Stefan Salvatore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
somanyadjectives) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
everyonelives2020-10-12 06:55 pm
somanyadjectives) wrote in everyonelives2020-10-12 06:55 pm
hey it's good to be back home again
[It's been a while since Stefan has been back in Mystic Falls, but he wasn't going to miss the twins graduation. He knew that coming home was going to be complicated. He was bringing his girlfriend to meet people. He was bracing himself for Damon's judgement about him dating a vampire slayer the entire ride from the airport.
What he hadn't expected, was getting ambushed at a gas station while filling up his car by a hunter.
According to Damon, there haven't been hunters in Mystic Falls in years. They knew that the school would be a beacon, but they also took precautions for that to protect the kids. Most hunters understood that they were trying to reduce deaths, rather than concentrate them. This isn't to say that Mystic Falls is perfect, but they're doing better than they used to.
Stefan doesn't kill him. He's caught off guard enough that he doesn't immediately go for the kill, and Buffy catches the hunter off guard enough that the guy decides to retreat and regroup rather than push his luck against a slayer and a vampire. This isn't, unfortunately, before he manages to plug Stefan with a few wooden bullets. And those hurt like a mother.]
Gotta love coming home.
[He groans as he sinks back against the car, trying to keep an eye on their surroundings, before glancing down at the bleeding holes in his shirt.]
I liked this shirt.
What he hadn't expected, was getting ambushed at a gas station while filling up his car by a hunter.
According to Damon, there haven't been hunters in Mystic Falls in years. They knew that the school would be a beacon, but they also took precautions for that to protect the kids. Most hunters understood that they were trying to reduce deaths, rather than concentrate them. This isn't to say that Mystic Falls is perfect, but they're doing better than they used to.
Stefan doesn't kill him. He's caught off guard enough that he doesn't immediately go for the kill, and Buffy catches the hunter off guard enough that the guy decides to retreat and regroup rather than push his luck against a slayer and a vampire. This isn't, unfortunately, before he manages to plug Stefan with a few wooden bullets. And those hurt like a mother.]
Gotta love coming home.
[He groans as he sinks back against the car, trying to keep an eye on their surroundings, before glancing down at the bleeding holes in his shirt.]
I liked this shirt.
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Ready?
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( With Stefan, she's ready. They gather there luggage and descend upon Damon Salvatore's home. She'll be fine. She always is. And if she's not, she's dealt with worse beyond Damon Salvatore. )
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Damon? You here?
[It might be nice to have a chance to settle before dealing with his brother.]
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At the back, Stefan sees an open sliding door. He might be able to hear a faint crackling sound. On the kitchen counter is a bottle of scotch, a post-it note that says, "Stefan," and two glasses. They'll find Damon by his modern firepit out back. )
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Once that's settled, he'll make his way out to the firepit.]
Are you giving me the opportunity to make an entrance, or did you just get tired of waiting?
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Plus, Stefan has a margarita with her every once and a while. She's always the cocktail orderer, though.
Damon likes doing the paperwork by the fire, which is what Stefan will see. Various papers and a laptop sitting on the sofa he's reclining against. )
Any chance to help you really bring the drama. Hello, Brother.
( He's up and around the pit, bringing Stefan into a tight Salvatore hug. Ending that, he offers Buffy his hand. )
Damon. It's good to finally meet you. Glad it's in one piece.
( "It only took some backseat gas station triage." )
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[Speaking of that gas station triage.]
Will you two be okay while I'm gone?
[He figures they can get Damon being Damon out of the way while Stefan is out of the room, and maybe they can just have a nice conversation when he returns.
He hopes, anyway.]
my biggest enemy is me pop a 911
"Little does he know, this is the moment we became arch rivals," Buffy says, finishing his sentence and taking a seat on the couch.
"His biggest mistake was leaving us alone," he jokes, staying up, but rounding the fire pit. "He could be upstairs ripping for all we know."
"Through your countless staff," she deadpans.
"They hide. Stefan's hair intimidates them," he chides, leaning his head in.
"And they don't balk at the way yours flops over."
Damon perches on the edge of the couch, giving a 'hm,' in response as he brings his lips to his glass.
"Your banter's promising," he compliments.
"I've never had complaints about my banter. I've actually heard I banter too much. I think it's the big bads. Even the little ones. They just want to quip back and forth, I want to stake and go home." He peers at her over that sip. "My vampires. I know that vampires come in species now. I know where you come from. I know that not every vampire crawls out of their grave and finds their fight."
He rubs the edge of his glass with his thumb.
"Some want to be better." They still slip up. And eventually, they lose out on control. But, over the years, they get that choice. They get an entire school of choice. What would he and his brother have been like with a Salvatore School.
"Some," Buffy says. She blinks, finding Damon's eyes. Does he? There's what Stefan's told her - and there's what she knows. What people have researched. Xander took her out for an intervention breakfast the night after she slept with him and, please for the life of her don't tell Buffy just how he knew. Buffy? Is still a grown woman. She makes her own choices.
And Dawn approves.
"I have a little sister, Dawn. She means everything to me, too."
"Aah, I didn't say everything."
"Really," Buffy says. "You wouldn't trade your life for his."
"In a heartbeat."
"And that's all I need to know," she says, setting the glass down that she hasn't taken but one sip from. "Just know that if he ever wanted to do the same thing for you, it would be hard for me to let him. But, that would be his decision." Is that a dig at Damon making everyone's decisions for them? Probably. More about her recognizing the stakes.
"I didn't let Stefan go off and find himself, Little Women style." Buffy raises an eyebrow. "He made that decision himself. Elena's a doctor. My closest friends are an overworked headmaster and a traveling witch. I haven't told either one of them what to do in years. And, if I did, they don't listen."
That seems to sate her enough. But, again, she's not attacking. She knows how to get along when she should, and knows that eventually, if she doesn't prefer to, she won't. She's all for trying to get along. For Stefan's sake.
"You -" he starts, clearing his throat. "Knew Elena."
"We've Facetimed once. Or twice." A few times from he way she says that.
"We might be two of Elena's best guy friends. That might intimidate some women."
"Not the slayer..." she says, flatly.
"The?" he asks, bringing a foot up onto the couch. Is this possessive? Hunters and slayers, they're a dime-a-semi-dangerous dozen, that he knows of.
"Well, not anymore, but that's actually because of me. How much do you know about vampire slayers?"
"I know," Damon says, "that there's a castle full of them. They're all over the planet. They're stronger, imbued with -- something that makes them formidable." He doesn't say killing machines. He doesn't see Buffy as a killing machine. But, she has the capability. Don't they all? As sweet as she is, she could wipe the floor with him.
"How it goes is that, there was one girl in all the world." She raises her hand to about shoulder height. "She alone would fight the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer." Damon doesn't interrupt her. This feels like story time. "Then she dies and another one's called. That happened twice. I died - came back, and then the second slayer of my generation - she died, too. And a third was called. Eventually, we faced a greater evil and that evil brought together these no-eyed religious cult members. One by one, they started killing off any potential slayer. Any girl, no matter her age, nationality, where she was in 'line,'" Buffy says, using air quotations. "Eventually, we gathered the ones we could. And, thanks to my friend Willow, I used the power in an ancient scythe to imbue them all right then and there. Every girl that could have the power, they did, then. And we led an assault on a gate of hell. We won and the opening of it collapsed."
Damon nods along, eyes trained on her and her story.
"It also collapsed an entire town into a crater, but we'd evacuated everyone beforehand."
"Huh."
"And, no, now. Every girl that could be the slayer, that had the potential? She is. We do try and find them to train them properly. All that strength -- it can turn. Like being a vampire. There aren't just good slayers out there."
"Not like you," he replies.
"I had my moments. I'm only human. But, I'll always be the slayer." Grabbing her glass, she takes a drink finally. It shoots down and settles and she manages to not react at the burn and the after taste. "For a long time, it was me, alone."
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He picked up bits and pieces of the conversation, but since no one was yelling or he didn't hear the sound of things breaking, it seems like they were getting along well. Good for them.]
But now she's not, which is great for me when I want to steal her away for a weekend trip or two.
[He hopes that's not a complete tone change for the conversation, but if it isn't, maybe it should be.]
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( He's just being difficult, and he does hope that shows through his tone.
Buffy would chime in, but that's not up to her. As hurt as he might be, him talking to Stefan, that's what she'd want. She knows how much siblings mean. )
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[He's also joking. He knows WhatsApp is a thing. Also he's old and rich. It's just nice to return to a business as usual kind of dynamic.]
Sticking with email was for the best.
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Not that Buffy's not worth the wait. Tell me more of Scottish castles?
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But fortunately Elena arrives somewhere towards the end, and we can segue this in to the next thread?]