#ONCE AGAIN. IMOGEN IS SO FAIR FOR TELLING THEM TO PLEASE NOT PUSH HER MOM OFF THE CLIFF OF FULL VILLAINY AGAIN

[lunarrolls]

listen so closely to me i think liliana temult is a fascinating character and she’s really fun to examine morally but also nothing will ever come fucking close catharsis-wise to watching ashton and orym fucking cross examine her ass in episode 92. the sexiest shit i’ve ever seen “your worst fear is probably my worst fear, and i think we just got a little sample (my worst fear came true because you weren’t fast enough, what will you do when it’s her head on the line?)” and “keep wrestling (you must bear the weight of their deaths on your conscience and know it will never be enough for what you took from me)” like holy SHIT you guys

[rpintheskies-blog]

name: imogen valentine carson

age: 16 (and human)

family: mother: diana carson (part time nurse), father: dean carson (former literature professor), brother and sister twins- 9 years old ophelia and cassio (cassio recently gone missing and found dead)

friends: best friend are kaia (“kiki”- a cheerleader, romantic, and flirt) and dexter (“dex”- a stoner, lazy, and art lover). she hates elena’s goonies, especially elena. however, she is currently in a year and few months long relationship with elena’s little brother: jeremy gilbert.

hobbies: a cheerleader, loves dance (especially ballet), babysitting (cassio and ophelia of course), studying for the only class she actually likes: art history, watching obscure films with jeremy, talking shit with kiki, reading (not shakespeare though, her father ruined that by naming them all that), watching cassio play baseball and ophelia softball, flirting, debating anything with dexter. 

personality: stubborn, smart, hard-working, determined, was more of a goody-two-shoes but is more adventurous and daring, however she’s pure at the heart, a romantic and optimist in most situation, family person, friendly, loyal, kind, sweet, creative.

flaws:

- when she hates someone she hates them with a BURNING passion (sorry elene lmao rip)

- she’s too stubborn for her own good and most of the time stands up for things she doesn’t even believe in just to argue or because she was told not to

- very absent-minded, day dreams A LOT

- somehow terribly oblivious to the supernatural aspect of mystic falls

- when she gives up, she gives up. but when she’s focused she is crazy focused.

// jeremy and imogen //

Imogen was heart-broken. She worked her ass off in class, out of class, all the time for ballet. She went to classes rather than the parties in her grade. She threw out her social life- even resorting to the bare minimal texts to Dex and the only passing conversations with Kiki. She refused to join cheerleading. She refused to eat any foods that were even slightly processed. Her grades fell, her feet were heavily blistered and ruined, yet all she could think about was practice. Practice, and practice, and practice. She would spend more than five hours a day practicing, and when she wasn’t by herself she was in class trying to soak up all the advice and teaching she could. She was seconds from breaking. 

And she did. She broke. Hard. Something in her gut saw it coming, possibly it was her parents' sudden quietness when she entered the room. How her father looked more disheveled than usual, and how they ate out less. But nothing could prepare her for that Tuesday night. It was pasta night, Cassio and Ophelia were ecstatic because mom and dad bought them Chef Bouyarde. Something they would only beg for every single supermarket run. Mother would chide them, commenting on how it was just full of chemicals and question why they would want chemicals when she made great pasta herself. Imogen got alfredo pasta. Grandma’s recipe that she absolutely worshipped. Her mother would only make it for special occasions: awards, performance nights, first day of school dinners, and so on. However, today was none of that. It was a boring old Tuesday night. Thus, when Imogen’s eyes fell on the white sauce, she frowned deeply. Her stomach did summersaults and not ones of joy.  

“Tell me.” Imogen demanded, crossing her arms. She leaned against the doorframe into the kitchen. Her eyes were narrowed with determination. She was determined to finally get some answers. Her mother’s eyes flickered up to her, her lips turned downwards but she quickly pushed them upwards, nodding towards the bowl of pasta, “Do you want me to fix you up a plate, Genny?” She asked in a tone that was sickly sweet.

“Mom.” Imogen persisted, her tone more tired, the words barely distinguished from the deep sigh she exhaled. Her mothers tight and small smile she forced on slowly deteriorated. It wasn’t going to be held for long anyway. Her mother was equally exhausted.

“Your father has been laid off.”

It took a while for Imogen to truly understand what that meant for her. But she learned quick. His loss of job wasn’t recent. He had been job searching for months now. They were running low on money, and mother was working longer shifts at the hospital in hopes to make up for it. Cassio and Ophelia were very worried about whether or not they would be receiving fewer gifts for their birthdays. Imogen asked about her lessons and she wished she hadn’t. Of course, ignoring the truth wouldn’t make it not happen. She couldn’t remember for how long she cried when they said she wouldn’t be able to take lessons for a while. They were expensive, fair enough. But it was the tipping point for Imogen. 

***

Imogen set cross legged on the back stairs of the school, whereas Dexter sat on top of one of the huge dumpsters, his skinny legs hanging over. He had his hair in his new hairdo obsession: cornrows. Practically falling off his nose was a small and thin pair of sunglasses, dangling off his nose like the joint off his fingers. “Man, that’s tough. I can’t even imagine, Gen. Damn, you know if he going to get a job soon?” He took a long drag of the blunt, holding his breath as he waited for her to respond. 

“Doubt it.” She mumbled, watching him exhale the smoke through his nostrils, a smug look on his face. She frowned, narrowing her eyes and furrowing her eyebrows. Determined, she pushed herself off the steps and marched over, plucking the joint out of his hand and pressing it against her lips. She tried to copy what she saw Dexter do every day, breathe it in and inhale like you’re sucking out of a straw. She didn’t expect it to be so strong and to burn her throat. She yanked it out of her mouth and curled over coughing her lungs out. Tears pricked her eyes. Dexter watched her with wide eyes, wondering if he was truly tripping this hard or if Imogen ‘goody-two-shoes’ Carson really took a hit. 

“Woah, woah, woah... Gen, you ok? You know first timers-” 

“I’m fine.” She managed with a weak voice, straightening up and wiping her eyes with the back of her non-joint hand. She went to take another try when she heard a voice behind her. 

“Hey, do you mind if I have some?” Low and behold it was the voice of no other than ‘Little Gilbert’ AKA Elena Gilbert’s little brother. Imogen slightly glared at him, probably hating him by assosciation. She raised her right hand, which hend the blunt between the two forefingers, and shook it slightly some ashes flying off it. 

“You want a hit of this thing, ‘Little Gilbert’?” 

“It’s Jeremy, and actually, yeah I want a hit of that joint. You can say it, it’s not a bad word.” Jeremy said, his dark eyes glaring down at her back. His arms were folded against his chest. He was too upset and in a mood to deal with this kind of shit. Little did he know that Imogen was in a mood too, and no one, no one, talked back to her. 

Frowning, rather annoyed at being told off, Imogen glanced back at Dexter who just shrugged. Deciding not to start a fight she didn’t need, she pushed the joint is his direction. He gave her an attempt at a smile, and took it, instantly relaxing as he inhaled a big breath. Slowly taking another drag, he took a seat on a crate. 

From then on, Jeremy would join them as they smoked (in which Imogen would rarely par take- in hopes that she would be able to go to classes again). Imogen and Jeremy would argue over the most stupid things, and bicker. Imogen appreciated it. 

***

It wasn’t long until they started dating. It was shortly after Kiki dared Imogen to go out with a guy from their rivalry school- Bridgeback High. She was a cheerleader at this time being coherced into signing up by Kiki (”What else are you going to do if you don’t have dance? You won’t injure yourself. I promise”) and it was practically illegal for a cheerleader to do it. Kiki wanted to see if she could go a week dating the kid without being kicked off the team. Thankfully, she managed. However, Jeremy wasn’t so pleased. 

One afternoon, she brought her ‘boyfriend’ to the smoking spot. In hopes that some of the team would see them together as she brought him over. She had to make it obvious they were a ‘thing’ or else she didn’t truly fulfill the dare (according to Kiki). Imogen was wearing her cheerleading uniform with his Rams varsity jacket over it. It was definitely a sight, once that sparked a lot of whispering and aghast looks as she walked by. His hand was low on her waist, way too low for her liking, but she had to keep it going. The pair finally reached Dexter and Jeremy. Dexter elbowed Jeremy, his mouth slightly open in shock. Jeremy’s eyes slowly trailed upwards and his face fell more by each second, until finally he was frowning and standing up. 

“Who’s this douche, Minnie?” Jeremy said, walking over to the football player, his eyes narrowed practically into slits and a scowl resting on his face. 

Imogen frowned, her eyebrows knitting into confusion. “He’s not a douche, his name is Nate and he’s my boyfriend.” She pulled herself out of Nate’s now protective grip to stand in front of him. “What’s your problem Jeremy?” She said under her breath, giving him her best ‘what the f**k?’ look. 

“What’s my problem? What’s your problem? Degrading yourself to a varsity jersey? Letting him put his hands all over you and stare at you like you’re a piece of meat? God, Minnie, I thought you had more respect for yourself than that.” 

That’s when Nate scoffed. Making things much worse. The more muscular guy pushed himself in front of Imogen, practically pushing her away. “Emo dude, let the chick do what she wants.” It wasn’t longer than a millisecond before Jeremy swung backwards, his fist connecting with Nate’s face. All Hell broke loose. Jeremy and Nate started to toussle, Dexter quickly stepped away, and Elena’s boyfriend at the time Matt stepped in along with his best friend Tyler, separating the two guys. 

Imogen wanted to tell them to f**ck off and just because they did anything for Elena (for some reason she couldn’t understand) didn’t mean they had to get into Jeremy’s private matters. But she was just thankful he was okay and the fight was over. They spent the night with his head in her lap, her icing his swollen lip and playing with his hair. 

‘Why’d you do that?” She asked softly, a few hours in to the film marathon they were having at her house (Mom and Dad were at a parent and teacher’s conference at the elemntary school for Ophelia and Cassio). 

“Which part?” Jeremy asked, sitting up slowly and grunting so he could face her.

Imogen let out a small breath of a laugh, a confused smile on her face as she looked up at him, them a lot closer than she even realized. “All of it.” 

Jeremy’s face softened. It was probably the most she had seen since she started talking to him which was after his parents’ death. His eyes met her and she felt somehting in her chest she never felt before. She felt heavy and weightless at the same time. 

“Because I like you.” And with that, she grabbed his cheeks with both of her hands and pulled him down to her, crashing her lips against his. 

For the first time since she stopped truly dancing, she felt right.