set me free, leave me be.

private elena gilbert of tvd, don't follow.

[girlundrown]

ily guys. i hope you’re okay ._. ❤️ 

[girlundrown]

introducing me to the sims was a mistake. how is it SO relaxing D: i’m never gonna productive again 

[forbescaroline]

favorite outfits: allison argent (season 2)

[girlundrown]

i miss u guys. btwn my back still fucking making things unbearable, my dogs running away yesterday, and existence, i have been Not So Good. 

[crystalreedgif]

Crystal Reed as Allison Argent in 1x04 “Magic Bullet”

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “i’d say some adventure is a surefire treatment for just about anything. smalltownitis was never really my problem, ‘cause boston’s not that small ‘n traveling’s always kinda been a thing for me, but, uh — yeah, i know the feeling. people’re great at making assumptions, too. sometimes it’s just easier to let ‘em.” a lesson that had come from his brother. shoulders roll in a shrug, cavalier where the subtext isn’t. “so — premed, that’s why you’re here? world history,” he offers. “some literature, a little philosophy. waitin’ to see what sticks. maybe i’ll drop out ‘n enroll at the gelato school instead. did you know they had that here?”

         “boston. never been,” she’s never been a lot of places. but there’s time for that still. this is a start. intentional or not, she picks up on the weight of subtext, hints at a past, but more than that, a sense of understanding. a stranger out here in italy, wanting to journal in the same spot she found. maybe this is all she needed. some understanding from someone who doesn’t know the crazy that entered her life or who doesn’t look at her like they’re still trying to find the girl before her parents died. she smiles, her dimple cutting deeper at her cheek. “premed because i have this crazy idea about helping people, but i don’t know if it’ll stick either. now gelato school,” elena nods. “sounds like that would stick. maybe we both should do it. although, okay so barring the fact we just met, if i had to guess, i’d say you’d make a great history professor or something. ooh, or maybe a traveling lecturer. so you can still see the world, but tell random people you meet along the way things they wouldn’t have heard otherwise.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “i can be. well — more or less.” whether he means generous, punctual, or both, he doesn’t clarify. there’s another breath of a chuckle and he shakes his head. not in dismissal but in some odd, unexpected sense of understanding. “yeah, that … sounds about right. not the cheesy part, the whole, uh — breath of fresh air thing. sometimes you just need a change of scenery, i guess. i mean, hell, i stay anywhere for too long ‘n i’m climbin’ the goddamn walls. sometimes literally.” 

     “a change of scenery, yeah. i bet italy has some great climbing to do. mount vesuvius probably has been calling your name since you got here,” another smile, laced with that same shared understanding. “this is the first time i’ve been out of the small town i’m from. which is lame, i know. it’s one of those places where everyone knows you and everything you’ve ever done and that becomes kinda claustrophobic. when i was choosing a school... italy was kind of on a whim, but who would say no to coming here? do you suffer from smalltownitis, too? i’ve only dabbled lightly in some premed, but apparently a serious condition if not treated promptly with some adventure.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “no, no, no, c’mon, stickin’ to the classics is an automatic eight outta ten. there’s no punalty for that.” but there probably should be one for that. “i’m stopping. and now you know i gotta ask. how did you imagine italy would be?”

       “eight of ten? you’re being generous. and i can tell you know your puns. you’re probably punctual, too,” she makes another pass at keeping her expression serious before inevitably a smile cracks it once more. it’s nice. to be able to smile freely. “honestly? i ... i don’t know. beautiful, obviously, but ... i imagined italy would be a breath of fresh air? cheesy, i know.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     "i think that’s exactly what started it, and y’know what? i get it. they just wanted to make sure they got enough bang for their bucket.” this time it’s less of a huff and more an actual chuckle, tapering into the high - wattage grin he stops holding back. “— actually, scratch that. yours was better.”

      “oh god. no, nope. mine was bad. yours was better. i’m making myself out to be penis pasta bad pun girl. this isn’t how i imagined italy would turn out for me,” she laughs, shoulders drawing up into a shrug. “i tried.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “— you had me at weirdest. okay. okay, you ready? here goes.” he clears his throat, like this is a serious presentation; or would be, if the grin he’s biting back had been less obvious. “in 1325, something was stolen from bologna — the place, not the lunch meat — that started an all - out war. i’m talkin’, like, two thousand dead kinda war. and that thing’s still in modena to this day, as a monument to all those lives it cost. you wanna know what it is?”

     cue the beat’s dramatic pause. 

     “a bucket,” he says. “an oak bucket, used to pull water from a well. in 1325, two thousand guys died fighting over a bucket.” 

      “... a bucket,” she says, eyebrow arched. of everything she could’ve anticipated, not that she had much basis to go off of, that hadn’t been anywhere on the radar. elena tucks hair behind her ear, adjusts the journal tucked at her side, and then nods. attempting to hide her grin goes as well as nate’s attempt at it had been.

      “did someone kick it? is that what really started it?” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “hey, don’t knock the accidental discoveries — didn’t socrates say the only true wisdom is to know that you know nothing? that’s half the fun. if you ever stop asking questions, that’s when you gotta start worrying. or, uh,” he huffs a laugh, dips his chin in a way that’s almost chagrined but lacking the conviction for it, “maybe i just talk too much ‘n if you wanted a history lesson, you’d ask for one. although i will say, i’ve never had a complaint about carbs. nate.” the handshake is easily reciprocated. then, because it’s a habit seven years ingrained, he adds, “drake.”

       “you’re right. you’re right, i know when i’ve been outwitted and you have socrates on your side, too. accidental discoveries might be the best. i can’t knock it anyway, it’s how i found this spot. nate drake,” she repeats back, giving his hand a solid shake before letting it go. “i don’t think you talk too much. actually, okay... putting you on the spot. what’s the weirdest or coolest fact you know about italy? like the one that keeps you up at night kind of weird. i want to know it. and go.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “well, i don’t like to brag, but i have been known to jot down the occasional scribble every now ‘n again. stick figures are underrated, though. sometimes less is more — why do you think the whole minimalism art movement got so popular so fast? granted,” he amends, glancing up from the page, “i’m pretty sure that was just an american thing. which is funny, ‘cause enrico castellani kicked it off with his monochromatic paintings, and he was as italian as carbonara. anyway — what i’m gettin’ from that is, you need a better tour guide. am i right?” 

      he wasn’t kidding about history being a family thing. or a hobby. although hobby seemed too light a word for it. she wrinkles her nose before grinning, “okay, maybe, yeah. but i promise i wasn’t secretly hinting at that this entire conversation. you really sound like you know what you’re talking about and you’ve kinda already unlocked a part of italy i would’ve never found. or ... well, i might’ve found it, but on accident. in a creepy way. i don’t think going around asking about penis pasta is a good move to make in a new country. i’m elena, by the way.” closing her journal, she holds her hand out to him. “and stick figures and carbs are my thing apparently.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “now that, i’ve seen. did you notice the horses? here,” he flips his journal open to a sketch from the day before, the god neptune on a shell chariot; the fountain’s centerpiece. “see how one of ‘em’s calm, and the other’s goin’ buckwild? it’s supposed to represent the sea itself. probably pretty obvious, right? but it dates all the way back to like 19 B.C., since they first built the aqua virgo aqueduct. apparently they named it the virgin waters after this girl who’d lead roman soldiers there to drink from the spring. ‘trevi’ just comes from tre vie, which means three streets. so it’s technically called the three street fountain.”

       “i, uh ... i didn’t know that. you know, i took the tour the other day. and the guy really sounded like he knew his stuff, but he didn’t mention any of this. you really drew this? this is good. like... really good. wow.” resisting the urge to reach out and touch the page, elena follows his lead; shifting her bag on her shoulder so she can flip through her journal to splay open a page for him. the top part follows more of a diary entry format, but there’s a small drawing complete with stick figures down below. “horses are hard to get in this style,” elena says. “but i think i really got the tour guide down.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “history’s, uh — family hobby, i guess you could say. it’s in naples — the museum, not the … penis pasta gift shop. which really doesn’t sound as weird as it should, does it? huh. anyway — nope, haven’t gotten around to it yet. emphasis on the ‘yet’.”

      “what’s that saying? when in rome. which excludes the rest of italy, but i think the sentiment holds when it comes to penis pasta and forbidden phallic relics of history. i’ll probably have to add that to my list of sightseeing now. please tell me you’ve at least been to the trevi fountain. if you like sunsets based on writing, that thing is breathtaking.” 

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “wait, wait, wait, are you talkin’ ab— okay. okay, don’t ask me why i know this, but if you’re gonna go for the, uh, the phallic art, it’s gotta be the gabinetto segreto. literally the ‘secret cabinet’ of old - school eroticism, like the stuff they excavated from pompeii ‘n herculaneum, like dick - shaped wind chimes modeled after priapus and a statue of pan goin’ at it with a goat. francis the first was so offended by all that racy shit, he had it confiscated in 1819 so only scholars and guys who could bribe the staff would ever get to see it. ‘course, that just made it more famous. it’s been open to the public since 2000, by — uh, appointment only, i think. totally not kidding.”

       “— okay, so ... i was thinking of the cliché penis pasta gift shop place, but that sounds infinitely cooler. you really like history, don’t you? have you been there yet?”  

[jesperfahey]

[girlundrown]

fortunefavour​.

     “definitely not an idiot. even i couldn’t fake an accent this good, but it takes one to know one, right? ‘m here for the sunsets, sure, but the pasta was the real selling point. what’s your excuse?” 

      “the carbonara is definitely the best i’ve ever had. must be that homemade mozzarella,” her laugh lingers in her smile. “okay, don’t judge me, but one of my friends back in the states told me about this place with penis shaped everything. that was totally my selling point. who could pass up that kind of novelty?” a beat. “oh god, i’m kidding. curious, but kidding.”