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Who: Elena Gilbert
Broadcast: Yes
Action: Yes (on the hospitality deck of the Marsiva)
When: Now

[ Elena wakes with a start, her first thought being that she'd fallen asleep in one of the unused patient rooms. She rubs her arms with her hands, an attempt to chase away the chill and gives the room a good look. This isn't any room in the hospital. She puts her feet on the ground and stands. She's still dressed in the long-sleeved thermal top and blue scrubs she wears at work. She tucks a strand of her dark hair behind one ear.

Once she orients herself and does a little bit of exploring, she heads to one of the screens to browse the network and get a better grasp of this place. After that's done, she makes her own broadcast, giving the video screen a sheepish smile. ]

Hi, I'm Elena Gilbert. I just arrived and I've got no idea what to say here. Am I supposed to tell the class all about myself? I think I used to be good at this. [ She takes a deep breath then releases it. ] Whatever this is. I can honestly say this is my first time on a reality show though.

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[ She's completely totally human.

His reaction puzzles her and that shows in her face. She leans a bit closer to the screen, his name on her lips. She's not looking at this as heartbreaking; she's looking at this as a new adventure, something she'll be able to share with Caroline and Bonnie one of these days. Of course, it's entirely possible that the reality of her situation hasn't sunk in yet. There are no kids, Stefan and there's no white picket fence. There's just Elena living in the GIlbert house by herself. When he finally speaks, she tilts her head a bit. That exclamation Y'Allah that's not something she'd ever heard him say back home, but this is the second time he's said it in this conversation. Religion isn't something that her parents ever really believed in so she's got no context for what the exclamation means beyond this conversation. ] I hadn't taken the cure yet in your...timeline?

[ She's not even sure that's the right word right now, but it works for their purposes. She takes a deep breath, rubbing at her temples a moment. ] Kai. [Does she really have to say more than that? Yeah, she really does. ]

He attacked me and put me in a coma. He tied my life to Bonnie's so that while she was alive, I would be asleep. It took Bonnie a few years to figure out how to undo the spell.

[ Kai.

The name is unfamiliar but one Stefan memorizes then and there. No one – especially not a magical bastard like this "Kai" – should have succeeded in halting Elena's life. Salvatore wanted her to live. Really, truly live. What had he been doing? What had he done while Kai reenacted a fairy tale? One that Stefan's quickly losing a distaste for?

He doesn't want to turn his back on the screen but he can't think. There's the sound of him slamming his fist off screen.]

Dammit.

[ He forces himself to breathe, maybe regain his composure – ] No, the last thing I remember is - is you declaring your major. When you started volunteering at the hospital.

[ She hears that noise, knows what it is. ] Stefan...[ And yet she doesn't know how to help, or even how he should react. She knows Damon hadn't taken it well and he'd ended up trying to be Damon's rock. Hell, it's possible that he never really had the chance to deal with his own emotions regarding the whole sleeping beauty thing back home because he'd been too busy trying to deal with Damon's. ]

It's okay. Everything...everything worked out. [ In a way. Of course, Stefan had died as a human, but even that seemed to be something he was okay with. She smiles as he recollects that memory.] Until I started volunteering there, I'd always thought I'd be a writer. I think I make a much better doctor, or at least I hope I do.

[ It's funny: Stefan had told everyone that his favorite fairy tale had been Sleeping Beauty. He had dreamed about being the mighty prince who broke the spell with true love's kiss, but when he's confronted with it happening? No, with it having happened and him not remembering?

He suddenly can't find the heart to accept it. Neither Aurora nor Elena deserved that fate. In a flash, he's back on screen, not even bothering to hide the tears he's wiping from his eyes.

Y'Allah. He's gonna need more than a few cups of tea tonight. ]

Yeah. From what little I remember, I know you'll be great. Are great? [ His expression softens, and he lets out a mirthless laugh. ] I'm sorry. I should've done something and instead I - I let Bonnie handle it? What kind of [soulmate] friend does that?

[ Yeah, it kind of ruins the whole fairy tale when it becomes reality. Though, Elena is sure it was harder on everyone else than it was on her. Sure, after she'd woken up she'd been distressed that she'd missed so much of her friends lives, that everyone had had to go to such extremes, but they'd been the ones to really suffer.

No, neither of them deserved it; they'd both been pawns in someone else's game, a piece to manipulate others. Elena's breath catches a little when she sees how hard Stefan is taking it. She knows he probably took it this hard when he'd been living it, but he'd hidden it from everyone (that she knows of); he'd hidden it in the letters he'd written her, the ones she hadn't had a chance to read before he had died.

She may go looking for some sort of whiskey or scotch, something she'd developed a taste for while she was a vampire, something she has Damon to thank for.

She murmurs a thank you, appreciating Stefan's belief in her. She shakes her head a little. ] No. You had other things to deal with. You--you were trying to save Damon, which he's fine now. He's doing well last time I spoke to him. He's Damon, with fewer...outbursts. You'd be proud of him. [ She hesitates, knowing that she'll tell him eventually. ] When it happened...Damon and I were dating. He'd just decided he was going to take the cure to spend his life with me. [ Her brow furrows a little. ] He never did and I don't think it's something he wants now, but we haven't talked about it in years.

[ Babysitting Damon sounds about right. Stefan doesn't entirely remember their childhood, but he knows how much he relied on Damon. Still relies, really.

Somehow, though, he isn't surprised to hear his name and Elena's in the same sentence. His gut feeling had lasts told him that something had happened that fateful summer. But it must've ended badly. The Elena before had called him a "monster," and this one's telling him about how Damon hasn't taken the Cure.

Stefan furrows his brow, unsure what he's really feeling. Hope? A little anger (because he still loves her, every atom in his body still does)? Both? ]

I can't blame him. He always talked about how much he loved immortality – but uh, were you still talking to him at all?

[ Things have ended badly between she and Damon so many times.

The brow furrow doesn't slip past her and she gives him an apologetic sort of look. ] I text him pretty often and talk to him every week or two. Not as often as I talk to Caroline, but more often than I talk to Bonnie, but that has more to do with time zone differences and her cell availability. She's traveling the world. [ She sighs a little. ] We're not together anymore. I--with Damon it was always --[ SHe stops and runs a hand through her hair.] I needed to focus on school, on my residency. We ended things...amicably. We talk. He'll always be a part of my life, but not that part. Not anymore.

[ Good.

Stefan lets out a breath of sheer relief: even if he might've once hated the idea of Elena and Damon dating, he wouldn't ever want them to hate each other. They were far too important to him. Plus, apparently, Salvatore had moved on with the last person Stefan would've expected. Even if Stefan hasn't had a chance to process this, he's trying. It's a lot to take in.

(Now he wonders how Damon must be doing, in a world where neither Stefan nor Elena held the same bonds they did before. He wonders if he should've been there. If he could've died just a little bit later.)

He nods, observing her again and wishing that he could reach across the screen and hold her. Maybe reassure her that he's really there. This certainly isn't a conversation he wanted to have over the comms. ]

I'm sorry. That must've been a hard decision for both of you.

[ To Elena's knowledge, Stefan had eventually been okay with she and Damon dating. Caroline and Stefan had been a surprise to everyone, Elena thinks, but in the end they'd both made each other happy (or at least they seemed to) so that's all that mattered. Elena knows it's a lot to take in and maybe she should parse the information out over several conversations, but this is when they're having the conversation so...

Elena worries about him as well, but since Stefan's death...since his sacrifice Damon has actually been doing better. Maybe it's because he knows what Stefan gave up and he doesn't want to disappoint him. Maybe Damon just came into his own. Regardless, Elena likes to think of him doing well. She knows he had plans to meet up with Bonnie somewhere.

Wouldn't that be nice? They could both use that comfort, that reassurance, especially considering Stefan's lack of being there back home. She nods a little. ]

It was, but I think it's the best decision for both of us. Damon and I were all fire and passion without anything that sustains you in between. [ If that makes any sense, and maybe that's not what he wants to hear but...]

[ Truthfully, he can't blame Elena for dating someone new. He vaguely remembers some Liam guy – and well? Stefan's done the same on the Fleet (and in his reincarnated life). He's tried to push forward and see a future without her, and until she had arrived here? It might've actually worked.

He tilts his head thoughtfully, trying to imagine Damon and Elena. He must've seen it back home. He must've, and yet he continues to be greeted by static and white noise. It sounds about right: even as vampires, their priorities had been different. Their entire life philosophies had been different. When they took passion out of the equation, what was left? Nothing, if he's hearing her right.

Fire can rebuild and sustain people, but it can also destroy and consume without a second thought. ]

And you both reached this conclusion? [ his laugh is genuine, if a little disbelieving. This doesn't sound like the Damon he remembers. ] Well, inshallah, I hope that you'll both find the people who sustain you.

[ Before she'd dated Stefan, she'd only ever dated Matt so it was good to expand her romantic horizons. Liam had not turned out well, but that's what your teens and twenties are for, right? Dating the wrong guy, figuring out who the right guy is.

Some days Elena isn't sure what even drew her and Damon to each other. For the longest time, she believed he only saw Katherine when he looked at her and then...she didn't. Now, she can't really list one thing they'd had in common outside of Stefan and that's not something to build a relationship on. ]

Eventually. [ Damon had insisted they could work it out, but they hadn't; they couldn't. They weren't the people they wanted the other one to be. Her brow furrows as he utters another unfamiliar word. ] Stefan...you keep saying things like y'allah and inshallah...words I don't think I've ever heard you say. What do they mean?

Oh, um...

[ That's right. Salvatore had been a godless heathen. Stefan half wonders what Salvatore would've been like, had he discovered faith and the sheer relief and spirit it provides. His belief grounds him, even when he's whole galaxies away from Earth and the Ka'aba he prays towards.

He presses his lips together, suddenly unsure of how to proceed. Confessing faith isn't much like confessing vampirism or any affiliation with the supernatural. It's a part of him that he doesn't want to let go of. He never wanted to be a vampire, but he sure wants to be Muslim. His faith defines him, more than anything else he could call his own. ]

They're Arabic. Inshallah means "God willing," and Y'Allah is like "dear God." [...] I'm Muslim, Elena. Have been for a while now.

Edited 2017-04-26 19:09 (UTC)

[ Cue a very confused look. She has no experience with Islam or Muslims and only a passing familiarity with any sort of religion. She doesn't object to nor does she find any sort of judgement with anyone that is religious, but she hadn't been aware that Stefan was. ]

Either I am a horrible friend and ex-girlfriend or this is new-ish...new since I last spoke to you.

[ Stefan did not die Muslim, not that she knows of. There had been no particular religious ceremony at his funeral and he'd left no religious instructions for his funeral when he did die. Selfishly, she hopes this is new otherwise she really is that self-absorbed, horrible, friend that Bonnie had once accused her of being. ]

[ At least it isn't outright rejection.

Stefan laughs, leaning back a little in his seat. Unfamiliarity, he expected. Unfamiliarity is easy to change, especially with an Interfaith Center and the strong religious community he's built on the Fleet. Faith transcends religion; it's a belief in something bigger than all of them, be it an omnscient creator or a pantheon of gods or even the seraphim that have been captured here too. ]

Very new, don't worry. It's only been about eight years? Which doesn't sound right, I know, but... [ instinctively, he fiddles with his daylight ring. ] the story's a pretty long one.

Edited 2017-04-26 20:20 (UTC)

[ Of course, it's not outright rejection. It doesn't matter if Stefan has found religion and faith, he's still Stefan and she still loves him.

Faith is something that Elena can have. Faith is something she's always had, but usually in her friends. She doesn't know if he can talk her into religion, but it won't change the way she feels about him.

Yeah, that gets him a little of a curious look and she notices the way he fiddles with his ring. ] One that might be told better in person with big cups of hot cocoa?

[ Besides, they both have a lot to think about. Perhaps they ought to take some time and think about it. ]

Yeah. [ His expression brightens a little. ] I'll have to show you the Center too.

[ If she weren't stuck on the hospitality deck, he would've taken her there and talked with her in his favorite spot in the entire Fleet. Now that he stops to think about it, Stefan couldn't have imagined this life (owning and maintaining a communal religious space), but it's one he wouldn't trade for the world.

Faith isn't something he would push onto anyone, let alone anyone as special as Elena, but it suits him. It grounds him, it comforts him, and it gives him the hope that these five days will go by fast. ]

In the meantime, though... you should check out the movies on the network, and I'm always a phone call away, so... don't hesitate, okay? I'm here for you. Always.

The Center? [ She's curious about ti because Stefan's voice sounds as if it's a place he's fond of. She wishes he was able to take her there simply because it's clearly important to him. Also, it would mean they wouldn't be having this conversation via vid screen rather than in person.

Once she has a little time to think about it, she will realize how well it suits him. Stefan has always looked for something to ground him, comfort him and give him hope. She might be a little irrationally jealous at first because at one time she was that thing. However, she's mature enough to get over that and realize they are two entirely different things. ]

And Jarvis told me to check out the kitchen. It sounds as if a movie marathon snuggled in my bunk is in order. [ She pauses a moment. ] We could watch them together. Over the network sometime when you've got the time.

[ because she understands that he probably doesn't have as much time as she has since he's the Captain of a ship. ]

[ He nods, ] The Interfaith Center. It's another long story, but a friend asked if I was interested in building it and one thing kind of led to another.

[ Okay, so he wholeheartedly threw himself into his work and he built the place with the help of his friends. He might've been unconsciously channeling Caroline, but the effort and time had been worth it. ]

Mr. Jarvis is right. Once you leave, the quality of the food gets iffy. [ He relaxes. Jarvis is good people, and he couldn't have asked anyone better to talk to Elena. ] Also, you're talking about me. When it comes to you, Elena, I've got all the time in the world.

[ . . . except for when he has to take breaks to pray, but that's nothing he can't handle. ]

Edited 2017-05-02 01:19 (UTC)

It looks our first in-person visit is going to be a long one. [ That's okay with her and she will probably make that comparison if he tells her about getting it started. It's okay. Caroline is one of Elena's favorite people. ]

I'll stock up. Like a bear preparing for hibernation though it seems like half the time I eat out of vending machines these days so it might not be much different from what I'm used to. [ How can she not smile at that. She ducks her head, cheeks flushing, stomach tumbling with butterflies. ] I'll get settled, grab some food then we'll pick a movie. I'll talk to you more in an hour, let's say? [ She wants to shower too. ]

Maybe, or it can be saved for a second visit. ["Or third." That's getting a little too hasty, and he knows it, so he'll settle for a change in subject.]

Sounds good. Take your time, though - I'm in absolutely no rush, and I can still work on stuff while we watch.

[ Especially his lab work. He's gotten to the point where he can finish it on auto pilot about 90% of the time. ]

[ Her eyebrows go up at that. So, a very long story. ] We'll see how it goes.

[ She smiles at this then nods. ] Okay. Talk to you in a little while then. [ She goes ahead and clicks the video off to do what she needs to do and settle in. This will probably be a common thing over the next several days, possibly longer. ]

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