roadrunnermuses | open } { mistletoe meme

( Stefan chooses festivity around family and loved ones, or whomever he may be in a relationship with at the time. He does not decorate the boarding house, or in this case, his apartment he's claimed as his own. With an estranged brother, an estranged girlfriend turned good friend (both of whom lied to him), a best friend obsessing over the demise of her relationship, and an ex-girlfriend still obsessed with him, he chooses to cut all his old ties, at least temporarily. He may have been cured of his safe-related PTSD, but instead of basking in the morning afterglow, he decides his impulsivity needs to go further. He leaves as sweet a note as he can (because it's Katherine), and he takes the time he needs.

It's a fluke he's even here. He worked on the right celebrity's motorcycle he's never heard of. He scored a new friend and an invitation.

The penthouse is immaculately decorated and not Stefan's scene. But, he was invited. He's searching for something, he knows, but he doesn't know what. Putting distance between he and Elena and Damon can ensure they make it or break it alone, because he can. He always has. Before he'd returned to Mystic Falls, he did things like this. He matriculated more than hobnobbed. He likes learning. But, he feels he's moved far past going to high school or college again.

The corner Allison finds herself in was Stefan's a minute ago. He'd left his drink there, got pulled into a conversation with his actor friend, and realized he has nothing to sip on while people talk at and around him.

He approaches and attempts to lean around her politely.

"Who's the guy, Allison?" a photog asks, having appeared out of nowhere. The camera flashes, Stefan leaning around her, leaning close. He just wanted his drink. "And under mistletoe!" )

Oh my ...

[She grits her teeth at the cameras in her face, and her temper flares before she can get ahold of herself. This may come back to bite her in the morning, but right now she just wants to be left alone.]

I heard a rumor you all found someone else's face to shove your camera in.

[The air ripples under the weight of her words and Stefan will be able to see as all their eyes go white. Then, the paparazzi disperse, doing as she suggested and literally shoving their cameras in someone else's face.

She then comes back to herself and realizes that she's left alone with this man, still under the mistletoe.]

I'm sorry, about them. Hazard of the job, right?

( That's a trick Stefan might wish he had from time to time. It's not often a witch makes herself known so publicly, but Stefan seems to be the only one who noticed. It wouldn't be the first time anybody would have selective attention. Something here and Mystic Falls have in common. )

Helps if you have tricks up your sleeve.

( He doesn't ask. He doesn't need to. He does like not being today's news story. )

Thank you, for helping me keep a low profile. ( After they're left alone, Stefan gets a better look at her. He knows exactly who she is. She's not a witch. ) You're Allison Hargreeves.

Yeah. Hence the paparazzi.

[She does look up and make a face when she sees the mistletoe though.]

Part of that was my fault. I sat where I shouldn't have.

You could argue most of that was your father's fault.

( Fathers do believe they have their sons and daughters' best intentions in mind.

Her eyes follow hers, finding the mistletoe. )

We could also blame the festive decoration. What's a better story than Allison Hargreeves and a handsome stranger meeting under the mistletoe.

Especially on the heels of a scandalous divorce? Story like that is money in the bank.

[She snorts, before getting up and easing herself out of mistletoe range.]

Though the handsome stranger does have me at a disadvantage. He knows me but I don't know them.

( Stefan, too, sidesteps, still aware of the crowd nearby. But most people are concerned with themselves or their drinks. )

They aren't anybody special. They're also named Stefan. Salvatore since I know your full name.

Edited 2023-01-02 23:08 (UTC)

Well, it's nice to meet you, Stefan Salvatore.

[She takes another long sip of her drink, angling so that they're mostly out of view of the rest of the room.]

And thank you for being such a good sport about that whole paparazzi thing.

It's okay, I've been through worse. I'm from a small town and a part of one of our founding families, so, there, it feels like I'm a celebrity. Everyone knows everyone and they knew your parents and so-on. But, I like the photographers. ( He tilts his head with a smirk, drly. ) Very cosmopolitan.

[She nods.]

Where's your small town?

[She grew up in the city, though part of her wonders if she would have been a small town girl if her mother hadn't sold her to Reginald Hargreeves. Not that she can blame the woman - having had a child of her own that she wanted and had in the usual way, she would have probably put hers up for adoption if she had spontaneously went through all nine months of pregnancy in twenty minutes.

She's curious what his experience was like, being in a place where he sounds like he was wanted.]

Edited (borked my html) 2023-01-17 02:19 (UTC)

Virginia. It's very... Antebellum. Unironically. It could... stand to look to its' future more than its' history.

( But Mystic Falls is all about its' history. As for being wanted, yes, Stefan's parents wanted him and his brother, but his mother died young and his father was a bastard. Wanting and disappointment for their father was hand in hand. )

[Allison nods, because she can't imagine what that's like. Then again, Allison doesn't really have a history. Her life is The Umbrella Academy and her movies. She never even knew her mother's name.]

I think most places can. The past is known. Concrete. Running to the unknown is scary.

The unknown has toppled friendships, villages, whole civilizations.

( The day the unknown stops being worthy of fear is the day life will change forever. But, he is a vampire from a town raised to hunt his kind. )

In my experience, the unknown never becomes any more knowable, even when giving anyone the opportunity. They would rather persecute and fear than... condone.

( Or even tolerate. )

Edited 2023-01-29 07:28 (UTC)

Well, in my experience, that's just people.

[She is a black woman forcing her way to the top of an industry that isn't built for her. Part of the reason she rumored as much as she has is because one, she didn't care and two, she needed to get her foot in the door.

She hasn't needed to do it as much as of late, now that her career has some momentum, but that doesn't mean she's stopped either.]

The day people stop being afraid is the day they stop being people.

I've seen that, too.

( His brother's old MO. Every vampire's really. Compulsion to keep that fear at bay, to keep a victim quiet, to keep someone from dropping their leg down lest their neck get snapped. He blinks, back to the present. )

Anyway, I left all that behind.

[Maybe it's her mood. Maybe she's a little more drunk than she should be to be opening up to a stranger under the mistletoe. But she asks it anyway.]

Do you ever think you can really out run it? Or are you just pretending?

That depends on the day. Something always draws me back eventually. But I don't think that takes away from anything I experience away.

( Is that a fair response? )

Mystic Falls will always be home. I've stopped running away from that a long time ago.

[Allison nods. She's not ready to stop running yet. But part of her does really ache for people that actually care about her, rather than the sycophants she's created around herself.]

I guess I have to figure out if I'm ready to say the same.

Until you are, you have the world at your feet.

( Until you don't, anyway. Until there is no time left. But, he isn't feeling fatalistic today. He's feeling romantic. Idealistic, actually. )

I guess I do.

[She knocks back the rest of her drink. She's done with the rest of these people, but she does feel like she wants to keep talking to Stefan more.]

Okay. I'm officially done at hiding in a corner, and I've made enough of an appearance that my agent will be happy. Any chance I could interest you in a drink far away from here?

Pretty good one, yeah.

( Every chance at this point. He will go where she goes! )

Good.

[And off they'll go to get to know each other better.]

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