its a city of strangers

[notwitty]

Comments

[blackstarred]

[Mia is surprised, but if William's going to be off having a clandestine romantic moment, Mia should be able to have some fun too.]

Sure. Have a place in mind?

[havethings]

We're insular from Mystic Falls, very what's here is what's here. The bar in the hotel?

[blackstarred]

[They could. But also ...]

My uncle has a club here in Prague. I promised him I'd check it out if I ever came through. Want to try it with me?

[havethings]

Sure. Meet you downstairs?

( And she does, letting Mia take the lead. )

How many clubs does your uncle own?

[blackstarred]

... A lot. It's kind of his thing.

[She opens the door and turns to lead the way down towards the latest franchise opening of Verdant.]

He inherited a lot of money from his father and decided that the best thing to do with it is invest in a field of business he would have hated and be wildly successful.

[She rolls her eyes. She loves her Uncle Tommy, but he's a little ridiculous.]

[havethings]

So, to spite his father.

( How foreign a feeling. She held resentment for hers for so long, but she'd never do something because he hated it, or them. Not yet, at least. )

I don't know what the equivalent for me would be.

[blackstarred]

His dad was also an actual supervillain.

[Not that Hope's isn't. But ... no actually, Malcolm Merlyn and Klaus might actually be on the same level at some points in their lives, so she's not going to bother to correct herself.]

Spite seems to be the best approach when it comes to dealing with Malcolm Merlyn's legacy.

[havethings]

Is it always fathers?

( It's not, sometimes, it's mothers. Her mother was probably the villain in someone's story. Her grandmother certainly was. )

[blackstarred]

... Only because the mothers are usually dead.

[It's comics source material, we know what these origin stories were.]

But no. I'm sure there are some evil moms out there too. Or aunts, in the case of Allison Argent.

[havethings]

Or grandmothers, in the case of mine.

( She thinks. )

And grand aunts.

( She smirks. )

You could find someone on the planet who sees any one of my family members as villains. My dad was. For a long time.

[blackstarred]

[Mia nods before shrugging.]

So was my dad, technically. I mean, he saw himself as a hero, but in his early years he did some pretty shady stuff. Star City hated him on and off.

[havethings]

I know the basics.

( But not much past that. MG is their superhero guy. Landon, SciFi. But not Hope. )

[blackstarred]

He's a complicated guy.

[Verdant looms in the distance, and they probably could use a drink if they're going to dig into their daddy issues. And, with all the confidence of a rich kid who gets in everywhere, she strides right up to the doorman rather than acknowledging the line:]

Mia Queen. She's with me.

[She gestures to Hope. The doorman checks the list, before nodding and waving them both through.]

[havethings]

Bumperstickers my dad and your dad share.

( Interesting. )

Mia Queen has clout.

[blackstarred]

Helps to know the owner.

[Verdant pulses with sound once they step in the door, with the tell-tale green lights strobing through the dance floor packed with people. It's a scene Mia remembers well, one she used to enjoy not that long ago.

It's a great way to hide.

She steps to the side, before leaning towards Hope.]

We can grab a booth or I can see if we can get one of the rooms.

[She points up to the glass walled private rooms on the floor above.]

[havethings]

Your choice. But, I've always been a fan of privacy.

( Hope's never been to a place like this, both from her age and from the home town of her school. It's loud, thrumming, thumping and dark, but bright at the same time. )

[blackstarred]

Room it is.

[And it doesn't take much for her to get it, once she talks to one of the hostesses. They order their drinks and are escorted up to one of the rooms overlooking the dance floor.

It's quieter, but you can still feel the thrum of the bass in the floor.]

But yeah. My dad started out killing people and then he got ... less outright murderous in defending the city? But his first impression never really wore off.

[havethings]

( This really is the life, and better than the busy floor below. What do people like about night clubs again? )

My dad is The Great Evil. He's a subject in, like, four of our history books.

[blackstarred]

That must be rough.

[Mia settles onto one of the couches, getting comfortable.]

Having to shoulder a legacy that heavy.

[havethings]

( Hope follows a waitress with her eyes who delivers bottle service, but doesn't turn back. )

I'm also the only one of my kind, so. My legacy is pretty much blood, paranoia, and isolation.

[blackstarred]

Fun.

[She says it somewhat sarcastically, but she's still sympathetic.]

But you don't seem to be isolating yourself. You're here with your friends. That's good, right?

[havethings]

That took time. The - headmaster, the twins' father, he sort of took me under his wing because my dad was MIA being fake crazy. They resented me for it, and I was never nice anyway. But, I grew into friendship?

( Which is good. )

[blackstarred]

I have the opposite problem.

[She takes a drink.]

I had the friends and the connections. And then I got my Slayer powers, freaked out and ran away. Though piece of advice, don't fall in love with your dad's best friend's kid because ... the expectations get way too high.

[havethings]

So, you ran because of your powers, and not because of the pressure you felt you were under.

( She looks back, then, assuming it was probably both. Slayer powers or not, those expectations sound confining. Her father's expectations are Hope growing into herself, whatever that looks like. She can do very little wrong, even when she's done wrong. )

Was it more pressure from your father, or his?

( Or was it the pressure she put on herself?

Hope can never live up to how she wants to be, and that pressure is always directed inward. )

[blackstarred]

[It was a little of both.]

More from ... him, actually. I don't think either of our parents would have really cared one way or another but JJ ... I think he had this whole picture in his head. Didn't really bother to ask if I was on the same page.

[There's a beat as she thinks about how that sounded.]

It's not that I didn't love him, because I did. But ... not like that. Not the way he wanted me to.