Alicia Spinnet (aliciabspinnet) wrote in wariscoming, @ 2015-08-16 19:58:00 |
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Entry tags: | alicia spinnet, stefan salvatore |
WHO Stefan & Alicia
WHAT Chatting @ Bed of Roses
WHERE Bed of Roses
WHEN Evening not long after Lexi vanished
RATING/STATUS Medium | Complete
Yeah, Alicia was still surprised she ended up so quickly volunteering to help get this place in order. Marcel really seemed to need the help and she was aware he’d lost a lot lately. Sometimes it startled Alicia that she’d actually been here six months and that her life was very much around the well being of people here. She had Ange and Kates now which was a blessing, she was just so happy neither of them got hurt in everything, or Ange’s daughter… which was a whole other weird thought.
Clean up hadn’t been totally easy. Things were messy, really messy and Alicia was doing everything she could to stay balanced and upbeat, especially trying to get Marcel to smile every now and again.
When she heard a set of footsteps she looked up to see Stefan Salvatore, the best friend of Lexi and an ex of one of her face twins. She gave him a thoughtful look before bringing out a welcoming smile.
“Well, we aren’t completely back up and running yet, but we do have some unbroken bottles that I could use some help drinking, unless you just stopped by to sit in the corner and pout. If that’s the case I’ll have to kick you out. This is a no pouting zone.” Alicia said playfully. It could totally backfire, but she knew Lexi decently enough to know that she would prefer her friends to smile rather than frown too much.
~~~
Stefan should have been helping with the cleanup, but he'd been busy wallowing in his own self-pity. After the earthquake, he'd been focused on being there for Caroline, Damon and Elena. Losing Bonnie had hit them all hard. Then Elena and Lexi had both vanished. It was more than Stefan could deal with. He knew that Damon and Caroline were having a rough time with Elena being gone, but when he'd seen the news about Lexi, it was like he couldn't focus on anything but his own grief over losing her again. At least in Elena's case, he knew she was okay at home, but Lexi wasn't going back to any kind of a life. She was going back to die. Yeah, she'd eventually find peace, but she would still be gone.
Today, his grief had driven him to Bed of Roses. He wasn't sure why he was here. Maybe it was just to be somewhere he could feel close to Lexi. More than likely, it was a bad idea.
When he heard Alicia speak in that voice that was so like Elena's and yet so different, he decided it was definitely a bad idea. "No need to kick me out. I'm not sure why I'm here, anyway," he said, shrugging and turning around as if to leave again. He wasn't really in the mood for playful, even if it was probably what he actually needed.
~~~
Rolling her eyes Alicia sighed loudly. “No. Turn around.” She said forcefully and not at all pleased with how he was reacting to anything. “You don’t get to walk in here and turn around. Not allowed.”
Alicia narrowed her eyes at his back, she knew how hard it was with everything that happened. She was the one that found Bonnie’s body, she was mates with Elena as well, hell Elena had been the person to come and give her clothing when she’d showed up. She was hurting too, hell the whole bloody community was hurting. Pouting however wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
“You’re taller than I am, and if you could spare a whole three seconds to help a short girl out, you could help me get down some of the unbroken bottles before you rush off to feel sorry for yourself.” Alicia said her voice softening just a little bit. Put men to work right? That usually seemed to work.
~~~
For a moment, Stefan entertained a fantasy of grabbing the perky, short brunette by the throat and shoving her against the wall while telling her she didn’t get to tell him what to do. He closed his eyes, instead and forced himself to take a deep breath. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had lost, but vampires felt emotions more intensely than regular people. That meant that the his grief over losing Elena and Lexi - but especially Lexi - was so strong that he struggled to actually deal with it. Not that he was really dealing. He was drinking and he was trying to avoid the subject. He was continually fighting the temptation to flip off his humanity switch. It was honestly just knowing what would happen if he did that stopped him and some days he wondered why he even bothered.
Stefan very slowly and silently counted to 10, trying to calm himself down and smooth his features back from angry vampire to a more human visage before he turned around. He didn’t smile or otherwise acknowledge her earlier words, but he did give her the barest nod.
“Sure, show me the ones you need and I’ll get them down for you,” he agreed. If there was one thing Stefan Salvatore could rarely resist, it was someone who needed his help. Especially someone who wore this particular face,
~~~
One might think Alicia was a fool to challenge, banter, whatever with a vampire but what most people didn’t get, was that she was damn well good at taking care of herself and she wasn’t so stupid not to at least have thought through possible outcomes, some that might have been her death, but she also knew that sometimes people, even vampires needed to have something to do.
The one thing Alicia hated was the sharing a face thing sometimes, sometimes she thought it was hysterical. Like when she tried to switch places and failed with all the American accented ones, but that was also just a lot of fun. She hated it because it changed the way people treated her, they didn’t just see Alicia Spinnet when they saw her, no they saw the other girls with her face too. It was a whole thing she pretty much hated, even though she got along with the other girls with her face…. even if their was only two of them left.
“That’s a hell of a lot better.” She told him and started to point to all the things she ”couldn’t reach”. Alicia easily could have managed on her own. “So…” Alicia said as she started to clear more space for the bottles that he’d be getting down. “Did you see that bottle of crappy French wine up there? Don’t get me wrong, the French do a good job with wine, but it’s a fake.” Alicia said.
~~~
Alicia might not like looking like Elena, but it was that similarity in them that held Stefan here now and that had kept him from acting on his darker impulses a moment ago, so right now the resemblance was a good thing, even if Stefan could recognize the differences between them, too. It was more than just the accent. There was a difference in the way the girls held themselves. Of course, Alicia was also a human witch while Elena had been a vampire and she was shorter, too.
Stefan dutifully reached for the bottles she asked for, knowing full well that she could have gotten a stool or used her magic to get them down. It wasn't a hard task, but it gave him something else to focus on besides his grief. That was a good thing.
"One bottle of crappy French wine coming right up," he confirmed, almost smiling at her commentary for a moment as he reached for the bottle in question and handed it to her.
~~~
“You’re not even going to ask about how I know it’s fake or anything about the shitty bottle?” Alicia asked playing outraged at his just mild confirmation that he would get it down. She wasn’t seriously upset about it, nor was she too worried about the bottle.
Yes. The bottle had made her mad when she’d seen it and known it was fake, but faking good wines was something that pissed her off, forcing people to pay too much for wine also pissed her off. She was a wine snob and tended to be more Italian based in her wine likes.
“Hey. You have to know some good wine. Salvatore is an Italian name yeah?”
~~~
“You run a bar. I’d hope you know your booze, even if most people probably come in for something stronger.” He actually did smile then. It wasn’t a full smile and it didn’t meet his eyes, but there was a hint of it on his lips, the corners curving upward just slightly. Most people probably wouldn’t even call it a smile, but compared to the broody expressions he’d worn so much lately, it was something. Progress.
“It is,” he answered her question, almost distracted from his darker thought for the moment. “My grandfather was born in Italy. I never knew him, but my father spoke of him often.” The almost smile was back at her assumption that he must know good wine. “Do you assume I know good wine because of my age or because of my ancestry?” he asked her, a little amusement now coloring his tone.
~~~
Laughing she shrugged. “Hell, I didn’t start running a bar until I was asked to.” She said. “Working in one, yes, running one, that’s still new.” She said not bringing up it was just because Lexi had vanished and she told Marcel she’d take care of Bed of Roses when she knew someone needed to step in and she did know her drinks pretty damn well. It wasn’t exactly what Alicia pictured herself doing ever, but hey it could be a lot worse.
Laughing again she gave him a playful expression. “Now why on earth would I be dumb enough to insult my elders?” She teased. “And to answer your question it’s because your last name is Italian and I assume you might have learned a thing or two from that alone.” Alicia said actually meaning it. “The being over 100 thing too might mean you should know more too though.”
~~
“Well, you seem to be a natural at it.” Stefan meant that. Alicia looked at home in this place. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, give it was Lexi’s, but he knew she’d want it to keep going and after thinking about it for a moment, he realized he was glad it was in good hands. He knew it was something Lexi would appreciate if she ever came back.
He just rolled his eyes at her calling him her elder. “I was raised in Virginia,” he told her, “so I haven’t learned as much from my last name as you would think, but I like to think I know a thing or two. Probably from a combination of those two things.” Looking up again, Stefan reached for another bottle. “Now this,” he said, smiling a little more, “is a good wine.”
~~~
Giving him a friendly smile she nodded at the compliment showing she really was happy about it without words. She didn’t think she needed to speak when she knew he’d get that it meant a lot to her.
“Let me get this straight, you’re what? Nearly 200 years old and you haven’t explored your ancestry in Italy? Or tried to see what you could learn from it by now?” She asked tilting her head with a questioning look on it, it wasn’t judging, it was honest curiosity. “Well of course it is, the vineyard has been owned by the same family since the 1300s and it happens to be one that actually ages well. Not all of these do.”
She smiled at how easy it was to distract her with wine. “So,...” an evil look crossed her face. “Should we open it?”
~~~
“I didn’t say that,” he said, shaking his head. “I just meant we weren’t raised on it. The good thing about being a vampire is having plenty of time to see the world and learn about things. I’ve been to Italy a few times and I have had plenty of time to learn about good wine, among other things.”
Stefan found himself smiling again. He hadn’t really put much effort in getting to know Alicia before and he kind of regretted that now. It was the first time since both Elena and Lexi had disappeared that he was distracted by something good, something other than drinking himself stupid with Damon or focusing on someone else’s grief. Being around Alicia felt good, he was discovering. It almost made him feel bad about being such a dick earlier.
“Nah, I thought we’d just admire the bottle a while, daydream about how it would taste. What’s the fun in opening and actually drinking the good wine?” he teased her at her question. Obviously, they were going to open it, but he couldn’t help messing with her a little first.
~~~
Alicia was about to point out the exact words he did say and how actually it could be taken either way, but she decided to drop and instead just let her face go blank for a moment to not allow her natural desire to banter come out. She wasn’t sure banter was completely what Stefan needed, especially about semantics and who was or was not right. Other things sure.
“Well, that sounds better. I’d be endless worried about you if you hadn’t gone to explore.” She said with a smile. “Or I’d buy you a plane ticket and kick you out of Kansas tomorrow telling you that you had a lot of catching up to do.” She added playfully.
“How dare you!” Alicia said mocking shocked anger, her accent getting more posh. “How dare you just admire the bottle and forget to polish it! The horror!” Alicia said with fake disgust.
~~~
Stefan had thought about leaving, actually. A big part of him wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of Lawrence. If it wasn’t for Damon and Caroline, he’d have done it by now. Well, Caroline, mostly. He worried about her. Losing Elena after everything with her mom - well, he couldn’t bring himself to abandon her again, especially knowing how much that had hurt her after Damon and Bonnie had been lost on the other side as it collapsed.
He didn’t mention that now, though. He just gave her a tighter smile and said nothing. It was a topic that threatened to drag his mood down again. That wasn’t what he needed, either. With Alicia’s mock anger and ridiculous accent, though, a more easy smile appeared on his face again. He shook his head and tried not to laugh.
“I have never been more ashamed,” he managed in a completely sincere tone with a completely serious expression on his face.
~~~
Turning she found the closest rag to her, which happened to be not exactly clean and tossed it at him quickly. She knew his reflexes and it wasn’t in an attempt to not get him to catch just a more how dare you in mocking of course.
“The shame!” She exclaimed with false horror trying very hard to keep herself from falling over laughing. “How dare you!” She followed it up with shaking her head. “Terrible.” She added before completely losing the ability to keep a straight face and burst out laughing, especially as she noticed that the rag she had thrown was pretty wet too.
She grinned as she let herself laugh a little bit more. “That’s what you get.” She added with just a playful grin.
~~~
Stefan caught the rag deftly, but it was soaking wet and judging by the stains, it wasn’t just with water. He got sprayed with whatever it was, right in the face as he caught it. His vampire senses picked up a few scents of the various things it had been used to wipe up, but he tried not to think about that.
“I’m going to get you back for that,” he told her, using his free hand to wipe the moisture from his face. It was hard to keep a straight face, especially when she had burst out laughing like that. Still, he very solemnly applied the rag to the bottle he was holding, making a show of properly polishing it before breaking out into a grin, himself.
“Well, now that that’s done, I suppose we should think about drinking some, huh?”
~~~
“I’m so scared.” She let out although it sounded anything but. Her laughter was a little more than her ability to switch back to a straight face at that moment. It was just too hard not to laugh at it. She did feel kinda of bad for the spray but she still couldn’t help laughing. “Careful though, this is a war you won’t be able to win.” She played.
As he washed the bottle off, so to speak she grabbed an open from the counter and tossed it to him as well.
“Yeah, alright, now that you finally managed to get it clean, I guess it’s time to actually drink it.” She smiled, actually just a nice friendly smile not the teasing one she’d been playing early.
~~~
“Don’t be so sure about that.” Stefan was clearly teasing, a smile on his face. “I can be very patient. I’ll get you when you’re least expecting it.” He might actually follow through on that threat or he might not. That didn’t really seem to matter at the moment. He was just enjoying the playfulness between them. It turned out that this was exactly what he’d needed to pull him out of the funk he’d been in since Lexi’s disappearance from Lawrence.
It didn’t take him long to get the bottle open and soon there were two glasses full of what he knew was a very good wine. Still smiling, he handed one of them to Alicia and raised his own towards her, as if he was making a toast.
“To being Italian,” he said, “and knowing how to spot good wine.”
~~~
“I’ll just always have to be on guard in that case.” Alicia told him with a smile. She liked this Stefan, the playful side. He was a very different Stefan than the one that had walked in not long before. She actually kind of hoped he would follow through with the threat, it’d mean he had as much fun as she was having in his company. Granted she had had to push it out of him a little bit, but she liked it. A lot. She actually for the first time hadn’t thought about how horrible things were for so many in a while, or how much work was left to do.
Taking the glass she poured she lifted hers in toast. “Ad essere Italiani,” she said with a nod of her head before taking the glass to her nose first to smell it. She took her time before sipping, smiling as she did so.