hey old friend, whadaya say old friend

[beanchaointe]

[Stiles has told Lydia several times that she doesn't need to stay in Mystic Falls. She's refusing to listen. Things are starting to get worse here, and whatever impending storm is coming is going to be here soon. She puts herself out and about in town when she can, trying to see if she can catch something that might give her a clearer idea of what's going to happen.

What she isn't expecting, is to run into a familiar face.

She's having another text argument with Stiles about her current life choices when she catches a familiar set of cheek bones out of the corner of her eye. She turns towards them, eyes narrowing before she asks:]

Jackson?

Comments

[unforgivably]

Well. I should apologize for holding Pretty Boy over here at knife point.

( Which - is an apology, right? )

Alright. You two, eat. Fuel up, because, we're taking a field trip after.

( If they are who they say they are, then they'll be of help. And if they're on this hunter's side, there'll be recognition. Now, to explain these two to the others. )

Dana will be your waitress today.

( And then he's up again, giving Lydia one more look. He may have botched this connection by getting hot under the collar. But, try being a Mystic Falls native and not. )

[beanchaointe]

[Not ... quite, but Lydia's not going to push the issue. She also raises an eyebrow at the mention of a field trip, but that's the only reaction he really gets from her until he walks away.

Is it botched? She's not entirely sure. It's going to depend on how things go over the next few days.

She reaches for her phone to text Derek about the change of plans for the afternoon:]

Made contact with the supernaturals in this town. Getting taken to a meeting - want to come with?

[Then she looks up at Jackson. She keeps things vague, because she knows that odds are high Damon is still listening.]

What do you think?

[engender]

Do you want me there?

( You can take the alpha out of the wolf, and with Derek, you really can. While he travels with his pack, his family, he still looks to Scott McCall and everyone else as equals, especially against the recurring threat Tamra and the hunters pose. )

I think we've been out of high school for over ten years and we're going on a field trip.

[beanchaointe]

I do, but I don't want them to know you are. Jackson will be with me.

[So she's not wandering completely alone into a vampire's den, but Derek is close enough to get there quickly if she screams. She knows he'll hear her wherever she is, but she'd rather be safe than sorry.]

At least you don't need to have a permission slip signed?

[engender]

Then I'll be close by.

( But not there. In case something does happen. He'll drag Stiles, too. FBI resources are hard to pass up.

Jackson weighs that, half laughing. His phone lights up again. Giving it a quick glance, his smirk returns.

"Or a chaperone?"

Anyone else joining them, Lydia? )

[beanchaointe]

I think we're both a little old for chaperones.

[But she will place her phone on the table so that Jackson can see the notification from Derek, before her phone goes black again. She wants to be able to trust Damon, but she doesn't know how much she can do that yet.

And backup isn't a bad thing.]

In fact, I think we might be old enough to be the chaperones.

[unforgivably]

( Might be old enough rules out immortals. While he sends the waitress over for a nice lunch on the house, he starts a group text with Caroline, Stefan, Elena, Alaric, whichever Winchester brother is first on his contact list (Dean), Tyler and - sigh - Katherine. )

Two new players are on the board. A banshee and a werewolf. Say they're here to stop whatever 'bad' thing might happen. The banshee name-dropped Monroe.

1/??? idk we're gonna see where this goes

[vampireboulevard]

[Caroline's first reaction, not that she should be surprised given the things that have popped out of Malivore in recent years, is still the tried and true:]

Banshees are a thing? Are they a good thing or a bad thing?

2/4, i think

[braveandstupid]

[And then Elena, a little more seriously:]

Did you get their names? What did they say about Monroe?

3/3 nope, never mind, it's 3

[somanyadjectives]

They are a thing but they're ... pretty rare. I've only really heard about them in theory not in practice. And no, they didn't come out of Malivore.

[They're close enough to human or witches that they likely didn't ping Malivore's monster-dar.]

I'll admit, I'm not sure what to make of the fact that a literal death omen is in town.

1/?

[recrudesce]

Literal death is on the horizon. Names, Damon.

[unforgivably]

Jackson. Lydia. Werewolf. Death omen.

[cholesterol]

Not just death omen. Inflicts literal death. Unless this is another, 31 flavors of vampire.

[daydrinker]

You also can't count anything out with Malivore. The 785 area code is right. Two types of vampires, two werewolves, hybrids. We can't rule anything out.

DONE

[recrudesce]

Jackson Whittemore?

1/??

[vampireboulevard]

Like Whitmore College?

[Look, she's just trying to pull in any connections she can here, she's still playing catch-up in a lot of ways.]

I'm not sure I like the sound of a literal death omen being here for graduation either. Does she have any specifics we can work with? Why reveal themselves if they're not here to help?

actually done

[somanyadjectives]

They could be plants. Banshees tend to be just close enough to human that they don't really stand out. Did the werewolf do anything werewolf-y?

[He ... may be spending too much time with Buffy.]

1/??

[unforgivably]

Yeah, he scratched himself at the table.

Any relationship to a long line of dead people?

2/?

[recrudesce]

Coincidence and different spelling. These Whittemores are Californian. He's also a dick.

3/4

[daydrinker]

Correlation or just your colorful commentary?

Whittemores span the country, it's possible his last name could've been slightly changed, from a mistake on a piece of paper or marrying into someone else's family.

[imnot_likeyou]

[And once Dean gets the names from Damon, Sam steps off to the side to send his own text message to their fearless leader:]

Do you have a banshee named Lydia and a werewolf named Jackson working with you? I didn't get the last names.

[matriarchate]

They're ours.

Are they there?

[imnot_likeyou]

[That's good to know. He will indicate as much to Dean before going back to Allison.]

They ran into one of the Salvatore brothers. I think the rest of the group was debating whether or not to trust them.

[Which is why he decided to just go right to the source, save them all some time.]

[matriarchate]

They can.

Jackson's his own person, but he's trustworthy. Lydia is my best friend in the world.

[imnot_likeyou]

[And that is a big boon, Allison doesn't seem like the type to choose her best friends lightly.]

Looks like we're meeting up with them in a bit. I'll keep you posted.