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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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.

[interpersonally]

Well, brother who isn't my therapist, I promise that I aways have Elena's best interests in mind.

( Barring literally the last three months. )

The library confirmed everything remains in stasis back home?

[blooded]

Not exactly. They did send a memento, and they didn't say she's not okay.

They also said they'll demand my services "at the appropriate time for my enrichment", whatever that means. They'll give a real update then.

[interpersonally]

So, no news is good news?

( So to speak? )

You owe the library now? Did a librarian hand down your sentence, or the Buffy-approved chute?

[blooded]

If it's anything but good news I'm going to burn this manor to the ground and drink the Balfour's blood from their brainstems

So yes, it's good news.

[ no elena in the world could convict him... probably. ]

The chute, obviously. We're keeping a low profile here, I'm not going to kill a librarian yet

[ yet. ]

[interpersonally]

Good to know we're not suddenly on everyone's shitlist.

Sorry, you're not.

And also not damage said chute. I just want to know what we're dealing with and who you owe. Or, I guess what. What exactly did the chute say? ... Message from the chute.

[blooded]

[ have a pic of the whole ensemble, stefan—the note, the rose, and the long lock of brown hair attached to it.

look, his 1800s sensibilities consider this insanely romantic. ]

If you want a rose [ or the hair that comes with it ] get your own.

[interpersonally]

I'll pass.

( He's hard-pressed to take the note at face value like Damon does, but he'd rather he not be preoccupied with Elena's life. She survives. Life goes on. And then it doesn't. )

How do you feel about owing an inanimate object?

[blooded]

[ look, it's either he take the note at face value or he murders the balfours in front of the whole manor at breakfast, and while he hasn't ruled it out—he's a dead man anyway, might as well go out with a bang—wouldn't it be so much better if he could get out of here and go check on elena himself? ]

I don't owe anything until it ponies up.

Surprised you're not chasing debts of your own, brother—which means you've got something you're trying to keep from me.

[ your brother was not born yesterday, stefan. ]

[interpersonally]

( to be fair, his debt is paid. damon's alive. here he goes, spinning his plates. )

Or, it means that I'm gathering information when and where I can. Like, the Balfours apparently react the same we do when something like a circus pops up. We can't leave, as there are people who've been here for months. Go too far off the grounds and you wake up the next day. You call it hiding something, I call it not making an impression. Am I worried about Elena, of course. But, she's not here and for all intents and purposes she's right where we left her.

I miss her, Damon, is that what you want to hear?

[blooded]

[ hmmmmmmmm. ]

Two things can be true at once. You know I'm going to figure out your scheme eventually, Stefan, you might as well tell me now.

[ you're never as slick as you think you are!! ]

[interpersonally]

Scheme? Do you think I brought us here? Because, the last thing either of us wanted was to be trapped in the English countryside with strangers including an uppity blonde who apparently thinks vampires are around.

[blooded]

God I'm so much better at this than you

You haven't even denied it, you're just deflecting

Asshole

I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to kick your ass when I do

[interpersonally]

You do that, Damon.

🎀

[blooded]

[ only losers worry about getting the last word!! ]

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. ]

[interpersonally]

( for the record, he's making sure the manor didn't leave it for him. what kind of journal is it, if Damon didn't leave it? so, it doesn't have to be anything gushy or mushy or sentimental.

he's mostly going to use it to make notes and not as a journal. )

Good morning to you, too.

@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.

[interpersonally]

Maybe because you burned down the church. Do you think there's a meaning behind your death consequence?