ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ɪs ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴀʟ ᴛʜᴀɴ ʟɪғᴇ. ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ᴅɪᴇs, ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴏɴᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇs.

[tramplemain]

ꫀꪜꫀꪹꪗꪮ᭢ꫀ ꪶỉꪜꫀక

1 - kol when he finds out why kieran proposed this experiment.
2 - anything with the heirs prior to David getting possessed.
3 - allison and lydia post nogitsune
4 - shep's early days in the underground
5 - bela and elijah's jet setting adventures
6 - oliver and laurel getting together
7 - rebekah and doc, first meeting
8 - derek and hayley, date night
9 - alice and doc, attempts to bond
10 - faith and mia, training montage
11 - That is a very long story involving a psychic and a circus in South Florida. Sweets.

Comments

3.

[ostensively]

The fireworks on Fourth of July are magical. Literally. Their parents and the coven are showoffs when it comes to their Hampton's summer blowouts and that includes the otherworldly fireworks they conjure. It also includes the guest list, the food, and the musical entertainment. Everything says 'Look over here. Look at us. See it all. Take it in.'

The heirs have more freedom than they should, if anyone asked Sierra, but nobody does. It's all very Gossip Girl, how easily they move throughout the world. Sierra calls them "the heirs" because of something she overheard hers and David's parents say one night. It's a joke among them. Their mantles they're going to one day take up. It's less of a joke for Jacqueline and David, as they've been betrothed for years. Still, they are all teenagers and don't even take that seriously.

This summer, the heirs only ever have to be where they're asked at the time they're asked to be. They don't even have to be right there, just present. They make their appearance, appease the gods that are their parents, and then they can be.

Sierra spent the summer just outside of town.

She keeps to herself, but joins the others for dinners, movies, or just watching the stars and passing a joint Max rolls. If she squints, she can see that none of them like each other, or have anything in common. But they gravitate. Max to her brother and David to her. Still, she likes her own time. And her own secrets. She doesn't tell anyone what she's up to that summer, only shows up places early or on time.

David finds her secret. She doesn't know if it's intentional, if he's here to tell her to cut it out, to accept her role. Or, if he's here to get away himself.

They each lean up against the railing just outside the restaurant where she works. That's her big secret. Not working for the family business. Not boosting her college application requirements or extracurriculars. But, earning her own money. Hobknobbing with the normal's, the tourists that can't afford the true Hamptons.

"I just wanted something for myself this summer."

She doesn't look him in the eye, just watches the tide come in and crash against the shoreline before it rolls back on out.

"I didn't take the internship," David says, also not meeting her eyes. "I told my parents I did."

"To explain where you are during the week?"

"Partially. There's a conservation center I've been volunteering at. I met an environmentalist on the boardwalk." His name is Casey, but names are neither here nor there when you aren't an heir. Names come and go. Like friends. "Neither of my parents would accept that kind of post and it's not like we all don't know the world is beyond saving." It's a cynical take, but all the heirs have a particular brand of cynicism baked in. "Still. There are small things that I've been doing, helping the local wetlands in my own way."

Without them knowing, his eyes say. It could be making a difference.

"You've always had a noble streak," she says, a smile creeping up around the side of her lips. "And your secret's safe with me."

"Yours, too. Do you have any plans for your secret income?"

"Maybe I could donate it to the conservation center," she replies, wryly. She turns, then, leaning the other way, looking at the building she's been spending all her time in. "I told them to call me Talia here. Like it's a nickname I didn't give myself. Just so -- for so many hours in the day I don't have to be Sierra Harper."

The weight that carries is too much, sometimes. They all feel it. Their names and their impending legacies. Marriages of political gain. The machine that is their legacy.

"I should be getting back, if you're hungry. You still have that fake?"

"You got it for me."

"We deserve to bend the rules when we can. Not everybody abides by rules all the time."

Not like they're expected to, she thinks.

"I could drink a beer."

"Me too." He gives her a flat look. "Gerald's very lax. And he likes me."

"Everyone likes you," David says.

Sierra and David will continue to carry each other's secrets. Somewhere deep down, David always knows Sierra's going to run. That it's inevitable. Unfortunately, he isn't home when she does. And the person who sets up shop makes his own escape.