[She considers just making it seem like she's ordering a drink so she can watch him, at first. It would have been the prudent thing to do, because it's not like he's going to recognize her. She and Luke were literal children and while he was old enough to mostly look the same, it's not the same for the twins.
But again, impulse rules, because hearing his voice, so close after so long, makes her override all her good intentions and she has to know. She has to ask.]
Shep?
[A cloud of blond curls fills some of the space behind him, but she's not close enough that the zoom call can see her face. She's at least that aware of things. Maybe she is wrong. Maybe he won't respond, because it's not his name. But she has to ask.]
( That pierces through the debriefing (13), has Shepherd slightly turning his head, as he yanks one earbud out. Nobody has used that name in a long, long time. He's Shipp or Shepherd. Not... )
[She says it more confidence this time, but her head is already swirling. She knows she's getting two steps ahead, hitting the realization before he's been able to have it. She takes a deep breath and starts patting down her pockets because some times she recognizes that she probably shouldn't speak because it'll come out all wrong.
She pulls out her license from her wallet and passes it to him so he can see it, picture and all: Olivia Parker, DOB January 5, 1991. She even still has her Portland license, mostly because she doesn't have a permanent address to change it to at the moment, and it's generally best if people assume she's somewhere else.]
( She says it again and he feels like his entire throat dries out. Before he can say something else, she pulls out what looks like her license, her picture, her date of birth, her name. And, it's a Portland license. Forget doing it on his own terms. He looks back at his screen, studying Alexander. He told him to leave it. He told him to not, to stand down, to not say anything. And he said that about his older sister, not --
He finds his words as he looks back at her. )
I thought -- ( How is this possible? ) Did Jo send you?
[Alexander is not part of this sudden reunion. In fact, there are notifs scrolling across his phone to indicate as much. He was told that Shep wasn't ready, so he dropped it.]
Jo knew!?
[Unfortunately the anger for Liv comes hot and fast because if Jo was keeping this from her - from them - after all her talks about transparency, they were going to have a very angry astral projection conversation later.
In fact, that outburst is likely loud enough for Luke to hear.]
No. She didn't send me. I'm here to meet Luke's stupid boyfriend, and we saw you at the bar.
[She gestures across the patio to where Luke is sitting, eyes likely laser focused on them, trying to figure out what's going on.]
[She buries her face in her hands, sliding back up onto the barstool, because yes. She'll take that drink right now. Shep also probably should hang up his phone unless he wants the Underground meeting he's dodging to hear all of this too.]
Jo made a deal with Kai. That she would do the merge but it was a trap. She hid her magic and they used it to send Kai to a prison world, which worked well enough. They started prepping me and Luke for the actual Merge, but around when we were supposed to, Kai got free and came back. He wanted Jo to do the Merge for real this time, and they did, and she won.
[Which is the important thing. Jo won, and while they might never be safe, they were safe from Kai, which she assumes is what Shep was running from in the first place.]
( As Liv slides on to the stool, Shepherd mutes the conversation, pulls the last earbud out of his ear and sets them aside, turning to face her more. Luke stands, flabbergasted. But, they have their things, too, and this is their big brother.
"Liv's dating a werewolf with anger issues. It's serious and he could knock you out with his chiseled jaw. I'm - fuck, Liv," he starts, looking back at their table where Jonathan has been brought, catching on to -- his boyfriend, his sister and someone else. And before anything else can be exchanged, Jonathan approaches.
"Are we sitting at the bar?")
Who's --
("He's mine. I mean, I'm - this is Jonathon. Olivia - Liv, my sister and ... Shepherd, my brother."
He doesn't have any time to come up with something else. This blindside makes him forget what he's told Jonathan, which blows up how you'd expect to as he side-eyes the family reunion.
[Kai is usually a safe person to pin the dead brother card on. She doesn't know what specifics Luke has shared, but she will turn to Jonathan with a thin smile.]
We have a lot of dead siblings. Try to keep up.
[Yeah, any sign of Liv being on her best behavior is out the door. Part of her wants to get Jo on the phone right now, find out what she does know. Part of her wants to get every detail of where Shep has been and what he's been doing.
And the part of her that's overwhelmed just wants to drive back to the Armory and not come out until she's got her head on straight.]
("Excuse me?" Liv rubs Jonathan the wrong way at the jump with not just her attitude, but how glib she's being about their family's losses.
"Liv," Luke bites. "She --"
"Two sisters, Luke.")
And a brother. Who he didn't know about. No one knew. ( Jo. ) We think. It's a long, long story and it sounds like Luke here didn't tell you the half of it.
("Stop. Both of you. Shep, you can't just - be my brother - act like this out of nowhere. Jonathon is my boyfriend. And he didn't know what he was walking into."
Luke tries to salvage it, tries to remember everything he loves about the guy who made him forget about meaningless encounters on Grindr. But, he remembers what it's like dating as a witch, dating as a survivor of a family massacare, and just dating as Olivia's forgotten baby brother, Luke.
"This feels like an ambush," Jonathan says, quickly coming to the conclusion that he shouldn't be involved. )
[She does feel bad at the way she snapped, because she really did intend to be good. She takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself enough to be convincing and tries to save the damage she wound up doing, inadvertently, to her brother's relationship (18).]
It was just supposed to be me. We didn't know Shep was in town. We saw him at the bar and came over to say hi. Our family is complicated, as I'm sure you're aware, but Luke wasn't intentionally keeping secrets.
[She offers him an apologetic look.]
You didn't deserve to get snapped at. I'm sorry.
[See? She's been working on it. Tyler's been helping, and she's still not great at other people, but she's better than she was in college. Also the apology is more for Luke than Jonathan, but she directs it at Jonathan, so he can believe it's for him if he wants.]
("Look, I'm happy to meet any of your relatives, but I don't think I should be here right now." Jonathan says, giving himself and everyone else an out. )
You shouldn't.
("Shep!")
Do you want me to go into where I've been and what I've been doing with whom -- and all the - magic that life offers all of us? With him here?
( Whatever the hell that was, Jonathan does look over to Luke, because he has been bested logically. Jonathan shouldn't be here. But, he could drag Jonathan away. He could come back to this, leave his sister with everything, but he doesn't say any of that out loud. Just thinks it.
"Right. Well, call me when your family reunion has reached its' dramatic apex," Jonathan says. He shakes his head, pained look finding every Laughlin, finally settling on Luke. This was supposed to be something, wasn't it?
"Jon..."
But it's not enough. Jonathan retreats away from all too much going on right now.
Shepherd lets the moment dangle between them all. )
[She knows that this isn't how he wanted today to go, but she also knows that he isn't going to leave. Not with the bomb that's been dropped on them today. If Jonathan's not a dick, he'll give Luke a chance to talk about it with him. If he doesn't, then he's a dick, and not good enough for her brother anyway.
He'll blame her, crash on her and Tyler's couch for a while, and he'll recover. They always do.
She passes the glass to Luke when it arrives, before knocking back half of hers.]
I'm you're twin. You're biologically obligated to like me.
[She's just saying. She finishes the rest of the drink before going back to Shep's question.]
Not that we're aware of. Jo's currently in Portland with her husband, visiting Ric's kid, and then there's the girls - Josie and Lizzie. But there's no one else left. Kai took care of that when he came back.
( How 'mostly?' Should he be concerned with 'mostly?' It sounds like he should be concerned with mostly.
"A few years ago, he emotionally manipulated our nieces and their dad. It's a long, body snatching story worthy of Esther Mikaelson, but it ended in Josie going dark and locking him down inside Jo again. For good this time."
That sinks in and something blue-screens across his face.
"You try," he tells his sister, taking a labored sip from his glass. )
[Everything bounces back to the median in the end. She'll leave out that Josie is dating the tribrid. She doesn't even know about Lizzie's own magical royalty boyfriend yet.
She should probably schedule an Auntie Liv FaceTime session and catch up with them, but that's a problem for future Liv. Current Liv is happily oblivious to the twins current problems right now.]
( Luke is in biochemistry, which, still pretty good! But, he still comes with the black sheep label. He and Liv seem to share and pass the label back and forth, but with, previously, only one relative to their name, neither was very concerned with it. )
( On the one hand, Liv and Luke know and everything hasn't gone to shit - for Shephard. On the other, he hasn't gone into his own exploits, where he's been, what he does, or why. And does he want anyone in his family involved? Not that that's a guarantee. Everyone can keep to their corners, just with checking in with each other more. And that could be nice.
But, his name is recognizable and he's still on the run.
Is he worth knowing?
How long will this secret be kept? Alexander knows who she is. And Alys. Is this something he deserves? Will it put any of them in danger? )
Do you? My life's - your life's -- I mean, Luke, the guy was a real wad, but --
("Maybe we weren't star-crossed--")
But you'd find out. You never meet me, never connect again, and you could've made your mistake on your own. Sorry. Decision.
Whatever you're up to can't be any worse than anything we've already been through.
[And the way she says that isn't as though she's tempting fate, but more a statement of fact. Their lives have been a shit show for so long nothing can really surprise them. And more to the point:]
And maybe you showing up actually did him a favor. Not that it can cure his terrible taste in men but better to know now than later when you're sharing an apartment and have to work out joint custody of your dog.
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everyonelives2023-03-16 09:07 pm
no subject
But again, impulse rules, because hearing his voice, so close after so long, makes her override all her good intentions and she has to know. She has to ask.]
Shep?
[A cloud of blond curls fills some of the space behind him, but she's not close enough that the zoom call can see her face. She's at least that aware of things. Maybe she is wrong. Maybe he won't respond, because it's not his name. But she has to ask.]
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What did you just call me?
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[She says it more confidence this time, but her head is already swirling. She knows she's getting two steps ahead, hitting the realization before he's been able to have it. She takes a deep breath and starts patting down her pockets because some times she recognizes that she probably shouldn't speak because it'll come out all wrong.
She pulls out her license from her wallet and passes it to him so he can see it, picture and all: Olivia Parker, DOB January 5, 1991. She even still has her Portland license, mostly because she doesn't have a permanent address to change it to at the moment, and it's generally best if people assume she's somewhere else.]
I ... I thought you were ...
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He finds his words as he looks back at her. )
I thought -- ( How is this possible? ) Did Jo send you?
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Jo knew!?
[Unfortunately the anger for Liv comes hot and fast because if Jo was keeping this from her - from them - after all her talks about transparency, they were going to have a very angry astral projection conversation later.
In fact, that outburst is likely loud enough for Luke to hear.]
No. She didn't send me. I'm here to meet Luke's stupid boyfriend, and we saw you at the bar.
[She gestures across the patio to where Luke is sitting, eyes likely laser focused on them, trying to figure out what's going on.]
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( He sees, Luke, who's already up, moving around the table and forgetting why he and his sister are here.
"It's fucking Shep?" he asks, taking his place beside his sister. )
You're both so big.
( He doesn't know how to handle this. )
I don't know if Jo knows, I only found out about Jo -- a week ago. Not even. I - how are you here? You're - you're alive.
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[She buries her face in her hands, sliding back up onto the barstool, because yes. She'll take that drink right now. Shep also probably should hang up his phone unless he wants the Underground meeting he's dodging to hear all of this too.]
Jo made a deal with Kai. That she would do the merge but it was a trap. She hid her magic and they used it to send Kai to a prison world, which worked well enough. They started prepping me and Luke for the actual Merge, but around when we were supposed to, Kai got free and came back. He wanted Jo to do the Merge for real this time, and they did, and she won.
[Which is the important thing. Jo won, and while they might never be safe, they were safe from Kai, which she assumes is what Shep was running from in the first place.]
She got married and has kids of her own now.
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"Liv's dating a werewolf with anger issues. It's serious and he could knock you out with his chiseled jaw. I'm - fuck, Liv," he starts, looking back at their table where Jonathan has been brought, catching on to -- his boyfriend, his sister and someone else. And before anything else can be exchanged, Jonathan approaches.
"Are we sitting at the bar?" )
Who's --
( "He's mine. I mean, I'm - this is Jonathon. Olivia - Liv, my sister and ... Shepherd, my brother."
He doesn't have any time to come up with something else. This blindside makes him forget what he's told Jonathan, which blows up how you'd expect to as he side-eyes the family reunion.
"Your brother who died?" )
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[Kai is usually a safe person to pin the dead brother card on. She doesn't know what specifics Luke has shared, but she will turn to Jonathan with a thin smile.]
We have a lot of dead siblings. Try to keep up.
[Yeah, any sign of Liv being on her best behavior is out the door. Part of her wants to get Jo on the phone right now, find out what she does know. Part of her wants to get every detail of where Shep has been and what he's been doing.
And the part of her that's overwhelmed just wants to drive back to the Armory and not come out until she's got her head on straight.]
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"Liv," Luke bites. "She --"
"Two sisters, Luke." )
And a brother. Who he didn't know about. No one knew. ( Jo. ) We think. It's a long, long story and it sounds like Luke here didn't tell you the half of it.
( "Stop. Both of you. Shep, you can't just - be my brother - act like this out of nowhere. Jonathon is my boyfriend. And he didn't know what he was walking into."
Luke tries to salvage it, tries to remember everything he loves about the guy who made him forget about meaningless encounters on Grindr. But, he remembers what it's like dating as a witch, dating as a survivor of a family massacare, and just dating as Olivia's forgotten baby brother, Luke.
"This feels like an ambush," Jonathan says, quickly coming to the conclusion that he shouldn't be involved. )
no subject
[She does feel bad at the way she snapped, because she really did intend to be good. She takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself enough to be convincing and tries to save the damage she wound up doing, inadvertently, to her brother's relationship (18).]
It was just supposed to be me. We didn't know Shep was in town. We saw him at the bar and came over to say hi. Our family is complicated, as I'm sure you're aware, but Luke wasn't intentionally keeping secrets.
[She offers him an apologetic look.]
You didn't deserve to get snapped at. I'm sorry.
[See? She's been working on it. Tyler's been helping, and she's still not great at other people, but she's better than she was in college. Also the apology is more for Luke than Jonathan, but she directs it at Jonathan, so he can believe it's for him if he wants.]
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You shouldn't.
( "Shep!" )
Do you want me to go into where I've been and what I've been doing with whom -- and all the - magic that life offers all of us? With him here?
( Whatever the hell that was, Jonathan does look over to Luke, because he has been bested logically. Jonathan shouldn't be here. But, he could drag Jonathan away. He could come back to this, leave his sister with everything, but he doesn't say any of that out loud. Just thinks it.
"Right. Well, call me when your family reunion has reached its' dramatic apex," Jonathan says. He shakes his head, pained look finding every Laughlin, finally settling on Luke. This was supposed to be something, wasn't it?
"Jon..."
But it's not enough. Jonathan retreats away from all too much going on right now.
Shepherd lets the moment dangle between them all. )
Well, I'm ordering another drink.
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[She knows that this isn't how he wanted today to go, but she also knows that he isn't going to leave. Not with the bomb that's been dropped on them today. If Jonathan's not a dick, he'll give Luke a chance to talk about it with him. If he doesn't, then he's a dick, and not good enough for her brother anyway.
He'll blame her, crash on her and Tyler's couch for a while, and he'll recover. They always do.
She passes the glass to Luke when it arrives, before knocking back half of hers.]
So. Should we be talking about this here?
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I don't know. Do we have any other siblings coming out of the woodwork?
( He doesn't have the constitution for it right now.
"I hate you both," Luke says, begrudgingly grabbing his drink and sipping. )
No, you don't.
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[She's just saying. She finishes the rest of the drink before going back to Shep's question.]
Not that we're aware of. Jo's currently in Portland with her husband, visiting Ric's kid, and then there's the girls - Josie and Lizzie. But there's no one else left. Kai took care of that when he came back.
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Damon Salvatore and Bonnie Bennett were duped into letting him out of the prison world.
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[Kai really is terrifying though and she does have concerns about the fact that he's currently floating around inside Jo now. It's weird.]
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( How 'mostly?' Should he be concerned with 'mostly?' It sounds like he should be concerned with mostly.
"A few years ago, he emotionally manipulated our nieces and their dad. It's a long, body snatching story worthy of Esther Mikaelson, but it ended in Josie going dark and locking him down inside Jo again. For good this time."
That sinks in and something blue-screens across his face.
"You try," he tells his sister, taking a labored sip from his glass. )
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[Everything bounces back to the median in the end. She'll leave out that Josie is dating the tribrid. She doesn't even know about Lizzie's own magical royalty boyfriend yet.
She should probably schedule an Auntie Liv FaceTime session and catch up with them, but that's a problem for future Liv. Current Liv is happily oblivious to the twins current problems right now.]
She got into Tulane. And Lizzie's going to NYU.
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( Luke is in biochemistry, which, still pretty good! But, he still comes with the black sheep label. He and Liv seem to share and pass the label back and forth, but with, previously, only one relative to their name, neither was very concerned with it. )
Really, he's no longer a factor.
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[But that being said, there's one thing they still have to cover.]
Do you want us to tell Jo?
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But, his name is recognizable and he's still on the run.
Is he worth knowing?
How long will this secret be kept? Alexander knows who she is. And Alys. Is this something he deserves? Will it put any of them in danger? )
Do you? My life's - your life's -- I mean, Luke, the guy was a real wad, but --
( "Maybe we weren't star-crossed--" )
But you'd find out. You never meet me, never connect again, and you could've made your mistake on your own. Sorry. Decision.
( Until Liv knocked some sense into him. )
no subject
[And the way she says that isn't as though she's tempting fate, but more a statement of fact. Their lives have been a shit show for so long nothing can really surprise them. And more to the point:]
And maybe you showing up actually did him a favor. Not that it can cure his terrible taste in men but better to know now than later when you're sharing an apartment and have to work out joint custody of your dog.
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Cat people are sociopaths.
( It's proven! (He's a cat person. Shush.)
"I hate both of you." )
He loves us. How about, we start easy. You two were in Baltimore for a meet-the-sister brunch?
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[She glances down at her watch.]
I can crash in the city tonight. I just have to call Tyler and let him know I'll be back tomorrow.
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