#bc this was one of the biggest turning points for elena as a character

[yllowpages]

elena deals with nightmares. of many different things. sometimes it's the normal, out-of-pocket things everyone could have nightmares about. sometimes it's more specific. moments she's lived. but more than anything, and especially in the first couple of years following, her nightmares have replayed those split seconds before flynn dropped that grenade. she knows how lucky she is to be alive. and the thought that she was so close to dying is just... it's terrifying. and of course it's one of the main reasons she became so cautious moving forward. so, some nights, her mind just can't help but go through that moment. watching him take out the grenade and look them all in the face when he let go. she can remember the sound and the pain — all of it. sometimes the nightmare is exactly as the moment happened. sometimes she tries to run, to see if she would have escaped it. once or twice ... she's been the one holding the grenade and forced to drop it. every option is horrible. those nights she can't get it out of her head, she just doesn't sleep frankly. she can't. her mind will be racing too much and she'll close her eyes and that's all she'll see. so she has to do anything else to get it out of her mind. she'll literally wake up at two in the morning from this and just get up and start cleaning or reorganizing things or even working. anything but sitting alone with her thoughts. and she wishes sometimes she could forget it altogether. but the scarring she took away from it — both mental and physical — makes that difficult sometimes.

[jennifersminds]

Hey! Hope you are having a great day.

So since I like you opinions and analyzes so much, I wanted to ask, Why do you think people hate Elena?

I know they have some reasons, like her sleeping with Damon and breaking up with Stefan etc... (Which I find terribly hypocritical because no other character is better at that point) but it's like they think Elena was ALWAYS a bad friend or a girlfriend, they ignore the times she sacrificed herself and asked forgiveness from Stefan. Honestly, I've left apps like Reddit or Instagram because of that, I can't stand all this hatred towards a fictional character who has so many fans as well.

Okay I'm gonna start off with - tysm !!! for this ask and I'm so sorry for the tremendous can of mental worms it's going to pop off bc i have thoughts-

There are actually alot of factors in play when it comes to the frankly insane amount of hate Elena receives, and in my opinion they vary between vaguely valid and batshit insane. Now this could very easily turn into an insane rant so I’m gonna try to speak objectively in an attempt to actually explain myself lmao.

The cards are already sorta stacked against Elena as a main character because audiences seem to have this individualistic desire to tear a piece of medias protagonist apart (especially if they’re female). I honestly can’t think of a fandom I’ve been in nor witnessed one where this doesn’t happen to some degree. Media literacy is a dying skill and alot of audience member struggle to grasp that the ‘fun, witty, sexy, bitchy etc’ side character is often a side character for a reason. Main characters are viewed as ‘attention hoggers’ for merely taking up the most screen time as if thats not what they were always intended to do. No matter how snarky or chill a character is people will always get tired of them for wining or crying or taking up too much room. Regardless of a piece of medias contents, audiences have a very short fuse with this sorta thing. So Elena not only being a main character, but a main character who’s literally the centre of multiple spells/prophecies and who is constantly undergoing horrific trauma because of this and therefore crying, makes her an unfortunate target for contrarian viewers who are already desperate to hate the shows lead just to feel different.

The biggest factor is, to likely no-ones surprise, misogyny. Both internalised and not, the shows 12-17 year old target audience combined with the actual blatant sexism displayed in the show itself are a recipe for disaster that implodes with every new wave of tweens that stumble across the show. Now I mentioned how alot of audiences hate main characters out of a need to feel different, amplify that by a hundred thanks to the fun and unavoidable ‘not like other girls’ phase that most of this age demographic is going through and you’ve got yourself an Elena-anti. (I’m not demonising this phase, the treatment of young girls in society makes this an almost impossible thing to avoid, however it is a big reason alot of girls hate Elena). The nature of the show adds to this aswell, as the Salvatore love triangle encourages audiences to pick a side, Stefan or Damon, and once you start choosing between brothers you feel the need to choose between every character. So you’ve got girls who like Caroline feeling a need to hate both Elena and Bonnie because the show makes it feel impossible to like more than one character at once. 

Now, building more on internalised misogyny- the biggest and most insane way people hate on Elena imo is the ‘crybaby’ accusations. This to me comes from a mixture of point one and two, a lack of patients for main characters and their ‘whining’ and ‘not like other girls’ syndrome. Now we can argue until we’re blue in the face about who lost more or who deserves to cry but in my opinion it doesn’t matter. Elena was grieving at every point in the show (something that I don’t think was properly discussed tbh), being actively groomed and abused (I’ll talk more on that later), and dealing with multiple threats on her life at the age of seventeen. She deserved to cry. In fact she deserved to do alot more.

So I’ve mostly been talking about audience and audience perception so far so let’s get into the actual show and its storyline. Now I mentioned how tvd encourages their audience to choose, this in itself isn't wrong or unusual, however with Elena it leads to the entire audience heavily sympathising with one of the Salvatore brothers. The young girls watching the show are told that they need to feel bad/happy for whichever one they like the most because otherwise why are they watching? Now I know it sounds like I’m just describing to you the basic steps of watching/reading anything however this is a problem here because - 

The Salvatore’s are not victims. They are not just love interests. The Elena/Salvatore love triangle isn’t a normal love triangle where all the parties are equally complicated and therefore deserve to be held equally accountable. Both Damon and Stefan hold a highly significant level of power above Elena. Not just because they’r older but because she is a child. And not just because she’s a child but because they both no more about her and the world she’s being tormented by than she does. This would be one thing if they made an effort to share this information with her along the way but they don’t, and not only do they use this to manipulate her along the way they hold her accountable for what she does while being manipulated by one of them.

Not even the way teenagers would hold each-other accountable in a normal high school love triangle, they hold her to the standards of an adult and because they do- so does the audience. And because the young girls watching this show have no reason to hold their fav hunky sassy sexy vampire boy accountable for how they treat Elena. They then hold Elena accountable for not just the things she does ‘wrong’ but the things the Salvatores fo wrong too.

All of Damon and Stefans misdeeds fall upon Elena, the people they kill/assault (caroline), the battles they start. She is blamed for all of it because, going back to point one, she’s the protagonist, and she’s at the centre of it all. And while it is true that in the lore of the show everything happens because of Elena and her doppelgänger status, she literally never has any control or autonomy throughout the entire run. She doesn’t bring vampires into Mystic falls. The vampires (salvatores) force their way into it just to fuck her. But because the show would have to sacrifice its perfect love story to discuss this, it doesn’t. So it’s primarily young audience (point two) ignores it/doesn’t think of it, and also blames Elena the way the Salvatore’s do. 

Okay I’m gonna wrap this up even though there’s probably alot more I should say but i will give my vague opinions on a few plot points.

Stefan had no right to be mad at Elena in season 4, at-least not the way he was. I mentioned before that Elena was held to the standards of an adult by both brothers well I honestly think Stefan is the worst for it. His whole self afflicting, tortured “I never thought you’d hurt me this way” thing was bullshit because.... why??? why did you think that? She’s a child. A literal child that your psycho rapist of a brother has been trying to fuck for two years now.

The use of Rebekah by both Stefan and Damon is very gross to me aswell. And I think relevant here too because both of these moments are prime “OMG look how self centred Elena is” things. Both Stefan and Damon use sex with other people as a way to punish Elena for stepping out of line. The choice of Rebekah is deliberate by both of them and to say otherwise is ridiculous in my opinion. Damon sleeps with Rebekah not 48 hours after she tried to kill Elena and Stefan after Rebekah literal did kill her. The attitude of the “You’ve never seen me when I’m not in love with you.” shit is enraging.

Anyway, I’m gonna end this here. I’d be happy to elaborate/get into more specific moments and reasons whenever but thank you again for this ask. Sorry it’s a bit late but I wanted to get as much out as coherently as possible lmao.

[livlepretre]

Awesome chapter of SWSB/SWBS bc I can never remember which way those words go lol

Good for Elena standing up to the Salvatore's and I can only imagine the possible ass kicking at least Damon might get from Klaus if he sees those bruises/smells him on her.

Speaking of Damon, I love how in character he is (technically I think they're all in character bc you're amazing), you don't tend to "woobify" him as we used to say in fandom lol

And oh yes the Jenna problem. I kind of never really see it as a huge problem where Elena and whomever she's with are concerned. I feel like bc of the nature of it being a supernatural show and what not, that it's sorta something all the characters have to go through anyway (loss, grief, etc) just bc the nature of their characters (becoming vampires, witches, etc). But at the same time I'm glad you do address it in your fics bc it is more realistic and I loved Jenna and wished she could have just became a vampire. Like I always wonder how that could have gone and if Elena would have made the same choices after the sacrifice had Jenna lived in some fashion.

The worst part being that Klaus basically did it out of spite, since she had already agreed to die for the sacrifice anyway, which honestly just makes him that much more of a deliciously evil sob. 😈 Oh the love to hate!

I haven't missed anything about Elena knowing it's Klaus's baby yet, right? I'm sorta blanking on if that came out yet haha

Can't wait for the next chapter! What do they say nowadays, *chefs kiss*

bahahaha that’s what I get for naming this fic after a line in a song (and screwing up the lyrics because I did it from memory LOL)

There are going to be fireworks, don’t you worry!

Woobification is such a great term. You’re right that it seems to have fallen out of vogue though. I think encountering woobification in tvd fic in particular was one of the frustrations that finally lit a fire under me to start writing my own fic. I’m all for people woobifying however they’d like and enjoying whatever they want, but it’s not my particular cup of tea-- I really enjoy digging into the really difficult parts of these characters-- the monstrous, the horrifying, the cruel, the selfish, the jealous... and thinking about which parts of those might actually be parts of their humanity. 

I’m incredibly thrilled that Damon is reading as “in character”-- if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times-- I find him incredibly difficult to write! After a decade of writing tvd fic I’m only just now gaining enough confidence with his character to have him actually stay in a scene rather than conveniently leave right away. 

Oh, I think Elena would have been soooo much better off if Jenna had lived! Her primary issue is that without a parent figure meaningfully in the picture-- in this case, that would mean a parent figure fully aware of the supernatural dangers and pressures Elena faces-- she ends up succumbing to the influence of the Salvatores, who are both such terrible influences on her and lead her further and further down this dark path to the point where they’ll eat someone in front of her, and she just doesn’t care so long as it’s not one of her friends. 

Part of this is that Elena has this remarkable capacity to forgive when she really shouldn’t. One of the most informative things to me about the incident where Damon breaks Jeremy’s neck and she ends up forgiving him, even after declaring that she never would, is that actually, Elena can forgive anything so long as it’s ultimately undoable. She can forgive Damon for murdering her brother, because her brother happens to come back to life. That shouldn’t in any way absolve Damon, who 1) didn’t know about the ring and 2) that’s really not an excuse at all, but for Elena, who is under those intense psychological pressures from her status in a supernatural setting, that’s sufficient. 

The Jenna thing becomes a huge issue then. It’s permanent. Jenna’s dead and that’s it. To me, this is actually the biggest impediment against Klaus/Elena in the show (unless we imagine a situation where Jenna lives, or remains a vampire, or there’s a canon divergence pre-sacrifice). I think her heart would want to forgive him, but she would keep coming up against the implacability of Jenna’s fate... so, that’s where one of the huge focuses of my fic writing and set up always comes in-- figuring out how Elena could possibly move past Jenna’s murder in order to fall for Klaus-- in SWBS, the answer turned out to be: make her so isolated and alienated and feel so broken and rejected that any company seemed like good company. 

I too think Klaus totally killed Jenna for spite. I have this head canon that he really does want Elena, but he’s angry that he has to kill her (and he’s wayyyyy too selfish to ever consider doing anything else) so he takes it out on her by killing Jenna. Because honestly? It’s such a weird choice for him to make! It’s so targeted and mean! Especially since Elena has always been loud and clear that she would go willingly with him! 

No one knows that the baby is Klaus’s, although, Elena almost put it together on the car drive to Whitmore... but she repressed repressed repressed rather than consciously figure that one out. But don’t you worry, there’s a clock counting down to when all will be revealed, and it’s getting very close to zero... Literally you can see me setting the stage for the end with the Salvatores coming back, plus a couple of other curve balls I have planned! 

Thanks so much for your comment, loved reading your thoughts!!! 

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

Okay... going on a bit of a Schneider x Avery rant for a little bit. I've been reading some of your old posts about them and honestly I really do think they're endgame. If the show were to continue, I think season 3 would've been the closest we ever see Schneider to the family, but I think Avery (bc she doesn't have that much character development) would pull him back to the outer circle for season 4. I don't think they would've brought her back for the finale if they weren't endgame.

(cont) Schneider just barely makes the cut for family in this show. I mean I love him, but the show is about Penelope and her family. If they made too much noise between Penelope’s best friend’s love interest, who has no connection with the rest of the family, it would distract from the main characters too much. Nikki, Schneider’s only other “love” interest had a connection to both Penelope and Alex. But Avery’s there just for Schneider and I’m afraid it would stay that way.

hi anon!! i had to wait a while before answering this one because i knew i would need coherent thoughts and that hasn’t been working so well for me lately

you make two important points here, so i’ll start with the schneider side of it. i agree that s3 was the closest that we’ve ever seen schneider to the family, and that makes sense because honestly even as s3 progressed the storylines for everyone in the family, schneider kind of had the biggest, most consistent arc. (i think alex’s was the next biggest/most consistent. elena and pen and lydia’s stories were more episodic in s3 and sometimes connected more to previous season events than the preceding episodes.)

the showrunners/writers had been planning to address schneider’s sobriety for a while and talked a lot with the actor while they worked on it, and i think they handled it really well. but in my opinion, that all builds up to cementing schneider’s place in the family. not just pulling him into the circle, but making it clear that he belongs there–in a way they aren’t likely to go back on. 

we went from penelope shutting the door in his face in 1.13 when he’s telling her they’re like family, to elena joking about him NOT being family in s2 and him telling a comatose lydia that they’re his family while punctuating his grief with jokes…to the entire family rallying around him in 3.12 after they were all a bit more distant earlier in the season.

elena is the first member of the family to actually direct the word ‘love’ his way! penelope tries to make it clear that he’s important to her just as he is and that he needs to fight his addictions not just for his sake but because of her family, especially the kids! schneider interrupts his big romantic reunion with avery to focus on lydia officially claiming him as an alvarez!

this snippet of an interview todd grinnell gave after s3 mentions the tension between any future schneider would have with avery, and his ties to the family. i don’t know how much the plans for a potential s4 might have changed over time, but since we know the writers do discuss plot arcs with the actors in advance (or at least they have done so with todd before) i believe that when he said this, it was based off his awareness of what the writers were thinking. 

which means that avery could have been brought back to be a source of future conflict–and after schneider’s s3 declaration that ‘family is everything’ it’s not guaranteed that he would choose avery in that scenario. i could see him learning to balance and compromise, maybe, but schneider drifting out of the picture because of his love interest wouldn’t make sense for who he is–unless the actor was leaving the show maybe? i still wouldn’t find it very believable though.

i do agree that avery’s only connected to the show through schneider. that actually bugged me in s3, because they gave her so many little great moments in the beginning to establish who she was, and then she really never interacted with the family even when she was in scenes with them!! they either need to fully include her in s4 or keep her more separate; now that we’re more familiar with her, it won’t make sense at all for her to be in the apartment or at events and ignoring the rest of them most of the time. (unless that’s part of the plot, of course.) i think that avery won’t be likely to get much actual plot unless it starts to be about non-schneider things, like how she affects family members.

i honestly have no idea if schneider and avery are endgame or not. india is too adorable for me to be against it, despite my many objections to how avery was handled in s3 (so much potential after that meet-cute! i ranted in multiple essays about about it!). because the actors are married it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what the show does, letting schneider’s storylines going forward be more about him maturing and dealing with his first serious lasting relationship. 

i think that how long the show gets to continue existing will also have a lot to do with what turns out to be endgame–if it ends on its own terms in a few years, then we’ll know what their intended endgame was. but if it gets cancelled then i’ll always wonder what they might have been really aiming for.

the biggest thing that you and i seem to disagree about, though, anon, that probably affects how we see the avery stuff playing out, is schneider’s role on the show. you say that he just barely makes the cut for family, and i would argue (as i sort of started to, messily, above) that in fact it’s season 3 that doesn’t just confirm but yells that he’s completely family. 

in the first scene of the season, he comes in and tells the rest of them who their own dead relative is, and in his last scene, avery passes along the news of lydia’s official adoption of him. between all of that, the family sees him turn into someone else while he’s trying to please his father–and they see the relapsed alcoholic he’s never been in their presence before–and they commit even harder to making him feel loved and like he’s a part of them. 

along those same lines, i’d also argue that schneider is a ‘main character.’ not only just technically (because he’s been included in things like promo images for the show since s1, where leslie wasn’t) but in terms of the story. if he wasn’t a main character in seasons 1 and 2, he definitely became one in season 3, when two whole episodes were formed around his arc in addition to his usual mini stories alongside the family.

tl;dr i have no idea if avery is schneider’s endgame but he is an alvarez now and i’ll believe him choosing her over his family when i see it 

[zigsexual]

i would love to read ur essay on why elena and nathan are the best couple 🤧

sTop omg dont enable me….. ok well ill give an abridged version, but under the cut bc its still gonna be damn long LMAO

the biggest thing for me is that elena is a fully fleshed out character capable of existing independently of nate, which is HUGE for a video game. like, when was the last time you played a male-lead game where the love interest could stand on her own merit? elena doesn’t fall into that “badass bitch” trope either, like she’s tough and completely capable of keeping up with nate, but it’s not the cornerstone of her character to be a “strong female.” she is smart and funny and accomplished, while still maintaining her humanity and emotional depth. additionally, elena is never played to be like the “eye candy” or whatever, like she actually wears shit that makes sense for the situation and there’s no male gaze on her throughout the cutscenes and her body is normally proportioned. you can tell that she was created to be representative of an actual person, which is sadly rare in this industry! naughty dog does female characters SO well, with the due diligence they deserve, and just elena being as complete a character as she is already sets their relationship apart.

but elena aside, there is such a strong partnership in the way the two of them work together. they’re a team, they’re in everything together, and you can see this in the reason elena was so upset after finding out about nate’s shenanigans in 4:

“even if you thought you were protecting me, you don’t have a right to shut me out like that. you’re supposed to come to me so that we can work through it together. as a team.”

it’s because the two of them are a team, and nate didn’t allow her the agency to act accordingly; she’s hurt that he didn’t let her in so they could work on a solution together. the obvious storyline would be to make her angry that he didn’t do what she wanted / told him to do, because that’s the typical “female relationship” stereotype that lazy writing falls back on, but that wouldn’t work for nate and elena because that’s not how they operate (and because their characters are well-written). they have always been equal partners: in their marriage, in their work, in their adventures. this is no exception. it’s the littlest of things… “doing the dishes - we take turns.”

when they talk about it later in the game, it’s so poignant, because like here are two characters that actually treat their marriage with reverence and have made a commitment to persevering through the good and the bad. just like when elena explains why she came back from him: “there’s that whole marriage vow thing…for better or worse.” 

they’re honest, and they communicate, and even when they’re just talking about unimportant things they still have a levity and a camaraderie in their relationship that is built on their friendship. like even just the early scene in 4 where they’re eating dinner and chatting, it’s so natural and warm and comfortable. the way they talk to each other is so clearly coached in respect for one another. when elena finds nate after rafe tries to shoot him (and saves his ass frankly - another thing you don’t see often in video games), he tells her everything about his brother and the entire situation that lead them to where they are. and the first thing he says to her afterwards is, “i’d love to know what you’re thinking.” because at the end of the day, her opinions and her thoughts and her decisions are important to him. it’s the first thing he looks for.

 even when they’re upset, this respect is evident:

nate: “i wasn’t trying to protect you… it’s just, i made a promise that i was done with this life.”elena “we both did.”nate: “yeah, but i broke it. i didn’t tell you because i was afraid. of losing you. i guess i was, uh, protecting myself.”

that kind of honesty and self-reflection, like even beyond video games — seeing a man talk to his wife with this kind of vulnerability is so fucking rare. and important. because it’s the building block for their ability to work through the problems they have and to find forgiveness. you can’t do that without being vulnerable, and clearly the both of them trust each other enough to do so. you know like, they really love each other in the way that goes beyond just base passion.

and then at the very end it comes full circle, when nate is saying goodbye to sam and he tells him “sometimes you have to decide what things you’re going to keep and what you’re going to let go.” which yeah, has some root in the thrill-seeking, but is very clearly a reference to the fact that he is choosing elena, and he’s choosing their marriage above the selfish aspects that he might have been more inclined to choose before. it’s the kind of decision you make when you’re truly dedicated to another person and to building something, again — together. 

which is also the case for elena, (“you’re buying jameson marine?” “we’re buying jameson marine.”) as she is choosing nate by finding a way to bridge the things they both want. a chance to “do what we love” under the right circumstances. it’s a give-and-take that they’re both committed to. elena tells nate “just say the word and i will call the whole thing off,” because again, the focal point of their relationship is being a team, and the series wraps up with that as the most explicit takeaway. they’re always going to be in it together, because the adventure isn’t worth it otherwise. it’s selfless and sweet and real and powerful and it’s midnight and im crying over video game characters lmao

[urwarriorangel]

TVD SHIPS (i think the right word is OTPs but oh well)

I know I’m extra and unnecessary af for this but pls bare with me. I was up until four am last night and thought this would be a good idea so here we are!

Also please keep in mind that these are just my opinions. Some of these are potential situations, not the way things ended up in the show. I don’t mean to sound rude in some of the comments even though it may seem that way. I know that I might be the queen of unpopular otp/ship opinions but pls hear me out. If you like the ships that I don’t, it’s alright. If you hate the ones that I like, that’s also fine. It happens. Love y’all!! XOXO

ps- this is gonna be very very VERY fucking long, so there’s gonna be a little ‘keep reading’ tab after the first category. i’m so sorry

TVD SHIPS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Klaus x Bonnie

I know that Klaus doesn’t play nice and I know that Bonnie hates him but come on, you can’t tell me they wouldn’t have been a scorching hot pair. you’ve got the wolf, the vampire, the witch (aka the holy trinity of the supernatural world) split between a petite woman of color and a lanky northern european man. please keep in mind that Bonnie could destroy Klaus in a millisecond.

Kol x Bonnie

Y’ALL I WOULD KILL FOR THIS SHIP. Kol is a psychopath and I feel like in a way, that’s Bonnie’s specialty. she’d hate him first, sure. but then they’d have to work together to save her stupid friends and the only reason he’d agree to accompany her was because “you’re going to get yourself killed, love. we should just let them figure things out” “I’m not asking you to come, Kol”. she’d have him wrapped around her finger in no time. imagine the mind blowing make out scenes. also the sex scenes.THE SEX SCENES!

Kol x Elena

okay so I’m not the biggest fan of Elena because she’s so damn whiny but she’s also vulnerable and has this crazy knack of making people like her. Kol’s intentions were never to hurt Elena to be honest. he was angry with his brother and terrified of Silas, rightfully so. I think they would have worked.

Lorenzo x Caroline

tbh Enzo is the only guy I would like to see Caroline with. Caroline keeps floating between the self-righteous guy with the good hair and the raging psychopath with the perfect accent. settle for the perfect accent, nice hair, a tortured soul, and mostly good intentions.

Malachai x Bonnie

a concept: Kai buying Bonnie a Costco bear to apologize for Mrs. Cuddles. Kai getting turned on every time Bonnie practices magic that is above even him. Kai smiling every time Bonnie texts him and being confused as to why. Kai being the first one to say I love you.

Damon x Bonnie

I want them to hook up SO BAD. you know those college roommates AUs or the best friends spending a drunken night together AUs or the childhood friends who develop feelings AUs or partners in crime having sex for the sake of the mission AUs? I would like that to happen with these two losers.

Elijah x Bonnie

okay so I ship Bonnie with just abt everyone. so sue me. she would dig through Elijah’s mind and force him to face his past. once his episodes started, she’d feel guilty and she’d make excuses to hang around him. eventually, the monsters in his past were nothing compared to how scared he’d get every time he thought about losing Bonnie.

Bonnie x Elena

Bonnie would be the more rational, no bullshit girlfriend. Elena would be the damsel in distress with a party mindset. They’d keep each other grounded and watch the sunrise together even though Bonnie just wanted to make out.

Bonnie x Caroline

the motherfking power couple y’all. childhood friends who fall in love with each other after they both date boring guys. the almighty witch and the vampire with good communication skills. wow think of how good they’d look at Elena’s wedding: Bonnie in her maid-of-honor dress, Caroline in a similarly colored bridesmaid dresses; Caroline catches the bouquet and proceeds to kiss Bonnie in front of all the groomsmen who’re hitting on her.

Caroline x Rebekah

Barbie queens with more to offer than their looks. they’re smart, ambitious, competitive, dire romantics, control freaks, short tempered, gentle-spirited, and so damn sexy. i would pay good money for a hot tub scene between these two.

Malachai x Elena

humanity-less Elena and regular, sociopathic Kai. they’d be a dynamic duo tbh. Elena and Damon would have just broken up and Kai actually liked this side of Elena, the wild party girl with complete disregard for human life.

Jeremy x Liv

these two wouldn’t date, not at all. they’d just have lots of angry sex and tbh I’m content with their relationship being just that.

Elijah x Damon

at first, it was annoying: Elijah had to keep an eye on another reckless vampire. he’d lose sight of Damon for a couple hours and he’d turn the entire city upside down bc he was scared that Damon was wreaking havoc. only Elijah would come home at the end of the day and find Damon dancing around the house-- topless with a bottle of bourbon in hand--and no matter how bad he knew he should yell at Damon and put him in place, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

TVD SHIPS THAT NEEDED  MORE SCREEN TIME

Matt x Rebekah

my favorite Matt pairing and my favorite Rebekah pairing. Rebekah is a hopeless romantic and nothing will ever change that. Matt is a puppy dog who’s the same way and I love how happy they were together, I love how good they looked together, all that jazz. their fling is very underrated.

Bonnie x Nora

YES YES YESSSSSSSSS. I would also kill for this ship, relation- or friend-. this was such a pure friendship. it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine by any means, but it was the most real friendship on the show. it could have been even greater.

Elijah x Katerina

I wanted to see them together so much more!!! I love Katherine and I feel like Elijah was a soulmate of hers. Elijah clearly loved her, but things just never worked out in their favor. They could have had a great love story, or at least a top-notch friendship.

Stefan x Katherine

Stefan is another one of Katherine’s soul mates. Definitely. They’re both manipulative, one more than the other. They both cared about one another at one point. They’re both empty and alone at times despite the people around them. Another great love story.

Klaus x Stefan

I’m a little iffy about this because I think that Klaus is fine without Stefan, but I also really like the friendship they built back in the 20s. I love the acceptance and the love and the connection Klaus and Stefan had at first. It was great.

Elijah x Stefan

Everyone compares Stefan and Klaus to one another and claim that they are so similar, but I vehemently disagree. I think that Elijah and Stefan are very similar. Both very self-righteous. Both have a distinct set of beliefs. Both are very loyal and are known as “the good brother”. I don’t know. I would’ve liked to see a relationship develop between these two.

Caroline x Katherine

ugh yet another potential great couple!! they are both very fashion-oriented, both very controlling and organized, both hella smart. if Katherine hadn’t screwed around with Caroline when she’d just been turned, I think they could’ve been great friends. they’re very similar, very self-aware. they care about themselves.

Klaus x Damon

I really want to watch Damon and Klaus’s relationship progress. I want them to become friends who pretend they hate each other but are always so protective of one another and are always ready to defend the other person. They’re the self-hatred ridden brothers and I think it would be nice if they loved each other.

Damon x Enzo

LONG LIVE DENZO. Denzo is my number one ship for both Damon and Enzo. like :( I’m so hurt that Damon left Enzo but imagine: Damon spending every day for the rest of eternity apologizing for leaving, knowing that it would never be enough but not stopping. Damon would always put Enzo first, always. He would put Enzo’s life and happiness over his own every time. Enzo would try to fight it to no avail. Enzo taking one look at Damon’s battered body after a fight and immediately cleaning him up and bandaging him. Enzo spending the night in Damon’s bed with Damon in his arms as he kissed his forehead.

Alaric x Jo

I don’t like Jo, but I would like to think that she and Kai could have patched things up and she would be less bitter and annoying and she and Alaric could have a happy life. With cute little babies.

Damon x Elizabeth Forbes

I think that Sheriff Forbes is the one person that Damon would never be able to leave. He left his romantic interest time and time again. He left his brother. He left his best friend. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love them, that just means that Forbes was the only person who would push him hard enough to stay that he wouldn’t have any other choice. Damon’s the only vampire (asides from Caroline) that Sheriff Forbes actually loves.

Elijah x Elena

Elijah was protective of Elena from the start. he recognized the vulnerable parts of Katherine in her and saw the fierce loyalty and honesty that Katherine at times lacked. she was like a breath of fresh air to him and he wanted to help, constantly to popular belief.

Damon x Rose

I hated Rose at first because I was all about Delena but the more I thought about it and the more I rewatched it, Rose was YET ANOTHER CHARACTER THAT DESERVED BETTER. She was on the run her entire life because she was loyal to Trevor. She died because she was protecting Damon. Her entire life revolved around her great attributes wasted on men. I think Damon would have helped her move on and escape when needed. She would’ve helped him see the truth, kind of a balance to him.

Kol x Jeremy

BASEBALL BUDDIES. one of the few times that Jeremy wasn’t really annoying was when he was friends with Kol, the times we never heard from him except to check up and see he was happy. I think that Kol saw a potential friend in him, despite his “dark” intentions. they could have been great fucking friends.

Tyler x Jeremy

another time that Jeremy wasn’t too annoying was when he was friends with this idiot: Tyler. granted, Tyler was sired to Klaus, but still. they got through it and were pretty decent friends. I was happy with their small friendship and it would have been nice to see peaceful guy friends.

Matt x Tyler

MY FAVORITE FRIENDSHIP back in the day oh my god :( it makes me sad thinking of how much we used to see of Tyler and Matt, of how great friends they were and how they got through everything together. it was so nice to see them happy or sad but together ugh. I WANT MORE.

Stefan x Lexi

I loved Lexi. she was so badass and so cool and so independent all while keeping an eye out for her best friend. this here is another case of my obsession with best friends blooming into other things and childhood best friends becoming lovers. Stefan wasn’t too annoying when Lexi was around, he was kind of fun. GASP

Damon x Lexi

okay hear me out. this a case of “you’re my best friend’s brother and we shouldn’t be doing this but he doesn’t have to know” ugh :( I like the idea of badass Lexi taming the wild fuckboy that is Damon.

TVD SHIPS THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN BUT WERE (EVEN A LITTLE)

Klaus x Caroline

everyone loves them together but me. sure, i appreciate how great they look and how Klaus cares about Caroline, but I don’t think Caroline would or should ever actually date him. Klaus has hurt too many of her loved ones for her to look at him as more than an occasional fuck, at least for now. he’ll always be the one that got away. I’m okay with that, idk.

Alaric x Caroline

this entire thing was so fucked up. like Alaric’s wife is dead so Caroline has to get pregnant and have the babies and then give everything up, happily or otherwise. as wierd as it sounds, it would have been more interesting if Elena was pregnant with the twins. maybe. probably not. okay that’s too wierd.

Stefan x Caroline

sometimes I really don’t like this duo and other times I couldn’t care less. the reason that I couldn’t care less is because of the obvious love and affection between the characters. that being said, those feelings aren’t portrayed romantically. at least not for me. it’s just a little too wierd for me.

Jeremy x Bonnie

Jeremy is such an annoying character ughhhh oh my god. Bonnie deserved a lot better than this dorky kid who would always act out. it was wierd to begin with because when they first started dating, Jeremy was really immature and Bonnie was the exact opposite. Jeremy wasn’t an endearing immature, he was the stupid immature.

Stefan x Valerie

this was literally just a filler. Valerie deserved better than what Stefan had to offer. I mean it could have been great had Stefan not been using Valerie, had he actually cared for her.

Stefan x Elena

YET ANOTHER SHIP THAT EVERYONE LOVES AND I HATE. Stefan and Elena, in my opinion, were too alike to ever date. they were both very self-righteous and nosey and everything had to be done their way. they tried to control the people around them and I think the times that I liked Stefan the least (border-line hated him) were the times that he was dating Elena.

Julian x Lily

it was just a very abusive relationship. I hated Julian and every second that he was on screen. I hated how Lily felt and acted when he was around. it was all around horrible.

Lorenzo x Lily

just super wierd. Enzo deserves better. I have said this before and I will say it again. Enzo deserves better. He stuck around the Heretics for Lily and she only lead him on so that he wouldn’t side with Damon and crew. very unhealthy.

TVD SHIPS THAT SAILED

Damon x Elena

I really fucking like Delena. I do. I’ll admit it’s not the greatest relationship on the show, but I think that is is the most passionate one. there’s so many unanswered questions and so many flaws and things to figure out, but in a way that’s the beauty of it. they are crazy about one another. Damon would have turned back into a human for her wtf.

Lorenzo x Bonnie

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH IDCIDCIDC!!!!! there’s finally someone who would put Bonnie above everyone and everything else, themselves included. there’s finally someone who would pick Enzo, who wouldn’t leave him behind and GOD i love these characters and this relationship so much. I think it’s healthy and cute and loving and just. I mean they learn from one another, they grow together. it’s just amazing. I’m not sorry for loving them.

Nora x Mary Louise

I love Nora. Mary Louise not so much tbh. that being said, I think they work. the ships in this category aren’t just the ones that I love. they’re ships that worked and consist of two people who would do anything for one another. Nora and Mary Louise were brave and romantic and absolutely crazy but that’s what made it work. if these two weren’t exactly this way, they wouldn’t have worked. their deaths hurt.

Damon x Alaric

this partly belongs on the ships that should have been, but I think that for a time this really worked. this brotp really thrived at one point in the show and I loved it. there were times that I wanted Alaric to smack Damon upside the head, but still. I think that they worked and that they will only get better once they acknowledge how they’ve both fucked up.

Tyler x Liv

Tyler finally met his match!!!! I know that Liv was hard to deal with, trust me. I also know that Tyler is hard to deal with. I don’t think he’d actually ever loved anyone and trusted anyone nearly as much as he did Liv. I think that Tyler was one of only two humans that Liv actually cared about. Wierd and not my favorite, but they worked.

TVD SHIPS THAT EH

Stefan x Caroline

we meet again. I put them in the eh segment because I don’t entirely hate them. I am a sucker for best friends that bloom into something else, and that’s what they wanted to make this. but I don’t think it worked. I will admit that I love their friendship, though. I love that Stefan helped Caroline with her vampiric abilities, I love that Caroline always had Stefan’s back even when no one else did.

Stefan x Rebekah

yet another girl that Stefan used who deserved better. Rebekah is one of my favorite characters and the fact that Stefan didn’t give her the time of day because of his breakup with Elena and then proceeded to have sex with her for that same reason like????? y r u a prick steffy boy?

Damon x Katherine

I mean it was a hoax but still. Damon didn’t know that. he thought that she loved him, and that she’d be waiting for him in the hole in the ground (sorry my mind is blanking rn) and then they’d confess their love for eachother and BAM. only no BAM, no love, no Katherine. he was only ever a pawn to her.

Matt x Caroline

Matt also deserved better. at this point (when they first started dating), Caroline only cared about herself and Matt didn’t care about himself at all. there was no middle ground for these two, to be hones. I thought they looked nice together, but that’s about it. I think they could maybe have been better down the road but then Matt was all “fuck you, vampires” and Caroline became all “I am the vampires lol bitch”

Tyler x Caroline

to be honest, I was tempted to move this to the ships that sailed but I didn’t only because I never thought that they were endgame. I enjoyed watching the chemistry and the puppy eyes and how Caroline was growing up. I liked that Tyler was more than the temperamental werewolf and Caroline was more than a Barbie bitch. but it didn’t do enough for me. it was a great in between relationship, but it wasn’t a final destination.

Damon x Caroline

I don’t quite get why them hooking up was crucial to the storyline. I mean it was just a display of Damon and Caroline’s characters, but that’s it. that and Damon wanted to annoy his brother.

Jeremy x Anna

pointless. she was cute, he was cute, they were both kids with pent-up anger towards authority, but that was it. Anna was much more intelligent and mature and worldly than he was. I mean sure, she was technically a lot older but still. I don’t know, it was wierd.

Jeremy x Vicki

to be honest, I think all of Jeremy’s were pointless. the only difference with this ones it that he loved Vicki. she was his first love. after her, he became obsessed with his dead girlfriends and forgot about the ones that were real. he was an immature brat for most of the show and then became a notorious fuckboy, so.

[sixmorningsafter]

[1/?] i'm gonna talk about steroline first bc you know i've always been here for the bamon, but you've got me really caring about steroline in this fic! caroline trying to set boundaries on intimacy was really heartbreaking--i think you mentioned in an ask before the chapter went up that she's actually more afraid of intimacy bc that's what kept her in a toxic relationship, and i could definitely see that. and then you turned it into something really sweet and funny with her and stefan

watching romance(?) stuff. it was all super cute and i’m loving these two even tho it’s not what i started reading for. stefan’s jealousy re: daroline was also interesting bc it made it clear (to me at least, idk how you intended it) that after being cheated on in his last relationship, he’s not ready for something open/casual. aside from it just not being his personality, i don’t feel like that’s something he needs to get over walking in on his ex with another guy. also think it’s interesting how you have stefan assuming the worst abt damon. obviously it’s a throwback to canon (and damon shoots him down which was nice) with its good bro/bad bro stuff, but it also makes me wonder if bonnie was taken advantage of in her bad period? bonnie obviously has a lot of negative associations with hookups–which was a REALLY nice touch, i loved the narration there–so it makes me wonder what stefan saw going on there when he was more removed from the situation.

ELANAAAAAA! You have no idea how happy I got when I saw your BAMF icon in my inbox, man. I didn’t even have to read the messages to know I’d be like giddy with joy and lo and behold, here I am, giddy with joy. Anyway, this reply is probably like three? Weeks? Late? At this point? But I’m finally diving in to some of these longer reviews and gah, I’m just like remembering how incredible they are all over again so thanks so frickin’ much for taking the time out to write this. Seriously. Means so damn much. ANYWAY, I condensed the SC parts into one half and I’ll do the same with the BD half, so onto the Steroline of it all:

I’M SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT I’VE GOT YOU VESTED! (Side-note: I feel like I’m going to have to limit my caps lock abuse in this reply because if I had my way the whole thing would be in caps…) Before I started this fic I didn’t actually think through how tricky it could be to have two main ships and four main characters in a fanfic where different fandoms are coming in for different reasons. LMAO like it just totally didn’t even occur to me that it’d be any different from writing any other fic, but it totally is, and it’s weird because you sort of put equal time and effort into realizing each character and each ship but naturally have people coming in predisposed to wanting one thing more than the other. So I feel like just as an author, you almost challenge yourself to write in a way that can pull people into the things they didn’t necessarily come for, and it’s legit the best feeling ever when you hear that you’ve managed it even a little, SOOOOOOO hearing that I’ve got you lowkey rooting for SC makes me super happy. JFC I haven’t even gotten past the first line of your message and this reply’s already two paragraphs long help me.

Re: Caroline, totally on point - she’s definitely the most rattled by intimacy, man. She just doesn’t trust herself to think clearly and put herself first when she’s emotionally vested because of how her relationship with Matt played out. I’m super glad that’s leaking into the fic because I’m not sure it’s something Caroline’s outright admitted yet (that her biggest issue with Stefan isn’t actually his tendency toward falling in love but rather hers, you know?). Like I’m hoping that’s coming across, but it’s just tough when you’re writing a stubborn, self-preserving character who repeatedly claims the opposite, lololol. So super stoked that’s the impression you’re getting!

Re: Stefan’s jealousy, I think that’s a great observation and definitely within my intention. Like as fun as it was to sneak in a little jealousy, I’d argue that scene ended up being more of a characterization one than a shippy one because it gave some insight into where Stefan’s at emotionally, independent of Caroline or really anyone. We’ve heard a lot about his emotional baggage from Bonnie but I think that was the first time we got it from him, and I think you’re definitely right that like what he actually probably needs is to believe in love again. Both him and Caroline. Not storybook Elena love, not angsty chaotic Matt love, but something more natural, less learned. LMAO so naturally I have them both seeking casual hookups instead.

Re: Stefan being protective of Bonnie because of her history, I think that definitely played a role, and I feel like we Vulcan mind-melded because I absolutely think Bonnie was taken advantage of to a degree. Like willingly, she probably thought at the time, but it was messy - the people around her should’ve known better, and if they actually gave a damn, they would’ve. I think your drabble covered it perfectly, like Damon was the kind of person who, while still a ‘bad kid’, knew better than to engage, whereas dudes like Enzo and Klaus engaged anyway. I don’t think she ever really talks about it (sigh, Bonnie) but I’m sure Stefan knows. Not details, but he’d see her around town with older, sketchy dudes - picking her up from school, hanging out in parking lots, etc. - and I headcanon that Lexi would probably see her at upperclassmen parties with seedy seniors. So yeah, not to excuse Stefan from snapping at Damon or anything because I definitely think most of his motive was still a knee-jerk reaction to his own cheating baggage, but this would’ve definitely factored in, too.

LMAO @ the length of this reply I’m so sorry.