[ d'artagnan's faith in her is bolstering, and elena finds herself smiling despite the painful turn her thoughts have taken. sometimes getting through loss is just a matter of needing people to lean on when things get too hard -- she's learned that over and over by now, that having a good support system is the difference between getting lost in your pain and finding your way through it. she's got jack, she's got d'artagnan, she's got vriska... it'll be hard, it's always hard, but she'll find her way through, she has to.

and if there's a part of her that thinks about the fact that they brought katherine back from the dead for her contract and thinks they could do the same for damon, well... she's trying hard not to acknowledge it. it doesn't take a genius to know that hoping that damon will be part of the next recruitment drive will just drive her crazy, in the end. if he shows up, he shows up, and she'll take it from there. for now, she's not even going to think of the possibility. ]

Thinking about him is easier said than done, sometimes. It's... it's agonizing, every time, like my heart is breaking all over again. But he deserves to be remembered, no matter how much it hurts, right? I love him, so the pain is just... part of that.

[ a laugh, though, when he says that he should think of what damon would want for her. ]

Well, Damon's not exactly the best role model, I don't know if I should do the things he would want me to. I know he'd want me to be happy, though. I can do that -- I can try to do that. [ it's not easy to be happy without him, not in any lasting sense -- she's been happy enough, though fleetingly, when she's hanging out with vriska or d'artagnan or any of her other friends -- but she has to try. her life can't end just because damon's did. he wouldn't want that. ]