cold brew

✧.* { LIZ GILLIES & SHE/HER & CISFEMALE & 27 } is that JENNIFER SALVATORE from the future ? woah, they’re DAMON AND ELENA’S BIO kid, right ? maybe that’s why they are a NEW LOCAL TO MCKINLEY. i’ve heard they can be pretty BOSSY. how typical for a HUMAN CURE. i guess they must rely on their RESILIENT side shining through. rumor has it they’re trying to hide THEY’VE DECIDED TO BECOME A HUNTER FULL TIME, but that’s probably just noise…

basics

full name:  Jennifer Alara Salvatore

nicknames: Jen, Jenny, Jaz (JD only)

age:  27

date of birth: January 17th

Place of birth: Mystic Falls

gender:  Female

pronouns: She/Her

sexuality: Bisexual

Stefanie knew it was a day. When people who looked like older versions of themselves were running around. Their parents from the future. It was all emotionally a lot. So when Jen said she wanted to come over, Stefanie went out for snacks and alcohol. She was reaching for the glasses when she heard her door open. “Hey,” | @ofsalvatores​

“Please tell me that you have something stronger than wine,” Jen pleaded with her older sister, kicking off her shoes by Stefanie’s front door and immediately moving to sit across from the brunette at the kitchen counter. “You are not going to believe the shit that I found out today and it is definitely not wine conversation. It’s, like, bourbon conversation.” 

“That’s not true.” Things may have not worked out with Damon and Elena that great, but there was no denying that Elena was an amazing mother. Once upon a time, Damon did love her. Hell, he would always have love for her, she was the mother of his children. But Damon spent a lot of his time hating his brother, doing everything he could to piss Stefan off. Most of it intentional, some of it unintentional, like falling in love with Elena. A dick move, one he didn’t realize until it was too late. Hurting his brother physically was still a dick move, but at least those healed. And Damon never did hurt him physically, he always went for the emotional hits, the ones where it was hard to get over. Though he had his brothers blessing, he knew a small part of him just wished Damon didn’t. And he had to honor that. And that was the start of the fall of their marriage. Hearing that it was Lizzie who spilled the beans wasn’t surprising, she was just like Caroline in that sense, but he wasn’t even mad at her for it. “I’m glad she told you. I wish it would have been me, but – if you’re here. That means we didn’t make it. And I know, I had years to tell you. I just… it was hard for me too.” Again, selfish. At her question, he shakes his head with a laugh. “No, she didn’t. She loved you like you were her own. She still loves you like her own, she always will. And of course, Rose wanted you. It wasn’t easy for her to leave.” Damon hated that day. “She was… perfect. The way she lit up when you kicked, having little conversations with you when she didn’t think I was looking. She loved you so much, loves you so much.” There wasn’t a day that Damon didn’t think about Rose. The life they had together, the life they created together. Jen was a perfect mix of both Rose and Damon. “She didn’t get a choice to leave. She was a whitelighter, it’s against the Elder’s rules to have kids and relations with people. But we loved – love, each other. We didn’t care about the rules. And one of the best things came out of it. I lost Rose, but I gained you.” Damon inched closer to Jen then, hands gently on her shoulders. “You are so incredibly loved, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’ve always wanted to, I just didn’t know how.”

All that she wanted was to take him at his word. There was no reason for her father to lie to her about this now that it was all out in the open but it was in Jen’s nature to be paranoid about anyone and everyone. Yet another inherited trait from the Salvatore side of the family. Well...maybe that wasn’t true. She didn’t really know what Rose was like, so she couldn’t really blame all of her behaviors on Damon anymore. “I just...she’s still my mom, you know? I know that Rose is my mother, but Elena is my mom.” She sighs, running a hand through the hair and giving her father a sheepish smile. “I sort of yelled at her when I found out. Rose, I mean. She’s here in this time if you wanna do that long lost love rekindling thing.” Jen wouldn’t put it past him. Despite the sometimes steely exterior, Damon was a romantic at heart. The way that he talked about Rose reminded her of the way that Jen herself had been when she was pregnant with Ella. Perhaps history really did repeat itself. Jen and Rose were both mothers who adored their children but had been torn away from them for one reason or another. They loved the father of their child but couldn’t be with them. There was still this longing sense of hope in the men they had left behind. Fuck, maybe this was all starting to make sense now. “She sounds great,” Jen admits, tears springing to her eyes. She wanted to say more but a larger part of her just really needed her dad. “I get why you didn’t tell me. More than you know, actually.” Damon didn’t know that she had a child or that she felt unworthy and unable to raise that child. Part of her was ashamed to tell him but the other half wanted his advice more than anything else in this world. Her arms wrapped tightly around her father and for the first time in years she actually felt safe. “I fucked up, Dad,” she admits, biting her lip to try to staunch the flow of tears. “I fucked up and I don’t think that I know how to fix it or if it even can be fixed.” 

“What’s the point?” He asked, looking to her before he moves her pole stick off the table, setting it to the side and starting a game for himself. He didn’t need a partner to play, and really - has Jen even been a partner in anything? “You’re gonna do what you want to do, there’s no changing that.” Once upon a time, Phoenix begged her to change her mind, but it was moot, and he wasn’t in the habit of begging people to stay who made it clear they didn’t want to be there. The underlying pun of her question had him smirking a small bit, leaning down as he drew the pole stick back and struck, the balls scattering everywhere on the table. “Are you expecting me to be a mess, begging you to stay?” Phoenix asked, glancing up to her as he moved around the table, leaning down and striking the cueball again. “Did that once, didn’t work out. Lesson learned.” He replies, standing tall. “I don’t expect anything out of you much these days, Jen.” Harsh, but it was the truth.

He was angrier than she was expecting. Their night on Christmas had felt like a breakthrough, at least until the moment that had caused Jen to run. They had danced and talked and laughed. Jen truly thought that they were making progress and she’d been proud of herself for putting the past aside and trying to start fresh. “If you think that leaving that night is what I wanted, you don’t know me nearly as well as you think you do.” She hadn’t wanted to leave Ella. No, Jen had wanted to pick her daughter up and hold her close and never let her go but wouldn’t that be worse? Even if she put everything with Cameron aside...everyone in the world had made it clear that they thought Jen would be a terrible mother, including Jen herself. What was the point in drawing it out before she proved them all right? “No, I didn’t expect you to beg,” she answered honestly, walking around the table until she was toe to toe with him. Her blue eyes locked onto his, look of defiance on her face. “I expected you to fight with me, to tell me I was wrong. I expected you to fight for me. I expected you to tell me that you loved me and we could make it through anything, that the past year could be forgiven. I expected you to be a fucking dragon, Nix. I didn’t expect you to just give up on me.”

“Hm.” Damon certainly didn’t expect this kind of conversation so quickly. Over the course of her life, he thought of telling her the truth. But Damon wasn’t even doing all that great with Rose’s departure either, he didn’t want his daughter to feel as if Rose abandoned her. “It’s good to see you too, Jen.” Damon’s hands found their way into his pockets, “What do you mean the same as your siblings? You’re still the same, nothing changes that.” Damon shook his head, blue hues boring into his daughters. Damon withheld rolling his eyes at the bastard comment, he really hated that word. “No, you were not. You’re not at all. You’re my daughter, the daughter I love very much. I just wanted to protect you from that particular heartbreak.” Of all his kids, Jen was pretty much the carbon copy of him, they were emotional. Even when they pretended they weren’t. “There was quite a few times I was going to tell you. I just…” A sigh as he licks his lips over, “I wasn’t ready to hear the ‘does my mom hate me?’ question. And that’s selfish, I know. But I know you, I know you because you’re me.”

Of course the sarcastic greeting was the first thing to come. “Hi, Dad,” she responded, brushing quickly past the greeting and getting to the real reason that she had rushed over so quickly. “But I’m not the same. I’m the kid that Elena didn’t want, the one that she didn’t get to choose. All the others were kids that she had or that she chose to adopt with you.” Her father may have been able to hold back his eye roll but Jen simply wasn’t that evolved. “Great, okay, so you love me. You loved me enough that you didn’t tell me the truth about who my mother was for my entire life and then I had to find out from Lizzie freakin’ Saltzman of all people.” Teeth sank into the inside of her cheek as he continues, trying to figure out if she was going to forgive him. Their similarities, after all, were undeniable but it didn’t excuse the fact that he had kept half of who she was from her for years. “Well, does she? I mean, did Elena spend the entirety of my life resenting me? Did Rose even want me?” She soften a bit when her eyes meet his again. “I know this isn’t the reunion that you probably thought you’d have but for the record, it is really good to see you.” 

Jen did bitch well, but Lizzie originated it far before Jen was even a seed of thought in Damon’s life. She’s refined it over the course of her otherwise immortal life, if Jen really thought Lizzie was going to roll over and play dead, she had another thing coming. A brow lifts as Jen steps closer, the girl a whopping two inches shorter than her, Lizzie didn’t entirely tower over her, but she had some height to the Salvatore. And with the heels she was currently sporting? Maybe another two inches. “Mommy issues?” Lizzie laughs, “I think you’re projecting a little too much here, and that’s rich you know – coming from the woman who’s giving her one-year-old mommy issues a little too early in her life. But you know,” Lizzie waves her hands in the air, eyes rolling, “What do I know?” Sarcasm heavy in her tone. “You’re right – it’s not my secret to tell, but as you can very well see they weren’t going to do it and you deserved to know. And I’m not sorry for dropping that bomb on you, because at least out of everyone someone’s finally telling you the truth.” Lizzie replies. “Oh please,” Lizzie rolls her eyes with a laugh, “I’m getting nothing out of this, this has absolutely nothing to do with me. I’m just the unfortunate bystander who gets to drop the news because her parents are too afraid.” Lizzie loved both Damon and Elena, but she thought it was shit from the very start that they kept this from Jen in the first place. “By all means, don’t trust it. There’s these things called DNA tests for this very reason. Or you know – you could just go find Damon and have him tell you for once.”

The second that Lizzie mentioned her daughter, it was a step too far. Jen knew exactly what people thought of her but hearing it from one of the people that should have understood her decision made her blood boil. Her hand whipped out and struck the blonde hard across the face before she even had time to decide that she was going to strike. “Out of everyone in the world, the fact that you would dare to bring up Ella to me knowing that half of the reason things are so fucked up is because of how much I care about your sister? God, that is a low that I didn’t think you were capable of stooping to but I guess that people really do have a tendency to keep surprising you,” Jen hissed, that signature Salvatore venom in her voice. She wished that she had never stepped foot in this bar, that she had just let herself drown her sorrows in another pint of Ben and Jerry’s. The hunter could understand Lizzie’s perspective but she truly didn’t want to know any of this. She had been happy with her family; in fact, it was the only stable part of her life and now that was ruined. “Oh, please. You told me because you like the chaos. You wanted to see someone else suffer the way that you suffer, because it makes you feel just a little bit less alone. Well here’s a newsflash, Lizzie. Not everyone wants to know the things that are going to hurt them.” And it did hurt, but hurt Jen was never someone to stop at the reveal of something vulnerable. No, instead she needed to get in the most painful thing that she could think of, to hurt Lizzie the way that she was hurt. “I get that every kid having a different father is common practice over in the Forbes family but we Salvatores really prefer to play our cards a little closer to the vest. So thanks for the advice, but you can go now.”

of  all  the  stupid  goddamn  bullshit  luck  in  the  world….of  course  the  first  thing  that  would  happen  upon  getting  back  would  be  meeting  a  very  hungry  newbie  vampire.  of  course  it  would  try  to  make  a  nice  little  snack  out  of  him.  why  the  fuck  wouldn’t  it  ?  but  god,  he  just  didn’t  have  the  time  right  now  to  mediate  or  have  some  sweet  little  come  to  the  light  moment.  hence  the  greying  corpse  at  his  feet  (  god  it  was  always  so  strange  to  see  the  life  bleed  from  them  like  that  ).  poor  son  of  a  bitch.  but  he  was  on  a  mission  —-  funerals  for  the  damned  be  fucked.  without  giving  it  much  thought,  he  began  dragging  the  body  through  the  woods  —–  to  somewhere  a  little  less  inconspicuous.  he’d  kick  some  dirt  and  leaves  on  it  and  call  it  a  day.  find  his  kids.  pretend  this  obnoxious  little  detour  through  the  forests  of  mckinley  never  happened.  that  was  the  plan  at  least…..fucking  footsteps.  jesus  fucking  christ,  really  ?   a   sigh.  he  dropped  the  body.  looked  up  at  the  person  approaching.  “  yeah….this  is  exactly  what  it  looks  like.  “ 

@sanguishqsstarters​

“Oh goody. Cashmeire sweater wearing dads who think they’re kids are so much better than anyone else’s because they’ve got a trust fund.” Damon’s kids also had trust funds, but his kids weren’t assholes. Well – they could be, but they were his assholes. The famous Damon Salvatore smirk graces his lips as one dares to reach out, as if he was trying to adjust Damon’s clothing to try and what? Intimidate him? “You have three seconds to remove your hands, and in those three seconds you can be incredibly grateful that I’m even giving you those.” Damon was human, yes. But he was still very much skilled in fighting and hunting, not that these guys screamed anything other than stupid. “One….” Nothing, “Two….” And just as he was about to say three, the other backed off. “Good choice, didn’t wanna ruin that fake tan of yours.” Damon claps a hand on the others shoulder before he walks off. @sanguishqsstarters​

There was absolutely no way that she was going to step in and help her father. Jen had felt an overwhelming rush of joy at seeing Damon, the Damon that she remembered from her childhood, but another part of her was so angry at the man. Lizzie Saltzman was very sure that she had heard something that night about who Jen’s real mother was and Jen wanted answers. The questions of how and why he was there weren’t important in comparison. “You son of a bitch,” she screamed, stomping over to her dad with fire in her eyes. “My whole life? I go my entire life thinking that I’m the same as the rest of my siblings and you never thought to sit me down and tell me ‘hey, Jen, really love you but here’s an important piece of history I thought you should know’? What, was I just the bastard kid that you didn’t love as much?” 

“Trust me, you’re not missing much. I could literally smell the infection he’s carrying, which you know, tracks considering he’s slept with more than a dozen of the girls in this place.” She both hated and loved being a vampire. There was just some things she could do without. She wasn’t one to shame someone for sleeping around, go out, have fun, get laid she didn’t care. But at least be smart about it. She shakes her head to rid herself of those thoughts. “I have no doubt you still can, I won’t be going around sharing sacred secrets.” Except for the one she was about to drop on Jen now. Hues then roll at the mention of her clusterfuck relationship with Phoenix, “This isn’t about that.” Lizzie didn’t exactly pay much attention to the two, other than the whole Jen leaving her child thing, it was quite the rumor mill back home. “This is about something that I heard our parents talking about one night.” It was no surprise that Lizzie was an eavesdropper, Lizzie was never really great at these sorts of things. “You know how loud they can get when they’ve had a few glasses of wine.” She adds, an easy smile atop her lips before she gets into the heavier stuff. “It’s about Elena and Rose, actually. I’m not sure if you’ve met Rose yet, but… uh – Elena’s not your mom.” She puts that out there, “Rose is. There was some marital problems or whatever with Damon and Elena and they separated, shortly after Damon and Rose got together -” They were cute, Lizzie wouldn’t deny that, “She ended up getting pregnant, but that’s a – big no to the Elders, so after she had you, they took her back up - where she remained, never to come down again. Elena was the one to comfort Damon during all of this, they got back together - not sure of the timeline of that, but yeah. Didn’t really pay attention to how all of that went, but I heard Elena say they agreed to not tell you because Rose would never be able to come down again.” Lizzie casts a glance up to Jen, “But she’s here now, in this time at least - I think you deserve to get to know your mom, and vice versa.”

“Show off,” Jen muttered under her breath, knowing full well that Lizzie’s vampire hearing would be able to hear even the quietest of whispers. She supposed that she should be grateful to the older woman for looking out for her, but Jen did the lone wolf thing a lot better than she did friendships of any kind. Well, with anyone other than Cameron. The younger Forbes sister was really more of her sister than her best friend at this point, though. “Okay, I’m all for gossip about the ‘rents, but can this wait? I’m already in my daddy issues downward spiral, I don’t need to make it any worse.” All jovial thoughts quickly exited her head as soon as Lizzie explained what she had come here to say. Fists were clenched at her side, fingernails cutting hard into her palms as she tried to process what the hell this meant for her life. The mother that had raised her, that she had mourned, that she yearned to see again...that suddenly wasn’t her mother at all? No, fuck that. Even if Rose was her biological mother, Elena was the one that had raised her and cared for her. That was the woman that her father had chosen...except he hadn’t. Everything she knew about the epic love story that her parents had had was suddenly tainted and the entire thing made her stomach churn. Her face was hard and cold as Lizzie suggested that she get to know Rose, and Jen held a hand up to stop her from going any further. “Let’s back up here. Forget all of that info that you dumped on me. I’ll go ahead and unpack that on my own later, thanks.” She took a step closer to the blonde, her voice quiet but full of venom. “I understand that you have your own mommy issues, what with them being here at the same time and all, but I was more than happy to live in my blissful ignorance. This wasn’t your secret to tell and I know that you Forbes girls, minus Cam, have a hard time grasping that the world doesn’t revolve around you, but it doesn’t. You had twenty years to tell me the truth about where I came from, Lizzie. So excuse me if I don’t exactly trust or respect the opinion of the woman that lied to my face for two decades.”

She wasn’t going to give the other a choice, to be quite frank, so when she agreed it made things much easier for her. “You can call me Casandra,” she said as she looked back at her

“Jen,” the huntress answered simply, falling into step next to the brunette. It was an easy pace, and she shoved her hands in her pockets as they walked. “So did you just get here or was the move prompted by something completely different?” 

     things were different for her now, with the babies cameron could feel glimpses of her old self shining through. the parts of herself that she had lost when she had been consumed by grief. it was still ever present, having taken residence in her body since that harrowing day, but it was dulled slightly. there was a new feeling of guilt, but she was managing for now. with her new found chance at happiness cameron wished nothing more for her best friend. during the beginning of her pain, it had swallowed her whole, unable to pull herself out enough to support jen with ella and phoenix. she and the salvatore had plans to raise their children together, cameron’s son would have been ella’s cousin. the dream they had spent over nine months yearning for was crushed the very day it should have been a reality. cameron felt healthier now, not healed entirely, ( that, she didn’t ever see happening ) but she was in a place where she could now help jen with ella, they could have that dream again. jen deserved the peace, ella deserved her mother, and phoenix deserved a partner in raising their child, cam wanted to help, she just needed to figure out a plan. ‘ i have to say i’m a little rusty, but looking never hurt anyone, ’ she joked with a grin, moving to a better vantage point.