SEE YA AROUND, CULLEN:

Valerie can't quite help the slight loosening of her shoulders at the sight of Mason Lockwood. There's a soft flame in her chest that burns brightest and scorches through her entire body when she's in a rage but- but, being in the presence of someone so like her and so trusting, it kindles the flame in her heart into something roaring and warm, like sitting near a campfire on a cool night at the beach. It's pleasant, and that's why Valerie can feel the corners of her lips slowly lifting in a soft smile as she nears Mason.

He's not pack anymore, not family; but what he is, is a wolf - and a friendly one at that, one that she knows inside and out. And that's a lot more than Valerie can say for most of the people she's forced to be acquainted with.

Valerie inconspicuously rubs her cheek against the side of Mason's neck as he pulls her into a hug that forces her onto her tip-toes, the top of her head just barely reaching his chin. He huffs a small laugh that ruffles the curls of her hair and teases, "Are you scenting me like a dog?"

"Like a wolf," Valerie sniffs pompously, stepping out of his arms and smiling wider at the fond look on his face.

Peter steps in front of her and pulls Mason into a tight hug, never one for that manly side hug bullshit (I'm very confident in my masculinity, Val, thank you very much).

"Good to see you, brother. We're sorry for your loss."

Mason pushes back and holds him by the shoulders, all smiles, "Good to see you too, man." He then proceeds to throw an arm over both their shoulders, a little awkwardly on Peter considering they're the same height, "Now, let's go see my nephew and sister-in-law. The prodigal son has returned and he's brought a couple of pups with him."

Valerie first saw her from across the room. She was standing near entrance way with a handsome boy that hadn't yet escaped the awkwardness of his teenage years. Valerie's breath caught in her throat at the sight of her little sister and her hand tightened on the glass of not-Champagne she'd been handed just minutes ago. She frantically looked around for Peter, trying not to make a scene as she looked for her best friend.. Who was nowhere to be found in her general vicinity.

Sighing, ignoring how her breath slightly wavered as her anxiety rocketed, Valerie placed the glass down on a nearby table and prepared herself for confrontation. Slowly but surely, she marches her way toward her doom. Valerie lightly pushes people out of her way, smiling tightly in apology when they look her way, and dodges one of the workers that rushed toward the main entrance with a towel and a bucket that nearly hit her in the chest.

Taking a deep bracing breath, Valerie steps forward and taps her sister on the shoulder and firmly greets her with a small smile, "Elena, hi."

Elena turns toward her, her long locks of hair falling to the front of her shoulder with the movement. She smiles widely at her in greeting, "Hey!"

Valerie blinks in shock, swallowing compulsively. Now, she wasn't expecting her sister to throw a temper tantrum like a toddler, but.. Okay, so, she sort of was expecting her to do that. Not.. Not this happy-go-lucky attitude she's being faced with, not a hint of betrayal or resentment in her face or her tone. Elena smiles at her like she's their friendly neighbor, Jameson.

An awkward silence has descended upon their little corner they're sequestered in. Elena's taken to throwing glances at the boy standing next to her like she expects him to save her from the tenseness in the air. Valerie, too, flits a glance his way and sees nothing but dumb confusion on his face. Focusing back on her sister, Valerie finally sees a bit of what she's expecting, vexation has begun to take root in her eyes and spread to the stiffness of her cheeks. Elena's looking properly irritated now and it's not for the right reasons.

Swallowing down her disconcertment, Valerie directs her full attention to the thing wearing her little sister's face. And it's not her sister. Now that she's paying her proper attention she sees the little nuances that don't belong to Elena. The curly hair, the style in clothing, her confidence in her own skin, her ability to suppress her emotions. Elena always was an open book and last Valerie saw her, she was still an insecure teenager. This was not her sister.

Barely keeping the growl out of her voice, she utters in a tone that makes her question sound more like a command, "Who are you?"

Discretely glancing at Stefan out of the corner of her eye for the hundredth time, Katherine checks to see if he's as in the dark about the girl as she is. That adorable puppy-dog head tilt tells her that he is as confused as she is. Clearing her throat and pushing down her discomfort at missing a variable in Elena Gilbert's life (Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. Katherine has been watching the Gilbert girl for a god damned year. How could she have missed anything?), she smirks slightly and runs her eyes up and down the other girl, taking care to keep her face an entirely unimpressed mask. "Tsk, tsk. It's only polite to introduce yourself before asking a lady's name."

Valerie laughs softly and steps closer to her sister's clone, smiling a closed lipped smile that doesn't reach her eyes. "Of course, of course. Where are my manners? My name's Valerie Gilbert, Elena's big sister. And, you are?" She questions, tilting her head to the side, her smile never leaving her face. She's careful to keep it a closed lipped smile; because although she wants to bare her teeth in a threatening grin to show this vampire what she's dealing with, she knows better than to show her hand too soon in the game.

Katherine's only reaction to the girl's name is a slight widening of her eyes, but inside she's a bit shaken. How did she miss such a vital variable in Elena's life (Seriously, an entire year of stalking a teenage girl and she missed an entire sister)? How is this Valerie Gilbert going to fit into her plans? A million thoughts and doubts flit through the vampire's head in a matter of seconds. No matter, Katherine's a tough girl - clever, too - she'll work her way around this and come out on top.

Allowing her smirk to slowly drop off her face as she crinkles her brow, Katherine bites her lip and steps back, her arms cross over her chest and she looks to the side. Licking her lips she looks up to Valerie, "I'm Katherine; I'm sorry for being so rude, I just needed to make sure you weren't a threat. I'm, uh, a distant relative. Uncle John told me that Elena's in danger. So I came to here to help protect her. To protect my family." She finishes with a timid smile, eyes hesitantly rising to meet the girl's own.

Having been intensely fixing all her senses on the impostor, the rancid smell of her lies makes Valerie's nose itch and she barely holds back from scrunching her face up in disgust. A mixture of emotions swirl inside of her; anger at this woman for thinking she can one-up her, amusement at her act, alarm at the thought of her sister being in danger, and disgust at this bitch for using family to disguise her true self. However, she locks those away, packs them into her vault, and memorizes the combo so she can deal with them at a more appropriate time. Right now, she's got a game to play and it looks like she's finally found a worthy opponent.

Adorning a concerned mask (which.. wasn't that hard considering the level of worry she's feeling for her family right now) and swallowing tightly, Valerie's voice comes out slightly shrill, "What do you mean, Elena's in danger?" She reaches forward as if she's going to grip Katherine's arm and then hesitates, pulling the limb to her chest and instead looks earnestly into eyes identical to her sister's, and yet nothing like them at all, with her own glistening orbs.

That's when Katherine realizes they're both playing each other and can't decide if she's pissed off that she was found out or incredibly amused that this little girl thinks she can keep up. The anger wins out and Katherine can't stop the veins from protruding out from under her blood red eyes. She smiles with a bit too much teeth, "Why don't we go talk about this somewhere more private, hm?"

Ah, a vampire then. An old one if Valerie's theory is correct. The other one, the boy, he's one too, slightly younger than the female. How didn't she sense it from across the room? She breathes out sharply through her nose, her worry over her family has her off her game.

Realizing the game's over, Valerie shrugs and straightens herself from the hunched over position she'd taken to make herself look more vulnerable. Her eyes are once again ice cold and her posture is almost military-like, she tilts her head toward the door, "Outside?" Val walks toward the door without waiting for an answer. Looking over her shoulder, she snorts when she sees Vampire #2 ignore Katherine's request to be escorted.

You want some AB+ for that burn, bitch?

"Elena!" Bonnie skids to a stop in front of Damon and Elena, ignoring the tension between to the two for now. She'll get all the gossip tonight, right now she needs to warn her about Katherine.

"Bonnie," Elena scrunches up her face in worry at Bonnie's urgent tone, and steps toward her friend, "What's up?"

"Yeah, what's got your panties in a bunch, witchy?" Damon taunts, already recovered from Elena's blatant rejection. He wiggles his eyebrows and smirks for dramatic flair.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Bonnie focuses on her worry for Elena and not the urge to stake Damon. Lowering her voice into a whisper she tells them, "Katherine's here."

Damon rolls his eyes and huffs out a laugh, "That's the big news?" He questions sarcastically, "How about the fact that there's another Gilbert in town? That's big news." He finishes, pointing a finger at Bonnie with a raised eyebrow.

Both girls turn to the Salvatore in slight astonishment. "Valerie Gilbert?" Bonnie asks disbelievingly, "She's here? In Mystic Falls?" Elena's still blinking slowly at Damon, not completely comprehending that her sister and doppelgänger are in the same town - the same building.

Damon's eyebrows tilt together, his smirk becoming a bit strained, "Yes," He drawls out, "I, uh, overheard her talking to the Lockwoods earlier." He doesn't mention that he eavesdropped on the conversation three rooms away because his brain zeroes in on a conversation whenever the name 'Gilbert' is mentioned.

"Oh my God," Elena whispers to herself, "Valerie's here." She takes a few deep breaths, attempting to lock away the whirl of shock and indignation that rose to the front of her brain at the mere mention of the sister who abandoned her. The information finally coming together in her brain she speaks slowly, her eyes toward the floor and not really seeing anything, "Valerie and Katherine are here. In the same house. Possibly in the same room. Possibly alone." She whips her head to look at Bonnie, both wearing the same wide-eyed look.

Damon gets it now. They're worried Katherine's going to kill the girl. Rolling his eyes once again he attempts to calm them, "Katherine's not going to murder your sister, Elena." He stops to think about that, cocking his head to the side, "At least not now. This is her game. She wants to wind us all up and build the suspense just so she can laugh in your face when you find out she's been playing you the whole time."

The next words out of Elena's mouth puzzle the Eldest Salvatore, but the Bennett witch nods her head along in frantic agreement. "I'm not worried about her killing Valerie. I'm worried about what the two of them could do together."

"The Lockwoods have a lot more land than they used to. The possessions from all the tomb vampires built them quite a fortune."

Stefan quirks a half smile as he looks at Katherine before replying bemusedly. "Yeah, why did you want them dead? You're the one who turned most of them."

Katherine tsks, smirking and shaking her finger at him like a disapproving mother. "There's nothing more annoying than a vengeful vampire, Stefan. Just ask John Gilbert."

"Speaking of my dear uncle, there's a Gilbert walking right behind you. And she's very curious as to why you're wearing her sister's face." Valerie smiles sweetly when the two vampires abruptly turn around to look at her. "But please, don't let me interrupt you two love birds."

The contrast in their reactions is interesting to say the least. The vampire whose name she still doesn't know frowns deeply and crosses his arms across his chest defensively. Katherine, meanwhile, seems to have a permanently satisfied smirk on her face and is even playfully twirling a piece of her hair as she surveys Gilbert Girl #2.

"Have you ever heard of doppelgängers?" Katherine asks slyly, her smirk growing when Valerie's face shuts down, the fake smile sliding away and leaving her face barren of all emotion. Chuckling under her breath, she saunters toward the Gilbert sister and leans down to look her in the eye, that smug smirk never leaving her face. "Ah, so you have. Well, I'm the original. Sister dearest is a cheap knockoff."

Regaining her composure, Valerie pastes a smile on her face and turns to the other vampire, completely dismissing the doppelgänger (and isn't that a doozy, a fucking doppelgänger. she'd expected it, but to have it confirmed..), "And who are you, hero-hair?"

Katherine scoffs at her dismissal and steps back to stand beside Stefan. "This," She grandly gestures toward him, "is Mr. Salvatore, though he prefers Stefan. Handsome, isn't he?" Katherine reaches up to pinch his cheek, pouting when he slaps her hand away, "He's dating your baby sister." She sighs dramatically, "The poor thing just can't seem to get over me."

Stefan rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath, smiling tightly. He reaches a hand out, presumably for Valerie to shake. "Hi, I'm Stefan, Elena's boyfriend. It's nice to finally meet you after I've heard so much about you."

Valerie looks him up and down, before focusing on his offered hand and is barely able to fight off the sneer that wishes to take over her face. Really, this isn't exactly the time for family introductions with the boyfriend. She gingerly takes his hand and shakes it before pulling her own hand away and wiping it off on the skirt of her dress. Valerie smiles condescendingly at him, "You've never even heard of me, have you?"

Stefan laughs uncomfortably and tugs on his shirt collar, wondering how a teenage girl can make him, a century-old vampire, so discomforted. "Elena's, uh, never mentioned you. I'm, uh, sure there's a reason though."

She keeps the condescending smile on her face to hide the hurt she feels. Elena hasn't even told her boyfriend about her? Valerie tilted her head at the clearly tense Stefan Salvatore before deciding to take pity on him. "We aren't on the best of terms, Edward Cullen. Don't worry about it." Valerie flicks her eyes towards the other vampire, who's been standing on the sidelines watching the painfully awkward introduction pan out. "Why are you really here?" Valerie snaps out suddenly.

Katherine doesn't seem surprised at her outburst, blinking innocently and pointing at Stefan. "I'm here for him, of course."

Stefan snorts, "Well you may as well turn around and go back to where you came from, Katherine. Because I hate you."

The next few seconds progress in a blur. One second, Katherine's smiling coyly at Stefan and he's smiling meanly back. In the next, Katherine's face is completely blank and Stefan's is twisted in pain because he has an iron stem stuck in his stomach.

The female vampire turns around and walks away, throwing her last words over her shoulder. "You hate me, huh? That sounds like the beginning of a love story, Stefan, not the end of one."

"What a bitch." Valerie mutters somewhat admiringly, completely unfazed by the violent stabbing of her sister's boyfriend; he's a vampire after all, he'll heal. She looks at the groaning vampire on the ground and raises an eyebrow at him when he looks back at her, "What? You want help with that?" And then groans dramatically when he widens his eyes pleadingly.

Reluctantly, she kneels down and puts both hands around the iron stem. "I'm going to need your help pulling this out, I'm only human you know." She smirks at the slightly suspicious look on his face. "C'mon Angel, just put your hands next to mine and push." Together, they pull the stem out of his stomach and proceed to sit on the ground, Stefan panting and Valerie examining the bloodied iron in her hands.

"Angel?" Stephan manages to spit out between deep, unnecessary breaths.

"Not like a pet name, ew," She crinkles her nose and shoots him a judgy look, "Like… Angel? From Buffy? Ya know, the broody and self-deprecating one. Suits you."

The vampire chuckles quietly and lets out a quiet groan as his arm wraps around the wound he just jostled.

Glancing at the hole in his stomach, Valerie grimaces. "Ouch, better put a band-aid on that." She puts the iron down and stands up, brushing the dirt off her dress as she does so, only managing to dirty it further with smears of dark red blood. "Well," She sighs dramatically, bowing at the waist before standing to give him a winsome smile, "I would say it's been a pleasure, but that would be a lie. See ya around, Cullen."

i'm not sure how i feel about this tbh.

.. but valerie and stefan could be cute together. vefan? stelerie (lol celery)? sterie? VS? ah, nevermind. the ship name doesn't sound very good. it just can't be if the ship name is shit. rip valerie/stefan romance. val doesn't really seem like the type to settle for her sister's sloppy seconds anyway. plus, she's trying to get on elena's good side, ya know?

also, stefan is a total rip off of angel? they're nearly the same person idc idc idc what you have to say, i stand by my OPINION

ooooh maybe valerie/katherine, thAt would be interesting! except the whole.. possibly being related thing? ya uh maybe not

p.s. i love mason sm my sweet honey murder child he was gone from this world much too soon