted to say making his eyes glisten. “Are you drunk?”

           “No,” said Elena gravely. “Yes.” She sputtered out a laugh.

           “I’m serious,” said Stefan with a small grin. “I can’t tell you unless you’re drunk.” He took another long sip from the bottle. “Unless I’m drunk too.”

           Elena took the bottle back and chugged, coughing slightly when she finally swallowed. “I’m pretty wasted.”

           “OK,” said Stefan. He paused for a few moments. “I’ve never stopped loving you,” he said. “And I don’t mean it like how we tell each other ‘I’ll always love you’, I mean, I’ve actually never stopped loving you.” He looked her in the eye. “I … actively love you.” He said the last two words in an exhale, like he was releasing them from deep within his body.

           “Shit,” Elena whispered, her eyes fluttering. “I think my buzz is gone.”

           “Then I’ll stop talking.”

           “No,” said Elena quickly. Stefan lowered his head and when Elena followed his gaze, she realized that she had grabbed his arm, gripping it tightly in an instinctive effort to stop him from pulling back.

           “Elena…”

           “If you stop talking now then I really will hate you,” she said. An expression like hurt swiftly passed over Stefan’s face and Elena took another swig from the bottle. “I’ll keep it going,” she said.

           Stefan took the bottle and drank from it too. “Yeah, me too.”

           They were silent for a bit and then Elena urged him to continue. “So, what else did you want to say?”

           “Nothing, just,” he sighed. “I think about you. I think about us. More than I should.” He paused to consider his words. “A lot.” He shook his head. “All the time.” He swallowed hard. “When I see you with … Damon. When I’m with Caroline. I just … I think about what we had. What we could’ve had.” Stefan’s voice dropped to a choked whisper. “What we should’ve had.”

           Elena bit her lip to keep it from quivering. “And what does that look like?”

           “Well Rebekah told you, remember? A human life where we grow old together, live together … … have children together. Boys, you know, I never really thought about what we’d name them---”

           “Grayson,” said Elena. “After my dad.”

           Stefan looked at her sharply.

           “One boy, though. Our second kid would be a girl and we’d name her, Alexandria, but we’ll call her Lexi. Before that, though, we spend a couple of years in Paris. I’ve always wanted to do that thing, you know, be a writer in Paris, and you, you said---”

           “It’s one of my favourite cities,” said Stefan quietly.

           Elena took a deep breath. “Take another drink of that,” she said. “A long one this time.”

           Stefan did. Elena took the bottle and followed suit. She looked at Stefan, her eyes shining. “It’s my turn, you ready?”

           Stefan nodded once.

           “I regret my choice,” she said. Stefan closed his eyes, the air snuffed out of his body. “I shouldn’t have picked Damon,” Elena continued. “It should’ve been you. It’s always been you. And I wish…” Elena cleared her throat.

“I wish that I could go back and make the right choice. But since I can’t,” she took a shaky breath. “What I wish for now is to stay on this ferris wheel, with you, and just … … never go back.”

           “That sounds … … perfect.”

           “It does, doesn’t it?” said Elena.

           They stared at each other, yearning and guilt in their expressions as they slowly inched towards each other, pressing their foreheads together, breathing each other in. They stayed that way for a while until they both knew they had to separate before they crossed a line.

           Stefan took a swig from the bottle. “We can stay until this is finished,” he said.

           “Yeah,” said Elena, taking the bottle back. “And tomorrow this will just be a false memory.”

           And she took another sip.

[prettylittleliarsxxxx]

In 2009, Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec welcomed viewers to Mystic Falls for what would become eight seasons of epic love and epic twists. The following year, Pretty Little Liars showrunner I. Marlene King kicked off the seven-season story of Rosewood, a town filled with high-stakes friendship and mystery. Both shows would attract rabid fanbases that would sustain them until they aired their final episodes in 2017.

EW asked King and Plec to talk about their experiences saying goodbye.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When it came to ending your shows, what were you most nervous about? I. MARLENE KING: At the time, I was the most nervous about keeping it together at certain moments on set, for example the scene in the finale where the girls say goodbye. We knew that would be really really difficult and I was sort of punching myself for writing it, but I knew that it would be worth it. Then as we got closer to airing the episode, we all started to get a little bit nervous about how it was going to be received because people are really harsh on finales.

JULIE PLEC: I felt that heavy pressure as a fan of television to make sure we stuck the landing because I get so crushed when I see what I perceive to be a mediocre series finale. I wanted people to talk about the finale of The Vampire Diaries as one of their favorites, which is a lofty ambition, but it certainly drove me hard creatively to make sure that we had put as much thought and love into it as we possibly could.

Once the finale aired, was there anything that surprised you about the fan reaction? KING: I was very floored by the Spoby fans. It never occurred to any single one of us that those fans would be unhappy with the ending because I feel like there’s this remarkable, wonderful moment between Spencer and Toby where he realizes she is the real Spencer. He was her knight in shining armor, but the fans were still upset that he had sex with Alex Drake. So that really surprised me. I felt like they got their happy ending, but the true Spoby fans were very upset and I feel bad about that to this day.

PLEC: For me there’s always that faction of shippers who can’t look at an episode in a global way and enjoy the experience of the entire story, who can only really count minutes of screen time for their ship, and I figured, when all was said and done, that there would be some cranky people. But I also decided I didn’t care. I decided I wasn’t making the finale for anybody who still had anything invested in the love triangle. I was making it for people who were invested in the relationship between the brothers. That freed up Kevin [Williamson] and me from any pressure we felt about what the fandom might think.

What were the biggest debates when crafting your endings? KING: We had so many different endings. At one point in time, I was going to end with the girls saying goodbye, and then we were going to end with the Mona reveal, and then we were going to end with a little reboot, not to set up a spin-off, but with the new girls saying, “The mythology of this town continues.”

PLEC: I wanted flash-forwards. Ever since we decided to put Elena in a sleeping beauty spell that couldn’t be broken until Bonnie died, I wanted to see the scene with 85-year-old Bonnie and Damon by her side, and they’re the best of friends. And then she dies of natural causes because I just thought that Bonnie deserved a rich and full life. I had this scene in my head for so long and then Kevin [felt] that stories are more impactful when you play them in the here and now. So we compromised by showing everybody just slightly ahead in their life and having those characters observing from peace, which in my opinion worked like a charm and I’m so happy we did it that way. The other big debate we had was: Which Salvatore brother is going to take the bullet for the other? We debated that so much because we could make a really strong case for either. And we finally settled on Damon was going to die. And then Kevin walked into the room and he’s like, “What’s Stefan’s life going to be like?” I said, “He’s going to be happy with Caroline and uh uh… uh, I don’t know.” [Laughs] I’m like, “You’re right, it needs to go the other way.” It was so funny because we had thought about it in the room so much that we had talked ourselves into one path, but all we needed was him to walk in and be like, “But… isn’t it cooler the other way?” And so we switched it. He gets all the credit for that.

Marlene, did you ever consider killing a main character like Julie did? KING: No. I’m a total happy-ever-after person. I felt like the fans deserved to see the girls happy and the characters deserved to be happy. They’re going to be scarred from this existence for the rest of their lives, but I wanted to give them hope.

PLEC: I look at Friday Night Lights as one of my all-time favorite series finales and that is what you 
want. After all the roads you’ve traveled with these people, you just want to know that they’re going to be happy. I’m a big believer in shows that make that choice.

KING: I still want Walter White to be alive. [Plec laughs]

You both directed your series finales — why was that important to you? KING: I love directing because first and foremost you get to be with your on-set family. But also, as the creator, there’s nobody who knows how to put it on the screen more than you. I might not be the best director in the world but my team around me, we all work together to make it the best episode. There are more experienced people than me at directing, but I always feel like my heart and soul is up on that screen. I think Julie probably would feel the same way but you can tell me if I’m wrong.

PLEC: Everything you just said is exactly how I would sum that up. The only thing I would add is that often the relationship between a showrunner and an episodic director can be fraught with tension, and I wouldn’t want to have that tension around for the last episode, which is such a celebration. And secondly, what I was able to do because I was there deciding if we could run over was then very fluidly honor the set we were leaving behind for the last time, or say a big group farewell to Damon’s car when we wrapped it for the last time, and then not to mention, honor each actor individually as they shot their last scene. So it turned into one big celebration, which somebody else wouldn’t have been able to do that without worrying about the time they were wasting.

KING: I’m sure you found this experience too where it was such a group effort. There were recurring actors on our show who weren’t even in the finale who came to say goodbye to certain characters. It was such a family affair.

PLEC: Yeah, the overall experience was so profoundly beautiful. Watching these actors get hit with that realization that they’re done and this family they’ve built is gathered around them to say goodbye, watching them all completely fall apart was so great. It felt like we were graduating high school.

KING: That was our wrap gift was high school yearbooks that we put together over the course of the whole season to give to people.

PLEC: That’s such a great gift.

I know both your fandoms loved to talk about certain couples being “endgame.” What do you feel are the biggest myths out there about ending shows? PLEC: When fans would say, “Oh you’re teeing up endgame,” I would say, “I am teeing up nothing because I am letting these characters tell me how they want their story to end.” And within that, you’re working off of actor chemistry, and you’re working off of your lead actress leaving the series after six years, which shuts the door to explore a return to the other corner of the love triangle. I would’ve happily worked my way back around to Stefan and Elena at some point in the series if Nina Dobrev hadn’t left, if the story led me that way. There is no definitive end to anybody’s story when you’re dealing with the fluidity of chemistry because when it gets stale, you want out. It doesn’t matter if these characters are supposed to be together forever, if their chemistry gets stale, you want somebody to die, you want to put somebody in a coma, you want to write them off the show, anything to save you.

KING: I would say that too. I totally agree with that, 100 percent. But for us, what I didn’t understand because I had never gone through a series finale before was the absolute yin and yang of it. In one respect, you have so much relief and it’s like the weight of the world is off your shoulders and, at the same time, you’re experiencing a death. I never expected to have such extreme feelings at the same time. It was exhausting.

Looking back now, is there anything you’d do differently? KING: Yes, I would have Spencer and Toby kiss! I wouldn’t change anything plot-wise — we always knew Alex Drake was going to be our Uber A — but I do feel like I would’ve loved to have given Spoby the extra bonus happy ending, but you’d have to have another hour for that.

[Plec admits she has one regret that she won’t discuss, but she will say it involves kissing.]

What was the most difficult scene of the finale 
to write? PLEC: All year long, I cried to the point where it got embarrassing. So I thought when I finally wrote the script that I would just be sobbing, and I didn’t. I thought, “Oh god, I’ve lost my ability to be in touch with my soul.” [Laughs] But then I made up for it by crying the last 10 days that we shot the series.

KING: I finished the script, except for that scene where the girls say goodbye. I didn’t write that until the day before the table read. I just couldn’t get it out.

PLEC: Marlene, do you think you’ll ever feel this way again when you bring something to a close?

KING: I might change my mind but I want to say no. This was so special that if I ever get it again, I’ll be shocked.

PLEC: Yeah, me too. I’m incredibly grateful to have gotten to feel as much as I felt.

[mistersourwolf]

Dear Diary - Damon x Reader

Warnings!; Death mentioned, Compulsion? I guess that is technically taking advantage, minor violence like shoving, really not that mature or crazy so i think you’re good, ily 

Word Count: 1,615

Summary: Your grandmother left a journal when she dies, when you read it you are schocked to hear about Damon salvatore, the man whom you are being set up with. How is it possible he hasn’t aged a day since 1966

A/N: So i had an idea and when i put it together it turned out being kind of sloppy but i kind of like this. It is dark, and guys keep a look out for some possible bite!kink or feeding!kink, im weird whatever but i kind of want to write that like um hot. ik ik you’re judging. haha anyways yeah i hope somehow through the sloppiness you find a way to love this. 

When my grandmother passed away, she left a journal. A journal filled with her adventures; places she had gone to, things she had seen, and people she had met along the way. I can’t say my grandmother didn’t live a full life, she did. For 73 years, she maintained a heart of gold, refusing to have a mean bone in her body. And it wasn’t always easy for her, not with him around.

Dear Diary,

May 23, 1966

   Today, I sit in a local cafe with my favorite sundress on. It’s a beautiful day outside, far too beautiful to even think of staying in. On a list of beautiful things, I spot a man sitting at the table in front of me. He won’t look away and I can already feel the blood rush to my cheeks. A leather jacket, he wears. Bold choice. For someone who looks like he doesn’t want to be noticed, he sure brings a lot of attention. Oh no, perhaps I’ve been staring for too long, he’s on his way over. That’s all for now.

“Snap out of it!”  My best friend, Elena, tugged at my arm. “Are you up for it or not?”

“They’re brothers, right?” I asked, confused about the whole situation.

“Hot brothers.” She giggled. Elena had been trying to convince me to go on a double date ever since she met Stefan. Apparently, he had a brother who was just as good looking as he was.

“Okay, well what’s his name?” I groaned, partly joking. Elena froze up, searching her mind for a name. “Elena! You want me to go on a date with this guy and not even know his name?”

“No, no I’m sorry! I think his name was D-Desmond, I dont know!” She sighed, plopping down on the closest bench.

“Don’t worry, you can make it up to me tonight.” I laughed, pulling her back up to her feet. “Come over, we can study for tomorrow’s test and order a pizza!” She laughed, showing a look of relief before we headed back to the doorms.

Dear Diary,  

May 24, 1966

  Our guy is quite the mystery. Revealing nothing more than his name, he convinced me to spend the afternoon with him. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, I had a fantastic time with him. I’m sure you’re wondering two things: What did you do and What is his name? If you must know, we went back to his place, something I’d never do. He’s a stranger and every bone in my body told me I shouldn’t go with him but his stare. It was so captivating. And since we’re friends, I guess you should know his name. He’s a Salvatore. Yes! A member of one of the founding families! Okay, fine, you know his last name might as well know his first. Afterall, the infamous Damon Salvatore should not be kept a secret.

I squeezed into a black dress before putting on my heels. It was just dinner, so I was kind of annoyed about having to get all dolled up. But Elena said to dress fancy and I would hate to dissapoint. So, here I am, curling my hair for a guy whose name I do not know. Lovely.

I came down the staircase, watching the two men who stood at the bottom along with Elena. Stefan and her latched onto each other while the other brother stood a few feet away from them, staring intently.

“You must be Y/n, I’m Stefan. Salvatore, that is.” Stefan introduced himself, extending his hand.

You smiled, taking his hand. “Salvatore? I’ve heard many things about your family. Good things of course.” Stefan flashed a winning smile before you turned to his brother.

He had jet black hair and his eyes were an icy blue, sending chills down my spine as he stared down at me. Why did this seem so familiar?

“I’m Damon, I’ve heard many things about you as well.” He lifted my hand, kissing it gently. Damon? No...it couldn’t be. Did I hear him wrong?

I laughed lightly, confused. “Damon Salvatore? No, that can’t be.”

Elena and Stefan furrowed their eyebrows but Damon only stared blankly at me, not showing the slighest concern. His eyes studied every feature of mine, making me blush deeply, not used to this kind of attention.

“Welll,” Stefan said clearing his throat. “We should get going, wouldn’t want to be late for reservations.”

Dear Diary,

May 27, 1966

  I’ve just been dropped off at my doorm by the one and only, Damon Salvatore. Tonight we had dinner which went very well. He was so polite and I love how he makes me feel. I’m constantly on the edge of my seat. At the end of the night, we danced. His arms wrapped around my waist as we talked about all the things life had to offer. And if only life could be maintaned, a promise to last forever. But even in the most magical places, eternity isn’t certain.

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted, standing up from the table. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. “I need some air.”

Damon watched as I walked towards the resturaunt doors, clutching my purse tightly. I broke through the doors into the cold night. A breeze ran down my arms, causing goosebumps to form.

I leaned back resting my head on the wall. What the hell was going on? How could that be Damon Salvatore? He looks just as she described him, my grandmother. So young, so handsome.

“Elena sent me to check on you.” Damon came through the front doors, walking up beside me. He reached out, touching my arm. I gasped at the sensation of ice against my skin.

Dear Diary,

May 30, 1966  

   I may have been wrong about Damon. Maybe he isn’t the perfect gentleman. There is nothing more I want than to be in his arms, he’s got the best of me but I just feel so....cold around him.  I hope no one ever reads this, for what I’m about to reveal isn’t easy to process. He took a life. Right in front of me. But somehow, I was able to remain calm throughout the whole thing. It seemed as if murder came natural to him. I shouldn’t be telling you this, if anyone finds this it could stir up unnecessary trouble. I’ve seen odd things happen around Damon and I pray that you never run into him.

“Is this some kind of joke?” I pulled back from his grasp, breathing heavily.

“A joke?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“I know about you, what you’ve done.”  I pushed him back slightly beggining to feel dizzy. “You’re in the diaries.” Damon stepped closer to me, wearing an angry expression.

“Diaries? What diar–” Damon began but was soon cut off by realization. “That’s impossible, they were burned.”

Anger rushed throught me as tears filled my eyes. “You! You’re the reason she’s dead!”

Damon grabbed ahold of my arms as I lunged at him, “You need to calm down, you only know one side.” I struggled to break out of his grasp as tears poured from my eyes. There was no one I loved more than my grandmother. To come face to face with the man who started it all, I couldn’t help but be full of rage. I finally gave up, collapsing against him.

Dear Diary,

June 3, 1966

    I’ve been working more hours down at the hospital. The good thing is that I never really see Damon here. The last time I wrote in this journal, I revealed Damons secret. That he had killed someone in front of me. I may have not told the full truth. No, Damon killed many and I now understand what he is. He doesn’t show any mercy, he’s selfish. He is. I now understand that my morals mean nothing next to his compulsion. How cruel does someone have to be to compel someone to keep such a dark secret, never forgetting the brutal deaths but just losing sense of control. I hate being a slave to him, but still I can’t help but be intrigued.

“You’re a murderer.” I mumbled, exhausted from all of my emotions. Damon pulled back from me, staring down at me coldly.

“You’re grandmother wasn’t in her right mind when she wrote those, you know that.” He said, wiping a tear from my face.

My grandmother spent the remainder of her life in a psychiatric hospital. She had been diagnozed with skizophrenia and forced to been hospitalized. But how could she be crazy, when Damon Salvatore who hasn’t aged a day stood in front of me.

“She didn’t know what was good for her.” I breathed, surprised by my sudden realization.

“No, she didn’t. She stuck her nose where it shouldn’t be and she got herself into trouble.” Damon said, peering down at me. He held my face up, never looking away. My knees felt wobbly as I was drawn in by every word he said.

“You should leave,” He added, coldly but his eyes told a different story. A story filled with pain and sorrow. “Leave, burn the diaries, don’t come back and forget everything you know about me.”

I was finally set free from his grasp and could only think of leaving this town. Why was I even here? A man stood in front of me, with black hair and stunning eyes. He looked confused and sad, very sad.

“I’m sorry to bother you, what’s the quickest route out of here?” I cautiously asked, not wanting to disturb the handsome man. I felt my whole body shiver as he quickly directed me out of Mystic Falls.

[icebluecyanide]

What is your top 5 TO/TVD fic? Like fic that was so earth-shattering it stayed with you for a really long time!

That’s a really excellent question! And picking just five was really hard so if anyone is interested in more tvd/TO fic recs I have a whole list of other fics which are really good. But these five all had a big impact on me either in terms of shaping my headcanons or leaving me feeling like someone had punched me in the chest.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

with patience blessed by whiplash 

This is a TO fic set around s2 but which explores some of Klaus and Elijah’s early childhood. I’d also recommend consequences will never be the same again by the same author, although it’s perhaps more crack fic (if also treated seriously). I struggle to find the words to describe why I like them so much but part of it is the delicate balance between Klaus’ dramatics and the way the effects of Mikael’s abuse are ever-present. The matter-of-fact way Klaus’ internal monologue compares some aspects of his own childhood to that of Hope (and in the other fic his de-aged siblings) hit me like a punch in the gut every time. Also the line “ Elijah was born into a family in mourning.” has been stuck in my head ever since. Gen fic.

put down your sword and crown by but_seriously  / @highgaarden

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this fic, because it was a large part of my early fandom experience and probably influenced my own writing style for ages afterwards. This fic perfectly balances the ridiculous and humorous with the tragedy of the originals only having thirty days left to live and trying to figure out how to go from there. I can probably still quote whole lines from this fic. It has pairings (which are tagged so just check out for yourself) but it’s mostly an ensemble fic with nearly all tvd characters appearing in one way or another, which I always like. In terms of other fics, Hannah also wrote this type of life didn’t come with instructions, which is a post 3x22 elijah/rebekah/kol roadtrip fic which broke my heart.

Taken by wheatear

A tvd s2 AU where Elijah takes Elena away in 2x15 after she fails to dagger him, and s2 changes. It has a whole range of characters and storylines and has some alternative introductions/events which are awesome in their own right. And while it’s mostly finished pre-308 so the originals backstory is different, there are klelijah scenes towards the end of this fic which I’m still upset about because of how perfect they are. Also the fic explores compulsion more than the show ever really did and it’s still fascinating/terrifying to me so I loved that. A Game of Trust is a prequel/side-story which is also really good (Elijah/Elena).

i am the conscious clear by softly_me

I can barely remember at this point what I thought about Stefan back when I caught up the first time I watched tvd. I think I was largely indifferent to him, but after reading @ruthseriouslydothis‘s excellent meta and this fic she wrote, I feel like I’ve gained a whole other understanding of the character and his interactions and it’s endlessly fascinating to me.

but still, like dust, i’ll rise by dance-at-bougival

Katherine fic, with Katherine/Damon and Katherine/Elijah. I read this much later, but I love the the parallels drawn between Katherine’s experience with the originals and then later with the Salvatores. This offered a fascinating new perspective for me on Damon/Katherine and I loved how it actually paralleled Damon with Elijah and Stefan with Klaus because the opposite is the more common interpretation.

BONUS:

Every Me and Every You by ladyofbrileith

Klaus/Elijah/Rebekah fic. Putting this on here because the original ot3 dynamic is great and the fact that they all slept together in this fic was a revelation to me at the time (I was mostly into klebekah before, or klelijah, but it was rare to see all three together in such a way). Also it has this moment where Klaus looks at his siblings and thinks they’re beautiful and that’s kind of my jam. Especially when mixed with a comment about them being pure vampires because there’s always the implication that Klaus isn’t. Anyway this is mostly PWP so perhaps not entirely appropriate to this list but whatever it’s a bonus one. (tw incest)

[mon-amour-eternel]

Illuminations

Written for DisneyDarlingGirl, who asked for "I would probably like to see something along the lines of a greaser Klaus and a good girl Caroline? Maybe they could even have been friends when they were younger but as they grew up, they split up into two different crowds?"

Please forgive me if I didn't use the slang correctly! Obviously I was not alive in 1950s, and I got these online. Also, I hope this flows well. I wrote it in like a day, so I'm not sure how I did on that front.

Slang in order of appearance (from here and here):

Closet case: someone to be ashamed of; Cool it: relax, settle down; Clyde: term of address; Duck Butt/Jelly Roll: hairdos of the 1950s; Nosebleed: insulting nickname; Play dead: to keep quiet; Pound: to beat up; Wind one's little ball of yarn: euphemism for sex; Unborn: extremely naive; Split: to leave; Committed: engaged to be married; Steady: to be in a serious relationship; Passion pit: drive-in movie theater; Apple butter: smooth talk or flattery

It's been a long three years since Caroline last called Klaus Mikaelson her best friend. The time, brought on by high school and his father forbidding him from being friends with her any longer, has done what they always say. It's made her heart grow fonder, somehow.

She wishes that weren't the case. She wishes that her heart had grown cold to him and his silence. But the random times they see each other at school is enough to have her pining after him even though she knows nothing of him now.

Caroline looks down at her textbook, bored with note taking and thinking about him. Her eyes wander to the ceiling, to the crowds.

When their eyes meet across the lunchroom, she remembers things she'd rather not.

Like how adorable he was as a child, dressed in his Sunday best, rolling around in her front yard with his brothers. (His blonde hair was in disarray, but the smile on his face always made butterflies flutter in her stomach.) Like how he sat in her bed, eye blackened, drawing whatever she asked of him. (She knew it was hard for him to see, with one eye swollen shut. So she asked for things he could draw from memory, and when they weren't that great, she fawned over them like she always did.) Like how, when he was twelve and she eleven, he swore he would marry her. Like how he kissed her for the first time that day, her first and so far only. (It was barely a peck, but her whole body had flushed and she'd never forgotten the happiness in his eyes.) Like how, when she first saw him at the school, she waved and tried to talk to him. (She remembers him scowling, walking away without acknowledging her. When he tried to talk to her the next day, she ignored him. And now, she's a junior and he's a senior, and there's no chance of reconciliation.)

The thoughts turn her head, make her look back at her table and her friends. She can't look at him and think about those things, not anymore. The thoughts hurt, make her think of things stuck firmly in the past.

Katherine twirls her fingers in her hair, chewing gum and making eyes at any boy that walks by. Stefan is next to her, writing furiously into his diary, tongue sticking out in concentration. Bonnie sits across from him and next to Caroline, going over her agenda for the week, deciding what homework she'll do when she gets home.

Caroline knows that her old friend, in his dark little corner, is half-listening to another story Kol is regaling him with. She knows he's ignoring Damon and Elena, who are probably kissing for everyone to see, uncaring about the trouble they'll get in. He's also, if routine holds, staring at her. (As if she was the one to drop him, to ignore him, to pretend she didn't know him.)

Enzo drops his tray to the table as Kai Parker bumps into him with a snicker, sending his milk all over Caroline's notebook and on her dress. She blinks, noticing that Stefan's pulled his diary off the table, and Bonnie has napkins out already, patting her agenda and the notebook at the same time.

"Oh, Caroline, I'm so sorry. Some closet case bumped into me," he says, a little frantically. The insult leaves his mouth like a curse. He takes a napkin from Bonnie's endless bag. "Here, let me - "

And then Enzo's got his hands in her lap.

He's just trying to dry her off, she knows that. In fact, she's happy he's trying to help. Katherine and Stefan are just looking at the mess, like they can't be bothered to help. Enzo is usually right there with them, sometimes even laughing instead of passively watching. He and Katherine have a great time bumping elbows and making jokes when one of the rest of their friend group makes a fool of themself.

There's a second where Caroline is processing the fact that Enzo is touching her thighs (even through a dress, it's the first time a boy has touched her there since before puberty hit and it's more than a little shocking; it's also a little disappointing that it's not a certain person touching her there, but those thoughts are unbecoming of her). She's going to take the napkin from him and do it herself, but then Enzo's being pulled away from the table roughly.

Enzo's pushed up against the table next to theirs. Marcel and Camille, who were sitting there, flee quickly. He's sputtering something Caroline can't make out.

Klaus is there, shouting over him, "don't you dare touch her!"

He's the one who's got Enzo nearly bent backwards. Her ex-best friend, her ex-future husband, has one of her best friends so curved, he looks like a hotrod after a tree stops it in it's tracks. She takes a second to mourn the gentle little boy he used to be, the one she knew so well. But after her second, she stops worrying about him and worries instead about her friend.

She stands quickly, stepping over the bench seat and rushing to Klaus' side.

"Klaus," she says, grabbing onto his leather-covered arm. She tugs, but he doesn't move even an inch. "Let him go. You're hurting him!"

Klaus turns to her, still so close to Enzo that the hands on her friend's chest are pressing him into the table. He looks her over as if concerned. Like he's trying to make sure she's okay.

"Yeah, cool it, Clyde!" Enzo shouts, making both Caroline and Klaus turn to glare at him.

"Shut your pie-hole," Caroline says, a little meaner than she wants. But if he keeps talking, Klaus will hurt him.

He nods and mimes zipping his lips.

Klaus doesn't stop glaring at Enzo, but to her, he grits out, "he was touching you."

"Yeah, Klaus, he was. He spilled milk on me and was trying to clean it up. It wasn't the smartest thing he's ever done, but he was only trying to help."

"Aww c'mon Care!" Enzo says, but he's ignored. And thank god for that, because Klaus is so angry, he really would punch Enzo's lights out.

"Just let him go, Klaus, please. There was nothing else to what he was doing." She tugs again on his stupid leather jacket, which contrasts with his good boy haircut. He doesn't have the Duck Butt that Kol, Damon, Kai, and all the rest did. It gives her hope, hope that she shouldn't have, that he hasn't completely turned his back on their conservative upbringing. That he'll come back to her.

Slowly, Klaus steps back. As soon as Enzo is upright, Klaus jerks forward, making Enzo shout in surprise.

"Get lost, nosebleed," Klaus hisses, and Enzo does just that. He's practically a blur as he hightails it out.

Caroline sighs, letting go of Klaus. She doesn't want to, truth be told - in the time they've spent in different social circles, he's grown firm in places he used to be soft - but she's still a good girl. No good girl squeezes the bicep of a greaser.

Kol cackles, showing off a Jelly Roll hairdo. Caroline absently thinks that it looks a lot better on him than the Duck Butt did. "Jealous, are we, Nik?" His smirk, one that is so familiar, is so wide, all the lines on Kol's face are showing.

Klaus glares, tense still. He looks like he wants to give Kol a knuckle sandwich. "Play dead, Kol."

Then, without warning, Klaus is pushing past the crowd, nearly knocking Tyler Lockwood to the ground. Caroline takes no time at all to hurry after him.

He pushes the doors open, Caroline right on his heels. As soon as they're out of the cafeteria, Klaus, face red with anger and what Caroline suspects is embarrassment, spins on his heel and demands, "what the hell was that?"

Caroline gasps, hand subconsciously going to her chest. "Excuse me? You're the one who almost pounded Enzo over spilled milk! Literally!"

"You think I believe that Caroline?" He nearly shouts, stepping closer so she's pressed up against the wall. "It's obvious that he was, I don't know, trying to wind your little ball of yarn."

Caroline's fists ball. She won't hit him, she will never hit him, but if he says anything else like that, she won't be responsible for her actions. (She doesn't care if his eyes showed regret the second the words left his mouth.)

"You could at least have the common courtesy to do that somewhere more private." He spits the words out, seemingly on a roll and unable to stop.

If there's one thing she hasn't missed about him, it's his temper and his propensity to use it as a defense mechanism.

She releases an angry breath, "I'd never let a boy do that in public! Much less before we were married!" Much less if it wasn't you, you unborn idiot!

A look of horror overcomes all anger of Klaus' face. The regret from before shines much brighter now. "So he was...was he hurting you?"

Her own eyes widen, and a deep blush makes her face red. "No, Klaus. No. He was just trying the keep my dress from staining. I promise."

Calmed down, they make eye contact. Klaus, after a moment, steps away, head lowered.

Caroline sighs, her eyes closing in displeasure. The first time she talks to Klaus since Freshman year, and it's an argument. There's certainly no possibility he'll want to be her friend again, not now.

She opens her eyes, determined to not run back to her friends with her tail between her legs.

"Right-o, then, I'm just going to - "

A rough hand wraps around her wrist. She twirls around, wishing he would just let her split.

"I'm sorry I said that. I don't really think you'd...well, do that. And I'm sorry that I almost hurt your friend. I was just so worried that he was…" He shakes his head like he doesn't want to say what's on his mind. "But anyway, I - Caroline, I was wondering. Would you like to go out on Saturday?"

As soon as he says it, he flushes and looks away. Caroline feels her mouth drop open.

"I was serious about getting committed, all those years ago," he says, suddenly confident again. She feels a little dizzy at his mood swings. "I've wanted to go steady with you for years, Caroline. I can think of no one else I would want to be with."

She keeps staring.

He blinks nervously, shifting on his feet. "Let me take you out for a movie. I promise it won't be a passion pit," he says, trying to make her laugh. It doesn't work - she's so shocked over the 180 of the conversation. To go from Klaus accusing her of acting like Elena to him asking her out on a date? Her head is spinning.

It's not spinning enough that she can't flirt a little, though. She's been hoping for a moment like this for three years. She's dreamed of him asking her out - no way is she going to just stand there like an odd ball. "You've gotten better at apple butter, you know," she says, looking at him under her eyelashes.

"Is that a yes?"

Caroline thinks for only a moment - does she want to go on a date with the boy she's been trying to hide feelings for since they were practically in diapers? "Yes."