for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[scrutinously]

And, he didn't exactly tell us, but he also hasn't been subtle. Like, uncle Matt.

( "I wasn't trying to be subtle, I was sitting across from you. If I didn't want you to know something, I would not take calls in front of you." he says. For the record! )

That's what we're calling it, though. Other timelines?

[patrols]

[She refrains from saying: "Unless you were also brutally murdered before you fell through, it's the safest option."]

For now, yes. At least until I talk to more of you to find a better point of commonality. There is another one here in New Orleans, but I've been told I have to wait for the local alpha to give me the all clear.

[She would make a joke about Derek hiding behind his hybrid girlfriend, but no, there's a traumatized teenage girl involved, she will keep that to herself.]

[scrutinously]

Because she's also a werewolf. That's what she's the alpha of? A werewolf pack?

( He never met his mom's old friend, Tyler. And that was something terrible he learned when everything came crashing down early senior year. )

So there are a lot of us. Enough to warrant all these sit downs.

[patrols]

Technically she's a hybrid, but she's also the alpha of the Crescent Pack. Her name is Hayley Marshall.

[Stephanie holds up a hand. "Hayley Marshall like Hope Mikaelson's mom?" She looks at Gray. "Isn't she also supposed to be dead?"

Colm catches the sound of that and frowns. "Never tell Hope any of this, should you meet her." Which if they're staying in New Orleans for a while, they might.]

[scrutinously]

She's definitely dea-- ( he starts, cut off, properly. He needs to be. ) That's something for your notes. Just ask us who's not alive ( he offers. ) And, before you ask, considering dad's surprise, uncle Matt is alive. But, until today, he wasn't here, was he?

( Damon doesn't shift as he does his very best attempt at being honest, but not letting on anything else.

"He wasn't. You keep this up, I'm going to start calling you Jessica Fletcher." )

Who?

[patrols]

Angela Lansbury? Murder She Wrote?

[Stephanie's blank stare matches Gray's and Lindsay sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.]

Young people.

[Stephanie rolls her eyes. "So Uncle Matt was dead but now he's not. Is it the same thing with Hope's parents?"

Lindsay shakes her head.]

Far as I know, they've never died.

[A beat.]

Aside from the first time when they became all ... fangy.

[scrutinously]

They definitely both died. ( He nods, knowing the history. ) But, we're not going to tell that to everyone, okay. As far as we're concerned, it doesn't leave this table. Right dad.

( "I'm not looking to drop your lore on the unsuspecting, especially because said people would probably have borderline violent reactions. The Mikaelsons have mellowed, but not enough to take their deaths lying down." )

[patrols]

Yeah, I wouldn't volunteer that information unless asked.

[So many people in the Mikaelsons inner circle are supposed to be dead. Really, it would be a bloodbath. Klaus, Hayley, Cami, Elijah, Josh, Aiden, yeah, no best to keep their mouths shut.]

And even if you are asked, be careful who you actually say it to.

[Stephanie makes a face because that sounds a lot like censorship to her, but she can at least see the argument in terms of safety. "So what now? We just hang out here until you figure out how to send us home? Because you are sending us home, right?"

Lindsay takes a deep breath before nodding.]

We will do our best, but until we figure out how you landed here, it's going to take time.

["So how do we figure that out? Because I have a life to get back to and our actual parents are probably flipping out."]

[scrutinously]

Hey. She's going to try. She can't guarantee anything, like we can't guarantee anything. But, we'll do our best. If this happened in our world, our parents would help. Right?

( If they can, they will.

"Also, you're not just hanging out here, though you are lucky enough to experience Beckford's cooking, you have a place with me. I don't have a lot going on right now and your mom will call me back. We'll go from there."

He hopes his brother got through to her and that he doesn't have to double tap a voicemail. )

[patrols]

[Lindsay glances down at her watch.]

After dinner we should have enough time to hit up a Target or something. Get you some supplies for at least the next few days.

[Because it's definitely going to take that long.]

Slayers unfortunately are not equipped for multiverse stuff unless it's a demon dimension so I gotta go find an expert.

[unforgivably]

I've done the 'shirt off my back' thing. It gets old. We'll get everyone all new threads.

( Is he trying too hard. Whatever. At least he's trying. )

Do you have any more questions for my children or is the interrogation over for now?

[meanestgirl]

[She shakes her head. "No, that's all I had. I'll see if I can get in touch with the other people affected and we'll go from there."

And with that they'll eat, and make a Target run for clothes and toiletries, before finally making it back to Damon's place. Fortunately for them, their father opts for more rather than less, so they each have their own bedroom. It's still a small space, however, so while she does want to talk to her brother, she doesn't want Damon eavesdropping. So she texts Gray on her new phone.]

So what's the plan? Just sit here and wait for them to figure it out?

[scrutinously]

I don't see any other choice. We're at a loss and disconnected from ( everything. their lives. their parents. their real parents? it hurts his head to type, but ) our world.

[meanestgirl]

What if they decide it's not worth it? What if they decide to just leave us here with our fake not-parents and no way to actually do anything about it?

[Because that may be her biggest fear. Getting too comfortable in this world that isn't hers.]

[scrutinously]

First off, you know our parents. I don't care if he's a vampire and she's in Kansas, or wherever. Dad will pretend his doesn't care, or say nothing, and then he's going to fight. Hard. And all mom will do? Is care. And, if the solution is more complicated, which, Steph, from what Lindsay said in Target about the possibilities... famous scientists are talking about labs and papers and other worlds. There are worlds we have in common. Prison worlds. Aunt Bonnie's world where she kept the love of her life. And all of the same names. I'm not saying I don't want to get back to mom and dad, I'm just saying it might not be the weekend.

Also it's Christmas this week and that's really weird.

[meanestgirl]

[Stephanie sets her jaw because is this really their mother? Because she never would have thought her mother would have left her dad, but here we are!! In freaky bizarro world where she ran off with a guy from Kansas.

She hates it here. She's only been here maybe six hours, but she hates it here.]

Maybe if we're lucky, Santa will bring us a way home.

[Yeah, she's going to be stuck on this for a while.]

[scrutinously]

You think Santa's real in this world, too?

[meanestgirl]

I don't know, but I hope so. This world is bizarre enough as it is, it might be nice to have something normal.

[A pause.]

...Okay, I may have actually lost my mind.

[scrutinously]

You haven't.

You helped me through me losing my mind senior year. So, if it happens, I'll be right there here.

[meanestgirl]

I hate it here. Nothing makes sense.

[scrutinously]

( It does in its' own way. But his mind works differently. )

Maybe you'll feel different when we come face to face with mom.

[meanestgirl]

Mom and her boyfriend and her bunker.

[There's a quiet pause.]

Mom and I barely get along on a good day, why would she want to be around me without biological imperative on the table?

[scrutinously]

Can't help you with the bunker, but at least it sounds like she's not being kept there. She went willingly.

Instinct, I hope. Because even though she didn't see us coming, we're here.

[meanestgirl]

[Another pause, this one longer because she can't avoid the stirring uncertainty in her gut, but eventually she says:]

I hope you're right.

[Which she does not say often so enjoy it, Gray.]

[scrutinously]

( For all her flaws and their father's temper they don't share, though hers is more readily on the surface, he is still her sister. He has seen her compassion alongside her withering stare, or dropping her friends in an instant (which was partially his fault), but he hopes she doesn't fall back onto old, early high school patterns. They won't get anywhere if she stays combative. He worries for her, worried about what it'd mean for her to go to college. But, he spent one year away from her and the house and the high school didn't burn down.

He hoped that taking care of herself didn't always come at the expense of not letting others in. He knows firsthand he can't trust everyone. Dad's old "friend" helped that along. But, he worked past it by January-February and turned his grades around.

His sister has always been smarter without trying, where Gray is the studier. He needs to make the effort. It also came naturally, burying himself in the town's problematic history. Wanting to feel closer to his grandparents. )

So, we're going to be meeting a whole lot of extended family we never would, otherwise.

You nervous?