ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ sᴇᴇ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ's ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴs.

[interpersonally]

WELCOME TO THE SALTBURNT NETWORK

USERNAME:
STEFAN

text ❖ audio ❖ video

(this inbox is a choose-not-to-warn experience, please read at your own discretion.)

Comments

text; 🩸 un: salvatore

[blooded]

Elena's okay. You know, if you were worried.

text; 🩸 un: stefan

[interpersonally]

( ouch. spoiler alert: she's not, she's a mess, but she's alive. so there's that. as for "damon's elena." he knows. "uncle" john gave his life for hers, but stefan doesn't know that, does he.

also, fuck, to damon he's in a relationship with elena. still. to katherine he's very not. and to klaus... it's klaus. he sighs.

he decides to play the defensive )

If I was worried?

( what's that supposed to mean, damon? pick a fight. great strategy! )

[blooded]

Well, you're doing a very good job of pretending not to be, but we both know better. You know you can cry in front of me, Stefan, this is a safe space.

action; before shit hits the fan

[blooded]

[ one night when stefan returns to the suite, he will find a fine leather-bound journal and a handsome fountain pen waiting for him on his pillow. there is no note, nor any other indication who it came from. damon's door is closed.

get started on the salt diaries, little brother. ]

action; that second, then the next morning

[interpersonally]

( he approaches his new - gift? he unties it, revealing empty pages. he picks the pen up, looks around his room. he peers through the shared bathroom as Damon's side closed.

he goes into the hallway, damon's door is also closed.

he returns, sitting down. he sets the journal side.

does the house give things? the library does, but he didn't ask the library for anything.

he checks the last page. the first. huh.

the next morning, when Damon does emerge from his room into their shared bathroom, Stefan approaches the doorway. )

Thank you, for the journal.

[blooded]

[ the point of leaving the journal without a note, stefan, was to avoid a scene like this. damon pauses in the doorway of the bathroom, looks at stefan, assessing—

and twists his lips just a little, acknowledgment of thanks without taking any real responsibility, and steps around stefan to get to the sink and his toothbrush. ]

Lots of things to write about already, [ he says, breezy, ] might wanna keep notes on what we've told who—sorry, [ a laugh, but it's not friendly, and he points his toothbrush at stefan, ] —what you've told who. Forgot I'm not as stupid as you.

[ there, sweet brotherly moment averted. thank god. ]

@t.laughlin

[holyposition]

If it's not a burden to hear from me, I did tell you that I'd let you know when I discovered my consequence for dying.

It's stigmata. It feels like the real thing, but nobody sees it but me.

@stefan

[interpersonally]

It's not a burden to hear from you, Tim.

It only appears to you? And you feel it when it happens? As if it's happening to you in real time?

[holyposition]

Like I'm being stabbed in half a dozen places at once.

I was with Koby. He didn't see it, but he's got a kind of empathic power, so he knew I was in pain.

It would have been obvious because of the screaming, but the point is, the pain was real.

mystic falls group chat

[interpersonally]

stefan has added you to the mystic falls group chat

[interpersonally]

We're all on separate teams.

[poppycock]

In terms of strategy, this is fortunate.

@t.laughlin

[holyposition]

How many people know what you are?

The hearts are looking at vampires already. Or the slayers, to frame you.

[interpersonally]

The Clubs mentioned vampires. And the Spades. That's going to happen when bodies are drained of blood.

I don't know how many people know. The other vampires.

There's also one more vampire, a new vampire. Steer clear of Kai Parker. He's new here and he's dangerous. He's unpredictable and sociopathic. He turned his humanity off before ending up here.

[holyposition]

Thank you. Do either of the drained victims seem like his handiwork?

The wolves didn't know what they were doing, but most of them last year were people who would do that kind of thing anyway. Danny and his fan club made three of the seven.

@strange

[rehandle]

[ Local wizard who may be dead sooner rather than later if those floating votes get cast the wrong way incoming - ]

Why Devon?

[ He's not angry, he's just disappointed. ]

[interpersonally]

( does he know this morning? not completely. there's a saltines and bitterness in the air among just his little trio. )

Neither Saber nor Danny felt like real wolves. They felt like bitter majority votes. Of all the evidence, the person I believed most to be a wolf had votes, then lost them, and the second wasn't taken seriously because he and Buffy voted down each other.

Devon made a pact with the devil that gives him power. He's small. He's a diamond. He was a fleshworker.

[rehandle]

So you earnestly believe it was him? Based on Misty Quigley's evidence.

[ Not the worst case scenario, but still extremely unfortunate if true. ]

@petrova

[impersonation]

In the interest of self-preservation, let Klaus know my vote is going elsewhere tonight.

But if he puts one nasty claw so much as ten feet in my direction, breaks another one of my heels, or reaches for a single hair on my gorgeous head, I will rip this commune apart and find a way to make him pay.

Re: @petrova

[interpersonally]

READ ✔️ 8:54P

@t.laughlin

[holyposition]

We're snowed in with Kai for some reason.

Should I be worried?

[interpersonally]

Who is we?

🎅🎄 santa klaus is coming to town 🎶 (backdated to christmas)

[poppycock]

( in the long centuries of his existence, this month has been one of the bleaker ones. whatever absurdity the manor has inflicted upon them has mattered little to him; whether ensconced in their cozy, claustrophobic cabin or imprisoned under mistletoe, the world has paled in the shadow of his grief.

though leeched of vibrancy, there has been some color in the presence of stefan and caroline. it's with that gratitude and thoughtfulness he prepares stefan's gifts.

under the tree, stefan will find presents wrapped and ribboned in emerald and forest greens. there is a set of leather-bound journals, embossed with stefan's initials, with an accompanying fountain pen, also initialed; a painting of the salvatore boarding house, set in a gold-brushed baroque frame; a bottle of the finest whiskey klaus has been able to find, along with a crystal decanter and matching tumblers; and a note:

I've always seen Christmas as a time to cherish those we love. Thank you, for seeing something worthy in me, even from the start.
With love,
Klaus )

@t.laughlin

[holyposition]

I know it's you talking about Harry.

You need to stop. You've made your disapproval clear. I don't care. It's hurtful and it's not making me any less committed to him.

@stefan

[interpersonally]

( he can admit he's being judgy about Tim being judgy but... )

Tim, I haven't said anything about Harry. All I said was that you were the same Tim.

I did call out how you weren't having fun.

But, I didn't mention Harry. You, Hawk, Harry, it has nothing to do with me and you can do whatever you want with them.

( and you do. )