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bogusavathepit · 2 years

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Irina and Laurent---Love or Not?

Image Credit: The Twilight Saga Fandom Wiki

I have thought about Laurent and Irina’s relationship and this is my headcanon for why I think that they were as much “mates” as any other vampire mates despite some thinking that Laurent carelessness for Irina proves they were not “true” mates.

Sources

The Lore from the Actual Books

The Official Site

the Twilight Illustrated Guide book

A. Context of Mates

The Twilight Guide says this under the section “VAMPIRE LIFESTYLES AND PSYCHOLOGY”:

BONDING FACTORS:

Most commonly, a coven is made up of two members. One feature of the unchanging nature of vampires is that they mate for life. Once they fall in love, that feeling never fades. As a general rule, only the bond between mates is strong enough to survive the competitive drive for blood. Larger covens are less stable, and usually end because of internal violence.

The second bonding force, and one that is—unlike romantic love—able to keep a large coven stable, is ambition. Vampires are competitive by nature, and some vampires have been able to evolve this competitive disposition into a greater cause capable of uniting many individuals into a secure whole. The pursuit of power is that bonding cause for vampires. The Romanians were the first to do this successfully for a significant length of time.

The third, and rarest, bonding force is the vampire conscience. Very few vampires are born with or develop a value for human life. The consumption of human blood is such a known aspect of vampire life that few ever question it; the driving thirst for human blood seems irresistible.

However, those who do learn to value human life in spite of this reality are able to subsist on animal blood. Vampires who live this way are sometimes referred to as “vegetarians.” Animal blood is unappealing to vampires, and thus a difficult diet to maintain. Those who make the sacrifice, though, experience related benefits. In the absence of human blood, the competitive drive disappears. Vampires are able to form bonds of love in addition to the bond between mates. The weak coven alliance is replaced by a strong, family-style union.

VENGEANCE:

Another prevalent vampire trait, along with strong romantic bonds and the intense competitive streak, is that of a vengeful nature. Related again to their unchanging state, vampires are not forgiving; they do not move past an insult or injury. The most common example of vampire vengeance is the aftermath of the loss of a mate. When a vampire loses his mate, he never recovers from it. He cannot rest until the party responsible (usually another vampire, given the strength necessary to destroy a vampire) is eradicated. Centuries can pass without lessening the ferocity of his need for vengeance.

AND

@troquantary says of vampires and their mates:

It’s a grief they can’t forget, because they can’t forget anything, and that grief is the dark side of the strength and constancy with which vampires love their mates.

Vampires fall in love and stay in love forever once it “holds”. Even after death, the vampire will never stop feeling those feels for that person. This is canon and very well known. However, it seems that a mate equals “soulmate” for some people canonically, and I don’t agree that this is canon.

Here is a full explanation for why, but to summarize, a “mate” is the designated term for a vampire’s official romantic partner due to the pursued circumstance, not the metaphysical determined event, of vampires having brains that can never forget and due to vampires living and thus being together “forever”.

Yes, I think there are some vampire mates that have a noticeably ideal(er) and “stronger” bond than others. But what makes a mating is not whether or not vampires “genuinely” love each other in the truest philosophical sense (if we could ever get to agree what that entails as a group), but that they the characters themselves perceive the other to be the other’s perfect match and accordingly to the circumstances of them coming together.

Thus matings’ occurrences are very dependent on the personalities as well as the circumstances that those personalities are responding to. Just like any other human relationship....just cranked up to 1000.

B. Irina and Laurent

It is undoubtable that Irina felt a lot for Laurent. What about vice versa?

Some might argue that they weren't close enough to merit being called "mates" because Laurent was able to leave her (even for a short time) and be dishonest about him feeding other humans before ever even considering killing Bella. How can "true" mates lie to each other or disregard each other's other delicate bonds with other, after all (Denali-Cullen bond)? How can he feel near nothing for her and she feels so much for him when Edward couldn’t stand to be away from Bella for more than a year and even then was always on the brink of caving? When Marcus couldn’t bear to live properly without Didyme? When Jasper would definitely leave the Cullens for Alice? When Bree was absolutely devastated when she finally let herself realize that Diego was gone forever?

I would say, yes they weren't “close” or dramatically in love. Doesn’t mean there was no love at all, or that they would never have gotten into a relationship. And I think that vampire mates are not actually soulmates but just a consequence of having perfect recall due to being a vampire and unable to “forget” their mates.

The “degree” of romantic love doesn’t really define the relationship.

But Laurent, as a person of himself, does not have fixed values or morals and is principally very selfish while also being weak-willed. He will do most things for his own pleasure but is also very much a follower, going where the strongest is so he can benefit from them. He values leisure, status, comfort, and his own survival over everything else. And while most vampires are self-centered, Laurent is “unique” in his decadence and desire to self-indulge.

So I imagine that any and all social bonds he forms will be “weak” in terms of trust and intimacy...at least at first and for a very long time. He will not see the meaningful or deep value in emotional bonds after centuries of using them as means to self-preserve and not to actually care for someone until he's forced to by way of his own self-preservation or ego/pride and comfort. For someone like him to fall in love, it would have to take someone who can appeal to those things at first at least and then convince him that they are worth more than the materials they may or may not offer.

And though Laurent said that he liked all the Denali sisters (sexually is probably one happenstance), he apparently liked Irina the best, as he told Bella in New Moon. Even though Tanya is reportedly the most beautiful of the Denalis (on Rosalie’s level) and Laurent had some sex-eyes for Rosalie in the baseball scene (Midnight Sun), he somehow still managed to find Irina much more appealing than Tanya, enough for him to spare her a thought and think of going back to live with her after this.

This implies that Irina is giving him something that has gotten his attention for longer, perhaps deeper.

And I think he would have gone back to the Denalis because:

Victoria presented a threat to him because he left her to deal with the Cullens and James died--Vicky likely felt that Laurent betrayed her and was instrumental to James dying-------the Denalis were basically the only ones besides the Cullens who could provide the best asylum for him

He might have not wanted to present himself as a threat to the Cullens, who he might have felt would have looked at him with some suspicion without him trying out the veggie lifestyle, which they considered to be the more peaceful option, but that is my headcanon

He himself, of his own volition, said in Twilight and by how Edward tells us in Midnight Sun, that he wanted the trappings of a stabler lifestyle where he wore nicer clothes more frequently and didn't have to move constantly, having his own territory for longer and with as little fighting as possible. The Denalis can provide all that. Which would and did allow him to stay longer and develop more of a bond with Irina

(My Bigger Reasons) The plan for Forever Dawn, Breaking Dawn's predecessor, was that Laurent lives and stays with the Denalis indefinitely with Irina while Victoria becomes the informant on the Cullens. Breaking Dawn is basically Forever Dawn but with this change and the fact that Jacob doesn't fall in love with Bella and meets Renesmee totally by accident and then still imprints on her. I think this further suggests that Meyer felt that Laurent, while weak-willed and an asshat to Irina, would have developed feelings that constituted him being devastated with Irina's hypothetical death the way mates usually are....it would just take circumstances forcing him to stay and pay more attention to her. Which sounds hateful to me, but apparently for them, it was supposed to work for them.

He basically says as much to Bella when he tells her the plan of how he will get away with murdering her safely.

We can argue that since vampires' motivations, habits, and behaviors don't change until they are faced with a strong catalyst--usually romantic love--then we can suppose Laurent would have seen first his own self-preservation and then Irina as his catalysts or that his self-preservation leads him to his reason to actually want to stay for more than his self-preservation.

With this in mind, we could say that, again, our special baby boy Laurent had to have more time to regard Irina than other vampires did/do with their current/prospective mates

C. A Couple of Other Couples, In “Depth”

A) Peter and Charlotte

It took Peter a long while to realize his feelings but they got there and he decided to risk dying to save her, even though he would have fought against Jasper, his absolute best friend (or at least, most trusted compatriot) for her life.

Peter values loyalty and physical strength, of what little I can glean. Laurent is materialistic and values status. It will be different, how they approach romance and partners even if they were set up to choose all on their own.

I'd say that theirs is likely as deep or strong as Rosalie and Emmett’s if we’re talking how ready one or both is to sacrificing themselves for their mate’s survival, but we're just not shown its intimate details as compared to the mentioned Cullen pair.

B) Edward and Bella

Look, these two are the anomalies. Edward fell in love with a human--which never happens and Aro/Suplicia, Benji/Tia, Makenna/Charles, and Amun/Kebi do not count--and Bella trusted him enough to not eat her. Vampires tend to fall in love or partner up with other vampires and humans tend to either beg to be changed just for power and fear of death or to (try) run and scream.

Edward is very different person from Laurent. He values loyalty and preserving familial bonds over material things while Laurent values leisure, status, material things and his own preservation amongst most things. His romantic relationship with anyone will look very different from Marcus, Edward, etc.

All vampire couples, regardless of how “strong” their bond is--as Marcus terms it in BD--, get called “mates”. Edward and Bella, seeing themselves as a couple and each other’s top priorities, would not be and are not excluded. But their love is seen as extreme and unique, there fore they are not the rule. Which is why we have a whole 4 books about their romance.

C) Rosalie and Emmett

Emmett is a part of her support system, as well as part of her emotional compensation for her trauma and all that she has lost: a human future with a family of her own. He is a very simple person, unchanging and uninterested in to changing his behavior. He is satisfied with who he is and what he values and he thinks Rosalie is pretty perfect, even if it is half-and-half due to Rose’s looks. He does like that she is so fierce and tenacious, too. I imagine that he likes how “wild” and combative she can get to prove a point. This wouls all be very comforting for Rosalie, who wants to be romanced and to see herself as a loveable. Emmett provides that in spades.

...yes with the exception of that comment about how she’s “bitchy” instead of defensing her the way we would want our SO to. But, Rosalie is more or less satisified, and well...*shrug*

However, he could be said to also be a hook that will forever keep her within her own unhappiness of being a vampire and childless forever. Very much like how someone might interpret how children are for many women who become mothers.

Anyway, personality and circumstance.

D) Alice and Jasper

This is a hard one because I think their relationship is mostly based on an unequal, metaphysical, and the most befuddling of most of the vampire pairs. We don’t really get to see why Alice is a good fit for Jasper and vice versa other than the suggestion that her gift makes it supposedly easier for him to not give in to his instincts constantly screaming at him to kill and drain the nearest human. And Jasper convienently was the reference point for Alice to begin making a self after her reset waking up into vampirism. They are supposed to be each other’s only possible North Star, touchstone, etc. Yet, apparently Jasper would have killed Alice if she went up to him too early.

I personally headcanon them to have been dancing around each other even after Alice confronted him with the whole, you’re my eternal lover bit since Jasper’s trust is still an earned thing. But her confidence would have thrown him off enough to seeing what she’s up to.

This is what the Guide had to say about them:

Under Alice’s bio --> “Though her greeting was characteristically cryptic, Jasper’s ability to feel the emotions of those around him allowed him to appreciate the magnitude of the occasion. Alice was already in love; Jasper quickly learned to reciprocate.”

Under Jasper’s bio --> “In 1948, Jasper encountered Alice. She approached Jasper as if they were close friends and told him he’d kept her waiting a long time. Jasper was puzzled and wary, but Alice’s joyful emotions impacted him greatly. When Alice held out her hand, he took it. And he felt an unfamiliar emotion: hope.”

For all intents and purposes, Jasper is his pain and will to deal with pain. Perhaps, for Jasper, Alice is:

a constant well of surprises that are always enjoyable rather than frightening actions to guard against

hat maybe he also likes that she is self-assured and was never and never will be scared of him

perhaps her self confidence and (comparatively) satisfaction with not constantly looking to him for emotional reassurance (while still being interested)

perhaps it is because he likes that Alice is actually more of a planner than she looks, which is comforting to an ex-military man

he says in Eclipse, that when he first met her he “For the first time in a almost a century, [he] felt hope” after not “stopping to make sense of what [he] was doing” when he took her hand (301). And that Alice has a made a “climate [he] enjoyed” as opposed to the pervious fear-tinged one (302). In other words, Alice is instrumental by challenging his conceived limitations, idk.

And for all intents and purposes, Alice is her gift. Perhaps for Alice Jasper’s appeal is that:

he is generally reserved and careful/meticulous in how he approaches fraught situations. Very good in a crisis situation (except bloody ones). It would appeal to her inner need for any type of order, metaphysical or otherwise order, this Jasper mentally needing to plan for how he succeed in confrontations and disasters. Especially with how she had to wake up alone and not knowing herself--a different but harrowing sort of disaster. It may assure her that he is a consummate planner, thus can work with her to order both the far future and immediate present/future.

Jasper may have had felt totally assured by Alice’s determination and so thus this compliments Alice.

IDK

All of these about Jalice are barely supported headcanons, so.....

#twilight mates #laurent twilight #irina twilight #twilight #the denalis #twilight love #love in twilight #Twilight vampire mates #vampire mates #irina denali

18 notes · View notes

therealvinelle · 3 years

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Ok I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm just now copying your Norwegian Bella AU into a text translator, and if you don't already have 50 people in your inbox demanding a translation then shame on ALL OF US because this is glorious! And while Google Translate does have a certain charm (it translated "piper hun ut" as "she beeps") I'm curious to see how you'd put it in English.

Troquantary is referring to this post. In which Bella doesn't speak English.

Fun fact, you're the only one who's gone into my inbox to request this. I was so sad, had the translation half-written and everything, but I was too proud to beg. So thank you, Troquantary, for popping this ask.

As for the dictionary fuckups, sounds about right. I made a few typos, too, that made Google Translate suffer even more. (Such as managing to mix up "henne" (her) and "hendene" (hands), resulting in Aro patting Bella instead of clapping his hands. Poor Google.)

Also, there are a few cultural references and language things that would be lost in the translation, in an attempt to keep them I included notes clarifying things.

Some things, like Aro and Carlisle's very old man way of speaking, are easier said than done to translate, you'll have to bear with me there.

Additional notes are that I added a few things to this version, many of them because translating is hard, but a few because while translating I thought "oh you know what would be much funnier-" and then wrote that.

Alright, without further ado:

When Renée left Charlie she did not go to Florida, she went to Oslo. And she went all in to make her daughter a true Norwegian, hiring Norwegian nannies and making sure never to speak English around the child. Since transatlantic flights are expensive, little Bella Swan rarely got to visit her father, and as such she never did learn what should have been her native language.

She quickly forgot what English she did have in favor of Norwegian, with the exception of words like “Yes”, “No”, and “I’m Bella”.

The few trips she took to visit her father were all the more awkward than in canon since she couldn’t play with the Black kids. Let not the blame fall upon Charlie: he took Norwegian classes and speaks conversational Norwegian. He can’t speak to Renée, because her Norwenglish is incomprehensible even to Norwegians, but he can communicate with Bella.

Not that he’s had a lot of chances to do so.

Bella makes it to seventeen years old, she’s in second grade at Handels* and is a major outsider among the preps there, and then Renée marries a handsome skier**. Together they shall travel the continent all winter to participate in as many skiing races as they can, and in the summer they’ll take gigs at Hurtigruta to see the coast.

*“Handels” is the nickname for an Oslo high school infamous for its pupils being rich and beautiful blonds who are going to be CEOs when they grow up.

**Skiing as a sport is huge in Norway

***Hurtigruta is a famous ferry that travels across the Norwegian West coast

Bella, who sucks at skiing and is too young to work at Hurtigruten, takes the hint.

With dread in her stomach and dictionary in hand she goes to her father in America.

Where she doesn’t speak the language.

Faen.

Charlie gives her a car, and I wish this meta was set in the present because I could have joked about electric cars and the automat only driver’s license*, but Twilight is set in 2005 so I can’t. The car part proceeds without drama.

*An increasing number of Norwegian youth take the driver’s license for automatic cars only, and we’re the country in the world with the highest percentage of electric car purchases.

School is worse than in canon, because she is now a thousand times more sensational than if she was merely the new student. She is from another country! All of Forks keels over with excitement.

To make matters even worse, our girl doesn’t understand a word of what people are saying.

She is too awkward to let them know she doesn’t know English. It’d become a thing, and they might think she’s dumb. To be fair, it’s not good that she’s been through primary, secondary, and now a year and a half of high school and still sucks at English.

So she nods, smiles, mumbles “Hi, I’m Bella” to the new faces, and blushes heavily when anybody says anything.

People assume she’s shy. That’s a bit boring, but oh well.

She has her biology class with the redhead hottie she noticed during lunch. She watched him and his family, they were fascinatingly pretty, but she doesn’t know anything more about them. Sure would have been great if she could have asked the tiny girl (was it Jess?) about them.

Biology proceeds as in canon - Edward badly wants to eat the delicious girl, but fortunately doesn’t.

She runs into him in the office when he tries to switch to another biology lesson, but she has no idea what he’s saying so she only has the suspicion that this somehow concerns her. Which is still uncomfortable, but Bella is probably the problem here. The hottie surely can’t be.

He’s missing from school for a week, Bella finds that weird.

He returns, and to her great horror he starts talking to her.

“Hello”, he says.

Bella dies inside. He’s too handsome!

"I'm Edward Cullen," he continues, and ok, she got that. The hottie is called Edward, that’s good to know. She’s not sure she caught that last name, though, Köln?

He says something else, it’s gibberish to Bella even though she’s concentrating, and at the end there he says “Bella Swan”.

She gulps.

"I'm Bella Swan," she confirms and nods. That should be correct. God, she hopes it’s correct.

He smiles a crooked, boyish smile. She’s awed. She didn’t think it was possible to be so beautiful.

He says something else.

Bella didn’t catch it.

She blushes even harder, she hasn’t been more embarrassed in her life. Here he is, the most handsome guy in all the world, and she has nothing to say to him. Literally, they don’t speak the same language.

She should tell him.

It’s one thing to chicken out of telling the town she doesn’t speak English, but there’s something different about Edward Cullen. He deserves the truth.

But...

He’s the most beautiful person she has seen in her life. He is American, too, so the odds of him knowing Norwegian are microscopical. If he finds out she doesn’t understand a word he says he’ll stop talking to her, and selfish as she is she doesn’t want that.

So with a slightly guilty conscience (but not enough to fess up) she contributes to the conversation with enough words and smiles to pull through. "Yes", "No", "Thank you", and "That's nice".

He is surprised by several of these answers, but instead of giving her odd looks and losing interest he grows more invested in the conversation.

Class ends.

The next day the near accident happens, and he saves her. She is stunned - dear god, did he just pick up a whole car? After teleporting across the parking lot..?

Soon she’s in the ER, and more than a little bit stressed about that fact since she knows the Americans have a terrible healthcare system.

She hopes Charlie has an insurance.

An insanely beautiful man walks into the ER, and Bella is shocked. He is just as handsome as Edward and Edward’s lunch friends!

He introduces himself as Carlisle Cullen, and Bella can only assume this is someone’s older brother. Possibly related to the blonde girl.

He smiles at her, says something, and she answers, "I'm Bella Swan."

He frowns.

That must have been the wrong answer, then.

His hands return to investigating her scalp, and to her great surprise he switches to perfect Norwegian, "kjenner De* noe ubehag når jeg holder her?" Do you feel any discomfort when I touch here?

*De is the Norwegian polite pronoun for “you”. Du = thou = the French tu, and De = you = the French vous. These polite pronouns went out of use in the 1980’s, save for when addressing royal persons, and would be considered antiquated in 2005.

He hurries to add, "Norsk lærte jeg i... fjor sommer. Det var et nettkurs." I learned Norwegian… last year. Online class.

"Hvilket da?" Which one? Bella asks, because Charlie needs to hear about this. The doctor has beautiful, if slightly outdated, pronunciation.

The doctor’s smile turns uncertain. She gets the feeling there’s something he doesn’t want to say. "Husker ikke," I don’t remember, sier han etter en litt vel lang pause.

That’s a shame. And weird.

"De hadde hellet med Dem i dag, som ikke ble truffet av den bilen." You were lucky today, not getting hit by that car. he then says, noticeably changing the subject.

"Det var ikke hell, det var Edward," It wasn’t luck, it was Edward, she replies sharply.

The doctor definitely looks uncomfortable.

She continues, "Han krysset skolegården på et blunk, og plukket opp hele bilen. Jeg så det," He crossed the schoolyard in a moment, and picked up the whole car. I saw it,

The doctor laughs. "Om han kunne det hadde nok gymkarakteren hans vært meget bedre. Nei, frøken Swan*, jeg beklager å si at det høres ut som at De er litt omtåket. Det er helt normalt ved hjernerystelse." If he could do that, his PE grade would be a lot better. No, Miss Swan, I’m sorry to say you seem confused. That’s normal with concussions.

*Addressing a young woman as “frøken” is even more outdated than using polite pronouns.

Why does Bella get the feeling he’s lying?

She’s discharged.

We’ll jump ahead to her trip to La Push - that trip uneventful, since Jacob knows she doesn’t speak English. They stick their hands in their pockets and stare at the sea.

The next day she’s shanghaied to Port Angeles, because apparently she said “Yes” at the wrong time when talking to Jessica (Turns out Jess’s name was Jessica!) and accidentally said yes to a day trip to Port Angeles.

Like in canon she wanders away from the others, and as in canon she is nearly gang raped. And again as in canon she is saved at the last moment by Edward.

He buys her dinner, and she can’t believe her own luck- and misfortune. A date with the most handsome guy on the planet (hence the luck) and she can’t say a word to him (hence the misfortune)!

He says things to her, lends her his jacket, and really this is it for Bella, she’s peaked, life can’t get better than this.

(That’s a lie, it would be better if she spoke English.)

He’s so amazing.

She’s gotten pretty good at navigating conversations with him, so she nods and aha’s her way through.

In his car on the way home the tone takes a more serious turn.

He asks her about something, and it’s a serious question, that much she’s gathered. She answers in the confirmative.

He is silent.

Did she say anything wrong?

(Edward, on his end, just asked if she knows what he is. She said yes, so calmly, not even a trace of fear in her.)

A few days later he takes her out on a walk in the woods.

He shows her a meadow in the woods, and when he steps into it he lights up in the sunlight.

Bella is in shock.

She knew there was something different about him, but- holy cow. This guy isn’t human.

Is she dating a god?

She stumbles into the clearing after him, and they spend a day together where he says things, and she can barely hear any of it (nevermind understand it) because she’s so distracted by how pretty he is.

The next day he takes her to a house in the middle of nowhere. She doesn’t want to guess that this can be where he lives. Surely gods don’t live in houses?

He shows her inside the house, and introduces her for Dr. Cullen and a lady with a name she doesn’t catch.

Bit weird that these two are acting like a couple of parents, they’re far too young and divine for that.

Edward shows her around in an old-fashioned office, and she doesn’t know what to make of i when she sees a painting of Carlisle. Edward launches into a long story when he sees her watching it, unfortunately she doesn’t catch any dates or artist names. At one point she heard the word “suicide”, though, and that’s not good.

She doesn’t get much out of the story.

The baseball game doesn’t happen because Bella didn’t pick up on what Edward wanted and didn’t realize she was being invited to a thing. They spend the afternoon watching a movie instead.

The relationship continues, impeded slightly by communication problems, but she’s mostly able to cover those up.

Until her birthday comes around.

She gets a papercut.

Jasper lunges at her. Edward throws her into a glass table, and then everyone is leaving.

Carlisle is kind enough to switch to Norwegian when he’s stitching up her arm, perhaps remembering the last time she was his patient. "Jasper har ikke vært på dietten vår så veldig lenge." Jasper hasn’t been on our diet for very long.

"Diett?"she asks. She’s never seen Edward eat anything. She wasn’t clear on what the Cullens ate, honestly she thought they were above such things. She was thinking maybe photosynthesis. The knowledge that they apparently eat food astounds her, but diets?

"Dyreblod istedenfor menneskeblod," Animal blood in stead of human blood, Carlisle clarifies.

Whachasay?

Carlisle gives a slight smile. “Jaspers liv som vampyr fikk en brutal start." Jasper’s life as a vampire got off to a brutal start.

...

Vampire?!

Bella’s missed something here.

Oh dear lord, oh fy faen, she has missed something.

“Åja”, uh huh, is all she can say, and suddenly she’s very aware of the fact that she’s sitting there with a bleeding arm.

And Carlisle.

Who is a vampire.

Over the course of the following conversation Bella makes a host of discoveries.

Edward has been a vampire this whole time, and he’s a telepathic vampire. Whether Bella should be a vampire too or not has been a matter of hot debate, but due to religious reasons Edward doesn’t want that.

Carlisle also brings up how Edward died of the Spanish flu.

"Jeg var under den oppfatning at Edward fortalte deg bakhistorien min?" I was under the impression Edward told you my back story? Carlisle asks at one point, and Bella just has to ask very nicely if he’d be so kind as to repeat it.

Turns out the guy is nearly four hundred years old.

Jaha.

Jahahaha jaa ha.

That’s… a lot.

She wanders out of the house in shock, and hardly notices Edward’s strange behavior over the next couple of days.

One day he picks her up at school, and takes her behind the house.

That works out.

He’s a vampire, but he never hurt her. He is endlessly beautiful, perhaps easier to love now that she knows he’s not a god. He’s her Edward, and that’s suddenly easier now that she knows.

They can still be together.

But now that she knows this about him, it’s about time he knows something about her as well.

It’s time to finally be honest with him.

So when he opens his mouth, she opens her mouth as well, but she doesn’t get any further than to “Edward-” before he launches into a monologue.

She’ll have to wait until he’s done before saying her piece. It’s a bit embarrassing, but it doesn’t seem like he intends to stop talking anyway.

And what he’s saying seems to be serious, so it’s probably best to let him finish.

Edward concludes his monologue by kissing her forehead. Then he disappears.

Where did he go?

A big unsure, Bella goes back to the house. She’ll just have to wait until he gets back.

She doesn’t know what to think when Charlie returns from work and tells her the Cullens have all left.

Oh, god.

Edward must have found out she doesn’t speak English.

She made a mockery of him.

He has every right to leave.

Knowing this doesn’t make it any easier to live with.

Bella sinks into a depression.

The hallucinations begin, as in canon, though Hallusinward speaks Norwegian. Thank god for small mercies.

The friendship with Jacob (dictionary in hand) blooms, as someone has to help her see those hallucinations.

The cliff diving happens, and Alice shows up. Bella’s not sure what this is about, but she has gotten good enough at English to know that something bad happened, and Alice wants them to do something.

She’s a bit surprised to find herself on a plane to Italy, though.

Alice tells her to “Run to Edward” and ok, she got that, actually.

So she saves Edward.

After that she’s taken into the sewer, which turns out to house dozens of vampires.

Bella, Edward, and Alice are received in some kind of hall, where an unusual vampire has quite a bit to say. She understands some of what he’s saying, at least the part about “la tua cantante”. She knows a bit about Italian, see, so she knows that he’s talking about a song now.

She wishes she knew the context.

At one point he takes her hand, and appears fascinated by it. She wonders if he’s a palmreader. Not very vampirey, but what does she know.

He asks her a question.

"Yes," she says.

Saying yes has gotten her this far, after all.

But when he lights up and claps his hands together, and Edward and Alice stare at her in shock and betrayal, she knows she must have said the wrong thing.

The two are dismissed from the room before Bella can do or say anything, she’s just listening to Edward make a racket outside in the hallway.

Not good.

The unusual vampire brings her further down in his sewer palace to a basement, and she is given comfortable clothes to wear.

This is getting terrifying.

The vampire leans towards her - and she chickens out.

"Jeg snakker ikke engelsk!" she squeaks. "Non habla ingles!" I don’t speak English.

Han stanser, og ser forvirret ut. "Que- Hva behager*?" I beg your pardon? spør han etter et øyeblikk.

*A very formal, and slightly outdated (you can use it, but people will think you’re putting on airs. And they will be right) way of saying “excuse me?”

Sobbing, Bella tells him the whole story, from how she didn’t want to be the weird kid in school to how she’s now somehow in Italy without knowing why nor what she just agreed to.

When she’s done the vampire starts laughing.

"Dette forklarer jo en hel del," This explains quite a bit, ler han. "Men, kjære Bella, jeg er redd det ikke endrer noe." But, my dear Bella, I’m afraid it changes nothing.

He tells her that she has agreed to serve him and his army of undead warriors into eternity.

Well fuck.

"Du skal få slippe det, når du ikke visste hva du samtykket til - men skjebnen din forblir den samme. Loven er loven." You’re released from that promise, as you didn’t know what you agreed to - but your fate remains the same. The law is the law.

After a moment of silence, during which she looks terrified, he hurries to add, "Vi har en lov. Du må bli en av oss." We have a law. You must become one of us.

A law that Bella Swan has to become a vampire?

People are finally speaking Norwegian, and Bella is still lost. And it’s too embarrassing to keep pestering this poor, polite man with questions.

So she nods.

He gives her a glittering smile, and bites her.

When she wakes, Aro offers her an English course. A language course that, naturally, leads to her staying in Volterra. Why not learn a few more languages while we’re at it, dearest Bella?

Some time later Edward breaks into Volterra to save his Rapunzel, only to barely recognize her now that she’s a vampire who says things. Lots of things, she talks all the time now. WHAT DID ARO DO TO HER.

Too mortified to admit that she never spoke English, Bella claims she’s been brainwashed.

Aro is having too much fun to correct her, and the whole sad affair sets off a regrettable flood of rumors.

#troquantary #norwegian things #bella swan #twilight #twilight meta #twilight renaissance #evighetens kyss #evighetens kyss meta #evighetens kyss renessanse

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