Mystic Falls

Who: Madi & Gabe (possibly with cameos from others)
When: Friday, during school hours.
Where: Mystic Falls High School
What: A spiritual encounter



Madi had spent the day in a haze of confusion. When she'd awoken that morning, her family had been nowhere to be seen at home, which was unusual, but the weirdest part was the fact she was apparently intangible. She'd discovered that when she tried to touch stuff. Like her closet door. She felt a pressure, but couldn't get a grip on anything, and when she pressed, her fingers slipped -through- the object. After a while of waiting for someone to come home, she'd given up, and decided to go to school. Maybe her friends could help her.

When she'd arrived though, no one noticed her, not her friends nor her teachers, no matter how hard she'd tried to grab their attention. She'd tried talking to them but they ignored her, touching them, but her hand just passed through them, like she was an invisible version of Kitty Pryde.

While her friends weren't talking to her, they were definitely talking about her at lunch, about how her parents had been calling them the previous night, looking for her. Not a single one of them had any idea where she'd gone, though.

"I'm right here!" She'd told them over and over again, but her words went unheard, her face unseen. As Homeroom period finished, she'd trailed down the hallway in their wake, at a complete loss as to what to do.

That was when she saw him. Gabriel Kelley, or "Schitzo Boy" as some of the kids called him behind his back, on account of the fact that he responded to voices only he could hear. Madi blinked at him. He was... incandescent. And unlike anyone else had all day, he was staring right at her.

"Hello?" Madi addressed him timidly, "Can... can you see me?"

Who: Nadia and OPEN plus Liam, Hope, Dana, and last but definitely not least, Marcus
When: Afternoon, Thursday, May 7th.
Where: Starting in the street, then off to the hospital
What: The long wait is finally over



Nadia had been feeling restless all day, a strange jittery energy coursing through her. Figuring that she needed some air and a change of scenery, she'd hauled her massive belly off the couch and taken a trip into Mystic Falls, treating herself to a big lunch, (No one even gave her an odd look, which was just one of the perks of being a massively pregnant woman.) and then strolled, well, okay, waddled, through the shopping district, window-shopping.

Even though they'd amassed a huge amount of baby clothes, she couldn't resist buying a few more outfits for them. They were just too adorable. Feeling a little winded, which was unusual for her, Nadia paused by a window to admire a dress, sighing wistfully. She rubbed her belly and addressed its occupants affectionately, "Once you rascals come out, Mommy might be able to actually fit into something like that again... one day."

And that's when she felt it, a sudden gush flowing from her body, "Oh god. Oh god! My water just broke!" She yelled, addressing no one in particular. Then she got a head spin and sunk to the ground, passing out in the street.

Who: Charlie, Edmond, Diana
When: Wednesday Evening, after dinner
Where: The Kelley Ranch, out on the porch
What: Revelations



It was getting harder and harder for Charlie to hide the fact she wasn't eating. It seemed like if her mother keeping an eye on her at the dinner table, then her older sister Aurora was. Even her younger, but all too smart sister, Lorelei seemed to be watching her throughout dinner. Thankfully Pete had been out that night. It was pretty much impossible to hide anything from him - even if he didn't see you doing anything sneaky, he could hear you thinking about doing it. As much as she loved her family, none of them understood. Lately the thought of eating just turned her stomach.

Still, even with everyone watching, she thought she'd done okay, slipping the twin's mutt, Chicken, scraps under the table, and dropping the other half of her dinner into a plastic shopping bag, little by little. After dinner was over, she grabbed her bag and went outside, figuring she'd slip the rest of the scraps to the other animals, and hide whatever they didn't want in the outside trash bins.

She paused and grinned when a big black raven landed on the porch railing next to her. She lifted her arm up, and the bird, her familiar, Ed, hopped onto her wrist. Sitting down on the steps, she opened the bag and pulled out a scrap of chicken, offering it to him. He didn't take it, looking between the scrap and her dubiously, "Go ahead, you can have it. Or.. oh, duh. I guess that's sort of like cannibalism, when you're a bird."

"It's not that, ravens are scavengers," Ed responded, cocking his head to one side, "I do appreciate your kind offer, Charlotte, but I'm not the one who should be eating it. You are. You're too skinny, lass. You're going to fade away."

"Not you, too," Charlie huffed, her tone plaintive as she continued, "I'm not doing it to be skinny, Ed. I'm just not hungry, ok? Eating makes me feel sick lately. Just the thought of it... Uhg. Can't we just talk about something else? Teach me how to do a spell or something. Please?"

"No, we need to discuss this, Charlie. You need to eat, even if you don't feel like it. Keep your strength up," Ed insisted gently. He transformed into his snake form, wrapping himself around her arm, his smooth scales sliding against her skin oddly comforting, despite the fact a few months ago she'd been scared of snakes. Petrified, in fact. Ed was different though. She trusted him, knew he'd never hurt her. Edmond continued to speak, but this time in her head, "You need to eat to do magic, if you don't, your strength and focus will weaken... And I won't teach you magic unless I'm confident it's not going to wear you out."

"That's not fair, Ed! I'm fine!" Charlotte insisted, a slightly petulant note in her voice, "Besides, some of the books say that fasting can help aid in magic."

"Some magic, vision quests and the like," Ed corrected calmly, "But certainly not most magic. And as your Familiar, I'm telling you, I can feel how weak you are right now."

"Fine!" Charlie huffed, lifting the scrap of meat up to regard it with a grimace, "But if I eat, you'll teach me some magic, right?"

At that moment, Charlie heard the creak of a floorboard, gasping and whipping her head around to see her mother standing on the porch, staring at her, a concerned expression on her face. Following her mother's gaze, her eyes dropped to the arm now clutched to her chest, where it had flown when she startled. The arm with a black adder coiled around it. "Mom! You scared me!" She gulped, lowering her snake laden arm to her lap, hoping the dark fabric of her jeans would camouflage the black serpent, on the off chance her mother hadn't already seen him, "…How long have you been standing there?"

Who: Open to all - the more the merrier!
When: 6pm onwards.
Where: Mystic Falls Town Hall, Square & Gardens, and beyond...
What: Merriment, Magic, & Madness



The town square had been decorated with streamers and balloons, colourful fairy lights sparkling in the trees. Vendors had lined the square with carts selling all manner of food and drinks, stalls were set up with a variety of games to play, and a band played cheery music on a stage by the roped off 'dance floor."

The town hall had also been decorated for the occasion, and people in all manner of costumes were entering the building to attend the ball.

Puck was at the bottom of the town hall steps, looking thoroughly disreputable in biker gear, his eyes scanning the throng for his fairy princess. Catching sight of her, he smirked and sauntered over, bowing deep before her. She was beautiful, of course, resplendent in her costume, but eyes passed over her as though she was invisible. If only they could see her for who she truly was... An idea forming, he took her hand and spun her around in a pirouette, in process stripping away the seeming which cloaked her, revealing her to all, and transforming her fake wings into real ones. People stopped and stared, gasps could be heard whispering through the crowd. Kissing the hand he'd taken, he smiled at Aria, "You are a vision, my lady."

Just then, he felt the chill of winter glamour shiver along his skin, and turned to see Keane NicLaran, one of the winter court's most fearsome warriors, dressed as Batman, with Simone NicLucius, stunningly sexy as Catwoman. Realizing he'd endangered his princess, he thought fast, and began transforming people into the costumes that they wore...

Who: Derek & Diana
When: Afternoon
Where: Derek's room at the Motel 6
What: Talking things over...



Derek was in his motel room, a marker in hand, highlighting rent advertisements in the newspaper while he talked on the phone to a trusted friend back in Chicago, arranging for his possessions to be shipped to Mystic Falls.

Hearing a knock at the door, he left his paper where it was and got up to answer the door, "Hold on, someone's at the door," Opening the door, he saw Diana standing there, "Gotta go, Gary, it's Di. Thanks man. I will. Yeah, I'll call when I've got an address." He disconnected, moving aside so she could come in, "Come on in, Di. Gareth said to say hi. He's packing up the apartment in Chicago for me."

Who: The Kelley Clan
When: Early Evening
Where: The Kelley Ranch
What: An evening full of surprises...



The sun was just beginning to sink in the sky when Derek opened the gate the the Kelley Ranch and drove down the long driveway. Diana was expecting the horses, but she wasn't likely expecting Derek to be the person delivering them.

Call it selfishness, but he needed his family. He needed Diana, even though he knew he had no right to ask for her forgiveness, no matter how sorry he was.

He'd almost managed to convince himself to allow Di to leave, start a new life without him, when he'd spoken to the kids on the phone last night - well, some of them - Charlie was still refusing to speak to him. The twins, however, had begged and cried, and he hadn't really been able to give them a good reason why he couldn't come. Nothing was more important to him than his family. By the end of the conversation, he'd already loaded the website of an airline, and by 6am the next morning, he was on a plane, flying to Montana.

Arriving before noon, he'd hired a car, driven to Mystic Falls, booked himself into a local motel, then gone out to the ranch that he and Di had bought the horses from, hitched the horse trailer to the back of the hire car, and finally driven to the Kelley Ranch.

Was he making a mistake, coming here this way, unannounced and uninvited? He didn't know. Probably. What he did know, was that no matter how shameful what he'd done, he just couldn't allow Di to take his kids away from him. If they were going to move to Mystic Falls, so was he.

Derek drove around to the stables, got out of the car and checked on the horses, then walked up to the house. A couple of the porch steps were in need of replacement, and as he mounted the verandah, he made a mental note to get the supplies to fix them the next day. Drawing in a deep breath, he eased it out, lifted his hand, and rapped on the door.