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[forgetyourusedtobe]

User Name/Nick: Crystal
User DW: nerdangel
AIM/IM: kyotoshowgirl
E-mail: octoberrain08 [at] gmail [dot] com
Other Characters: Snow White (breathoflight)


Character Name: Elena Gilbert
Series: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Age: 18
From When?: 4x19 - Pictures of You; She tries to kill Bonnie and Bonnie quite understandably retaliates. Nobody stops Bonnie from finishing her off.

Inmate/Warden:

Elena at this canon point would definitely have to be an inmate because she has literally turned off her humanity. The loss of her last remaining family member was too much for Elena to take and so Damon invoked the sire bond and she turned off her emotions. By doing this, Elena does not feel anything - good, bad, or otherwise. She went from someone who was caring and compassionate to "stone cold bitch." In other words, Elena is out of fucks to give for anything or anybody. She is entirely self-serving at this point and she doesn't believe she needs to change because she doesn't want to have to deal with her emotions anymore. She sees herself as liberated right now. So, essentially step one with Elena is going to be getting her to want to turn her emotions back on and then step two will be processing all of those emotions in a healthy manner that isn't driven by pure revenge or the like.

Abilities/Powers:

I am just going to list everything out for if she was running at full steam at first and then discuss how it will be reduced just for the sake of simplicity. I'm also just going to divvy it up by power because canon is absurd and they have a bunch of abilities.

Compulsion
By making eye contact, a vampire can compel a human to say/do anything as well as erase whole memories or change characteristics of their victim. Victims are unaware that they've been compelled. Vampires like Elena are only able to compel a human through eye contact, but Originals are able to compel vampires and hybrids as well as humans. The older a vampire is (and with more practice), the stronger and better their compulsion is. Compulsion is also affected by diet. A vampire who is feeding on human blood over animal blood has an easier time compelling their intended victims. Also, if the victim is wearing or consuming vervain, they are immune to compulsion. This is also true in the case of an Original compelling a vampire. If a human has been compelled and then is turned into a vampire, they remember everything they were compelled to say/do or forget.
On the Barge: Elena will not have access to her compulsion until it's given back to her. Basically smart people will not give her this ability back at all.

Dream Walking
Vampires are able to manipulate and project themselves into the dreams of others, including other vampires. This isn't often utilized in the show so there's really no firmly established limitations, but it's generally safe to say if someone has been ingesting or wearing vervain, this becomes impossible like compulsion.
On the Barge: Another ability that Elena will not have access to until given back. She's never used it in canon anyways, so it's not likely she's all that interested in having it back quite like the compulsion.

Healing/Immortality
Vampires heal at a much faster rate than a human would. Also most injuries that would be fatal to a human (ex. breaking their neck), they'll be knocked out for a while, but will eventually come to again. Vampires live forever and stay young forever, but that doesn't mean they can't be killed.
On the Barge: Elena still has the pause button on the whole aging gig, but she's more susceptible. Fatal wounds for humans will actually kill her instead of being an annoying inconvenience and while she will have a faster recovery time for non-fatal wounds, it will not be at the absurd speeds vampires in her canon would. If someone were to stab her (and it's not fatal), she would recover from it within days rather than weeks.

That said, she is also still weak to all the usual vampire weaknesses. Stabbing her with something wooden will hurt a helluva lot more for her than if it was metal, vervain burns and weakens her, and sunlight will suck if she doesn't have her daylight ring/said ring is being screwed with. A bite from a werewolf is still also fatal and will cause the usual hallucinations, fever, aches, chills, & vomiting. She also still needs an invitation to enter private residences and if she is denied blood, she will desiccate as per usual.

Super Senses, Agility & Strength
Vampires can smell, hear, see, and taste above what a normal human can. They basically have the nose of a bloodhound, can eavesdrop from quite a distance away even above other noise, have the eyes of a cat when it comes to night vision, and they've got pretty sensitive taste buds that I lack some sort of analogy or description for beyond it's hype. Diet & age also affect strength and agility for vampires. They are generally able to move at inhuman speeds. They have faster reflexes and when running appear to be blurs to the human eye. They're also able to jump to and from high places with ease and would look a bit like flying, but it's not. They use their strength in conjunction with their agility to fight/throw people/things. Vampires are stronger than werewolves when the werewolf hasn't changed shapes. But once that happens, a vampire's more likely to run than try to fight (if they're smart anyways).
On the Barge: Elena will be at peak human performance. Not to be confused with superhuman abilities though. Basically her senses will be the very best of human capabilities, she'll have the speed of a pro/Olympic track runner, and the strength of a bodybuilder. So, she can still easily be taken down if the need arises.

Day-walking
Vampires need the assistance of a witch to walk in the daylight. Elena possesses a ring that allows him to walk in the sun, but it's not 100% foolproof as the magic can be tampered with and make it useless.
On the Barge: Elena will still have her ring, but it can be taken away from her or messed with per usual!

Personality:

Before the death of her parents, Elena was your garden variety girl next door type. She was fairly popular at school, but preferred the company of a very close circle of friends that she had grown up with since Mystic Falls is that kind of ass-end of nowhere small town. She also did well at just about anything and everything she attempted or put her mind to. Elena has always been reliable as a friend and was always the person that could be turned to during a crisis. There really wasn't a whole lot missing from Elena's life that would be the picture of happiness. But Elena is still a teenager and that means trying to figure out who you are and what you want. Even before her parents' deaths, Elena struggled to find herself. For example, she started to date her best friend Matt but wasn't entirely happy with that. Their relationship was solid and comfortable and in a sense, Elena felt obligated to want it - or at least something similar to it. But on the other side of the coin, it felt too spelled out and finalized for her. Even back then when things were easier and simpler for her, Elena has been the sort of small town girl who didn't want to miss out on the world and has never been all that comfortable with settling with good enough.

The death of Elena's parents amplified these feelings tenfold, but also was a shock to her system. Elena, quite understandably, was depressed for a long time afterward. She broke up with Matt and stopped spending as much time with her friends. She seemed to spend more time writing in her diary than actually leaving the house. On top of grieving for her parents, Elena also had to deal with survivor's guilt because not only was she the only one to survive the accident, she was the reason why they were out driving in the first place. Elena began struggling with not just the typical teenage worries of figuring out her place in life, but also now trying to justify even wanting anything for herself in the first place. By the end of the summer though, she makes a conscious effort to move on from the death of her parents though in many ways, this is Elena putting on a brave face for the sake of everyone else.

Then there were vampires and that screwed everything up so much more. Though, to be fair, they didn't screw everything up right away over night.

At first, it was actually relatively nice all things considered. Elena managed to fall head over heels in love with Stefan Salvatore and it was epic. Their relationship had its dramatic ups and downs, but the important part was that being with Stefan always made Elena feel safe without the feeling of being stifled like she felt in her relationship with Matt. With - not to be confused with "because of" - Stefan, Elena was able to experience new things and evaluate them for herself. She gained more confidence to say yes or no for herself in terms of what she wanted for her life though it came at some pretty steep prices and with some bad mistakes.

Elena has lost a lot of family in the process and her friends have lost a lot in the crossfire as well. (Matt lost his sister, Bonnie lost her grandmother, Caroline became a vampire, Jeremy and her both lost their aunt, she lost her biological parents, etc.) The loss is, however, a part of growing up and to a certain extent, it becomes almost normal and expected for Elena that she's going to lose something along the way. As long she doesn't lose everything, Elena manages to weather most of the losses she faces fairly well. And even when she feels like she's falling apart at the seams, she manages to keep it together to be there for her friends. Because at the end of the day, it's what she has left that matters most of all to her. Best example of this, of course, is Elena's willingness to offer herself up to Klaus for sacrifice in order to keep everyone else safe even though she can't even begin to realistically convince herself that somehow she's going to survive because nobody else is convinced. In fact, most people try to talk Elena out of going through with everything, but she has a enough resolve to make the choice for herself because at the end of the day, Elena is both stubborn and independent.

Lastly, there is also the important relationship Elena has with Damon which in a lot of ways is the polar opposite of her relationship to Stefan. Where Stefan offers a lot more safety and stability, Damon is generally unpredictable and volatile. At first, Elena outright hates and distrusts Damon. (And not a soul blamed her.) But as time goes on, Elena's views of things being black and white start to change and as a result, so does her opinion of Damon. While she is certainly able to sympathize with him on some level and she's able to offer him forgiveness in a lot of situations most wouldn't, she still holds him accountable for the bad things he says and does. It's a complicated relationship that Elena is generally unsure of how to approach or even how to define it because on the one hand, she is attracted by him and on the other, she knows better.

In some ways, Elena still is that girl next door even if her life is not so cookie cutter. She's been there to help and support the people she cares about through the various losses they've experienced. Her compassion for others has only intensified since the loss of her parents; before she was just a shoulder to cry and now she's willing to lay down her life to protect what she holds dear. At the same time though, Elena has become aware of how tricky the world/life can be to navigate and absolutes just don't work so much anymore. She doesn't have all of life's questions answered (and more importantly, she's come to realize she probably never will because things are way too complicated for that), she knows far more of what she wants than ever before. And the more she knows of what she wants, the firmer Elena is willing to stand and fight for that very thing regardless of whether or not the path ahead is straightforward.

Then she gets turned into a vampire.

Deciding to become a vampire wasn't an easy decision for Elena. She never wanted to become one in the first place, but she definitely didn't want to die either. Most of this conflict about being a vampire arises when she kills one of the Five and is cursed to hallucinate various people that are basically trying to convince her to off herself. Ultimately she survives it and comes to find that just because she's a vampire now doesn't mean she's any less Elena Gilbert than she was before. While all of this is going on, Elena is moving from Stefan to Damon, but her feelings for Damon are heavily called into question because she was under the influence of a sire bond. For her, this meant that whatever Damon said, she immediately agreed to and wanted to please him. Although this has yet to be resolved in canon, Elena is convinced that her feelings for Damon are real and not due to the sire bond. She believes that at this point she's tired of safety and stability. Basically dangerous is sexy now.

So that just leaves the question of Elena turning her emotions off and what the hell that's done to her. For starters, Elena was pretty close to the edge to begin with even without Damon invoking the sire bond and telling her to turn it all off. As a vampire, her emotions and personality are heightened which meant the loss of her brother was even worse than what it would have been if she was still human. She was ready to burn down her family home and throw away everything of her old life in an attempt to escape and did after her emotions were turned off because ooh symbolism ooh. With her emotions off, Elena's thought process has changed from being considerate and mindful of others to seeing others more as liabilities and obstacles from what she wants. She's indifferent to how her actions are going to impact others and she very adamantly does not want to go back to feeling. In fact, the Elena who would have sacrificed her life for the sake of her friends is nowhere to be seen and she's made several attempts on the life of those very same friends for her own purposes. And most importantly, Elena's stubborn independence is now a big problem because she has zero intention of ever going back and turning her emotions back on.

Barge Reactions:

Elena ain't gonna care or be bovvered. Screw emotions. Reactions over.

No, bad humor aside, she really isn't going to have a lot of visceral reactions to much of anything. While floating through space on a ship is mind-boggling and fascinating, the novelty of it will probably wear off pretty quickly for her. She may fake interest in and kindness towards people she may find potentially usable, but otherwise she is going to be generally dismissive because ain't nobody got time for that. The only people she may get outright aggressive with is anybody who is very insistent that she needs to change. She won't be a huge fan of the more goody-two-shoe type wardens and will at least jive with (if not like) like-minded inmates.

She'll want to leave the Barge on ports if there's something she wants to do with it, but otherwise she couldn't care less and will probably stay in because she really doesn't like the idea of being babysat. Floods & breaches will merit stronger reactions, of course. Those that are especially going to force her to have to survive are going to get the biggest reaction because that's when fear and possibly anger will actually start to push their way out of her control. Most of her reactions to things that aren't so life-threatening will be treated more like they're just inconvenient and annoying even if she's actually uncomfortable.

Path to Redemption:

Elena really needs to be convinced to turn her humanity back on before she can make any progress. The trick is basically going to be provoking her into feeling a strong emotion. While she can shut out her emotions, if they are intense enough, there's nothing she can do. She has shown resistance to just being reminded of the good things about life. Basically if you're going to take the approach of "remember when you were happy?" it will be outright rejected. That does not mean she cannot be made happy again, but simply calling upon the good old days are not going to be enough. She will call bullshit and point out all the bad things that happened simultaneously and argue that there's no point in feeling the good stuff when it's going to be coupled with the bad.

Likewise, she isn't going to be too keen on the idea of "this isn't what x-person would want" speeches. Also trying to make her feel sad is not recommended because she's numb to it at this point. Lastly, negative emotions are fairly easily aroused in her such as anger, fear, and hate, but those are potentially dangerous paths to walk down with her. Very blatant and overt attempts at trying to change her are going to end in trouble. Elena has already made a very clear point in canon that any further blatant/strong attempts to convince her to turn her humanity will result in carnage.

So. What to do?

Elena needs someone who's going to stick to their guns about her needing to change, but also be accepting of her refusal. That seems contradictory, but in simpler terms, Elena's change needs to be encouraged, but not demanded. She needs empathy in regards to her refusal to deal with what's happened without it being patronizing. She doesn't need nor want to hear that someone understands because as far as she's concerned, nobody really gets the whole picture. It is an incredibly tall order, but feasible. And once past that hurdle, she will need help to work through her feelings. It also won't necessarily be easy, but that really pales in comparison to getting through to her enough to turn her emotions back on.

History: Wiki

Sample Journal Entry:

So we're floating through space on this futuristic space ship and the most there is for entertainment around is here is a pool table. Am I the only person who sees a problem with this?

[She sighs.]

Then again, the food's crap here so I don't know why I'm surprised. And yes, I realize it's prison and it's not supposed to be daycamp and the breaches, floods, and ports are just blah, blah, blah. A small quality improvement just wouldn't hurt.

Sample RP:

The blood around here, Elena has to admit, isn't bad. She had been expecting pig's blood or something equally disgusting, but it tastes human. Not that it necessarily means it's human, but Elena's willing to accept it as such. That doesn't mean, however, she's thoroughly satisfied by it either though. It's nourishing and it tastes good, but it doesn't compare to straight-from-the-vein blood. Some days it's enough to make a girl's fangs ache if that were possible even if she doesn't have Stefan's control issues. (Thankfully, it's not or that'd be added to her lengthy list of complaints about her current situation.) Today is unfortunately one of those days where hunting someone down has jumped to the forefront of her mind as one of her better ideas.

Elena's seated on the deck, fidgeting in her seat. As she begins to slouch, giving up all notions of getting actually comfortable, she folds her arms and heaves a sigh before bouncing a leg. She's already decided that she's not going to feed the way she wants to. Not because it's bad or because she might hurt someone, but she doesn't feel like dealing with the discipline and definitely not with the lectures that will no doubt follow. But it's harder not to go for a hunt when there's nothing else to keep her occupied. Things have been quiet on the Barge for a while and she doesn't like it. It feels like the eye of the storm and it seems like everyone else has that feeling, too. They all seem to just be holding their breaths and waiting. Elena hates waiting. She especially hates waiting for yet another catastrophe to happen and having to deal with the fallout emotions or no emotions. At least if she goes for a hunt, she could actually do something and have fun.

"Screw this," she mutters under her breath, pushing out of her chair. She thought coming up to the deck would inspire something, but it's just making her more restless and antsy. She thinks maybe to just go for a walk around the Barge or maybe even to just hit up the library for a book she can pretend to read on her way out, but neither sounds appealing and she brushes aside the idea of playing pool. So, it's down to the CTS or maybe the gym. Weighing the options, the CTS sounds a little more appealing. She'd rather hit something that can hit back.

Special Notes: None.