i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

Comments

[ooglyboogleys]

Oh. Did Elena not tell you?

[Yikes. She didn't realize it was a secret.

Stefan does stick his head out of kitchen at that, peering at his and Dawn's conversation intently.]

There was a mishap with some witch bodies and they got resurrected. I thought she spread the news, sorry.

[unforgivably]

No, Dawn, she didn't New York, New York the return of her dead parents. If you'll excuse me.

( He leaves his plate he grabbed for show but takes his whiskey, moving around the table and straight to his brother. He walks past, back into the kitchen so they can have this discussion in private. )

[somanyadjectives]

[Dawn cringes before pulling out her phone and sending a quick text to Jeremy: Apologize to your sister for me, I may have just outted the news about your parents to the Salvatores.

Hilarious if this winds up being the last text she sends him before things go boom. It's 9AM Kansas time though so Jeremy may be up.

Stefan steps back into the kitchen before turning to face his brother.]

If it's true, I'm sure she's been overwhelmed. We would have found out eventually.

[unforgivably]

( Jeremy's tired. While normally an alert and punctual hunter, entertaining and navigating having suddenly alive parents isn't easy, so he asks Elena to take the morning shift. He doesn't mean for it to sound callous if it does. He'd even meant to set an alarm to connect with his girlfriend, but he chose 8:30p instead.

So he sleeps soundly. )

Dawn doesn't strike me as a liar, just a talker. ...Should we say something?

[somanyadjectives]

Do we need to?

[Stefan glances down at his watch, before shaking his head.]

She's probably not awake yet. Let's worry about it after dinner. It's not like they're going anywhere.

[unforgivably]

It's Elena. It's her dead parents. Years later. In hunter territory.

( He agrees they can wait, but also, it's crazy. )

[somanyadjectives]

I know. I heard they were involved in some witch stuff, but this is ... a lot.

[They definitely should have a group phone call with Elena later, like concerned parents.]

Do you think Bonnie knows?

[unforgivably]

Normally, I'd say she would've told us but I lost those privileges when I left my heart in Brooklyn. She would've told you. ( Right? He peers out into the dinner from the kitchen. ) If she doesn't know, she should.

( On the other end Faith is ravenous with sides sitting next to Wes.

"You're the adopt-a-vamp?" )

[mojitos]

["We'll check in with her about it after dinner."

For now, they need to keep things neutral.

Wes, on the other hand, reaches for his wine with a smirk.]

That's one way of putting it.

[He then pauses, studying her face for a moment.]

Have we met before?

[madskilled]

Don't know. You got a cute enough face. But, I don't B the vamps.

( because Buffy's the resident vampire sex queen. She sits back to take a break from shoveling food into her mouth. She chews, she swallows. )

You ever been to Boston or Sunnydale? London? Been all over.

[mojitos]

These days I've mostly been in Star City.

[There's just something about her that rings a bell, but the downside of his job is that he sees a lot of faces.]

Have you ever been to Verdant?

[madskilled]

Shit. Last month? Mia's a slayer. I was in town, dragged her and the gays out.

( Was a trip. Give her a second. )

You sling a mean drink.

[mojitos]

Thank you.

[He grins and nods as he finally places her.]

I've been working on my flourishes. The vamp reflexes help.

[madskilled]

Strobe probably kills.

( She hikes a foot on the edge of the chair, resting an arm on her knee. )

You and Mickey were chatting it up, I remember correctly.

[mojitos]

We were. We still are.

[More or less.]

He and Mia are roommates now, which keeps things interesting.

[madskilled]

Slayers and vamps mixing it up since 1998.

( But, she doesn't sound judgmental. She nods, winks at him. )

He's a piece.

( Swinging her leg back down, she stands up. )

You smoke?

[indurare]

[He's about to decline, but then he's recruited for wine retrieval and excuses himself instead. Dawn also excuses herself, going to see if she has time to make a phone call as they're waiting for dessert.

Melanie slides across an empty chair to get closer to Rhett with a sigh.]

Scarlett never changes, does she? She's not content with discord unless she's the one causing it.

[She loves her but it's true.]

[madskilled]

( "To be fair, they needed replenishment. You could say Buffy is the more mischievous one tonight. Perhaps, without purpose," Rhett says, draining the last bottle for he and Melanie.

Faith doesn't announce to anyone, but heads out the frond door and leans against a column by the step, lighting up a cig. )

[indurare]

It's true, she may not realize.

[Stefan steps out, scanning the room, before moving to go in search of some of those unaccounted for, mostly trying to get some space from the group after cooking, then playing host all afternoon.]

[madskilled]

( "Or, she does, and she's good."

Faith looks back through the open door, and nods a sup if he's looking for her.

And... )

[indurare]

[BOOM.

While most are pushed out, the first thing Melanie feels is that she's falling. The floor comes out from under her, and she reaches for the man next to her, her oldest friend, almost as though the world is in slow motion. Then he slips through her fingers, the world speeds up, and when the collision happens, things go dark quickly.

When she comes to, however, all she can see is a bloody chair leg sticking up through her gut. At first, there's a moment of relief at the fact that it missed her heart.

But then the pain comes, and that seems like a cold comfort.]

Rhett?

[Her voice is small and strained, but she tries to be as loud as possible. He was the one closest to her at the time. Is he there? Can he still hear her?

Is his heart intact?]

[persistingly]

( Rhett has been under siege before. Attacked. Kidnapped. Beaten. He has torn innards from ten men to get back to Scarlett, and she, him. There was a particular horny group of harpies who took a liking to him. Tragically, thanks to Mellie and Scarlett, their home went up in flames. As did they. He can still hear the screams.

But, he can't hear much of anything now. It's as if everything goes silent and then he's falling. He loses footing, seating, grasp of everything.

They don't hit with a smack, but with a series of crunches and the sound of wood piercing bone.

The table ontop of him goes flying out of righteous rage. He slams into what feels like a new cavern that's formed. As his eyes adjust, he sees that they've dropped down into - some sort of storage area. A weapons cache. And what he thinks is some newfangled high tech safe. And rubble everywhere.

And -- )

Mellie.

( He crawls over everything to her, looking more like an animal than a perfectly civilized vampire. His hands freeze above the chair leg, afraid of the worst. But she is still here. And she is not dessicated, or dessicating. )

It seems your good fortune continues.

( Of the four of them, Melanie has made the least enemies. Not counting the same enemies. They are a family after all. )

Brace yourself.

( With that little warning, he reaches out under her, takes hold and lifts with all his might. As the chair leg goes free, he takes her with him, rolling over as she lands on the other side of him. He's probably covered in blood. It's fine.

In fact. A sharp pain hits as he flexes his should and he turns his head, pulling out a metal fork. He lets it fall lazily out of his hands before he drops his head back down.

Just give him a minute. )

[indurare]

[She's not sure she considers it good fortune to be impaled, necessarily, but regardless she endures. She will continue to endure, and she bears this with her usual grace. There's a small sound of pain as the leg falls from her body but even as she lands, she can feel herself beginning to stitch together.

It's not perfect. She will need to feed before she's anywhere near in fighting shape. But she's well enough to move. But she'll take this breather, reaching over gently and placing her hand against Rhett's shoulder.]

Thank you.

[somanyadjectives]

[BOOM.

It's not Bonnie's warning that reaches his ears as he gives Faith a nod in return. It's Dawn's voice, somewhere in the bowels of the castle. She'd been idly chatting with Jeremy, but something about her tone has Stefan perking up:

"Hey. What are you doing?"

He turns to run back inside, something like alarm itching at the back of his mind, before the rush of heat and light hits him like a wave and he's thrown backwards towards Faith. All he can do is try and cover them both as piles of rubble come down around them.]

[madskilled]

( Slayer instincts are something. But they come from vampires. And, seldom, in prophetic dreams. They aren't Spiderman, or Gwenpool, or whomever is the latest animated Spider, Faith barely pays attention to that shit, but if someone's watching something - yeah, she can get down with a good movie. She just likes in-person action more.

Nearly being blown up? Not the action she's looking for.

She has seconds before she sees Stefan take off back inside.

She frowns, flicks her cigarette away and then that's the last thing she remembers before she's sent to the ground. She feels like a linebacker as Stefan lands ontop of her. She can feel some of the debris (some of the castle?) come down on the both of them, but mostly Stefan. Instinctively, she'd roll them over, but Stefan's got years and strength on her.

And something tells her to stay put. )