but oh what a year

[patrols]

Comments

[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.

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda nods, before reaching for her phone.]

I should make sure she knows. Excuse me.

[Grayson is welcome to join her or stay with the girls, up to him.]

[opencases]

( Grayson abandons his glass and follows his wife into the other room. )

Well, crap.

[happiness_elude]

["You couldn't have known - and they needed to know." Carol will reassure her, and Carol will also top up her wine glass because this may be one of those conversations.

Since Grayson is coming, she will put the phone on speaker as she calls, and after a couple rings Elena does answer. "Mom?"]

Hi, sweetheart. I just ... I'm not sure how to say this but I wanted you to know that Isobel is also one of the people who was brought back.

[She's going to assume, in good faith, that Elena doesn't know. She would hope that if she did, Elena would have said something. But the silence stretches a little too long and she starts to get the sense that her daughter is choosing her words carefully.

"I know," she finally says softly. "Caroline told me."]

[founderscouncil]

( "I should know Isobel is a sore subject," she says, behind her wine glass.

Grayson looks up when his daughter confirms what he assumed, too. )

You didn't think to tell your mother or I?

[happiness_elude]

["I was going to. But there's been a lot going on. I'm sorry."

Miranda sets her jaw a bit, because for most things maybe Miranda would understand, but this is, in fact, a sore subject.]

After everything she did, you didn't think it would be important enough to make it a priority?

[The anger in her voice is clear and when Elena speaks again it almost seems like an edge of panic, like she wasn't expecting her mother to get angry. "Mom, I - "]

What if she showed up at the party, Elena? Did you think it would be good for her to surprise us like that?

["I honestly am not sure she would. I figured she wouldn't be here until the weekend if that."]

[founderscouncil]

But, you understand why we feel blindsided. Your mother was just coming around to all of this, to two children who appeared on Damon Salvatore's doorstep.

( He's not trying to sound agitated, only trying to get through to his daughter. )

[happiness_elude]

["I know, and I was going to tell you. I only found out last night, and today I was dealing with those children, so I've barely processed it." Elena is trying not to sound defensive, but she can't help but feel like she's on the back foot.

Miranda takes a breath.]

When this party is over, we are going to have a conversation about what you do and don't think is fit for us to know.

["Mom, I said - "]

I know what you said, Elena. And I know that you may feel like you're trying to protect us. But because you're in this world, we are now too. Especially when it comes to someone like Isobel, who you yourself have said is dangerous.

[founderscouncil]

We get that you have everything going on and that you've been handling this party, and those kids, but you could've taken five minutes. Everything we've heard about Isobel is bad.

( Almost everything, anyway. )

Now is there anybody else we need to know about while we're all on the line together?

[happiness_elude]

["No. At least, not that I know of." There's a chance that someone else could be out there, but Elena doesn't know about it.]

Good. We'll see you at the party.

[And with that, she will hang up and take a breath as she tries to calm down.]

[founderscouncil]

She's holding up a lot right now.

( He feels a little like he chewed her head off. )

[happiness_elude]

I know she is. And I know she's used to doing it all on her own.

[That they left her alone and contributed to the lone wolf that has become her daughter.]

But she needs to remember that we deserve to have that information too. She's not the only one who could get hurt anymore.

[founderscouncil]

She knows. And, if things hadn't happened one right after the other, she might have. She went from being rescued from a kidnapping to handling her back from the dead friend, and even more after that - most by phone.

( he sees her side now. )

This isn't about her doing it on her own.

[happiness_elude]

Then what is it about?

[Miranda raises her eyebrows back at her husband because she knows what it feels like. It feels like a belated response to the fact that they hadn't told her about Isobel in the first place. And she knows it's irrational, but there are so few things she controls in her life right now, and as a grown adult she can't help but feel frustrated.]

I am tired of feeling like I'm being handled. That I need to be protected. I'm not completely fragile.

[founderscouncil]

Then don't. Because I don't. Elena is doing the best she can. And while she may have kept Isobel coming back from us in order to protect us, she knows now that's not her job and it never has been. But, she hasn't had parents for a very long time. So, she needs to relearn that. I think she is.

( It's not to spite them. )

I think everything is happening at once. And maybe our grandchildren took priority.