for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

PART I: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

[woodenbullets]

BALTIMORE | EVERGREEN MANSION | MATT, JO, AND THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH

[woodenbullets]

( Blood has always been a powerful thing. Blood bonds. Blood keeps us alive. Blood courses through everything we do. Elena had been taken for her blood. The Colony's blood has been keeping them alive for centuries. Too much blood has been shed.

Especially tonight.

**

Once the action is over, Russell laughs. It's the end of a long curse for him, so Dean cuts the guy some slack. Sierra seems to have a different expression on her face. In the face of brutal death, what proceeds couldn't be called pleasantries, but politeness. People are introduced, dead bodies are explained.

At the top of the stairs, Dean presses harder. What did Matt do. It's made clear to him Matt didn't do anything. The spell Elena was under called him in, sort of like a spirit guide, but Elena guesses he was meant to be a distraction. He didn't do this, she swears. Can they all just get downstairs?

As Sierra leads them back down the third floor hallway, on the first, Stefan and Elijah take care of the final fleeing witches, while Jeremy and Buffy do a sweep of the first floor. He wants to be there when his sister comes down, to see she's in one piece, and Sam says that Dean messaged him. Like they all felt when it was done. Everyone's dead.

Jeremy and Buffy come upon a gruesome scene in the makeshift chapel.

Outside, Allison sits, bow poised, but not up, just in case. Sam has given her the signal. It's okay. But, she knows she should be out here in case there are runners.

There are always runners.

Years before, Jo Harvelle is released, her unwanted debt to Osiris with it. The lighter drops as gas pours into the small motel room. When she reappears, it's not at Peace, it's not in Heaven, but under the cover of a gray sky. Without the cloaking spell, the infernal night that covered is now an overcast gray.

Allison, at the ready, here's the change in weight when Jo materializes and her foot touches a pile of pebbles. She spins her crossbow around.

"Hands up," she says. )

[decoys]

[Jo Harvelle does not know where she is, and that's not ... wholly unusual. She's not quite at peace but also not quite alive so she lives in an in-between that comes and goes depending on the whims of the powerful beacons of the world. She likes to drift sometimes, to follow the people she loves and pop in on what they're up to, but it's not a linear thing.

What she does know is that she knew she was with Dean in a motel somewhere in Michigan, and now she's somewhere else, near a house far too extravagant to be to the taste of anyone she knows. She feels her foot scuff against the pebbles and then there's a voice telling her to put her hands up so naturally, being the one unarmed, she does as she's told.]

Alright, alright. I'm unarmed.

[She turns slowly to face a dark-haired woman with a crossbow. Naturally, she feels her breathing start to pick up as adrenaline kicks in, and then she realizes she's breathing. Her hand comes down in front of her mouth, feeling the warm puffs of air brush against her skin. Then she moves that hand to her throat, try to find her pulse and feeling her stomach drop when she can.

The woman probably isn't expecting any of these reactions, and she probably is even more confused when Jo lets out a breathless:]

What the fuck?

[matriarchate]

( It doesn't take Allison long to recognize someone reappearing and checking their vital signs. Unfortunately for Jo, there are more than a dozen dead witches inside. She could be someone who made a pact or someone whose life was linked to hers, or some other factor. She isn't dressed like the Colony witches, which Allison does acknowledge in her mind. She just doesn't know what to do from here. )

Keep your hands where I can see them. And, no wrist flicking, I'm the best shot here.

( And she is very unlucky for Allison to be the one.

Still, she doesn't assess threat right away. She also knows threats don't always make themselves known. Sometimes they disguise themselves. She needs backup. She calls back behind her into the house, but doesn't turn, keeping that crossbow trained on this - alive woman. )

Sam! ( And then, because she thinks she's a good judge of honesty. ) Are you Colony?

STAR CITY | CAN CAN SEATTLE | ENZO AND SHEILA

[marinates]

( Blood has always had a ripple effect.

The girls of Can Can Seattle are throwing an impromptu bachelorette party for one of their own. They're hooting and hollering. It's a miracle Tess let them use the space, but her only rules are any girls working that night can't get so toe up they need to swap shifts, Ally can't and shouldn't work tonight, it's her day, and Jack can't set foot inside the establishment.

Sean's handling the bachelor party anyway.

What's better than a bunch of horny, drunk women, men doing their best burlesque routine. Mostly men. There are two women so lifts can be done and when they're not performing, shots can be passed around. It's a full service company.

The girls are off stage while the more R-rated routine is going on. Coordinating strip-choreography, boas, and very well-sized g-strings are doing their thing.

One girl suddenly yells, "Booo, make him take it off, too!"

All the men, of course, have. Auggie looks to Cameron, who - doesn't have much left on besides what they like to call floss. But, as they look to Rodney and Quentin, and the backups behind them pull off their pants and reveal their asslessness, palms slap those asses.

As they bend upwards, turn, and gyrate off stage they reveal a man who wasn't there a moment ago, right? No, because, this was a closed event. But he looked shellshocked. Less than the older woman who's also appeared. She seems to be assessing, perhaps ready to have just ended up here.

"Simone, did you invite your grandma," Nikki asks, looking up from texting Marcus for the fifth time that day. )

[bennettblood]

[This is not Sheila Bennett's first burlesque show, her daughter would probably be scandalized to know. Maybe not her granddaughter, though Bonnie was always more tolerant of her eccentricities than most of her family.

That being said, this is her first time being part of the show, and she's not entirely sure how she got here.

Best to play the doddy old lady until she can figure out what's going on and how she's alive again. Because she is alive. She can feel magic flowing through her in a way she hasn't felt in decades.]

I am so sorry, I think I may have gotten lost on the way to the bathroom. Do you think you could redirect me?

[marinates]

( Is she asking him that?

"Get off the stage!" Nikki yells. "This is a closed performance."

"Nikki," Tess says, standing among her girls and moving around the tables. All the men are charmed instantly by Sheila and confused by Enzo, who, has no other choice by the play the part of -- he doesn't have long to think. )

Come now, grandmother ( he says weaving around very confused dancers, as he settles by her side as Tess reaches the stage. ) I am so sorry my grandmother wandered in through ( he remembers seeing it open ) the stage door. We will get out of all your hair, eh? ( he smiles and waves a hand at the bride to be. ) Congratulations.

MYSTIC FALLS | LONG STRETCH OF HIGHWAY | CHARLIE AND CAROL

[crosseth]

( One minute the road is empty, quiet, the Mystic Falls sign sits, bathed in what little sunlight peeks through the overcast sky. A bus approaches an empty bench. It passes, stopping for the two people now sitting on the bench - looking like they're waiting. It actually takes the bus a little too long to stop, the familiar engine and muffler coming to life as it backs up to reach the bus stop again.

It opens the doors in front of the man - sexist, Carol might think, the bus driver leaning forward.

"I almost didn't see you there. Light must be playing tricks on me. You coming?"

The last he remembers, Charlie the well-meaning fireman was being broken up with by Wynonna Earp, the hottest girl he has probably ever been with. Word around Purgatory is Charlie is way too nice for a girl like that, but Charlie's got his dirty side too and she learns that. Except, there are other things, glimpses behind the eyes of someone else. He's not just Charlie. He is, he is Charlie, but he's more than that and that has him a little dazed as he remembers being attacked by Doc, the vampire and meeting the daughter he now thinks doesn't math out right.

The bus driver takes a step down from his seat and comes out to ask the woman, then.

"He alright? Do I need to call someone?" )

[mayoralty]

[Oh, Liz is going to be annoyed with her for missing their drink date.

But Carol is quicker on her feet than Charlie is. Perhaps it's an old muscle from having been married to Richard for so long, but she's quick to step up and flash the bus driver a smile.]

We're so sorry, but I didn't bring my purse and he forgot his wallet. Do you happen to be going to Mystic Falls? My son lives there and I'm sure he'll be able to pick up the fare once we get there.

[She also doesn't have a phone to call him, but that's neither here nor there. The bus driver doesn't have to know that. She just flashes him a charming smile and hopes that maybe one of the nice people on the bus will give her their phone to call Tyler.

If Tyler is still alive. She would think he would have found her in Peace if he wasn't but Peace can get ... confusing, sometimes. Time wanders.]

[crosseth]

( That (15) really does the trick.

"I am going to Mystic Falls," he says, leaning forward into his do-gooder tray, he calls it, dropping coins in for this woman and her friend. "My wife called me from Target the other day," he explains. "The Target customer service. Left her phone, wallet, and lost her car keys." He can relate.

Carol's quick thinking spurs Charlie, to turn and ask a question he knows won't glean him the right answer. )

Do you know if Waverly is also in Mystic Falls?

BEACON HILLS | THE PRESERVE | LAURA, JENNA, AND LIZ

[unpreparedness]

( She wakes up on a large stump.

Much like she remembers waking up with a gasp in that ring of fire. The agonizing last few minutes of her life play through her mind as she fights tears at the corner of her eyes. ) Elena ( She gathers herself, sniffing back sadness, as she slides off the stump - ow, there is an edge to that stump and almost steps on - is that a person?

Pushing past and dropping next to the body, she goes into - she doesn't even know, her brother-in-law was a doctor, is it triage? Mode? And she rolls the - oh no, naked - woman over. Removing her coat, she covers the woman. An impulse she's never had and has never wanted to experience - never even thought about experiencing even after the few hours she had to learn about the supernatural - comes over her. She can hear the woman's faint pulse. ) Alive, you're alive.

( She sits back, looking away, fighting the urge and the red around her eyes. )

We're not doing this now. We're getting answers. We're -- getting her and us away from Klaus and then we're going to stop talking to ourselves.

( She moves forward again to rouse the woman, shaking her lightly. ) Hey, you have to wake up.

( Liz was done. She did her job. She came out the other side a beautiful parent proud of her extraordinary daughter. And then she succumbed to her natural causes.

Something feels very different as she comes into herself again, standing. She had been with Carol Lockwood, doing something. She decides the further from her Peace she is, the more it must blur. She doesn't recognize her surroundings. But, apparently, her clothes came with her. Not a hospital gown. That would be something to explain.

Getting her bearings, he scans around her before spotting:

"Jenna Sommers?" )

[hereditare]

[Laura both knows where she is and not at the same time, the moment she opens her eyes. The tree stump itself is familiar - she's visited it many times over the course of her life n Beacon Hills, both with her mother and without, but it's never hummed like this. Like it's welcoming her home.

She doesn't know what happened. The last thing she remembers is Peter coming at her, teeth wide, and as she assesses her own limbs and awareness, she realizes a few things.

1. She's not an alpha. Not anymore. Still a werewolf, but that little something extra that's been with her since her mother's death is gone.
2. Her senses are a little off. Her ears feel like they're stuffed with cotton and her nose is clogged.
3. But even with that, she knows one thing: the woman in front of her, taking care to cover her with her jacket, is a vampire.

There's another woman, human, not too far from them and they seem to know each other. Which is odd, because she would know if there was a vampire in Beacon Hills, and she's never seen either of them before. Then again, she's been gone a long time. More than she really knows.

She looks down and tightens her grip on Jenna's coat, pulling it closer to try and cover herself more.]

Thank you, for the jacket.

[She glances between the two of them and frowns.]

Don't take this the wrong way, but who are you?

[Not where are they or what happened - Laura knows exactly where she is, knows these woods like she knows her own history. She doesn't realize truly how much time has passed, as it hasn't sunk in quite yet that she was dead, but Beacon Hills is her place. These strangers don't seem as though they fit.]

[opencases]

( The woman isn't dead, so that's one win for the day for Jenna on a day among other losses.

Jenna hears her name and the familiar voice that goes with it.

"Sheriff Forbes?" she asks, and doesn't say. "I can - I can explain," she tries, not knowing if she can. She knows the secrets she has to keep. And she has no answers besides the stake she can still feel being driven into her chest. Maybe it wasn't?

Liz comes around the stump as the woman holds that jacket close to her. This is all too disorienting for Peace - and she can tell that's true of Jenna - and - this person. She goes to say something, recognizing the breath her body naturally takes. That's new. She takes just a split second to feel the breeze and hear the evidence of nature around her.

She's not at Peace anymore, she's alive. )

Hey Jenna. Believe it or not, you don't have to explain anything to me.

( Moving on. She addresses Laura, first, kneeling down. )

I'm Elizabeth Forbes, are you hurt?

( "I think she's only naked," Jenna says, unhelpfully? But, she expected to have to explain everything. She takes a few steps closer, because last she checked, the sheriff wasn't in on everything. In fact, if Ric and Elena explained it right, she should be compelled and shouldn't remember any of it. Maybe this is grace under fire?

Jenna holds off, waiting for her answer. )

NEW ORLEANS | THE BAYOU | ELLEN AND ERICA

[demonhuntersquarterly]

( There's a calmness that settles over you, she'd explain to anyone, when you realize the life you're living isn't yours to live. When a nondescript ship's maiden voyage was supposed to capsize. When the marriage which irked you to holy hell on its' best days, but that you'd fight tooth and nail for to keep - isn't right either. You keep it from your other half. (You're the better half and he don't forget it.) You do the kind thing. You wait for oblivion. Cause you're not gonna remember it. You're a cosmic loose end.

And then you fall into literal mud.

It's gross and damp and hot because of the trees around you. Around her. Around Ellen Harvelle.

Her first thought would be she needs a shower, but she's been through the dirt, the grime, mudwrestled a vampire before. This is nothing. )

I'm gonna kill those boys.

( She gets to her feet, wiping her hands on her pants before grabbing for her phone. )

No damn signal. 'Course not. Cause if you'dve jumped me anywhere else, you know I'd be speed dialing your sorry asses...

[yourtype]

[Erica doesn't know how she got here. She remembers hyping herself up, while Boyd and Cora tried to talk her out of it. She remembers Kali coming into the vault, eyes red like glowing coals in the darkness, and then things get a little ... fuzzy.

The mud of the bayou sinks into the bottoms of her jeans and she's so fucking hungry, so dizzy from being upright for the first time in a while, that she stumbles some. Ellen can probably hear the splash of her moving around, but Erica can definitely hear her, so she slowly starts to wander towards the sound of the voice.

Hopefully she's safe. If not, well. Erica has claws. She won't hesitate to use them.]

Do you know where we are?

[The older woman comes into view and Erica just keeps stumbling closer.]

I ... this wasn't where I was before.

[demonhuntersquarterly]

( Ellen hears the splash and whirls around. )

Cas, if you landed me in Gator-country, I will...

( There's a blonde girl trudging through the swamp asking her the very question she's asking herself. As far as Ellen knows, she's the only savable blip the boys might hide. She hasn't seen this fate girl in person, but from what she heard, she's no nonsense. And she wears glasses and a grey suit.

She's going to assume this isn't Fate. )

I don't, but I'd very much like to. I was in Sioux Falls, does that mean anything to you? How about the Titanic?

( Huge longshot, but she has to. )

Never mind that, where were you before this? ( She notices her stumbling and against her better judgment, moves closer, ready to catch her. ) Hey, you okay?

NEW ORLEANS | LENORE'S AIR BNB | GRAY AND STEPHANIE

[scrutinously]

( The Salvatore siblings have, for the most part, been kept out of everything directly supernatural. When they were old enough, their parents never shied away from their pasts, what their dad was, who their uncle was, what aunt Caroline and Bonnie are. Cousin Josie. The list goes on. For the most part, they're raised with a normal childhood. Forbidden from seeing Salvatore: The Musical. Private school is discussed but decided against. Damon is in the against category. His kids are already special and he wants to use the money on better things. The kids do get to travel because their parents never did. They fly to see their aunt Caroline before she returns to take back her headmistress mantle. Aunt Bonnie is always somewhere sending postcards. And one particular birthday, they each received blood from both Caroline and Bonnie and they were asked not not disclose that.

Gray's world is rocked earlier than his sister's. An old enemy of his father surfaces and, first, befriends him, looking like his age. He makes him feel like he belongs, like his town does have a legacy. The new kid also gets into the historical society. And then the new kid kidnaps him and uses him as leverage and kind of poisons his mind about how horrible his dad was at one time.

He tries laughing it off, agrees to go to therapy at the Salvatore School with Ms. Tig.

It hurts. It's impossible to reconcile and he acts a lot more like his sister for a few months. After a run-in with the new sheriff, his mother gets him out of trouble, has a frank discussion about alcohol (that goes all ways and it's the first time he realizes his dad might have a problem), and then she promises to answer anything honestly. She even gifts her embarrassing journals. For his research. He reminds her of Miranda.

He goes off to Whittemore, more because it's technically his parents' legacy. He protests one of the Augustine societies which is now much more an on campus fraternity and even gets them shut down.

He has a damn fine first year.

Halfway through his sophomore and her freshman year, he has a bright idea, to spend winter break in New Orleans. A) to party like they should not at the Falls or the Old Mill (they snuck their twice) and B) to get out of their own heads. Finals are a bitch, vacation doesn't have to be. He even convinces their mom and dad to meet them a few days later so they can celebrate Christmas as a family.

He even pays for everything. He's a good brother.

Lenore, the proprietor is nice enough, if kooky. Very old British, which confuses him. He annoys his sister asking about the French history of the quarter. And then they never see her again. Which, he assumes, is how air b and b's work. This is his first.

After waking up from a leisurely nap, he showers. It's during that shower when things shift. The water catches, like they're a sudden clog, and then it resumes, except it is cold, cold and he has to get out. Not. Cool.

Returning to his room, he quickly dries and dresses before noticing something in the mirror. Something anyone else wouldn't notice, but he's a details guy. She tugs his shirt down and turns to look at the bedspread. Had Lenore come in while he was showering and -- change the sheets?

Barefoot, he heads past his sister's room to check the living room, and the door - which is still locked. The TV's still playing whatever MTV show is on mute. He calls out to his sister. Is he there? Maybe she went exploring while he napped. Or, did a really weird load of laundry because she couldn't nap. )

Steph? You here?

[meanestgirl]

Yeah?

[Her voice drifts out half-heartedly from where she's currently perched on the couch, trying to get her phone to work. She was texting her roommate, having a very intense debate about the rules of their dorm. (Rule 1: Don't touch Stephanie's shit! She doesn't care if you're stuck there over winter break, her extra moisturizer is not for you to borrow.) But suddenly her texts stop delivering, and the Wi-Fi isn't connecting, and she frowns as she gets to her feet to join her brother, not having noticed anything else just yet.]

Mom didn't issue any grade-related threats with regards to our phones, did she? Because my phone is not working.

[A vacation would be a really shitty time to do it, but she also wouldn't put it past her mother because she has a feeling her first round of finals are not going to go her way.]

[scrutinously]

( She's here, on the couch where he left her. That's one less thing to worry about. He's going to explain about the most subtle shift in the space time continuum, then let her tell him he's paranoid and pays way too close attention, before Steph asks about their phones. )

No, you ignoring her calls again?

( One teen drama at a time, apparently. )

Or did your report card drop?

SIOUX FALLS | SHERIFF STATION | JODY AND FRED

[splotchy]

I'm telling the truth.

( The brunette speaks as Jody gets back from her lunch break. The woman in handcuffs is dressed in a paper gown tries walking closer to the officer walking away, but the line catches to the bench she's been attached to. )

If you can just get me in touch with someone from Wolfram and Hart. I'm not crazy and I did not break into that laundromat. Why would anyone break into a laundromat?

( The officer pointedly looks her up and down. Without clothes. Barefoot. )

Okay, yes, I see why someone - not me - would break into the laundromat. But it was closed. People don't do laundry when it's closed. If I was trying to find clothes I could change into then it wouldn't be a very good plan, would it?

( The police officer shuts the drawer after filing some important file, not about her case, which is a case! "Your words." )

I swear, I woke up inside the laundromat.

( "Then why can't you tell me where you were before you woke up inside that laundromat?" the officer asks. Which is a valid question. )

I told you, it - it wouldn't make sense to you and I wanted to avoid this. ( She holds her shackled wrists up. ) I get one phone call!

[extrasauce]

[Jody makes a mental note to sign Silverman up for sensitivity training. He'll hate it, but maybe he might be a little more gentle with things that are out of the ordinary.

For now, she's just going to take over.]

I got this Silverman.

[The reason it's sensitivity training, and not outright fired, is because Silverman knows he's screwed up if Jody is stepping in. She's not much of a meddler, and they know that, unless she feels like they're going wrong. "But boss ..."]

We'll talk about it later. I got this.

[She moves to sit across from Fred, offering her a cup of water as she does.]

Hi. I'm Sheriff Mills. Can you tell me your name?

[splotchy]

No offense, Sheriff Mills, but I do better telling people who I am when I'm not cuffed to a bench like some kidnapee to a radiator in one of those violent films.

( She should lead with kindness, but, she doesn't like being cuffed, as indicated by her lifting her hands up. She would take the water, though. She is thirsty.

Who is she going to hurt in this paper gown? Who?

And, to show her she does have good will. )

Fred. Winifred. Burkle. Do me a favor and don't look that name up just yet.

( She has a feeling she's dead. She got a glimpse of the date on a newspaper. She thinks her friends did something, but how can she say that? )

NEW YORK | TIFFANY'S | ISOBEL AND ADRIENNE

[foreclosures]

( Immolation. Hurts. Not as much as disappointing your daughter, surprisingly, but it does come close. There's a quick, burning agony, her daughter witnessing what she'd been compelled to do, her colossal disappointment and then everything goes black. No sound. No sun.

Well, some sun.

Some sun breaks through the windows of the store that's been locked down for the day, illuminating locked display cases, mannequin heads, and two women lying face down in the middle of it all, as if they were cosmically chosen to end up together.

Her fingers move first, like she's testing if she has them. Digitally tapping the rug beneath her, Isobel moves to rub the surface, fingers running along - not a rug, carpet. She sticks a head up, looking around her. Like a cat, she sits up and back sitting on her back legs. Her eyes settle on the other woman.

Her hands check for her - no - there is no necklace - because she's torn it off.

She checks with her system. She doesn't have - the desire or the compulsion - she's herself. That's something. Balancing on her heels, she leaves the woman there for the time being to stand fully before a beam of light hits her cheek and starts to singe. She seethes, dropping back down.

Because it's day. She huffs, sitting back down, stretching a leg out.

Moving forward, she goes to crawl, reaching an arm out. No light this low. She must look ridiculous. Speeding over to the woman, not at her side, she peers down at her. She hears a heartbeat. Human. And, as she rolls her over. Covered in blood. Had she sacrificed something for her? Or is this a coincidence? Is this Klaus? She sits back, before shaking the other woman. It's the only way she'll get answers. )

Wake up.

[veneratia]

[Adrienne Melraux has been dead for a very long time. Almost four hundred years by most people's count. And as she sucks in a breath on the floor of the jewelry store, she remembers none of those years at Peace.

Probably because she wasn't.

There's a thing about curses, particularly the kind of curses worked by witches like her mother. Souls get held in stasis, as their tied to the blood bond of the curse, so Adrienne remembers nothing of where she was kept in the realm beyond life. But she knows, even before looking down and seeing the dried blood drenching the front of her dress or feeling it's stiffness that she was dead.

Now she is not. But she knows little else.

She looks over at the vampire who woke her, studying her carefully. Her clothing is strange, a style she is unfamiliar with. A woman in her time wouldn't be caught dead showing that much leg. Never mind everything else about where they are.

Words come in French first, her mother tongue, but she will change to English if her companion doesn't speak it - she's just not thinking.]

Where are we? Who are you?

[foreclosures]

( Isobel minored in French and has always loved the language. It's become something of a dalliance with her finds. She teaches them French and they satisfy her sexually. It's a very even trade, if you ask her. Though, she hasn't taken anyone in since Cherie and Frank, the gay rodeo star. She briefly thinks of them both, fondly as he reads the context clues and spots the wrapped boxes in blue in a familiar color on the counter. )

We're... inside a Tiffany's. ( Equally French, to start. ) I'm Isobel.

( There is no way they've woken up in Paris, is there? Was that Klaus' ploy? What ploy? She burned to death. )

Was Klaus keeping you on a leash as well?