some guys think they can't be winners

[beanchaointe]

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[praevaricatio]

I'd say, me too, but you know Neuro barely brings the straightforward.

( He always has to dig for the solution. )

I clipped an aneurysm.

( He holds the elevator for her when it opens. )

[braveandstupid]

Congratulations.

[Because that is always a tough surgery to get. More delicate than Elena would have been comfortable taking on.]

Everything go okay?

[praevaricatio]

We're keeping him overnight for observation.

( But it was pretty standard. He steps closer to Elena as more doctors step on to the elevator chattering away. )

[braveandstupid]

Hopefully he'll make a full recovery.

[She's got her fingers crossed. And with that, off they go to the Grille, where they claim a booth and order their coffee.]

So ... start from the beginning. Were you part of a coven before you met David?

[praevaricatio]

Sort of. David is - think old money. Think the Vanderbilts and David is Anderson Cooper, and I would be Andy Cohen. West Coast new money. My mother and her cohorts, her coven, eventually, taught themselves magic. They weren't born, they didn't worship the wrong demon, they just - found each other and found magic. The story changes, depending on what woman you ask, but, the objective was the same. Bettering, first, the planet, and eventually, their own lives.

It wasn't smooth sailing, hand socialites magic and they aren't going to be singularly generous.

I - unlike my mother, have power. I was born with it. So was my father. There's more about my parents' marriage, the push and pull, the secrets, and everything temporarily unraveling when I discovered my magic as a teenager... but, they whethered the storm, gained the respect of their peers and now lead the West Coast chapter of their coven: Eckankar.

( Which does have a real meaning, if Elena wants to do a knowledge check. They have a foothold in major pop culture, Hollywood, and HGTV etc. )

[braveandstupid]

[Her eyebrows go up, because yes, she knows that name.]

Wow.

[Okay then. That definitely isn't the vibes she would have thought of when it came to what Jo and Bonnie have told her about the Colony. What she does know about this involved has weight to it, but she's not here to probe him about his parents. At least, not right now:]

So when did David come into the picture?

[praevaricatio]

( That is because the Colony is separate from Eckankar. )

When I graduated college, I came home to find a new member had worked his way into Eckankar's inner circle. He was the guest of honor at one of my mother's famous dinner parties.

[braveandstupid]

And you ... hit it off?

[Where is this story going? Please continue, you have her intrigued.]

[praevaricatio]

Not at first, and not even close. My mother is not a woman who welcomes just anyone, and neither is the coven.

( So, that alone, how familiar he was with everyone was disconcerting. )

How much do you know about demons?

[braveandstupid]

[She shrugs because she hasn't done as much of a deep dive as she should have when dating Dean Winchester (7).]

The basics, I guess? I know that they possess people and you can sell your soul to them? Some defensive stuff?

[In true Elena Gilbert fashion, she does not know nearly enough about something that may be coming after her one day.]

[praevaricatio]

( With the Winchesters in town, he debates telling her more. But, he'd rather tell her about David's history himself. And everything it comes with. )

Well, the new member was a demon, and not who he claimed to be. That new member had it in for our coven because back then, it was billed more as a wellness cult. He wanted to steer things in the wrong direction. In a very short amount of time, the members were speaking differently, and taking very questionable advice. I didn't know right away. I just thought a rival coven was infiltrating. I was right about the infiltration. But not why. Or, who.

[braveandstupid]

[There's sympathy there, for someone taking control of your body and making you do things you don't want to do. She may not have been literally possessed by Katherine in this world, but Matt and Tyler still were, and Elena is nothing if not a font of empathy.]

What did you do?

[praevaricatio]

Once I was proven right ( Which involved a devil's trap ), I enlisted help. I exorcised the demon out of him. Not before losing some of the trust of the coven, which was fun to gain back - but, he was dangerous.

( And so began the saga of actually David and Ezra. There's more, that he trapped the demon right as his mother and father were put into harm's way, but Damian was of help, and all turned out well. Well, eventually. )

[braveandstupid]

You were protecting your family. And inadvertently, you were protecting David too.

[Maybe not intentionally, but she's willing to bet that David didn't enjoy having someone else call the shots on how his body was being used.]

[praevaricatio]

I don't regret it. I would do it again, and for others. Demons have no qualms, no morals, and no boundaries. What I didn't know were the circumstances surrounding his possession in the first place. That worried me more. It angered me. He stayed with my family for months. Recovered the pieces of his life he could. And - avoided the people responsible.

[braveandstupid]

[She nods, because this is a terrible story, but at the same time:]

And you two fell in love?

[praevaricatio]

Slowly. We fell in love. He felt safe, and I felt like I wanted nothing more than for him to be protected, to feel safe. We needed each other.

( Tragedy bringing two witches together. It's one of the oldest stories. )

[braveandstupid]

[And she can't help but smile, because Elena Gilbert is, if nothing else, a sucker for love.]

So how did the Colony come back into things?

[praevaricatio]

Elena, the Colony is who had him possessed in the first place.

( He lets that sink in as he takes a stiff drink of the Irish coffee he ordered. )

[braveandstupid]

Wait, what?

[That seems unconscionable, at least in her mind. At least given where we are now.]

Then why are you working for them now?

[praevaricatio]

Because I married in. Because... unless the shot you take can't miss, there isn't much you can do but abide. It started with positive reinforcement, with encouragement, incentives, until it wasn't enough and they wanted more.

( He didn't come here to garner sympathy for his and his husband's plight (or his husband's past), but this is the direction she asked about. )

Standard mob wife territory. I've been threatened. My family has been threatened. When they discovered David and I wouldn't just leave each other - and they attempted to bribe me - then they made me a company man. You want to know why I'm here? Because I'm the problem child and you were punishment. You're not in danger, they're are no post cure-post doppelgänger rituals. It's like, you were president and now our tax dollars are being put toward watching you. Granted, the Colony discovers something new every day, but if I thought for a second your body or your blood wouldn't be your own, I would've come forward sooner, Elena.

[braveandstupid]

[While she wants to feel like she could trust him, part of her isn't so sure, or at least hesitant (12). She's sympathetic to their story. She can't say she hasn't found herself in similar supernatural extortion situations. But, fool her once, shame on her. Fool her twice ... well, still shame on her.

She folds her fingers around her coffee mug and grips it tightly, trying to make sure she chooses her words in a way that isn't isolating.]

I want to believe you. But in the venn diagram of people who lied to me about who they were, and people there to protect me and have my best interests at heart, there haven't been a lot of people in the middle.

[praevaricatio]

Everyone lies.

( Too little, too late, he realizes, but, he's done his apologizing already. )

Isn't the reason behind the lie as important as the lie itself?

( And then, with utter sincerity. )

I do what I do for the Colony because like my parents', David's are the highest up there. They aren't just the upper echelon, they're it. And they are who had their son possessed when he was just a teenager.

[braveandstupid]

[She was specific. She said "lying about who they are." Yes, everyone lies, but when you have a doppelganger who liked to pretend to be you at the drop of a hat and screw with your life, you take that particular kind of lie a bit personally. Never mind what Shane and Hayley did to Bonnie and Tyler, or any of the other countless con artists who have come to Mystic Falls over the years.

Even her relationship with Stefan couldn't survive when she saw how far his mask slipped.]

I'm not unsympathetic to that.

[If this is their real story - which she will confirm with what David may have told Bonnie - then it's certainly points in their favor.]

But it's not just going to magically be what it was again. Some things need to be rebuilt.

[She takes another long sip of her coffee before setting it down.]

I think this is a good start, though.

[The door's open, just a crack. But if things keep going their way, there's a chance things will be better open again.]

[praevaricatio]

I'm not expecting things to return to the way they were. For starters, you've now met my husband. We'll never have the invisible man mystique.

( He cracks a smile. )

You have to admit, I had the mysterious "what does he do after hours" thing going.