i'm leaving you my last curse

[bravebartender]

Comments

[braveandstupid]

[And she will excuse herself to go answer it, as Caroline and Ryan return with the ice and they will come back to that later.]

Hello?

[moralitypolice]

Elena.

( It's Bonnie! )

Isaac found us and two other slayers who were outside. We're making our way back to the castle now. Apparently, the vampires are members of the Ivory Tower, some vampire organization Scarlett is familiar with. And this all goes back to the Inner Circle. And the Gauntlet.

[braveandstupid]

[Of course it all comes back to the Inner Circle. That's her second thought after another wave of relief that Bonnie is still okay.]

Okay, I'll tell Ezra. Has there been any sign of Stefan? Caroline tried to call him but he didn't answer.

[moralitypolice]

Not yet, but I'll tell you when there is. Elena, I'm sure he's fine.

( Dawn, she doesn't know. )

I'll call you when I know more?

[braveandstupid]

Yeah, okay. Be safe.

[It's a small update, but she knows she can't tie up Bonnie's time for long. She also assumes that if there was news about Dawn, Bonnie would have shared it.

So she hangs up and glances back to the rest of the group.]

They've recovered some more people, but no sign of Stefan or Dawn yet. She's going to call again when she knows more.

[She pauses before pointing to the kitchen.]

I have to go talk to Ezra.

[But she glances back to Caroline to see if she wants her to go slash she's okay to be alone with her parents. Caroline nods with a small smile, and Elena goes to move past, giving her hand a squeeze as she goes.]

1/2

[cholesterol]

( Dean eyes her parents like they've just had a stern warning and then follows Elena into the kitchen.

"Don't tell me. I stuck my nose where it didn't belong," Ezra says, now at the sink taking care of dishes. Irina has an Ipad and stands by his right leg. Isn't she adorable?! )

[braveandstupid]

No, that's not what this is about.

[And she's already told you you did nothing wrong, so take her at her world, Ezra! That being said, her face is going to turn more serious.]

We got another update from Bonnie. Apparently vampires from something called the Ivory Tower are involved, and it's tied back to the Inner Circle?

[praevaricatio]

( "Ice," Ryan says, Dean pointing where to put it, the conversation continuing.

Ezra stops what he's doing, let's the dish clatter against the sink, which startles Irina and he's quick to turn and crouch, making sure she's alright. Looking up at Elena, he gives an explanation. )

Wallace and Corsair and the Ivory Tower have always scratched each other's backs, though this is the first I've heard of a suicide mission. Because that's what it would've been. A castle of slayers. Bonnie Bennett. I'm guessing, the Salvatore's. It's a hell of an opening statement.

( He shakes his head.

"Hell," she repeats.

Whoops. )

Heck. ( A sigh. ) It's confirmed? The Ivory Tower?

[braveandstupid]

Scarlett O'Hara was also one of the guests. Apparently she's familiar enough with the Ivory Tower that she can call them out by name.

[And she doesn't know a lot about the Tower, but she does trust Scarlett to, if nothing else, know her enemy.]

[praevaricatio]

Can you?

( He asks, standing up to give Elena a little Irina time as he retrieves his phone from the kitchen table.

His and his husband's exchanges have been few and far between and only by text.

Wallace and Corsair used the Ivory Tower to attack the slayers in Scotland. )

[maleficum]

[Elena will happily take over with Irina for a bit, and they will have a lovely conversation about pancakes.

David, on the other hand, takes a minute to text back:]

Sounds like them but are you sure?

[praevaricatio]

Elena is sure. Bonnie Bennett called her. Scarlett O'Hara confirms.

I can't see why else the Ivory Tower would even be involved. Can you?

[maleficum]

They have a relationship going back a long time. Wallace and Corsairs have always been our ambassadors to the Tower. If they got people riled up enough, they could probably make them do anything.

[praevaricatio]

Including striking Slayer Castle.

[maleficum]

Depending on the vampire they recruited, they my have been wanting to conquer that particular hurdle for a while.

[founderscouncil]

( Grayson looks at his wife, at Elena and Dean moving away, Ryan who stands - two bags of ice in his arms. And then Caroline. He gets up, leaving his wife there - still spurned from the conversation before. He can smooth that over. He will. But, for now. This.

He scratches behind his ear as he tries not to do this sheepishly. And sincerely. )

We owe you an apology. Right now, apologies are going to be coming fast because we are behind the times. And we were told in no uncertain terms that we don't know what we're talking about. And while, thirty-some odd years of conditioning won't disappear overnight. We listen. And, we see you. Miranda and I caught a glimpse of your super-human speed and we jumped to conclusions about both of you. When we were growing up, you were the villains in our stories. But villains don't bring pie or support their friends during a rough time.

( He sees that. )

We see that. Even if it had to be pointed out to us.

[vampireboulevard]

[She takes in the apology and the tension in her shoulders lessens some. As much as she knows it's not going to be fixed over night - it wasn't with her parents, and it wasn't with Carol either - she appreciates that they're willing to apologize.]

It's okay. And to be honest, this isn't the worst coming out party that I've had. I should have let Elena tell you in the first place. We shouldn't have let it catch you by surprise.

[founderscouncil]

Our reactions don't make it anyone else's secret to tell.

( And while he means most of what he says, he does feel a lot like a scolded teenager.

Ryan accepts the apology, too, with a nod.

"Ice melts," he says, moving past him to go into the kitchen in search of where the ice goes. )

[vampireboulevard]

[Caroline nods and crosses her arms in front of her.]

Well, it's all out in the open now. And I can answer any questions you have, about what its like or how we got here? I'm actually really good at Vampire 101. I have to do it a lot for parents of the kids at school.

[A beat.]

Did Elena tell you about the school?

[founderscouncil]

( He looks back at his wife and then gestures to the table as he returns to it to take a stiff sip of coffee. )

She didn't say it was a school for vampires.

[vampireboulevard]

Well, not only vampires. Mostly we're dealing with the big three - witches, vampires and werewolves - but lately we've been expanding to other supernatural kids. Giving them a place to feel normal, but also to learn how to be what they are with people who can help them do that safely.

[And they've done so with minimal local villager casualties. She's very proud of it.]

Most of these kids don't want to hurt people, and didn't even ask to be what they are in the first place, and no one was there to either protect them or help them. So we do our best to help them now.

[Miranda blinks because witches and vampires she knew but: "Werewolves?"]

Yeah. Werewolves. The ones we deal with mostly are ones that are products of the werewolf curse, so they often don't have families or safe families to return to. So we give them a safe place to go.

[founderscouncil]

Like the X-Men.

( That's his only frame of reference. )

Werewolf curse. Is that anything like the sun and moon curse?

[vampireboulevard]

Sort of. Funny story. The Sun and the Moon Curse is not actually real. It was a ploy, designed to rile up the werewolves and the vampires into making the presence of the Petrova Doppelganger really obvious when she happened to pop up. Klaus and Elijah made it up to make people think that having the doppelganger and the moonstone would allow them to break some element of their existence - vampires could walk in the sun, werewolves wouldn't have to turn on a full moon, but it was all a lie to get Klaus what he wanted.

[Aka Elena.]

The werewolf curse is actually even older than vampires, believe it or not. Over a thousand years ago, there was a powerful witch called the Hollow who was wreaking havoc in what was now New Orleans, and seven tribes of native people teamed up to try and stop her. They succeeded in killing her, but on her death, she cursed them and their bloodlines. They all were turned into wolves and were forced to continue to turn every full moon. It's ... incredibly awful. Every bone in your body breaks as you shift and change, and then you kind of lose control of yourself and the wolf will attack anything that moves.

[She sees Miranda looking a little green around the gills and she quickly moves on.]

Anyway. These tribes slowly moved throughout the world and assimilated in different ways and most people don't even know they're cursed. They're just born with it. Prone to fits of anger and violence until it overwhelms them and they kill someone - doesn't matter if it's an accident or on purpose. One wolf I know was pushing someone away from him to defend himself, another accidentally killed his girlfriend in a car accident. The curse doesn't care. And once you kill someone you turn on every full moon for the rest of your life.

[Miranda can't help but feel like that description has shades of familiarity to it (13), but she can't quite put her finger on what.]

[founderscouncil]

( He blanches at the mention of the Petrova Doppelganger as well, because that's their daughter, in the middle of a supernatural wild goose chase. Klaus. Elijah. Originals.

He grays, too, around the description of what werewolves do, but stays sat.

Grayson, too, (13) feels a familiarity, but not why. He's always been a man of the town, a founding family member. And while he never liked out Richard Lockwood treated his wife, he doesn't make the distinction he should. )

Are all of these - is everything with the witches and with vampires - is it viewed like a curse?

[vampireboulevard]

So, this particular line of werewolves is literally a curse. There are other types of werewolves who have a much easier time of things, and often don't wind up in the situations that these wolves find themselves in.

[She pauses, before considering where to move next.]

Witches are not curses. These are family legacies more often than not, and they're often raised in covens when they can be. They have a much larger sense of community and they also start younger - a lot of our younger students, like K through Eight are ninety-five percent witches.

[The other five percent being very, very unfortunate werewolves.]

Some witches can also be cursed but the curse isn't what gives them their magic, whereas without the curse, these werewolves wouldn't be werewolves.

Vampires are ... more complicated. Vampirism was not intended to be a curse by their creator, but depending on the vampire you ask, they could feel that way.

[There's a pause as she considers.]

I don't, for the record. Though I understand if that's hard to hear.