( Bonnie has done the bright light before, but that was when she thought she was disappearing into oblivion beside her best friend. She holds David's grimoire close and slips an arm through Jo's.
The light dissipates quite quickly, like a movie, fading in from the bright white they were enveloped with a minute earlier.
Bonnie's eyes don't have to adjust, they're suddenly fine - with nothing obscuring them. Just a Beauty and the Beast style library before them. And, it must be said, it's the exact library from the seminal 90's classic. And they are, yes, cartoons. She's taken aback momentarily, how can she not be, but, for one instant, it's kind of fulfilling a big Bonnie fantasy of hers. Well, little Bonnie. )
After my mom left, and when my grams couldn't watch me, my dad would sit me in front of the TV. I had them all. Aladdin. Little Mermaid. Lion King. But, the VHS I got the most use out of was Beauty and the Beast. I can't even tell you how many times I watched it.
( She hugs the book close. )
Tell me this is the spell and we weren't just transported to the Beast's castle.
( Because, other than the fun Be Our Guest party and some singing, it's a pretty desolate place.
She may need a gentle reminder that this is their Chambre De Chasse. And then she'll apologize that she seemed to have usurped the location. )
Maybe it's simpler than we think. I've seen this movie a hundred times, I know the only book she reads to Beast. Not where it is...
( Which doesn't make it simpler. She huffs out, frowning.)
Think there's a Dewey Decimal system here?
( Some kind of card catalogue?
"Why was the Dewey Decimal system even created? I mean, they trained librarians. Literal gophers there to grab the books you need. Answer questions, walk along with their little carts. Huh. Librarians are kind of like little lemmings," Kai says from behind them, a book in his hand. He holds it up and along the spine and the front, it reads the volume Bonnie would look for. He may be a cartoon, and integrated, but his voice is still that of Jo's twin brother. "And then they created a system to make us fetch the books for ourselves. Beat you to it, Bon-Bon," he says, holding the book up, and tilting it back and forth. He kicks off the shelf he's leaning against and the book falls open in his hand."If you ask me, all King Arthur did was pull a sword from a stone. And don't get me started on the Lady of the Lake." He shuts the book again, seeing Bonnie's scowl, not addressing his sister. yet. "You didn't think that because I was a sociopath I didn't watch Beauty and the Beast like 100 times. Best portrayal of stockholm syndrome like, ever. I took notes.")
("I could pretend I don't know what's going on, accuse you both of your witchy, wiley, ways, but we both know where I've been pulled from. And that I know everything," he says. He tosses the King Arthur book at them and it lands with a thud. "Key's not in there. And, I kind of want to get out, too. Being integrated isn't the best thing that's ever happened to me, but, it beats what could."
Call it Crisis. Call it brother's intuition. Whatever awaits another fate he had is worse. Like, same song playing over and over, worse.
"So, anybody have any bright ideas," he says, rubbing his hands. "Anybody. Bueller."
Just be thankful that they're not sticking one hundred percent to the theme and you haven't come back as some kind of kitchen tool or piece of furniture.
[Jo scans over the library, before looking back at Bonnie.]
Do you want to split it by floor or right versus left?
I live with him in my head all the time. I'll be fine.
[And with that she will head off in the direction of her brother's voice. As much as he is threatening to make himself scarce, she knows better. He's like Tinkerbell. He needs attention to live.
As Bonnie winds down past one of the staircases, she'll catch a shadow leaning against one of the book cases. "I never knew what it was you loved about this movie. But by the time you grew out of it, I knew every damn word. Could probably have recited it from memory if given the opportunity."]
("Josette," he holds a hand to his heart. "I thought you'd never ask." He scans the library shelves, pointing. "Start at the top or the bottom? I never had a thing about heights..."
Bonnie heads up to the second level, winding past the staircase to the third when she hears her voice. It can't be. It just can't be. Heart heart warms as she turns, smiling. It's Grams. )
You knew the songs. ( She asked her to sing them all the time. Mostly the title track. ) Grams. ( She doesn't care if this is a trick, a trap, or a distraction. She knows her, she's always known when it's her. Key be damned for five minutes, she needs this hug. )Grams.
[She starts stepping towards her and Sheila takes an abrupt step back before she can touch her. "You're smarter than that, Bonnie. Don't take your eyes off the prize."
You can't have both. You have to choose either the living or the dead, and getting them to choose the dead is how they intend to distract you from the living.
Jo follows before eyeing the tops of the shelves.]
You want to stretch your legs? Knock yourself out. I'll start down here.
( Jilted, she comes to her senses. She sighs under the weight of every decision she's ever had to make. It's always her that has to make the sacrifice. Always her who loses Grams. Who loses her father. Who loses her life. Loses Enzo. And Jo gets Kai.)
I know. You don't have to scold me. I'll never stop missing you.
( Rude.
Kai approaches one of the rolling ladders, scanning texts as he climbs. He gets a (14) for research. ) So, we're not going to talk about you keeping my adorable nieces in the dark about this suicide mission?
Do you know anything more about what I'm looking for, or where it might be.
( Maybe if she succeeds, she can have a few, real moments.
"I care. I care, cause you care. That's how this works. Just like every time that one Salvatore School mom goes on about the safety of the school and how horrible your husband is as headmaster, you want to grab the letter opener on the edge of the desk--")
[She sighs as she lets her hand rest on the spine of the book.]
I don't want them to worry. I want to go home and tell them the curse is broken so that it's not their problem to worry about anymore. This is my job. I'm their mother.
[Sheila offers her a small smile, before shaking her head. "I can't help. I'm just here to be tempting. But we can talk. You can tell me what you've been up to."]
And a damn good one at that. I think. At least you think so. And I'm 80% sure Ricky thinks so, too. Even though, you do got some 'splainin' to do.
( But, now he searches titles, fingers running along the titles on the spines, tapping along one. )
Do you think there's a key for me, too?
( Because they're two different people? He asks it with a wide open smile. But, then cuts that off. )
If there are only two, one of your keys is probably in some Disney's version of Gray's Anatomy. The one with the 'A.' Some G-rated, rhyming whatever bone's connected to the whatever bone.
( Bonnie nods, getting to work. She works and talks all the time. It's only when she needs to be in deep research mode when she can't be bothered. a (12) makes it clear she likes that her grams is here for her, at least.
"I've been doing a lot of traveling. I was in England for a while and Scotland before that. And I went to Paris. Oh. We're in Williamsburg, Virginia. So, there's that," she says, turning to her grandmother and turning back, walking along the wall, keeping a wide berth between them. "And, I have a boyfriend.")
[Jo raises an eyebrow, before turning and looking at him gently. Perhaps it's been all the time they've been bound together, but part of her can't help but feel a piece of sympathy for the boy who just wanted to survive, even if he went about it the wrong way.]
Maybe. But I think when this is all over, we just go back to being the same person again.
[Which is a shame, given that the curse they're breaking is the thing that forced them to be this.
Sheila smiles at that last addition, long fingers playing with one of her necklaces. "And hopefully this boyfriend is better than some of the boyfriends of the past."
Not that she overly dislikes Jeremy or what she saw of Enzo but, well. They each had their own complications.]
( He shakes the next book in his hand. He flips through it, holds it by it's spine. Shakes. Drops it behind him. Done with being patient, he starts shaking books and dropping them back behind him leaving a pile at the bottom of his ladder.
Bonnie flips through a book she finds. Returns it to its' shelf.
"Grams," she laughs, turning her head. "Jeremy was young and then he thought I died. Again." Which always sucks to say. "And I loved Enzo. I really did. I wish you could have met him, I thought..." Well, her grandmother knows what she thought. She wore his necklace. She cured Stefan. "He's got a temper, but all werewolves do," she adds nonchalantly, returning to her search. Let her grandmother react. )
Not really. Curse or not, I'd probably still be the apple of dad's eye.
( Read: the exact opposite.
For him, it's a nonstarter. He was born a sociopath. What would a curse change? Did a curse make him? Give him a complex, why don't you, Jo. His sociopathy did smooth over time, merged with his sister. He felt her empathy. Her love for her kids. And her husband. He felt her wedding.
Her grandmother joked about her exes, she gets the temper conversation.
"No, only at the people that deserve it. He's very self aware and has a past, and, does real good in an organization I met him through. But, now, he's with me and cousin Danny in England.")
[Sociopath, maybe. But maybe if he wasn't fighting to outrun something bound to kill them, he wouldn't have snapped the way he did. They may not have been close, but ... maybe they wouldn't have been at each other's throats.]
Yeah, but ... maybe things would have been different with us.
[Sheila nods because good. That is what she wants to hear. "Good. You sound happy."]
( He comes down the ladder to roll it further to the left and continue his search for this "key," he doubts is actually here. He does get partially distracted by his animated hand. )
What do you think animated blood is like?
( Bonnie smiles to herself, happy her grandmother can see her like this.
"I am. Things are scary and complicated and Danny's -- well, Isaac and I are there for him. He inherited his coven." She can't say it and won't jinx it. He's not hers. He's not her kid. He's almost nineteen. But, it feels like he is. He's family.)
Probably lots of red. With this color palette, probably very vibrant.
[Sheila moves to stand next to her, nearly shoulder to shoulder, the closest they can get to touch. "I know I've told you before, but I'm very proud of you. You've built your own place in the world, specifically in a world that isn't built to give you one. Enjoy every bit of it."]
("What if bringing up the rating gets us out of here," he says, slowly dragging a finger along one of the pages. It would just take one paper cut. Except, he does remember, he hates papercuts.
Bonnie can feel her presence, her power, her wisdom right beside her as she spots - of course. )
I had to carve it out myself. ( She trails off, finding it. ) That's our Grimoire.
( She braces herself against the shelf, holds herself in place as she reaches up. Pulling it down, she grips it tight. )
[As she pulls it down, she'll hear the muffled rattle in the spine of the key emerging. "What you all are doing here is a big working. It's undoing a long-lasting evil." It's worth doing, worth the sacrifices that were made to get Bonnie here. "The Inner Circle has been allowed to do what they've done for far too long."
Jo scans over the books, keeping her eyes away from the blood until she catches sight of a worn but familiar book sitting on the shelves. Not a grimmoire, the way it was for Bonnie, but an old family history that the coven kept. The names of all the witches who lost the merge, so they wouldn't be forgotten. She reaches up to pull it down.]
And, they've had tabs on Elena all her life. ( Everything she learned about the Inner Circle has her in her grandmother's corner. There's been bloodshed. And years of betrayals. And shackles. The book flops open in her hand, revealing the house key she used to use to get into her grandmother's house. She holds it up to show her grandmother. She probably recognizes it, too. ) You're always with me.
( Kai pulls his hand away, looking at its' animated structure. He had himself for - ten? Fifteen? Minutes? Enough to snark somewhere other than his sister's mind. )
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everyonelives2025-07-26 07:05 pm
Bonnie & Jo & Sheila & Kai | ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜɪs, ᴡᴇ'ᴠᴇ ɴᴏᴛɪᴄᴇᴅ
The light dissipates quite quickly, like a movie, fading in from the bright white they were enveloped with a minute earlier.
Bonnie's eyes don't have to adjust, they're suddenly fine - with nothing obscuring them. Just a Beauty and the Beast style library before them. And, it must be said, it's the exact library from the seminal 90's classic. And they are, yes, cartoons. She's taken aback momentarily, how can she not be, but, for one instant, it's kind of fulfilling a big Bonnie fantasy of hers. Well, little Bonnie. )
After my mom left, and when my grams couldn't watch me, my dad would sit me in front of the TV. I had them all. Aladdin. Little Mermaid. Lion King. But, the VHS I got the most use out of was Beauty and the Beast. I can't even tell you how many times I watched it.
( She hugs the book close. )
Tell me this is the spell and we weren't just transported to the Beast's castle.
( Because, other than the fun Be Our Guest party and some singing, it's a pretty desolate place.
She may need a gentle reminder that this is their Chambre De Chasse. And then she'll apologize that she seemed to have usurped the location. )
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[Her eyes scan over the spiraling staircase and book cases, before she lets out a heavy breath.]
It also means lots of places to look for keys.
[This ... is going to take a while.]
Hopefully they're both in this room and we don't have to go somewhere else.
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( Which doesn't make it simpler. She huffs out, frowning. )
Think there's a Dewey Decimal system here?
( Some kind of card catalogue?
"Why was the Dewey Decimal system even created? I mean, they trained librarians. Literal gophers there to grab the books you need. Answer questions, walk along with their little carts. Huh. Librarians are kind of like little lemmings," Kai says from behind them, a book in his hand. He holds it up and along the spine and the front, it reads the volume Bonnie would look for. He may be a cartoon, and integrated, but his voice is still that of Jo's twin brother. "And then they created a system to make us fetch the books for ourselves. Beat you to it, Bon-Bon," he says, holding the book up, and tilting it back and forth. He kicks off the shelf he's leaning against and the book falls open in his hand."If you ask me, all King Arthur did was pull a sword from a stone. And don't get me started on the Lady of the Lake." He shuts the book again, seeing Bonnie's scowl, not addressing his sister. yet. "You didn't think that because I was a sociopath I didn't watch Beauty and the Beast like 100 times. Best portrayal of stockholm syndrome like, ever. I took notes." )
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[But other than that, she's mostly going to ignore him, because that's besides the point.]
I also wouldn't talk smack about the Lady of the Lake. I heard she's a scarier witch than the stories give her credit for.
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Call it Crisis. Call it brother's intuition. Whatever awaits another fate he had is worse. Like, same song playing over and over, worse.
"So, anybody have any bright ideas," he says, rubbing his hands. "Anybody. Bueller."
Shut up. Let us think.
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[Jo scans over the library, before looking back at Bonnie.]
Do you want to split it by floor or right versus left?
[She'll handle distracting her brother.]
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( "Um, I'm standing right here. Guess I'll go check out the west wing, then. Bet it's the rose." )
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[And with that she will head off in the direction of her brother's voice. As much as he is threatening to make himself scarce, she knows better. He's like Tinkerbell. He needs attention to live.
As Bonnie winds down past one of the staircases, she'll catch a shadow leaning against one of the book cases. "I never knew what it was you loved about this movie. But by the time you grew out of it, I knew every damn word. Could probably have recited it from memory if given the opportunity."]
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Bonnie heads up to the second level, winding past the staircase to the third when she hears her voice. It can't be. It just can't be. Heart heart warms as she turns, smiling. It's Grams. )
You knew the songs. ( She asked her to sing them all the time. Mostly the title track. ) Grams. ( She doesn't care if this is a trick, a trap, or a distraction. She knows her, she's always known when it's her. Key be damned for five minutes, she needs this hug. ) Grams.
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You can't have both. You have to choose either the living or the dead, and getting them to choose the dead is how they intend to distract you from the living.
Jo follows before eyeing the tops of the shelves.]
You want to stretch your legs? Knock yourself out. I'll start down here.
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I know. You don't have to scold me. I'll never stop missing you.
( Rude.
Kai approaches one of the rolling ladders, scanning texts as he climbs. He gets a (14) for research. ) So, we're not going to talk about you keeping my adorable nieces in the dark about this suicide mission?
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Hug her and the game is already over.
"It is good to see you, Bonnie."
Jo raises an eyebrow back at her brother, completely thrown from her search by the question (1):]
And since when do you care about the secrets I keep?
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( Maybe if she succeeds, she can have a few, real moments.
"I care. I care, cause you care. That's how this works. Just like every time that one Salvatore School mom goes on about the safety of the school and how horrible your husband is as headmaster, you want to grab the letter opener on the edge of the desk--" )
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[She sighs as she lets her hand rest on the spine of the book.]
I don't want them to worry. I want to go home and tell them the curse is broken so that it's not their problem to worry about anymore. This is my job. I'm their mother.
[Sheila offers her a small smile, before shaking her head. "I can't help. I'm just here to be tempting. But we can talk. You can tell me what you've been up to."]
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( But, now he searches titles, fingers running along the titles on the spines, tapping along one. )
Do you think there's a key for me, too?
( Because they're two different people? He asks it with a wide open smile. But, then cuts that off. )
If there are only two, one of your keys is probably in some Disney's version of Gray's Anatomy. The one with the 'A.' Some G-rated, rhyming whatever bone's connected to the whatever bone.
( Bonnie nods, getting to work. She works and talks all the time. It's only when she needs to be in deep research mode when she can't be bothered. a (12) makes it clear she likes that her grams is here for her, at least.
"I've been doing a lot of traveling. I was in England for a while and Scotland before that. And I went to Paris. Oh. We're in Williamsburg, Virginia. So, there's that," she says, turning to her grandmother and turning back, walking along the wall, keeping a wide berth between them. "And, I have a boyfriend." )
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Maybe. But I think when this is all over, we just go back to being the same person again.
[Which is a shame, given that the curse they're breaking is the thing that forced them to be this.
Sheila smiles at that last addition, long fingers playing with one of her necklaces. "And hopefully this boyfriend is better than some of the boyfriends of the past."
Not that she overly dislikes Jeremy or what she saw of Enzo but, well. They each had their own complications.]
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( He shakes the next book in his hand. He flips through it, holds it by it's spine. Shakes. Drops it behind him. Done with being patient, he starts shaking books and dropping them back behind him leaving a pile at the bottom of his ladder.
Bonnie flips through a book she finds. Returns it to its' shelf.
"Grams," she laughs, turning her head. "Jeremy was young and then he thought I died. Again." Which always sucks to say. "And I loved Enzo. I really did. I wish you could have met him, I thought..." Well, her grandmother knows what she thought. She wore his necklace. She cured Stefan. "He's got a temper, but all werewolves do," she adds nonchalantly, returning to her search. Let her grandmother react. )
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Do you ever think about what we could have been like, without the curse?
[He likely knows that those thoughts have been on repeat, ever since they realized that the means of breaking it could actually be in reach.
Sheila raises an eyebrow, not necessarily at the werewolf part, but at the mention of a temper. "As long as he's not turning that temper on you."]
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( Read: the exact opposite.
For him, it's a nonstarter. He was born a sociopath. What would a curse change? Did a curse make him? Give him a complex, why don't you, Jo. His sociopathy did smooth over time, merged with his sister. He felt her empathy. Her love for her kids. And her husband. He felt her wedding.
Her grandmother joked about her exes, she gets the temper conversation.
"No, only at the people that deserve it. He's very self aware and has a past, and, does real good in an organization I met him through. But, now, he's with me and cousin Danny in England." )
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Yeah, but ... maybe things would have been different with us.
[Sheila nods because good. That is what she wants to hear. "Good. You sound happy."]
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( He comes down the ladder to roll it further to the left and continue his search for this "key," he doubts is actually here. He does get partially distracted by his animated hand. )
What do you think animated blood is like?
( Bonnie smiles to herself, happy her grandmother can see her like this.
"I am. Things are scary and complicated and Danny's -- well, Isaac and I are there for him. He inherited his coven." She can't say it and won't jinx it. He's not hers. He's not her kid. He's almost nineteen. But, it feels like he is. He's family. )
no subject
Probably lots of red. With this color palette, probably very vibrant.
[Sheila moves to stand next to her, nearly shoulder to shoulder, the closest they can get to touch. "I know I've told you before, but I'm very proud of you. You've built your own place in the world, specifically in a world that isn't built to give you one. Enjoy every bit of it."]
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Bonnie can feel her presence, her power, her wisdom right beside her as she spots - of course. )
I had to carve it out myself. ( She trails off, finding it. ) That's our Grimoire.
( She braces herself against the shelf, holds herself in place as she reaches up. Pulling it down, she grips it tight. )
no subject
Jo scans over the books, keeping her eyes away from the blood until she catches sight of a worn but familiar book sitting on the shelves. Not a grimmoire, the way it was for Bonnie, but an old family history that the coven kept. The names of all the witches who lost the merge, so they wouldn't be forgotten. She reaches up to pull it down.]
Or we find the thing they want us to find.
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( Kai pulls his hand away, looking at its' animated structure. He had himself for - ten? Fifteen? Minutes? Enough to snark somewhere other than his sister's mind. )
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