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Inheritance Character Profile: Meredith Fell

FULL NAME

• Meredith Ieisha Fell-Moore

BORN

• June 6th, 1985 (Mystic Falls, Age 43)

STATUS

• Alive

OCCUPATION

• Volunteer (Formerly)

• Intern and resident at Buffalo Hospital (Formerly)

• Physician at Mystic Falls Hospital (Formerly)

• Locum Tenum at Duke University (Formerly)

• Physician in Anchorage, Alaska (Formerly)

• Head of Internal Medicine at Mystic Falls Hospital

TITLE(S)

• Mer, Merri (by Michael and Elise)

• Doc

• Iaso (by Elise)

• Dr. Meredith Moore

• Mrs. Fell-Moore

• Doc, Blood Doctor (by Harmony)

• Meredith Grey

• Meredith Moore, M.D.

• Merry (by Dante)

• Aunt Meredith (by BJ)

SPECIES

• Human

GENDER

• Female

FAMILY INFORMATION

FAMILY MEMBERS

•Thomas Fell † (Paternal Ancestor)

•Honoria Fell † (Paternal Ancestor)

•Franklin Fell † (Paternal Ancestor)

•Tobias Fell † (Paternal Relative)

•Tripp Cooke † (Paternal Relative)

•Mr. Zachary Fell (Paternal Relative)

•Logan Fell † (Paternal Cousin)

•Blair Fell (Paternal Relative)

•Tina Fell (Paternal Relative)

•Valerie Fell (Paternal Relative)

•Violet Fell † (Paternal Relative)

•Margaret Ruth Fell † (Paternal Great-Grandmother)

•Marjorie Ann Fell † (Paternal Grandmother)

•Michael Fell (Father)

•Elise Samaha-Fell (Mother)

•Dante Moore (Husband)

•Abigail Moore (Sister-in-Law)

•June Moore (Daughter)

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

HEIGHT

• 5'7" (Feet)

• 1.70 (Meters)

HAIR COLOR

• Brown

EYE COLOR

• Brown

Early History

Meredith Fell was born in Mystic Falls in 1985 to Michael Fell, a neurosurgeon, and Elise Samaha-Fell, a banker. As a child, her grandmother, Marjorie Ann, told her stories about woman named Samantha Gilbert When she was 16, she was made aware of vampires by her parents. Her father helped hone Meredith's mental strength so she wouldn't become reliant on vervain. As a teenager, Meredith dated Brian Walters, but on her prom night, he dumped her on Wickery Bridge. She never forgave him, nor did she ever get over her distaste for the bridge.

She went to New York for college for graduation and stayed for a few years before deciding to move back to Mystic Falls shortly after her father became the Medical Director of Mystic Falls Hospital. When she came home, she came across her grandmother's journal and marveled at the possibility of vampire blood's healing properties. However, it seemed her grandmother was unwilling to say more about the party or who hosted it, so she couldn't learn more.

On September 26, 2010, Alaric was hit by a car and transported to the hospital, she saw that Alaric was on his feet after treating him despite the severity of his wounds. Alaric thanks Dr. Fell for helping him but she rebuffs him, asking him to call her Meredith. She is suspicious and verbalizes that she believes he may have a guardian angel or a pact with the Devil. Alaric says that it's a little bit of both and leaves.

On October 10th, Meredith meets Alaric again at the Wickery Bridge Restoration Fundraiser. She is very forward in revealing to him that she knows about vampires. The same night, she gets into an argument with her ex-boyfriend Brian Walters, where Alaric intervenes. Before leaving, Brian warns Alaric that Meredith is a psycho. Meredith thanks Alaric for jumping to her defense but has to leave after being paged. The next morning Meredith runs into Alaric at The Grill. Both were depressed as Alaric had just dropped Jeremy off at the airport, and Meredith had just lost a patient. The same morning, the body of Meredith's ex-boyfriend Brian Walters was found in the woods by a hiker. Oddly, he was staked in the heart, even though he wasn't a vampire.

10 days later, Damon was suspicious of her ties to the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Brian Walters. When Damon spots Alaric and Meredith having lunch at The Grill, he warns Alaric to be careful as he finds it suspicious that she signed the death certificate of her ex-boyfriend. Damon makes a follow-up visit to the hospital and accuses Meredith of being a murderer. She vervains him, and takes his blood. Later when Alaric confronts Meredith about this, she tells him she took Damon's blood to save her patients because she hates losing them. To further emphasize her point, she brings him to a severely injured Bill Forbes, who suffered from an actual animal attack, whom Meredith injects with vampire blood to fasten the healing process. That night, bringing Meredith to his home, Alaric reveals he's a vampire hunter & shows her his stakes. He explains the Gilbert Ring to Meredith. They flirt, and she asks him if he believes she's supernatural, to which he answers he can't be too careful. They encounter an awkward moment when Elena comes home to find Meredith and Alaric about to kiss. On her way home, Meredith recalled what Alaric told her about his ring and remembered the stories her grandmother told her about Samantha Gilbert. Taking a detour to her childhood home to find her parents were out, she went into the attic where they kept some of her grandmother's things. After going through a few boxes, she found a journal - one belonging to Samantha Gilbert.

The next day, Meredith meets Caroline for the first time. She assures Caroline that her father's situation is better after the accident. Being a little humorous, Meredith jokes with Caroline about Bill's temper. When fingers start to point to Meredith about the murders, Alaric starts to believe Meredith is the serial killer, but Elena defends Meredith stating that his love life can't be that complicated. After Alaric is attacked, Sheriff Forbes tells Elena that Meredith couldn't have done it because she was in the operating room all night. The next day, Meredith was confronted by her distant cousin, Tina Fell, with the news of Bill Forbes's death as a human and failure to transition. Shocked at the news, she asks her how she found out and learns he was a mentor to her boyfriend, Barry, and after learning from him that a "Dr. Fell" was his primary doctor when Bill went in, it didn't take Tina long to realize it was Meredith who injected him with it. Surprised and a bit impressed, Meredith proceeded that the vampire blood was used as a last resort, and - without breaking confidentiality - Bill had come in with injuries that warranted the use of the blood. Tina remarks that someone died and it's on her hands now before asking how she even came up with such a practice, to which Meredith brought out her grandmother's journal that detailed what happened at a New Year's Eve party in 1957. Watching her cousin read her journal, she was surprised when Tina declared that she was keeping the journal until further notice and demanded that Meredith stop using vampire blood before she made a mistake she couldn't take back.

Guilty about what she indirectly caused, she went back to Samantha's diary to try to figure out what had happened to a man she had previously seen as very much human and alive. Upon going through everything, she began formulating a hunch. But first, she called in a few favors. Over the next two days, she got the dagger that killed Brian "on loan" and everything regarding his death while compiling a file of Alaric's history to collaborate a terrifying possibility - that he was the Mystic Falls Serial Killer. And Bill's death likely occurred because she made him a target, by presenting him to Alaric (easy to find) and giving him vampire blood (a reason to be killed).

On the 23rd, after getting beaten up by Klaus to save Kol, Meredith takes Alaric to her house to check for possible injuries. Alaric wanted to leave to search for Elena, but she assured him that the Salvatores were on the job and to just stay the night. While Meredith slept, Alaric woke up and accidentally stumbled upon a picture of the crime scene of her ex-boyfriend. Next to it was the same dagger that had killed him. Meredith wakes up and sees that Alaric has found evidence in her apartment of the killings. "You weren't supposed to see that," she says before pointing a gun at him and shooting him. She called Sheriff Forbes and told her to come detain Alaric while she healed him with vampire blood. She explained that she believed Alaric was responsible for the murders, but likely doesn't know he's doing it. And as hard as it was, Liz could agree.

The next morning, Elena confronts Meredith about her accusations toward Alaric while she's walking into the hospital. Meredith defends her actions by telling Elena that Alaric was arrested four times before he was 21 and that Isobel had two restraining orders against him before they were married. Later that night, Elena and Matt break into Meredith's apartment to find evidence to incriminate Meredith instead of Alaric. Elena claims that the Fells keep their secrets buried in their closet, so they should check there. She searches Meredith's closet and finds a hidden compartment that contains a box. Elena and Matt go through the box and find Samantha Gilbert's diary and Brian's coroner's report with a different time of death than what was reported. Meredith soon arrives home and Elena and Matt hide in her closet. After they think they heard her leave, they open the door to find her standing there. Meredith reports the two and they are taken in for questioning by Sheriff Forbes.

After Alaric is released, Meredith goes to the Gilbert House to explain herself, where she assures that the Gilbert ring is causing him to kill members of the council. She believes he even self-inflicted himself so he wouldn't be complicated and throw everyone off their guard. Elena descends the staircase at that moment, after having read Samantha's diary, and agrees with Meredith that he's the killer.

A few days later, Meredith searches for any mental damage the Gilbert Ring may have had on Alaric by using an MRI, yet the results do not show brain damage. Meredith mentions that her business is not vampires, but saving people. After they have exhausted all medical solutions, they contact Bonnie. Bonnie thinks she can help Alaric by using a spell that requires some herbs and a personal artifact from before his breakdown. Elena goes to Alaric's apartment to retrieve his old wedding ring, leaving Alaric and Meredith at the Gilbert house. However, Alaric begins to act strangely (The Darkness) and attacks Meredith, causing her serious injury. Stefan and Elena arrive in time and Stefan gives Meredith his blood and she recovers.

On November 5th, Damon goes to Meredith at the Hospital and she asks how Alaric is doing with Bonnie's herbs. Damon tells her Alaric had lied about leaving town and taking Bonnie's herbs. After Esther uses Alaric to make another Original, Alaric decides not to turn. When he walks outside of the mausoleum, everyone he knows and loves including Meredith is waiting to say goodbyes. Meredith stays and watches over Alaric as he dies, and gives him sedatives to make his death painless. She tells Damon to comfort him during his last moments and she leaves heartbroken.

The next day, Jeremy takes Elena to the hospital where Meredith tells him she has a concussion and just needs some rest. When Meredith goes to her office, Alaric is waiting for her, scaring her due to his apparent survival. He is the Darkness now. He tells her he is having her medical license revoked for secretly giving her patients vampire blood. He also empties her vampire blood bank and demands she release Elena into his care. He leaves Meredith crying in her office. She immediately called Damon, who explained that Alaric was magically linked to Elena, so as long as she lives, so does Alaric. That night, she was on call in the ER when Stefan brought Elena in, unconscious. Explaining that she and Matt went over Wichkery Bridge in his truck and Elena had drowned, he sent her to the hospital for help. Unbeknownst to Alaric, Meredith had one last tube of vampire blood on her when he destroyed the rest. So she used it on Elena. When Jeremy came rushing into the ER in panic, Meredith assured him that his sister was okay. However, Damon stormed into the hospital demanding to to know where Elena was. Meredith reveals that she lied to Jeremy earlier that night about Elena's condition because he was so distraught. She secretly had given Elena some vampire blood due to a cerebral hemorrhage (bleeding of the brain). But her injuries ended up being too severe, which resulted in Elena awakening as a vampire in transition.

Within the next 24 hours, Pastor Young unexpectedly arrives at the hospital and tells Meredith that he's putting out extra security measures on the blood bank. Later on, she alongside Elizabeth Forbes, Matt Donovan, and Damon discussed a way to find Stefan and Elena. She was relieved to know the two eventually made it out, however remorseful that Elena, unlike Bill, had to finish transitioning to survive.

On the 22nd, Damon calls Meredith for help after he gets trapped with a bomb in Connor's trailer. While cutting the arrows out of Damon, she sees him rejecting a call from Elena. Meredith tells him he's a good brother, seeing that he's trapped in a bomb while Stefan is "playing vampire" with Elena, who broke his heart. Meredith tells him he does a really good job acting like it doesn't suck. She then successfully frees Damon from the bomb by cutting the arrows out of his chest.

Damon, Klaus, Jeremy, and Meredith planned to trap Connor to question him. Jeremy and Connor secretly follow Meredith, who is wearing a bandage on her neck making it look like she's been fed off into the storage room. Connor goes into the room but finds his bombs, along with Damon and Klaus. After Connor activates the bomb blowing up the storage room, Meredith was very unhappy with what happened, stating that there are sick patients who don't need a bomb so close to their rooms. Damon assures her no one got hurt, and offers her to have a drink with him. She says no and that she's not his new partner in crime, and to fix things with Elena and Stefan and not to let his pride leave him all alone.

The following days later, she chose to voluntarily surrender her medical license and stay at home. She was comforted by her mom, who stocked her fridge with Lebanese comfort food while helping her clean her apartment. Elise listened to her daughter's woes (over Alaric, the potential loss of her career, her arrogance with vampire blood, and the inconvenience of being unable to get over patients' loss which resulted in her cheating death with said blood to begin with.) Elise tells her to take it one day at a time - one problem at a time - in Arabic. That it's good she acknowledges her shortcomings now than when it's too late. Whether it was the blood or an inevitable drinking problem, Meredith was playing a risky game and got caught - ironically by the supernatural itself. She can't change or take back what happened to Bill Forbes or Elena Gilbert, so the only thing she can learn is that cheating death has a cost. While Elise is no doctor, she told her patient loss is inevitable - hence why medical practice is called "practice" for a reason. She also tells her, from what she gathered, that Alaric was a good, yet troubled man that tangled with vampires until they became his end. In the end, medical suspension is good for Meredith. She can either reflect and decide it isn't for her or try again and do the best she can within her abilities alone.

Some time afterward, Meredith managed to keep her medical license due to the dubious factors regarding complaints made by the deceased Alaric & Pastor Young. Her father pulled her to the side, however, and explained while he may have done some "schmoozing" on his part to help her situation, Meredith was advised to lay low and find a new residency outside of Mystic Falls - for her protection and her career.

Meredith was later visited by Tina, who came by to return Marjorie Ann's journal and to apologize for the way she acted. Given certain events and the mistakes she's made herself, she understandably forgives her due to acting on her boyfriend's loss. Tina had heard Meredith had managed to keep her license, a salvaged good from Pastor Young's death. Meredith mentally added Alaric's passing as well. When she asks what she would do next, Meredith admits she's taking her father's advice and begins the initial beginnings of applying for a medical license in North Carolina. After taking her mother's advice, she reflected and realized she liked being a doctor but failed to accept she couldn't save everyone and it led to making the wrong choices in a precarious time. She didn't see herself exploiting vampire blood for a long time, if ever, and decided to go back to practicing within her human capabilities. Her dad reached out to a contact in Durham and considering their medical advancements - it seems like a good place to start over.

On December 1st, she resigned from Mystic Falls Hospital and left town decided to stay with some old friends from her college days in Pennsylvania for what would be through the holidays. Learning that one of them was a locum tenen, an occupation she once considered but turned down, Meredith realizes having a contract with a hospital might help reduce her anxiety and help allow her to do what she loves without putting too much strain on herself. While there, she meets a man named Dante, who's also on a bit of a vacation before they lose touch. Her father would call her that night and tell her that Carol Lockwood was dead.

After that, she opted to extend her stay and volunteer her services, with references sent in, at the local free clinic that reminded her of her pre-med days. With patients not in life-or-death scenarios and in need of everyday care, it helped her slowly move on from her need to cheat and remember the humanity in what she does. Sometime later, she got the chance to have an interview at Duke University Hospital, which is one of the hospitals she wanted to be at. She ended up deciding to work at the hospital, but as a locum tenen for the hospital instead of a permanent attending.

After New Year's, she came back to Mystic Falls to get her affairs in order before going between Virginia and North Carolina to find lodging and getting to know the city. Her father didn't completely understand her reasoning for being a "substitute physician" over something permanent, but Meredith lucked out that they had a position open and explained it was more likely to keep her out of trouble.

On February 5th, Meredith was contacted by Stefan and Caroline concerning Jeremy's body after he was killed by Silas. Shocked to hear of his demise, she demands they tell her what happened - staggered to hear about Silas and so many new details, especially regarding a cure for vampirism. She examined his body and concluded that he died from a broken neck and extreme blood loss, leaving him in a state of rigor mortis, which causes muscles to tighten and lose flexibility. Meredith stated that if they continued to keep the body, he would start to bloat. She asks Elena to release his body into her care so they can arrange a good funeral for him, but Elena, fueled with the hope that the Gilbert Ring will revive him, attacks Meredith and angrily throws her against the wall. Elena shouts that he isn't dead magic is the only way to revive him, and that she needs Bonnie. Her outburst frightens Meredith. Stefan restrains Elena from hurting Meredith out of rage, but she calms down when Matt arrives and sees Jeremy dead.

Meredith and Stefan stayed with Jeremy's body when Matt took Elena out of the house. Meredith covered Jeremy with a sheet and turned up the air-conditioning to help preserve the body, though she knew it wouldn't help for long. She sat on the stairs and spoke with Stefan. He confessed to her that after years of watching people die, the pain of the loss never stopped. She agreed and said that she saw death every day and the denial was the worst part. It was the next day that she heard of the unthinkable - or unsurprising - of the burnt remains of the Gilbert House and if she had to guess, Jeremy's remains as well. This was enough to convince her it was time to make her departure from Mystic Falls.

Living in Durham became an exhilarating experience. She had fallen in love with the hospital and met all kinds of people. She'd found a new cafe, explored whatever events had to offer, new restaurants to try, and a lot more. But things got interesting when, sometime in March, Meredith ran into Dante at the hospital, or rather, Dr. Dante Moore of Pediatrics. Surprised to see each other since December, they made plans to catch up. Meredith and Dante became fast friends and even introduced her to his older sister, Abigail, who also worked at the hospital as a neuro-oncologist. Eventually, Meredith caught on that she was falling for him fast, and considering her disastrous love life, tried to keep it strictly as friends. But Dante was open about his feelings for her and wanted Meredith to take a chance on him. "A lot of beer and ice cream later", Meredith came to the conclusion that after living life on the edge and Alaric nearly killing her - she realized life was too short to not risk a chance on a possibility.

In May, Meredith came to visit & attend the Fell Family Gathering, catching up with most of her relatives. However, she noticed that Tina wasn't looking well. Considering she survived to see her high school graduation, she wouldn't be surprised if it all finally caught up to her. But when she sees the tiredness, the frequent bathroom breaks, and the sick expression on her face when their uncle releases smoke from the grill, Meredith's medical knowledge came into play. When Tina went to use the bathroom again, she followed her and found her vomiting. Helping her by pulling her hair back, once Tina was decent, Meredith didn't pull back any punches and asked her about her period. It took the teenager a minute to consider the possibility she was pregnant and asked Meredith to buy the tests, which she happily did despite the looks she got at the store. When she got the tests to Tina and it came back positive, she consoled her and let her know that she had options and should tell the father. When she returned to Durham, she spent the night at Dante's home. The next few days, however, Dante was acting strange and dodging Meredith. One day, he asked Meredith to come over to dinner and to dress fancy. She came over and found he decked out his home in a romantic manner and made her favorites. Just when he brought out dessert, a miniature cake, she took a bite and felt something in her mouth. Pulling it out and cleaning it, she saw it was an engagement ring and Dante proposed. Thinking out loud, she asked why and he essentially explained how he fell for her in Pennsylvania and how he felt it was more than just a chance that they found each other again. He knows it's fast and considering that they have a "package" on the way soon, he couldn't deny what he felt and wanted to make it official. In his rehearsed speech, Meredith caught onto the "package" part, and realizing what he said, he told her how he accidentally knocked over her travel bag when she spent the night after returning from Virginia and a pregnancy test fell out. Turns out, Meredith had an extra pregnancy test she forgot to give Tina and Dante assumed she was either pregnant or suspected she was. The situation was so hysterical that she just had to laugh and promptly explained what happened when she visited her family. Seeing the sheepish look on his face, she asked if he was only proposing to her because he thought she was pregnant. He admitted he saw her as his future wife from the moment they met and a baby, albeit early, was just the icing on the cake. Surprisingly, Meredith said yes to his proposal but told him kids could wait a little longer.

At some point, they are invited for a brief stay in Anchorage, Alaska with some friends from work. To Meredith's surprise, she enjoyed it so much. The temperature wasn't a deal breaker since she survived winters in New York. It was the friendliness, culture, and community that stuck with her. And she justified that doctors were always needed in Alaska. However, she wondered if she was thinking without regard for Dante and herself. But surprisingly, Dante was on board. However, both sides of their families had a hard time accepting this idea.

After securing jobs in Anchorage, they made the move to Alaska. Then, after getting a permanent attending in a hospital, Meredith found out she was pregnant in September. Meredith and Dante got married in December, with a small ceremony including friends and immediate family. Her father tried to convince her to come back to Mystic Falls to have her baby, but she declined. On June 16th, 2012, they had a baby girl named June Alicia after the month she would be born and late paternal grandmother. They kept in touch with video calls and visits over the years.

In 2025, sometime after June's 13th birthday, Elise called Meredith and told her that her father had a heart attack. She hurried onto the first plane she could get and made it to Mystic Falls as fast. Seeing her father look so sick, she stayed by his side until he woke up. Surprised to see her, her dad asked where the rest of her family was, to which she answered that it was just her. The doctors believed his heart was wearing out on him and while he's normally taken good care of himself, it's not good. Meredith asks if there is anything she can do to which he has a surprising request: Move back home. The entire near-death experience made her father realize that he wants his family around him if he does die. Meredith called Dante had told him what was happening. It didn't sound fair to ask them to pick up the lives they made in Anchorage for the last 13 years and wanted to consider if it would be okay if she just stayed behind. But Dante wasn't having it, saying they were a team. Granted, telling June wasn't exactly going to be great, both of them had family that wasn't exactly thrilled with them going to Alaska in the first place, and coming back to the Lower 48 might not be too much of a bad idea. Surprised by how supportive he was, she'd sworn she'd make it up to him...and June if she took the news badly.

Meredith and her family had a bit of a chaotic move to Mystic Falls, not just due to sending in their notice and making their home a rental house in case they visited, but also warming June up to the idea. She loved her grandfather, but she would be starting school in a whole new environment and it was hard. Meredith was given a job as Head of Internal Medicine while Dante found an opening for an attending pediatrician. She also reunited with Tina, having heard of her becoming a successful reporter & reopening the council while being the "bane" of Alaric and Caroline's existence since their boarding school was opened. She mostly chose not to hear anything of the town's other "dynamics", but occasionally she slipped tidbits into various conversations over the years. From Alaric's and Jeremy's revival to the town citizens' being possessed by witches and then being supernatural-free for a few months, and last but not least, Stefan and Damon becoming human and the former dying. Everything else just showed Meredith she was right for leaving when she did, and as far as her opinion of the Salvatore Boarding School went - "Anything that can go wrong, will or already had gone wrong". It also meant she'd eventually have to tell June about vampires when the time came.

Meredith eventually reunited with Alaric and met his daughters, Lizzie and Josie. She was shocked, appalled, and amazed by what he'd gone through after he'd come back - from the loss of his wife to the amazing circumstances of the twins' birth (while not an OBGYN, her mind started trying to understand the science behind Caroline's pregnancy and how the girls' type of magic made the pregnancy sustainable). But overall, Meredith made the mental comparison that the Alaric she knew and the Alaric that came back were two different people. And so was she, and perhaps it was for the best they never worked out.

One night in 2026, Meredith was leaving the hospital for the night when a car pulled up and two teenage girls called out for help when they pulled an unconscious, young girl from the backseat. Meredith hurried to help and asked what happened. Shining a flashlight in her eyes, Meredith saw her pupils dilated but instantly smelled the stench of alcohol on her breath - immediately letting her know she was drinking and this was likely alcohol poisoning. Medics came and immediately put her on a gurney before rolling her into the hospital, Meredith following with the two girls behind her. She managed to get their names, Dana Lilien and Sasha Stoteraux, and asked for the girl's name & age as well, whose name was Harmony Kenner, age 15. Seeing their hesitance, she asks them what happened, to which they reluctantly relayed how they were at a party in the woods and it was only as they were driving back that they noticed something was wrong with their friend and pulled over to feel her pulse was weak. After managing to get the names and phone numbers of their parents, she sent Dante a quick text that she was running late and decided to stick around until their parents came. They arrived, but the one who surprised her was Bonnie Bennett, who rushed in asking for Harmony. Meredith took her aside and led her to Harmony's room and had to ask what her connection was to her. Bonnie revealed she's been the girl's legal guardian since February and that she was 14, not 15. Meredith told her what she knew of her condition, which mostly resulted in getting her stomach pumped. Distraught, Bonnie says she should have seen this coming, but Meredith assures her that she'll be okay and will be in the hospital for a few days. But Bonnie says she needs two days at best. When Meredith asks why, Bonnie looks around and asks if they could talk in private. Meredith finds an empty room and Bonnie gets to the point: Harmony had vampire blood in her. Eyes widened, Meredith asks if the other girls gave it to her, which she denies because the vampire blood in Harmony is pure - natural. And with that, Meredith's jaw drops as Bonnie reveals Harmony is Klaus Mikaelson's biological daughter.

Personality

Though Meredith is a kind, honest, protective, and loyal friend, she is surrounded by an aura of mystery and secrets, which caused some suspicion when unexplained deaths began occurring in Mystic Falls. Her ex-boyfriend Brian Walters described Meredith as a psychopath and a dangerous woman. So far, this has proved untrue. Meredith has a very calm demeanor, is not easily shaken, and very keen on her surroundings. She is also supportive and tries to protect the innocent.

However, after the blow from Alaric's loss and nearly having her license revoked, Meredith sought to rehabilitate from her use of vampire blood and relearn how to accept the ability to help people with her capabilities. This also played a part in her having a new adventurous outlook on life - which led to her whirlwind marriage to her husband, Dante, and moving to Alaska.

Years later, upon returning to Mystic Falls as a wife and mother, she is still very much the same person as she was as she left. However, it becomes increasingly clear to her that so much has changed, danger still lurks in Mystic Falls and it has made her much more protective of her family's wellbeing and those of the town more than ever.

Physical Appearance

Meredith is a beautiful, slim, and fairly tall woman. She stands at 5' 7, has brown eyes, and slightly wavy dark brown hair. She dresses casually, but at the same time, professionally, due to her occupation as a doctor. Meredith is a natural beauty who does not wear much makeup. She briefly cut her hair slightly shorter and made the color a lighter shade of brown before leaving Mystic Falls. However, upon her arrival back into town, Meredith's hair has grown lightly past her shoulders and has lightened her hair.

Name

•Meredith is of Old Welsh origin, and the meaning is "great, noted ruler".

•Ieisha is of Arabic and Lebanese origins, which means "Alive or she who lives."

•Fell is of Norse and English origins, and it means "from the rough hill".

•Moore is from Middle English meaning 'moor', 'marsh', 'fen', 'area of uncultivated land', and "stately and noble".

Trivia

• Her zodiac is a Gemini.

• Meredith is part Lebanese on her mother's side.

• She can't speak Arabic but grew up understanding it because of her mother.

• She was told about vampires at 16 as per Fell Tradition.

• Meredith volunteered at Mystic Falls Hospital as a teen.

•⬆️ She dressed as a Candy Striper for Halloween only once and stopped because of the catcalls.

• Meredith stated she learned about the Darkness from Samantha Gilbert's diary and the stories her grandma told her.

• She hates Valentine's Day.

• Meredith hates mustard.

• Elise called her Iaso, after the goddess of cures and remedies due to Meredith using vampire blood's healing factor as a cheat.

• Meredith was Miss Mystic Falls in 2003 at age 18.

• After high school graduation, she left Mystic Falls to attend SUNY in New York.

•⬆️ She attended medical school in Brooklyn under an Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine program.

• She is the only survivor of the 2010 Mystic Falls Serial Killer because she was healed with Vampire Blood. (Alaric doesn't count since he attacked himself.)

• Meredith didn't attend the Mikaelson Ball because she wasn't interested in a "immortal family freak show". Plus, she was on call that night.

• Meredith drinks after losing a patient.

•⬆️ Dante helped her find a better coping mechanism to curb it.

• Due to the loss of the Town Council, Meredith's medical license wasn't revoked but was "suggested" by her father to leave town and lie low.

• She owns two guns and a hunting knife.

• Meredith once killed a grizzly bear in self-defense.

• Unlike her daughter, she can't ice skate. But she does like hiking and rafting.

• She and Mason Lockwood had a secret fling during a trip to Florida for vacation in 2007.

• Meredith was an active drinker, especially after losing a patient.

•⬆️ Dante helped her curb her problem which chocolate and granola bars.

• Meredith has not told Dante about the supernatural in Mystic Falls.

#legacies #the vampire diaries universe #Meredith fell #Tina fell #the vampire diaries #inheritance fanfiction #character profile #alaric saltzman

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pearlescent-soda · 1 year

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🐑//My Young Dragon Headcanons (Spyro Edition):

The man, the myth, the legend, it's Spyro, the most well-known dragon in the Dragon Kingdom, even above the current dragon leaders... even above Bubba. He's loud, cocky, and headstrong, but his enthusiasm can still sometimes bring a smile to the sourest of faces. On the flip side, he's constantly in trouble for something or the other, with 'I can't, I'm grounded' practically becoming his catchphrase. He pushes boundaries on a daily basis with his mischief and, combined with his irresponsibility, often sees him breaking stuff and being punished for it all the time. Man, it must be exhausting being one his guardians.

An Artisan who has yet to find his 'artistic voice', the Artisans are doing their best to ignite his 'artistic spirit', but Spyro is not feeling it. But whenever Marco the Balloonist is in town, he's the first to greet him, so, perhaps there's something for him there. Marco would love to teach Spyro how to operate a hot air balloon, all he needs is the 'go ahead' from Nestor, and he can start teaching.

He's been painfully lonely as long as he could remember, Sparx is his best friend, but he can't exactly play tag or hopscotch with him without his life being endangered. So, when he met dragons his age, he wouldn't leave them alone till he learned everything about them. Flame instantly became his second-best friend behind Sparx, Ember is warming up to him, Cynder couldn't care less, and Zinc absolutely hates his guts.

Definitely has ADD, which he has yet to properly manage. He's fidgety, interrupts others frequently, and is way too impulsive even for a kid. His Elders hope he grows out of it soon, but, uh, that's not how it works. The best anyone can do is be patient with him and give him a schedule or else he'll be all over the place. 'Hey, Gildas, you think I could climb on top of the roof of that castle over there?... You say no, I think yes. Give me, one... two... Five minutes'.

He knows every elder eragon; he can recognize their faces and call them by their names. Though, all of their feelings about him vary with one third spoiling him rotten, two thirds joining his shenanigans, and three thirds giving him actual discipline or doing the best to shoo the pint-sized nuisance away. 'Fine, I'll just go ask [insert lenient dragon elder's name] instead'. They're uncoordinated and they all have their own philosophies that they're trying to drill into him at the same time. The outcome is a spoiled, cocky brat with a heart of gold who has the ability to become friends with anyone, except Gnorcs, of course.

He has, like, five thousand baby pictures with more being discovered every day. There are at least two pictures of him in every Artisan home. Yeah, when he was born there was a 'Baby Boom', an explosion of inspiration that hit the Artisan worlds, dozens of paintings, sculptures and carvings depicting the newborn were everywhere. As he grew older, the pieces started to disappear, and he figured they were thrown out or locked up in storage. Nope, they were sent to other dragons outside of Artisans who couldn't meet him at the Year of the Dragon Festival.

He's not afraid of anything... Is what he'd like the others to believe, but he's still just a kid with an overactive imagination. He's scared of bodies of water and will actively avoid them unless he has to interact with them. That's why he's such a lousy swimmer and watching him try to swim is... Not going to lie, it's pretty funny but the more he meets with Beast Makers, the better he gets at it.

With how much he enjoys ramming things with his horns, it was only a matter of time before something gave. He charged a Gnorc Sentry right in the metal armor and, SNAP, two horns became none. No, dragon horns do not usually grow back, especially if they're completely removed at the base, but Spyro's had a clean break at the mid points. With the help of Beast Makers Bubba and Damon his former spiral horns became the slightly curved ones seen on him today.

#spyro the dragon #spyro reignited trilogy #spyro reginited #fanfic #headcanon #young dragons #archive of our own #ao3 #my thoughts #Spyro headcanon

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femmedefandom · 7 months

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TVD Rambling Rewatch 1x16

Tensions rise between Frederick and Harper back at the ranch. Pearl arrives in seconds to stop it. We learn that he has beef with the Salvatore bros for being the reason they were locked up. Odd, because they were the reason for Katherine, but neither of them outed any of the other vamps.

Once again an employee of MG chooses to go there on a night off for a date because there is no other restaurant in town. Elena asks Matt how he likes working there and he mentions them not being able to keep a bartender and I have to think back. Let's see...in 1x8 Lexi compelled the bartender not to check IDs and he got arrested and then there was that whole thing with Ben being immolated. Yeah, bartender seems to be the redshirt of the TVD franchise. That and non-main cast humans.

She and Matt reminisce about their lifelong inherited friendship from their mothers; Stefan is interested and Caroline is put out. Then they spot the trio of legal guardians partying it up at the bar. Damon raises a sarcastic toast and the ladies don't even notice their charges.

Frederick and Beth something leave the house to go into town and Harper is not pleased on behalf of Pearl but he can't stop them.

Anna shows up at Jeremy's house and he is pleasantly surprised and lets her in.

#tvd #tvd rambling rewatch #1x16 #there goes the neighborhood #caroline forbes #matt donovan #elena gilbert #stefan salvatore #damon salvatore #jenna sommers #kelly donovan

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denimbex1986 · 7 months

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'Charged with hindsight and consequence, the origin stories of landmark inventions make up, at this point, a genre of their own (e.g. The Imitation Game, The Social Network, and Hidden Figures). Any film that attends to a STEM breakthrough in particular has to deal with a daunting problem: how do you dramatize an esoteric subject for a general audience?

The STEM movie of the summer, Oppenheimer, seems to decide early on that its audience cannot understand physics, much less evaluate its protagonist’s skill as a physicist. Instead, Oppenheimer’s intelligence is asserted by way of what I can only classify as weird flexes: reading the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit mid-coitus, or giving a lecture in Dutch, later telling a colleague that he had learned the language in six weeks for the occasion. That there are no subtitles during his lecture, that the formulas he writes on chalkboards are shot out of focus and garnished with music, conveys the degree to which the audience is asked to believe in Oppenheimer’s competence but not to worry over the particulars—the particulars, which for me, lay the foundation of pleasure in any great film about craft.

A craft movie, as I’ll refer to them here, is a drama about a person who wants to be great at their trade. Sports movies and workplace movies fit into this category, as would a movie following an artist, chef, dressmaker, musician, hitman, ballerina, or stripper, so long as the work itself is central to the plot. The best craft movies replicate the pleasures of learning a craft yourself. You become conversant with a new world. You begin to recognize its values and customs...

The latest film from writer-director Christopher Nolan is a craft movie insofar as its central drama involves talent, work, and the pursuit of greatness, but it doesn’t leave me feeling like I have been brought into the fold. Most notably, I don’t feel prepared, or even invited, to evaluate J. Robert Oppenheimer as being uniquely capable at physics. Instead, I am handed other people’s evaluations of him and asked to accept them at face value. From the outset, the film proclaims Oppenheimer’s status as Promethean, leaving me, as a viewer, with nowhere to go, little to determine.

Oppenheimer is not the first movie about a man in STEM to hurry through the technical stuff. As Stuart Jeffries observed for The Guardian in 2016, math movies often have “a black hole where the maths should be.” So extensive are the precedents that Oppenheimer is not even the first movie with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck to fit this bill. Watching Oppenheimer, Good Will Hunting springs to mind, in which Damon’s Will Hunting develops his skills as a mathematician, yet his most memorable show of prowess, the one that leads his friend Morgan (Affleck) to boast—“My boy’s wicked smart”—concerns not math but early American history, as if expertise in one, conceivably more accessible field of study can stand in for another...

As is the case with any biopic or adaptation, Oppenheimer makes me curious about the logic governing Nolan’s choices of what’s left out and what goes in. A lot of names and terms populate the movie’s first act: quantum physics, fission, fusion, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi, Werner Heisenberg, Richard Feynman. (A “Sea of Scientists and Soldiers,” Vulture called it.) It leaves me both tired and disoriented, as though I have just read aloud the complete list of rules to a board game but am no closer to understanding how the game is played. We see, sporadically, through Oppie’s point of view, vibrating slinkies that represent the idea of energy. We watch him throw stemware into the corner of his room, where it breaks on the floor. I think we are meant to think something like, “Ah, yes. Physics.” Beyond that, the line between the slinkies and the glass and the bomb remains tenuous, associative at best.

Perhaps the intention is to overwhelm, to make the viewer feel small and unable to keep pace with the person whom the movie, and its source material, casts as Prometheus. I find it uncomfortable to be forced into a posture of reverence toward a man whose invention, regardless of its theoretical impact, killed hundreds of thousands of human beings. I’d rather be trusted to make up my own mind...

In the case of Oppenheimer, the one salient physics idea we need to hold onto is already there, within the noise: the chain reaction. As Oppenheimer tells Albert Einstein (Tom Conti), “When we detonate an atomic device, we might start a chain reaction that destroys the world.” This “troubling possibility” adds to the already high stakes of the Trinity explosion.

The chain reaction concept is doubly pertinent as a way to situate the Manhattan Project in the fuller context of history. Where does Oppenheimer’s culpability start and end? Is he a demigod, or is he a domino? To what degree was the bomb inevitable, with or without him, after the atom split? The presence of retired Einstein, who says, “Now it’s your turn to deal with the consequences of your achievement,” makes the frame of the story more cyclical and expansive.

Oppenheimer chafes when it uses scientific settings only as texture, when its digressions lean irrelevant, hagiographic, and intentionally showy. But when Oppenheimer lets us in on the work itself, when it lets us assess the goals, risks, and costs of the Manhattan Project, and with that knowledge, reach our own conclusions about the person in charge (that is, if are able to tune out the voices calling him things like “actually important” or “a prophet”)—that’s when the movie finds its groove. When Oppenheimer maps out a town in Los Alamos to be populated by scientists; when, using glass jars of marbles, he visualizes the amounts of uranium and plutonium that have been produced thus far; when, nonchalant, he explains the possibility of total atmospheric ignition: these moments work because of what they accentuate: the collision of the ego and the actual job.

Feynman, who is known for his work at Los Alamos as well as his contributions to the fields of quantum computing and nanotechnology, writes, “[A] kind of intense beauty that I see given to me by science is seen by so few others, by few poets and, therefore, by even fewer more ordinary people.” It is this visionary capacity that excites me most about craft movies and especially STEM movies. I want such a film to initiate me, if only for a few hours, into another way of reading the world.'

#Richard Feynman #Los Alamos #Oppenheimer #Christopher Nolan #The Imitation Game #Hidden Figures #The Social Network #Matt Damon #Casey Affleck #Good Will Hunting #Albert Einstein #Niels Bohr #Enrico Fermi #Werner Heisenberg #Tom Conti #The Manhattan Project

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lyfeward · 2 years

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I cry about Damon a lot yet have not formally introduced him to y’all. Thus I have decided to informally introduce him in a post that is mostly rambling. It’ll give y’all context for my tears, at least.

Damon was of an age with Amis, perhaps even born in the same year. Certainly, they came to the Cumberland Circle the same year. Amis was, like all young apprentices, scared and uncertain and out of place. None of this was helped by the trauma of witnessing war at a young age nor by the shame of being the only son of the governing family who’d bargained away their marquisate for safety. Being in the Circle shielded him to an extent, but he was still, in many ways, a trophy of war; otherwise, he’d be in Perendale’s Circle.

Thus he largely kept to himself and did what he could to choose kindness no matter the circumstances. (Amis’ commitment to unbiased compassion has always been that: a commitment. A conscious decision even when he very much wants to go ape shit.) Damon was a similarly kind soul who initially took pity on Amis but quickly realized they were kindred souls. The two were virtually inseparable from then on. When Damon was brought into the Mortalitasi, they exchanged letters and visited as often as possible, often facilitated by their shared interest in spirit healing.

Truly, they were almost mirrors of one another and both frequently urged the other to take care of themselves as well as they did others. They had the same gentleness, the same attentiveness, the same benevolence. The difference is Damon had a larger social circle and was less haunted. Amis persisted in keeping a small circle, and though many thought well of him, they did not share a deeper relationship with him than that of patient and healer. Damon was perhaps the only one who understood the pains Amis conceals (as Amis similarly understood Damon’s secret pains, mind you). How deeply it affected him to witness suffering and death at a young age and be powerless to help. How weighed down by guilt he was over his parents abandoning Perendale. How keenly he’s felt alienated in his life. All this informing his love for the outcast and forgotten, his dedication to mercy and healing, and his tendency toward isolation and self-sacrifice. Never forget it was Damon who implored him not to risk contracting leprosy by moving into the hospital, who remained in constant contact with him even when he contracted the illness, who treated and aided him in his final years, and who mourned him so deeply it moved Heaven.

But, I get ahead of myself. Damon is, in truth, a far more famous figure than Amis, at least in Nevarra. Amis’ name is in the history books for sure, and there are many folktales across southern Thedas surrounding his undeath, but it is the Great Teacher who is all but revered in Nevarra. Damon’s work combining spirit healing with necromancy led to the founding of the Practitioner sect of the Mortalitasi, now one of the most respected and beloved. He believed that a Mortalitasi could (and should) be a guide and guardian in both life and death, body and soul. His wisdom, patience, and impartiality are hallowed as he is recalled for having taught anyone with a willingness to learn. The souls he touched are beyond counting. All Nevarra mourned when he died, and his bones are kept as sacred relics; although his spirit is invoked only to teach the deeper mysteries, he would gladly teach any who called upon him.

His sect still thrives today. Like all Mortalitasi, their role is deeply spiritual, but they have the closest relationship with the priesthood and are as common a sight in necropolis’ chantries as clergy. Members dedicate themselves to the welfare (both physical and spiritual) of one family or, in some cases, one person. They are known to become so dedicated to their charges that they choose to die when they do and be entombed with them to continue tending them in the afterlife. This, too, is a product of Damon’s legacy, for he is famed greatly for his devotion as well.

There came a time in Amis’ career when he was called upon to tend young Markus Pentaghast. A complicated situation, all things considered, but Amis could turn away no one who suffered. Damon had no interest in politics but leveraged his standing within the Mortalitasi to be at hand to aid him at court. And when Amis was framed for an attempted assassination on the monarch, it was Damon who spoke most passionately in his defense. So passionately that he offered his life as collateral when Amis begged the monarch to make a few days’ journey that would prove his innocence. If he failed to reappear by the appointed time, Damon’s life would be forfeit, and Damon did not flinch. Even when Amis impressed upon him that he would rather be executed and damned for all eternity than have Damon put his life at risk for him, he did not flinch. Of course, Amis was successful and the two survived, but that would not be the last display of devotion between them.

When Amis died, his body was to be burned. This is not the custom in Nevarra, but leprosy was then mistakenly linked to the blight, and regrettably the only option for a blighted corpse was cremation and burial in a remote place. That is very nearly damnation to the Nevarran mind. Damon could not bear this. In his grief, he stole Amis’ body and locked the two in the heart of his home, intending to give him a proper burial himself. But, he was too deeply grieved to manage much more than weeping. Each time he approached the body, he could not touch the burial shroud let alone lift it. It was a few days before the Mourn Watch could pass his wards and barriers. When they did, they saw an extraordinary thing: Damon crumpled on the floor mourning into the arms of Amis who curled over him in loving protection.

This was the cause of an intense, extensive, invasive investigation. The obvious explanation seemed that Damon had called a spirit into Amis’ corpse, and this is a grave crime. To call a spirit into such a body is believed to be suffering for the spirit as well as dangerous for the living. If Damon was convicted, this would be grounds for damnatio memoriae and eternal damnation to follow. But, he had done nothing wrong, and Amis argued passionately in his defense. He even put up his (un)life as collateral. He would rather see them banish his soul to Maker only knows what fate than do any harm to his friend. Even when Damon begged him not to risk himself for him, to flee, Amis stood firm. In the end, Damon was exonerated.

In some ways, however, Damon was at fault, though Amis would never divulge this. Wailing is encouraged as part of a Nevarran funeral but away from the body, to aid the spirit the deceased’s soul displaced to find its way. When near the body, however, mourners must be utterly silent — no weeping or wailing or pleading — lest the soul of the deceased hear them and be waylaid on their journey in the Fade. Yet, Damon wept so painfully over Amis’ body that it might have killed him, too. Amis has always said he remembers nothing of death or resurrection, but that isn’t entirely true. He remembers Damon wailing. He remembers him crying out for him. He remembers his pain, and how it pained him, too, and how he followed it back like a drowning man follows a lifeline. All he wanted was Damon to be well. His first act in undeath was to hold him.

Thus was it proven that even death was a poor attempt at separating them. Amis was permitted to continue his research under the auspices of the Mortalitasi (who, for their part, were deeply interested in him and still are). Damon was his primary attendant during this time: the inseparable friends still inseparable. He discretely imparted some of the mysteries of the Mortalitasi to Amis — enough that he could keep his body functional — and when Amis’ work was completed and he longed for freedom from the Grand Necropolis, he helped him escape. Amis’ only true chance at freedom was to leave Nevarra entirely, and he did so, but the two did their best to keep in contact via letters. Difficult with Amis’ wanderings and the necessity of secrecy, but they were determined. One of the greatest pains Amis has ever experienced was to be absent when Damon died and to not even learn of his passing until well after. He trekked the many miles from more southern Ferelden to northern Nevarra and risked his freedom to enter the Grand Necropolis that he might honor him properly. A few members of Damon’s sect marked his presence but chose to leave him in peace.

#long post cw #I need a Damon tag #he's the only person who gets a special tag he's so important #they wound me #also warning I did not proofread this it is rough #META / HC: PRIMARY.#META / HC: WORLD.

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thisiswhatshefelt · 3 years

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For Olivia | Chapter Two

Summary: Line cook Johnny “Coco” Cruz has made many bad decisions in his life, but his biggest regret is not being a part of his children’s lives. He reconciles with his teenage daughter, Letty, so he’s hopeful when he shows up on his four-year-old daughter’s doorstep. Shanice Hunter, a newly-appointed guardian, is determined to protect Olivia from anything— even if that means her own father.

Pairing: Chef!Coco x Black!OC Previous Chapter: One Warnings: This chapter kind’ve deals with a deadbeat parent, but we’re still in fluffy territory for now. Word Count: 2.7k

Chapter Two

~Six months ago~ Mel calls from outside the apartment the night. She’s at the door wearing the same smudged eyeliner she left with two days before, but she’s replaced her party dress with cheap, baggy clothing that are three times too big for thin frame. Her once flat ironed hair is reverting at the edges of her hairline. Shanice quietly eases outside so they can sit together on the steps.

“Do you remember when I first had her, and I begged you to take her? You promised me that I would learn. That I would get it right.” Mel rings the sweatshirt between her hands as if squeezing water from the fabric. Her hands become dryer between her fingers and at the knuckles the more she works her hands. “I’ve never gotten it right, ‘Nice. Not one time, so I’m asking you again–Please. Just until I get it together. I have to figure something out.”

Shanice sees how exhausted Mel appears in this moment. The weight of something more than two sleepless nights darken under her eyes. She’s never looked this tired. “What happened over there?”

She smiles even though there are tears falling from her eyes. “What happens in Vegas…” Shanice just stays silent, looking at her friend. Seeing the fracture splinter out even more. When she reaches out to pull Mel’s hand away from the bedraggled clothing, Mel’s lip begins to tremble. “He took everything, ‘Nice. Maxed out all my credit cards before I even realized he wasn’t coming back to the hotel room. A-All my jewelry, I don’t…”

“Oh, Mel,” Shanice says, and it’s all she can say as she moves herself closer to embrace the scared woman. “You can stay here with me until-”

“No, I can’t,” Mel objects, shaking her head and pulling away like she’s been burned. Shanice is about to insist, but Mel’s hand between them quells anymore protests. “I can’t. I have to do this on my own. Will you take her? It would just be until she starts Kindergarten–”

“Of course, Mel. I love her.”

The wrinkled paper, which she realizes is torn from a roll of receipt paper, now sits taut between her pinched fingers. It had his name and number scrawled on one side in handwriting that didn’t look that much different from the scribbling Olivia brings home from preschool.

Shanice doesn’t sleep well after Johnny appears on the doorstep. She doesn’t even leave Olivia’s bed when the bedtime stories end. For hours, she lays beside the girl, recalling past conversations she’d had with her best friend.

It feels strange to still call her ‘best friend’ now, though. Life divides Shanice and Melanie’s paths after college, but they regain closeness once Mel suddenly becomes pregnant and names Shanice the godmother. Shanice plays guardian even before Olivia is born, making sure Mel takes her prenatal vitamins and makes sure she keeps up with her doctor visits.

Now Shanice lays beside the girl so that their noses are almost touching, but her legs are too long for the mattress, so she has to tuck her knees up to fit. Loose strands of Olivia’s tight chestnut curls fall onto her eyelashes and Shanice tucks the strand back into one of her plaits.

Most people assume they’re related in some way because of how superficially similar they appear in passing. Shanice’s deep skin is just a few shades darker than Olivia’s tawny complexion. Their dark hair zig zags in soft, defiant halos when let out of the confines of twists or braids, but Mel is right there at the middle of Olivia’s face.

The bridge of her nose slightly widens before sloping into a rounded tip and it’s all Mel. Shanice leans in close to take in all of her scent before kissing her between the eyes and watching her breathe until sleep finally claims them both.

In the morning, Shanice is uncharacteristically sluggish, but that changes with her first cup of coffee. The morning ritual is completed with most of her mind on autopilot as Olivia talks at a million miles an hour through outfit changes and getting her hair styled into two French braids.

Shanice doesn’t realize she hasn’t been listening to most of the little girl’s one-sided conversation until the waffles pop up in the toaster. She juggles the hot waffles out of the machine and onto a plate before adding syrup and sliding it across the counter.

“Can we go?” Olivia taps her fingers on the counter, strumming her stubby fingers against the countertop.

“Wait, go where?” Shanice’s eyebrows knit together. She tries to recall the last few moments, but her mind is still on last night. The man at the door, and the panic she feels even as her face remains even. Coffee is a bad idea, but she’s now on her second cup.

“Can we go to the big park today. Please?”

“Funny,” Shanice says sarcastically. “I told you we could go this weekend, Mushroom, and it’s still–” Shanice makes a show of looking at her smart watch before her eyes land back on Olivia. “–yep, just what I thought. It’s still Thursday morning.”

Olivia clasps her hands together and squints her eyes as she squeaks out, “Pleeeeease-”

“Hey, hey, hey…ma’am.” Shanice isn’t very loud, but her words cut through just sharp enough to make a point. Olivia knows Shanice doesn’t tolerate whining and begging, so the little girl does the next best thing. Her shoulders slumped exaggeratedly, and like a sucker, Shanice falls for it as she quietly sighs. “If I get a good report from Ms. Wendy today, we can go to the playground at your school.”

“Kay!” Olivia’s eyes widen excitedly. “Can you tell mommy to come too?”

She can’t say that she’s been trying to call Mel all night, but the phone rings until the automated voicemail picks up. She wants her to pick up and ask how Johnny has her home address. It was better that the phone did go to voicemail because the conversation probably wouldn’t have been pleasant.

“I’m sure she’s gonna try her best to make it,” Shanice tells her just as her own waffles finish in the toaster. As she sips her coffee, she watches in slight disgust as Olivia smashes her bananas into each crevice of her waffles. “What’re you doing?”

“Makin’a waffles smooth.” Olivia fills some of the squares with the mashed bananas and takes a bite. “Want some?”

“Noooo thank you,” Shanice says, fervently shaking her head with a laugh. “I like my waffles with all the holes.”

After dropping Olivia off at preschool, Shanice makes her way to Damon Pope High School where she spends the first two periods with 9-12 graders, teaching them about the Harlem Renaissance before analyzing some poems by Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes. Teaching is exciting because she is always amazed at how astute these teenagers were with their analyzations. And their poetry is often some of the most beautiful she’s ever read. She’s excited to see the entries for the poetry contest this year.

At a free period, she shuts herself up in her classroom and tries Mel’s cell again. It goes straight to voicemail, and Shanice’s anger transforms into concern. She leaves another message, hoping for the best but thinking of the worst.

Shanice makes her way to Olivia’s preschool twenty minutes after the last bell rings and is there just as the first parents are leaving with their children. She’s soon inside and makes small talk with some of the parents and grandparents.

Olivia spots her and yells across the room of children and adults. “Aunty ‘Nice!” Olivia rushes over and grabs her hand before pulling her back over to the teacher, Ms. Wendy. “Tell her I was good, Ms. Wendy! Tell her!”

“Olivia…” Shanice tries to reprimand, but she finds herself biting her bottom lip to keep from smiling.

Ms. Wendy doesn’t hold in her laugh, and her wavy blonde hair dances with every shake of her shoulders. “Well, Olivia is always good, but she was extra special today.”

Olivia is beaming, but Shanice tries not to roll her eyes as she sees the little girl grinning. They say their goodbyes and walk outside to the playground where Olivia runs immediately to the slides. Shanice picks up Olivia’s backpack from the grass where it sits abandoned in the excitement and stands off to the side to make another phone call. The phone doesn’t answer but she gets a text message a few minutes later.

Hey girl. Got your messages! Been really busy lately but I’ll be over ltr tonight. Tell Liv I got her a present!! Xo

Shanice decides not to tell Olivia about the text message because she’s heard this before. She spends time with Olivia who looks up every time someone walks near the playground, hoping one of them will be Mel, but she doesn’t actually ask about her mother. There’s a destructive amount of hope in her eyes that dies with every passing moment.

There’s that hope Mel will show even at eight that night when Olivia is fast asleep. Shanice still has hope, but she knows it won’t happen.

I have something important to talk about, Mel. It’s about Olivia’s bio dad.

At ten, Shanice’s phone buzzes in the middle of grading assignments.

Sorry! Forgot 2 tell u I gave Johnny yur address! I didn’t know what to tell him. figured you would know what 2 do??

Is Liv upset I didn’t show?? Tell her I’ll be there in a couple days xo

Shanice is so angry that she only replies with

She’s fine.

before tossing her phone on the other side of the couch.

It’s more than sending a complete stranger to her home. It’s more than ignored calls.

Figured you would know what to do.

But Shanice doesn’t know what to do. She really wants to keep Mel included in their life. Keep her included in the decisions she has to make for Olivia, but Shanice is slowly accepting that she’s alone in this now. She can’t keep playing the role of a glorified babysitter.

The piece of paper is still on the night table when she goes back to retrieve it. Her emotions are driving her as she paces back to the couch to retrieve her discarded phone, so she doesn’t realize how late it is until she hears the groggy voice pick up.

“Yeah, hello?” he answers.

“I-I’m sorry,” Shanice says now caught off guard. It’s nearly midnight. “Is this Johnny?”

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“It’s Shanice,” she tells him. “Can we meet?”

Shanice pulls her car into the Tres Reyes lot during her a free period the next morning. It’s a quaint white building with a terracotta roof that looks almost like someone’s home, if not for the large sign on the face of the building in bold letters.

Once inside the diner, she can feel the warmth from the kitchen blanket every bit of her skin, but it isn’t as oppressive as the heat from the California desert. The white from the outside also paints the wall inside, but there are bright Spanish tiles on the floor which makes Shanice feel like she’s stepping on artwork. She also now feels wildly overdressed in her pencil skirt, blouse and heels.

A few older Latino people are scattered throughout the diner while some college kids occupy most of the other tables.

“Cuántos personas?” a teenage girl asks, coming from behind a desk near the door. Shanice fights the teacher in her that wants to ask, Shouldn’t you be in class?

“Uh, dos personas, por favor,” Shanice replies, quickly recalling something from her Freshman year at college.

The girl asks in Spanish, gauging whether or not she speaks the same language and by her accent, the girl nods. With a quick, disapproving twitch of her eyebrows that only a teenager can manage, she says, “Right this way.”

“Are you waiting for Coco?” the girl asks, nonchalantly placing two menus on the table.

“I…I mean, I’m waiting for Johnny?”

She nods again then turns slightly in the direction of the service window that separates the kitchen from the dining. “Coco!”

A few of the guests jump at the girl’s voice. Johnny walks from the kitchen, chastising her with his eyes. She shrugs back with an impressive lack of enthusiasm. “My bad, alright?” she apologizes, returning to her hostess spot behind the counter.

It makes sense now why Johnny wants to meet here. Shanice had assumed he’d be a guest, not an employee. He sits at the table across from her with a shy smile. He’s wearing a short-sleeved white t-shirt, so she can clearly see that his tattoos wrap the full lengths of his arms.

Unsure of how else to begin, Shanice opens with, “They call you Coco?”

“Only people that really call me Johnny is my mom when I piss her off,” he says, smiling slightly. “Thanks for meeting me, I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Shanice mutters.

“You want something to eat?”

“Thanks, but I have to get back to work in a little bit.” She sighs then decides to do away with pointless small talk. “She’s four years old now. Where’ve you been?”

Straight to the point. The question visibly unsettles him, but she’s past caring.

Johnny–or Coco sits up a little straighter in the seat. “I’m gonna keep it real with you. I been in and outta prison most of my life–nothing violent, but I got locked up a couple months before she was born and was in for the first two years of her life.”

Shanice suspects as much, so she isn’t shocked when he admits this. She’s more concerned with what lands him there. “Define…‘nothing violent?’”

He clears nothing from his throat, “Possession.” The words roll out of his mouth like a secret, but it falls between them like an anchor at the bottom of a chasm.

She nods once. Coco’s anxious, almost like the kids she has to chastise for not doing their homework. The fact that he’s been to prison doesn’t exactly make her flinch. She has a few relatives that had been incarcerated at one point in time and others that are still in jail. Had it not been for pure luck, she could have ended up the same way at a young age. Especially during her college days with Mel.

Shanice can’t help but be hard. It must feel like an interrogation the way she fires questions and sits emotionless on the other side of the table. “That’s still two years unaccounted for.”

“Honestly,” he said with a wince, “I thought she’d be better off without me there. Being a good father isn’t something I know how to be.”

“What makes you so sure you can be a good father now?”

“Nothing,” he says plainly. “But I remember how I felt growing up without my dad. I didn’t feel wanted. I don’t want her to feel something like that. Especially not ‘cause of me.”

“There’s an audience,” she notes with her gaze set upon the service window.

He turns to the men. One is older with white hair and shadows of old acne scars on his somber face. One of the younger men sports an undercut while the other has his hair shortly cropped. By the downturned eyes the three share, it’s obvious that the three are father and sons.

The older man adjusts his glasses and disappears into the kitchen when he realizes he’s been caught leering. The other two put their heads down and start scrubbing away at the tiles in the window with small towels.

Shanice focuses again at her table mate and stares at him for just a moment much too long for it to be deemed comfortable. She notices his fingers are tapping against the table, and she suddenly recalls a moment from that morning when Olivia does the same.

It’s a different beat, but it has the same heart.

“Okay,” she tells him, looking up, and she watches Coco break out into a boyish smile. “Let me get something straight, though. There’s no ‘try’ in this. She’s had people in her life disappoint her, and at her age, she hasn’t really learned to stop being hopeful.”

“Thank you,” he smiled, revealing a familiar dimple.

“We’re going to the park downtown this Sunday. You can meet us there if you don’t have to work.”

“Yeah,” he said, still smiling. “Of course, I’ll be there.”

Shanice is driving back to school a few minutes later, chewing on the realization that it will most likely be another sleepless night.

_______

Next Chapter: Three

#mayans mc #mayans mc fanfiction #mayans fanfic #mayans fanfiction #coco cruz #johnny cruz #coco x oc #thisiswhatshewrote #poc!fanfiction #poc!fanfic #woc writer #poc writer #black oc #mayans mc x oc

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dilfbane · 3 years

Text

Who Moves First - Elena Gilbert/Elijah Mikaelson

Summary: A ball is attended, a warning is made, and a doppelgänger chooses differently, for once.

Pairing: Elena Gilbert/Elijah Mikaelson

Warnings: None

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: This is a TVD oneshot that I posted quite awhile ago on ao3, and it’s one of my more popular works over there? It’s also a oneshot that I quite enjoyed writing for a pairing that doesn’t get enough love. I’m going to be working on transferring more of my stuff to here from over there, mainly for TVD but also for Game of Thrones and Doctor Who, if that ever ends up happening on my ao3 account. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy, and I will be back with more writing this weekend!

“We need to talk,” Says Elena.

She isn’t quite sure why she says it, what’s propelled her to seek out Elijah and pull him aside before the start of the dancing, but she thinks she should call it suspicion. Nothing good ever comes out of meeting witches in back rooms, and though Esther may have claimed otherwise, Elena knows better than anyone else what a mother’s love is and is not. She thinks that he look surprised, when she says it - at least, as surprised as Elijah can get, which honestly isn’t much. It’s the slightest quirk of his lips, she’s discovered. The faint raise eyebrows he gives before his features settle, and then he is nodding at her.

“Do I need to keep your guardians preoccupied?” Asks Elijah, and she finds herself shaking her head.

“I’ve got it covered,” She tells him. She’s been watching the doorways diligently, and they haven’t even arrived yet. She has plenty of time to meet with Esther and finally learn what she really thinks about Klaus.

“I don’t trust her,” Elena blurts out, not meaning to say it so bluntly. She’s met, again, with surprise.

“How do you mean?” Elijah inquires, “And - to whom are you referring?”

“Your mother,” Elena says, biting her lip on a whim. “I don’t trust your mother, Elijah. She wants to meet with me alone, and I just - I don’t think it’s going to end well. I wanted to warn you,” She says. Huffs out a breath when she’s finished and drags her gaze from his. But Elijah is moving; he tilts her chin up with one long, elegant finger.

“You wanted to warn me,” Elijah says, “After everything I’ve done to you?”

“It’s the right thing to do,” Says Elena. And she wonders if he will believe her, or if he knows the real reason why. But there is something more to it. Loathe as she is to admit it, she likes being close to Elijah. Likes having someone that she can trust who will let her make her own choices, because underneath everything else about them - all the lying and all the betrayal - he’s always let them be hers. Elena steals a glance towards the doors of the mansion, sees two familiar forms enter.

“So,” She says, “About my guardians…”

“I’ll keep them distracted,” He tells her, “While you learn my mother’s intentions. First, however-” Elijah clears his throat, looking, for one moment, sheepish. Elena blinks. She’s never known Elijah to succumb to something like nerves, but by the time that she looks back, the awkwardness of it has vanished, and he is holding a hand out to her. Smoothly. Expectantly, she thinks. “Lovely Elena,” Elijah asks, “Would you do me the honor of giving me your first dance?”

Of course, thinks Elena, A ball. She doesn’t know what to tell him; she doesn’t owe him her dances. She doesn’t owe him anything. But Elena has already gotten this far, surrendered this much of her to him. She is going to tell Elijah things that Stefan and Damon will never know about her, and thinks that by this point she has; in the way that she lives, and the way that she loves, and the way that she talks when she’s lonely, as if nobody else were there.

“You scare me, Elijah,” She tells him, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Then let me make it up to you.”

“Elijah,” She says, “I appreciate it, the offer. But I don’t think that you can.”

“Nevertheless,” Elijah says smoothly, “I want you to feel safe with me.”

“How can I?” She asks him. Pulls away before he can answer, unable to look at his face. “Just - do me a favor and keep them away?”

Elijah snorts. It’s the kind of low snort that Damon likes giving when he knows that he’s already lost, and Elena thinks about what it means, that Elijah is giving it now. It fills her with something that she’s never felt in her life, and the rush of it nearly knocks her off her feet. She finds herself stumbling backwards. Worry creases his brows as she raises a hand to stop him from coming much closer. She thinks that she knows what Esther is planning, and knowing it, makes up her mind.

“Give me ten minutes,” Elena says. “I can’t promise you the first dance, but if you can give me ten minutes alone, then I promise I’ll give you the second.”

Elijah nods, and everything she knows changes. A slow smile spreads across her face as she turns to duck through the crowd, weaving her way up the staircase. She looks behind her only once; catches his gaze over the balcony rail as he approaches Stefan and Damon. She nods at Elijah, and Elijah nods back. I’m going to do this, she thinks to herself, Because it’s the right thing to do. Damon would kill her for doing this, she thinks. Stefan would be appalled. But there is no time to think about them, and so Elena does not. She gathers her courage and knocks at Esther’s door, smells the cloy of burnt sage. And thinks to herself, as Esther tells her to come in, that the worst thing she could do to him would be to break her own promise.

“So,” He asks.

“I was right.”

She didn’t go to warn Elijah. Not the way she’d thought she would. With her eyes and palms burning, she’d burst out the back doors, steeling herself on a cry. She’d soon enough heard them open behind her, felt the firm, gentle pressure of Elijah’s hand on her shoulder. It makes her more frightened then she’s ever been, how quickly she knew it was him. She thinks it’s how he is so still, and so calm. Offering her everything that he can give.

“What did she say?” Asks Elijah.

“I can’t,” Says Elena, “I - Elijah, I’m sorry, I can’t-”

“Tell me,” He says, in that tone of voice. A shiver of terror rips through her. Reminding her, wordlessly, that Elijah is still Elijah, the deadly Original who could easily have snapped her neck in that farmhouse, torn her heart out of her chest. Tears sting at her vision; Elena lets them fall.

“I couldn’t stop it,” She tells him, “Elijah,” She says, “I’m too late.”

A soft hum escapes from his lips, and, unbidden, sparks something warm in her chest. The hand on her shoulder tightens over her skin; the other wraps around her waist, settling itself low on her.

“Why don’t you tell me,” Elijah says, “And I’ll be the judge of that. Come now, Elena - We’re going to miss the champagne.”

“The champagne?” She asks him, whirling suddenly. “You mean - you haven’t had any yet?”

“No,” Says Elijah, cocking his head to the side.

“Oh,” She says, “Oh my God, Elijah, I thought -”

“From the beginning,” Elijah says, and the sharp ache of being apart from his body worms it way up her sides. The way Elijah Mikaelson holds her; she thinks she could stay here forever. Hers, she thinks, if not his. And the manner in which he is looking at her, his tense body poised to receive, makes her think that he might let her, if only she thought to ask him.

“She wants to link you,” Elena says, “She needed my blood, to put into the champagne. She wanted to make all of you human and then,” She tells him, “Then kill you.”

“I see,” He tells her, “And you aided her in this endeavor?”

“No,” Says Elena, shaking her head vehemently. “I told her that I wouldn’t do it. She took my blood anyways.” Elena’s voice has fallen deep, and a sob’s choked its way up her throat. She hates how weak she must look. How foolish she must seem to him - her, Elena, not able to stop herself crying from what was just a quick pinprick. But she should know better than that. The fury that enters Elijah has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with Esther. She notices that, when his fingers clench and relax, and he holds that same hand out to her.

“Elena,” He says, “It’s alright. Thank you for telling me.”

“You can’t go back in,” She says. “The - the others have -”

“Than I shall stay here,” He tells her. “In case you haven’t forgotten, you promised me your second dance.”

A laugh tears through her body, and she finds herself throwing her head back, the sheer relief of it pulsing through her bloodstream.

“I haven’t even had my first yet,” She tells him. “Fuck,” She says, “I was busy.”

The laughing is like alcohol. She gets the same buzz from it. Elijah stares as if she intimidates him, and that makes Elena laugh harder.

“It’s ok,” She says, “I won’t bite.”

“Elena,” He asks - timidly, she thinks, concerned - “Are you by any chance drunk?”

“Shut up,” She tells him, “Let’s dance.”

And she launches herself into him; knows, now, that he will accept her. His wide arms swallow her up as if it is instinctual, and the heat of him curls around her. His fingers run the length of her spine, and his chin slots over her crown. She thinks that they must make an image.

“Okay,” He tells her, “Alright,” He tells her, “Let’s dance.”

“No,” Elena says, feeling the world stop around them, “No, I - wait.”

Elijah’s hands still on her and she pushes out from under him.

“Elena?” He asks her, “Are you -”

“It’s nothing to do with me,” She says, “I just - I need you to know that I’m sorry.”

Elijah gasps; an honest to goodness gasp, and it gives her the sense that nobody else alive’s heard it. She stores that somewhere in the back of her head to pull out later, when he’s gone and she’s back in the Boarding House, crying herself to sleep like she has every night since Stefan decided to leave. She knows that it’s going to hurt her. Needs it to be said anyways.

“Elena,” He says, and his voice is a cool, calming river, “Whatever are you sorry for?”

“Killing you,” Says Elena, “Stabbing you in the back. You deserved better than that.”

“It’s in the past,” He says, “Forgiven. You saved all of our lives tonight - that’s more than enough of an apology.”

“No,” She tells him, “It isn’t. If you were human -”

“What?” Asks Elijah.

“Then you would be dead,” Says Elena, “And your blood would be on my hands.”

She hasn’t said it out loud before, but it’s stalked through her journal, her nightmares; taunting her, mercilessly, with the picture of his graying corpse. Elena had known in that moment what it felt like for her heart to stop, even if she hadn’t known why. She thinks, as the adrenaline fades and she starts to sob, that she’s beginning to understand. Elijah says nothing, but his presence, his nearness, steadfastly refuses to waver. He is so patient, Elena thinks, and she is so selfish, so cruel. Isn’t that what everyone says?

“I am not human,” He tells her, after a long, laden quiet. “Neither,” He adds, “Are you. You did what you thought you had to. It’s why I admire you.”

“Yeah,” Says Elena, “I bet.”

“Please,” He says, “I insist. There are a great deal many things that are admirable about you.”

“Like what?” Asks Elena, “My willingness to commit murder?”

“Let me think,” Says Elijah, stroking his chin in that particularly scholarly manner. “To start with,” He says, “You are the kindest, most selfless woman I’ve ever met in my life. You care deeply for those that you love, and would do anything to protect them. You are not afraid of dying yourself to keep others safe and whole, even if they have wronged you. You are brave,” Elijah says, “Fierce. You know how to hold your own. And you have a beauty, Elena. I thought you’d have noticed by now.”

“Noticed what?” Asks Elena. Her voice is failing; he is looking so tenderly at her, and in this instant Elena doubts that she’s ever loved anyone else - because that is, she knows, what she feels.

She loves him, she knows, and she can’t.

“You can do whatever you’d like,” Says Elijah. “Far be it from me to deny you.”

And yet, thinks Elena -

“I can’t.”

“Whyever not?”

“Stefan,” Elena says, “Damon. What would they think about this?”

“It’s none of their business,” He tells her. Sounding, once more, she thinks, guarded. She thinks of him lonely, his brothers and sister in coffins, and feels a sorrowed pang bloom. Elijah needs someone, she thinks. Somebody who loves him truly, the way that she wishes she could, but she knows that it cannot be her. She is the doppelgänger, and all she that she will ever be is a curse.

“I’m none of those things,” Elena tells him, “Those things that you mentioned, Elijah - they aren’t a part of my soul.”

“Nonsense,” He tells her, “I don’t think you know your own strength.”

“What strength would that be?” She asks him - knowing how desperate she sounds, and how wounded. He is making her too vulnerable, she thinks. She needs to go back inside.

“The strength,” Says Elijah, “To make deals with me. To give me your word, and to keep it.”

“I -“

“You kept it,” He tells her, “Tonight. Now - you have two choices, Elena. You can make me lose all of that admiration by running back to the Salvatores, or,” He says, “You can stay with me, and we can dance.”

“I don’t know how to dance,” Says Elena. He clicks his tongue in a chide.

“You were the runner-up, I believe? In the Miss Mystic Falls competition?”

“I don’t know how to dance with you,” Says Elena. A grin spreads over his face, and she feels her own rising up.

“Well then,” He tells her, “I suppose I’ll just have to teach you. Give me your arm, sweet Elena?”

It is there - in that question, that answer - that she thinks she’d be happy to die. If it was Elijah who did it. If he fed her his blood first; bit his wrist open and let his blood flow, coppery and thick, into her mouth, then she’d let him make them the same. Stefan and Damon are probably looking for her - have probably recovered from whatever it is that he’s done - but she doesn’t care about that. There is only her and Elijah. The crisp, perfect white of his collar. The dark, tender gait of his gaze. Elena isn’t a liar. She does not know how to do it, dance with somebody like him.

But God, does she want to learn.

And it is so fast for Elijah - so simple, she thinks, to deposit herself in his grasp as he poses himself at her elbow, nudges her up so her feet are on top of his feet. This close to him, Elena can hear his loud heartbeat. It’s that much off, she thinks, from what a human’s should be, but it’s beating away all the same, and she thinks that it’s the most beautiful sound in the world. A tear escapes her unasked for - he reaches upwards and swipes at it with the calloused pad of a thumb, waiting for her to explain.

“It isn’t you,” Says Elena, “It’s only that - I haven’t done this,” She says, “Since my dad died.”

“You never told me about it,” Elijah says, as he moves. Elena goes taut; her eyes and her ears are filled with the blue thrum of water, but he pulls her back to herself. “You don’t have to tell me,” He tells her, “But I am so very sorry for your loss.” The honesty of it shoots its way through her nerves, and any reticence that she had abandons her in the wake of it. Elijah knows the story already, but Elena thinks that she’s never wanted to tell it to anyone more.

“It was icy,” She tells him, “My parents - they drove off Wickery Bridge. Stefan found us, there, in the water. He could only save one of us, and - they made sure it was me. I was fifteen, Elijah. And I thought - God, I was so young then, I thought that I’d live forever.”

“Shh,” He says, brushing the skin of her cheek, smoothing his palm down her face, “You still can,” He says, “If you’d like.”

“I think,” She tells him, exhaling a harsh-sounding sigh, “That it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Perhaps not,” Says Elijah, “But my offer still stands. If you ever find yourself wanting eternity, all that you need do is ask.”

“And if I don’t?” Asks Elena. He is taking them in a box step. She wishes that he would let go and spin her. Tug her into the planes of his chest and skim his hands down her thighs. Get his fingers all up in her tresses. Kiss her, she yearns, and pull.

“Then you should leave them,” Elijah says, nodding behind his shoulder. “They’re never going to stop, you know. And you don’t want it, Elena. The way that they love you - no one should love you like that.”

“Like what?” Asks Elena.

“Like you are something to win,” He tells her, “Instead of something to treasure.”

“That’s not how it is,” Says Elena.

“Isn’t it?” Asks Elijah. “They fight over you. They do not respect your decisions. They are tripping over their feet to one-up each other. What do you think will happen,” He asks her, “When one of them finally gets you?”

“Nothing,” She tells him. Sees the world form as she says it, like it was hers all along, “Neither of them will, Elijah. I belong to myself.”

“Good,” He tells her, “Than answer me as yourself, for a chance. Why do you care about them?”

Elena sighs. It trickles into the dark warmth between them, perfuming the hot, humid night.

“Stefan,” She says, “Stefan saved me. Not just from dying, but from wanting to be dead. As for Damon? He treats me differently than he treats anyone else. He’s not the worst man in the universe, once you’ve gotten to know him.”

“But neither of them respect you,” He tells her, “Surely that hasn’t escaped you?”

“It doesn’t matter, Elijah. I was born here. I live here. And I look just like Katherine.”

“You aren’t Katherine,” He tells her. “You are nothing like Katarina; have I made myself clear?”

He hasn’t stopped swaying them, but Elena knows that they have been missing too long. They won’t be alone for much longer.

“I have to choose,” Says Elena, “And any choice I make will kill me. What does it matter, Elijah, if I’m respected or not?”

“It means everything,” Says Elijah, “It is everything you have left.”

“Apparently not,” She tells him.

“Elena,” He says, exasperated, “Haven’t you been listening?”

“Elijah -”

“You have mine,” He says, “My respect. You have always had my respect. How could you not understand that? You do not need the Salvatores.”

She rends herself from him. Meets his hard, intense glare.

“Isn’t that my choice?” She asks him, “Or are you like them after all?”

“Elena,” He growls, “Whatever you’re trying to tell me, I would suggest that you don’t.”

“I can say what I want,” Says Elena, feeling the blaze of her anger in her, a virile torrent of it. Enough to match his, she thinks, if that is what it comes down to. “I can do anything that I want to. I could live for myself, if I wanted. Oh - don’t give me that. Who do you think I’m doing it for? I’m no one, Elijah. I’m a Petrova. I’m cursed. And you think that I live for myself.”

“I think that you should,” Says Elijah, “Before it’s too late for you.”

“Save it,” She tells him, “It’s always been too late for me.”

“Just like it was for me?” He asks, “Even though I’d not drunk the champagne?”

It is then that he does it. Cuts her off from his body, the feeling of him around her. Elena feels as if half of her sure soul has died. And Elijah - Elijah, he only looks sad. Devoid of his safety, his comfort, the things that Elena’s said stab her, twisting into her gut.

“You know where to find me,” He tells her, “When you change your mind about them.”

But if he is going to leave her - if she is going to choose this - Elena thinks she needs to know.

“What do you want, Elijah?”

She does not know who moves first. One second they are distanced, the next he’s devouring her. He tastes like the champagne that he didn’t drink, and the slide of his tongue is a bane. He’s a thousand years old and he knows it. He holds her as if she belongs to him - as if he knows, just as deeply as she does, that the pain of the life she’s been thrown into has tempered her so she can’t break. But I can break, she thinks, I can. The threat of it makes her want to howl. But the promise of it - the promise of it - makes her kiss him back fiercely, and fleetingly wonder just who has been saving who. It’s Elijah, she thinks to herself, who’s kept her safe these past months. Elijah who’s kept her alive. She wonders what he did it for. He could care about her, thinks Elena, or he could want to possess her; to make her arch underneath him and scratch long trails down his back in the slick of a heady, lamp-lighted bedroom. He could want nothing from her except for one night with her body, and Elena thinks she wouldn’t mind. She lives for the way that his teeth nip and scrape, the bruises he’s chosen to leave. She lives for the way that they fight in the firefly darkness. For they are at war with each other, and Elena knows she can’t win. What did you think would happen?, her mind yells, Going up against Elijah? Elena does not rightly know, but she will not surrender to him. If they are equals, then they will be equals. Even in hatred, Elena thinks to herself. Even, she thinks, in love.

“Elijah,” She groans, keening into his parted lips, the sharp, razor tips of his fangs. His bruising grip on her lessens, and then she is just what she’s wanted to be; the girl that he loves in his arms. Elijah’s breathing is heavy. Heavier, she thinks, then hers. He looks as if he is ashamed.

“I -” He says, “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Says Elena, in one shaking, trembling breath. “No,” She tells him, “I’m fine.”

More than fine, thinks Elena. I want to stay here with you. Elijah, I just want to stay.

She will not say it to him, and she thinks that that’s why he loves her - because he knows, just as well as she does, the price that she’s willing to pay, if it means that he will be safe. Love has hurt Elijah before. She will not let it again.

She will hold onto the taste of him, though; the way that he loves her, so precious and inevitable. And someday, when Stefan and Damon decide that she is too fragile, she’ll give her eternity to him. Follow him there, to the edge of the Earth, to each of its four corners. She will be there with him, holding his hand. They will wade in the oceans and skip through the sidewalks of cities in Europe. In the evenings, Elena will sit on his lap. He will read novels to her, in his lilting mahogany tones, with a fire ablaze in the hearth. They’ll share lingering kisses and long, grazing touches; when it is dark out, he’ll press her down into the mattress and stretch her warm wetness around him. She will give everything and more to him, and she’ll never need anyone else. But this night is not their eternity. There’s an arm at her, spinning him out of her eyesight. She vaguely registers Damon raging at her.

“.. thinking, Elena? You went to meet Esther, alone?! You told him about her plan?!”

“Ahem,” Says Elijah - and, in the stillness, the power that he holds brings Damon to a grinding halt. “I do not recall inviting you here tonight. Leave, kindly, if you will.”

“Whatever,” Says Damon, “We’ll talk about this later. I’ll see you back home, Elena.”

“Yeah,” She calls out, “Back… home.”

She waits until he is far out of earshot before she opens her mouth, but Elijah slips his fingers up against her lips to make sure that she keeps silent. He does not look mad at her, she thinks, but that disappointment is back, the one that says that he yearns for her not to need them - aches for her to go with him; anywhere, everywhere, that she’s willing to let him take her. He bends his lips to hers one last time. This time, she thinks, he is pleading to her with his body, and she is the one to step back.

“I know where to find you,” She tells him.

And then, like the spring, he is gone.

#the vampire diaries #elejah #elena x elijah #au #angst #s3ep14

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kiss-my-freckle · 3 years

Text

3x1.

Stefan isn’t playing friends with Klaus for the sake of saving Damon. Damon was already saved. Stefan and Damon explain why he’s playing friends with Klaus. “And let Klaus know that you're tracking him? He thinks you're dead. Let's keep it that way.”

Klaus has no idea Elena is alive, that she survived the ritual. A bit pointless if you ask me. He’s gonna find out anyway because he’s not able to make hybrids. He waited how many years to go through with this ritual for the sake of creating a family of sired soldiers? Yeah, he’s gonna investigate why he’s unable to make hybrids. Expect him to find out about Elena. Stefan should’ve stayed home with Damon, and the two protect her together like they did with Elijah.

Damon refuses to tell Elena about the leads he’s getting on Stefan. He doesn’t want to get her hopes up, but he’s trying like hell to find his brother and save him.

Damon can hear Elena because he has vampire hearing. He knows she’s there, so he’s about to flash his brother’s girlfriend. Andie shows just how much control she actually has in their fake relationship. He can’t even get her to grab him a bottle of champagne. She tells him she’s not his slave. But yeah, she’s still acting as his distraction from Elena.

Andie and Alaric are helping Damon track Stefan. Alaric goes with Damon to the address Andie gave, so he gets a glimpse of the Ripper’s work. Understandably, Alaric is completely disgusted. This episode is all about signatures. The point in which they've pushed Stefan and Damon to their complete opposites.

“It's his signature. There is a reason they called him the Ripper."

“Until we find that signature moment. The moment you knew you loved him."

Understand this, you understand why Elena falls for Damon and stays with him. Stefan will always be good for her, but good isn’t best. What they did with Damon’s character reminds me of that old saying... “If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best.” Elena gets the worst of him first.

Damon and Elena have their birthday scene. The moment she falls for him. What she tells Alaric in S6 can be seen in this scene. It hurts Damon to hand her this necklace, but he does it anyway. He’s giving her hope, and he gives it to her because he’s kept her out of the loop on their search for Stefan. He doesn’t want her world to stop just because his has in his search for Stefan.

The outfit he wears in this scene doesn’t do him justice. It’s the one time I hate what Damon is wearing.

Alaric is supposed to be acting as their guardian, so why does Elena need to tell him to have a talk with Jeremy? Because she got used to acting as Jeremy’s parental figure. Jenna spent too much time trying to be their friend than their guardian. Girl hasn’t even graduated high school, she’s being forced to grow up fast.

“I'll make sure that my brother doesn't bother us anymore.” Stefan knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows that by killing Andie, Damon will start bothering Elena because she’s acting as his distraction. Stefan’s basically handing his girlfriend over to his brother for the sake of letting go. Intentional on Stefan’s part. Don’t expect to get your girlfriend back.

Elena finds out Damon has been tracking Stefan. Damon is pissed that Stefan killed Andie. Stefan killing Andie made Damon realize he has no hope of saving his brother. He knows this because he’s the one who told Stefan she’s acting as his distraction from Elena. By killing her, thus pushing Damon toward Elena, Damon feels he’s lost his brother. Stefan is literally giving up the love of his life, so yeah.

“You were an idiot. We both were.” When he returns home, Damon isn��t ready to talk. He just realized he lost his brother. Elena pushes anyway. She learns they’re not Klaus’ victims, they’re Stefan’s. She then pushes Damon to the point he breaks, looking at her necklace as he steals that hope away. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do. It angers him to be the one breaking her heart. Losing his brother and breaking Elena’s heart... he tears apart Stefan’s room.

Stefan literally just got done telling Damon to let him go, and he calls Elena. It’s a back and forth thing, now her turn to hand Damon hope.

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queeraroace · 3 years

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So I've been re-watching the vampire diaries (don't ask) and I'm on season 2, where Damon forces Elena to drink his blood in case she dies and she's really fucking upset.

I think that's a good writing choice, not just in line with her character but a really nice way to reverse expectation of the typical protagonist in vampire books who craves immortality and eternity with their lover. Elena cares about family, having a family - hell, Stefan cares about it too. He says so, that he came to Mystic falls to make a family.

Elena was happy with her parents, as happy as any teenager going through a rebellious phase can be, she loves her brother, Jenna, and wants to have that even when her guardians are gone. Her and Stefan even talk abstractly about their future when they're at the Gilbert family cabin.

Then, when Stefan brings her for a hike to talk about her possible death and subsequent immortality and they have a really important conversation where Elena confesses to never wanting to become a vampire. That she wants to grow up, have kids, accomplish things with her life and grow old. And really considering that as a possibility, with Stefan in it, is really cool and not explored in fiction at all.

But think about that; let's say Elena and Stefan stay together while Elena's human. It doesn't have to be all that depressing because human life can be long. Elena graduates, goes to university, gets her first apartment, goes to campus bars, makes new friends, changes majors, picks a career, picks another career (probably something helping people like a social worker, a preschool teacher, etc) and she decides it's time to have kids.

Stefan's there the whole time, correcting her history assignments with his annoying affinity for dates, tries to pay for her apartment, then, when she stubbornly insists she'll pay for it herself and gets her first job waitressing, compels the landlord to be okay with it when the rent cheque is a little late. He gets her flowers on her first day at the new job, arranges surprise parties on her birthday when she's too worn down to remember the day, invites Bonnie and Caroline and Jeremy and even Damon - and then it's time for a baby.

There are actually so many options here. Maybe Bonnie wants to be the surrogate. Maybe Elena wants to find a donor for artificial insemination to carry the baby herself. Maybe they bring a human third into their relationship cause why not, vampirism is already so damn weird. Maybe they adopt a baby! Maybe they even take in some distantly related family members like Elena and Jeremy were taken in. Either way it'd be fuckin cute. (If they have girls they're naming them Jenna and Lexi)

You're telling me Stefan wouldn't be the greatest dad? He's already the dad friend! Baby crying in the middle of the night? Stefan's there, before Elena can even wake up. Kids dealing with insomnia? He'll read them Tolkien and Beatrix Potter and many crusty old story books until his warm voice lulls them to sleep.

And the crew would be so great with kids. Caroline would spoil them on shopping trips, Bonnie would be teaching them all about nature, be such a kind, emotionally intelligent aunt, Jeremy would give them their first punk albums and sneak them to concerts when they get older, and Damon would be a bad influence. He'd take them on rides on his motorcycle, whisper all the family secrets to them, and ultimately be fiercely protective and a great uncle.

Beyond that, they'd probably have to move every so often, people side eyeing Stefan for never aging and an increasingly older Elena having a young boyfriend. God, people would call Elena a cougar and they'd laugh and joke that Stefan was a much "older soul" than people realize.

But like. Stefan would find her so sexy! As she grew older she'd grow more confident, sure of herself, take even less shit than she already does. She'd gain weight, get stretch marks, have her first grey hairs. She'd get smile lines, crows feet, a few aches and pains, maybe a c section scar. Stefan would love her every step of the way, reminding her exactly how every mark on her body, every sign of a life well lived made her that much hotter, that much more beautiful.

Elena getting to age, being her compassionate self, would probably have so many causes she'd become passionate about. Environmentalism, social justice, housing their homeless s neighbors! A bunch of stuff she'd learn about herself, the world, and impart those values on their kids, share those realizations with Stefan, and he'd love her more every day.

I know it may seem ~cringe~ but the idea of a vampire dating an older, or old, woman seems much more right to me than a teen girl who only looks his age. So like, get it Elena. Marry a vampire and be an old ass grandma with a hot boyfriend! Fuck it!

#Vampire diaries #Tvd #Elena #Damon #Stefan

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carelessgraces · 3 years

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thinking about astoria in her modern verses, both magical and mundane, and her relationship with her godparents. since i’ve made a few adjustments to her godparents, i figure it’s worth getting into here —

evander (1968-2009) and elyssa (1970-2009) vetri are astoria’s first cousins, once removed, the niece and nephew of her paternal grandmother. evander and elyssa were both born within a year of astoria’s father, gaspare; though the three didn’t see each other as often as they’d have liked, they were close nevertheless, and when they were together, they were inseparable. when it came time to name godparents for his youngest daughter, gaspare insisted on his cousins, fully believing that they would love her as much as he did, and care for her to the best of their ability if anything happened to him and his wife. but evander and elyssa’s lives took them to london, and gaspare moved to dublin to be with seraphina, and they saw each other less and less; astoria always knew of them, but didn’t know them particularly well.

when astoria was thirteen, during the summer holiday, evander and elyssa moved to dublin, claiming that they hoped to reconnect with the family. gaspare was ecstatic, and encouraged them to spend time with their goddaughter especially, and astoria was thrilled to get to know them better. elyssa’s influence began early: she laid the groundwork to subtly undermine astoria whenever she had the chance, calling into question her perception of reality whenever she had the opportunity, and making a point of diminishing all of astoria’s successes and skills as often as she could.

by the time that the evander and elyssa recommended withdrawing astoria from hargrove academy, her school in dublin, following the easter holiday, astoria had begun to beg for the same thing: of course her godparents could provide for her. of course they could teach her. they would take her to venice, and would bring her throughout europe; she would learn by experiencing and doing, would have the best tutors money could buy. her sense of self had been damaged to the point that, despite their skepticism, gaspare and seraphina agreed to the suggestion. thirteen was a hard age. lots of little girls started to hate themselves. maybe what astoria needed was more hands-on attention, where she was the only child being looked after.

they hadn’t realized that, for months, the vetris had been using astoria to transport weapons and stolen goods throughout dublin, often without her knowledge that she was carrying anything at all. ( who would suspect astoria — small for thirteen, pretty, bright? ) they had become donors at hargrove, which granted them access to her and freed them of suspicion when they were present on-campus, “visiting.” when she was withdrawn from hargrove and brought to london, she had already been an unknowing accomplice in a number of crimes, and at this point, things only got worse. if she struggled with her education, or questioned her guardians, or tried to get help, she was severely disciplined; she quickly learned how to hide the marks. while elyssa made her believe things weren’t as bad as they seemed, and that perhaps they were only disciplining her because it was the only way to get through to her, evander had become physically abusive.

she sent letters to her parents throughout their travels — london was their home base, but they moved frequently — and called regularly, and after the first time she tried to tell her parents to come get her, she didn’t try again. at fifteen, astoria was used as bait to kidnap one of the vetri’s rivals, left ( apparently ) alone and injured along a roadside. when the man they were targeting got out of his car to help her, the vetris stole the car, and took him with them. she was present for his murder, shortly after, and at this point, astoria realized that the only way she was getting away from them was if they were dead.

here’s the major divergence. in astoria’s modern witch verse, she waits until they attempt to steal a grimoire held in a catacomb in paris, heavily guarded. astoria catches a lucky glance at some notes, learning of some of the spells in place to protect the grimoire, and when they arrive, she begins to goad evander, knowing that he’ll lose his temper first. when, in his anger, he moves to strike her, she’s able to trigger one of the protective spells, which kills evander and traps elyssa with astoria — and when elyssa lunges at astoria, she does it again. she’s found two days later, dehydrated and weak, by the grimoire’s owners, and she explains that she was brought there against her will, that she didn’t know what was happening, begs for help, and appears entirely as a traumatized child. the grimoire’s owner takes pity on her, contacts her parents, and keeps her safe until their arrival; when her father heals her injuries with magic, he discovers several healed breaks, and she tells him, and her mother, the truth about the vetris and their abuse. she does not tell them about her participation, unwilling as it was, in their crimes, only that she observed them. she also doesn’t tell them that she killed evander and elyssa.

in astoria’s modern verse, she goads evander again, shortly after the murder, and he leaves her with a broken arm and clavicle. the following day, he and elyssa leave to take her to a hospital only after astoria ( very deliberately ) lets “slip” how much pain she’s in around a neighbor, who expresses concern. ( they explain it away as a fall, and astoria never complaining much, and that they had hoped it wasn’t a serious injury. the neighbor is a bit skeptical, but ultimately accepts this. ) while driving to the hospital, astoria goads evander again, over and over and over again, until he starts to lose his focus on the road — and a hard kick to his seat has him turning around to hit her again, and elyssa scrambling to keep them from veering off the road. elyssa isn’t able to help much. it’s a rainy day, and the roads aren’t great — just as astoria had expected — and they crash into a tree near the road. evander is killed on impact. astoria remains in the car, watching elyssa struggle, until she’s certain that elyssa won’t survive — then she drags herself out of the car and tries to flag down help.

when help arrives, she seems shocked, too traumatized to fully understand what’s happened. her parents come to her in the hospital, where a doctor quietly explains that her injuries are more extensive than what the accident caused, and that the healed fractures in her x-rays suggest abuse. she admits that she’s been abused, and that the vetris forced her to witness their crimes — not to participate, only to observe — but not her part in their deaths.

her one slip-up is that she gets her license within a month of turning sixteen, while in boston. she drives well, and she drives fast. her teachers and parents think it odd, but chalk it up to a desire to control something traumatizing for her. it’s the start of a lifelong love affair with cars.

in both cases — astoria moves in with her aunt ( her mother’s sister ) in the following months, to complete her schooling in boston. that takes some convincing, and her parents stay with her on and off during the next two years, but they know that she needs space, and that she needs a fresh start. a few years later she tells her brother, damon, about the abuse and asks him to tell her sisters; it’s not a story she wants to tell more than she has to. she tells iain an abridged version about three years into their relationship, and she typically doesn’t tell another soul for years — she only shares this information, and only a very limited version of this, if she believes it necessary. the only people who get the full story are her aunt astoria, who she lives with in boston, and a priest in boston eventually, if she ends up in a permanent and committed relationship, she will tell whoever she’s with the full story, but it takes a long time to get there.

#tw: abuse #tw: child abuse #tw: gaslighting #tw: violence #tw: car crash #tw: murder #(goodness it's a Lot i'm sorry)#i. she had a marvelous time ruining everything. ( about )

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