GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Jun 7, 2017 18:16:40 GMT
Flipping over another page in the file he had spread out across the bar top Gabriel reached for the glass of beer that had been set cold and beaded with moisture in front of him a half hour ago. The blonde waitress, who was familiar enough now to greet him by name, had brought it over the minute he’d sat down. It hadn’t taken her two minutes to realise he was settling in to work at the bar, as he had done a dozen times since he’d arrived in town. He’d set the files down, dumped his jacket over the stool, kicked his pack beneath it and had dropped onto the stool to find the beer already in front of him and an offer of a reuben and curly fries on her lips that was more statement than question. Offering her a grin, Gabriel flipped open the first file. On the nights he hadn’t taken work home, well, as far as the Grill, he’d chatted to her here, finding his life story extracted by the woman question by question. She might’ve had a decent career as a journalist and he’d told her so but she’d brushed it all off, swearing she was making a career of barkeeping instead. A word in the ear of one of the waitresses had told him the blonde was far more than a bartender but he hadn’t called her on it yet, just as she hadn’t slapped him on the wrist for turning the bar into his own personal desk. A part of him supposed he felt safer here, with witnesses to what the hell he was doing, than home, possibly slipping into another of those yet unexplained fugue states without anyone there to watch his back.
Letting his gaze drift back to the report of the start of another spate of animal attacks that had started in Mystic Falls about a year ago Gabriel set the beer down. The attacks seemed almost cyclical, a whole bunch occurring in a short period of time only for things to go quiet again for centuries. There’d been reports on it all in the newspaper’s archive when he’d arrived and slowly, but surely he was working his way through it all. ”Have you heard about any of this stuff since you moved here?” Gabriel asked. After a moment’s silence he looked up, brow furrowing as he tried to spot the blonde behind the bar. She was right down at the other end, head bent low in conversation with another blonde woman. The bar had filled Gabriel realised as he followed the line of faces stretching away from him. A glance over his shoulder confirmed the whole place had started to fill since he’d left the office. The noise level had risen without him paying attention. Kids from the high school were clustered around the pool tables, families with younger kids crowding the tables for an early dinner before heading home for homework time, guys, like him, knocking off work and seeking out a beer or two before heading home. The Grill was a mecca, one that he imagined made pretty good money, when he wasn’t taking up valuable real estate. Suddenly realising he’d spread out beyond the bounds of civility Gabriel began scrambling to get the files out of the way of the guy next him. ”Sorry about that. I tend to turn wherever I am into an office. Not exactly something people want to look at over dinner huh?” He gestured to the photos of one of the scenes out in the woods before he flipped the file shut. Talk about spoiling appetites.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on May 9, 2018 21:38:01 GMT
So much had happened since Ric had moved to Mystic Falls and even though not all of it had been good he knew that being there surrounded by people he cared about was much better than being alone. For years after she disappeared the mystery of what had happened to Isobel had plagued him, he had been forced to bury an empty coffin since her body had never been found but he had never questioned the fact that she had died the night that Damon had fed on her. It had never crossed his mind that she might have chosen to give up the life they had always talked about having together in favour of becoming a vampire but over time he had found a way to move on from that, even finding someone special again in Jenna for a while. It had been seeing Damon feeding on Isobel that had first opened his eyes to the supernatural world and after that he had delved into the research that she had done to learn as much as he could. Jenna’s introduction to it had perhaps been worse than that and he knew that she hadn’t liked the fact that he had kept the truth from her but in the end even with the truth out there they just hadn’t been able to make their relationship work. Even though he no longer saw that much of her he had made a promise to himself that he would still be there for Elena and Jeremy when they needed him and that hadn’t changed. With everything that was going on in the town he knew that he wanted to make sure that nothing happened to the two kids or to any of the others in the town that he had befriended if he could help it so he was doing his best to learn as much as he could about what they were up against and hunt down the creatures in town that were intent on killing as many people as possible. That day all of his marking was done and Ric found himself at a loose end for the first time in what felt like ages. He knew that he could have gone home but he had learned a long time ago that there was nothing worse than returning home to an empty apartment so he knew that he wasn’t in a hurry to do that just yet. Instead he decided to head to the Grill for something to eat and perhaps a drink or two if he felt like it. He had asked Damon if he wanted to join him but as his phone chimed signalling that his friend had replied the message that Ric saw there wasn’t the one that he had been hoping for. Damon already had plans with Claire it seemed and had asked for a rain check so Ric knew that he was going to be spending at least some time alone that evening unless something came up but the truth was that he was ok with that. He had grown used to only having himself for company so having other people around to talk to was a bonus but it was never something that he needed all the time. Needless to say he was still in a fairly good mood as he took a seat at the bar and ordered himself a beer to start with along with a burger and fries. The Grill was a popular place in the town so he knew that there was every chance that he might see someone he knew anyway but for now he was fine on his own. Taking a sip of his beer once it had been placed in front of him after thanking the waitress that had brought it over he soon heard a voice next to him and he glanced over at the man who had spoken. “I’m the same and don’t worry, I’m not squeamish,” he assured him as he quickly cast his eye over the photos. “It’s Gabriel, right? I think I’ve seen you here before. What are you working on?”GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on May 23, 2018 17:00:57 GMT
There’d been something reassuring of late about working in public. The wiser part of Gabriel’s brain had told him time and time again that he had a perfectly good office at the newspaper, another that he’d set up in a corner of his apartment. He could’ve worked there and probably been far more productive than he could be with the bustle of the Grill all around him. The cynical part of his brain, the one that had been rattled time and again by the shark like bites taken out of his memory, whispered again that he could be perfectly productive, until that switch was flipped again and then he’d wake up back in his apartment or hunched awkwardly over his desk at the office, the imprint of the keyboard left in his chest, with no clue of how he’d gotten there or just how many hours his brain had checked out for. No, Gabriel had decided when he’d left the newspaper earlier that evening, the Grill was just safer all around. If anything happened there at the very least there would be an ambulance at the end of the phone and possibly some of the town’s doctors in attendance. Hell, maybe if something did happen there then he’d finally have the answers he hadn’t been able to find anywhere else. It was about time after all, this had been going on again since he’d arrived in town and there was really only so much even a West could before they snapped entirely.
If anyone was to get a close look at what he was working on they might think he’d snapped already. Gabriel never would’ve called himself blood thirsty but what had been going on in the town for decades had been part of the lure back to the town. The local newspapers had failed to report the truth about it all, drowning the stories of all those deaths in sensationalism, demeaning them with lies. His intention had been to turn the Courier into a beacon of truth and save it from years of gossip mongering. To do that Gabriel knew he had to immerse himself in every fact he could lay his hands on. It didn’t mean that everybody else had to suffer through it. He’d offered up an apology to the body beside him before he’d registered who the man was, slapping files shut and shifting them aside. Grateful that the familiar man hadn’t taken offence to the gore, Gabriel offered a grateful smile. ”That makes two of us with cast iron stomachs. I think in my line of work that’s as important as being able to work anywhere with enough space for a laptop … and some files.” Gabriel left the most important of the files open in front of him, photos, less bloody ones, spread across its manila surface. At the man’s question Gabriel looked back up, brushed off a hand to offer it to him. ”Right, Gabriel West and you’re the teacher right … Ric? I think I heard some of the kids tossing your name around when you’ve been in before.” Sighing faintly, Gabriel tipped his head towards the files. ”The town’s current missing persons cases. Seems as though there are more names going on the list every week and I think the people around here need to realise just how many are lost in Mystic Falls.” It would be a hard lesson for any of them to learn but these people deserved recognition just as much as the founding families ever had.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on May 23, 2018 22:03:52 GMT
There was a time when Ric had been fairly used to being on his own. After Rory had left him behind he had withdrawn from the world somewhat until Isobel came into his life. She had helped him start to move on from what had happened in his past and for the first time in a while he had instead found himself looking to the future. The day they got married was one of the happiest of his life but their relationship hadn’t been all plain sailing and it had ended in a way that he never would have expected. He had returned home to find a vampire feeding on her and it was only years later that he had learned that she hadn’t died that night, she had instead become a vampire and left him to embrace her new life. He had never given much thought to whether or not the monsters that Isobel had spent her life researching were real, to him it had always seemed like they were nothing more than the creatures he would see in horror stories, but at the end of the day his eyes had been well and truly opened in perhaps the worst way possible. He had set out to kill the vampire that had killed Isobel but he had eventually found out the truth and he and Damon had become friends. That was something that he never would have thought possible especially after Damon had killed him but as far as he was concerned it was a step in the right direction. Having friends in town helped, this was the first time in a while that he hadn’t been completely alone and he knew that he didn’t want to go back to the way things were. He much preferred being around people to being on his own so even with all the hardships he was glad that things had worked out the way they had done. Now and then he still found himself at a loose end and that day unfortunately fell into that category. His marking was done and with no other plans that could be made at such short notice especially after Damon bailed on him Ric was left to drink and grab something to eat alone. He knew that he could have easily gone home and ordered in considering that he wasn’t very good when it came to cooking but he had decided against it, instead choosing to be around people for a while at the Grill even if he wasn’t necessarily going to see anyone that he knew while he was there. The photos the guy next to him was looking at had caught his eye and now he couldn’t deny that he was curious as to what the guy was working on. “Really? What do you do?” he asked as he lifted his drink to his lips and took a sip. There were a couple of options that could explain it, he could be a cop or a hunter or even just someone who was looking into the disappearances that went on around the place but he wasn’t sure which was the right one. “Yeah, I am. It’s good to meet you,” he said as he held a hand out to the man. Looking back at the photos in the file that Gabriel had left open, Ric’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “I think most probably know what is going on they just pretend they don’t,” he admitted. “Any idea what is causing the disappearances?” he asked, unsure whether or not Gabriel knew the truth about what went on in the town. GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Jun 10, 2018 15:58:27 GMT
Gabriel Fell West – the pampered youngest son of yet another branch of Mystic Falls’ ruling sons, returning home to splash some of his parents unearned cash around buying new toys. He’d found the story on the morning after he’d moved into his office at the Courier. The morning after he’d cut half of his staff loose, or rather, most had cut themselves loose from an owner they felt was nothing but a spoilt rich boy looking to play at becoming a newspaper magnate. The story had gone on to suggest that given his family’s history in the medical and law fields, this was merely the youngest son’s attempt to rebel. There’d been no mention of his having graduated summa cum laude at Whitmore or of his having been valedictorian of his graduating class. Gabriel had found nothing of his parents’ achievements or of what had happened in New York before he’d moved here, although all of that had found its way into print elsewhere. The story had been nothing but a scathing exposé of his attempt to take over the town’s one real source of news on the founding families. It was, Gabriel had to admit, well written, although nonsense all the same. None of this had ever been a game to him. The real news had been his focus from the moment he’d been old enough to see the spin most newspapers put on their gossip stories. Gabriel wanted to change all of that, especially in a town where stories of what really mattered had been buried for decades. If some in town disagreed with that and wanted to continue whispering around what colour dress people like Carol Lockwood were wearing to town events then it was going to have to be their loss.
Some had made that loss evident to him since he’d taken over. Here at the bar one morning a woman old enough to be his grandmother had told him he should be ashamed of himself of laying off all those talented writers he’d had at his hands. She hadn’t been willing to hear that they’d chosen to leave rather than write what he wanted to fill the pages with. Gabriel wondered whether the guy next to him was a gossip hound or a reader of the real news around here. He supposed he’d find out once he admitted what he did. There was a touch of pride to Gabriel’s expression as he tapped his fingers against the manila cover of his file. ”I’m a journalist,” he admitted. ”I took over the Courier from the previous owner a few months back and I’ve been rebuilding it, seeing if I can’t bring it back to its previous glory.” The newspaper as it had been when he’d arrived had certainly been a far cry from what it had been even twenty years ago. Shaking Ric’s hand, Gabriel flashed him a quick grin. ”Good to officially meet you too Ric. You’re some sort of teacher at the High School?” It was funny how quick that sort of information got around in a town this size when other facts were instantly buried, or at least whispered where he couldn’t hear them. Gabriel studied Ric’s expression as it grew thoughtful, brows drawing together slightly. ”I suppose when you start thinking about how you might be next it gets scary enough that all you want to do is bury your head in the sand.” Like scared five year olds they hid behind closed curtains and nightlights, not looking too closely at the woods around the town that so often doubled for a cemetery. ”Something other than a mountain lion,” Gabriel said with certainty. ”To be honest, I don’t believe it’s just one single thing here. There are too many differences in the cases for that to be the answer. Mystic Falls doesn’t have its own home grown serial killer.” If they did and that many were missing the FBI would’ve been here long before now.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on Nov 28, 2018 21:55:26 GMT
There was a time when Ric had thought that his life would consist of having a few children and living out the rest of his days with her but she’d had very different plans. She had never given any indication that she was unhappy in their marriage, she had been buried in her work most of the time but it had been that way even before they had gotten married. Nothing had really changed on the surface but now he knew that she had simply been keeping secrets from him after all. Instead of wanting to work on building a future with him she had sought out Damon Salvatore and convinced him to turn her into a vampire. For years Ric had believed that Damon had killed her but it was only when he arrived in Mystic Falls that he had finally learned otherwise. By that time he had already built up a reputation for himself as a hunter and he had learned as much about the supernatural world he had never truly believed existed. Isobel had always believed in it but a part of him had always thought that her fascination was in something completely unfounded. Now he knew that she had been right after all, though, and he had been left to pick up the pieces after she left him. The way his life had turned out wasn’t what he had wanted nor was it what he had ever imagined it would be like but at the end of the day that was the hand he had been dealt and he had a lot of people around him that he cared about in Mystic Falls so he knew that he had done the right thing. Unfortunately he still seemed to end up spending a lot of time on his own when he wasn’t at work. It often came in handy when he was working different cases or trying to mark homework assignments or exams but the truth was he often got tired of eating alone in his apartment so more often than not the Grill was where he ended up. That was exactly what had happened that day, Damon had cancelled on him so that he could spend time with Claire instead and even though Ric knew that he probably could have done something else instead he had decided to stick to the original plan and get something to eat at the Grill. He had been a little surprised at first when Gabriel had started talking to him but the truth was he knew that some company would probably do him good so he certainly wasn’t going to complain. “The internet seems to be killing everything these days so good luck with it,” Ric said sincerely. He had grown up with the old methods of looking things up and that was why his supernatural book collection was so large. He knew that a lot of information was available online these days but he much preferred having something that he could look at properly rather than just having to read information on a screen. As Gabriel asked if he was a teacher, Ric couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s right, for my sins,” he chuckled as he took a swig of his beer. “I teach history at the high school,” he explained. It wasn’t necessarily the most exciting subject in the world but he had always enjoyed it and he always did his best to get the students engaged as best he could. “That’s true. No one is invincible,” he said even though he knew that that wasn’t completely true. Every species had its weaknesses but there were some that were much more difficult to kill than others as he had learned the hard way. When it came to humans, however, their lives could be taken far too easily and that was something that seemed to happen way too often in Mystic Falls but the people around town seemed to want to ignore it in the hope that they wouldn’t end up meeting a similar fate. As Gabriel explained about the cases, Ric nodded slowly. “Have you got any theories?”GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Dec 3, 2018 20:56:09 GMT
From different sides of it, both of his parents had probably seen more violence than most, but still both Eleanor and Elias seemed almost squeamish about it. Gabriel had seen his mother’s face pale at the thought of her own son’s head being split open saving a young woman from men who seemed hell bent on killing her. The same expression had hit his father’s face when he’d been found at the kitchen table at home, copies of the Courier, complete with the sensationalist stories it had been telling before his takeover, spread out around him. The photos hadn’t been half as horrific as the crime scenes themselves had been, he’d learned that for himself since he’d moved here and had sought out more than one of those scenes to try and find the truth for himself. Those had haunted his own dreams, filtering through those he’d had of hell literally walking the earth. The thought of those alone was enough to send a shiver down Gabriel’s spine. Perhaps being back in Mystic Falls full time was playing with his mind, it would certainly explain the blackouts, along with just about everything else in his life, but each of those reasons hadn’t felt anywhere near strong enough to convince him that losing hours of his life at a time were just a side effect of the move. It was something to investigate another time, when he wanted to pick apart the darkest depths of his mind, away from the Grill and some of the people who were just looking for a reason to prove that he was absolutely unfit to do his job.
As he’d struck up a conversation with the man next to him Gabriel had hoped that he wouldn’t be one of them. The last thing he needed was to reveal the horrors of what lay around the town at the moment to those who’d obviously loved the horrors the previous editor had splashed across the front page with his half-truths and blatant lies on a daily basis. Gabriel found himself chuckling when the man’s response was far less venomous than he’d been expecting. ”Unfortunately it does but at least I can give stealing a little of the Internet’s thunder a go.” And if he failed, he was sure his parents would secretly be ecstatic. They’d rather he’d have been anything but a journalist. A teacher was a far more respectable profession, at least in his father’s eyes. ”I don’t envy you,” he admitted. The idea of trying to coral kids on a daily basis had something inside of him standing up and laughing. ”Local, world or both?” Gabriel asked with shrewd interest. The world he didn’t have much interest in but local history, now that was something he had a use for at the Courier. Lifting what was left in his glass, Gabriel drained it, swallowing hard before he glanced back at the man. ”Unfortunately not. It makes us all ripe pickings to end up on the front page if we’re not careful … and I suppose it gives everybody in here an excuse to drink, not that you need an added one having to put up with kids all day every day.” Looking up, Gabriel spotted the bartender making her way back towards them. He lifted his glass, gesturing with it and offering the sort of smile that usually had most at least a little charmed. The smile was still there as he turned back to Ric, although it was edged with a little cynicism now. ”Well, I know for sure that it wasn’t a mountain lion, or any sort of creature we usually have running around here. I’ve had a wildlife expert look at the photos I’ve been able to gather and the bite marks don’t match any exactly. You think there’s something new out there that we haven’t discovered yet? Things with fangs and claws that don’t act at all like the animals they might’ve started out as?” It was a wild theory but then again so was everything that everybody else in the town had believed whole heartedly.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on Apr 1, 2019 20:35:56 GMT
Even before he’d moved to Mystic Falls, Ric had heard rumours about the town. It was a little strange now to think that he had first gone there trying to track down the vampire responsible for killing his wife when he now knew the truth – that Isobel had been the one to track down Damon and had asked him to turn her – and that the vampire responsible now happened to be his best friend. Ric never would have thought that his life would end up turning out the way that it had but if he was honest he also wouldn’t want to change it. He would be lying if he said that it hadn’t hurt to learn that Isobel had decided that becoming a vampire meant more to her than their life together had but he had moved on from that and for the first time in a long time he was genuinely happy. While it was true that things hadn’t worked out with Jenna everything else in his life seemed to be going right at least and for that he was grateful. There was a time when he had felt sure that he would end up living his life alone consumed by his grief but finding out what had really happened to Isobel had given him a sense of closure that he had desperately needed and he was doing his best to live his life to the full now that he had finally decided to put down roots once more. He still hunted any supernatural creatures that decided to make Mystic Falls their hunting ground but he had friends around him now and he had a steady job that he enjoyed despite how much he might say otherwise at times so things were definitely a far cry from the way that they were just a few short years ago. Now not only was Ric hunting supernatural killers but he was also doing his best to keep those he knew to be innocent safe from hunters who killed without any remorse and without bothering to even find out whether or not those they hunted deserved it. He had always been the kind of guy who had a conscience and that hadn’t changed even after everything that had happened. He knew that there were those living in Mystic Falls who just wanted to live their lives and that was something that he could definitely understand. The high school alone was full of people who were members of the supernatural world but they were innocent and as long as they stayed that way he knew that he wasn’t going to going to do anything to change that. “I think there are at least a few people around here who would thank you for that,” Ric admitted as he took a sip of his drink. The internet was much more convenient at times but he knew that he was always going to like the old fashioned way of finding out what was going on in the world much better. The more difficult jobs were often the most rewarding and that was definitely something that Ric found. He hadn’t had the easiest time of it the whole time he was at school but he had managed to get through it and he was determined to make sure that his students did too. “Local mostly but a bit of both when I need to,” Ric explained. He had been astounded at first when he had started figuring out what had really gone on in Mystic Falls and while it was true that he couldn’t exactly tell his students the truth about the town he could at least try and make things interesting for them and he hoped that he was managing that. “Trust me, grading papers is a little less tedious with a buzz,” Ric chuckled. While it was true that he enjoyed his job most of the time it had to be said that having to grade papers was something that he could quite easily do without so a few drinks to help him get through it was never a big deal. Taking another sip of his drink, Ric knew that he had to choose his next words carefully as Gabriel told him what he thought was behind the attacks and he tapped his glass with his index finger for a moment as he thought about it. “Possibly. Experts are always finding new creatures out there so it wouldn’t be unheard of,” he said at last. “So that’s what you think all of this is?”GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Apr 10, 2019 20:44:38 GMT
Growing up with a Fell for a mother Gabriel had heard plenty of stories of the town where her ancestors had settled years ago. Most of the stories seemed fantastical, whispers of civil war battles and the burning of a church, of things that occasionally went bump in the night. He’d always believed that the stories his mom would tell them all were nothing more than ways of warning them not to go wandering off into the woods when they went back to Mystic Falls with her to visit family during the summer. They’d worked for the most part too, but none of the kids had ever really believed them. Most towns had their local legends, Mystic Falls’ just came with a little pinch of wild animal attacks. It wasn’t until he’d decided that he wanted to move home and not just work for one of the big newspapers in New York that he’d stopped to consider that maybe the tales of the founding fathers weren’t as fantastical as he’d first thought. Were the stories of wild human flesh eating lions peppered with he truth? Not bloody likely but there was something there and Gabriel was determined to find it, to expose it to the harsh light of day and show it for the truth it really was. He suspected there were a few in town who weren’t going to appreciate it, preferring the salacious, the overly violent fabrications they could use for gossip, but now that he held the reins at the Courier they were going to have to go hungry for it. The news needed the truth, the unbiased bald truth that didn’t allow people to twist it or hide behind it. When he’d struck up conversation with the guy next to him Gabriel had half expected some flak for it but there was thankfully no venom to the man’s words.
Intelligent conversation he could take, even logical argument and philosophical discussion, just not twisted rumour and Chinese whispers. Gabriel made a sound low in his throat as the teacher suggested there were some who’d thank him for debunking all those hackneyed little stories being bounced around the net. ”I’d glad to hear it,” Gabriel told him honestly. ”Some of those who were working for me when I took the paper over weren’t exactly appreciative of what I was trying to do.” Those who couldn’t adjust had thankfully been happy to leave. Now he had a team he trusted. Gabriel imagined most teachers were grateful for the same thing, a faculty around them whose aims matched their own. Gesturing to Ric with his glass, Gabriel smiled. ”You probably know a thing or two about the Founding Fathers then. My mother’s one of them, I grew up on tales of Mystic Falls.” Were his own kids going to hear tales of the town one day? If they did he was certainly leaving out the current spate of death, violence and disappearances. Putting his empty glass back on the bar as the bartender stepped away to get the bottle to refill it for him Gabriel chuckled. ”Editing’s the same. Always easier to pick your way through it if you’re not painfully aware of every butchered word.” He tried to keep it til after hours though. His smile turning wry, Gabriel watched the bartender return. Three fingers were poured in his glass before the bottle was tipped in offer towards his companion too. ”I’ll admit that I don’t think we’ve got some new sort of mountain lion out there. Animals mutate and appear out of the rainforest but I can’t see something that vicious going unseen in the woods around here when every person in town seems determined to ignore the Sheriff’s warnings and going stomping around in the wilderness.” He wouldn’t say they’d asked for it but Gabriel certainly believed that taking those sort of chances was going to come back and bite people on the ass in the end.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on Jan 11, 2020 23:02:06 GMT
There were a lot of people in town who knew the truth about the supernatural world and knew exactly what was responsible for all of the attacks that had gone on in the town over the last few years but there were even more people who were blissfully ignorant to it all. They were happy to believe the stories made up by the police that there were wild animals in the area that had wandered out of their natural habitats and started attacking people and most didn’t think any more of it. There were always going to be those who would doubt what they were being told as the truth was that it really was a story that was difficult to believe but people had always had a habit of believing what they wanted to and that hadn’t changed. It was easier to believe that animals were responsible for the attacks than it was to believe that there was more out there and most people just weren’t ready for the truth. For a long time Ric had been one of those people, he had never given Isobel’s research into the paranormal much thought and he certainly hadn’t taken it very seriously but the day he returned home to find Damon drinking from Isobel everything had changed. Since then Ric had been learning as much as he could about the supernatural so that he could protect the people around him from that world and make sure that they were able to live their lives without having to get involved in it. He had become a hunter and a pretty good one at that but he knew better than to just shoot every supernatural creature he came across. One thing he had learned since he’d arrived in Mystic Falls was that things weren’t always black and white, there were people who were a part of the supernatural world but didn’t want to be monsters and Ric knew that they needed protecting just as much as the innocent humans in Mystic Falls did so he was doing his best to keep all of them safe. That was easier said than done sometimes but Ric was doing his best and he knew that that was all he could do. There were a few people who had learned the truth about what was going on in the town during his time there but there were more still who needed to be kept in the dark. Ric knew what would happen if everyone learned the truth, there would be chaos and that was something that none of them could afford to let happen. He still wasn’t sure just why so many supernatural creatures seemed drawn to Mystic Falls but the town seemed to almost attract them to it so Ric knew that he had made the right decision when he had chosen to stay. He had needed to start over after losing Isobel even though he hadn’t realised it and Mystic Falls had given him that chance. The town felt like home to him now and he knew that he would do everything in his power to protect it. “People don’t always deal well with change,” Ric nodded. It was the same all the time, people often became set in their ways and didn’t like it when someone tried to do something different. Ric would be the first to admit that he was guilty of that himself but he was trying to learn to adapt and he hoped that others would too. “You could say that,” he chuckled as he took a sip of his drink. He had learned a lot about the founding families before he’d moved to Mystic Falls but he had learned so much more since meeting Stefan and Damon. “Which of the families are you part of?” he asked, unable to deny that he was genuinely curious. There were plenty of people in the town who were part of the founding families but Ric was always interested in meeting another. Setting his empty glass down in front of him, Ric nodded that he would have another as the bartender finished refilling Gabriel’s glass. Picking the glass up once more, Ric swirled the liquid within thoughtfully as Gabriel spoke again. “So what do you think is responsible?”GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Feb 1, 2020 20:12:37 GMT
Mystic Falls might’ve been a town made for visitors, its surrounding woods and the falls themselves stunning, but it didn’t mean that its people were always happy to throw their doors open and invite strangers right in. That might’ve had something to do with the number of missing people and deaths that had been happening in town on and off since the Founders had arrived here in the 19th century. You honestly couldn’t blame people for not throwing open their homes and welcoming strangers with open arms when you didn’t know what was causing the bloodshed. In his own case Gabriel knew that wasn’t what had happened. The journalists, aka gossipmongers, who hadn’t dealt well with his arrival had been happy to slap salacious gossip and horror stories across the front page of the Courier every morning. They were the sort who believed local gossip sold, the sort who would start rumours just to see them grow. It didn’t matter to them what his surname was, that his family had been in this town from the start, all they’d seen in Gabriel West was a man ready to draw a hard line on all of that nonsense. A new line in the sand, one that he wasn’t prepared to cross just to get the next whisper of impropriety spread across the front page of the newspaper. Most of them had gone over to the other side, undoubtedly telling their new boss all of the Couriers.
Good luck to them all Gabriel thought as he got a sort of pat on the back from the man next to him for trying to stop that sort of thing from ending up on the front page of the Courier. They could say what they wanted, at the end of the day his newspaper’s sales were up and that was proof that he was doing something right at the end of the day. Clucking his tongue, Gabriel shook his head. ”They don’t, especially not when it means they have to stop smearing people’s names through the mud.” When you had a town seemingly led by the Founding Families it was no wonder that those without a tie to them would look to bring them down to their knees. The constant obsession with them had been one of his mother’s stated reasons for choosing to bring her children up on the West family estate rather than in town. They’d still arrived here almost every summer to visit family but for the most part they had been kept away from the town’s spotlight. Gabriel winged a brow at the man as he confirmed he knew a thing or two about the Founding Fathers. ”My mother was a Fell,” he explained. ”She ended up leaving for college and found herself in love with a Georgian. Now, am I some sort of a distant cousin or are you just a Founding Fathers’ aficionado?” It could quite easily be the latter in a town like Mystic Falls. He picked up his glass as the bartender filled Ric’s glass too. The smile he flashed the man next to him at his question was almost wolfish. ”Nothing that they’re pointing the finger at already,” he countered. ”I don’t think anybody knows for sure yet but it doesn’t take a genius to look at the injuries suffered and say that it’s no mountain lion.” The little voice in the back of his head had been screaming two legs from the moment he’d come across his first crime scene here but the wider part of his mind had stubbornly refused to look too hard at the thought.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on May 4, 2020 21:01:18 GMT
For a while after moving to Mystic Falls Ric had found himself wondering just how so many people could continue living their lives completely oblivious to what was really going on around them but he had quickly come to realise that perhaps it was better that way. There was something to be said for living in ignorance, Ric couldn’t deny that his life had been easier before he learned about the supernatural world and he had seen a lot of awful things since his eyes had been opened to it but he had also seen a lot of good. He had trained as a hunter so that he could protect those around him from the creatures that went bump in the night and even though it had take him a while to get used to it, he knew now that this was what he was meant to do. He hadn’t managed to kill the vampire that was responsible for taking Isobel from him but he had at least managed to gain some closure by learning the truth about what had happened that night and from there he was able to move on. He and Damon had gone from wanting to kill each other to being best friends and if something like that could come from something as awful as losing someone that he loved then Ric hoped that things would eventually work out for all of them. For the first time since Isobel left he was no longer blinded by grief or vengeance, instead he was free to start over and live his life the way he wanted to and he was doing his best to make the most of it. Mystic Falls wasn’t the kind of place that he had ever thought that he would end up settling down in but there were a lot of good people in town and at least here he knew what he was up against which definitely wasn’t a bad thing. With Damon busy with Claire and Jenna spending time with the kids Ric had found himself at a bit of a loose end that evening but he knew that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He didn’t have any papers to grade nor did he really want to spend too much time alone in his apartment so instead he had headed to the Grill. There were always going to be cases to work in Mystic Falls but there were plenty of other hunters in town as well and every so often Ric knew that a night off wouldn’t hurt. He hadn’t thought that he would end up with any company that evening but Gabriel didn’t seem bad so he knew that it could easily be a lot worse. “It’s easier to drag the names of others through the mud than it is to admit what is really going on,” Ric admitted with a shrug. There were always going to be those who wanted nothing more than to pass the blame onto everyone else but that was the way of the world and he was pretty sure that it was never going to change. Lifting his glass to his lips, Ric had to admit that it made a lot of sense when Gabriel said that his mother was a Fell and he couldn’t help but laugh as the guy asked whether he was a cousin or a Founding Family aficionado. “I’m the high school history teacher so you could say that the history of the town interests me,” he chuckled as his food was brought over and he started to tuck in, only now realising just how hungry he really was. As Gabriel spoke again, Ric’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps not but it would still have to be something pretty monstrous,” he shrugged as he took a bite of his burger. He knew what was really behind the so-called animal attacks but not a lot of people did so he knew that it was much safer to just play along. GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on May 16, 2020 19:14:21 GMT
West. A common enough name most places and in bigger cities it wouldn’t have mattered if his surname was West or Grebenshchikov. Mystic Falls wasn’t New York though and the fact that he was claiming kin with one of the founding families and yet not bearing their name hadn’t gone down too well with some in town. For others perhaps the news that his mom was a Fell had gone down too well. Shining little eyes fixing on him like he was soon to be more grist for the mill. It was a feeling that Gabriel had found uncomfortable. That was the opposite of what he’d wanted to do with news in this town. His takeover of the newspaper wasn’t to pontificate on his family’s achievements, although the Fells had done plenty for the town over the years. The truth, ugly, beautiful, uncomfortable or glorious. That had always been his aim and in a town that was filled with secrets it felt like an almost impossible job at times but an important one. Gabriel had wanted to tear his hair out at times over it. Suspicion was tossed around in every direction, fingers pointed, noses solidly aimed in the air when it came to some folks. Others seemed to laud everything that the Founding Families did, assuming that they were incapable of doing anything wrong. He knew the truth was somewhere between the two, as it was with everybody. It didn’t matter who you were, you were capable of great things, you were also capable of doing the worst and that included hypocritically tarring everybody else with the brush you held. Dancing through the middle of all of that without slipping and becoming one of them felt like an impossible job but he was determined to do it all the same.
He hadn’t expected to end up doing it over dinner tonight but he was always willing to defend his position, or redefine it if someone could show him a new way. Gabriel lifted his hands into the air in a gesture of surrender, a breathless chuckle tripping from his lips. ”Don’t I know it. Trust me, reading back through some of the back editions of the Courier left a bad taste in my mouth. It was what left me trying to rebuilding my staff from the ground up. Some weren’t too pleased with the idea of no longer being sanctioned to do just that.” The truth wasn’t that much easier to get to but an attempt to publish it was always going to be a thousands times better than ignoring it for the scandal instead. They certainly all thought they knew the truth behind the Founding Families. Alaric seemed to know a thing about that, although whether that was because he was from one or had seen it from another side was a question still to be answered. Blue eyes narrowed as he laughed at the question, his own lips curling. ”So neither then. A neutral party to it all, who I imagine would know where some of the skeletons are buried given an interest in the history of Mystic Falls.” A historian was all about facts at least, thank God. Perhaps he wouldn’t have a clue what had been out there dropping bodies in the woods but there was plenty to know around the grim truth, a historical depth to it all if the Courier’s archives were anything to go by. ”Hmm,” Gabriel agreed, shrugging his shoulders beneath his shirt. He flicked a smile at the bartender as his own sandwich and fries were set down. ”Is there anything that monstrous indigenous to the area?” he asked, plucking up a fry as he glanced aside at Ric. He hadn’t found proof of anything but he didn’t know much more about the local wildlife than the majority of residents would.
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ALARIC SALTZMAN
Hunter
Posts: 310
Age:
39
Occupation:
Headmaster and Teacher
Status:
Married
Partner:
Jenna Saltzman
Played by:
Emma
I find a way to keep going, because that’s what we do. We find a way to keep going.
Last seen Apr 27, 2024 23:48:11 GMT
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Post by ALARIC SALTZMAN on May 31, 2020 18:28:16 GMT
Ric hadn’t known anything about the supernatural world until he had returned home one day to find Damon feeding on Isobel. He hadn’t really given her research into the paranormal enough credit before that but that day his eyes were opened and he had been doing his best to learn as much as he could about the supernatural since then. Training to become a hunter wasn’t easy but he had needed to get revenge on the vampire that had taken his wife from him so he had known that nothing would have stopped him from making it happen. It was strange to think that Damon had gone from being the monster that had killed his wife to his best friend but one thing Ric had realised after he got to Mystic Falls was that things weren’t always black and white. It had never occurred to him that Isobel might have chosen to leave him but now he knew the truth, a life as a vampire had been more appealing to her than a life with him had been. It had taken Ric a while to get his head around that but he had made his peace with it and he had moved on with Jenna. He knew that he could have walked away from the supernatural world after he’d found out what had really happened but hunting was a great way of keeping those around him safe and he knew that he wouldn’t have it any other way. He had Jenna and the kids to think about now as well as all of the friends that he had made while he was in town so he knew that walking away just wasn’t an option, not when it would mean putting them in danger. Ric knew that he had made the wrong call when he had followed Elena’s wishes of keeping Jenna in the dark about it all but thankfully she had found it in her to forgive him and he knew that he was lucky. He wasn’t going to be seeing Jenna that evening since she had other plans which was why he had headed to the Grill in the first place and Damon had plans with Claire as well so it looked like he was flying solo for the evening. He hadn’t quite expected to find anyone pouring over articles about what was going on around town but his interest really was piqued and he couldn’t deny that he was curious as to whether Gabriel knew about the supernatural or not. “Starting over has to be done sometimes and from what I’ve seen it looks like it is working for you,” Ric admitted. The stories in the paper still helped cover up the incidents that were going on around town but Ric knew that that was a good thing. If everyone learned about the supernatural then it would only spark panic and that wasn’t something that anyone wanted to happen. There were times when he found himself thinking that it might be easier if everyone knew the truth but deep down he knew that it was better this way so Ric saw it as his job to help keep it a secret for as long as possible. Lifting his glass to his lips, Ric took a sip. “I make it a point of knowing,” he nodded as he set his glass down in front of him before taking a bite of his burger. “I imagine it must be the same for you.” There wasn’t much that went on in Mystic Falls that Ric didn’t know about and he knew that it was much better that way. Having so many people around who knew that he was a hunter helped as they were able to be his eyes and ears when he wasn’t there personally and he knew better than to take that for granted. “Not really. We see the odd wildcat around here but that’s about it,” he shrugged. GABRIEL WEST
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GABRIEL WEST
Angel
REMIEL
Posts: 207
Age:
36
Occupation:
Owner of the Courier
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Lamia
Played by:
ANGE
Last seen Mar 24, 2024 18:35:15 GMT
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Post by GABRIEL WEST on Jun 20, 2020 17:43:21 GMT
There were likely still some of his former employees in town, lurking in the back of coffee shops and in dim corners of the bars he didn’t frequent, crabbing on about how the spoilt rich boy had come in and bought their newspaper out from under them. Depriving people of the news that was important in this town, sneering at his editorial skills, telling everybody who’d listen of the lies that had dripped from his honeyed tongue and were spread across the front page of the Courier on a daily basis. Gabriel knew he could only block his ears to them for so long before control slipped far enough and he offered the naysayers a dose of the truth. What was published now was scrupulously checked, no more vicious gossip around the founding families, no more tarring the names of the victims in this town merely because they’d had the bad fortune to go missing or end up dead. At a time like that people needed dignity, not a targeted campaign of viciousness that only made the grief of those around them a thousand times worse. He wasn’t lily white, he knew that, even when he was trying to do his very best he could and would make mistakes but Gabriel liked to believe that the fact that he was trying to make sure the newspaper was better put him a step above the others. It wasn’t an easy path to tread but if his parents had managed to teach him anything it was that the straight path was never the easiest one. You did it anyway and as a West or a Fell you had a duty to make sure you did everything possible to stick to it.
Gabriel was fairly sure neither one of his parents had imagined he’d be trying to do that with an angel on board when they’d lectured him over and over on responsibility. He hadn’t exactly imagined it either, although it felt like he was doing a little more for the town, for the world as a whole, by letting Remiel stay on board. It could quite easily have gone the other way when the angel had finally revealed his presence to him. An order to the angel to get out followed by a few pleasant months spent surrounded by padded walls and the chemical haze of heavily dosed medication. Gabriel hitched his brows up, let them fall again. ”I’ll gladly take that as a compliment,” he said with a grin. ”The team’s better off without them and hopefully by sticking around, not getting bored of the job, like they suggested, I’ll be able to prove that I’ve done the right thing.” Those still working for him seemed happy enough and he’d managed to get a couple of strong writers to join the team since. Some of them, especially Leah, didn’t seem sure of him still, but he was slowly winning them over. Keen interest shone in Gabriel’s eyes as he studied the man next to him. ”I try to do the same but as a ‘newcomer’, so to speak, I don’t think I always get given the bigger picture. Have you ever thought of doing some writing?” With the angel on board it had been easier to see the truth behind what happened but most here were still wary about saying too much to him. Sighing, Gabriel started in on his sandwich. He made a low sound in his throat as he swallowed, a dab of mayonnaise at the corner of his mouth as he shot a look at Ric. ”It definitely hasn’t been wildcats doing the damage out in the woods. That’s what the sheriff is blaming it on, isn’t she?” The angel in his head chuckled, sending a shiver down his spine. It definitely wasn’t wildcats, he thought as he grabbed a napkin to wipe his hands and mouth.
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