Stefan Salvatore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bromanticide) wrote2010-12-11 08:15 pm
bromanticide) wrote2010-12-11 08:15 pm
Entry tags:
[OOC] Stefan's Diary: Origins
Okay, so the writing for this book is kind of phenomenal and terrible and contradictory since it doesn't address Katherine's thing for the threesome, but I'm gleaming some key bits to piece together that special time that was ~1864~.
- The estate Stefan and Damon grew up in is called Veritas. +10 points for pretentiousness!
- Stefan studied at the Boys Academy and had a black horse named Mezzanotte. gg Stefan. Also he's half French half Italian, French on his mother's side.
- His mother died when he was eight/nine and Giuseppe sort of lost in then, holing himself up in his room, muttering about demons (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT)
- She'd never been sunny and laughing, like Clementine Haverford, or flirty and feisty like Amelia Hawke, or whip-smart and mischievous, like Sarah Brennan. (NOTE THESE NAMES. THESE ARE PEOPLE STEFAN KILLS LATER ON. LIKE A WINNER.)
- He is engaged to Rosalyn Cartwright!
- When I'm with Rosalyn, I am Giuseppe's son, the Salvatore boy, essentially interchangeable with Damon. I know it would not matter one whit to the Cartwrights if Damon took my place. It is only me because Father knew Damon would not stand for it, knew I'd say yes, just like always. But when I saw her, her lithe figure, her red lips, her eyes that were flickering and sad and thrilling all at once... it was as though I was finally just myself, just Stefan Salvatore. (This is rather interesting, that Katherine had the same impact on Stefan that she had on Damon)
- "No son of mine will ever disobey me! You need to get back and take your place in the world." It was Father's voice, tinged with the heavy Italian accent that had become apparent only when he was extremely upset.
"My place is here. The army is not for me. What is so wrong about following my own mind?" another voice yelled, confident, proud and angry all at once.
Damon.
My heart quickened as I stepped into the kitchen and saw my brother. Damon was my closest friend, the only person I looked up to most in the world -- even more than Father, though I'd never admitted it out loud. I hadn't seen him since last year, when he joined General Groom's army. He looked taller, his hair somehow seemed darker, and the skin on his neck was sun-darkened and freckled.
(GUYS I DO NOT HAVE WORDS FOR THIS. I just. WHAT THE GAY STEFAN)
- Damon walked out the door, and I followed, shrugging off my linen jacket. Suddenly, the sunshine seemed warmer, the grass felt softer, everything felt better than it had minutes ago.
(HE LIFTS YOU UPPPPPPPPP)
- I smiled despite myself. Of course Damon would be able to charm both mother and daughter (DAMON HITTING ON ANNA AND PEARL = PRICELESS)
- Damon takes Stefan drinking!
- Damon wiggled his eyebrows and let out a low whistle, "You know how I feel about strong women," he whispered.
- "I'll get us some drinks," Damon said, making his way to the bar. I watched as he rested his elbows on the counter and talked easily to the barmaid, who tilted her head back and laughed as if he'd said something hilarious. Which he probably had. That's why all the women fall in love with him.
- All the women in the tavern, even those with loose reputations, were more interesting than Rosalyn. But, no matter who I glanced at,the only image that filled my mind was Katherine's face.
- "Alice likes you," Damon observed.
I shook my head. "You know I can't look. By the end of summer, I'll be a married man. You, meanwhile, are free to do as you please." I'd meat it to be an observation, but the words came out as a judgement.
"That's true," Damon said. "But you do know you don't have to do something just because Father says so, right?"
"It's not that simple." I clenched my jaw. Damon couldn't understand because he was wild and untameable -- so much so that Father had entrusted me, the younger brother, with the future of Veritas, a role I found stifling.
A sliver of betrayal shot through me at this thought -- that it was Damon's fault I had to shoulder so much responsibility. I shook my head, as it to remove the idea from it, and took another drink of whiskey.
"It's very simple," Damon said, oblivious to my momentary annoyance. "Just tell him that you are not in love with Rosalyn. That you need to find your own place in the world and can't just follow someone's orders blindly. That's what I learned in the army: you have to believe in what you do. Otherwise, what's the point?"
I shook my head. "I'm not like you. I trust Father. And I know he only wants the best. It's just that I wish... I wish I had more time," I said finally. It was true.
- Once I went up to the attic to look at the portrait of Mother. I wondered what advice she'd have for me. Love is patient, I remembered her saying in her lilting French accent during Bible study. The notion comforted me.
- "Why aren't you at the party?" I asked, bending over to pick up my book.
Katherine stepped towards me. "Why aren't you at the party? Aren't you the guest of honour?" She perched on the arm of my chair.
"Have you read Shakespeare?" I asked, gesturing to the open book on my lap. It was a lame attempt to change the conversation; I had yet to meet a girl versed in his works. Just yesterday, Rosalyn had admitted she hadn't even read a book in the past three years, ever since she had graduated from the Girls Academy. Even at that, the last volume she'd perused was merely a primer on how to be a dutiful Confederate wife.
"Shakespeare," she repeated, her accent expanding on the word to three syllables. It was an odd accent, not one that I'd heard from other people from Atlanta. She swung her legs back and forth, and I could see that she wasn't wearing stockings. I tore my eyes away.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" she quoted.
I looked up, astonished. "Thou art more lovely and more temperate," I said, continuing the quote. My heart galloped in my chest, and my brain felt as slow as molasses, creating an unusual sensation that made me feel I was dreaming.
Katherine yanked the book off my lap, closing it with a resounding clap, "No," she said firmly.
"But that's how the next line goes," I said, annoyed that she was changing the rules of a game I thought I understood.
"That's how the next line goes for Mr. Shakespeare. But I was simply asking you a question. Shall I compare you to a summer's day? Are you worthy of that comparison, Mr. Salvatore? Or do you need a book to decide?" Katherine, asked, grinning as she helf the volume just out of my reach.
I cleared my throat, my mind racing. Damon would have said something witty in response, without even thinking about it. But when I was with Katherine, I was like a schoolboy who tries to impress a girl with a frog caught from the pond.
"Well, you could compare my brother to a summer's day. You've been spending a lot of time with him." My face reddened and instantly, I wished I could take it back. I sounded so jealous and petty.
"Maybe a summer's day with a few thunderstorms in the distance," Katherine said, arching her eyebrows, "But you, Scholarly Stefan, you are different from Dark Damon. Or..." --she looked away, a flicker of a grin crossing her face --"Dashing Damon."
- Katherine smiled ruefully. "Poor, sweet, steadfast Stefan. Haven't you learned yet that rules are made to be broken? You can't make everyone happy -- your father, Rosalyn, the Cartwrights -- if you're not happy yourself."
- SHOCKINGLY ROSALYN DIES AND STEFAN SUFFERS TRAUMA thnx Katherine. The hilarious part is that the only time you see Giuseppe and Damon working together is for Stefan's wellbeing. Damon even stays up the whole night to make sure Stefan is okay.
- Then the Katherine/Stefan love affair starts, then she starts compelling him to keep her secret, that there are good and bad vampires and Stefan's mentality starts to fall apart. I think the compulsions coupled with his loyalty to his father did a number on his head which lead to BAD DECISION DINOSAUR. So shit went down as per canon.
- And in order to be truly happy, Damon needed to be with her. Now I understood. I needed to save Katherine to save Damon (THIS PART WAS INTERESTING, that Stefan only decided to save Katherine because of Damon)
- And watching them, the way her fingers stroked Damon's hair, the way he cried into her collarbone, I knew that this was true love (AGAIN. LOL)
- I watched his retreating back, remembering the time when I was eight or nine that my father and I had gone hunting. It was right after Mother had died, and while Damon had immersed himself in schoolboy antics like gambling and riding horses, I'd clung to my father. One day, to cheer me up, Father took me to the woods with our rifles.
[...] "Shoot," Father murmured, guiding my rifle over my shoulder. I trembled as I kept my eye on the deer and reached for the trigger. But at the moment I released the trigger, a baby deer scampered into the field. The buck sprinted away, and the bullet hit the fawn in the belly. Its wobbly legs crumpled beneath it, and it fell to the ground.
I'd run to try and hep it, but Father had stopped me, holding on to my shoulder.
"Animals know when it's time to die. Let's at least allow it the peace to do it alone," Father said, forcibly marching me away. I'd wailed, but he was relentless. (WTF GUISEPPE)
- I watched him, anger rising inside of me. "Even in our death, you feel only shame?" I asked. It was something Damon would say., and in a way, I felt his presence beside me. I was doing this for him. I was doing it for both of us, so that at least we'd die with the truth on our side.
- "It's just us now. Forever. Brothers. There will be other Katherines, forever, for eternity. We can take the world as we are."
- When I try and reconstruct that moment when I succumbed to my Power and destroyed my relationship with Damon, I imagined a split second of silence. In that second, Damon turned around, our eyes connected and we made peace.
SO IN THE END, pretty weirdly written. I think Julie Plec wrote it first and then finessed it for the show later on because there's a lot of contradictions in it, like Stefan not knowing that Damon was sleeping with Katherine (in the show HE IS VERY MUCH AWARE OF THIS). But it had some interesting stuff to pick out like Anna and Pearl's backstory, Damon's time at the ~army~, THEIR MOTHER, etc.
- The estate Stefan and Damon grew up in is called Veritas. +10 points for pretentiousness!
- Stefan studied at the Boys Academy and had a black horse named Mezzanotte. gg Stefan. Also he's half French half Italian, French on his mother's side.
- His mother died when he was eight/nine and Giuseppe sort of lost in then, holing himself up in his room, muttering about demons (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT)
- She'd never been sunny and laughing, like Clementine Haverford, or flirty and feisty like Amelia Hawke, or whip-smart and mischievous, like Sarah Brennan. (NOTE THESE NAMES. THESE ARE PEOPLE STEFAN KILLS LATER ON. LIKE A WINNER.)
- He is engaged to Rosalyn Cartwright!
- When I'm with Rosalyn, I am Giuseppe's son, the Salvatore boy, essentially interchangeable with Damon. I know it would not matter one whit to the Cartwrights if Damon took my place. It is only me because Father knew Damon would not stand for it, knew I'd say yes, just like always. But when I saw her, her lithe figure, her red lips, her eyes that were flickering and sad and thrilling all at once... it was as though I was finally just myself, just Stefan Salvatore. (This is rather interesting, that Katherine had the same impact on Stefan that she had on Damon)
- "No son of mine will ever disobey me! You need to get back and take your place in the world." It was Father's voice, tinged with the heavy Italian accent that had become apparent only when he was extremely upset.
"My place is here. The army is not for me. What is so wrong about following my own mind?" another voice yelled, confident, proud and angry all at once.
Damon.
My heart quickened as I stepped into the kitchen and saw my brother. Damon was my closest friend, the only person I looked up to most in the world -- even more than Father, though I'd never admitted it out loud. I hadn't seen him since last year, when he joined General Groom's army. He looked taller, his hair somehow seemed darker, and the skin on his neck was sun-darkened and freckled.
(GUYS I DO NOT HAVE WORDS FOR THIS. I just. WHAT THE GAY STEFAN)
- Damon walked out the door, and I followed, shrugging off my linen jacket. Suddenly, the sunshine seemed warmer, the grass felt softer, everything felt better than it had minutes ago.
(HE LIFTS YOU UPPPPPPPPP)
- I smiled despite myself. Of course Damon would be able to charm both mother and daughter (DAMON HITTING ON ANNA AND PEARL = PRICELESS)
- Damon takes Stefan drinking!
- Damon wiggled his eyebrows and let out a low whistle, "You know how I feel about strong women," he whispered.
- "I'll get us some drinks," Damon said, making his way to the bar. I watched as he rested his elbows on the counter and talked easily to the barmaid, who tilted her head back and laughed as if he'd said something hilarious. Which he probably had. That's why all the women fall in love with him.
- All the women in the tavern, even those with loose reputations, were more interesting than Rosalyn. But, no matter who I glanced at,the only image that filled my mind was Katherine's face.
- "Alice likes you," Damon observed.
I shook my head. "You know I can't look. By the end of summer, I'll be a married man. You, meanwhile, are free to do as you please." I'd meat it to be an observation, but the words came out as a judgement.
"That's true," Damon said. "But you do know you don't have to do something just because Father says so, right?"
"It's not that simple." I clenched my jaw. Damon couldn't understand because he was wild and untameable -- so much so that Father had entrusted me, the younger brother, with the future of Veritas, a role I found stifling.
A sliver of betrayal shot through me at this thought -- that it was Damon's fault I had to shoulder so much responsibility. I shook my head, as it to remove the idea from it, and took another drink of whiskey.
"It's very simple," Damon said, oblivious to my momentary annoyance. "Just tell him that you are not in love with Rosalyn. That you need to find your own place in the world and can't just follow someone's orders blindly. That's what I learned in the army: you have to believe in what you do. Otherwise, what's the point?"
I shook my head. "I'm not like you. I trust Father. And I know he only wants the best. It's just that I wish... I wish I had more time," I said finally. It was true.
- Once I went up to the attic to look at the portrait of Mother. I wondered what advice she'd have for me. Love is patient, I remembered her saying in her lilting French accent during Bible study. The notion comforted me.
- "Why aren't you at the party?" I asked, bending over to pick up my book.
Katherine stepped towards me. "Why aren't you at the party? Aren't you the guest of honour?" She perched on the arm of my chair.
"Have you read Shakespeare?" I asked, gesturing to the open book on my lap. It was a lame attempt to change the conversation; I had yet to meet a girl versed in his works. Just yesterday, Rosalyn had admitted she hadn't even read a book in the past three years, ever since she had graduated from the Girls Academy. Even at that, the last volume she'd perused was merely a primer on how to be a dutiful Confederate wife.
"Shakespeare," she repeated, her accent expanding on the word to three syllables. It was an odd accent, not one that I'd heard from other people from Atlanta. She swung her legs back and forth, and I could see that she wasn't wearing stockings. I tore my eyes away.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" she quoted.
I looked up, astonished. "Thou art more lovely and more temperate," I said, continuing the quote. My heart galloped in my chest, and my brain felt as slow as molasses, creating an unusual sensation that made me feel I was dreaming.
Katherine yanked the book off my lap, closing it with a resounding clap, "No," she said firmly.
"But that's how the next line goes," I said, annoyed that she was changing the rules of a game I thought I understood.
"That's how the next line goes for Mr. Shakespeare. But I was simply asking you a question. Shall I compare you to a summer's day? Are you worthy of that comparison, Mr. Salvatore? Or do you need a book to decide?" Katherine, asked, grinning as she helf the volume just out of my reach.
I cleared my throat, my mind racing. Damon would have said something witty in response, without even thinking about it. But when I was with Katherine, I was like a schoolboy who tries to impress a girl with a frog caught from the pond.
"Well, you could compare my brother to a summer's day. You've been spending a lot of time with him." My face reddened and instantly, I wished I could take it back. I sounded so jealous and petty.
"Maybe a summer's day with a few thunderstorms in the distance," Katherine said, arching her eyebrows, "But you, Scholarly Stefan, you are different from Dark Damon. Or..." --she looked away, a flicker of a grin crossing her face --"Dashing Damon."
- Katherine smiled ruefully. "Poor, sweet, steadfast Stefan. Haven't you learned yet that rules are made to be broken? You can't make everyone happy -- your father, Rosalyn, the Cartwrights -- if you're not happy yourself."
- SHOCKINGLY ROSALYN DIES AND STEFAN SUFFERS TRAUMA thnx Katherine. The hilarious part is that the only time you see Giuseppe and Damon working together is for Stefan's wellbeing. Damon even stays up the whole night to make sure Stefan is okay.
- Then the Katherine/Stefan love affair starts, then she starts compelling him to keep her secret, that there are good and bad vampires and Stefan's mentality starts to fall apart. I think the compulsions coupled with his loyalty to his father did a number on his head which lead to BAD DECISION DINOSAUR. So shit went down as per canon.
- And in order to be truly happy, Damon needed to be with her. Now I understood. I needed to save Katherine to save Damon (THIS PART WAS INTERESTING, that Stefan only decided to save Katherine because of Damon)
- And watching them, the way her fingers stroked Damon's hair, the way he cried into her collarbone, I knew that this was true love (AGAIN. LOL)
- I watched his retreating back, remembering the time when I was eight or nine that my father and I had gone hunting. It was right after Mother had died, and while Damon had immersed himself in schoolboy antics like gambling and riding horses, I'd clung to my father. One day, to cheer me up, Father took me to the woods with our rifles.
[...] "Shoot," Father murmured, guiding my rifle over my shoulder. I trembled as I kept my eye on the deer and reached for the trigger. But at the moment I released the trigger, a baby deer scampered into the field. The buck sprinted away, and the bullet hit the fawn in the belly. Its wobbly legs crumpled beneath it, and it fell to the ground.
I'd run to try and hep it, but Father had stopped me, holding on to my shoulder.
"Animals know when it's time to die. Let's at least allow it the peace to do it alone," Father said, forcibly marching me away. I'd wailed, but he was relentless. (WTF GUISEPPE)
- I watched him, anger rising inside of me. "Even in our death, you feel only shame?" I asked. It was something Damon would say., and in a way, I felt his presence beside me. I was doing this for him. I was doing it for both of us, so that at least we'd die with the truth on our side.
- "It's just us now. Forever. Brothers. There will be other Katherines, forever, for eternity. We can take the world as we are."
- When I try and reconstruct that moment when I succumbed to my Power and destroyed my relationship with Damon, I imagined a split second of silence. In that second, Damon turned around, our eyes connected and we made peace.
SO IN THE END, pretty weirdly written. I think Julie Plec wrote it first and then finessed it for the show later on because there's a lot of contradictions in it, like Stefan not knowing that Damon was sleeping with Katherine (in the show HE IS VERY MUCH AWARE OF THIS). But it had some interesting stuff to pick out like Anna and Pearl's backstory, Damon's time at the ~army~, THEIR MOTHER, etc.