coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[somanyadjectives]

Yeah, my phone's definitely dead.

[Why are Stefan and Damon stuck in the Scottish highlands? Funny you should ask.

Damon persuaded his brother to have a good old fashioned Salvatore brothers night out. There was Quarters. There was darts. Unlike past adventures, shockingly little murder. But a Scottish witch cornered them over one of the games, charming them and plying them with alcohol, and after ... something, that is feeling a little hazy around the edges, he and Damon woke up in the middle of a field, surrounded by cows, and not entirely sure how they got there.

... It's not the worst night they've ever had. He pats a cow on the side when it gets a little too close before turning back to his brother.]

What about you?

[unforgivably]

( Damon wouldn't blame either one of them. For the record. No matter whose side of the fault line fault lies, (he may have goaded her) the sinister Scottish witch who did something is to blame. It's her fault. He traded nothing away, he stole from no giants, they don't talk about his father. It's all her fault.

Damon's greatly concerned with the expensive jacket he's not wearing anymore as he stalks the field nearby to see if it came off before they were dropped here. Or ended up here. He doesn't... remember coming here, or even being dropped here. He remembers darts. He remembers Celestine. Celestina? Cel-something.

He stops his futile search and searching for his phone in his pockets before closing his eyes. )

My phone was in my jacket.

( He opens them again. )

Or on the table.

( There are pictures on that phone, he thinks. He remembers taking candids. )

But, it's not on my person.

( It probably has a signal wherever it is right now. Does that help? Probably not.

Even the name of the bar is hazy now. )

I know we promised Buffy murder wasn't on the menu, but I think this warrants an exception. Or at least a quorum.

[somanyadjectives]

[Stefan holds up his hand, because he's not ready to put murder on the table quite yet. Right now, they just need to find out what part of Scotland they're in, and how to make their way back towards the castle.]

She dumped us in a cow pasture. Not sure that's a murderable offense.

[He's sure they might find out that something else was involved, and they can reevaluate then.]

Right now, I think we just need to worry about finding a ride.

[unforgivably]

( And stole his jacket! He probably left his jacket at the pub. Let's not go overboard. But this is Damon. He lives Overboard. He's Goldie Hawn. )

We're in the middle of nowhere, Stefan, with only cows for an audience.

( He should be less difficult, but, with circumstances what they are. )

I say we choose a direction and we walk.

[somanyadjectives]

[That they're aware of, anyway. Stefan glances around, studying roads around them before picking a direction and pointing.]

That way.

[That way leads to a road that seems fairly paved, so hopefully, at some point, they might find a car with a person that can tell them where they are.]

[unforgivably]

( Finally, a decision is made.

He does one more spin around before resigning himself to their only plan -
the walk of shame past the cow pasture. )

No sign of Rhett or Lindsay.

( He tries to push past whatever mojo was used, unable to recall anything past a certain point. )

I thought we won our round of darts.

( Apparently, winning also has its' consequences. )

[somanyadjectives]

Maybe this was our prize. Making friends with the cows.

[Stefan shakes his head as they continue to make their way down the road.]

But we should keep an eye out. Maybe they were left in a different part of the pasture.

[unforgivably]

That'll show 'em.

( What that will show them, he doesn't know. He's still playing catchup. As over this as he is, Damon takes it as seriously as the (8) he gets keeping his eye open for a spot check, but it could be the glare from the setting sun. )

I don't think they're here.

( Again, though. (8). )

[somanyadjectives]

[Stefan does a bit better (14), but he still doesn't come up with any sign of Lindsay or Rhett. He's not sure if that's a good or bad thing.]

Hopefully they're looking for us and we'll meet somewhere in the middle.

[It would be much easier if they had a phone to call someone, but they can start making their way down the road, and maybe there's somewhere he can charge his phone.]

[unforgivably]

What are the odds we were dropped in opposite cow pastures.

( Sounds like the most pointless game. )

Rhett's never been a man of many pranks and Lindsay drank us both under the table.

[somanyadjectives]

Which is terrifying, by the way? We have constantly healing livers.

[But it explains why she's friends with Damon.]

Maybe they made it home and the rest of the group is looking for us now.

[unforgivably]

Maybe it's her slayerness?

( Which is not a fair fight when it comes to drinking games. If that's what they were doing. Darts aren't a drinking game, they're just a -- game. He still can't remember anything. )

I vote foul play because blackouts have never been in our repertoire without witchy involvement. But, you remember who you are, so we have that on our side.

[somanyadjectives]

That's true. This would have sucked if I wound up with amnesia again.

[Wandering the Scottish countryside with no memories sounds like a particular kind of Hell.]

But I don't understand why they wouldn't have dumped us all together. Unless we were the superfluous ones, and what they really wanted was Rhett or Lindsay.

[unforgivably]

Slayer or cad vampire barely younger than us. Not that you can't picture Rhett leaving a few broken hearts along the way. Like to think highly enough of him he would've recognized an old flame.

( Years away or not, other than plastic surgery, or magical witchy-woo, someone looks the same. Enough, anyway. )

Unless, they were the odd ones out and someone got theirs and then got us lost. Either scenario, I'm coming back around to murder.

[somanyadjectives]

[Of course he is. Stefan sighs.]

Let's just figure out where we are and how to get back. Then we'll decide who we have to murder.

[Hopefully no one.]

[unforgivably]

You're the ex-Pat. Anything about this dirt road or the rolling green hills sparking a memory?

( Navigationally, the brothers are usually matched, but that would imply it was their hometown or a large city or they had access to a map app.

He'd help, he would. But he's the tourist here.

Hell, he'll give it a go. He tries to listen for anything distinctive that might point them in the right direction (5) but a nearby cow's utterance thoroughly grinds that gear. )

[somanyadjectives]

[Well. Clearly you're not really trying, Damon (20).

Stefan is about to make a dry comment about rolling hills and the Georgians he's been spending a lot of his time with, but before he can get the words out, his head tips to the side and he gently pushes his brother off the road as a truck rounds the corner.]

Or maybe we could just hitch a ride?

[He steps over to flag the man down, and the truck slowly slides to a stop. A bearded face rolls down the window to look at the two men in front of him. "You lads lost?"]

[unforgivably]

( The cows interfered, for the record. Damon turns on the charm. Or, tries, but he's been dropped in the middle of cow country. (4) )

Friends of ours played a little prank on us. We're more than a little lost. Got room in there for two more?

[somanyadjectives]

[The driver makes a face, before nodding. "I'll take you as far as town, but I'm not goin' out of my way."]

We'll take it.

[At least if they get to town, they can likely find a place to charge Stefan's phone. He turns back to Damon and gestures for him to take the lead.]

[unforgivably]

( It's the back for Damon as he lets Stefan sit in the front, getting comfortable and sliding behind the passenger seat. The kindness of strangers often leads to small talk with strangers. But, he doesn't lose his manners. )

Thanks for this.

[somanyadjectives]

["Eh. Good karma's always worth having."

The ride to town isn't far, coming up on a pretty little hamlet tucked into the hills. As they wind past the pastures into the little village, the driver lets them off at his destination, and Stefan ducks into a coffee shop to see if they have a charging station and someone they can charm out of their phone charger while they have a cup of coffee.

Once that's done, he joins his brother at the table.]

So it looks like we're about pretty far from where we started. About a half-hour drive if we can get a ride.

[unforgivably]

( Damon compels them coffee. He holds his with both hands as he blows on the hot wisps of steam. )

Another ride.

( Why he didn't compel the good samaritan in hindsight... )

Tell me what should stop me from borrowing someone's car. There's only so far we can take the kindness of strangers, Stefan. The longer we're out here, the less we know about what happened with Rhett or Scarlett or Melanie or the fiancees.

[somanyadjectives]

I've actually been thinking about that.

[Because it is strange that they got this far out without someone realizing what happened to them, only to wind up being dumped in a cow field.]

I'm starting to wonder if going back is the best idea. We woke up in that pasture for a reason. Maybe what we're looking for is closer than we think. If I were kidnapping at least three vampires and taking them somewhere to do something sketchy, I don't think I would want to be close to where I snatched them.

[unforgivably]

If I kidnapped one vampire, I wouldn't dump them afterward in cow country. So, were we dead weight or did they get what they came for.

( And what would that have been. )

Got any top secret slayer knowledge someone might want, brother?

[somanyadjectives]

No. But when my phone turned on, there were some texts from Caroline about a possible pending witch war.

[He'll pass it over so Damon can read how, in true Caroline fashion, she has laid out what she knows and also what they don't know.]

So maybe the witch needs vampire blood or slayer blood for a spell of some kind?