for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[crosseth]

Yeah.

( Things are really messed up in his mind. But, he knows that to be true. Maybe that's his north star.

He settles into his seat. Sorry, Carol, he's been more of a conversationalist. There is someone else inside him though. or, is that also him. He spends the rest of the ride staring out the window. The bus hits the town square and comes to a stop. )

This us?

[mayoralty]

[Carol leans closer so she can look out the window and nods. It doesn't look like the Mystic Falls she left behind, but it's still familiar enough to be home.]

This is us.

[She gets to her feet, thanking the bus driver again on their way out and once they're out, looking around until she can see the familiar facade of the Grille, where they can find a booth and wait for Tyler.

She'll get them both drinks so they're not unduly taking up space, but she doesn't want to spend too much of Tyler's money before he gets there.]

[recrudesce]

( Charlie just takes an ice water to start before flagging the waitress down for a beer.

Tyler parks down the block. He pushes away the memory of discovering his mother, drowned in that fountain. Her memorial. Everything after.

He closes the car door behind him.

The door to the grille opens and closes as he slowly turns. He's got the goatee. But, it's still Carol Lockwood's son. )

[mayoralty]

[Carol had positioned herself with her drink facing the door so that she could see him when he entered, and Charlie can see it on her face when she perks up. He is different than he last remembers, but he should. He had a chance to grow up.

She waves a hand, looking to get his direction and is already climbing out of the booth to meet him part way.]

[recrudesce]

( He meets her halfway, Charlie looking up. He'd long for his own parents - but, he doesn't have any, does he?

Tyler holder her, eyes closed. )

You even smell the same. They have Chanel #5 in Peace?

( He hasn't talked about Peace directly. It's just a word to him. But it means something to other people. )

[mayoralty]

[She laughs softly.]

Peace is pretty much whatever you want it to be.

[That being said, she pulls back to look at him, taking in the way he's aged, all the things she's missed.]

You look good. Have things been good?

[recrudesce]

Things are... ( Well, if he could define it. To her, especially. ) Yeah, they're good. Found my place. A few, actually. I'm connected to a few packs, now, and I work for a place called the Armory. I'll tell you all about it. ( oh ) But, my friend Waverly thinks she might know Charlie. ( He pulls back, introduces himself, asks him for a picture - for Waverly - Charlie very awkwardly poses, reluctantly, for the flash.

Tyler pulls a chair up to his mother and Charlie's booth. ) I sent it to her.

[stupetballs]

["Good. Hopefully she'll be here soon."

As if on cue, Tyler's phone pings with a text back:]

Yep, that's definitely a Charlie I know.

He's my dad, actually, and he might be a little confused or disoriented. Just be patient with him.

Also ETA is looking like five hours, so if you need to put him up somewhere just venmo me the bill, I'll be there as soon as I can.

[Another pause, and then:]

Seriously, thank you Tyler. I owe you one.

[recrudesce]

I have an entire property named after me. You don't owe me anything. I'll make sure he's good.

( He looks up from his phone, Charlie looks on expectantly. )

It's the same Waverly. And she can be here in 5 hours. I sent her the details of where we'll be for the night. Ours. ( He says to his mom. ) It belongs to the town, now, but, it's still running. And it's been closed since -- there was an incident with hunters. But, it's been closed since a local graduation.

[mayoralty]

Oh good. Then there's plenty of room.

[The manor was always too big for the three people who lived in it, but she's glad to see it's still getting put to use.]

Did you move out of town?

[If the house is closed up he must be living somewhere else.]

[recrudesce]

I moved in with my girlfriend, who I met at my one and only year at Whittemore.

( He glances at Charlie, who smiles, politely and doesn't have much to say. Not much to look after, but that makes it easy. )

Her name is Olivia. She also works with me. She's a witch. ( He turns to Charlie. ) Sorry, I don't have much mixed conversations these days.

( "Oh no, a bus full of vampires tried to take over my town. A dead old guy tried to enslave the same town. There's a lot of weirdness in the Ghost River Triangle. Also, there's an angel in me. Or, I am the angel. We share -- a body," Charlie says, raising the bottle. He had to say it some time. )

...Right. Your first and only time picking up a guy at the bus stop, hey, mom?

[mayoralty]

Can't say I don't keep things interesting.

[She did not know that Charlie was an angel before now but ... good to know.]

And at least we all have common vampire experience.

[She wants to ask more questions about Olivia, but that can wait until later, when it's just the two of them.]

Olivia sounds lovely though.

[recrudesce]

She is.

( Oh, mom. She's a handful. And she'd probably code Vicki more than Caroline, but maybe you wouldn't take his happiness for granted. She's carved a life out for herself and she has a big family. And she loves him even when he's being dumb.

"Vampires," Charlie shudders. There's a meanness behind his eyes, one he can't grasp at, but it passes. )

[mayoralty]

[She will appreciate her more than she did Vicki, and let's be honest, Vicki was more about her mother than it was about Vicki herself. Not any better, but she's also grown since S1, thankfully.

It's also probably good that Tyler hasn't told Liv yet, because she is not currently sober and would work herself into a panic about it.]

Can't wait to meet her. Hopefully. Do your friends have any idea why this is happening?

[There is a history of dead people breaking through the veil in Mystic Falls but it wasn't really a permanent situation. Hard to say if this will be the same.]

[recrudesce]

According to the group text, it could be magic, or it could be Elena's blood. They basically don't know and the footprint's as far as Seattle.

( He knows that. )

But this isn't like the veil coming down senior year. You're here. You and

( "Charlie," he says. )

Sorry, right. Charlie.

( "Or Julian," he posits. )

Whatever you want. To be called.

( "Sorry," he says, bringing his other hand to his bottle of beer. "Things are a little crazy up here." He says, indicating his mind. )

No, no. Waverly said - it might be. You're safe. And are you hungry? You're both probably hungry. Whitney! ( He pulls the waitress over. ) Whatever they want to eat, on me.

[mayoralty]

[Oh, wait, food. Yes, she will order her favorite meal from the menu when she was feeling indulgent, and maybe an appetizer.

She's missed food. Sure they have food in Peace, but it's not the same.]

I've heard the burger was always good, Charlie, if you're a burger fan.

[She was a turkey club kind of girl.]

[crosseth]

( Charlie grabs one of the plastic menus. He is hungry. Nothing looks. Good. Or does everything look good? He looks up. What had she said? )

Yeah. I'd like the burger. And fries. And a milkshake.

( If they make one here?

"Mom, I'll be right back, okay?" Tyler, phone in hand, gets up from his chair and moves out front. Through the window, he watches his mother exchange pleasantries with an angel.

Finding his most used contact, he calls his girlfriend. )

[geminated]

[By the time Tyler's face pops up on her phone, the twins are ... quite drunk. Like an unfortunate level of drunk for what Tyler is about to tell her. But what Liv happens to be a pro at is pretending she's much more sober than she is when people aren't looking directly at her.]

Oh, crap. Shhh. Shhh shhh shh.

[That's in the direction of her brother. Then she takes a deep breath and answers the phone, a smile in her voice.]

Heyyyyyy you. What's up?

[recrudesce]

( The minute he hears how elongated that vowel holds, he realizes this is not great timing. )

I knew there'd be celebrating after you ended your family's curse, bu - I can call you back a little bit later. Maybe after a cup of coffee or a long nap.

[geminated]

Wait, wait. Sorry. We were playing a game about future planning and it worked shockingly well.

[She takes another breath, trying to still her thoughts and tries again to sound a little more sober.]

Is something wrong?

[recrudesce]

Future planning?

( Like - ? He rubs his jaw and looks behind him, inside. )

Not wrong, have you been following the group chat? Maybe before your future game?

[geminated]

Nope. We did not. There were a lot of messages and none of them were yelling at us specifically so we figured we'd check it later.

[A long pause.]

You said not wrong, so I'm going to assume no one's dead.

[recrudesce]

( "Something's not wrong, but they're dead," Luke asks, leaning very close. )

It's actually the exact opposite. The Armory got a call from my mother.

[geminated]

[Liv immediately realized that what Tyler was trying to tell her earlier is correct, and she is not sober enough for this conversation. She holds up a finger and says, quickly:]

Luke is going to magically sober me up and I will call you back in ... about an hour, probably.

[She starts to go to hang up and then brings the phone back.]

Wait, this is good?

[It feels like it should be good, and is honestly much better than her own family surprise that she has coming.]

[recrudesce]

I mean - she's alive. And okay. And I miss her. Sober up. Call me back.

( He should've waited. )