jolaughlin

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "that's one way of putting it." the gemini replied, her amusement dying down as the conversation continued on and the concern growing. the masked stranger is cutting the distance between them despite her best efforts, but once she's made sure they were still in eye shot of those nearby, she settled in to her spot with her arms crossed. "that role has already filled, but i'm sure i'll find my niche somewhere."

"that's a shame. no one believes in character building anymore." her response is funny, though. the human sacrifice. as if she'd really know much about that; they never made it far enough. now that's the real shame. kai pursues some more, putting a little more swiftness in his steps, closing some actual honest to god distance to watch and see how fast she might scramble out of the way. how dangerous she really finds him, dark stranger that he appears. "maybe you should try another trope, then. reconsider your life path. the corrupted. what do you think?"

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → work was bustling with the normal culprits, drunken injuries, misadventures, car accidents, cooking mishaps. it was as chaotic as ever, but this was the sort of work she looked forward to. it meant she wasn't hyperfixating on the things she couldn't change, wondering about what lingered around every corner, she was just working, and that's what she's doing when she sees a stranger in a staff only section. "you're fine... lots of halls, and the signage leaves a lot to be desired. can i point you in the right direction?"

@jolaughlin

As much as Silas indulged in the benefits of his immortality, there was one aspect he despised; his need to consume blood. And due to his lack of fangs like his supernatural knock-offs, he was relegated to compelling people to allow him to cut their wrists, or stealing blood bags. The latter of which was his preference. Which was how he found himself perusing the halls of the hospital, quickly tracking down their room where they stored blood. He opened the door and stopped in his tracks at the sight of another person there, frowning slightly. "Oh, sorry. I must have taken the wrong turn."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "i think it just might be..." it was certainly a magnet for the supernatural if nothing else. "i just hope tonight is less of a blood bath... it'd be nice to have one social function without murder and mayhem."

"It's definitely not just you. Although that's not really different from any other day in this town.. It's like Mystic Falls is a magnet for trouble."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → josette laughlin was nearly as far away from portland as she could get in the continental united states, and other than her brother who had escaped from his prison, she never thought she'd see another familiar face again. when she saw one, or rather, they saw her, she froze. if diego was here, anyone else could be, anyone who could be leaking back the news of kai's freedom to their father. " - i'm sorry, you must have the wrong person."

@jolaughlin

"Well, I'll be damned.." Diego murmured under his breath, his eyes widening a bit before his expression smoothed out into a more neutral look. "I never thought I'd be seeing your face again. Especially around a town like this."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "maybe if i'm lucky i'll get to that point... until then i'll be picking up all the shifts i can." any excuse for her mind not to dwell on what had once been, any excuse not dream once the exhaustion set in. still, conversation was a great substitute for a distraction, especially in good company. "that is what they call a 'minion'. - animated movie..."

🩸 — "can't relate. if i never worked another day in my life, i'd be fine with that." he could understand the need to be busy. to keep the day filled with something, anything, to pass the time. safe to say the morbidity was par for the course; his kind of conversation. "i wish i knew what half of this shit was. like that." he pointed at what, to him, appeared to be a wearable giant yellow balloon with.. goggles?

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "i'm a workaholic... i wouldn't know what to do if i wasn't continually drowning in work. guess that's what happens when you have six younger siblings you had to help raise... the only time things were ever quiet was right before my brother stuck a knife in my spleen." morbid, but befitting the holiday at hand. "frankly, i'll welcome death with open arms when it comes... but you're not wrong - i've seen some great constumes tonight."

🩸 — "you should do it more. be deliberate. halloween only comes once a year, after all." teasing her but being completely serious. "we never know when it could be our last. at least there's plenty of eye candy."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "surprisingly, setting off ptsd in a group of people most likely to develop it and with ample access to deadly weapons isn't considered a particularly brilliant idea these days." every pace he makes in her direction is met with her own, keeping the conversation moving while giving herself a least some clearance between her and the anonymous stranger. thoughts of the past flash by in brief moments as they move, of afternoons spent tucked away in dark theaters, the world drifting away as she and her brother were lost in the worlds created on the silver screen. the nostalgia is suffocating, but she's snapped back at the insinuation that she's a final girl, as if it was something to be marveled at. "it's not what it's cracked up to be... neither is being the human sacrifice."

"they don't even entertain you while you're at war anymore? typical." her response about her former favorite movie brings with it a rush of childhood nostalgia so thick and unexpected that kai actually has to take a minute before he can formulate his next sentence. puts one foot in front of the other in the meantime, pursuing her, unhurried. "the thing is a classic. ever wondered where you'd fit into the horror character tropes? you look like a final girl."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "it's nice to see you at your best." the witch chuckled. "thank you, i love a good excuse to be out of the scrubs and just being able to get out every now and again. hopefully this time things are a little less... murderous."

🩸 — "like a pretty penny," the vampire purred in reply. but his smile was genuine, softening to the look of her. "glad to see you as well. you look fabulous."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "i grew up - medical school and a lack of movie theaters in war zones helped." casually moving back to maintain the distance already established, josette laughlin took note of the figure in front of her, surveying the situation to make sure they were never out of sight of other people. "the thing used to be my favorite - what about you?"

"anymore. what killed them for you?" pun intended. he slips closer—not too close, lest he give the game away too soon. "i'm sure you have a favorite from way back when. come on. humor me." kai still remembers all their old favorites; all jo's favorite movies, tropes, subgenres. that's the sick thing, when it all comes down to it—all this intimacy still lingering here.

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → instead of moving on to haunt other party goers her surprise seems to have only encouraged a further conversation. "trauma isn't a contest." not wanting to be unkind, she does at least answer his next question. "i don't watch horror movies anymore - can't say i really have a favorite - sorry to disappoint."

he's been following, watching her from afar all night, when he hasn't been actively dragging people into more secluded corners and re-enacting some pretty iconic horror movie scenes. "i bet you've been through worse," he offers, lazily, pleased to hear his handy little ghostface-esque voice changer doing its job. "hey ... what's your favorite scary movie?"

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "good to know moving forward... i'll have to let whitmore know and maybe we can get the clinic hours adjusted." or, at the very least, she could spare herself some time spent wasted waiting on someone who would never come. "well, when dr. gilbert died mystic falls lost it's primary physician... i've been helping pick up the slack."

💋 ─ ⋅☆⋅ ─ "he's usually late on wednesdays," she says with a knowing nod, because she's had to learn the schedule if she wanted to find undisturbed ways in and out. naturally, once she'd said that, she needed an excuse for knowing it. "i uh – run here, sometimes," she lied easily, tilting her head to the side and then smiling back at her, happy to leave the subject behind. "lexi branson, nice to meet you." then, after a beat, she adds, "so what draws a doctor to this little town?"

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → "i wish it were that simple - but it never is for people like us." it was hard enough to live with the memory of her brother, but now he was back and she was forced to deal with it all over again. "for what it counts though - to hell with dr. maxfield - and the rest of the good old boys that came before him.."

🩸 — her addition stung more than he expected it should. it didn't take a cell to make a person feel trapped—and if enzo could see himself reflected back at him in anyone, this woman wasn't far off. he took the card, pondering it for a moment. "to hell with your twin, dr. laughlin."

[jolaughlin]

@bittenlore || brianna

🩺 → "does this place seem like it's begging for trouble or is it just me?" perhaps she was too paranoid, but who could blame her?

[jolaughlin]

@expt12144 || enzo

🩺 → "you look like you're feeling better..." the witch, literally and figuratively, remarked with a smile. "glad to see you made it out tonight."

[jolaughlin]

@traumatise || kai

🩺 → dressed in nothing fancy - a long black dress and a witches hat, josette laughlin was just trying to exist at the party when she saw something that nearly made her jump out of her skin. "not cool - you scared the shit out of me."

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → twin flames in tragedy, they could find understanding in each other. it felt strange to feel so seen, to feel so exposed, it was a way she hadn't felt in nearly twenty years - though it felt freeing in a way. "better is more than someone like us ever think we'll see." she agrees with a nod. reaching into her pocket to retrieve a business card to give the vampire she pauses when he asks his question, and she hesitates, though eventually she admits "my brother - my twin."

🩸 — he could see her reliving it, even in that brief moment of silence. she got out, didn't she, he thought to himself. that one thought alone bringing a small, empathetic smile to his lips. she repeated the sentiment, and as pathetic as it could have sounded, enzo's smile widened. "better is all someone like us can shoot for."

it was a pleasant thought, believing these people would eventually lose. that's all he needed to believe. with or without his participation, he wanted justice.. even if his definition of it fluctuated from time to time. "who's mind couldn't you change?" he asked, expecting her to dodge the question.

[jolaughlin]

🩺 → malachai gets closer, and he brings up the life they lived before her family was ripped apart, about the horror that was their childhood. "i wanted to get out... that was all i ever wanted, and i always planned to take you with me. we are not the same." everything he mentioned were things she'd tried to forget over the last seventeen years. josette laughlin had gone so far to separate herself from the family that raised her, traveled across the world, put herself in harms way all in a bid to leave the past in the past.

"what part of what happened did i rewrite? the part where you impaled me? the part where you hunted down and killed our siblings one by one while i could only hear it all happening? where you chased down the twins with a baseball bat? where the only way to get you to stop was to get you to agree to do a ritual that would have killed me?" she waited for a retort, an argument to her stated facts, but she has never claimed to be a patient person. readjusting her bag, she steps past him and toward the exit.

"i have a party to get to, so i'm done going down memory lane with you. kill me if you want and spare me the socialization, otherwise find someone else to harass."

there's something venomous and familiar bubbling under his skin, darkening his features. he's been trying to resist it today, tried to cling to that comforting little shining ray of oopsy-daisy insanity the prison world and all its godawful isolation brought upon him—but god if jo's nearness and all the conflicting emotion that comes with that isn't progressively normalizing him again. or whatever counts as normal with him. he's a teenager all over again, arguing with family who hold him at arm's length, and it's fucking unbearable.

"cut the shit, jo." kai leans into her space, brings their faces close. "you weren't miserable? you liked growing up the way you did? tell me more about your perfect childhood—i know i had it worse, but i really didn't think yours was that much better. but hey, maybe it was. maybe you liked being the mom who stepped up; dad sure didn't care one way or another. maybe you liked walking on eggshells your whole childhood. maybe i got you wrong all these years and you never thought i should exist either. news flash, i became everything everyone always said i am." a strained crack in his voice makes him pause, breathing harder, hands clenched at his sides. he should stop. regroup. work a new angle rather than continue whatever this is.

but he keeps going. "you think you'd rather pick the prison world over me? yeah, spend a decade and a half in there and you'll change your mind. me? i'd have gladly picked death. you could have just killed the outcast nobody wanted and gotten it over with, never run the risk of seeing me again, but instead i had to be alone with me while you got to grow up and rewrite your own version of events."

and what's worse than being trapped with the very person you'd always been told was the reason your own family ever treated you the way they did?