everyonelives | for the rest of us death will be a relief

I don't have trouble flying, so I'd rather not be incapacitated.

( But, he does as he's asked. He tips the glass, keeping a poker face going. Sheila is right. It is disgusting. Letting the rest swish back, he holds the glass back out. )

That swill.

Yeah, it's gross. But look at that. You pass. Everyone's what they're supposed to be.

[Melanie raises an eyebrow with a smirk. "With flying colors it seems." She pauses, then turns back to William. "So what do we need to get our recently resurrected friends where they need to go?"]

As opposed to -- ?

( What was he supposed to be? Back wrong? Back differently?

William unpacks another bag he'd slung over his shoulder, pulling out a camera."Blank backdrop?")

A shapeshifter that's stolen your face and is pretending to be you. Or, alternatively, a zombie who hasn't started to get a hankering for the taste of human flesh yet. There's also a chance that a demon could have possessed your dead body and is wearing it around for fun.

[The world is a messy, gross place.

Melanie pauses for a moment, before tipping her head to the side. "The bedroom has a clean white wall without any furniture. Would that do?"]

( "Demon," Enzo repeats.

William turns toward her, nodding, before checking with the room, because isn't Enzo a vampire? He hasn't been paying all that much attention. Does JM have a reflection? )

That should do nicely. Does... Enzo show up in pictures?

Yep.

[It's a real free-for-all out there. Shelia's brow furrows at William's question. "How many types of vampire are out there now?"

Coop glances back with a sigh.]

Three. The soulless kind, the alive kind and the kind that have issues with vervain, and since I'm assuming Enzo is the latter, he ... should? I think the only ones that can't do mirrors are the soulless kind.

Like a Spike. Though, he does have a soul in him, now.

( And he's alive again. Separate from all of these other alive people.

One by one, William takes the pictures. Straight on, very little smile. Best DMV face you got, he tells them. It takes a few hours, because he also has to build fake passports, but he's good with his equipment and his sister has expertise with the laminator.

He tests each of them out in his hands, trying to rip them. He has paper specifically dedicated to this, too. He dates the passport recently, just so there's no question of where they haven't been. Not that people stamp anymore. )

I uploaded your images to CLEAR as well, and nationally. Your passports will pass muster, but everything is facial recognition these days. If you don't have that, you'd be flagged.

Don't I look good for my age.

[Assuming it's her original date of birth on it, it helps when you die and then don't age for a while. She looks over the license and passport with a nod, before glancing back to William with a smile.]

Thank you. I appreciate your help and if there's any way I can return the favor, please let me know.

It's not suspicious. People age smarter, now. Not harder. Some people age more than others or let themselves age.

( A beat. )

Not that -- ( He looks to his boyfriend, and then to Enzo. ) I meant that, as, like, information.

( "Quit while you're behind, William," Enzo says, looking at his own. "But this is good work." )

I do good work.

You do. So what's next?

["The next flight to the nearest Virginia airport to Mystic Falls is in the morning. Now that you have proper identification, I can book you both tickets." Melanie moves to pull out her phone, savvy enough for easy booking. "But until you have to head to security, I suggest you both get some rest if you're able."]

( "Don't have to tell me twice," Enzo says, downing the rest of - crap, he hacks as he sets the glass on the mantle aside, forgetting it was the swill. )

William brings the bottle over to cover for that horrible choice before, moving back to his equipment, starting to break it down. )

[Shelia will also take a glass of the good stuff, and they can retreat to a corner to chat some more.

In the meantime, Melanie will make her way over and extend her card to William.]

Once again, I do appreciate you coming on such short notice, especially at such an unfortunate hour. If there's ever a way I can return the favor, please let me know.

[Melanie is good at gathering resources, if nothing else.]

Sure, please. ( He flips one of the front of his bags to pull out a little card case of his own, holding out his own card. ) It's why I'm here. I help where I can, so if you need anything else.

( "Thank you," Enzo says once Melanie is left with the card. "For coordinating all of this." )

My pleasure. I enjoy making new friends, and giving gifts to old ones.

[Getting both Enzo and Shelia back to Bonnie is the least she could do, given everything Bonnie's been through. Her tone turns teasing as she fixes herself her own drink.]

My gifts are not usually quite so interesting, though. It's going to have a hard time living up to it in the future.

Are you calling me interesting? It's the accent, isn't it?

( William can read a room, gives her a thumbs up, and then heads back to finish packing his equipment with the help of his sister. )

[Good boy, William. Thank you again.]

The accent certainly doesn't hurt.

[Hers was never as heavy as Scarlett's but there's still the bit of that southern charm.]

But it's not every day someone comes back from the dead and needs to find their way home.

No, it isn't. My second lease on life was cut short in a prison of sorts. And my third, I took in my own hands. ( running out of the Other Side ) Unfortunately, my fourth proved the most fatal. And I do have a grudge held. He may even be back there in Mystic Falls. I believe you're familiar with Bonnie Bennett. We were in love, once. But, that was then.

I know how those stories go.

[Or at least she knows them in theory. Great loves have never really been Melanie's forte, mostly because after she left her marriage (by dying), she didn't want to find herself back in a similar trap. So she had her flings, her brief dalliances, and she had her friendships.

It took almost two hundred years for things to start getting lonely.]

I may know your grudge. I have more than a few friends in Mystic Falls.

Will Stefan Salvatore be there when our plane lands, or after?

( He wouldn't expect the former, but, he means on the ground. If he's going there for Christmas, to the Lockwood's, it stands to reason he might be there, too. )

After, I would expect. It seems as though a great deal of people are heading back to Mystic Falls, but from what I understand Stefan will be one of them.

[She can only imagine given the alternate universe children and other people coming back from the dead.]

But I believe Bonnie or Isaac will be the ones to greet you at the airport.

Well, that won't be awkward at all.

( He'll always carry Bonnie in his heart, but isn't worried about coming back to her. Or, getting to know her new boyfriend. )

And what does the Christmas holiday look like for you, Melanie Hamilton?

Family, mostly. Wesley, my nephew has been making a home here, so it will likely be a small intimate dinner with family and then ... I'll probably be moving on.

[She's not sure where yet, but probably a nice city to wait out the winter. Scarlett and Rhett are expecting Russell, and who knows where they'll go to give him time to recuperate. But Melanie is ready for some time on her own.]

I haven't decided yet if I'm in the mood for sun or snow this winter.

Lucky you get the choice in the matter. I like both. Are you leaning toward either, at the moment?

( He's realizing he may have his own choices to make as well, soon. After this business with his coming back is settled or handled or understood. )

[She gives a small shrug, because no, she hasn't. She tries not to think too far ahead, to stay in the moment. She also knows that part of it will depend on where she's trying to draw attention away from, if people are looking for her to find Scarlett and Rhett.]

I've narrowed down places. Either Chicago or Mexico.

[She has a small villa in Puerto Vallarta. Not far from the beach.]

Both sound very appealing. Promising, even.

( He turns the phone given to him around to hold it out to her. )

Mind giving me a ring once you decide. I seem to be awash in possibilities. And I like them a little more narrowed down and as far from Mystic Falls as I can manage. At least, at first.

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