[She holds the hug for as long as he'll let her, another piece of her life she never thought she'd have again returned to her. There's a part of her that chafes at having Shep back in their circle, a part she's come to recognize as Kai wanting to have his say in things, even if he's long gone.
She shoves that down, and focuses on the present. She understands how Kai resented that they protected Shep when they wouldn't protect him, but she wouldn't do anything differently if she had the choice. Kai hadn't earned their protection.
Annie raises a hand. "I'll take a vodka soda."]
We're still waiting on the twins and Tyler. But please, make yourselves at home. There are appetizers.
( Vodka soda's a much simpler 'cocktail,' so the adults in the room are starting with vodka sodas. (Alaric started with a shot of vodka before his wife's family descended, do not @ him. His family is old, distant, and German.) )
Living room's ready. I've been told to tell you the playlist is going and if anyone has any recommendations, talk to the girls. ( Did he do well, Josie? Lizzie? ) I'll bring the drinks.
( Lizzie grabs her soda (coke, not vodka-adjacent soda) and links arms with her sister to nest in the living room. She does take a second to listen to the song playing. Acceptable.
Alaric hands Annie the first drink as everyone else shuffles. )
Thanks, for coming with him. The Laughlin's do well with backup. But, they all really love each other. They just tend to... come out of the woodwork.
[Coming out of the woodwork is an understatement. She knows he's been feeling a bit overwhelmed, so hopefully having back up - or a getaway driver - will help.]
I think he's still processing all of this. He went from having all dead siblings to having living ones plus nieces. It's a lot.
[Just out of curiosity. Should she prepare for surprise siblings every Thanksgiving? Her siblings do not live these kinds of exciting lives, and Serena is the only member of her generation.]
My family's Thanksgivings aren't usually this exciting.
As Josie answers the door, Luke greets her with his sister and her boyfriend not far behind. He turns as he speaks and comes face to face with his niece. )
We brought booze. ( He says holding up - a bottle of scotch, before bringing it back down. ) For your parents. Hey, Josie, happy thanksgiving! ( he steps forward to hug her and move into the kitchen. )
Makes her feel old. ( He calls back behind her before greeting Ric with a pat on the back. He makes himself at home, putting beer in the fridge. He pulls the bottle of scotch out, presenting it to Alaric and - ) Luke Parker.
( And at the front Tyler is very understated.
"Josie," he says, not really knowing what to do with someone else's family. He always had immediate family and then his uncle Mason. And that was kind of it. He knows to be on his best behavior, though, even if Liv doesn't care or make him. "Nice house.")
Luke and Liv, the twins. That accounts for everyone.
Josie flashes Tyler a smile, because she feels like he's been around the family long enough for hug status, but she won't push it if he's not comfortable with it.]
Thanks, but I just live here. C'mon in. Everyone is hanging out in the living room.
[Jo will go for a hug though, but Tyler should know that about her already.]
( It's not that he isn't comfortable, it's that he's anything but used to it. If they push and push, eventually, he'll come around. And so she makes her move, he he accepts, not pulling away. Because that's what family does when you're not a Lockwood, before following her into the living room.
In the kitchen, Luke waves to Annie while Alaric fixes a drink and then everyone convenes, altogether.
"And, I found myself heading further south, mostly staying to myself. I didn't want too high a profile, anyone to ask too many questions and so I thought Los Angeles would be a good city to disappear in.")
In most instances, it probably would be. But that was back in Wolfram and Hart's heyday, wasn't it?
[She can't remember for sure when the law firm started being less of a presence, but it was one of those things that rippled through the community, one way or another.]
It probably depended on the coven you fell in with.
( Hard to be any flavor of supernatural and not have heard of Wolfram and Hart, but he suspects his former coven leader did dealings with them. He might have, too, without meaning to. )
I didn't plan on falling in with any coven. Even now, only Annie and a handful of others know what kind of witch I am. And, most of the Underground thinks I'm good for gadgets. And, a stoner. ( He can be all things. Don't ask. He's not trying to be a bad example.
Barrelling on. ) Because the leader of the coven I fell in with tried to exploit me. Use me. Expose me.
( His leader is why he's a heretic, having slipped him vampire blood to take advantage of what he'd become after.
Tyler sits on the arm of the chair Olivia sits in, or stands beside her depending on what she's doing. Luke sits, rapt by his brother's story. Lizzie listens, knowing what most in the room probably don't, because his heart doesn't beat. He's like her, isn't he? Does her mom know? Her aunt and uncle? Is it her place to say anything?
She doesn't tell people, either. He doesn't sound like he's trying to slip something past them. She watches her mom during his story to suss out if she knows. Or, his friend he brought. (17) )
[Annie isn't surprised. She's worked with him for years, and they've had these talks. She's perched somewhere near Shep, providing a silent presence of support as he works through this story for his sister.
Liv also doesn't seem surprised - he got through most of this with her in Baltimore. She pulls Tyler over onto a loveseat so that the two of them can sit and let Shep get through it.
Josie doesn't know, her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she tries to read between the lines of what Shep isn't saying. But Jo, on the other hand - she's always known what her brother was. They spent so much of their childhood hiding him from both Kai and their father, mostly their father, though Kai figured it out eventually. He watched as they protected Shep in a way Kai was never protected. Never mind that Jo was a child herself and didn't know how, and Kai had never done much to earn her love or trust.
She knows her brother is a siphon. She doesn't know he's a heretic, though the longer she looks at him, notices the disparity between the way they've aged, that she starts to put the details together (15).]
Is he still a problem?
[Do they have a coven to deal with? Because Jo will go deal with them. Parts of Kai still exist within her and she usually manages to channel it in the direction of protecting her own.]
No. I accidentally siphoned the life out of him. And then I drained him. Technically, you could say I'm on the run. And, harmless. For all intents and purposes.
( His callousness drives him to say what he says with a calm, disaffected tone. He wasn't planning on confirming it here, but if he can't tell his family. who can he tell. He probably should've threaded the needle a bit better. But, he's always been the impulsive, carefree (yes, stoner) brother. Even in the 90's.
He does smile after 'harmless,' though. Because, that's what he has to exude.
His smile falls again. )
From the coven. The other members thought what I did was premeditated. And not orchestrated by Grady.
( His leader in LA, if Jo is aware of different covens or Grady Calico's reputation. )
[Again, Jo's not going to judge him. Parkers weren't raised to be white witches. You can't, and be expected to swallow your twin at some point. They were raised to survive.]
But you're with the Underground now. Has that been working well for you?
[Annie's eyes glance over to Lizzie, taking her measure in new light. She is young, in a way that makes her feel old, but she's also more than accustomed to old people who don't look their age. She doesn't show pity, so much as understanding that a hard choice had to be made somewhere.
Josie's gaze is the one that drops to her hands, because it's a thing that still hurts. She's forgiven Hope for all of it - she wouldn't be there if she couldn't - but it still hurts to probe the space where Lizzie's familiar presence used to be.
Jo nods slowly.]
It's a long, complicated story. Much like yours.
[If Lizzie wants to explain, she can. If she doesn't, then she doesn't have to. She has her mother's support either way.]
("I tracked down my friend who'd turned off her humanity and went on a triumvirate killing spree culminating in her dad's ex switching their bodies and me dying for it. It was my call. I brought vampire blood with me," she explains. "I'd do it again," she insists. )
Triumvirate?
("Old, old, witch, werewolf, and vampire hellbent on killing her before she killed them. Joke was on them. And then the gods, too. Not that she didn't obsess over bird-boy before that."
Bird boy?
("Landon. Mop of hair. Former phoenix. That was a weird year.")
It... sounds like it. Well. You seem really well-adjusted for dying two years ago. You two did just graduate last year, right? Congratulations.
("Now put all the magnets together under one roof and mix in a mud pit that devoured now fictional-formerly real monsters," Lizzie helpfully adds. "Before Malivore things were a lot less..." How does she put it. )
Malivore was quite the read. Little too much genre-bending for my taste, but the dragon really got me. Virginia dragon sightings lit up the wires. I had to interview some wild people.
("You name it, it probably came onto the school grounds. Not the dragon, though. And I missed Santa.")
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everyonelives2025-03-12 08:39 pm
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She shoves that down, and focuses on the present. She understands how Kai resented that they protected Shep when they wouldn't protect him, but she wouldn't do anything differently if she had the choice. Kai hadn't earned their protection.
Annie raises a hand. "I'll take a vodka soda."]
We're still waiting on the twins and Tyler. But please, make yourselves at home. There are appetizers.
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Living room's ready. I've been told to tell you the playlist is going and if anyone has any recommendations, talk to the girls. ( Did he do well, Josie? Lizzie? ) I'll bring the drinks.
( Lizzie grabs her soda (coke, not vodka-adjacent soda) and links arms with her sister to nest in the living room. She does take a second to listen to the song playing. Acceptable.
Alaric hands Annie the first drink as everyone else shuffles. )
Thanks, for coming with him. The Laughlin's do well with backup. But, they all really love each other. They just tend to... come out of the woodwork.
( And he cheers her glass with his. )
I'm Alaric, Jo's husband.
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[Coming out of the woodwork is an understatement. She knows he's been feeling a bit overwhelmed, so hopefully having back up - or a getaway driver - will help.]
I think he's still processing all of this. He went from having all dead siblings to having living ones plus nieces. It's a lot.
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( Come to think of it. What are the chances they're doing this again. )
It was a coincidence at the same college campus. Her student invited her to dinner. And Elena knew her brother and sister.
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[Just out of curiosity. Should she prepare for surprise siblings every Thanksgiving? Her siblings do not live these kinds of exciting lives, and Serena is the only member of her generation.]
My family's Thanksgivings aren't usually this exciting.
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( He doesn't know if they could take this again. )
It was - a while ago. Years. ( Saying it twice makes it something, right? ) This isn't exciting. This is homey. Let's hope it doesn't get exciting.
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[And she will help him ferry out some drinks as another knock sounds on the door.
"I got it!" Josie says as she hops to her feet and makes her way to the front door.]
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As Josie answers the door, Luke greets her with his sister and her boyfriend not far behind. He turns as he speaks and comes face to face with his niece. )
We brought booze. ( He says holding up - a bottle of scotch, before bringing it back down. ) For your parents. Hey, Josie, happy thanksgiving! ( he steps forward to hug her and move into the kitchen. )
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You're just in time. Dad was fixing drinks.
[She lets him move past her then turns to hug Liv as well.]
Hey, Aunt Liv.
["That never gets any less weird."
Josie laughs before teasing.]
We've been calling you it for eighteen years now. Eventually you're going to have to get over it.
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( And at the front Tyler is very understated.
"Josie," he says, not really knowing what to do with someone else's family. He always had immediate family and then his uncle Mason. And that was kind of it. He knows to be on his best behavior, though, even if Liv doesn't care or make him. "Nice house." )
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Luke and Liv, the twins. That accounts for everyone.
Josie flashes Tyler a smile, because she feels like he's been around the family long enough for hug status, but she won't push it if he's not comfortable with it.]
Thanks, but I just live here. C'mon in. Everyone is hanging out in the living room.
[Jo will go for a hug though, but Tyler should know that about her already.]
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In the kitchen, Luke waves to Annie while Alaric fixes a drink and then everyone convenes, altogether.
"And, I found myself heading further south, mostly staying to myself. I didn't want too high a profile, anyone to ask too many questions and so I thought Los Angeles would be a good city to disappear in." )
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[She can't remember for sure when the law firm started being less of a presence, but it was one of those things that rippled through the community, one way or another.]
It probably depended on the coven you fell in with.
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( Hard to be any flavor of supernatural and not have heard of Wolfram and Hart, but he suspects his former coven leader did dealings with them. He might have, too, without meaning to. )
I didn't plan on falling in with any coven. Even now, only Annie and a handful of others know what kind of witch I am. And, most of the Underground thinks I'm good for gadgets. And, a stoner. ( He can be all things. Don't ask. He's not trying to be a bad example.
Barrelling on. ) Because the leader of the coven I fell in with tried to exploit me. Use me. Expose me.
( His leader is why he's a heretic, having slipped him vampire blood to take advantage of what he'd become after.
Tyler sits on the arm of the chair Olivia sits in, or stands beside her depending on what she's doing. Luke sits, rapt by his brother's story. Lizzie listens, knowing what most in the room probably don't, because his heart doesn't beat. He's like her, isn't he? Does her mom know? Her aunt and uncle? Is it her place to say anything?
She doesn't tell people, either. He doesn't sound like he's trying to slip something past them. She watches her mom during his story to suss out if she knows. Or, his friend he brought. (17) )
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Liv also doesn't seem surprised - he got through most of this with her in Baltimore. She pulls Tyler over onto a loveseat so that the two of them can sit and let Shep get through it.
Josie doesn't know, her brow furrowed ever so slightly as she tries to read between the lines of what Shep isn't saying. But Jo, on the other hand - she's always known what her brother was. They spent so much of their childhood hiding him from both Kai and their father, mostly their father, though Kai figured it out eventually. He watched as they protected Shep in a way Kai was never protected. Never mind that Jo was a child herself and didn't know how, and Kai had never done much to earn her love or trust.
She knows her brother is a siphon. She doesn't know he's a heretic, though the longer she looks at him, notices the disparity between the way they've aged, that she starts to put the details together (15).]
Is he still a problem?
[Do they have a coven to deal with? Because Jo will go deal with them. Parts of Kai still exist within her and she usually manages to channel it in the direction of protecting her own.]
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( His callousness drives him to say what he says with a calm, disaffected tone. He wasn't planning on confirming it here, but if he can't tell his family. who can he tell. He probably should've threaded the needle a bit better. But, he's always been the impulsive, carefree (yes, stoner) brother. Even in the 90's.
He does smile after 'harmless,' though. Because, that's what he has to exude.
His smile falls again. )
From the coven. The other members thought what I did was premeditated. And not orchestrated by Grady.
( His leader in LA, if Jo is aware of different covens or Grady Calico's reputation. )
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[Again, Jo's not going to judge him. Parkers weren't raised to be white witches. You can't, and be expected to swallow your twin at some point. They were raised to survive.]
But you're with the Underground now. Has that been working well for you?
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( Keeps his mind sharp. )
We're off the grid, literally. Why we only found each other as a coincidence.
( He didn't use his real last name. Nor his full name. He was Shep.
"How long has it been, since you were turned?" Lizzie asks, as her family and Tyler all know why. She'd ask how, and she still might. )
Years. ( He looks at her, his eyes asking if her family knows. ) When were you?
( Lizzie gets quiet. He can hear it, too. And everyone here knows. Except for the wildcard. But, she likes her style.
"Junior year." )
You're so young.
( Shepherd looks around at everyone, then over to Jo. )
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Josie's gaze is the one that drops to her hands, because it's a thing that still hurts. She's forgiven Hope for all of it - she wouldn't be there if she couldn't - but it still hurts to probe the space where Lizzie's familiar presence used to be.
Jo nods slowly.]
It's a long, complicated story. Much like yours.
[If Lizzie wants to explain, she can. If she doesn't, then she doesn't have to. She has her mother's support either way.]
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Triumvirate?
( "Old, old, witch, werewolf, and vampire hellbent on killing her before she killed them. Joke was on them. And then the gods, too. Not that she didn't obsess over bird-boy before that."
Bird boy?
( "Landon. Mop of hair. Former phoenix. That was a weird year." )
It... sounds like it. Well. You seem really well-adjusted for dying two years ago. You two did just graduate last year, right? Congratulations.
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[Since that's a compliment that applies to her too.]
But yeah, our school attracted a lot of trouble. Probably a side effect of being full of supernatural students.
[Annie nods in agreement. "Unfortunately a side effect of being supernatural is being a trouble magnet of some variety."]
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Malivore was quite the read. Little too much genre-bending for my taste, but the dragon really got me. Virginia dragon sightings lit up the wires. I had to interview some wild people.
( "You name it, it probably came onto the school grounds. Not the dragon, though. And I missed Santa." )
I'm sorry. Santa?
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[Josie was there, so she can vouch for what her sister is saying.]
Apparently Krampus had him in his sack when he got swallowed by Malivore so when Krampus got spit back out, Santa did too.
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( Luke has heard about this second and thirdhand, but still when he hears firsthand, it blows his mind.
Tyler, the perennial humbug, just exchanges a look with his girlfriend. Alaric remembers Santa.
"The Krampus brought a Winter Wonderland and brainwashed us all to think it was Christmas, probably because it was easier to pick us off one-by-one."
"Like a slasher movie," is Tyler's contribution.
"Yeah, kind of."
Shepherd shifts in his seat slightly, nodding. )
Anyway, so, you're a heretic. Like me. Sorry about the name. Not fond of it.
( "Needs a serious rebrand, but, hard to rebrand something that started back in the 1800's." Lizzie says.
"Actually," Alaric points out. "Ancient grease. You could argue Silas was a heretic."
"Debatable," Lizzie counters.
"We did have literal debates in class over this," Alaric admits.
"My point stands, no matter when we got our name, we were branded and it's a big scarlet H," Lizzie finishes. )
Another reason I keep a low profile. I'd rather not by the witch's answer to Hester Prynne.
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[Liv was there, thank you. She remembers. There is no debate as far as she's concerned.]
Does Stefan know you're still debating the bane of his existence?
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