❰ misato closes off the connection between them and damon almost laughs, derisive and ugly. so she doesn't get her way, he doesn't accede to her need to pretend that control is something that can be wrested from the grip of the universe, and she decides he's not worth it. elena isn't worth it. the latter angers him far more than the former; maybe he's not worth anyone's time but elena is.

fine. she's not the only person he can turn to here. he'll just have to make more connections, look for other people in the nest who will be sympathetic.

sam appears, and damon — he tenses and relaxes at once, and it's a weird thing to feel, the relief of seeing someone who understands him mixed with the tension of seeing someone he's wronged. it's not an unfamiliar feeling, really, but. still weird. ❱

What it's about is I want her to have friends. She's not like me, she can't deal with being reviled. If she doesn't have friends, she'll crumble.

❰ damon turns to sam, shutting misato out of the conversation. she's cut herself off from him, would rather deal with someone who wants to kill a girl who's done literally nothing than her own broodmate. as far as damon's concerned, she's chosen her side, and he has nothing else to say to her.

and for all the things damon can say about himself that aren't strictly true, that, at least, holds up — he has spent nearly two centuries being hated and feared, and he has inured himself to its effects. if he had to, he could go back to being friendless and alone tomorrow and be fine — lonely, missing what he had, but fine. but elena has been loved her whole life, and invests so much of herself in other people that being alone would wreck her. she doesn't know how to be, and maybe cultivating an ability to survive on her own would make her stronger, but why bother when she doesn't need to? when she gets just as much strength from relying on the people who care about her? ❱