#willa burrell

[mikelogan]

TRUE BLOOD 7x05 Lost Cause

[visupes]

[hb-writes]

The Coffin

Day 10 Prompt (1000 words) for 10 days to 1K: Coffin

Characters: Eric Northman & Elisabeth Northman (OC)

—

Elisabeth's eyes shifted as she watched the back and forth between Pam and Eric. It wasn't something she was used to, the two of them fighting. It was becoming more and more common, but that didn't make it comfortable.

"They're staying with me!" Eric roared when Pam suggested the vampires take the coffin for the night. "Both of them."

Elisabeth's head swiveled toward Eric. "The hell I am!"

Eric's voice boomed over hers as he continued. "The girl is sleeping with me as I can't trust the two of you not to kill her." Eric directed his words to Pam and Tara before he grabbed Elisabeth's arm, tugging her to his side. "And you will be too, as I can no longer trust you to do as you're told."

"But—"

"I'm growing tired of you arguing with me, child."

"Eric—there won't be enough room for all three of us. I’ll just sleep on Ginger’s couch. I promise, I—”

“Your promises aren’t worth very much just now, are they?” 

“Let her stay with us,” Pam offered. A hole in the ground wasn’t much better than a coffin, but it was more spacious, at least. And Pam and Tara weren’t as pissed with her as Eric was. 

“She’s staying with me,” Eric answered, reaffirming his grip as he reaffirmed his grip before pulling Elisabeth and WIlla through the halls. Elisabeth had to wonder what sort of idiot Willa was that she allowed herself to be guided, not raising a single concern about being locked in a coffin with Eric for the night though as Elisabeth continued to struggle, Eric’s grip merely grew tighter. He made easy work of dragging Elisabeth along making her question whether it was possible that she was actually the idiot in the situation for continuing to fight.

Eric dropped his hold on Willa as they entered one of Ginger’s back bedrooms, a large coffin, clearly meant for more than one person, pressed up against the far wall. Inside, it looked like a bed, and though Elisabeth was relieved at the size, she still balked when Eric ordered her inside. 

“Why is it that the one being kidnapped is more cooperative?” 

“She’s either terrified or in love with you!” Or both, she assumed. 

Eric tilted his head, eyebrows furrowed.“You don’t love me, Ebba?” 

Elisabeth’s gaze fell to the red tufted velvet of the coffin at Eric’s question, his tone and features softening enough to make her feel a bit more guilt than was comfortable to hold while maintaining eye contact. 

Eric grasped Elisabeth’s chin, guiding her gaze to his when he realized she’d gotten lost in her thoughts, distracted by the question. “And if you don’t fear me, you should. I will do whatever necessary to keep you safe. Your comfort and how you may feel towards me as a result are irrelevant.” 

Elisabeth gulped at the tight strain in her throat.

“So you’ll do anything a step below what the other side would do, then?” she spat, trying to hold back the prickle of tears stinging insistently at her eyes. 

“If you won’t cooperate, and that’s what it takes to keep you alive, then yes.” Eric dropped his hand. “Now, get in the coffin.” 

Elisabeth took a step back, but before she could take another, Eric sensed her hesitance. He lifted her, dropping her on the far side of the coffin and climbing in beside her before she could extricate herself. 

Elisabeth didn’t bother fighting as Eric pulled the coffin closed after Willa joined them, silently seething as she laid beside them in the dark. She listened to the whispered conversation between Willa and Eric, and she listened as Willa drifted off to sleep a little under an hour later. Eric didn’t move or speak, apparently dead to the world. 

An overwhelming loneliness overtook Elisabeth in the darkness. Settled against the far wall of the coffin, her spiraling thoughts—an endless stream of worries—were far louder than the gentle sound of Willa’s breathing. Elisabeth lifted her hand, her thumbnail reaching toward her mouth without need of sight. Nailbiting was a terrible, nervous habit she’d all but discarded except in times of stress, but there were times she couldn’t help it—times when she wasn’t even conscious of it. 

Stop that. Eric issued the order in Swedish and then his hand clasped around Elisabeth’s wrist, pulling her hand away. Elisabeth didn’t answer, remaining silent as she worked to peel his fingers from her wrist. Unsuccessful, she tried to turn toward the wall, swallowing the lump in her throat. Eric was gentle but unyielding as he turned her back toward him and brought her against his chest. 

You are afraid. 

It wasn’t a question, just a statement of truth, but Elisabeth answered him anyway. 

No. 

The word had come so quickly that Eric knew it was a lie and would have even if he hadn’t caught Elisabeth bringing her thumb back towards her mouth once again. He stopped her, holding her hand down against his chest. 

I will protect you.

Elisabeth scoffed. By threatening me into submission. 

I need you to be safe.

Elisabeth sighed and Eric felt Elisabeth’s hand relax, her fingers shifting to grasp his own. There was a long silence before she whispered a response, spoken aloud only because she knew Willa wouldn’t understand even if she overheard them Swedish whispering. 

I’m sorry for before.

Eric snorted. I would imagine you are.

Not only because I got caught.

Eric hummed. He knew that despite every piece of evidence to the contrary, Elisabeth was sorry. He knew she was scared, too—rightfully so—but just now wasn’t time for the discussion. For now, he needed them both to sleep, to ready themselves for what was to come. 

Rest now. Eric said. You’re safe.

Elisabeth sighed, but she stayed pressed against Eric’s chest, some part of her soothed enough by the exchange that she eventually drifted off to sleep, Eric’s rest following only once he was certain she was settled and safe.

—

True Blood (Elisabeth Northman) Masterlist

[thegayhimbo]

You have the power to change the final season of one show (could be you're favourite, could be one you just enjoyed watching) what show is it and how would you change the end? Feel free to give as much or a little detail as you want.

True Blood is the first show that came to mind the moment you asked this question! :)

I know there are a lot of shows out there that are better than True Blood, and there are certainly worse final seasons (looking at Castle and House of Cards), but season 7 of True Blood was personally offensive to me. The quality of the last few seasons will always be up for debate (though I personally liked seasons 4-6), but there was a way the final season could have salvaged the show so that people would want to come back and rewatch. There was even an opportunity to upstage the end of Dead Ever After (which was an awful book with a lousy ending) and give fans a more satisfying conclusion. Sadly, they couldn't even do that.

This probably goes without saying, but I'll put it in as a courtesy: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

Here's what I would have done for season 7 of True Blood:

1.) Sookie either would end up with Eric, or go single.

I'm not a Sooric shipper, and I've never been emotionally invested in this relationship, but I do get why it appeals to people, and it certainly deserved more sceen-time than it got. Out of all of Sookie's potential love interests, Eric was the better option, and the romance between them was at least honest and open compared to some of her other relationships. There was a lot more that could have been explored here.

The other option is Sookie could have gone single. I never understand why people think the only way you can ever be happy in life is only if you're in a romantic relationship. Considering how much of a mess Sookie's love life was, I don't think it would have been detrimental to her to take time away from romance and find other things in her life that she enjoyed doing.

2.) Tara would have gotten a happy ending.

To this day, I am still angry about what happened to Tara in season 7. She got put through horrific experience after horrific experience where she was repeatedly traumatized, only to get unceremoniously killed off and used as a plot device to absolve her abusive mother for being an awful person. Not only was it disrespectful to Tara's character, it was a slap in the face to fans who cared about Tara and wanted better for her.

What's infuriating is that Brian Buckner (who ran the show between seasons 6-7) stated in interviews that the reason Tara died is because he didn't know what else to explore beyond her relationship with Lettie Mae.

There were plenty of stories left to write for Tara's character: Her romance with Pam. Her friendship with Jessica and Willa. Tara repairing her relationship with Sookie and Jason. Her reconnecting with Lafayette. Tara embracing her vampire nature and finally finding happiness. There were half-a-dozen arcs they could have gone with, and instead they did this. It really demonstrates the lack of care the writers had for the characters by this point, which is depressing.

3.) Bill finally facing consequences for his vile actions.

One of the aspects True Blood that infuriates is how much the writers kept trying to pretend Bill was a sympathetic character no matter how many times he screwed people over for petty and selfish reasons, or how much collateral damage he raked up, or how many instances he back-stabbed and betrayed others, or how abusive his behavior became, or how vile his crimes were (some of which included rape and human trafficking of all things), or how unlikable he became with each passing season. He is the definition of a Karma Houdini: A character who repeatedly commits wrongdoings and somehow gets away with no comeuppance for his actions.

There are a lot of awful things Bill did over the course of the show, but the breaking point for me was the whole Billith arc in seasons 5-6 and what came afterwards. Bill spent an entire season trying to start a war between vampires and humans, and to that end, he:

Ordered the bombing of the True Blood factories as Chancellor in the Authority to force mainstreamers to feed on humans. It's even stated this got people at the factories killed.

Sanctioned and participated in a human trafficking ring where humans were brought to them naked so they could be fed on, raped, and disposed of.

Ordered vampire sheriffs (and other vampires) to turn as many humans as they could.

Attempted to force the Sanguinista doctrine upon all vampires, regardless of whether or not they wanted it.

Back-stabbed Eric when he was trying to escape with Nora and Molly, and later had Molly executed and showed no remorse for it.

Did nothing to stop Russell and Steve from going after Sookie to harvest her.

Bullied Jessica into trying to turn Jason into a vampire against his will, and later hitting Jessica and imprisoning her when she defied him.

Tried to murder Sam in cold-blood when he accidentally saw what was going on, and sent the Authority guards on Sam, Emma, and Luna (which indirectly resulted in Luna's death).

I could go on........but do I really have to? My point is he committed crimes that should have landed him in jail, or resulted in the FBI showing up to his house with silver handcuffs.................and nothing came of it.

Instead, he wrote a book where he profited off his crimes, told everyone he had been a God (even though he previously told people he wasn't), weaseled his way back into Sookie's pants despite having used and abused her, and was treated like a hero by the narration.

When I think of what should have happened to Bill, I recall shows like Bojack Horseman and Breaking Bad where the main characters for those shows were taken to task for every awful thing they did. Every excuse they had dismantled. Every lie they ever told uncovered. Every measly justification they used for their actions stomped out. People washing their hands of them and refusing to forgive them for the damage they caused. Those characters being forced to face the cold-hard reality that they are awful people, and that they destroyed their lives (and the lives of others) through their own selfishness.

That is the ending Bill should have gotten. Not some half-assed redemption arc where the worst of his sins were whitewashed and brushed under the rug.

4.) No Violet.

There was no reason for Violet to be on this show. Not only was she creepy and unpleasant, but her entire character was basically a plot device to cause problems for Jason and Jessica. They had no intention of having Jason end up with Violet by the end of the show, so her existence was pointless. Even Violet killing Maxine is something that could have easily been done by another vampire.

I know people (rightfully) consider Crystal to be the worst girlfriend Jason ever had, but Violet also ranks high up there. Season 7 exploited some ugly double-standards regarding "female-on-male abuse" with the way Violet's relationship with Jason was portrayed. It reminds me of Bolin and Eska's relationship in Legend of Korra, except much worse. The fact Jason expressed multiple times that he was scared of Violet and was never taken seriously until too late (to say nothing about how parts of this fandom victim-blame Jason for Violet's behavior) still makes me angry. It's bad enough there are people in this society who don't think women can be abusive to men, and it doesn't help when shows like True Blood perpetrate that kind of mentality.

5.) Jessica would have gone to explore the world.....

I've said this before, but Jessica worked better as a character when she was learning the ups and downs of being a newborn vampire. Her character development from sheltered abused teenager to an empowered woman who took responsibility for her vampire nature was a compelling arc. A fitting end for Jessica would have been her striking out on her own. She could even have taken Willa and Tara with her. I still remember the speech she gave Tara in season 5 when talking about the positives of being a vampire, and I wish the show had followed through on that instead of shoving Jessica back into a relationship with Hoyt. Speaking of which.....

6.) Hoyt should've stayed in Alaska.

Hoyt's storyline played itself out well before season 7 happened. He barely had anything to do with the main story (to the point you could cut him from the show and it would have little to no impact), and his relationship with Jessica has aged like spoiled milk. I loathe how Jessica got turned into a prize for Hoyt, and how the worst of Hoyt's behavior (which included joining a Hate Group, debating about whether or not to murder Jessica when she was tied up, and later being a douchebag to Brigette during their relationship) was glossed over.

Unless they were going to give Hoyt some much-needed character development (which they didn't), there was no reason for him to return. Jessica deserved better than him.

7.) No Hep-V arc.

If I ever decide to review season 7, I will list off all the plot-holes, inconsistencies, and nonsensical decisions that were made with this arc.

Long story short: It was poorly written, and it required turning most of the characters into idiots.

If they really needed a potential Big Bad for the final season, then I wish they had stuck with Billith. As much as I despise Bill, there was the possibility of a good arc here, with Bill becoming the reincarnation of Lilith, gathering vampire followers to enslave humanity, and the rest of the characters having to find a way to stop him. They already had Bill go off the deep end in season 5. They might as well have followed through on that instead of chickening out and pretending Bill had good intentions when he didn't.

8.) Eric and Pam becoming proper makers to Willa and Tara.

I have issues with Eric abandoning Willa at the end of season 6. Not only was it a dick move, it was wildly out-of-character. This is the same guy who once told Pam he took being a maker seriously, and wasn't the kind of person who would turn someone and then leave them to fend for themselves ("Would you toss a newborn baby into the gutter? Abandoning a new vampire is no different"). Yet the show conveniently forgot about that when they had Eric turn Willa to use her against her father, and then ditched her for 6 months (something Willa was rightfully pissed at him about).

Same thing goes for Pam. They spent two seasons building up a romance between her and Tara, only to throw it in the garbage because God forbid Pam have a story that isn't completely centered around Eric.

There was a potential arc here of all 4 of these characters (Eric, Pam, Willa, and Tara) becoming a vampire family, and not only did the show squandered that, it managed to make Eric and Pam look like shitty makers in the process.

9.) Other things I would have changed:

This goes back to season 6, but I would have kept Luna alive and have her end up with Sam instead of Nicole. Nicole would have never been on this show. She was not needed.

Same goes for Terry and Arlene. Killing Terry off was a huge mistake.

Still would have kept Lafayette and James together.

I don't mind that Brigette ended up with Jason, but I wish the show had introduced her earlier (and NOT as Hoyt's girlfriend) and built up that relationship organically instead of rushing it in the final two episodes.

Andy and Holly would have had the wedding at the end of the series instead of Jessica and Hoyt. They've been establishing that relationship since season 4, they had Andy propose to Holly in season 7, and it deserved a good pay off.

Niall would have come back to bond more with Jason and Sookie as their faerie godfather.

Lettie Mae's arc would have been cut from the last season.

Sarah Newlin would either have been killed off or gone to prison.

I know I'm probably the only person who cares about this, but I would have explored what happened to vampire society after the Authority was destroyed. What would it mean for the monarchs and the average vampire citizens?

Thank you again for the ask! :)

[shesgotthesuninhereyes]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Surprise continuation of Only the Beginning, my AU Godric, Eric and Willa centered True Blood fic. I've also rewritten all the previous chapters so take a peep at those if you've already read them, I'm quite proud of the changes. 

Chapters: 5/8 Fandom: True Blood (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Relationships: Godric/Eric Northman, Willa Burrell/Eric Northman Characters: Eric Northman, Godric (True Blood), Pam Swynford De Beaufort, Willa Burrell Additional Tags: Blood and Gore, Kidnapping, Abuse Summary:

Willa has been stolen from home and turned. What life can come from that. What love, what joy.

Rewritting chapters with a handful of new ones coming. Schools out and I have time to be creative again!

[mimi-dracula]

willa burrell appreciation post

I was watching Dechart Games videos and I just adore Amelia, so naturally I had the sudden urge to reignite my love for her character in True Blood. Cause I really do love her.

I don't know how people feel about Willa because, well, we barely saw her and her character. People may not have liked her for whatever reason. My guess would be that they, like I said, just didn't get to know her in that way and therefore, didn't get to really form an opinion on her. OR maybe they just felt like her presence in the show wasn't necessary or good. Idk.

But when it comes to me and how I feel, I really enjoyed what we got. What I like to call "Eric and his girls" or "Godric's bloodline" is a part of the show that I'm very passionate about. And I felt like Willa completed that vampire family.

Godric was the baby faced grandfather, the legend, the rogue, the wise vampire who put all his killing behind him.

He fathered Eric in his own way, who is the charismatic warrior who seduces anyone and everyone.

He made Pam, who is his best friend and lover, full of insanely good one-liners and bluntness, but when it comes to her Maker, she's soft and sweet.

She made Tara, the survivor, the woman who has grown up abused and devotes herself to this new family because she's loyal and she cares for Pam.

Then Willa comes in as the bright-eyed, curious vampire and she's Eric's daughter figure in True Blood's classic, vampiric way. She is "Daddy's little girl" in and out of vampirism.

I loved her because we got to see a human character who was interested and already kinda seduced by vampirism and vampires. I loved that once she was turned, she was ride or die for the rest of her family and newfound friends. She risked her life basically to help Nora, a woman she's never met, because Eric loved her. She was desperate to be with the others, like Tara, because she felt desperate to help them.

We had the "bratty teenager" baby vamp with Jessica. What I wanted from Willa, if we had gotten more time with her, was for her to be the "feral girl" baby vamp. I wanted to see more of her being uncontrollable around blood, more of her being ripped off by the nape of her neck by Eric, her taking down men twice her size because they tried to flirt with her or treat her badly, Eric's secret weapon basically. She was basically getting to that kind of level. It had to mean something that Willa was the first vampire Eric voluntarily turned, like he had a whole process for it. And it wasn't like Eric turns people for the sake of it, he even says that he didn't make the decision lightly because he knows how big of a deal it is to basically father and raise another vampire. Yes, he turned her because he wanted to prove to Governer Burrell that vampires are not evil, he wanted to make him sympathetic by seeing his own daughter like that. But he also turned her because even when she was scared and timid, she came out with some pretty bold things. She was different for him. She was seduced by him and his power and made it known to him, but the way she went about it was a lot more innocent than he was used to.

I'll eventually go into more detail on each character, each relationship, the plots I liked and didn't like, the seasons, everything. I just felt like appreciating Willa because I rarely talk about her.

[sunflower-stan]

ABC Fandom Challenge

W

Book: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

TV Show: Will & Grace

Movie: The Wedding Date

Animated Show or Movie: Winx Club

Character: Willa Burrell

Ship: Willow Rosenberg x Tara Maclay

[chriscollazo3]