the ground could open, he could still say please

[slavophile]

Comments

[cholesterol]

( "Sure. I can hit the books," Katherine drly says. But, she will actually be of help. He's done it before. "What about Ryan?" she asks.

"Yeah. I can do some research," he says, looking to Caroline. Don't leave him alone with Katherine. )

Library free-for-all.

[vampireboulevard]

[Don't worry, she won't. She narrows her eyes at Katherine, before reaching to take Ryan's hand.]

Why don't we go get settled in, and we'll come meet you once we're done?

[cholesterol]

Sam'll hole up in there with you.

( Caroline and Ryan leave the group in the great room as her phone goes off.

I'm back. )

[vampireboulevard]

[She glances down at her phone and then straightens.]

Oh, that's Bonnie. You want to go get her, or should I?

[That question is directed at Ryan, giving him an out if he doesn't want to dig into the research quite yet.]

[widenecked]

I'll go.

( He holds his hand out for her keys. He likes the out because it also involves Katherine. )

How are you doing with this? I know you and Katherine have history.

[vampireboulevard]

I can handle her.

[Katherine did kill her once, but she's human now, and that evens the playing field some. She passes over her keys and gives him a smile.]

We'll be in the library when you get back.

[widenecked]

I'll bring back Bonnie and Isaac.

( He leaves Caroline with the library (and Katherine.)

Katherine sits herself down at the table in the library not knowing what she should look for. She guesses Sam or Dean or someone will give her the right book. Allison has joined Sam and the others in the library. )

[imnot_likeyou]

Alright. We're looking for witch stuff. Colonial witch stuff.

[He moves towards the shelves and starts pulling some of the records related to witchcraft and practicing witches.]

The highest traffic for the witch trials happened in Salem, but they happened throughout the colonies, so we can split this up by area, or some of us can take the colonies while the others dig into what we have on the Inquisition which will take ... a lot longer.

[matriarchate]

Let's split it up. Bonnie will be back and she'll be another set of eyes. I'll take the Inquisition with Sam and when she and Isaac get here, Bonnie, and everyone else split up the witch trials by colony.

( If she knew what she was looking for, she'd play general for that, too.

Luckily, Dean, who has come into his own as research guy has ideas for what they should look for.

"We're looking for suspicious, brutal, caused deaths. Anything from the trials themselves and accidents out in the woods. It sounds like this Gauntlet is no holds barred. But, it can't have gone undocumented completely."

Better yet, the person wouldn't know they were contributing. )

[vampireboulevard]

Well, we can scratch off the hundred witches burned in Mystic Falls in 1790. That was a totally unrelated thing.

[That involved sirens and the Cade and as far as they know totally not related to the Gauntlet. Then she holds up a finger.]

But they were refugees from Salem, so maybe there's something in the Bennett family grimmoire. Their whole coven came down from Massachusetts.

[matriarchate]

( "You guys really take liberties with your local history," Dean says, equally unsurprised by anything Caroline ever says. It's fine, they'll be besties in no time. )

Do we have it?

[vampireboulevard]

Mystic Falls has always been a complicated place.

[You don't get to be the birthplace of vampires without being complicated. But to address Allison's question:]

Here? I don't know. But Ryan went to pick up Bonnie and Isaac, so we can ask her when she gets here.

[phonetically]

( "What has Mystic Falls not had," Dean asks. Because by his count, it's up there when it comes to all things super and natural.

Allison nods and Caroline's phone buzzes! )

[vampireboulevard]

Variety is the spice of life?

[She glances down at her phone as it rings and her eyebrows go up when she sees the name on the caller ID. She excuses herself and makes her way back to somewhere where she'll have a little more privacy.]

Hey, Stiles.

[She wasn't expecting him to call, but she's glad he did.]

[phonetically]

Hey. Caroline.

( How does he do this? He did it with Cora. That was like sending a bullet through the wire. He can do this with Caroline. )

I bailed pretty good. Like in terms of a point system for bailing, I'd be up there. Even the Russian judge would be like, what a great bail!

[vampireboulevard]

Maybe, but we all know the Russian judge has it out for us. As far as my personal abandonment scale goes, you don't even make the podium.

[She means that to be comforting, but there's a list. The gold always goes to her dad, first and foremost. Stefan Salvatore, after they lost Bonnie and Damon usually gets silver, and there are much more painful options to fill in for third.

Yes, she was worried about Stiles, but given that there were no bodies dropping, the painful anguish was at a minimum.]

Are you okay?

[phonetically]

I went back to work. Buried my head in bureaucracy and then all my friends got doxxed.

( As far as 'okay' goes, he's up there. His friends aren't. )

You're really with Lydia and Allison?

[vampireboulevard]

Yep. We're having a good old-fashioned research party. Some kind of crazy witch situation is brewing because the universe has remembered we existed and apparently a decade break is as long as we get. But hey, at least Elena got to finish med school uninterrupted, because if she had to deal with supernatural problems every year and pass her boards she might have snapped and murdered someone.

[Is she just rambling because that seems easier? Maybe. But she's never had trouble holding the chatty end of a conversation.]

But they're good. Promise.

[phonetically]

Same. Here. I mean, I need to work on things. And I should. But, I am not tearing off anyone's heads. Or biting any unsuspecting agents. Something worked.

( Enough. )

Crazy to think we would've had to get out, anyway. Except maybe together. Bunker life sounds... studious.

[vampireboulevard]

I'm glad some of the lessons stuck.

[For Stiles' benefit more than her own. She's glad that he's managing.]

Are you on your own, or do you have people you can really talk to there?

[phonetically]

Really talk to. Yeah, I never really had that after Scott. ( Even with, they didn't really talk about things, they just experienced them and reacted. ) So, talking. That'll help.

[vampireboulevard]

Well, I'm here, if you need it.

[She wonders if he might need some of the things she did, in order to better manage moving forward. To not let the speed at which the world throws them into things keep them from hitting the milestones that are important.]

Maybe even in person, once things settle down a little.

[phonetically]

Yes, in person. I am very good in person.

( He's actually a babbling mess, usually, or an ADD mess, or a vampire mess, yeah he's a big old mess and he should definitely take her up on her offer. )

My one partner - she's in the know. I should probably figure out how or why, but she helped with Elena and everyone. With you.

[vampireboulevard]

Well, tell her thank you from us.

[Because really, everyone got out safe from the heads up that Stiles gave them.]

I might be back in Mystic Falls soon. There's something we need and I'm not sure if Bonnie was able to bring it with her. Maybe while I'm there we can grab a drink. I'll let you know?

[phonetically]

Yeah, I could meet you there. And you can thank her in person.

( Buddy system, these days. )

Thanks. For not giving up on me.