six ✚ returned

[affectioning]

[ Melissa is not in her scrubs this time, but her civvies, and she’s smirking quietly to herself. The memory of Scott closing the door in his father’s face is one that she’ll treasure for a very long time. ]

Hello? Scott McCall and I are back again. I think we just took a year off the poor worker’s life, the guy doing the drywall in the clinic? Yeah, not pretty. I’ve never seen a saw bounce before. Hope I never see it again.

[ And, sure enough, there’s a very loud buzzing just off camera. Apparently the worker heard that. Oops.

Into the feed, a wild Scott McCall appears! Just his head, anyway, leaning down into it beside his mother’s. ]

But, he’s fine, he’s fine! [ He looks off screen.. ] Nobody was injured. [ He looks back. ] Sorry to anybody if we had plans. But, we’re back now and we’re not planning on going anywhere. [ Unless everyone else gets out with them.

Melissa pokes her head back into frame again.]

Oh! And Lydia? Tell me you fed the cat? I mean...how long have we been gone, after all? Ziggy wasn’t too much of problem, was he?

[ Scott is about to say something else, but he notices something offscreen. ] No way. [ And he slides out of frame leaving Melissa to take the reins. Offscreen… ] Cool.

...Okay. Just a note to say we’re back. Stiles, Isaac, Derek? Are you all okay?

[ And Scott is back. ]

You’re still here, right? [ Scott brings it closer, fiddling and then soon, the feed is private! ]

derek ]

Thanks. [ To his mom. To the device... ] I think I’m all caught up. Sorry if you came by Monday night. The City thought we didn’t need to talk. But, we still should.

isaac ]
We will hang out this weekend.

[ Fiddling with it again, Scott adjusts to make the feed public once more ]

public ]

So, that’s what leaving is like. We had no clue we were here. And then we were just… back. If anybody needs us, we’ll be back at the apartment in a couple of minutes. Angela, I’ll be in to work tomorrow. [ A beat before he adds ] Has anybody heard from Wally?

[ ooc: Replies will be coming from both Scott and Melissa! ]

Comments

[lefthandedgenius]

More or less, yes.

Why? What happened?

[affectioning]

A lot. I'm from three days after that. [ Does that help? ]

[lefthandedgenius]

[Lydia Stare ™.]

A lot can happen in three days.

[With the inferred suggestion that yes, she would like to know more.]

[affectioning]

[ He takes a breath. He owes her. Eventually, they'll all know. Seeing as they went back and had no idea, it shouldn't hurt. And there's nothing that should upset Lydia. ]

If you're at the apartment, we'll be there soon. We can talk there. I'll tell you everything.

[ His thought process is clear, make sure his friends and family don't worry about what's going on back home. Everyone is alive and saved. Everyone who matters. No parents were harmed in the making of this evil plot. ]

[lefthandedgenius]

Alright. I'll be waiting.


Grab some takeout on the way.

[Lazy Lydia is lazy. And Scott does owe her.]

[affectioning]

[ He was going to, anyway, neither of them feel like cooking.

Scott and his mom pick up take out, salads because Scott isn't that hungry. He'd just had breakfast before coming here before stopping in to see Deaton to update him. He'd been at school. Walking back, he thought about the moment before popping back into the City. He'd seen Allison and Isaac happy, Lydia and Aiden happy and even Ethan and Danny happy. And then Stiles had thrown an arm around him. These were his friends.

In truth, they were his pack.

His mom gives them privacy so Scott can catch Lydia up. He mostly picks at his salad, having never been a big fan of salads. But, he'd said yes. Why, again? It was easy. ]

[lefthandedgenius]

[So Lydia was hungry when she'd asked for take-out, and isn't it just awesome that the universe bends to her will (like it should)? But within minutes of Scott and Melissa's return, Lydia's appetite has waned.

Funny, even though some crazy stuff happened only a few days ago, she's not uncomfortable sitting here alone with him. There's an edge to him now, something she can't quite put her finger on, and her own food is ignored as she watches Scott expectantly.]

[affectioning]

[ He sets his plastic fork down, looking up at her. Maybe it's the darkness around his heart, maybe it's those three days (and a lost sixteen hours) that stop him from worrying about what had occurred between them. The fact that they've both moved on is a testament to who Lydia is and what Scott has gone through. What was once a sad curse mistake he couldn't choose was something that happened and that's it. ]

Stiles and I went to Deaton after Jennifer took his dad. But, we called Derek, too. She ran to Derek's loft but we beat her there.

[lefthandedgenius]

Why would she go to Derek's loft? Because he's an alpha?

[There are elements she doesn't know about yet. The question is not critical, but rather Lydia's need for detail.]

[affectioning]

She was dating him. [ Or, something. He prefers not to think about what else they were doing, how short a time had passed and how quickly Derek must have let his guard down. ] She tried to convince him that we were wrong. She played dumb. But, we had a secret weapon. Deaton gave me a jar of mistletoe. It showed Derek what she really was.

[lefthandedgenius]

[Oh, eyebrows hit her hairline on that piece of news - Derek may not want to Go There, but Lydia can read the writing on the wall. Still, lbh, it's not the most important part of things so she's quick to move on.]

Right, she's the darach. So then...?

[affectioning]

Then, Derek got angry. But, she said that she was his only hope to help Cora. So, we all drove to the hospital.

[lefthandedgenius]

Was Cora okay? I mean, did she actually help her, or was it just, you know, a trick?

[Because Lydia 100% believes Jennifer is tricksy and screw them over.]

[affectioning]

The alphas were there waiting. They were after her. It turns out she used to be Kali's emissary. Her name was Julia. She said if we want to save Cora then we had to get her out of there alive. With Allison's and her dad's help, we almost did but it was all a trick. She knocked Derek out - they'd gotten stuck in the elevator - [ a beat for this. ] And she took my mom.

[lefthandedgenius]

[Lydia's face just falls.] Oh god, I'm so sorry. [A beat.] But she's here with you now. Does that mean she's okay, or am I getting ahead of things?

[affectioning]

You're ahead but she's fine.

[ He takes a second to form his next thought, to explain what he needs to. It's like he's back there again on that roof realizing he has no choice. ]

Deucalian was waiting for me. He said he'd get her back if I... joined his pack. I didn't do it for long but I thought I didn't have a choice. She was gone.

[lefthandedgenius]

[Well, that's a relief. Lydia actually really likes Melissa. It shows on her face.

But the news about him joining Deucalion's pack? Not good. She wants to ask about the twins...well. She wants to ask about Aidan, but now isn't the time. So she continues to listen.]

[affectioning]

While I was with them, Allison, Isaac and her dad tried to find them. [ He doesn't know how to explain this part. He's only heard about it from a third party. ] Her dad got taken, too. But, he wanted to be. It was his plan. [ What else happened. He spent the day with Deucalian's pack. ]

[lefthandedgenius]

Right, right. Get inside and take her down from within. Alison's father was totally secret super bad ass, just the sort of thing he'd do. [She nods.] If your mom's okay, then I'm hoping Alison's dad and...the sheriff?

[affectioning]

They're all okay. [ Lydia, way to spoil yourself. But, this is the point of telling the story. They'd hunted down Ms. Morrell and she'd revealed that Deucalian had killed Ennis. He'd been alive. That was enough to get Scott to leave his side. ] Ms. Morrell told me they were under the Nematon. [ A beat. ] Deaton came up with a plan. Allison, Stiles and me would step in as sacrifices.

[lefthandedgenius]

[Blink.]

Wait, what?!

[affectioning]

We had to give the nematon power to find where it was. We had to delay the sacrifices. We had to be held under in vats of ice water.

[lefthandedgenius]

You were going to let someone just drown you and give you hypothermia? [Lydia is a bit freaked out by that. But okay, that makes sense, lower the body's temperature to effectively kill all three of them for a time before then being able to revive them, Lydia's already got the line on this. Still, she can't help but ask about the person - the people - she cares about. ] Oh my god, are Alison and Stiles okay? Who the hell would be crazy enough to do that? Be okay with drowning you?

[affectioning]

You volunteered to hold Allison under but Deaton stopped you. There had to be a connection between us. So, you held Stiles down, Deaton held me and [ setting his jaw, he understands what's happened or what might be happening, he's still all right with it ] Isaac held Allison.

[lefthandedgenius]

[It would be a moment for the Lydia Stare, but she's really too shocked for it to have any effect. Her jaw works for a long moment as she struggles with the notion of killing Alison, of killing Stiles (even if they were to come back), killing anyone. And beyond that, why would Isaac hold down Alison, why would she hold down Stiles, even though the math suggests Deaton would have to be the one for Scott, why would...]

That seems all kinds of wrong to me.


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