cityofcoba | (no subject)

WHO: You!
WHERE: Around the city!
TIME: All Through Day 1
DESCRIPTION: CITY TOUR MINGLE!

Maybe you stayed in Coba, maybe you went home and came back, or maybe this is your first time here, but everyone is suddenly greeted to a friendly, female voice over an intercom (or maybe it's a some other device? Depending on where you're from)

"Welcome citizens. We hope you're enjoying your visit! Transport will leave in twenty minutes for the Coba city-wide tour!"

If you follow the voice, you'll find yourself at a bus stop. Or is it a fancy monorail? A carriage? A couple of horses? Coba is flexible and will change herself to suit you, after all. And if you get left behind, don't worry! There's free cabs anywhere in the city, who also will be more than happy to give you their own version of the tour.

The Coba city-wide tour boasts an hour of informative information regarding Coba's most important locations, some extra brochures (with some extra savings in there, of course), and will finally return you to the place you left from.

Of course, maybe the tour isn't for you. After all, the party is still going on, and now Coba's businesses are really beginning to open and advertise what they have to offer. Have you checked out the free hotel room? Or maybe you're grabbing a free meal? Or maybe, just maybe - you're looking into an apartment!

Either way, Coba hopes you've been enjoying yourselves. She has so much to offer you.

(welcome to the first official post! Mingle to your hearts' content, and don't be afraid to make your own posts, either!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ jenna's acceptance of it, even with her sadness, makes elena feel almost weak-kneed with relief. she smiles at first, but the smile dims in light of her question, and elena purses her lips. it's a question she asks herself a lot, lately, and one that she thought she knew the answer to before damon died -- she didn't like it, per se, but she had damon, she could protect the people most important to her... that was all she'd ever wanted.

and then damon died, and it turned out that elena wasn't as okay with being a vampire as she thought she was. it'd become impossible to ignore that so much of what made her okay with it was that she was going to be with damon forever, which was an acceptable substitute for being human together and getting married, having kids, having the life she'd always wanted. without him and without something to fight against, elena was left with all the parts of vampirism that she hated: the bloodlust, the agelessness... she'd never wanted it, and she still didn't. she'd just been able to counter that with the prospect of having damon forever. if she couldn't have that, she didn't want any of it.

she's not sure what she feels about it now that she has damon back. can she go back to being okay with it just because of him, or have her eyes been opened to a truth that can't be erased? she can't tell just yet.

but she knows what jenna would want to hear, so she smiles and nods, looking toward the bathroom, where damon is inside having a low conversation with caroline. it's the most civil they've been around each other... maybe ever. elena is glad for it. ]

I am. I wasn't at first, but Damon really helped me figure everything out. I wouldn't be the vampire I am today without him. [ looking back at jenna, elena's expression goes resolved again, as she remembers the purpose of this conversation. ] And I'm going to teach you how to be one. I had amazing teachers when I was going through everything, and I'll be there for you while you're going through yours. I won't let you hurt anyone, Jenna, I promise.

I'm glad you had someone there for you. [Sounds like Jenna owes Damon some credit, then, if she'd been the one to help Elena -- teach her things and help make her comfortable with something that a lot of people wouldn't be comfortable with. And she trusts Elena. Between herself and Elena, Elena is the one here with more experience with this.]

I trust you. [She trusts that Elena is past the time of keeping important things from her now, too. She trusts that Elena means what she says, and she trusts that Elena can help.] What do we have to start with? [They're probably not getting started right this second, but a couple bullet points of what to expect soon might shed some insight on it.]

Damon's always there for me. [ which brings elena to something she should probably tell her aunt, but... she's not really sure how jenna will react to this, and somehow it's even more daunting than the thought of her reaction to elena's vampirism. jenna was never damon's biggest fan, but then again, no one but elena ever has been -- still, she doesn't want to have to defend him from yet another member of her family trying to tell her what a terrible person he is over and over again -- caroline's more than enough of that, thanks. eventually she drops one of jenna's hands to run her now-freed one through her hair, and makes a face. ]

I need to tell you something, but I don't know how you're going to take it.

[ where should they start... it's a good question. with elena the start was all screwed up because of the sire bond, but she thinks damon had the right idea, in the end -- start with feeding from people to make sure you can control it, and then graduate to blood bags. not everyone is the self-control powerhouse that caroline is, after all -- she had all of this down pat after her first day, but for everyone else it's more of a struggle. jenna should learn how to control herself before she takes the easy way. ]

I think the best thing to do would be to have you feed on people, first, to learn control. You don't learn it the same from a bloodbag, and you never know when temptation will strike. It's how Damon taught me, and I haven't killed anyone on accident.

[ on purpose is a whole other matter entirely, but we won't get into that just yet. ]

[Considering Elena hadn't prefaced the story about how she became a vampire with words like "I don't know how you're going to take it", Jenna is pretty quickly not sure what she should expect it to be.] Apparently I have a lot to catch up on, so ... just go for it. [She promises not to flip tables over anything.]

How exactly would I not kill anyone if I don't know how to control anything yet? [She can understand the logic at least -- know control before you're put in a situation where you need it and don't have it, but that doesn't make her any less concerned over what might happen.] How long did it take you to get it? [Everyone's timeline for it is probably different, but, even so, it's something she asks.]

[ this, elena is actually hesitant to tell, and she finally takes a step away from jenna, dropping her hand so that she can pace away from her. it'd be so much worse than caroline is if jenna tried to give her crap about dating damon. elena couldn't take the disapproval, not from jenna. eventually she turns back around, her fingers splayed out in front of her in a preemptive placating gesture. ]

I broke up with Stefan and am with Damon, now. We've been together for a year and a half. Please don't be mad!

[ jenna's concern is just a sign that she's a good person -- elena had the same concern when damon was teaching her. she steps close again to reassure her aunt. ]

I'd be there with you, and I know how to listen for the signs of too much blood loss. I'd walk you through it step by step, and if I had to I'd force you to let go of the person myself. I won't let you hurt anyone, Jenna, I promise. [ the next question gets a smile, because elena can answer that easily and maybe ease jenna's mind a little. ] I got the hang of everything within a couple weeks. Damon was a really good teacher. There's always going to be temptation, I won't pretend there isn't, but it's manageable. You can totally live a normal life as a vampire.

[s l o w, single nod here. That probably explains why it wasn't Stefan who helped Elena get through her transition to vampire. If Elena were still with Stefan, it probably would have been him showing her the ropes.] Not really mad, just .. surprised? [some internal facepalming going on, but out of anger because mad? no. she may grill Damon some a bit later, try to get satisfaction for herself that he's not going to be an asshat to Elena. But afterwards she'll try to play nice with him, at least to his face -- more for Elena's sake than anyone else's; the last thing Elena probably wants to deal with is not being able to have her aunt and boyfriend - two people she loves - in the same room together, lest they rip each other's heads off.]

[She sighs, taking it in.] Okay. [She nods quickly.] Maybe I can do this. [Not as if she has a choice, because it's not like there's a whole bottle of vampire cure just casually lying around. So she'll try to tell herself she can do this.] So, a few weeks and I know the drill, but there's still a risk of going overboard on someone's neck. [another beat. actually..] Is it possible for something to sound both so reassuring and scary at the same time? [BECAUSE THAT SURE DOES.]