Aurora de Martel;

Charlie was usually good at predicting outcomes, but she honestly hadn’t seen this coming. Or maybe she had, and she’d just blocked off the realization so she wouldn’t have to deal with it until absolutely necessary. Either way it left her caught off guard now, and she has to work hard to keep the entirety of what she’s feeling off of her face. Aurora’s been the biggest constant in her life these past couple of years, and the idea of her being gone sets her off balance. She’s just trying to make it through the conversation without shedding a tear, and she thinks she’s made it when Aurora brings Carson up and causes the wolf to chuckle, but the name of the collection does her in. She rarely shares her designs like this - the last one she can remember was the line dedicated to Hope. It’s all too much then, and tears begin to sting at her eyes. Charlie throws her arms around Aurora’s neck, hugging her as tightly as she can manage. “I love you, Mom.”

Aurora felt content in her speech, she said all she had meant and all she thought necessary. So as it dawned on Charlie she hadn’t expected much of a verbal reaction. It was something she herself had thought long and hard about and up until this point, no matter how many people she broke the news to, they knew it made sense for her time in Mystic Falls to end. And maybe that was the hardest part. Trying not to be selfish. “I love you most, my sweet girl.” She relents as she wraps her arms around her lovingly. This surely isn’t the last of their relationship, Aurora would be available to her always. “I won’t be a stranger. You can call on me whenever you need. But I know you’ll be alright. If I thought otherwise, I wouldn’t be leaving.” 

Charlie mirrors the European greeting, quite used to it after spending so much time with Aurora. The compliment makes her smile grow, though her expression morphs into one of confusion as the vampire continues. “Are you taking a trip?” Charlie asks. It’s not that she can’t comprehend the meaning of Aurora’s statement, it’s just that she simply doesn’t want to.

As gentle as she tries to break the news, she isn’t surprised at how quick Charlie catches on. Instead of trying to backpedal, she’s always maintained an open and honest front with her. “I have a place in Paris. I plan to move there to open another boutique. My tastes and my business will see a lot more people there. People that will benefit more from my style. Branching out.” That was the businesss end of things and obviously not the only reason she was leaving.  “Everything that I’ve come for here has left. Niklaus, Tristan. Even the things and people I’ve found here have since past. Thomas, Elliot.” She starts to explain with a soft smile so as not to make her any more upset with the news. “My friends here. Mason, Stefan and even the family I’ve found here,” She explains as she takes her hand in her own. “You all have people here. You don’t need me anymore and I do so hate to feel unneeded.” It’s said in a light-hearted way despite how true it is. “That boy, the nearly dead one.” Aurora chuckles lightly. “I like him. Keep him.” If a blessing was the push she needed to let someone in again, she certainly had it. “And the line. I made it for you. To have and hold and release. It’s called La Fille Couture. The Daughter Collection. It’s all you now, beautiful. You can do it on your own.” 

“I’m flattered.” Damon smiled. “Your wish is my command.” He said, before walking to the other side of the counter to find his best wine, pouring her a glass. “I had a whole stash of wine at the Boarding House. I brought a few here. Only for special guests of course, such as yourself.”

Aurora took it upon herself the cast her dress under her before sitting on the bar stool, although she still looked vastly unnatural sitting atop it. “I feel I’ve had my shortcomings as your friend as of late. I know you were taken along with your brother. And I haven’t spoken to your lovely life wife either. Fill me in. On only what you wish, nothing that will cause you too much strife of course.” She wanted to catch up with him before she inevitably announces her long absence from Mystic Falls, therefore, his life once again. 

What with everything that had just occurred, smiling had been just a bit harder these past few weeks, but the one that crossed Charlie’s face when she hears Aurora’s voice could have lit up the boutique all on it’s own. She quickly turns her attention away from the rack she’d been straightening to locate the sound. “Consider it done,” she says, holding out her hand to take the bag that she assumed held the aforementioned samples. 

Handing the bag over she greeted her in the all too familiar Europen way of touching cheeks and making a kissing noise as she did so without actually kissing her. Anyone who actually did was surely doing it wrong. “You have quite the handle on the place, love. Which is why I know it’ll be safe in your hands.” There isn’t a very kind and gentle way to deliver the news, but she tries as best she can. 

In his confusion, he does decide to just stop and not think about it too hard. Thinking too hard, in this case, wouldn’t amount to anything. Or anything good. He just was going to take it as what it was. A goodbye. A memorable one at that. He just gave her a small smile, before nodding, “Well, I adore you, too.” It wasn’t the time to get all into it. Maybe it would never be. He had who and what he wanted. He only wished the same for her, that Klaus would one day realize what he was letting go, but knowing Klaus, it didn’t seem like it would happen.

Settling with what was said now was likely best, she imagined it’d be no easier to say goodbye to him the more they chatted or spoke fondly of one another. They’d be there a while if she could try to express how she felt about him. So she simply smiles and continued packing a nice gift box with the dress she chose, grabbing it from the counter and handing it over. “A parting gift.” Obviously, she wouldn’t have him pay under any circumstance but maybe this one he’d being more accepting of. “Now get out of my sight before you make me shed any tears on this imported marble flooring, Stefan Salvatore.” 

The eldest Salvatore was surprise when Aurora walked into his bar. He had barely opened and he wasn’t expecting anyone from Mystic Falls to show up. Not that he minded, of course. He had liked Aurora since the second he met her “Please, come in.” He said when she saw her at the door. “Came to visit my bar?”

“You first, bar second.” She admits with a bit of a curtsy despite not wearing a dress to complete the action in full. “Perhaps I’ll even consider an investment if you impress me with your best glass of wine.” Aurora challenges with a rise of a brow. 

“Only because you enjoyed it.” Shaking his head he attempted to wipe the smile off his face and before he could respond to her, he was thrown off by what she had said last. “What? Your goodbye? Goodbye for what?” His smile faded, replaced by the confusion all over his face. Glancing around the party as if he would find some answer when he did so, eventually his gaze found her again. “You’re leaving?”

“And that’s the say that you didn’t? Or that any of this is profoundly past tense?” Of course not, they would always be connected in that way but often ran into things that held them back from it mostly forcibly. “I am leaving.” Aurora clarifies with a soft sad sort of smile before she places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don’t look so down, I’ve only caused trouble for you as of late.”

“That right?” He shot her a skeptical look, quickly washed away when he broke into a smile. “If she finds me during this conversation, I’ll introduce you two.” But he honestly hoped Scarlett didn’t. Not because he wanted to keep them away from each other or he felt the need to hide someone like Aurora. It just came down to him and his own guilt over it, it didn’t seem right when one out of the three of them was missing the key detail, like who exactly Aurora was.

Seeing an end, she felt it was only fitting to play with him as she usually did, smirking as she tapped a finger under his chin. “Well I certainly listened real nice when you were giving the orders, now didn’t I?” She didn’t fall into bed with him just because they were friends, after all, it was because they worked oh so well together. “No matter. It’s likely best that I do not meet her. I’d hate for her to think she scared me off.” From what she understood, she was a nice girl, a simple one that clearly had her hands full. “I do so hope you like the party, Mason. It is my goodbye to you.” 

“They kidnapped Carson,” she says. It’s the middle of the story rather than the beginning, but Aurora already knows about the friction between Charlie and the people that has raised her. “They hurt him so that I would know they were serious, as if I didn’t already know they were horrible and cruel. They sent for me, and they wanted me to come back home with them. Give up all of you, and repent for what I’d become.” There’s venom on her tongue as she spits out the word, disdain coating her pretty features. “I knew that they would just keep coming for everyone I love, and that if I didn’t deal with them right then, they’d have Carson killed. They told me as much. So, I killed them first.” She shrugs. “It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I don’t think they thought I could go through with it.”

chess: oh, you know? the drunken and hungover state. if i was a state, i'd be vegas.

chess: thank you for looking out for him. i know we don't get along or anything but i'm glad he's got you.

Aurora: I am familiar with the state although I've never experienced it.

Aurora: It's my pleasure. I do love him and even though I'm leaving Mystic Falls, don't hesitate to call me if he finds himself in danger again. I know he won't want to bother me but you never worried about that.

Aurora: I know you'll take this the wrong way but I'm glad you're not with my brother.