[ a pleased flush dusts across elena's cheeks as her best friend's fingers sift through the long and wilder strands of her hair. hell has yet to give elena a straightener, and at this point, she's not sure that she misses it too much. back home, it was important to her that she not follow in katherine's, but it seems so silly to think hair would've been a deciding factor.
in any case, her hair now doesn't remind her of katherine. it doesn't remind her of anyone but herself. ]
Thank you, Hell doesn't exactly have a salon and β you. Look at you. You look amazing.
[ caroline looks like she can take on hell and the world over, but then, that's always been true. she also looks like a headmistress... she looks like a mom. warmth threatens to sting under elena's eyelids once more as she looks upon her friend, taking this moment for herself to do just that until caroline's voice cuts off.
with it comes a shift. elena has struggled with this, time and again: the knowledge that her future is everyone else's past. she has struggled with two competing thoughts and wants. the need to always know, and the need to make decisions for herself. as a doppelgΓ€nger, she's had precious few opportunities to do so.
she takes caroline's hand before it can completely pull away from her. ]
I know it's weird. Trust me, I know. I've thought about this moment hundreds of times, and what I'd ask you, because it's killed me to know there's over a decade between us. We'll go over anything we need to. [ on elena's end, what she last lived and what she has learned throughout this experience. the works. ] The protocol is I'm still your best friend. I trust you, beyond anyone else, to tell me what I absolutely need to know right now.
[ she trusts bonnie just the same, but bonnie isn't here, and elena will keep missing her still. ]
For the rest... I need to feel like my future is my own. Like my choices are still my own, and not already made. So I'm not asking you to tiptoe around me or pretend we aren't from different places. I'm just asking you to let me get to where you are on my own. [ to treat her as her own person. as she is, here and now. differences and all. ] Is that okay?
no subject
in any case, her hair now doesn't remind her of katherine. it doesn't remind her of anyone but herself. ]
Thank you, Hell doesn't exactly have a salon and β you. Look at you. You look amazing.
[ caroline looks like she can take on hell and the world over, but then, that's always been true. she also looks like a headmistress... she looks like a mom. warmth threatens to sting under elena's eyelids once more as she looks upon her friend, taking this moment for herself to do just that until caroline's voice cuts off.
with it comes a shift. elena has struggled with this, time and again: the knowledge that her future is everyone else's past. she has struggled with two competing thoughts and wants. the need to always know, and the need to make decisions for herself. as a doppelgΓ€nger, she's had precious few opportunities to do so.
she takes caroline's hand before it can completely pull away from her. ]
I know it's weird. Trust me, I know. I've thought about this moment hundreds of times, and what I'd ask you, because it's killed me to know there's over a decade between us. We'll go over anything we need to. [ on elena's end, what she last lived and what she has learned throughout this experience. the works. ] The protocol is I'm still your best friend. I trust you, beyond anyone else, to tell me what I absolutely need to know right now.
[ she trusts bonnie just the same, but bonnie isn't here, and elena will keep missing her still. ]
For the rest... I need to feel like my future is my own. Like my choices are still my own, and not already made. So I'm not asking you to tiptoe around me or pretend we aren't from different places. I'm just asking you to let me get to where you are on my own. [ to treat her as her own person. as she is, here and now. differences and all. ] Is that okay?