Authors note:
Okay but the photo??? Like how is she so damn attractive???? Like omg I'm actually dead, like I love her so much.
Hope stares at the blood bag placed in front of her. It's one that Alaric keeps stashed for emergencies and early training in control. And that's what Hope needs. Control.
Kol and Rebekah are teaching her to resist the urge to drink it, while the other Mikaelsons are putting away their luggage and preparing for the next stage of her training. The pair of siblings have been watching her stare at the bag for a good fifteen minutes. And so far, no attempt to drink it. Her eyes have flickered between blue and their golden color once or twice and the black veins have crawled out from under her eyes, but she takes a few deep breaths and they go away. For a newly turned vampire, she's doing rather well.
"This training better not last all day." Hope huffs. There's some frustration in her voice, with a hint of determination that almost says she won't let it last all day. Yet as boring as this part may be, it's important. It has to be done so that she can go to public places without wanting to dig her fangs into the neck of every human she sees.
"Someone's in a hurry to be somewhere." Kol points out from across the table. He's not wrong. She is. Hope wants to give herself plenty of time to prepare for her date, both mentally and physically.
"I have a date later. I want to make sure I get ready in time, okay?" Hope says. She had no intention of snapping at them, but she figures that is down to all of her new abilities as a vampire. "Sorry...still getting a hold on the heightened...well, everything."
"Oh, a date? Is that with uh what's his name...uh you know that bird kid?" Rebekah can't for the life of her remember his name. Hope rolls her eyes because it would be just as believable that Rebekah is only pretending to forget Landon's name seeing as she never really liked him. She hasn't admitted that to Hope, but it's not exactly a secret. Perhaps Hope should've listened to her aunt's instincts since Landon would only ever leave her.
"His name's Landon...but no not with him. That ended a while ago...It's actually with someone else." Hope says, smiling at the thought of Josie. She reminds herself not to get too distracted.
"Who?" Rebekah asks, trying to get a name from Hope. Then again, she has a few in mind. Or rather, one.
"Rebekah, leave her be." Kol tries to stop his sister. He may want to know who it is too, so he could suss them out, but he also wants to make sure Hope has control. He knows better than most what a lack of control looks like.
"Josie?" Rebekah speculated. Hope blushes, but keeps her focus on the blood bag. It's all the confirmation that Rebekah needs.
"Yes with Josie. How'd you know?"
"Well...you were willing to die for her. We Mikaelsons don't die for someone unless we really care for them." Rebekah explains. That much is true about the Mikaelson family. For all the fear and chaos that they've caused, at the very center of their family is love. Just look at Klaus. He sacrificed himself to give his daughter a future. And has sacrificed herself too, by jumping into Malivore to save her friends. No matter what the Mikaelson's put those they care about before anything else.
"Plus in other times I've visited, you always looked at her...longingly. I guess I just always had a feeling there was something more there."
There's no doubt Rebekah knew before Hope did.
"If she hurts you...I'll rip her heart out." Kol states. Hope looks up from the blood bag and throws an empty cup at her uncle.
"You touch her...and I'll be the one ripping your heart out," Hope growls as he catches the cup seconds before it hits his nose. They laugh at her while she flashes her eyes.
"As long as you do well in the training, we will let you go on the date." He says, making Hope even more determined. She knows they won't hesitate to stop her going if she can't handle the bloodlust, along with everything else that is so new to her.
~~~~~
When both Kol and Rebekah are happy that Hope can face a blood bag, they send her to her Aunt Freya. The next part of her training is to do with her magic.
Hope thinks it's stupid. She's been practicing magic for as long as she can remember without having any problems. Why would she have any now?
"Is this really necessary?"
"You're a first-born Mikaelson witch which is strong enough on its own. We both know magic and emotion are tied to one another and with yours now being amplified your magic may be even more unpredictable. So hopefully, having control of one will make controlling the other that much easier."
And so Hope and Freya practice magic. They start simple, with fire spells and water ones to put them out. Hope gets frustrated when it takes time to get it right, but when she does she's able to do them flawlessly. They move on to the more complicated stuff, which again takes some time, but Hope can perfect it soon enough. Her Aunt watches with pride, seeing Hope embracing her power instead of fearing it.
The end of their session approaches quickly. Both Rebekah and Kol come to see how Hope is doing. They watch her and Freya discuss their magic and practice it too.
"Seems as though everything is going well here," Kol states, alerting the two witches of his presence.
"It is. Let's end the session here. I've heard you have a date later?" She looks at her niece.
"Oh my god!" Hope hides with embarrassment.
"Don't be out too late, Hope. Tomorrow we will do some combat training, showing you how to best use your new speed and strength to fight your battles."
"Keelin will be teaching you some tricks for your wolf while I'll be helping you with the magic side of things. Sound good?" Freya explains. Hope nods. "Alright, now go get ready! Can't have Josie waiting all night for you now, can we?"