Josie

Josette “Josie” Saltzman is a resident of Echo Springs, and looks like Kaylee Bryant. She is 20 and in town is a Medical assistant/premed student. Echo Springs doesn’t feel quite right, though - she recalls memories from The Vampire Diaries, where she remembers Gemini witch coven; the merge that will happen between her and her twin when they turn 22; and Zombie mom, which fade when she wakes up – for now.

“A penny for your thoughts,” Yennefer said, her gaze focused on the young woman with curiosity as she fell into stride with other girl. “Decisions are a powerful thing. Destiny be damned,” she said. Destiny and Fate were bullshit and only she could define her own path in life.

.

“I got a job offer, here in town” Josie sighed, she knew she had to decide soon but she wasn’t sure and she definitely wanted to talk to Hope before she settled on anything. “I need to decide soon because if I do take it I’ll also have to transfer schools.”

Hope rolled her eyes again as Josie teased her, but she let the smile pass across her face regardless. It was hard to frown around Josie’s contagious energy. “So are you like… the anti-Grinch? Here to steal my Christmas grumpiness?” she joked back easily.

“Believe me. I won’t get in trouble. I’m the best waitress they have. Besides, it’s Christmas Eve… right?” She cross her arms across her chest and looked down at her feet as they slowed to a walk. Hope’s head snapped up at the mention of a job offer. “That’s – that’s good, right? What kind of job?” After a moment, she braved asking. “Where?”

.

Josie tilted her head slightly, pretending to think for a moment before she responded. “More like dim your Christmas grumpiness as I don’t think stealing it completely is an option” she replied, grinning as she was obviously still just joking and teasing the other woman. “At least not right now, maybe at one point though, it’s a slow process” she said with an over exaggerated sigh.

“Okay, if you say so, it’s your job” if Hope said it was fine Josie wasn’t going to spend her energy arguing with her. “Medical assistant and... it’s here actually, but I haven’t given them an answer yet.”

“ But if you were missing you probably wouldn’t answer your phone, if you even still had it. ” Lizzie responded in a matter of fact tone, mostly teasing her twin with the over-dramatics, even though they both know that she’d go crazy without Josie. “ Not even one ? Well we can’t have that. Must’ve been my twintuition that made me order one for you. “

.

“No, but you should still try calling, then if I don’t answer you can send out the search party” Josie replied, using the same matter of fact tone her twin had, they were both just teasing each other though. “Not even one” she confirmed with a small nod. “I’ve been busy, last semester and all that.”

Josie looked at him with a clear skeptical look on her face, from what she’d seen he’d taken a pretty nasty fall. He also wouldn’t be the first man to brush something like this off to save face, she was used to that... it was mostly men but sometimes Hope did it too. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, more concerned as she saw his grimace as he stood up. “Oh, I’m Josie” she said, a small smile on her face as she reached her hand out to greet him.

Josie frowned as she looked at his hands, some of the cuts looked like they at least needed a bandage if not stitches. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, even if she didn’t know him she didn’t feel right not offering to help. She was studying to become a doctor after all. “I have a first aid kit in my bag if you want to clean them up properly.”

“Hii” she greeted back again, yeah she probably didn’t need to say hi again, she cleared her throat quietly “Uhm interesting ones?” She would argue that all the plants had something interesting about them “For a biology project? what is the project about maybe that will help more on what plant may be good for it?”

.

“I’ll be honest I haven’t read the whole project text yet I just know I need a plant and can pick whichever” Josie admitted, it was rare she wasn’t on top of her school work but she’d just been so busy with everything else. “Uh, maybe something that’s easy to care for and look after? I’m a student so I can’t deal with anything too high maintenance.”

Josie looked up from her book at the question. “I just ate like...” she paused as she checked the time on her phone “six hours ago” she sighed. She really did need to get better at keeping track of time when she was studying. “Nachos sounds amazing right now” she hadn’t felt hungry until the mention of food and realized how long ago she actually ate, now she was starving.

In all honesty, Lizzie had only been sat down at the cafe table for a few minutes by the time her twin sister had shown up, but the blonde had always been the one of the twins who was most likely to show up late to things, even though she always tried not to make a habit of it. But it wasn’t like she was going to admit that to Josie. “ Hey Jo. ” She smiled, having missed her in the time they’d been apart. “ It’s fine, you’re not that late. I might’ve filed a missing twin report otherwise. ” She half joked. “ I ordered us milkshakes, though. ”

.

Knowing Lizzie she’d probably been late too. Josie also knew that since Lizzie had been before her, she’d never admit that she’d been late as well. “Seems a little extreme, at least try calling or texting me first before you gather the search party” she teased with a slight grin. “I don’t think I’ve had a milkshake before the new year so that sounds great.”

Hope rolled her eyes at Josie’s persistence, but she couldn’t help the small smile that managed to slip on to her face. She didn’t want to admit it, but knowing that Josie cared filled her with a kind of warmth that her life had been missing in the past several months. “Yeah, sure. Whatever,” she mumbled, but her tone was more teasing at this point. “Come on. It’s my treat,” she said and nodded toward the road as she locked her apartment door behind her. “And don’t try to argue. It’s a waste of energy, remember?”

.

“That is absolutely not what I was saying... but fine” Josie sighed, she was a student, if Hope was offering to pay for her she wasn’t going to turn it down, this time at least. “Just...” she said before they started walking,  “you don’t have to talk about it, but if you ever want to I’m here... I miss him too.”

Some sorcerers were more adept at sensing moments of Chaos from a distance. Tissaia had been especially attuned to conduit moments when young ones came into their own powers for the first time. Yennefer’s connection to Chaos was strong, frightening to many who distrusted her. The Chaos present in Echo Springs was undeniable, but the sudden appearance of a powerful user of Chaos nearly caught her off guard. The portal that appeared was nothing like Yennefer had seen before and as she drew nearer, a woman hurled a spell in her direction.

Yennefer cursed and stepped aside just in time, lifting her arms and beckoning Chaos to her fingertips before holding the spell on the tip of her tongue. The girl was young and clearly furious, powerful energy almost tangible around her, but there was something that kept Yennefer from attacking. Despite the stark contrasts in hair color, something about the younger woman remind Yennefer of Ciri – so much power and frustration hiding a sense of lostness. “You want to tell me where you learned that trick?” she said, still keeping her distance. “I’m sure I would have heard of you from Tissaia if you were trained at Aretuza.”

.

Along with being alone in a strange place, her anger and power, she was maybe more defensive than usual. It wouldn’t take much for her to attack right now. She summoned a fireball in her hand as she looked at the other woman, she didn’t attack yet though. She had it prepared for if she needed it. The two spells had depleted almost none of her magic which spoke to how much she’d siphoned the last few hours. Maybe it wasn’t a surprise Dark Josie was lingering just underneath the surface. 

“It’s magic not a trick” Josie replied, veins still present on her face along with her pitch black eyes. It was dark outside but the fire from Josie’s spell provided a decent amount of light on top of what the moon provided. “I don’t know who or what that is, but more importantly, who are you?”

The girl certainly was not a convincing liar. Yennefer found herself more amused by it than upset though, her mouth twitching into a smile. Something about the girl reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t place her finger on it. In the edge of her memories, she could almost catch a glimpse of a similar bashful denial and youthful frustration from someone that she knew she cared for deeply, but the image was just out of reach. “Your mind is certainly full of something,” Yennefer found herself teasing the younger woman.

.

Josie was usually better at lying than this, but she’d been caught off guard while she was deep in thought and it threw her off. Because she really did have more than Hope Mikaelson on her mind. She was thinking of Hope too but also a lot more, like the job offer she’d received she wasn’t sure if she should take or not. “I have a few important decisions to make” Josie replied, which was true and as she had difficulty making a lie believable right now it was easier to just say what was really going on.

Josie was late. Josie was running late which happened very rarely. She was meeting Lizzie for lunch and she late. She had a good excuse though, mostly. Once she realized she was late she basically ran from her hotel to the café she was meeting her sister at. When she got there she was a little out of breath, holding onto the chair to support herself as she tried to catch her breath. “I’m sorry” she said once she had her breath back. “I know I’m late” she continued as she sat down on the chair across from Lizzie “I was working on an assignment that’s due tomorrow and I lost track of time, I’m sorry.” She was barely ten minutes late but she still felt bad.

(✉️ ➡️ josie): my aunt can be persistent (✉️ ➡️ josie): always and forever (✉️ ➡️ josie): forget i said anything! it’s sooo not my business. (✉️ ➡️ josie): ive only ever gotten unwanted dick pics from guys so i cant see the fun in it

Hope couldn’t stop the small smile that formed at Josie’s teasing grin as she flipped the sign to show the restaurant was closed. If anyone else had walked through the door, she probably would have been cursing whatever careless hostess had forgotten to flip the sign. Of course then Josie had to call her adorable and a grinchy scowl crossed her face. “I am not adorable,” she argued, but there was no bite behind her words. It was hard to even pretend to be angry at Josie Saltzman and her damn Christmas cheer. (Though Hope thought guiltily for a moment of the unused paints still sitting in a giftbag that Josie had given her the previous week.) “You know I’m basically a human Krampus about Christmas.” She rolled her eyes, remembering attempts in high school by some of her cheerier classmates to get her into the Christmas spirit. The jolly guy in red just didn’t do it for her. She was more prone to believe in a monster that ate bad children than some magic guy climbing down chimneys and delivering presents to the good little boys and girls. Holiday magic lost its charm when it was just a reminder of how much she’d already lost.

She searched Josie’s eyes for disappointment, but she couldn’t decipher the emotions she found there. She couldn’t decipher what had brought Josie here. Here, standing at the door of her work on Christmas Eve of all days, when she had a family she could be spending time with before she left town again. Josie asked to talk and suddenly Hope could sense the buzz of nervousness behind the other girl’s words. Hope glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. The guys in the kitchen were laughing over something and blasting screamo Christmas music (because that was a thing she didn’t need to know existed) and she knew they’d hardly realize she was gone.

With a shrug, she leaned the mop against the nearest table and grabbed Josie’s hand with a mischievous grin. “Fuck it. It’s almost Christmas, right?” Hope dared to let a small laugh escape as she pulled the tall brunette out into the cold and locked the door behind them, taking them a block away before dropping the other girl’s warm hand and crossing her arms, taking the moment to seriously study Josie’s face. “What’s going on?” she asked, the spark from before fading as a seriousness entered her tone and she slowed her pace. “Is everything okay, Jo?” Hope wasn’t good at this – emotional support, listening, giving advice – but Josie deserved for someone to try.

. 

“Cute, adorable, both work” Josie replied with a grin. Teasing Hope was always fun and even if it’d been a while they seemed to easily fall into back habits which Josie was glad for. She really had missed hanging out with Hope and had worried a little that seeing her again would be more awkward. Luckily it hadn’t been too awkward. “At least you’re not the Grinch and stealing other people’s Christmas” she joked with a slight smile.

“Are you sure you won’t get in trouble?” She asked as Hope pulled her out of the restaurant. She wanted to talk to Hope but it wasn’t too urgent and she didn’t want Hope to get in trouble at work because of her. Though they were already a block away now and she didn’t think Hope would want to go back. Hope dropped Josie’s hand and she couldn’t deny she was a little disappointed, missing the warmth of the others hand in hers, she didn’t show it though.

“Yeah, yeah” she nodded as she placed her hands in her pockets to ward against the cold. “Everything’s fine, I just-” she paused for a moment. “I got a job offer.”

“I’m not–” She cut herself off and crossed her arms, fixing Josie with a smirk. So, she’d been caught. Anyone else and Hope might have gotten angry, but Josie’s callout was soft with that mildly teasing tone that made Hope feel understood. Josie Saltzman understood people. She understood people and she cared about them beyond human limitations. If superpowers were real, then Hope would say that was Josie’s. Or maybe it was magic.

“I’m not trying to push you away,” Hope said. That, at least, was honest. She wished that Josie was far away from Echo Springs, living her best life and happy, but now that the brunette was standing in front of her? Hope couldn’t push her away if she tried. “You just shouldn’t waste your time worrying about me, okay?” Hope scowled to hide the smile at the mention of Lizzie. She’d developed a kind of weird kinship with the blonde twin over the years that was built mainly on insults and snarky remarks but held a special kind of understanding between the lines.

“Just… wait here a second while I grab my wallet and then we could go grab smoothies. They still have that place the three of us always snuck off campus to go to. If you still like smoothies that is,” she teased with a sigh. Now that Josie was here, Hope couldn’t deny the part of her that missed spending time with the taller girl, even if she wondered how much the other might have changed during her time away. If Josie was really spending the holiday break here, Hope figured she should at least give the girl a chance to talk. This was the one person that might possibly understand the pain of losing Landon. He’d loved her too.

.

“You might not be trying but you’re still doing it” she knew Hope wasn’t actively trying tp push her away, which is one of the reasons Josie didn’t let it faze her and just ignored it. “Let’s try one more time, maybe it’ll stick this time” she said with a overexaggerated sigh, she was obviously just messing with Hope. “I. Care. About. You. Which means it’s not a waste of time worrying about you, arguing with me about it is a waste of energy though.”

Josie almost made a comment on how she’d never really been a fan of smoothies but instead only gave Hope a small smile. She hadn’t let it slip in high school and it wasn’t like she hated smoothies. “Sure, that sounds nice” even if she didn’t particularly like smoothies at least she’d get to spend time with Hope for the first time in a while.