why is it you always get to sit in the shade

[blackstarred]

Comments

[moralitypolice]

No, I just - I feel it. Like an itch.

( She leans over to turn the light on beside her, bringing her feed in so she can sit up.

She tries to concentrate, choosing to sense magic to get more of a clue. (12) )

[witchaffinity]

( Kol assists them in moving Julian's brother to the floor. Balancing on one foot, he retrieves a pillow from the couch to position it under his head. )

Where are we needed?

[regentem]

["Chalk?" Freya asks, and Davina passes it over.]

You both have to be touching him and each other. So maybe shoulder to shoulder?

[It'll make quite the large circle, but it'll also be the most comfortable for everyone.]

[notwitty]

[She doesn't get much, but she does get the sense that it's not coming from the floor that they're on - instead, it seems to be coming from below them, deeper in the B&B.

Isaac gets to his feet and grabs some shoes. He has a feeling that they're going to need to be on the move.]

[vampireboulevard]

[The door closing finally rouses Caroline (15), and she blinks over at him when she sees him getting his shoes on.]

What's going on?

[witchaffinity]

( Climbing over Kieran's brother, he settles next to Julian, crossing his legs, giving her access to his back so she can sit against him. He then places one hand on Julian's chest. )

[widenecked]

The inn owner is hiding something. I smelled blood.

( He finishes lacing up his shoes, jumping up. )

I'm going to follow them. Call Bonnie.

[moralitypolice]

It's below us. Some kind of ritual?

( She doesn't know. Opening her eyes again, she sees Isaac moving for his shoes. )

You're going to check it out?

[vampireboulevard]

[Caroline nods, before getting out of bed and also putting on her shoes as she dials Bonnie's number. She can multitask, and this seems like the kind of problem where they use the buddy system.]

[notwitty]

Well, this seems like the kind off situation where if we don't do something about the ritual, we become the ritual.

[Which, been there, done that, would rather not ever again.]

Either we leave immediately or we're going to fight something, so I'd like to have my shoes.

[And as he says that, ring ring Bonnie phone.]

[widenecked]

( And Ryan is back in the hallway. He gets (11) to listen where the owner and Lurch went. )

[moralitypolice]

Put on your shoes.

( She doesn't want to become the ritual. She answers her phone on speaker. )

Caroline?

[regentem]

Kieran settles in the indicated spot next to him, reaching out and placing a hand on her brother's shoulder before nodding to Davina.

Davina nods in return, before reaching across for Freya's hands. Once they connect, they begin to chant and the three of them sink further into the spell.]

[tuumest]

( Sinking is a good word for it. Not only do Kieran and Kol sink into the spell, but Freya, too.

The three of them stand in front of the Connor's childhood home. The diminishing sunlight and orange and pink sky is indicative of it being dusk.

Kieran, make a spot check.

Meanwhile, outside of the spell, Davina's chanting cuts off as the spell cuts off her connection, jettisoning her backward. Very few spells have that kind of active capability, she can note. But, she is awake, if dealing with a brief moment of vertigo as her senses return to her. )

[transientem]

[Kieran blinks as the city comes into view, a familiar place even if she hasn't been home in a long time. There's a small sigh of relief when she sees the familiar sky, before she glances over and frowns at Freya.]

You're not supposed to be here.

[Freya makes a face. "No, I'm not. Something must have gone wrong with the tether."]

[regentem]

[Davina gets thrown back against the wall with a groan - it's been a while since she's felt that kind of backlash from a spell. She blinks as the dots begin to clear and when she sees Freya collapsed in next to everyone else, she scrambles forward.]

Shit.

[vampireboulevard]

Ryan saw the owner of the inn checking out a guest super late and he says he smelled blood. We're going to check it out, but be careful.

[She keeps her voice low, just in case someone is out there and around still listening.]

Are you and Isaac okay?

[vampireboulevard]

[He doesn't hear them anywhere nearby, but given the fuzziness of how things sound, that doesn't necessarily guarantee that they're off the floor. But the room that they had been taking things out of is currently not being attended to.]

[witchaffinity]

Perhaps the spell prefers its' family affairs.

( Family saving family.

Kol is not familiar with his surroundings but he can see they mean something to Kieran.

With an (18), Kieran sees a few things. While this is her childhood homes, the other homes around it do not match that neighborhood's. It's wrong compared to what she remembers. And this isn't just her home, it's her home at a period of time. The door is painted black, not yellow, which means her father hasn't died yet. The abandoned bike, the porch swing that breaks a week later, the broken upstairs window from a pickup game of baseball in the street neighbor kids played the day before.

This is a significant day to her and her brother.

She knows the back door should be wide open because neither her brother nor her closed it behind them when they got home, not for a few hours anyway. He made her eat something. Sat with her in silence if she wanted to talk.

Their dad's favorite record played until it scratched and Julian finally turned it off.

As far as she knows, that record player has never been used again.

As for the other buildings, she doesn't recognize them. )

Is that common, being trapped inside? ( He glances around them. ) Where's Davina?

[tuumest]

( Late, literally with Starbucks and a bag of pastries, in strolls H, the key card electronically sounding as he lets himself into the room. He stops, surveys the scene, takes a full ninety degree turn to face Davina.

"It kept her, didn't it?" )

[moralitypolice]

We're fine. Something powerful is going down. Tonight. I feel it in my skin, Caroline. And it's coming from one of the lower floors.

( Is there a basement? )

You follow the guest, we'll follow the magic.

[widenecked]

( Ryan rolls a stealth check of (13) to slip inside the unattended room, hand searching for a switch to get the lights. )

[vampireboulevard]

[The switch is in the same place as it is in their room, right next to the door frame. As the light flicks on, the room looks ... normal. But Ryan can still smell the blood, as does Caroline when she catches up to him.]

Oh ... whoa. I see what you mean.

[notwitty]

["Okay, be careful. They've for some kind of sound proofing going, so keep your phone on you."

And with that, Caroline will hang up, and Isaac peeks out the door (19), scanning the area, before turning back to Bonnie with a nod.]

Let's go.

[transientem]

["Maybe she managed to withstand the pull of the spell? I don't know. It's an old spell, we might have misjudged the power it still held."

As Freya and Kol discuss the mechanics, Kieran is making her way towards the yard, looking over the old relics of what her life used to be. She runs her fingers over the handle bar of the bike when she gets close enough, tipping it back so she can see the sparkling unicorn stickers that she had slapped over her brother's hand-me-down bike in order to make it more her own. Remnants of the girl she used to be. She knows she lost some of that sparkle, whether she wanted to or not.

She knows what day this is, when her world turned sharply off it's access. She doesn't particularly want to relive it, but she's here to get Julian out, which means she needs to be able to face it.

She heads up the stairs to the front door, pushing it open a little wider and poking her head inside.]

Jules?