everyonelives | but oh what a year

[Sure, she'll give it a clink. Then she'll put it back down again. She's on the job, and while Slayers don't stay drunk for long, they still do feel the effects if it's strong enough. Damon's welcome to all the whiskey he wants, though.

Before she can comment on that, however, she catches the sound of movement from downstairs, as the door to the basement is open.]

Sounds like your brother's awake.

( He shrugs, pouring her glass into his and taking a healthy sip, pausing mid-way. Because. Yep. He heard him, too. He tips the rest back in one big gulp before tearing out of the chair, ready to follow Lindsay down. See what state his brother is in. )

[Stefan ... well, Stefan is not great.

He's not on the cot, he's on the floor, his back pressed against he shadows of the wall and staring into the pit of sunlight in front of him. There is the slightest hint of burned flesh in the air, and there are still-healing blisters on the back of his hand, but fortunately for Damon, Stefan isn't feeling self-flagellating enough to immolate himself on the altar of his grief.

But he's still not great.

It's one thing to gradually turn your emotions back on. But when it's the matter of a weight that had been sitting on that switch suddenly and completely releases, it's a lot to take in at once. And part of him just wants to turn it back off again, and bury his head in the sand, but he can't. Not yet.

Almost as though he doesn't want to let himself.

He looks up at the sound of footsteps, and he meets his brother's eyes across the way and he doesn't know what to say. What is there left to say?]

Sleeping Beauty's awake. Or, Snow White. I feel like all the fairy tale princesses were asleep at some point or another.

( He doesn't hesitate, even if Stefan is off the rails, to hold his ring up between two fingers to show him he has it. Reaching the bars, he crouches down and then tosses the ring past the barrier of light. )

Turns out Lindsay Miller here is a cop and a slayer, not the band. So, don't feel too bad about yourself right now. Not that you feel bad about anything, but we're going to work on that.

[The ring lands on the floor next to him, but Stefan doesn't reach for it. He doesn't even make a sign of moving, though his eyes drift past Damon to Lindsay and he manages a brief and almost brittle:]

I'm sorry. For ... about the car.

[Which may say a lot about what Stefan is or isn't feeling right now.]

Did you find Dorian?

I didn't know that word was still in your vocabulary.

( Because, it sounded sincere even. )

When we find him, what state are we going to find him in? We will need your coordinates, by the way. Poor kid might be freezing to death.

( Here's hoping. )

He took me out to the cemetery.

[His eyes glance briefly to Lindsay again.]

Not far from where you picked me up.

[Lindsay nods, before stepping back to go see what she can do about that. "I'll go make a call." And she'll call Beck, just to be on the safe side. She wants her people to get to Dorian first, before someone can try to talk him into saying something else. As much as she's playing nice with Damon right now, she still doesn't trust him.

So ring ring Beck phone while Damon can continue to figure out what's going on with his brother.]

Fitting, for what he wanted to do. Bet he dug a grave and everything.

(Needed something with impact. )

How you feeling? You seem less... combative.

[It's a long stretch of silence as he tries to figure out how exactly to answer that question. How is he feeling? He is feeling.

Eventually, he manages to wrench out:]

He let me go.

Cade?

( He tests the bar strength as he asks the question, knows he needs Lindsay back.

Meanwhile, Beck pinches the bridge of his nose. "Graveyard where, Lindsey? And who?" )

[The bars do not budge much when he tugs on them, and they may have a little bit of a sizzle, almost as though dried vervain was mixed in with the iron.]

He said I was causing more problems than progress, and he had no more use for me.

[Stefan's voice still seems detached, distant. Like he's still processing.

Lindsay sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm gonna send you the coordinates of where I picked up Stefan. I think Damon said his name was Dorian. Black guy, young if "intern" is anything to go by."]

And he just let you go. Just like that. And... flipped you back. With a snap.

( Because he can tell. Damon does let go of the bars at the sizzle.

Beck rummages around. "Alive or dead, okay, I have a pencil." )

[Stefan nods, his eyes drifting away from his brother and staring back into the patch of sunlight again.]

How's Bonnie?

[Because he knows she's not okay, and he knows that she doesn't want to be anywhere near him, that he could apologize, but it wouldn't change anything. He's probably lost her forever as a friend.

Lindsay rambles off the address, and then sighs. "I'll stay here with the Salvatores. Let me know what you find."]

Devastated, but she helped find you.

( They've all been there, haven't they? Lexi, Andie.

"Do you need backup at the station?" )

[He nods slowly, tipping her head back against the wall. He'll have to find a way to apologize. There's no fixing it. And then he remembers that Enzo, once, was also his brother's best friend and he looks at Damon again.]

I'm sorry.

[Lindsay shakes her head before remembering that she's on the phone. "No, I'm okay. Worry about Dorian first and call me when you have an update."]

You don't owe me the sorry. I was also siren-whipped, devil-whipped - you know, all around whipped. Give her time. She'll figure herself out.

( And she may hate him less.

Lindsay! "Will do, love," he starts. "Habit. Irish. Lindsay. I'll be in touch." )

[Stefan doesn't think Bonnie will forgive him for this one, for taking her happiness away that she had worked so hard to cultivate. He's sure that this is the last straw in a long of broken straws.

But this is also fresh off a bender Stefan so maybe Damon's right. Or maybe Damon is telling him what he wants to hear.]

What do you make of her?

[A nice neutral topic of conversation.

Lindsay may like it when he calls her "love" but that's not something she's going to admit to on the phone. Nope, she squashes that down and just says her goodbyes and hangs up the phone and makes her way back towards the cell.]

She's professional. Practical. Knows disposing of you would've made bigger problems for her. Need to do more research on slaying, but. She's not unreasonable, somehow.

( Damon turns back to her. )

Can you make quick work of this. Stefan is back in the building.

Did I say anything about letting him out?

[Lindsay raises an eyebrow as she comes back, slipping her phone back into her pocket.]

I said we were going to have a conversation. And it doesn't seem to me like Stefan's looking to go anywhere.

[Stefan still hasn't reached for his ring, and he turns his attention from his brother to her. "Did you find Dorian?"]

Not yet. But I have someone on it who's going to keep me posted.

It was implied.

( Why is she being so difficult? )

Hey, hey, you don't know what Stefan wants. Besides, Dorian alive and in one piece. Which clues you in, doesn't it. ( he turns back to his brother. ) Put on the ring, Stefan.

[Stefan does not put the ring on. In fact, he doesn't even move towards it. Lindsay smirks, because that expression of guilt can't help but remind her of someone. Someone long dead, but the brooding expression was truly something of legend.]

I think you have to learn to read the room, buddy.

[That's to Damon. But that's also not the matter at hand. Instead, Lindsay has decided that now that the vampires are contained, she'll focus on the other matter at hand.]

So why don't you tell me about this Devil of yours? Are we talking actual Lucifer or something else that's choosing to call himself the Devil?

His name's Arcadius and his realm mirrors "Hell," ( Damon says, using his quotation marks. ) He's a long dead psychic who enslaved some sirens and me, my brother, and my friend's... ( dead boyfriend. ) and someone else. Took our freedom away to get him some souls. The badder, the better. I was let out of the deal when I broke through my siren song. As far as I know, Stefan's tab is still up.

[Lindsay nods slowly as she processes that.]

So powerful psychic wielding a hell dimension looking for human souls. Sounds like a Slayer problem to me. What do you know about him? Strengths? Weaknesses? You said he's dead already, how is he here now?

[Maybe Beck's got something in his books.]

He was burned alive and that act created a whole other world where he's been collecting souls.

( She wants to help? )

Strengths? He's psychic. So, he'll know any plan before you do. And he's ruthless. Doesn't really do consent. Weaknesses? Your guess is as good as mine. You still with us, Stef?

You can get around psychics.

[There are amulets and spelled object and witchy juju that can be applied. Or you can have no plan and be just pure impulse, but that's a lot harder.

Stefan does lift his head and frowns. "There's a dagger. Supposedly it's made from his bones. He wants it."

Lindsay smiles.]

Daggers. Daggers are for stabbing. We're winding more and more into my wheelhouse. Do we know where this dagger is?

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