you're gonna love tomorrow, i'm making it my personal guarantee

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[imnot_likeyou]

Yeah, you too. Sorry that this is how we have to meet.

[While he's carting him off to see his dead, transitioning friend. Also, Sam, this is your life. How else were you going to meet?]

My friend Garth has told me great things about your pack.

[commend]

Garth left messages when he heard we were working with you. He says you're close.

( Him and Dean. Garth is an example for all shapeshifters. What he's gotten. His kids, his wife. )

Says I wouldn't want anyone else at graduation if something does happen.

[imnot_likeyou]

Let's hope nothing does.

[Sam pauses to turn the car back onto a small highway to head back to Mystic Falls.]

From what I've heard, the Salvatores, Hayley and Klaus pretty much scorched earth when they were rescuing your friend.

[Cora would say "good" but Scott's here, so she won't. But she's thinking it.]

[commend]

You mean, nothing left.

( "Scott," Allison tries. But, Scott doesn't need to be walked through. )

They chose ... propaganda. Sam, I don't like it. I don't - kill, not if I don't have to. But, when it comes to them or us. It can only be them. How is Derek?

[imnot_likeyou]

I'm not sure beyond "alive." Hayley took him back to the Salvatore House to heal, where people could watch his back. As far as I know, everything's been quiet.

[And if it wasn't, Stefan, Damon, Buffy, Katherine and Damian at least were there to handle it.]

[commend]

We'll go after.

( They'll need a place to change, anyway. Allison's contacts will help out with that. AKA, anyone at Casa De Salvatore, just accept the hanging bags that are provided when knocking. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Or they can just give them to Cora, and she'll stash them somewhere.]

Sounds good.

[Sam will just run everyone around all day, like a real graduation attendee.]

Graduation starts at two, so we should have time.

[matriarchate]

( Unless they don't have the means with them. They did only fly each with one bag to their names. This is an all hands on formal deck, here. )

More than enough.

( She tells Frey they've landed and tries to catch her breath, looking up at Scott in the front seat, just naturally worried. )

What do we know about the remaining hunters?

[imnot_likeyou]

There's only one, as far as we're aware.

[And there's a long pause because he found out about this ... after everything else had gone down so he couldn't report it earlier.]

He ... also might be in transition.

[matriarchate]

Might?

( She'll look up from her phone at that. They have one last Mystic Falls hunter and he is -- why. )

It's not like a werewolf bite, you either are or you aren't. Why was he fed vampire blood?

[imnot_likeyou]

I only say might because I haven't seen him for myself, but this is what I've been told. As for why ... you'll have to ask Damon Salvatore. Apparently he and this other hunter named Damian Jericho are hatching some kind of vampire double agent plan.

[Which ... Sam thinks that's questionable at best, but he also knows that Damian is working with what he's been given. He's always been good at that - rolling with the punches.]

[matriarchate]

Damian Jericho.

( From what it sounds like, she and Damian have their own dealings that go back. Especially when it comes to old Argent and Hale artifacts. )

They did this, without -- he's at Damon's, isn't he? The hunter.

( And Damian. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[Sam raises his eyebrows at that, because that is a reaction.]

You know him?

[He's not saying that Damian's past isn't slightly sketchy, but lately he's been fairly on the level as far as Sam is concerned. He's curious what Allison knows.]

But yeah. The hunter's probably still in Damon's basement while they wait for him to wake up.

[matriarchate]

Yeah. He's been a - friend of the family's. He's not good news, unless something's drastically changed. He's in it for his own dime.

( But, it's been five - ten years since she's really seen him. Impressions just stay. )

[imnot_likeyou]

[So a Bela Talbot. Yeah, that tracks with who Damian was before, as far as Sam is concerned.]

Well, at the moment, he's pretty close with one of the Petrova Doppelgangers. So for now, he's on our side. But I'm sure you'll get the chance to interrogate him more thoroughly if you want.

[matriarchate]

Katherine.

( Someone more vaguely connected. Her family had more connection to Klaus than anyone, and they didn't live to tell the tale. But this is a longstanding, let go grudge. She knows what politics to play here. )

Those people find each other.

[imnot_likeyou]

I guess.

[But we'll see what happens when they get to the house. Right now, they're pulling up on the hospital, so he'll stop in the unloading zone.]

I'll take Cora over to the Salvatores'. Text me when you're ready and I'll swing back to pick you up.

[matriarchate]

( Allison steps out of the car, following Scott, listening to Sam. They open the trunk again to get their bags, in case they don't get back to this car.

Derek doesn't choose to sleep for longer than he expects, but that's what a spell takes out of him. Jackson goes between sitting by him and posting up outside the door, and then finally downstairs.

Damon also has two hunters bunking, not that Derek wasn't hurt on his own watch, but Jackson trusts they can give anybody a run for their money. )

[impetere]

[Cora beats Sam out of the car, despite his much longer legs, and immediately makes a beeline for the house. She doesn't give more than a passing hello to Jackson, before following her brother's scent through the house and up the stairs.

Sorry, Jackson. She'll be an actual person later.

Though Sam will also follow inside, and acknowledge Jackson more fully, with a nod, before making his way to the kitchen where Damian is probably making use of the full kitchen, for once, to make Katherine and himself breakfast.]

[engender]

( The bedroom Derek's sleeping in is unlocked. After washing his face and making it to the bed, he fell into a deep, fatigued kind of sleep. The kind he never has experienced. He's drained in more ways than one, it feels like.

He picks up her scent from outside the door, so that if she lets herself in, his eyes will be open.

If she stays outside the door, Derek pushes himself out of bed and over to it, opening it and beating her to knocking. Either way. )

You made good time.

[impetere]

The wonders of a private jet.

[She will just let herself in, thank you, and will take him in, almost as though she's looking for injuries she wouldn't be able to see. After getting mistletoe poisoning, you learn to look for different signs and symptoms.]

How are you feeling?

[engender]

Uncharacteristically tired.

( He uses the strength he has to sit up. He doesn't like it. That's made clear. )

Rescued by vampires. That's new.

[shreds]

( Katherine returns for a run around the same time, wavy hair pulled back in something of a wild pony tail in comparison to Elena's straight locks. )

Good morning. Ooh, breakfast. Sometimes, I think about trading up, ( She shares, crossing her arms beside him. ) but then he cooks.

[gambled_ourmistakes]

It's unfortunately rare that we have a kitchen that meets my standards.

[He places one of the plates of Eggs Florentine on the counter for Katherine to take, and she can likely smell that the coffee is fresh.]

How about you, Sam? Eggs Florentine?

["No, actually, I can't stay long. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Allison Argent is in town."

Damian nods, considering, before looking at him curiously, almost as though he's not sure what Sam is getting at.]

It's been a while. How's Allison doing?

[shreds]

( Yes, please, Damian. After setting her plate down in the dining room, she's indeed back for coffee. )

Allison Argent. To what do we owe this hunter royalty.

( Katherine spent most of the night before downstairs in the basement or her bedroom. Not many keep her apprised.

As for Jackson, an arm grips the back of the couch and he, too, rises.

"Something smells five star." )