[Audio=>Video=>Action] I blink and the world was gone

[notmymccalling]

[Scott tumbles back into Wonderland disoriented and in full Lacrosse gear. He even still has the burns on his neck and hand from the attempted assassination, though they’re rapidly healing. His mind is a jumble, processing how he went from the locker room to the middle of a… garden?

He pulls out his phone and thinks he hits the call-back button because Stiles should be the most recent call on his list.]

Stiles? What the heck happened? Where am…? [But his voice trails off as memories hit him like a freight train. The network audio hangs there a while as he sorts through them in his head. Then it ends and is flipped over to a video feed.

The dark eyed teen looks a little dishevelled, but he seems to look less startled than his voice had been moments ago.] Wonderland, right. Sorry about that, um… disregard?

Private filtered to Allison and Isaac:
Allison? Isaac? Are you guys still… [There’s a knot in his throat that chokes off his words, so he swallows hard and tries again.] Are you both still here?

Action:
[Scott moves briskly back to the mansion and up the flights of stairs until he hits the ninth floor. It’s a quick dash down the hall to the Beacon Hills rooms, because let’s face it, they almost all live on the same floor. He reaches the 629th room and hesitates before rapping on the surface.] Stiles?

[He needs you, broski! He’s gone through a lot since he vanished and it was difficult for him to separate the tangle of Wonderland memories with ones from home. What would he do if his bestie was gone? He’d just been standing with him in the locker room after some psycho tried to take his werewolf head off with thermal wire and now he’s here.]

Private filtered to Natasha:
Sorry! I don't know how long I was gone, but I didn't mean to skip out on training! And repeat apology for every day I've missed along with grovelling for forgiveness?

Comments

[driven]

[ see, that's the problem here. because the question, before, was simple enough. easy to pass off as just trying to get used to wonderland. but that look? that way his voice cracks?

allison frowns, immediately aware of the fact something is wrong. ]

Yeah... are you sure you're okay? [ because that? that doesn't look okay. and it's scott, which means there's really no way that allison can keep herself from worrying.

plus, scott is as easy to read as an open book when he's trying to avoid a subject. which is what she picks up on, now, with his stumbling. she almost pushes the subject, again, when something catches her attention a little more strongly. ]

A hit list? You mean like the mob?

[notmymccalling]

Yeah. I'm good. Glad to be back, actually. [Now that was actually the truth. He kind of never wanted to go back home again.]

They're calling it a deadpool. But it's a list of all the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills with numbers of how much they're worth dead. With proof. Beacon Hills is crawling with assassins now. Just another fun day back home.

[Yes, let's stay focused on that because it's actually a much nicer topic than the previous.]

Apparently I'm worth 25 million dollars dead.

[driven]

Well we're glad you're back. [ she says with an easy enough smile, and almost laugh. it's just easier knowing that scott is here, makes her feel a little better. call it an over-protective sort of thing - having all her friends here where she can watch them.

still, her gut says it's something else. that scott's still hiding something. but she can't figure out what, or how, so she won't push it.

instead, she focuses on the updates. the stories of things she couldn't even imagine, which probably meant they're true. ]

Are you serious? A deadpool? [ wait, isaac mentioned something about deadpool once. wasn't he a comicbook character? she ignores the thought, frowning. ]

Who has a list of every supernatural creature in Beacon Hills? Who would call a hit on them? [ god, could their lives become more of a soap opera? please?

but then she just kind of stops. stops, and stares, eyes wide. ]

Twenty five million? [ what. the. hell. was. going. on. ] Who wants you dead?

[notmymccalling]

[That admission has his smile back and it's 100% authentic. This will have to be his closely guarded secret. He couldn't tell her or Isaac.

Yeah... it'd be so much more fun if it'd been the black and red clad anti-hero. Unfortunately, this was not the case.]

We're working on that. They aren't discriminating, either. They know about all of us, too. Even Lydia. We've only got two thirds of the list, though. There's another set of names and prices that we can't decode.

[He rubs the back of his neck and offers her another gentle smile. There are several Argents he could name off that wanted him dead, but that didn't need to be brought back up. Ever.]

Dunno. Whoever they are, they stole Derek's money and they're using it to fund the expenses. We're okay, though. Since we know they're coming, it's easier to fight them off. And more importantly, they're not here.

[driven]

[ his smile has her a little less on edge, if only because it's scott and it's scott's smile. she'll let him get away with all this for now, but if he thinkings this won't come back up again he has another thing coming.

allison frowns when he continues, trying to process. this really doesn't sound good. really doesn't. ]

It's in code? [ that's...new. ] You don't have it with you, do you? [ might be wishful thinking, but at least they could start working on it? during down time at least.

the next bit just sort of has her...blinking. derek's money? ]

Are they hunters? [ because her dad knows her stance on scott and isaac and derek. her dad would stop her family, or should have stopped her family, if they were the ones to blame. ]

[notmymccalling]

[He will play dodge the subject for as long as he possibly can. He'd rather lose the memory than share it. He really isn't worried about the deadpool right now. He's here not there and worrying here won't change anything there.]

Lydia's got it. She cracked the second set of names just before I got back here.

[Scott shakes his head with another negative for her.] I don't think so. There might be some, but not all of them are hunters. They're assassins, more like. I met a guy with no mouth that uses military tomahawks to kill at the hospital. I... [He looks up with a mix of light fear and awe.] Allison, I have a beta. It was an accident...

[He shakes the thought out of his head and carries on.] And um... yeah, a pair of kids that go to school with us are assassins too.

[He stops] Do you really wanna hear about all this? I feel like I'm babbling. [And he is, because God he misses her! But he's keeping up the smile and trying to keep things level.]

How're you and Isaac doing?

[driven]

[ she can't help the slightly proud smile she gets then. ]

Lydia would get it. [ but then allison takes a breath, a break, shaking her head. whatever it was, they'd get through it together. that's what they did, right? they were a team. that's how it happened. but then scott was going on and on and she tries to keep up, she does, but it's a lot of information to take in.

a guy with no mouth? tomahawks? kids at their school? they're all things she wants to ask about, but she focuses on one of those bits, the one that has his eyes looking like that. ]

Scott- [ he's in pain and she hates it. hates it more because she doesn't know how to help, how to make it better. that's not the look that he's supposed to wear, the eyes he's supposed to have. she frowns a little, eyes wide. confused. ] What do you mean you have a beta?

Of course I want to hear about this! [ nevermind that she just missed him, misses being in a comfortable enough place with him that they can just talk. but then she ends up looking a little sheepish as she continues, maybe a little embarrassed. ] I worry. [ about you is left unsaid, hanging heavily on the screen.

his next question has her blinking, caught off-guard by it. how were she and isaac...? ] We're okay. [ and then she smiles - fond, easy, simple. ] I mean- we're good. Why?

[notmymccalling]

[Scott hits full stop and looks momentarily startled before shaking it off and refocusing the conversation.]

I--this kid at school, he's a freshman. We were at the hospital and this wendigo kid attacked. He was going over the roof and I had to do something. Turning him was an accident, but I had to save him from falling. He's a good kid, really. Just... he's just got some anger issues. [AKA: Scott's pretty sure he's in waaaaay over his head, despite Derek's praise on the matter.]

[When she insists she wants to hear about it, he looks pretty endeared, more so when she says she worries, but he shies away, rubbing the back of his neck.] You don't have to worry. Really.

That's good! [His smile is stupidly bright. He may have been a bit jealous at first, but now... now he'd just give anything to have her around, even if it meant giving her up.] Just, I don't know. Just curious. I'm happy for you guys.

[He wasn't sure they still wanted him involved. He knew Isaac had been for it, but they never got around to actually pursuing anything in depth.]

[driven]

You turned a fresh- [ she stops, because that's not fair. not fair at all. this is scott they're talking about, so of course it was an accident. just like he says. ] You're helping him, though, right? Fix his...anger issues?

[ being a werewolf can't help with that.

but then he's being shy and allison just smiles, dimples really, sighing a bit dramatically when he says that. yeah, okay scott. she'll just stop now. ] It's already going to happen, so just get used to it, okay?

[ the brightness of his smile confuses her a little. what all happened when he went home? because beforehand, he'd still been awkward about it. this is a sudden shift and she's not really sure....what to do with it. ] Thanks. [ she guesses, still watching him.

something is weird. she just can't figure out what. ]

We miss you, though. I miss you. [ missed, she should have made that past tense. but oh well. too late now. ] I'm glad you're back.

[notmymccalling]

[He hears that judging tone and winces. Visibly winces.] Yeah, yeah I'm trying. I don't know how Derek did it, though. It's like I'm suddenly a parent and I'm not ready, but I have to be ready because he's my responsibility. Does that... make sense? And his anger issues are um... Apparently he was diagnosed with Intermittent Explosive Disorder? But he doesn't take his meds because they make him too sleepy. [So yeah, Scott's first beta is totally the Hulk. Just his luck.]

[Oh, no, it doesn't help at all.] Derek said his anger will make him strong. He wasn't kidding.

[Of course something's weird. He's Scott. Scott is weird. Dilemma solved. Yep.]

[But his smile turns genuinely dorky and fond. He just wishes he could tell her how much he misses her, too. But that would be odd given that he shouldn't because she isn't gone.] It's really good to be back, actually. So I'm glad too.

[driven]

[ he winces, and her face drops a little, because that's not what she meant. she knows scott better than to think he wouldn't have already thought this out, and be in it for his beta's sake, but it's just...weird to think about.

especially considering all that they went through when scott was first turned. ]

I...think, yeah. I haven't heard of Intermittent Explosive Disorder, though, but it doesn't sound good. [ she has another moment of wishes she could go home, wishing she could catch up, if only so she didn't have to make everyone go back through things that are so common knowledge to them, but oh well. ] You have Derek to help, though. [ is that a quiet little jab at derek and his anger issues? maybe. she's smiling though so it's not too bad. ] Sounds interesting, I guess. Stressful, but...yeah.

[ but there it is. there's that smile that still does so many unfair things to her insides. he smiles and she's grinning back and her dimples are just so, so visible. ] We should do another movie night, or just hang out or something. It's weird that we all live next door to each other but never really hang out.