i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

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[widenecked]

( She catches him pre-sip, with the bottle in both hands. If only he had an excuse. His mouth drops open, attempts a squiggly smile before answering. )

We work together. She found me in California. The situation wasn't... I was poached.

( She recruited him, but he does take a nice sip to cover whatever else he could say. Not that he ever says much. ...Does that work? )

[ooglyboogleys]

["Oh!" Miranda nods, because for some reason that's not what she expected. "I see. Well, it's good to have someone you get along well with."

Caroline flashes him a grateful look. She will have the vampire conversation with them at one point. But for now they will go back to lighter chatting and we will slide over to Jeremy with his morning call from Scotland.]

Please apologize to your sister for me? I didn't realize that the Salvatores didn't know and they seem like kind of a lot.

[barely]

( Miranda will find that most of what is true is pretty unexpected.

Jeremy lays back on one of the beds. )

They would've found out somehow, you have nothing to apologize about. ( Elena would've come around to saying something on her terms. ) The Salvatore's do have a way of making everything about them, Damon's really never gotten over my sister. And Stefan's the one who saved her. It probably hit close to home. We're still... figuring everything out over here.

[ooglyboogleys]

I can imagine. It's a complicated thing to work through.

[And because they opened the door:]

How are your parents doing with everything?

[barely]

Putting up a good front. Just riding the overly self-righteous line. They're skeptical, but it works in our favor that we're both in one piece. Polite to everyone else. Helping around here...

( But, silently reeling and seething, he assumes. )

[ooglyboogleys]

These things take time. But at least they're going through the motions.

[She can understand Jeremy being worried about when that seething turns into an explosion.]

Are we still good for me to come after I'm done here, or would you rather I head back to Portland?

[She can change her ticket, there's still time. But she doesn't want to crowd into a situation she may do more harm than good in.]

[barely]

( They're keeping busy, making themselves useful and not asking too, too too many questions. He thinks all parties involved wouldn't be able to take it yet. )

I can't go anywhere. As much as I want to stick Elena with the fallout, they're my parents, too. They survived the big a-word discussion, maybe they'll survive all the others.

( Which isn't him ... he's bad at this. He sits up. )

Dean and Sam say more the merrier. Apparently, this bunker has, like, more than ten rooms. And I got one further away from people. So, it's quiet. Just the way I like it.

[ooglyboogleys]

Okay. It'll probably be a couple more days after today but I'll ...

[Dawn's voice trails off and there's the scuff of shoes against rock. Something muffles against the speaker, like she's pulled the phone away from her ear and he hears, just barely:]

Hey. What are you doing?

[But before she gets any kind of response, there's a loud, resounding roar.


... and then the line goes dead.]

[barely]

( He blinks. )

Me? Dawn? Dawn?

( The line goes dead as he pushes himself forward to the edge of the bed and redials her number. his (16) had him hear every part of that call. Her trailing. Scuffling against some sort of stone. Her being pulled away from the speaker. Did the phone drop?

And the - )

Elena!

( He yells from down the hall, but flings his door open. Right, he took a bedroom further away. )

Come on, answer. Answer.

[braveandstupid]

[Sorry, Jeremy. Dawn will not be answering.

Both Elena and Caroline's heads snap up at the sound of Elena's name, worry crossing both their faces. Jeremy is usually fairly solid. Jeremy doesn't panic, not unless there's something really wrong.

It's what brings both of them to the hallway, looking to Jeremy to find out what, exactly, is wrong. Whether or not Miranda and Grayson notice that Caroline got there a little faster than maybe she should have is up to them. (Miranda definitely tracks something being up, unfortunately for them (15), but the sound of her son's voice has her tabling it for later.]

Jer?

[barely]

( Grayson clocks it at the same rate (15), because he's always been read in on vampires. Caroline moves just a little too fast and beats them all there, with Elena, and their parents right behind. What he'd give to not have his parents involved in this. With everyone dispersing, Dean has the stereo blasting in the kitchen, he doesn't hear anything, including anyone in the kitchen having left and running to anywhere else (1).

A (16) has Ezra looking up from playing with Irina and then to Dean and Sam's mom, Mary. That's a panicked yell.

The call goes to voice mail and he brings the phone down. )

I thought - ( He plays it back in his head, pointing back behind him. ) I was talking to Dawn on the phone. She's in Scotland - for Thanksgiving - with ( the slayers ) Buffy - and Bonnie.

[braveandstupid]

[Elena's eyes widen and she glances back to Caroline as she reaches for her phone.]

I've got Bonnie.

["I've got Stefan," Caroline nods as she steps away pulling out her own phone and starting to dial.

Elena hits her speed dial and holds her phone to her ear. Ring ring Bonnie phone.]

[barely]

( he turns to his mom, because she's here. and this is the girl he loves, that he knows he wants to marry someday. )

The line went dead. I swear I heard an explosion. She said, "What are you doing?" like she didn't see them coming.

[happiness_elude]

It'll be okay. We'll get ahold of this Buffy or Bonnie and we'll figure out what happened.

[Miranda sweeps forward, doing the one thing she can do. She has no context, no phone calls to make, but she can comfort her son. That at least she still has the power to do.]

[barely]

( He lets her hold him, because he can't do anything, can't help. And Dawn's --

Bonnie's phone comes to life vibrating in his pocket as her vision clears from Scarlett spiriting them away. She takes out her phone, half perceiving that it's ringing, that Elena's calling.

"Elena?"

But she's still coming to, putting the pieces together. Scarlett is nearby, but prone. She answers her phone.

Because she can.

"Hello?" )

[braveandstupid]

Bonnie!

[Relief floods through her at the sound of her friend's voice.]

Jeremy was on the phone with Dawn and something happened. He can't get her back. Are you okay?

[barely]

( "Elena?" Hadn't Elena been the one who called? Yes, Elena called her.

She coughs out, phone coming down to her side as Elena hears the other side of this conversation. For... the amount of times it takes for Scarlett to call her son, Bonnie's pretty preoccupied. Right, she's on the phone. Crap. She's on the phone!

"Elena," she says again. "Hello? Sorry. I - there was some kind of explosion. Scarlett is talking to her son. We're outside of the castle. She whooshed us from the balcony." )

[braveandstupid]

Oh my god. Okay.

[She should not keep her on the phone. That sounds dangerous, when Bonnie should be focused on what's going on around her.]

I'll let you go. But be safe, and call us back when things have settled.

[barely]

( Waiting to see if Caroline connects, Elena does, and he head pops up. )

Bonnie answered?

[vampireboulevard]

Stefan Salvatore, answer your phone.

[Is the angry message delivered to Stefan's voicemail, before her attention is drawn back to Elena as she gets off the phone.

"She did. She said that the castle was attacked and there was some kind of explosion. She doesn't have a lot of info but she'll check back in when she can and she knows more."

Elena reaches over and places a hand on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I'm sure Dawn's okay, Jer. Her phone is probably just busted."

She tries to say that with all the certainty that she doesn't have, given how many people they've lost, but she tries. Caroline nods in agreement.]

Buffy says Dawn gets into trouble all the time and she always gets out of it. Let's not stress too much until we have more information.

[barely]

I heard it. Dawn, she's right in the middle.

( And with whoever wanted it blown up, it sounds like. He doesn't know what to do with that. But, he has to take what his sister and Caroline say.

Way easier said than done, not stressing. It's their lives. He feels like they lose everyone. Doesn't Elena feel like that.

They're right.

He takes a step back from his mom, nodding. )

I'm gonna go take a shower.

( Phone still in hand, he retreats back to his room. He'll double and triple check his ringer is on, center his breathing, and get his day started.

"I'm going to make us more coffee, anyone want any?," Grayson has to ask. It isn't even 10am and someone is already in mortal danger. )

[happiness_elude]

I'll help.

[She lets Jeremy go, eyes both her daughter and Caroline, and then follows her husband back into the kitchen to help make coffee. Keeping her voice low as they walk, she says:]

You saw and heard what I saw and heard, right?

[founderscouncil]

( He wants to ask about the lives his kids leave when multiple friends of theirs are adjacent to an exploding castle, but he holds his tongue.

He meets his wife's eyes. )

Caroline? And, I'm guessing, Ryan. But, she fell in love with two vampires. My Best Friend is a Vampire isn't a movie I'd be surprised to find on her shelf.

( And she had that Jim Carrey thing as a kid. But that was the Mask. )

Do you think Dean knows?

[happiness_elude]

I would assume so. He seems to know more than we do.

[She sets her jaw because a lot of what she learned about vampires growing up has her jumping to so many conclusions. Caroline called this Stefan. Is Stefan responsible for Caroline being a vampire? Does Elena know, or did he compel her into being okay with it?

And then ...]

Do you think Liz and Bill knew?

[founderscouncil]

And everyone's just okay with this.

( Elena. Jeremy. Bonnie. Buffy. What kind of name is Buffy? Everything he knows about vampires has his hairs on edge. And now there are two under the same roof. )

Bill, who left his family for a man and moved to Georgia? ( He was always absent, anyway. Knee-deep in the town. He loved Caroline, but he picked and chose his time with her. Especially the old she got. ) Liz had to have.