best to take a moment present

[maleficum]

Comments

[saveslives]

[Okay, she's going to sort through some of that to the:]

Held as leverage?! By who?!

[drugdeals]

One of my - ( clients, he still does some shady shit. ) someone I knew, but didn't know my connection to everything. But, her specialty is getting inside people's heads so my help made me bait.

( basically, everybody has a giant network now, and everyone is called in at some point. )

We were called in for help.

[saveslives]

[Okay, okay so he got in over his head but he's fine now. That's good. But called in?]

Was it an Armory thing? Or was it part of Shep's clandestine thing?

[drugdeals]

Shep's. And, the FBI was involved. But, Shep was asked for the favor and we were with him.

( and then, more of the lead has been buried. )

A vampire was being used by the Colony, taken to strongarm someone else into doing something. And, yes, I was the last to know about the Colony. Anyway, I tried to be the distraction but underestimated her. All's well that ends well. Enough.

[saveslives]

[Vampire.

FBI.

There's a contemplative pause before:]

This vampire's name didn't happen to be Stiles, did it?

[drugdeals]

You would have thought it was the Watch What Happens Live buzzword. If we were playing a drinking game, we'd all be under the table.

( He heard his name so many times, Jo. SO MANY TIMES. )

[saveslives]

[Makes a note to text Caroline to check on her latest baby vamp, sounds like he's going through it.]

That poor kid really is a magnet for trouble. But everyone's okay?

[drugdeals]

She knows Stiles.

( and then to Jo )

Everyone got out unscathed. Well, we royally pissed the two Colony witches off, but they have bigger things on their minds.

[saveslives]

... Well, that's less good but you guys know how to go to ground if things get bad. Just let me know if you need help.

[Part of the reason why she lets them go so long between updates is because she trusts them to be able to take care of themselves. After all, they did for a long time while she was gone.]

Stiles got turned in Mystic Falls. He's one of Caroline's. And he's been a vampire for less than six months so really, drawing the attention of Colony witches that quickly is kind of impressive.

[drugdeals]

( or if they're called in for it. )

Caroline turned him?

( and, technically, Stiles was dragged in by other people who ran afoul of Colony witches. )

By accident?

[saveslives]

Hunters tried to attack graduation, and they got into a car accident. Caroline gave him some blood so they could try and get away, but then the hunters opened fire and he was killed.

[There was more happening, but that's the gist of it.]

Apparently before that he was part of the McCall pack, so he wasn't brand new to the supernatural, but being a vampire is a whole other level.

[drugdeals]

The McCall pack?

( he doesn't know who Scott McCall is (2) for recognition, but maybe his sister does? )

Is Tyler's the Lockwood pack?

[saveslives]

["Tyler doesn't have a pack. He's not an alpha." Though he is allies with Scott now, so Liv has done some research in the interim. "But Scott's got a good reputation. They say he's a 'true alpha,' whatever that means in weirdo, non-cursed werewolf terms."

Jo can't hear all of Liv's explanation, but she picks up some of it.]

Scott's a nice guy. Caroline's been trying to talk him into teaching at the school.

[drugdeals]

Mystic Falls outreach. ( and what a small world. right, to the original point. ) Shepherd's alright. He's a pain, and overprotective, but. He's good.

[saveslives]

Good. I'm assuming he said it was okay for you to tell me?

[Does it also come with a phone number because she would like to speak with him herself, but she'd understand if there were boundaries.]

[drugdeals]

Yeah, yeah, he asked. He's deep cover a lot of the time, with somewhere called the Underground. But, if this is what he does, then he does good.

( he's more like Jo than his younger siblings. )

Liv will send his number. And you know I'm adding a plus one to the group chat when we get off this call.

[saveslives]

Good. It'll be good to talk to him.

[And hopefully see him, at some point. Of all the ones to survive the purge of their family, she's glad that these are the three that survived.]

I should be heading back to the East Coast soon. Maybe we can get everyone together when the twins are home for Thanksgiving.

[drugdeals]

Hopefully, with just us, right?

( and not a fifth family member? )

[saveslives]

I hope so. I'm not sure what that says about us if our siblings keep rising from the dead. And I know you shouldn't speak ill of the dead but I would prefer if Dad stayed there.

[She doesn't know how he would handle having two siphon granddaughters, never mind one of them being a heretic.]

But no, you, Tyler and Liv, Ric and the girls and Shep. Did he mention if he had a partner?

[drugdeals]

( his first choice, too. )

He didn't. We... didn't ask. Should we have asked? Did he seem partnered to you, Liv?

[saveslives]

[Liv shakes her head. "We didn't ask but he also didn't offer so I'm going to assume no." Shep could be secretive but it's not like Liv didn't talk about Tyler all the time.]

I can ask. Don't worry about it. You guys were processing a lot.

[Technically Jo is also processing a lot but she's not doing it to Shep's face.]

[drugdeals]

Also dealing with a breakup.

( of the good riddance, sense, sure. but. )

[saveslives]

That too.

[And she is sorry about that.]

Where are you both heading now?

[drugdeals]

Gonna crash at the Armory for the weekend. It's take your Brother to Work - weekend. I'll train back up to New York on Sunday. In the meantime, I get to annoy Tyler Lockwood.

( slash be of help in actual ways. )

[saveslives]

Have fun, then. Tell Tyler I said hi.

[And with that she will let them go, but once she does, takes a deep breath before going in search of her husband because whoo boy does she have something to have feelings about.]

Ric? You around?

[In the meantime, Liv and Luke will spend the rest of the road trip likely play-bickering over the travel playlist until they slide up to the Armory all one piece.

"I'm home," Liv shouts into the open doorway. "And I'm not alone." And then because he realizes how that sounds: "It's Luke, not trouble."]