title: ash and dust
summary: cora hale arrives in mystic falls with ash in her lungs and smoke in her hair / or that time cora grew up in mystic falls.
disclaimer: i own neither teen wolf or the vampire diaries.
Cora Hale arrives in Mystic Falls with ash in her lungs and smoke in her hair.
She's a flurry of lanky ten year old limbs and cold scowls and sad eyes and Caroline Forbes – sunshine incarnate, future Miss Mystic Falls – takes to her immediately. You're badass, the blonde says, but badass can play dolls with me, kay?
Barbie isn't as fun as chasing Derek around the Preserve, Laura hot on her heels, but it's something to pass the time. They bicker over who gets to play Barbie and who's stuck with Ken and sometimes Cora smiles because maybe she's got Ken in her hand but she's got a real-life Barbie right in front of her.
Elena Gilbert is bubbly and sweet and kind and Cora automatically hates her because how can someone be that nice all the time, when there are families too burned to bury and houses haunted by ghosts with no form?
It'll be okay. Bonnie Bennett is a gentle soul with a smile that could light up all of Beacon Hills. Her grams sometimes tells Cora stories about witches and offers her herbal tea that tastes funny while Bonnie gets her costumes out from the closet. She'd laugh like Caroline does if she didn't remember Mr Deaton the witch who gave her lollipops after him and her mom had those long conversations in the back room that Cora never heard.
Sometimes, she thinks Bonnie's grams knows about her. She's a smart lady – one who smells a little too much like alcohol and sadness, when Cora thinks about it – who gives her knowing looks around the full moon and whenever Cora gets too angry with the world.
She tries not to think about it too much, turns back to sunshine and waves a Barbie in the air with a smile that feels more real every time.
notes: i really am working on defender omg