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 Dec 29, 2020 23:06:49 GMT
Ric had spent years believing that nothing that Isobel had spent her life looking into was real. He had tried to keep an open mind at first but the more she had talked about vampires and witches the more he had started to think that she had to be crazy to believe in all of those things. He had still done his best to support her but the truth was that he had felt much more comfortable sticking to facts and history than he did believing that the monsters that went bump in the night might actually be real. He had known just how strongly Isobel believed in it all but it had still come as a shock to Ric when he had returned home to find Damon feeding on Isobel. That was the day that his whole world had come crashing down and it was also the day that his eyes had been truly opened to the supernatural world. He had started training and learning as much as he could after that and he didn’t regret it one bit. He knew that he had done it for the wrong reasons, he had wanted to get revenge against the vampire that he had thought had killed his wife but as it turned out she had simply decided that a life as a vampire was better than a life with him so he knew that he was much better off without her. He had Jenna now anyway so he had truly moved on from his past once and for all and he knew that he wouldn’t have it any other way. Damon had become his best friend in the end and Ric was happy with the life that he had built for himself in Mystic Falls. He still hunted and he still protected the town in any way that he could and while it was true that there were times when he found himself wondering if it might be better if everyone in town knew the truth about the supernatural he also knew that that just wasn’t practical. It would cause mass panic so instead all he could do was try and keep it a secret and keep as many people around him as possible safe. Jenna and Damon were both busy that evening which was why Ric found himself grabbing a bite to eat and drinking alone at the Grill. It wasn’t something that he tended to do these days given how well things were going right now but he knew that it was much better than sitting alone in an empty apartment so he knew that it was the best he could do right now. There were times when he sat there pouring over his marking or over details for a case that he was working but that day it was the case that Gabriel was looking into that caught his eye. The guy didn’t seem to know anything about the supernatural world and a part of Ric wanted to tell him so that the guy could be prepared considering that something told him that the guy wasn’t going to stop digging until he learned the truth but he still wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea just yet. “You should,” Ric chuckled as Gabriel said that he would take it as a compliment. Ric didn’t know what the guy had been through but he seemed to be doing alright now and that was all that any of them could ask for. “I’m sure you will. Once people see how dedicated you are then they’ll follow suit,” Ric nodded as he lifted his glass to his lips and took a sip. “People around here do like keeping things to themselves until they know they can trust you,” he admitted. It had been the same for him at first but he had become pretty good at digging into things and getting to the bottom of what was going on but he wasn’t sure if it would be the same for Gabriel. “I’ve thought about it but I’m better with history than I am what’s going on in the present,” he shrugged. He’d had some papers published over the last few years but that was about it. The only time he really paid much attention to the newspapers these days was when he was working on a case and most of the time that was only when he couldn’t find what he needed in one of the books he had collected. Taking a bite of his burger, Ric took his time pondering Gabriel’s next words before speaking again. “That’s the official story but I can tell you don’t believe it. You must have some other theory about what is behind it or are you going to tell me that you think it is a werewolf or something?” he asked, testing the waters to try and see whether Gabriel knew about the supernatural world or not. 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 21, 2021 17:58:47 GMT
He had doubts about what he was doing when he’d started to reshape the Courier into something that would make him proud of what he was putting out into the world. Dozens of nights spent with fingers tight in his hair, staring down at the staff HR files, figuring a way to speak to either of them to try and make his vision clear to them. It hadn’t been enough in the end, but he had known that going on. You couldn’t please everybody, he’d just had to draw hard line, Gabriel thought. If people chose to stay on his side of it then he would be proud to have them on staff, if they didn’t, there was no rancour on his part. Plenty of bitter grapes on theirs though, some of them still looking to needle him from their positions at the Daily. As though switching their allegiance to their rival newspaper had cost him much sleep in the end. His rivalry there wasn’t with them, just with Ms. Devoi, who seemed to have made it her life’s work to pip him to the post on every story of import in town.
Now, if he could talk her into joining the Courier … they would be an unstoppable team. With her vaguely on his mind he grinned at Ric’s words, dropping his head slightly as a faint wash of heat reached his cheeks. At least one person in town appreciated his efforts to reform his newspaper’s ethos on what news was fit to spread. ”Maybe I should get you to write it down so I can pin it up at the office,” he suggested lightly. Proof to the rest of his staff that their efforts weren’t being wasted either. Gabriel planted an elbow on the edge of the bar, scratched fingertips through his hair as Ric continued to apply verbal balm to his battered ego. ”I can only hope so. The team I have left seem dedicated to what I’m trying to do but I suppose this is a matter of it just being a test of time. I guess the name doesn’t hold the sway it once did?” he asked, winging a brow again. Once upon a time the name of a Founding Family would get you everywhere in Mystic Falls. Perhaps times really were changing here.
And Ric seemed to know all about it. He hadn’t come here with the notion of hiring new staff, but the history teacher had opened the door and now Gabriel was looking at him with a boss’ eye. Planting his elbows on the bar as he momentarily ignored his sandwich, he opened the door up to the man doing some writing for him. ”I’m not opposed to some pieces on the town’s history,” he admitted honestly enough. ”I think that’s where we’ve gotten into trouble before, only looking at a very slim part of what this town was when we write about the present. Nobody’s really interested in what a Lockwood wore to a Founder’s ball fifty years ago but drawing parallels between the spates of deaths before and what we’re looking at now? That’s the stuff people want to see.” It was undoubtedly what the sheriff had been looking at too. The subject should’ve soured his appetite but Gabriel was biting into his sandwich with gusto, his appetite undoubtedly bolstered by the angel quietly listening inside his head. He wiped his mouth, blue eyes set on the man beside him as one corner of his mouth ticked upwards. ”I wouldn’t be much of a journalist if I did. Something hasn’t added up from the start.” He chuckled at the suggestion of what was really doing it but the sound was hollow to his own ears. ”Is that your way of asking if I believe all the stories I’ve heard about town and haven’t published? Werewolves, vampires, all those things that go bump in the night here?” Angels, demons, witches and warlocks, all those things that Remiel had relished telling him about that even now left the pit of his stomach souring.
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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 Mar 9, 2022 22:51:54 GMT
Ric had known about the things that went bump in the night long before he had arrived in Mystic Falls but he had never known just how many could congregate in one place. He didn’t know why so many were drawn to Mystic Falls but as a hunter he knew that it was his job to keep people safe and he was trying to do that as much as possible. It wasn’t always easy and there had been some losses along the way but he was doing his best and he knew that the other hunters in town were doing the same. There was a time when Ric had thought that all supernaturals were as bad as each other but he had learned that wasn’t the case pretty quickly. In Mystic Falls especially there were people who were supernatural and just wanted to live their lives in peace and Ric was happy to let that happen. He had never thought he would say it but now some of his closest friends were supernatural and he knew that if he could come around to thinking that way then most people could if they gave it a chance. There was something about Mystic Falls that was different and even though there was always something going on in the town he knew that he had made the right decision to stick around. “So all of your staff can see?” Ric chuckled as he took a sip of his drink. He knew that it couldn’t be easy keeping things light in the environment Gabriel worked in but he wouldn’t be surprised if the guy found away to make it work. “I wouldn’t underestimate it, all of the Founding families still carry some weight in this town and I don’t think that will ever change but there are new families that are making themselves known too.” Sometimes that was for the best, things couldn’t stay the same forever and Mystic Falls was no different. Now the Salvatores were back in town and there were other members of the Founding families around too but there were plenty of people who had decided to make the town their home over the last few years just like he had done as well. As Gabriel said that people wanted to see parallels between deaths years ago and those that were going on now Ric tensed slightly. “Some might but for most they aren’t interested in what is going on around them unless it directly affects them,” he said, trying to shrug it off. He couldn’t deny that he was curious as to whether Gabriel knew about the supernatural or not and there was something about the man that told Ric that he did know more than he was letting on but Ric knew that it wouldn’t do any of them any good if news of that got out. Most people in Mystic Falls were still in the dark about the supernatural or perhaps they just didn’t want to see it and he knew that it needed to stay that way. As Gabriel spoke again, Ric couldn’t help but laugh. “It might be,” he chuckled as he ate a couple of his fries before taking a bite of his burger. “Do you believe them?” He was a Fell, a member of one of the Founding families, so chances were he did but Ric needed to know for sure. 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 3, 2022 17:47:45 GMT
Changing minds in this town was going to take more than just his mother’s maiden name. It helped, certainly, and Gabriel saw in people’s eyes that it did matter when he said he was a Fell, but in Mystic Falls even the Founding Families had to prove themselves. Scrutiny was tighter when you dropped one of those names, the gossip mill churning faster, the expectations higher. He supposed that for some of his employees his refusal to publish every scrap of foul, spurious gossip that was spat in his reporters’ directions had shown him to fall well short for them all. More fool them. His mother had always said that you could leave a horse to water but couldn’t make them drink, as a doctor you could advise people to take it easy, to eat right, to exercise, to get enough sleep, but people were always going to do exactly what they wanted. As a newspaper owner you could do the same. You could try and steer people to the truth but if they wanted to keep listening to the gossip mill they were going to do it regardless of what you tried to tell them. All you could do was gradually sway them to your side.
Gabriel liked to think that some of the staff that stayed, at least, were already there with him. He paid a more than fair wage, had promoted some who’d certainly deserved it but there were undoubtedly still some who had their doubts about him. His smile growing, Gabriel dipped his head in a nod. ”So they can. I’m sure it would be appreciated.” He chuckled at his own suggestion though, before he swept his hair back. ”I supposed everybody wants to put their stamp on the place eventually. I’ve seen that the events still happen, the galas, the festivals, all that tradition being yanked into the 21st century.” Each had been splashed across the front pages of both local newspapers, albeit with different spins. Perhaps it was best that they had enough filler pieces that not every headline was underscored with the gory red of violent death.
The sandwich went down quickly, the splash of ketchup on his plate mirroring the images in his mind. A faint shiver went down his spine but Gabriel was quick to shrug it off. He set his sandwich down, cleared his fingers on the napkin once his lips were wiped. As he eyed the man next to him and the shrug that should’ve blown it off Gabriel balled it up in his fist. ”It seems like the curse of the modern world. Everybody’s focused on themselves, their noses pressed to their screens, blinkers up. I’d thought perhaps it was different in a small town but it doesn’t seem it.” Folks threw up walls, especially if you were an ‘outsider’ and this man seemed to be starting to build his. Gabriel plucked some fries from his plate, swiping them through that pool of ketchup before he aimed them at Ric. ”It’s a smart move. Dangle the bait, see what’s taken. There has to be some nugget of truth doesn’t there? All of these things stemmed from somewhere that wasn’t just someone’s imagination. Do I think that everything that’s said about them is right? I’d have to be crazy to believe that.” The fries stuck in Gabriel’s throat going down though, the shiver he’d felt a dozen times before running down his spine and leaving him shuddering in his seat for a moment before he forced himself to perk back up. Mystic Falls wasn’t the sort of town where you got away with ignoring what was around you, if you did that you ended up on the front page of the newspapers and Gabriel didn’t want to be there on his own.
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