November 3 2007

Ancestors,

Please.

Who: Jessalyn and Ransom
When: Midnight
Where: Texts!!

hhey. figuring out this text thing! are u awake? or home?

Who: Chance and Leija
When: late afternoon
Where: Park Cemetery

Apparently the world was ending. That was the word on the news, at least, from fringe groups here and there. Of course, fringe groups here and there had always been saying that the world was going to end. Granted, there hadn't been a seemingly-permanent dissolution of the veil between the living and the dead before, but still. But given everything else ... Leija wasn't sure. She really wasn't. And that was a depressing-as-hell kind of thought. She'd spent listless time in the house that day, just mentally poking and prodding at an ache in her chest. There was nobody. She'd completely hurt and alienated Thom. Caleb -- understandably -- didn't want to have much to do with her. She didn't talk to Peyton much. Rose was gone, possibly not to ever come back. And now Nate, Nate was gone too. Dylan had his own problems, and she'd only met Porter the once. Maybe she just wasn't meant to have people. Friends or lovers. It would make sense, given what she was, and she seemed amazingly bad at it. But it still hurt, more than she ever thought it would. And it was really hard to stop feeling sorry for yourself when there was nobody left to really talk to about anything.

So she'd gone out walking, once it started to snow. Just a slow sort of sidewalk-staring wander. It was cold, but she didn't care. She ended up at Park Cemetery. It was as good a place as any to sit, so she did that, on a bench. Might as well hang out with the dead, they were her business. Quietly, she started to hum, just something slow and mournful, to keep her throat occupied and ward off crying.

Who: Medea and Porter
Where: streets, his house
When: afternoon

Who: Alexis and Isaac
Where: An arcade at the mall
When: Evening

After talking to her dad, Alexis just wanted to get out of the house, and for once he didn't try to stop her. He even let her have the car, just so she wouldn't be walking in the cold. Even if she felt better about the whole ordeal, she needed some space, some fresh air, and a chance to go let off some stress, if it was possible. She thought about giving Kyle a call, then decided against it, since that might only make the situation worse. Instead, she headed to the mall and began to wander, eventually making her way into the arcade. It was a good place to waste time, even if a little money, plus she could put some of her shooting range skills to the test. Popping a few quarters into one of the games, Alexis picked up the plastic gun and began to work the stress out of her system by killing herself some aliens.

Isaac had just been, well ... restless. Kaysen was in a bad mood, his parents were freaked out, Thom was off doing Thom things, the ghosts were more than a little unsettling, and he'd just wanted to get out of the house. He'd thought about calling up some of the guys, to see if he could round up a Guy's Night, but as he was flipping through phone numbers, found that there wasn't anybody he really wanted to hang out with. It was weird for him, but he was apparently in A Mood. So he decided just to work through it himself. Borrowing the van, he'd headed out to the mall to walk around a bit, and wandered into the arcade. Maybe some old fashioned Mortal Kombat would make him feel better or something. As his eyes skimmed around, he saw a vaguely familiar blonde head, and meandered over in that direction to watch her shoot things. Alexis, that was who it was. "Not bad for a girl," he said in a teasing sort of way once there was a break in the action.

Who: Ransom and Charlotte
Where: A restaurant, then Charlotte's house
When: Evening

He'd not been entirely sure that Charlotte's mother would let her go out, but upon finding out that her grounding only kept her from her own car, Ransom made sure he had the truck for the night. The sun was just setting when he drove over to her house, and he parked the truck out front, before running up to knock on the door. He didn't know what they were going to do, but he wasn't sure it mattered. He was sure they'd have fun so long as they were together.

Charlotte was pleased her mom had finally figured out how this punishment thing was going to work out, and had since decided that losing her car for a little while was a small price to pay. She'd only had it for a few weeks anyway, so it wasn't like she was losing much. When she heard Ransom's truck out front, she smiled and ran through the house to the foyer. "Bye, Mom!" she called, before throwing open the door. "Hey."

"Hey," Ransom grinned, arms sliding around her for a quick kiss hello. It was small, just meant to last a second, and yet his heart sped up as if he was in store for so much more. "This grounding thing isn't so bad," he teased. "Got anything you'd like to do tonight? We can go to dinner, a movie, anything." It was pay day, so he actually had the cash to make it happen if she so desired.

Charlotte smiled brightly up at him after hugging him. "I don't care. This is my first time going anywhere other than school in a few days, remember? I'm easily amused." And the truth was, even if that hadn't been the case, she was still easily amused. She was happy to do anything, just so long as they could hang out together.

Who: Gabe and Lauren
Where: Babylon
When: Night

Restlessness hit Gabe around dusk and by the time the sun had fully set, he was pulling on his coat, just wanting to get out. It didn't matter where to, so long as he wasn't in the house. Telling his mom he was going to Kyle's, he climbed in his car and began to drive around town, trying to decide just where it was he wanted to go. Kyle's place was out, since he'd scared the guy off, and he wasn't willing to just drop by Claire's place on the off chance that tonight was date night with Joshua. He thought about going by Kavin's place, but then he wasn't sure he was ready to hang out with the guy. The last thing he wanted to do was get into a snippy conversation and so he steered clear of anyone he might have to talk werewolf shit with. That didn't leave him with a hell of a lot of people to talk to.

He was thinking about turning around and heading home when he came across Babylon, which was weird because he remembered it being somewhere else the last time he'd been there. Sure, they had a bar that was adults only, but he'd been able to enter the club for the masquerade. Parking the car out front, he headed in, hoping that part was still open for him to enter. He wasn't sure he wanted to go dancing or anything, but maybe there was a pool table, or maybe he could shoot darts. Wandering inside, he started to have a look around, not entirely sure he knew what he was doing. This wasn't the sort of place he usually wandered into alone.

Who: Alexis and her father
Where: Their house
When: Evening

It was a conversation she was dreading, but one she knew she couldn't put off. Ever since her talk with Thia and Michael, Alexis had been thinking about her father's job, who he hunted and who he spared. She'd been able to put it to the back of her mind for a few hours here and there, but then it would pop back up again. After months of worrying that she might be on the list, she'd finally reached the point where she needed to know. The last time they'd had this kind of conversation, she'd been a child. He'd said he hunted the bad things. Now that definition needed to be expanded on.

Who: Aiden and Jules
When: Night
Where: Jules's House
Warning: NSFW

After Olivia had left the house for Babylon, Jules took a shower and primped herself up. She didn't care if that would annoy Aiden or not, damn it she wanted to look nice. By the time she was finished, she did look nice. Hot, by Aiden's standards most likely. A tight little black skirt and a shirt that was just as tight and extremely low cut, snow white and definitely a contrast against her tan skin. She'd curled her hair and left it loose, hanging over her shoulders in curly little tendrils. She didn't put on any make-up, having liked the fact that he complimented her more when she wasn't wearing any.

Who: Wednesday and Drea
When: Afternoon
Where: Trowbridge Park

Wednesday had just spent the last half an hour with her mom sitting in the back of a church and pretending to pray. Well, she hadn't really pretended, she just sat there bored as hell and trying to get comfortable on the wooden pews. She would have preferred to stay home, or to be out ghost hunting herself, but her mom had insisted and Wednesday had given in just to get her to shut up about it. After they left church, Wednesday broke away from her mom who then decided it would be a good time to get groceries. Apparently praying about the apocalypse reminded some people that they were out of milk. She headed off on her own, pulling out her lighter on her way to play with. She ended up at Trowbridge Park, where it was somewhat quiet but for some kids and their parents. And a ghost who seemed content with sitting on the nearest bench and simply watching.

Who: Jessalyn and Madock
When: Evening
Where: A variety of places starting at Jessalyn's home

So he'd managed to weasel the van out of Breezy and Bruce that night and showed up right on time for his date with Jessalyn. He'd done like before and got all dressed up for her. Black cargo pants and a white button down. And his ever present hoodie over it all. He'd even tried to do his hair. At least as much as he could when it was so rowdy. He parked the van on the curb and headed up the walk to her door, knocking lightly on the door and silently praying he wouldn't have to get investigated by her parents.

Jessalyn was ready to go and sitting on the steps while she waited for Madock. Her dad was watching some football game in the den with her brother, and her mom had taken her sister grocery shopping earlier, so Jessalyn was fairly sure she wouldn't have to do the parent introductions just yet. She was gnawing a bit at her fingernail while she waited, hoping that he hadn't forgotten her when she heard the car pull up. She could hear him before he even knocked, and she stood quickly to get to the door before her dad could get out of his armchair and head upstairs.

Who: Jerilyn and Kavin
Where: Kavin's home
When: Evening

Jeri came out of the bathroom, towel-drying her hair with a quiet little humming sound. As much as she loved smelling like the fine dust of a bakery and a little like cinnamon and chocolate, and probably had random spots on her that she'd gotten icing or something spattered on her, she liked feeling clean more. Even if her body wash was vanilla scented. Maybe she should try something that didn't smell like food sometime.

Anyway, she paused in the hall as Furball ran past in his giant guinea pig ball, just motoring along, before she made her way to the living room and sat down so she could see Kavin. He'd been... pensive. Ever since he'd picked her up from work.

"Hey." She nudged him lightly. "Sup?"

Who: May and Isabelle
When: Late afternoon, before dark
Where: The streets

So the ghost movies hadn't been that scary. At least May hadn't screamed too much, but it was really hard to be scared of scary movies in the middle of the daytime. Especially when you were in the living room and patients kept walking through. She'd manged to finish the two movies she had before the day was even out, so to keep from forgetting them later, she headed back to the movie store to drop them off. Now, if she could get there and back home before it got dark, she'd be perfectly content with the day. Despite her run in with Kaysen's world-hating boyfriend.

Isabelle was on her way to check out Nevermore, see what they had on ghosts and perhaps do a little reading of her own on psychic vampires. Wasn't it just like Medea to find an interesting little pet straight off the bat? All the same, her little projects were starting to shape up a bit, she just had to speed up the timetable a little. Distracted by her musing, she bumped into someone on the sidewalk, stumbling a touch but regaining her balance quickly. "Whoops," she said, flashing a smile. "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking."

Who: Jessalyn and Isabelle
When: Midafternoon
Where: Down by the lake

Who: Alexis and Thom
Where: Nevermore
When: Afternoon

With Michael gone, Alexis had the house to herself, though her night was just as restless as ever. She needed to talk to her father, who arrived home sometime during the night, but it wasn't urgent enough that they discuss it at three in the morning. Even if she had tried to talk to him then, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say, and instead spent her waking moments trying to figure that out. What did he hunt and what did he not? It was a question that followed her to work that afternoon as she pulled the books on ghosts that she and Thom were going to look through. She planned to get an answer soon; she wouldn't let the weekend pass without finding out. Until then, there was work to be done.

Who: Dylan and Kavin
When: Late afternoon
Where: The streets of Marquette

After dropping of Peyton at her house, Kavin decided that waiting to check up on Nate wasn't going to last long. His car seemed to steer itself in the direction of his friend's house. On route however, he came across a boy walking down the street. From the back he kind of looked like Nate, but he didn't walk the same. Something about his stride was different, but Kavin pulled over ahead of the boy and glanced back.

Dylan.

WHO: Eris and Grayson.
WHEN: Evening.
WHERE: Babylon.

Who: Aiden and Dorian
When: Afternoon
Where: Dorian's house

Aiden had planned on calling Dorian the night before, but had been caught up in watching the news and spending time with Shannon, so instead, he finally dragged himself out of bed that afternoon, showered and changed and then got into his car to track the guy down. He had intended on going to Nevermore, figuring that's where Dorian would be with all the shit happening around town, but as he drove by Dorian's house, he noted his friend's car parked outside. Hoping that he wasn't busy, or had company, Aiden parked along the curb across the street and got out of the car. He was knocking moments later and readjusting the hat on his head as he waited for Dorian, hopefully, to answer.

Who: Kyle and Gabe
When: Noon
Where: Gabe's house

Kyle was frustrated. It happened pretty often, for various reasons, but at that particular moment, Kyle was letting his frustrations start to boil over concerning the 'ghost issues'. The news was still reporting on them, people were still talking about them, and Kyle had yet to see one with his own eyes. So he had Kavin insisting they had been there before Kyle arrived, he had Alexis pissed at him for not believing her and his own parents were murmuring about it when they didn't think Kyle could hear them. It felt like a massive joke was being played on him by the entire world - or he was just too stupid, or blind as Alexis had said, to see any of it. It made him want to go spend the night in one of the cemeteries, just to see if he could spot something. Even a flicker of a ghost would be cool at this point.

things feel worse than before

Who: Porter and Kaysen
Where: Kaysen's house
When: afternoon

Who: Dean and Lullaby
Where: Their house
When: Late

Dean had stayed at the house for several hours after Caleb had left, his migraine full and raging, leaving him curled up in a small ball on the bed in the attic, trying to press the world out with a pillow over his head. He'd been tempted to stay there all night, but he knew he couldn't - people would come looking for him if he did that, and if he had to deal with people, he'd prefer it was on his own terms. So, after a while, he'd made himself get up and go downstairs, rooting through one of the first aid kits that Sophie routinely had everywhere you could possibly want one and swallowing some painkillers. he'd waited a bit longer until they kicked in enough to just take the edge off, then started for home, driving slowly on the icy roads.

He got home without any incident more than some irate drivers honking him to tell him he was driving too slowly - which really didn't help his migraine by any stretch of the imagination - and he pulled up in front of the house, letting himself in the front door and shucking off his boots, before he headed straight upstairs. Oz had hearing, he'd have heard the car, and the door. He didn't need an 'I'm home' to know he was.

Who: Kavin and Peyton
When: Afternoon
Where: Phonelines and the Lakeshore

Kavin dropped Jeri off for work but really wasn't in the mood to head home just yet. Not and hang out with the clothes throwing ghost, so he called Peyton. Maybe he'd get lucky and she wouldn't have any plans and they could hang out and talk or something. He was quickly finding out that it was a lot easier to talk to her than most people and now that Nate was gone, well that just sucked and sitting at home thinking about it just wasn't working out for him. So Peyton that was much better. He dialed her number as he pulled away from the parking lot of the bakery, already heading in the direction of the girls house just in case she agreed.

who: lauren and nic
where: park cemetery
when: mid-afternoon

Lauren was sitting on one of the benches just inside Park Cemetery, by one of the quaint little ponds. There weren't ducks anymore, but then, it was a bit snowy for that. The snow 'beneath' her was undisturbed, of course, and she was wishing there were ducks. She liked the ducks. She liked animals in general, though most of the time they could sense her, and kinda went high tailing it the other way. It wasn't like she was going to do anything to them. And, hearing another shriek, she looked up, and saw some little old lady fleeing in the opposite direction. Sighing heavily, she sulked, propping her chin on her good hand's heel, looking sullenly at the ground. That whole screaming thing could quit any time now. Seriously.

To Nic, few things were as funny as little old ladies fleeing in terror. There was something about the wrinkly shuffle that made her smile the same way children tantruming in public did. Technically, she was shortcutting through the cemetary, though Nic didn't have a real destination in mind. There was no kickboxing class today, Ash didn't need her at the shop, and her mom had given her the afternoon to actually go out and do something. Eventually, she'd be trying to track down the white magic shop Nate had mentioned a while back, but for now? She was just walking. "At least she didn't try exorcising you!" Nic called over at the indistinct outline of Lauren, by now secure in the idea that spirits couldn't harm her. She was too far away to recognize the ghost, and was just doing her usual wry sarcasm bit.

Who: Dorian and Joey
When: Morning
Where: Nevermore

With Ransom comfortably behind the counter, and the shop quiet, Joey didn't feel so guilty making two fresh cups of coffee and heading out of the cafe down to Nevermore. He was an intelligent kid, and responsible, so she knew she could trust him alone for a few moments so she could drop in on Dorian. She imagined his shop was probably busy, what with the ghosts not disappearing after Halloween. People were intrigued and frightened, and the supernatural bookstore she was sure most of them shunned when things were normal seemed to be the logical place to look for answers. With the chilly weather nipping at her ears and nose, Joey held the tiny cup holder in one hand and opened the door to step inside. She was greeted by warmth which allowed her to breathe again, and walking over to the counter, she set the coffees down and tugged off her gloves. "Did somebody order coffee?"

Who: Jessalyn and Ransom
When: Lunchtime
Where: Joey's Coffee Shop

Jessalyn knew Ransom was working again that morning and afternoon, and around lunchtime she got in her car to drive over to see him. She had another date with Madock later, so she jumped at the only chance she knew she would have to talk to him. Hopefully he would have a lunch break, or even have time for a five minute break or whatever. Plus, she was craving hot chocolate again. Pulling up to the coffee shop, she got out of the car and snuggled her face down into her colorful scarf to fight against the chill. After she was inside, she began to unravel her scarf and smiled as she spotted Ransom behind the counter. "Hey," she greeted happily. "I've decided your hot chocolate is the best hot chocolate ever! And I want some more."

Ransom smiled as Jessalyn walked into Joey's Coffee Shop, always glad to see her, especially on unplanned visits. "Hey," he grinned, immediately going to work on her hot chocolate. "You can have some more, but only if you stay and keep me company on my lunch break. Oh, and pay for it. I can't be giving away my amazing hot chocolate for free," he teased. He didn't think Joey would mind once or twice, but it felt safer to make all customers pay, just in case. She could give away free drinks because she was the owner, but he wasn't sure that was within his rights as a barista.

Who: Olivia and Jules
When: Evening
Where: Jules's house

Olivia had spent a lot of her week at Judiel's apartment. She cleaned everything, waited... cleaned some more and waited. She read most of the book Dorian had given her on Muses and found there was a lot about Judiel's people that she didn't know. Some of it she wasn't sure she liked. His phone rang a few times, but she hadn't wanted to answer and risk hearing his mother on the other end. Olivia didn't want to explain what had happened until she was absolutely sure Judiel wasn't coming back. And she wasn't ready to accept that yet. More so, Olivia hadn't been able to figure out where any gates were for the Dreaming. Exhausted and having to go to work, Olivia left Judiel's apartment and returned to Jules's house to change for Babylon.

Once she got there, she used her key to get inside. She walked into the living room and set down her book on the table before pulling off her jacket. "Jules?"

I miss him. I miss him so fucking bad.

Who: Dean and Caleb
Where: Out of town house
When: Late evening

Things had changed round, though Dean couldn't deny he was grateful. Sophie and Oz had been busy in their absence, and then he'd been collected by his cousin at the airport that morning, he'd been told that they'd moved back to the larger house - that it was largely finished, that they'd set the house they'd been staying in off the north edge of town up as a bolt hole, as if had always been envisaged. It was supplied now, stocked up, organised.

Who: Dorian and Jules
When: Morning
Where: Nevermore

It was no secret that she wasn't looking forward to heading into Nevermore. She felt somewhat bad for venturing in to ask Dorian for a favor when they hadn't gotten on very well the first time they met, but Aiden and Eris had both suggested him. She wasn't about to just sit around not knowing anything about the air elemental things she would be dealing with. So she sucked it up and headed over to the shop to see Dorian. It was pretty empty when she entered the building and she looked around at the books that surrounded her, pushing her hair back behind her ear and heading towards the counter to look for Dorian. She wondered if he'd even be there this morning, if not, she'd just have to come back later, but she was hoping.

Dorian was there, even if it was Saturday morning. He'd been in a good mood all week, part of which he attributed to Halloween and the rest to how well Nevermore was doing. Those that didn't think the world was ending came for real answers. Even if he didn't have them, he did the best he could, all the while looking for something better to tell them. He moved towards the front when the bell rang on the door, surprised when he saw who it was. "Jules," he said, brows raising. "Hi, um, what can I help you with?" He figured she was there for something other than to see him; their last meeting hadn't exactly been the sort to send her running back.