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

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Comments

[holyposition]

Sixteen people are dead, Stefan. Under these circumstances, it is yours to tell. We have a responsibility to each other.

If I had good reason to believe it was Hawk, I would want to stop him from hurting any more people. I would be the first person at the podium. When he killed Danny, he strangled him with his bare hands. If any of the deaths were like that, I would have said so.

[interpersonally]

No, you believe we have a responsibility to each other. If either Caroline or I thought Klaus were a possibility, then we should have shared it. I know a thing or two about family and friends not doing right or good.

Because you've broken up? Again? Or because it's the right thing to do.

Vampires don't play by the same rules. We hurt other people, or we stop each other from hurting other people. Sometimes, it's because we want to, sometimes it's because we don't care. A lot of times, it's because it's necessary. Being in our world is dangerous. The same goes for all of these wolves, that house, and this game.

Everyone is in over their head. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll stop blaming me for holding back my own information. I never said Klaus wasn't anything.

[holyposition]

We do. That’s what it means to live together and have a community, Stefan. I don’t care about your vampire rules, because you’re stuck with all of us. There has to be some kind of standard.

Because it’s the right thing to do. I’m still with Harry, and if it were him, I’d say so too. I wouldn’t let him do this to people.

You think I don’t know I’m in over my head? Of course I am. My best friend in any world is dead. I measured the skin where his head was ripped from his body. Hawk has lost his mind completely. A girl I’ve practically adopted is probably a wolf too.

We still do what we have to do to end this as soon as possible. Come on, Stefan.

[interpersonally]

You decided Hawk lost his mind. Because you couldn't make sense of what he's done. There's a difference.

And welcome to it. In our worlds, being a wolf or a vampire or something else, it makes us a target. Don't blame us for keeping this under wraps and trusting one another.

It's your choice to run with what Katherine is saying. Your choice to accuse. I won't be making the accusation. If I believed it, I would.

[holyposition]

No, I know him. There's the regular Hawk bad decisions and messed up priorities, and then there's this...self-destructive spiral. Something is wrong with him, and I'm not letting it distract me from the goal.

I can empathize with having to hide. You know that. Pitchforks and torches against you and your friends isn't what I want. I think you know that, too.

But you asked me to keep the line open. That has to go both ways.

[interpersonally]

That, I actually admire.

I do.

On your terms, only? Caroline, Katherine, Klaus and I can all compel people. Katherine uses it the most, or did. I use it when necessary, but haven't used it here, and I know Caroline hasn't either. She doesn't like using it unless we have no other choice. Like compelling our town to leave so they were safe from a vampire gang.

Katherine, Klaus and Caroline can only compel humans. Klaus can also compel vampires.

[holyposition]

[ That's not his dad, and Tim's not his son, but the praise even when Tim's annoyed with him makes it feel like it did then. Another thing that he can't let distract him. ]

Yours too. I'll tell you whatever you want to know about me and mine - unfortunately, most of the people closest to me don't have any supernatural powers or abilities to point to.

Could he compel multiple people and/or vampires at once?

[interpersonally]

No. You have to look one person in the eye at a time. But, he could compel them to wait for his cue. But, he has no access to magic himself, wouldn't cauterize the wounds, wouldn't keep trophies like hair or dismembered parts, and wouldn't leave any witnesses. He'd also see to it that someone was his eyes and ears when he couldn't be.

But that's the Klaus I used to know and not the one I know now.

The one I know now has a sixteen year old daughter he'd do anything for.

[holyposition]

Thank you for being forthcoming.

[ The eventually is implied. ]

How long did you say you went back home, again?

[interpersonally]

Four or five years. A long time. And longer in a magic stone that trapped my soul in it.

[holyposition]

So you've been estranged from each other?

[interpersonally]

On and off. He wasn't dead, like I thought, and he came back to us. But, then we were each trapped in the Phoenix stone. And, after I got out, things escalated and I was marked by a vampire hunter and I had to go on the run for three years. Damon made a dumb and selfish decision on his end and then we reunited. After solving our latest problem, he disappeared, only to be enslaved by a siren who, before coming here, I'd just met. I'm not a fan.

[holyposition]

There's always...so much going on with you. Is that just what immortality is like?

[interpersonally]

Immortality used to come with fewer consequences, but that's only because we weren't aware of what's out there. The wider our knowledge becomes, the more complicated things get. And I think that also pertains to life, don't you? Regular life.

[holyposition]

I guess you're right.

The accusation is coming, by the way. Harry's doing it. I'm letting you know as a courtesy, but I'll be supporting him.

[interpersonally]

Tim, I told you all of the reasons why it wouldn't be Klaus. How he wouldn't display anyone like that. How he wouldn't keep or dismember their parts. I may have delayed telling you, but I think I made it clear this isn't Klaus.

[holyposition]

Unless he's the alpha, I'm not convinced he has any control over the display.

I didn't make him do it. He read her words and yours and came to the conclusion on his own.

But you didn't delay telling me. That implies that you were ever going to, if Katherine hadn't first.

[interpersonally]

Well, now we won't know, will we.

[holyposition]

You dodged the powers question more than once, what am I supposed to think?

It's not personal, Stefan. I understand why you'd want to protect your own. Most people are thinking the same way.

[interpersonally]

No, most people continue to insert their irrelevant findings to this round. I don't see why anyone should look anywhere else besides Shauna and August with the evidence presented. More accusations burn more votes they should be getting, don't you think?

[holyposition]

Shauna may be a wolf, but she's not the alpha. She doesn't have the power or inclination to stage it all like that. My priority is getting the alpha out, so that the ones in jail are safe, and they can't put on another scene like this that muddies the waters next round.

[interpersonally]

Well, we both know Klaus plays another role and therefore can't do both. Shut it down, Tim.

[holyposition]

I already have.

And don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. I'm checking all avenues and dropping the dead ends. What are you doing?

[interpersonally]

I'm not questioning your intelligence. But, you keep grasping at straws down to the wire and the more you do that, the more Misty's will come out of the woodwork.

[holyposition]

We need to put two up that are capable of being the alpha.

And you don't get to complain about the last minute push when you voted for it last time. You getting duped doesn't reflect on me in any way.