( Grayson looks at his wife, at Elena and Dean moving away, Ryan who stands - two bags of ice in his arms. And then Caroline. He gets up, leaving his wife there - still spurned from the conversation before. He can smooth that over. He will. But, for now. This.
He scratches behind his ear as he tries not to do this sheepishly. And sincerely. )
We owe you an apology. Right now, apologies are going to be coming fast because we are behind the times. And we were told in no uncertain terms that we don't know what we're talking about. And while, thirty-some odd years of conditioning won't disappear overnight. We listen. And, we see you. Miranda and I caught a glimpse of your super-human speed and we jumped to conclusions about both of you. When we were growing up, you were the villains in our stories. But villains don't bring pie or support their friends during a rough time.
( He sees that. )
We see that. Even if it had to be pointed out to us.
[She takes in the apology and the tension in her shoulders lessens some. As much as she knows it's not going to be fixed over night - it wasn't with her parents, and it wasn't with Carol either - she appreciates that they're willing to apologize.]
It's okay. And to be honest, this isn't the worst coming out party that I've had. I should have let Elena tell you in the first place. We shouldn't have let it catch you by surprise.
[Caroline nods and crosses her arms in front of her.]
Well, it's all out in the open now. And I can answer any questions you have, about what its like or how we got here? I'm actually really good at Vampire 101. I have to do it a lot for parents of the kids at school.
Well, not only vampires. Mostly we're dealing with the big three - witches, vampires and werewolves - but lately we've been expanding to other supernatural kids. Giving them a place to feel normal, but also to learn how to be what they are with people who can help them do that safely.
[And they've done so with minimal local villager casualties. She's very proud of it.]
Most of these kids don't want to hurt people, and didn't even ask to be what they are in the first place, and no one was there to either protect them or help them. So we do our best to help them now.
[Miranda blinks because witches and vampires she knew but: "Werewolves?"]
Yeah. Werewolves. The ones we deal with mostly are ones that are products of the werewolf curse, so they often don't have families or safe families to return to. So we give them a safe place to go.
Sort of. Funny story. The Sun and the Moon Curse is not actually real. It was a ploy, designed to rile up the werewolves and the vampires into making the presence of the Petrova Doppelganger really obvious when she happened to pop up. Klaus and Elijah made it up to make people think that having the doppelganger and the moonstone would allow them to break some element of their existence - vampires could walk in the sun, werewolves wouldn't have to turn on a full moon, but it was all a lie to get Klaus what he wanted.
[Aka Elena.]
The werewolf curse is actually even older than vampires, believe it or not. Over a thousand years ago, there was a powerful witch called the Hollow who was wreaking havoc in what was now New Orleans, and seven tribes of native people teamed up to try and stop her. They succeeded in killing her, but on her death, she cursed them and their bloodlines. They all were turned into wolves and were forced to continue to turn every full moon. It's ... incredibly awful. Every bone in your body breaks as you shift and change, and then you kind of lose control of yourself and the wolf will attack anything that moves.
[She sees Miranda looking a little green around the gills and she quickly moves on.]
Anyway. These tribes slowly moved throughout the world and assimilated in different ways and most people don't even know they're cursed. They're just born with it. Prone to fits of anger and violence until it overwhelms them and they kill someone - doesn't matter if it's an accident or on purpose. One wolf I know was pushing someone away from him to defend himself, another accidentally killed his girlfriend in a car accident. The curse doesn't care. And once you kill someone you turn on every full moon for the rest of your life.
[Miranda can't help but feel like that description has shades of familiarity to it (13), but she can't quite put her finger on what.]
( He blanches at the mention of the Petrova Doppelganger as well, because that's their daughter, in the middle of a supernatural wild goose chase. Klaus. Elijah. Originals.
He grays, too, around the description of what werewolves do, but stays sat.
Grayson, too, (13) feels a familiarity, but not why. He's always been a man of the town, a founding family member. And while he never liked out Richard Lockwood treated his wife, he doesn't make the distinction he should. )
Are all of these - is everything with the witches and with vampires - is it viewed like a curse?
So, this particular line of werewolves is literally a curse. There are other types of werewolves who have a much easier time of things, and often don't wind up in the situations that these wolves find themselves in.
[She pauses, before considering where to move next.]
Witches are not curses. These are family legacies more often than not, and they're often raised in covens when they can be. They have a much larger sense of community and they also start younger - a lot of our younger students, like K through Eight are ninety-five percent witches.
[The other five percent being very, very unfortunate werewolves.]
Some witches can also be cursed but the curse isn't what gives them their magic, whereas without the curse, these werewolves wouldn't be werewolves.
Vampires are ... more complicated. Vampirism was not intended to be a curse by their creator, but depending on the vampire you ask, they could feel that way.
[There's a pause as she considers.]
I don't, for the record. Though I understand if that's hard to hear.
( VERY. He nods at that. He understands family legacy. )
It's not. ( He doesn't know what his wife is thinking, but hearing it like this makes a little more sense. He doesn't trust them any more. But, he can imagine what it must feel like to be a monster. It does put some things into perspective, namely his part in the Augustine experiments. But, he's not that emotionally mature. How can he. Not this early. Not with a small lecture from Caroline Forbes. ) It's the bloodlust. If turning amplifies who a person is, then I know people who wouldn't take well to it. Knew. ( He looks again to his wife, and back. ) Do you know if my little brother is still alive?
[She takes a deep breath, because she wasn't there for some of this, but she does know the basics.]
No.
[There's so much Elena's been through, she understands her not being able to answer all the questions or provide as many details. It's hard for her, she knows, bearing the weight of all the people who died to try and keep her alive.]
So the ritual to break the hybrid curse on Klaus required a living doppelganger, but she had to die in the process. Elena wanted to live but she also didn't want to be a vampire so Stefan was trying to find other ways, but we were running out of time and ... Damon figured that Elena as a vampire who hated him was better than a dead Elena so he forced her to drink vampire blood. That rendered the solution Stefan did find moot, unfortunately, so what we were looking at was Elena waking up in transition and making the choice of whether or not she was going to turn.
[Because Stefan would have given her that choice. He would have given her whatever he wanted back then, when he was still in love with her, before it all became complicated.]
John found another way. He and Bonnie did a spell, tying his life to hers. When Elena died in the ritual, the spell brought her back. But you can't do a spell like that without balance. John died in her place.
[It's everyone's least favorite part of the story, let's be honest.]
She did. She met Isobel too.
[She pauses.]
She's also dead, though I don't know the details on that one.
[And maybe the Gilberts won't care about that as much. Miranda holds up a hand, interrupting for the first time in a long time. "Why was the question how to help Elena survive and not how to keep her away from Klaus in the first place?"
Caroline's mouth works for a moment because this treads on things she's not sure Elena would want her to talk about. Her survivor's guilt, and determination to be the one that takes the blows on her own behalf, not passing them off to other people to protect her. Every time they came up with a plan, she wanted nothing to do with any of them. She didn't want to stand at another funeral, yet she went on to stand at so many.
Fortunately, there's the more direct option:]
Because at the time, we thought it was the best way to kill Klaus. That he would be vulnerable as the curse was breaking, and we would be able to use that to our advantage. Bonnie had absorbed a ton of magic and Elijah was going to help us but ... Elijah stabbed us in the back and Klaus stabbed him in the front so ... maybe that evens out somewhere. Plus, Klaus had Jenna so ... I don't think Elena was ever going to let her die alone.
[To say the least. They lost a lot of people that year. And when Grayson puts her turning in that context, she winces because she can't say it's not true but ...]
That's what she says, but I also think it was Katherine trying to prove a point.
[Of course Elena hadn't gone too deep into Katherine yet. But the sigh Caroline gives is more about how much Elena puts on herself than it is about Katherine.]
There's not a lot Elena could have done. Katherine Pierce is the previous that we know of Petrova Doppelganger. She's also a very old vampire. Her getting to me in the hospital was like taking candy from a baby, either playing on people thinking she was Elena or just compelling them to ignore her.
Also I love Elena to death, but she thinks that everything that happens to other people is her fault if she's tangentially involved. Her survivor's guilt has a whole fancy luggage set of baggage.
( His eyebrows furrow, understanding what a Petrova doppelganger really is, and perhaps why Elena and Caroline and everyone was targeted in the first place. )
But, really, it's Klaus. And Katherine. And vampires in the tomb. All vampires that fall under our side of what vampires are. Please, tell us about other vampires. One that's not a Salvatore or you. Doesn't feel like an even playing field to us.
( He needs to hear about it. It might help him feel better about any of us, about his daughter just being born into circumstances. And Ryan, he'd add, but he thinks Ryan is implied. )
[Okay. She takes a breath as she tries to think of who would be good examples.]
There's this kid, MG. A recent grad from the school. He's a really good kid. Loves comic books and just wants to do what's right for people. When the kids at school would team up to deal with a problem, he called them the super squad. He got turned by accident, and his mom was aware of the world and brought him to us so we could help him. His best friend is named Kaleb, and he's a lot more of a smooth talker and more likely to get into trouble, but it's your regular teenage boy kind of trouble.
[Who else who else who else.]
There's a vampire shrink. Her name is Camille O'Connell and she is honestly helping a lot of the older vamps deal with their trauma. So much so we're willing to forgive her her husband, who is not great but a lot better than he used to be because of her.
[She gives a small shrug.]
There's a new vampire I'm working with who's an FBI agent, and he has ADHD so was having a bit of a hard time with the enhancements of it all, but he's doing a lot better now and he's loyal and smart and incredibly sarcastic, but we all have our coping mechanisms.
We're all just ... people. Doing the best we can with this thing that happened to us. It wasn't our fault, but we're making it work.
[Caroline pauses, because from an objective scenario she's not really sure a lot of what they know about vampires doesn't still hold true.]
Vervain is still good for preventing compulsion. If you take it in your tea every morning, you should be fine.
[At least as far as protection is concerned.]
Just ... give Elena and Jeremy a little grace. There's a good ... decade of trauma that they're trying to unpack for you guys, and Elena also is trying to protect the secrets of the people she loves too. She's not keeping secrets to hurt you, she's just doing her best.
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everyonelives2025-03-12 08:39 pm
no subject
He scratches behind his ear as he tries not to do this sheepishly. And sincerely. )
We owe you an apology. Right now, apologies are going to be coming fast because we are behind the times. And we were told in no uncertain terms that we don't know what we're talking about. And while, thirty-some odd years of conditioning won't disappear overnight. We listen. And, we see you. Miranda and I caught a glimpse of your super-human speed and we jumped to conclusions about both of you. When we were growing up, you were the villains in our stories. But villains don't bring pie or support their friends during a rough time.
( He sees that. )
We see that. Even if it had to be pointed out to us.
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It's okay. And to be honest, this isn't the worst coming out party that I've had. I should have let Elena tell you in the first place. We shouldn't have let it catch you by surprise.
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( And while he means most of what he says, he does feel a lot like a scolded teenager.
Ryan accepts the apology, too, with a nod.
"Ice melts," he says, moving past him to go into the kitchen in search of where the ice goes. )
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Well, it's all out in the open now. And I can answer any questions you have, about what its like or how we got here? I'm actually really good at Vampire 101. I have to do it a lot for parents of the kids at school.
[A beat.]
Did Elena tell you about the school?
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She didn't say it was a school for vampires.
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[And they've done so with minimal local villager casualties. She's very proud of it.]
Most of these kids don't want to hurt people, and didn't even ask to be what they are in the first place, and no one was there to either protect them or help them. So we do our best to help them now.
[Miranda blinks because witches and vampires she knew but: "Werewolves?"]
Yeah. Werewolves. The ones we deal with mostly are ones that are products of the werewolf curse, so they often don't have families or safe families to return to. So we give them a safe place to go.
no subject
( That's his only frame of reference. )
Werewolf curse. Is that anything like the sun and moon curse?
no subject
[Aka Elena.]
The werewolf curse is actually even older than vampires, believe it or not. Over a thousand years ago, there was a powerful witch called the Hollow who was wreaking havoc in what was now New Orleans, and seven tribes of native people teamed up to try and stop her. They succeeded in killing her, but on her death, she cursed them and their bloodlines. They all were turned into wolves and were forced to continue to turn every full moon. It's ... incredibly awful. Every bone in your body breaks as you shift and change, and then you kind of lose control of yourself and the wolf will attack anything that moves.
[She sees Miranda looking a little green around the gills and she quickly moves on.]
Anyway. These tribes slowly moved throughout the world and assimilated in different ways and most people don't even know they're cursed. They're just born with it. Prone to fits of anger and violence until it overwhelms them and they kill someone - doesn't matter if it's an accident or on purpose. One wolf I know was pushing someone away from him to defend himself, another accidentally killed his girlfriend in a car accident. The curse doesn't care. And once you kill someone you turn on every full moon for the rest of your life.
[Miranda can't help but feel like that description has shades of familiarity to it (13), but she can't quite put her finger on what.]
no subject
He grays, too, around the description of what werewolves do, but stays sat.
Grayson, too, (13) feels a familiarity, but not why. He's always been a man of the town, a founding family member. And while he never liked out Richard Lockwood treated his wife, he doesn't make the distinction he should. )
Are all of these - is everything with the witches and with vampires - is it viewed like a curse?
no subject
[She pauses, before considering where to move next.]
Witches are not curses. These are family legacies more often than not, and they're often raised in covens when they can be. They have a much larger sense of community and they also start younger - a lot of our younger students, like K through Eight are ninety-five percent witches.
[The other five percent being very, very unfortunate werewolves.]
Some witches can also be cursed but the curse isn't what gives them their magic, whereas without the curse, these werewolves wouldn't be werewolves.
Vampires are ... more complicated. Vampirism was not intended to be a curse by their creator, but depending on the vampire you ask, they could feel that way.
[There's a pause as she considers.]
I don't, for the record. Though I understand if that's hard to hear.
no subject
It's not. ( He doesn't know what his wife is thinking, but hearing it like this makes a little more sense. He doesn't trust them any more. But, he can imagine what it must feel like to be a monster. It does put some things into perspective, namely his part in the Augustine experiments. But, he's not that emotionally mature. How can he. Not this early. Not with a small lecture from Caroline Forbes. ) It's the bloodlust. If turning amplifies who a person is, then I know people who wouldn't take well to it. Knew. ( He looks again to his wife, and back. ) Do you know if my little brother is still alive?
no subject
No.
[There's so much Elena's been through, she understands her not being able to answer all the questions or provide as many details. It's hard for her, she knows, bearing the weight of all the people who died to try and keep her alive.]
So the ritual to break the hybrid curse on Klaus required a living doppelganger, but she had to die in the process. Elena wanted to live but she also didn't want to be a vampire so Stefan was trying to find other ways, but we were running out of time and ... Damon figured that Elena as a vampire who hated him was better than a dead Elena so he forced her to drink vampire blood. That rendered the solution Stefan did find moot, unfortunately, so what we were looking at was Elena waking up in transition and making the choice of whether or not she was going to turn.
[Because Stefan would have given her that choice. He would have given her whatever he wanted back then, when he was still in love with her, before it all became complicated.]
John found another way. He and Bonnie did a spell, tying his life to hers. When Elena died in the ritual, the spell brought her back. But you can't do a spell like that without balance. John died in her place.
no subject
Do you know if she knew the truth before he died?
no subject
She did. She met Isobel too.
[She pauses.]
She's also dead, though I don't know the details on that one.
[And maybe the Gilberts won't care about that as much. Miranda holds up a hand, interrupting for the first time in a long time. "Why was the question how to help Elena survive and not how to keep her away from Klaus in the first place?"
Caroline's mouth works for a moment because this treads on things she's not sure Elena would want her to talk about. Her survivor's guilt, and determination to be the one that takes the blows on her own behalf, not passing them off to other people to protect her. Every time they came up with a plan, she wanted nothing to do with any of them. She didn't want to stand at another funeral, yet she went on to stand at so many.
Fortunately, there's the more direct option:]
Because at the time, we thought it was the best way to kill Klaus. That he would be vulnerable as the curse was breaking, and we would be able to use that to our advantage. Bonnie had absorbed a ton of magic and Elijah was going to help us but ... Elijah stabbed us in the back and Klaus stabbed him in the front so ... maybe that evens out somewhere. Plus, Klaus had Jenna so ... I don't think Elena was ever going to let her die alone.
no subject
( New loves. Vampires. Hatred. Bloodshed. And so, so much death.
He barely remembers Isobel as a face from his brother's high school class. But he remembers that night. )
And Klaus is the one that inhabited her teacher. Stalked her for months. Basically, he's why you were turned.
no subject
[To say the least. They lost a lot of people that year. And when Grayson puts her turning in that context, she winces because she can't say it's not true but ...]
That's what she says, but I also think it was Katherine trying to prove a point.
no subject
Katherine? Elena couldn't protect you from her while you were in the hospital. She feels guilt for that.
no subject
There's not a lot Elena could have done. Katherine Pierce is the previous that we know of Petrova Doppelganger. She's also a very old vampire. Her getting to me in the hospital was like taking candy from a baby, either playing on people thinking she was Elena or just compelling them to ignore her.
Also I love Elena to death, but she thinks that everything that happens to other people is her fault if she's tangentially involved. Her survivor's guilt has a whole fancy luggage set of baggage.
no subject
But, really, it's Klaus. And Katherine. And vampires in the tomb. All vampires that fall under our side of what vampires are. Please, tell us about other vampires. One that's not a Salvatore or you. Doesn't feel like an even playing field to us.
( He needs to hear about it. It might help him feel better about any of us, about his daughter just being born into circumstances. And Ryan, he'd add, but he thinks Ryan is implied. )
no subject
[Okay. She takes a breath as she tries to think of who would be good examples.]
There's this kid, MG. A recent grad from the school. He's a really good kid. Loves comic books and just wants to do what's right for people. When the kids at school would team up to deal with a problem, he called them the super squad. He got turned by accident, and his mom was aware of the world and brought him to us so we could help him. His best friend is named Kaleb, and he's a lot more of a smooth talker and more likely to get into trouble, but it's your regular teenage boy kind of trouble.
[Who else who else who else.]
There's a vampire shrink. Her name is Camille O'Connell and she is honestly helping a lot of the older vamps deal with their trauma. So much so we're willing to forgive her her husband, who is not great but a lot better than he used to be because of her.
[She gives a small shrug.]
There's a new vampire I'm working with who's an FBI agent, and he has ADHD so was having a bit of a hard time with the enhancements of it all, but he's doing a lot better now and he's loyal and smart and incredibly sarcastic, but we all have our coping mechanisms.
We're all just ... people. Doing the best we can with this thing that happened to us. It wasn't our fault, but we're making it work.
no subject
Apparently, vampires really do get redemption and do things like people. )
A therapist for vampires?
( Now he's heard everything.
But, he nods along, okay, she gets points for real stories. )
Okay. Thank you. And. You obviously have advanced hearing. And speed. And strength? And you don't only go out at night.
no subject
[She holds up the lapis lazuli ring on her hand.]
Bonnie made it for me. As long as I'm wearing it, I can go out in the sun like a normal human. I go out without it and I go up like a torch.
no subject
( Which goes against everything they know. )
Is there anything else we should know? That might help our understanding, or might save our lives one of these days?
no subject
Vervain is still good for preventing compulsion. If you take it in your tea every morning, you should be fine.
[At least as far as protection is concerned.]
Just ... give Elena and Jeremy a little grace. There's a good ... decade of trauma that they're trying to unpack for you guys, and Elena also is trying to protect the secrets of the people she loves too. She's not keeping secrets to hurt you, she's just doing her best.
no subject
We know. We don't blame her. Or you. Or, this. We know, despite it all, how lucky we are to have this chance.
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