but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[opencases]

We're in the kitchen! ( To them. ) I'll stop worrying that Elena is dating the unibomber.

( "Only two vampire brothers," Grayson says, taking a sip from his wine. He can joke about it now. )

[mayoralty]

Though not anymore. Now it's hunter brothers. Though, Elena's not dating both.

[Not that Stefan and Damon ever really overlapped to Carol's knowledge, but she can contribute to the conversation.]

Is that better or worse?

[Miranda shrugs. "We only just barely met Stefan and haven't met Damon at all so ... hard to say."

Carol smirks.]

Damon is charming. Though Liz spent more time with him than I did.

[opencases]

Well, that's not our story to comment on.

( Because Caroline is a wonderful daughter and tells her everything, even offscreen.

She was around during the era of brother flip-flopping, and even she knows it was much more complicated than that. Over and over again.

Grayson pours the last glass, stepping up and handing it to the third of the trio. )

Uh, he was a friend and helpful on cases and all things Klaus. You were around through the Stefan years and everything I heard was that he was a perfect gentleman.

( Again, until Klaus. )

Well, girls. We're all together again. I can't believe it.

[mayoralty]

Neither can I. But given the lengths it took to get us all here, I can see why we never thought of it.

[Miranda smirks, before shaking her head. "I have to say, you two are much calmer about all of this than Grayson and I were. Did you speedrun wrapping your head around the whole 'I died' part?"

Carol pauses, before tipping her head to the side curiously.]

Not really. But I remember being dead.

[opencases]

Me too. Maybe, because we were brought back differently. But, Carol and I also have experience with the supernatural. Her son, my daughter. Mystic Falls after you. It's only natural for it to take time.

( She almost wishes she didn't remember being dead, because there is that strange difference, the dichotomy of how Peace felt. But, in this moment, with her oldest friends, all who were dead before this, it compares. )

Caroline has a boyfriend. Ryan. She happened to be in California when I woke up in Beacon Hills. So, I get missing their lives.

[mayoralty]

Tyler's been with someone for twenty years. The amount of time we've missed is old enough to drink and vote.

["We met Ryan," Miranda nods. "He's a nice boy, though a bit quiet." And a vampire, but it's not a pro or a con. Or at least Miranda's trying to get there. "And Tyler's girlfriend is named Liv. We haven't met her though."]

She's a firecracker. I like her.

[opencases]

It can buy porn and cigarettes.

( Grayson just gives a long look at Liz. He forgets she was always more a broad than a lady and chuckles to himself.

"We haven't met Liv. But, Ryan takes care of her. He cares. You can tell," Grayson says.

'Thank you,' Liz mouths. )

Is she intimidated by you, Carol?

[mayoralty]

Intimidated? No.

[That isn't the vibe she's getting. Carol is a little disappointed by that, but she enjoys seeing Tyler happy, she'll allow it.]

But she is invested in making a good impression. Which ... I don't want to say it seems difficult for her, but I get the sense it's not her usual mode.

[opencases]

That means something.

( "Making a good impression on a relative back from the dead probably isn't easy, on average," Grayson says. )

[mayoralty]

No, it's not. Though she seems to have had her fair share of experience with that.

[Miranda shakes her head. "The fact that this is something you can become accustomed to is still beyond me."

Carol shakes her head.]

You're telling me. But I'm sure it's been helpful for Tyler.

[opencases]

Really, Carol. You're surprised people become accustomed to this?

( They had a town full of Originals they all had to contend with and coexist with. But, she remembers how that ended and she goes quiet. )

Really, nobody has ever been given the choice. Including Elena. And Tyler. And Caroline.

[mayoralty]

I don't think a lot of people - witches or not - deal with surprise family members coming back from the dead on a regular basis.

[But Liv is going on her what? Fourth round with surprise Parker roulette? She's just saying.]

I wasn't just referring to the supernatural in general.

[opencases]

Elena has. Several times over. But, you're right, about the average person. By the end of this, we'll all be experts.

( "I could probably teach a class," Grayson says, one eye squinting into his glass. )

[mayoralty]

["The fact that this seems like it could be a class now is ... something." Miranda sighs, rubbing at her eyes. "I miss when the world worked one way, though ... not complaining, because if it did, I wouldn't be here."

Carol smirks.]

I have a feeling it's just going to get weirder, depending on what this Barry has to say.

[opencases]

Caroline through Stiles through William Queen apparently says that Barry is "good people." So, there's that, at least.

( "Good they're not sending us villains to vet everyone." Grayson might be a little buzzed. "Who came back from the dead around Elena?"

Liz looks to Carol, then back. )

Her biological parents both resurfaced to... varying degrees, according to Caroline. Isobel and John Gilbert. And John Gilbert's time in Mystic Falls was bloody. And ended... It ended. I didn't get all the details. But his funeral was the next summer.

( And that was just them. )

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda's hand finds Grayson's arm, because they knew that John was dead, but it still never gets easy to hear. John wasn't her favorite person, necessarily, but he was still family.]

Elena and I spoke some about Isobel. How she was a vampire. Poor girl.

[True, it may have been her choice, but Miranda couldn't imagine what would have sent her running to that.]

[opencases]

She... wanted to be one.

( Which made her resurfacing more of a shock to everyone. )

Again, this was a little after Caroline started filling me in, but the last time she was in town... it left an impression.

[happiness_elude]

I'm sure she did.

[That had never been something Isobel lacked - the ability to make an impression.]

She did even when she was human.

[She certainly made an impression on Miranda, but that may have been because it gave her Elena.]

[opencases]

But, she's gone, too.

( Or, so she thinks. ) I think before now, Elena had a longer list of people she'd lost than... ( She sighs. ) Vampires never stopped. And, with them, a whole wide world of other visitors. Most recently for me, witches called Travelers. They took over the town and ended up casting an anti-magic spell. Everyone magic was trapped outside the town lines. Obviously, it was lifted.

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda sighs, before shaking her head.]

And now we have more witches and strange resurrections ... it seems as though it never really stops.

[She still doesn't know all of who was brought back. She assumes that Elena didn't tell her the people she didn't personally know.]

[opencases]

Like life. Not that I'm downplaying it, but Elena, Caroline, Tyler, they've been dealing with it for longer than we have. And, in some cases, they had no choice, and in some cases, they chose.

( She glances at Carol, though. )

I can only imagine what Isobel is going to do now, but, as far as I know, she's with a witch somewhere else.

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda stills at the mention of what Isobel will do now. She looks back at Liz, frowning as she tries to process information that she she feels like she should already know.]

Isobel is back?

[opencases]

With the rest of us, apparently. There was a bit of a phone tag situation surrounding her. Isobel prefers her information to be from the source.

( She sends another look to Carol, because she is accidentally starting something and she suddenly doesn't have enough wine. )

[happiness_elude]

[Carol will very much pour her another glass but she doesn't know what's going on here either. Miranda, though, is mostly concerned because she hadn't heard this yet.]

Does Elena know?

[opencases]

I don't know.

( But, Caroline does. And Stiles. )

Apparently, she appeared with an unidentified witch.