everyonelives | hey it's good to be back home again

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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.

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( He doesn't know. Not actually. Jack let some sleeping lies -- lie. But, he does understand. )

He spent most of his time alone where we all lived or, on the road with us. It's good he has a place to call home. We miss that kid.

I'm sure he misses you too.

[Because it's hard not to miss people when they're far away.]

But he'll be coming back to you soon. He's graduating too, isn't he?

He is.

( And you've hit the original reason why they came to town, and rolled through a few times before then. )

If we stop whoever has it in for them. Which is why Sammy is diligently working with his toys.

[Elena shifts, turning so that she can see where Sam is working, and then smirks a bit.]

I have a couple friends he would really get along with.

[Mostly Ric and Dorian.]

Please introduce him to more geeks with which he can geek with.

( Dean laughs at that, full taking advantage of the coffee. He's forgotten about the dessert menu with the serious topics on the table. )

Well, if we're going to be working together on this, I'm sure he'll meet them. And he'll love the library at the school. Dorian's worked really hard on curating an impressive collection.

[About all things supernatural.]

Sammy might have you beat with that one, but he'll have fun cross-referencing. You might have to give him some privacy if you have a truly curated collection.

( They have quite the curated collection themselves. If they ever needed to put their heads and book collections together. )

With working together, you're going to be coming with us when we locate the car? We can call you when we have an update.

[She nods. She intends to see this through to the end.]

I want to come. The less information I get second hand the better.

Ever been on a hunt before?

( It's better than asking if she's used a gun or a knife before. Being around vampires all her life means she's probably had to defend herself once or twice. But, having to and being good at it. Two different times.

Is she their liability all of a sudden.

Is she going to get in the way. )

I can take care of myself.

[Which isn't a direct answer to the question, because if she had to answer directly, the answer would probably be no. She hasn't. But she has spent a fair amount of her life having to fight back against various supernatural creatures, so she has learned how to defend herself.

And she's got a number of vampire hunting tools in the trunk of her car. A gift from Alaric, just in case.]

Don't worry.

( "Don't worry." Yeah. Okay. He nods. )

Let's see what Sam's found, then.

( Did you think he was going to walk over there? Him? Nah. He's just going to pick up a sugar packet, throw it up once in his hand to test its weight, and then launch it at Sam who's headphone deep in whatever thing he's found.

As soon as it leaves his hand, he retrieves his coffee and takes a sip from it.

Who threw that? )

[The sugar packet hits him square in the forehead and he startles up like a cat who's afternoon nap was suddenly interrupted by a vacuum cleaner. He squints at his brother and rolls his eyes, before gesturing for he and Elena to come closer.]

( Dean just grins, grabbing his suit jacket and moving with Elena to Sam's table. He slides beside Sam so Elena can have her own space.

The waitress returns -- looks around -- and then comes over to Sam's table and puts Dean's check down, and Sam's check. If her feathers are ruffled because they've moved she smiles through it. )

Whadya got?

So the license plate headed the opposite way it came, back up the highway and to a local watering hole.

[He turns the laptop around to show the car pulling up in front of a bar called Grady's.

"That place is still open?" Elena frowns. "I thought it closed years ago."]

It did. Around the same time it turned into a hunter bar.

( He thinks, with pulling as big a job as they expect, he would lay low. )

Do you think they run a clinic out of the back? Underneath?

( Only reason he'd be this obvious. Unless he thinks blending with the crowd is the right thing. )

He's injured. We know what to look for.

I wouldn't be surprised, given they're trying so hard to fly under the radar.

[He closes his laptop before glancing around the diner.]

We've been keeping our affiliation with the Argents fairly low-key. Maybe we could go in and check it out?

( Dean doesn't like it, especially not with Elena Gilbert in tow. But, she's already told him she's not going anywhere. )

At least get eyes on him. ( He considers it, pursing his lips. ) We roll up, I got the wrong end of something's claw. ( They could. He's cut himself for less. He looks to Elena, though. ) Let's pay and then regroup outside.

( And by regroup, he's going to get Elena a little more Katherine. She'll need to take her hair down, run her hands through it, maybe flip it back. No earrings. Maybe she has heels or something different in the trunk.

But, he'll tell her this once they get outside and back to the Impala. Sorry, Elena. He doesn't mean you're not good enough, he just means -- you need to be able to fit in. And Katherine has a look to her. )

Are you good with that?

[She makes a face as he lays out his plan to have her be Katherine. Yes, she's less than pleased with the idea, but if it gets the information they need, then she can pretend to be her doppelganger.

It's not as though Katherine hasn't tried to be Elena more than once.

She reaches up to tug out her ponytail and makes her way over to her car to pull out a change of clothes and a make up bag, usually saved for rushing to a Founders event after finishing a shift at the hospital.]

You have to tell me everything she's been doing. If I'm going to be her, I have to do my homework.

Her partner's Damian Jericho. They travel. Worked jobs for the last ten years. Damian's a tall, Armie Hammer type. All shoulders and eyes. ( Shut up, Sam. He likes his rom coms, too. ) Sam, you know more about Damian than I do.

[Sam nods. "I can fill you in."

Elena nods as well, before gathering her things.]

Just let me get changed, and you can fill me in on the way.

[And with that, she'll disappear into the diner bathroom to give herself a light Katherine transformation. There's nothing she can do about her hair to make it curly right here right now, but she can change her body language enough to make it work.

And before she leaves, she'll send a text to Stefan, filling him in and asking to send a quick text to someone who could screw it for her if they weren't made aware. Stefan agrees, and once that's done, she makes her way out to the car, trying to refamiliarize herself with Katherine's strut as she does.]

So. We doing this, or what?

( There's something about it. Elena post hospital shift and the Elena that saunters out of the diner's front door. )

We're uh - Sam? We're. Doin, this. Let's do it.

[The drive over is all business, with Elena doing her makeup in the back seat while Sam gives her a quick run down on all things Damian Jericho. It's certainly enough information to give her an idea of why Katherine seems to have attached herself to him.

She does like people who like nice things.

Eventually, they pull up to the bar in question, and she looks it over, before giving her hair a light toss.]

So what's our story? Are we sticking with the one of us got injured idea?

( Looks to Sam, not sure on the best play here. )

What do you think, Sammy?

[He leans back in his seat as he considers.]

We could make it seem like we want to join the cause. Would Katherine go for that?

[Elena makes a face. "Duplicity is her stronger suit. But the bigger question is will they go for her."]

That's a good point.

We know where we fall on the line. Any hunter bust-up we've done, it can't be traced back to us. Katherine's a wildcard.

( He considers both, hand tapping the wheel behind him as he faces Elena and Sam. )

What's our goal here? Find the guy and get him alone? Shake him for information? ( He looks to Elena, then Sam. ) Or, do get our hands on his phone. Forget breaking him with torture, we can just break his encryption. Eh? ( Smart, right? ) Which means, injured.

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