“ please tell me you can do something about this. ” he’s drenched to the bone, dripping onto the floor as a hand wipes hair away from his face. he’s still not sure how it happened. yes, he was wishing it was raining, getting in his feelings just a little as he listened to hilary duff’s come clean and staring forlornly out the window, but this wasn’t what he had in mind; as if sensing his distress, the rain cloud hovering above his head crackles and booms thunderous. “ i’ve tried magic. i’ve tried singing ‘ rain, rain, go away ’ and nothing works. i’m about to lose it. ”
Veronica had been seeing new people arrive for the past few months and she had gotten quite used to it. Many of them she had just met on the street or in a store she was at,happy to help them figure things out. Some of them came into the bar either looking for help or for a drink or two. She had gotten used to all the new faces,they began to blend in with everybody else for her.
She was working at the bar when she was dealing with a pain in the ass regular and she honestly wasn’t in the mood for them. She was doing her best to keep her calm,not wanting to scare them away no matter how much she wanted. She called the bouncer instead,watching as they were taken out. “Oh man he always knows how to get on my nerves.”She sighed to the person that had been sitting next to him.
..
his favorite thing about reprieve, without exception, was that his fake i.d. passed without any skepticism because people didn’t know him here. everyone knew him in mystic falls; or worse, they knew his mother. you’d think, living in california most his life, he wouldn’t be a victim to an absence of anonymity but people talk in small towns; anything new and shiny is impossible to miss. here, however, no one knows he’s not T E C H N I C A L L Y 21 because there’s no salvatore school for the gifted youngers. he’s trapped, but he’s also free. it’s complicated.
“ he’s a dick. ” arlo can’t help but agree, wincing sympathetically. not only was the guy a complete asshat, but he also never tipped. he likes to think there’s a special place in hell for all the people who never tip their servers. “ there should be, like, i dunno ... public decency rules. like when you join a server and the mods have rules. that way you could throw him out on his ass when he sucks. ” when, not if; the guy’s nothing if not predictable.
the thought of being stuck here for anywhere over a few weeks, let alone years, made charlotte sick to her stomach. there would be no telling how things would be back home at that point. not to mention, she didn’t like the feeling she got from the city and it wasn’t favorable being surrounded by a bunch of strangers. one familiar face or a familiar name could be enough to give her some kind of hope or certainty for the coming days. for now, she would have to try to ignore the sinking feeling of impending doom in her gut.
“think i’ll stick with the narnia theory. positive visualization and all of that.” she hadn’t yet thought of the possibility of dying here, though she supposed it was one of the many uncertainties. it was doubtful that they were all brought here without a purpose. pulling people from their lives seemed to lean toward the sadistic side. “but whatever the case, i’m going to try to find a way out of here as soon as possible.” and she would make sure that anyone that wanted to follow, could.
“that is true. i haven’t done much exploring in terms of shops.” what she really needed was a cash supply. she usually didn’t keep a lot on her person, which didn’t leave her with much when she woke up here. maybe a lot, compared to others, but char was going to be stingy with it and make it last as long as possible. “wish i could get a better place, or at least a better bed. a more long term solution.” not that she would splurge there, not before building up a weapons arsenal to protect herself from whatever was lurking around the city.
..
he has to admire her determination. admittedly, he hasn’t really been trying very hard to get back to mystic falls. between his dad going all darth vader, and his ex-boyfriend’s puppy dog eyes making the whole breaking up with your first love thing kind of unbearable, there’s not much he wants to go home for. sure, he misses his best friend, and his mother and his dogs, but he’s not worried about them. he spends so much time in his room playing video games anyway that it might take dr. saltzman, or his mother, WEEKS to even realize he’s not there.
“ that’s cool. i mean, don’t get me wrong, i want to go home ... i just also want to wait for someone else to do the legwork to fix things. ” he’s not really the hero type; he’s more of a ‘ wait and see which way the wind blows ’ kind of guy. very aaron burr. which isn’t always a good thing, he knows. “ so i hope you figure it out. ” he d doesn’t offer to help; with his magic all over the place these days, he’s more hindrance than help to anyone.
he nods his head. he gets it; you won’t get very far in the world without any money. “ you could always get a job. ” it seems like an obvious solution but not being from this dimension/city/whatever makes things ... complicated, to say the least. “ everyone lies on their resumes. you could just make stuff up and be whatever you want to be.” with a frown, he adds, “ maybe don’t be a doctor though. that’s probably something you shouldn’t fake your way through. ” he also knows a guy who will be a fake reference for $50 and a pack of slim jims, but he does not know this stranger well enough to offer up his services.
a few days in this strange city easily felt like an eternity. she knew that her phone would have rang at least four times a day by now, with countless texts. the hunter would give anything to be back home, to be there for the younger hunters she had surrounded herself with. some of them were on cases, others had planned to travel to her to celebrate caleb’s birthday. truly, they were an extended family and now the matriarch had vanished, leaving them without their strongest lifeline.
“i’m just sayin’ that i hope this place is like narnia. however long it takes for me to get out of here feels like mere minutes for all the people that depend on me.” it wasn’t quite fair to say they depended on her, because she had helped them grow into independent hunters that could kick the ass of most anything coming their way. still, it was the best way she could vaguely describe them as she hadn’t found anyone she knew in the city and even if she had charlotte didn’t know if she could truly trust them. there was no telling how much of this was fake.
she would be worried that she was under the control of a djinn that she didn’t remember hunting, but none of this was anything she ever wished for. “definitely going to take an extended trip to a spa retreat when i get home… my back may need it.”
..
everyone has their theories. some people think it’s some kind of mirror-world, created by a witch, or some evil powerful dude, and they’re all sort of stuck. kind of like the upside down. then you’ve got other people who look at them like they’ve lost it because they say they’ve lived here forever. that it’s just some random town; nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. arlo’s not quite sure what to believe. depending on how’s feeling on any given day, he’s inclined to believe pretty much anything. he’s also extremely gullible and prone to believe anyone who speaks with certainty.
he looks up when he hears someone speak, wincing sympathetically as he silently agrees. he’d be super pissed if he got stuck here for years and then got home only to realize he missed his early 20′s completely. talk about wasted potential. “ unless we get stuck here for like, 10 years or something. it’d suck to have to start your life over again. unless you messed it up here. ” in second thought, after a moment’s hesitation, knowing you had a get out of jail free card stashed in your pocket, didn’t seem like such a bad thing. “ nah. i take it back. ”
“ they’ve got stuff for that you know. ” he adds after a moment, turning his body to face her. even in reprieve, god knows how far away from home, he’s still as entrepreneurial as ever. “ salves. ” better known as potions. “ they help with back pain. kinda like hemp oil or creams. ” the word kinda gives him some leeway room, protects him from basically coming across like he has a sign above his head that says YES. HI. I’M A WITCH. SHOP MY ETSY SHOP. PLEASE. I NEED NEW YEEZYS.
Has she managed to find her way into some foreign country? Sure the man in front of her speaks English, and she’s sure it’s some type of American accent, but more than half of what he says just makes no sense to her. “I’m sorry, but I really have no clue what you’re talking about… What’s an iPhone? It’s not that my phone isn’t charged it’s -” She flips it open to check, shrugging slightly, “I’ve got like eighty percent, so I should be good for a couple days, but it just won’t connect. Like there’s no network… I think. I don’t know. I’m not that much technology inclined.”
She’s slightly more confused when he pats the vespa he’s riding and says something about a twelve dollar credit, “Don’t those things run on gas? I don’t see what use credit is unless you’re trying to buy one…” What she does understand though is the offer of a ride wherever she needs to go, but she really doesn’t even know where that is. “If I’m being honest I’m pretty lost. I don’t even know what state I’m in, never mind which city… I just know that this doesn’t look like Palo Alto, and I’ve got class in the morning…”
..
the more she talks, the more convinced arlo is that she’s suffering from a brain injury. or maybe she’s a figment of his imagination and he had one too many pot brownies while he was not studying for a geography quiz. he blinks twice, resisting the urge to scream ‘ WhAt’S aN iPhOnE?!?!?!! ’ before fleeing to avoid the headache building behind his eyes. he stays though because she seems sincere. that and she’s really pretty. he’s self-aware enough to admit that his motivations aren’t entirely selfless.
“ okay ... ” he drags the syllables out, still looking at her like she’s medusa with freaking snakes popping out of her hair. “ no offence but i’ve never seen a phone last more than like ... 12 hours, if you’re using it. whatever that is, it’s not a phone. nice try though. ” he points in her direction, like he’s onto her scheme. “ nice try though. ” the comments about the scooter throw him again but in fairness, they aren’t super popular anymore; he can forgive not knowing much about them. “ nah, they’re like ... solar powered, i think. or they’re electric. they have charging stations in parks and stuff. ” he shrugs his shoulders, feeling relieved when she finally says something he understands. “ yo, i’m from malibu. cool. i love california. ” he beams wide, leaning forward on the handlebars, “ — but uh, i hate to be the one to tell you this ... but, uh, we’re like ... NOWHERE near there. ” if there even exists anymore. it’s up for debate.
For a moment, Davina takes a step back and leans against the wall, stabling her rather tiresome being before exhaling rather sharply. Something about today does not sit right with her, in fact, she almost feels like she had FORGOTTEN something which holds a great deal of importance. The town itself somewhat UNSETTLES her, and yet, this felt rather familiar, as no place had truly felt like home for a long while.
She had learned to adapt in the best way she could, delving into her books, grimoires that she no longer had was beginning to play on her mind. Library books, for now, HAD to do.
She felt out of sorts, loosing her control and inhibitions causing her to feel her mind erupt with clusters of unfilled thoughts and not knowing which to tackle first.
“ Sorry—- I didn’t hear a thing you said.” Davina replied, sighing as she tucked the books into her duffel bag and began to move from her seat. She knew how tired she was, and yet, sleep appeared to be for the wicked, or at the least, the less stressed.
“ Was it important? ”
..
his life over the past few months has been weird but ever since he dropped into reprieve unexpectedly, things have gotten weirder. his magic — magic that both he and his mother had started to worry about — seemed to be growing stronger. when he was upset, things would shake; sometimes shatter completely, like windows or china from their cabinet. when he really wanted something, really visualized it, it seemed to just ... happen. he’s pretty sure he hasn’t met any genies lately, or thrown a coin in a wishing well, so he really needs some help. professional help.
he doesn’t know davina but he does know OF her. she was one of the most powerful witches in new orleans and if someone might know something that could help him, he figured she’d be a good place to start. when he sees her though, he freezes up. there’s no way to really frame things normally, to say hey i think my magic might be broken, without drawing skepticism and unhelpful comments. he knows he’s dramatic and that he can sometimes be a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily explain what’s happening. he spends so much thinking about what he’ll say, or how he’ll say it, that when she speaks first he almost jumps out of his skin.
a noise of surprise is his answer, jumping a little higher than someone of his height probably should. he doesn’t hit the ceiling though so — small victories. “ uh, i didn’t actually say anything. unless you can read minds. ” she is a powerful witch so hey, he won’t rule it out. “ i was actually wondering if you could help me though. y’know, witch to witch. ” he whispers this last part, like it’s a big secret.
There’s nothing. The top corner of her screen that should be showing her service bars is only showing her that it’s searching for a signal and failing to find one, even as she holds the flip phone up above her head in hopes it might register. “Come on, come on, come onnn,” she half begs, frowning when she brings it back down where she can see it before shaking her head, stuffing it back into the pocket of her pajama pants.
She’s dreaming, or at least she figures she must be, because she wouldn’t go out in public dressed like this. She doesn’t know why she’s dreaming something like this, but she’ll figure it out. She’ll see Brady or Sam or someone that she actually knows here and she’ll wake up warm and comfortable in bed to go to class in the morning… Or something. (has she ever had a lucid dream like this before? has she ever been aware that she was dreaming?)
It’s only when she sees someone walking ahead of her that she springs into action, jogging the few steps she needs to to catch up to them before reaching out to tap their shoulder, “Hey, can I borrow your phone for a minute? I’ve got no signal.”
..
somewhere between delta and echo, his phone died. it’s more brick than phone at the moment, weighing down his pocket as his scooter zooms from one district to the next. he’s, admittedly, a bit of a distracted driver as he belts his own music while he rides — roar by katy perry, at present — given his headphones are now just as useless as the brick they’re connected to.
he screeches to a stop however when he narrowly avoids running down a pretty blonde who’s looking at her phone like it’s just as useless as his. he feels her pain. “ wish i could. ” he replies sorrowfully, fishing it out of his pocket and making a show of pushing the power button only for the screen to stay blank. “ i’m like ... the worst at remembering to charge my phone. i’ve got a cable though if you’ve got an iphone. ” he digs around in the fanny-pack he wears around his middle, humming triumphantly when he finds it and holds it up. there’s only one problem; that thing she calls a phone is a total dinosaur. seriously, it looks like something you’d find someone’s grandma selling on craigslist. he winces. “ yeah, no, that’s ... not going to work with your phone. ” he feels for her, he does, so he settles on the next best thing he can do to help. “ i’ve got a twelve dollar credit on this thing. ” he explains, patting the display on the lyft scooter. “ i can probably get you wherever you need to go. ”
SCOTT FOUND HIMSELF in the midst of the town square, the exact same place where he woke up a few days ago. something around here felt off why was he pulled to this part of town. was he even still in beacon hills or was this some sort of parallel universe of beacon hills. he reached into his pockets to find his cell phone, dialling stiles’s number he realised that he had NO SERVICE. if only his best friends were here; he was worried about them. what happened to them ?? did they manage to get out of the armoury or did the hunters find them and killed them? he felt completely detached from them. almost as if limbs were amputated. ‘ ’ he opened & closed his mouth again when he noticed someone had been staring at him. ‘ what do you want ?? ’ he groaned at the vague figure ahead of him.
..
it takes him a few moments to reconcile that the stranger is talking to him. or at him, maybe, if you want to get technical. all the same, he points at himself stupidly — like he needs confirmation, despite the obvious. “ uhh ... ” it takes a minute for his brain to catch up with his mouth, juggling the gatorades between his hands as he leans forward on the handlebars of his lyft scooter. “ nothing, really. you’re just ... kind of blocking my path, dude. this thing’s dope but it CAN’T jump that hedge and get around you. ” not yet anyway. he’s holding out hope that this bizarro-world might lend itself to some technological advances at some point or another; like how the sims gets expansion packs. “ you good ? you look lost. ”
( ross butler, 19, he/him ) welcome to reprieve, ARLO PARK. rumor has it they are a WITCH/CAMBION, from LEGACIES, but only they could tell you the truth! they reside in the ECHO district. when i close my eyes, i think of them and imagine BLOODSTAINS SCRUBBED OUT OF CREAM COLORED CARPETS, LYFT SCOOTERS, AND THE PRODIGAL SON.
are you as tired of me doing intros as i am? ‘cuz bruh. you’re getting the lazy sparknotes version bc i’m tired.
THE EARLY YEARS.
arlo is an original character from the legacies universe. he was a student at the salvatore school in mystic falls prior from being plucked from 2030 and dropped into reprieve 2020. he was sent to the salvatore school, rather than staying at home and learning through his coven, after some really fucked up things happened with his dad.
speaking of Some Fucked Up Things… arlo’s dad is Not a good guy. he was the kind of guy who’d sacrifice people for power and justify his actions. he also liked to experiment on himself, and others, so hey valentine - you’d have a great friend in amycus park. arlo has always been his dad’s closest ally, and sort of confidante, so his mom was shocked when she found out that not only was bad dad bad, but that arlo had known all along and hadn’t said anything. he thought he could contain it, maybe talk him out of some of his terrible ideas, but his dad is Not OK and needs help. but everything fell apart, his parents divorced and his dad disappeared before the coven could have him killed. the coven voted to decide whether or not arlo and his mother could stay, given his father’s history, and they decided not to punish arlo because he was 16 - a child - and that the salvatore school could help give him more positive role models.
but here is the thing y’all, arlo’s dad is not his biological father. when his parents were trying to have kids they found out his dad couldn’t have kids. so they used a “sperm donor” and voila arlo was born! ( except that’s... not true either. his father was a man that his mother was having an affair with. who was, you guessed it, a demon. so arlo is a cambion - not that he knows that yet.) tbh arlo is pretty dumb so i don’t think he’s really even like become cognizant of the fact that he and his dad don’t look alike, and don’t have much in common. is this ignorance or naivety? idk, if your parents tell you something who are you to question it. anyways his mom never told him the truth even after everything with his dad bc she was afraid she would lose him. he was already closer with his father and she could feel him slipping down the wrong path. fear is a powerful motivator y’all.
personality wise he’s a ‘lil emo, a lil dramatic, always thinks people are talking shit about him. in his defense, a lot of times they are. his dad kind of fucked up their family’s reputation. after his dad left, taking all their money, arlo started getting creative on ways to make money; like doing magic for hire on the side. basically you want something done? something you’re not super proud of or above board? he’ll help you out my dudes, dudettes, and persons. he’s got you.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
his best friend, in over his head with a powerful vampire, accidentally agrees to help the vampire body swap... not knowing arlo’s the body they picked. as a result, arlo gets switched into several random bodies over the next few months while they try to track his down. in the end, he gets his body back, and he vows never to complain about it ever again because he missed it.
there was a brief sexuality crisis where he realized he was not, in fact, straight, but bisexual. he met a boy, fell in love, and they split amicably but the relationship helped him see sides of himself that he never really knew.
speaking of other sides of himself... he’s started to realize that things sort of seem to happen around him. he accidentally gave a rude server at a bar a nose bleed, and the ground shook one day when he got into a huge fight with his mother. they assumed it was his magic running out of control, that he was growing stronger and couldn’t get a handle on things, but as more and more strange things happen... he’s starting to wonder how true that is. and now, dropped in reprieve without his friends, family, or security nets... he’s like a fish out of water.
Veronica looked at him and tilted her head a bit as she thought. “Well they do tend to give more fries that I can eat so I guess I wouldn’t miss some, better than them going to waste.”She replied chuckling softly. “Homework, oh I haven’t had to do that in a long time”She said as she rested her head on her hand.
“ awesome. everybody wins. ” he can’t help but grin, fist pumping into the air in victory. “ if you ever feel like a throwback, and you know anything about the civil war, you’re like ... super welcome to write my essay for me. ” considering all he’s managed to do is write his name down and scribble a few doodles onto the back of his notebook, anything she could do would be better than that. “ it’s due tomorrow and i haven’t started. ” at this rate, even if he’d been alive during the civil war, he wouldn’t have enough time to write an entire essay. in summation, he’s screwed.
minding her own business— something she’s not actually good at, so cue that rising need to turn her head into the direction of the only movement she’s walked past for at least five minutes. seeing the guy she recognises from the day the whole city went into a literal ice block ( which feels like it happened a lifetime ago now, considering the warmer temperatures now ), she edges herself closer to the scene he was creating. hey, she wasn’t knocking it, releases that built up frustration was something she could get on board with, but it wasn’t exactly subtle. “guessing the garage is yours and you’re not smashing some randomers property?”
..
" technically it’s my mom’s garage. she may or may not know what’s happening. ” more of the latter than the former, but that’s a future arlo problem. his anger and frustration has been building for weeks and without a healthy outlet, he’s practically felt the stress lines etching themselves across his forehead. he does not want to look like he’s in his sixties by the time he hits his forties. this seemed like as good a way as any to try and combat it. “ i’ll fix it after. so like, she never really needs to know. ” excuses, party of one. he hands the bat over all the same, murmuring an incantation under his breath and pressing his fingers against the glass. the splintered edges start to recede, the glass suddenly back in pristine condition; like nothing ever happened. if only people could be put back together that easily. “ there. good as new and ready to get wrecked. ” he grins. “ do your worst. ”
Veronica lifted her head up from the table and looked over at him with a small chuckle escaping from her lips. “What do you mean by a fingers fee. I ordered myself a burger and fries so are you fine with sharing the fries with me?”She asked as she placed her head back down looking over at him still.
" that’s basically what it means. ” he answers with a nod of his head. “ basically like, as payment for helping you out, you share your fries. if that’s cool with you, it’s cool with me. get your nap on. ” he tugs a book out of his bag, clutching it to his chest. “ i’ve got homework i can pretend to do so — i’ve got nothing better to do. ”
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