catching up with the dreamwalker

who: billy and thia
where: billy's house
when: early evening

After Lullaby got some weird text error and cleared it with Dean that it hadn't been him trying to reach her, Lullaby had gone to wander the house again. Even if the place made her feel off, it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before, so it was tolerable. Plus, she was enjoying getting to see Billy and Maddie anyways, and they seemed to be happy to have her there, even if it was fairly soon after their wedding. She didn't sense that she was intruding at all, so that was a huge plus. As she walked into one of the rooms on the second floor, she grinned, remembering it from when she and Dean had been wandering through. It was the room where her ring had come from. Going over to the large chest it had come out of, she started looking through the mostly broken jewelry inside, wondering if there was anything she could rework into something cool.

Billy had been disappointed that Oz, Sophie and Dean were out of town. It was Thanksgiving tomorrow and for the first time in years, Billy actually gave a damn about it. Before it was just another holiday reminder that everybody else had families, but now he had one of his own, and this year he really felt like he had something to be thankful for. And then the school called some bizarre trip right over the holiday, which ruined everything. It was probably for the best though - Maddie more than likely would have pitched a fit at being asked to prepare a meal for six. It was nice to have Thia though - he hadn't seen enough of the girl since she got back from England, and he'd missed her, he had to admit, even if she did seem to be trying to be non-intrusive and leaving him and his new wife alone as much as she could.

It wasn't that he was specifically looking for her when he found her, but he wasn't unhappy that he did and he walked into the room. "Find anything interesting?" he asked, raising his voice so that hopefully she'd hear him.

With her old hearing aids back, even if they were ones she hadn't worn since she was around thirteen or so, she did hear him! Which was nice. She was stupidly grateful for Dean having retrieved them for her. She had them turned up, and they weren't as good as her last pair, but they were functional, which was what she needed. Oz said that her new ones should be in sometime soonish, but they hadn't arrived yet. When she heard Billy, she looked back at him and smiled brightly. "Broken jewelry." she said. "And possibly some intact, but most of it's broken. I was thinking about seeing what I could do with the bits, actually." she said. She fixed the ring on her finger, her current location making her think about it more. In the back of her mind she recalled Dean letting her know that when he'd given it to her, he'd given it to her. Even if she hadn't known at the time. "So yes! Very interesting. There's some really pretty stuff in here. And kinda just interesting. I like the antique stuff." And this was definitely antique. True antique, too, not the new fakey-antique that was popular.

"Yeah, this place seems to always have something new to find. I would have thought that living in a place full of other people's things would have bothered me, but now it would seem like it took something away from the place," Billy mused, picking up a length of fine gold chain and twisting it round his fingers.

"I think it's neat." Lullaby said genuinely. "Like there's obviously a lot of history here. It still makes me feel weird but not as bad as before, if that makes sense." she added. "But I like the historic-feel. Kind of makes me wonder when it was built and who lived here and everything. Wonder if there's a record at the library or something." she mused, not really able to head to the library unless she did it after they were closed, and she broke in. Which was an easier task for her than it would be for anyone else.

"There might be - I know that the place was up for sale because the guy who'd lived here before us had died. Apparently he spent his whole life here, but I couldn't tell you anymore than that," Billy told her. He hadn't looked into it that much. As far as he was concerned, this house was theirs now, nobody else's, and it was always going to be that way.

"Got a name? I could try to look him up at some point." she said. "Or break into the library and do actual looking up of things, just cuz it'd be fun." she said. "I could make you a scrap book all about your house!" she suggested, grinning at him with a teasing sort of glint in her eyes. "Cuz I know how much you and Maddie are into scrapbooks."

"Er, I think that we've probably got a name in the documents - I'd have to look it up," Billy said, not remembering that off the top of his head. "And, if you want to, that would be fine - I'm not sure that I've ever really been a scrapbook person though," he admitted, not even really knowing what that involved. he pictured a plain book full of newspaper clippings and not much more.

"Well, if you think to sometime, lemme know so I can look things up. It'll appeal to my inner nerd." she said. Because yes, she still missed school, even if she got to take online classes. "Anyways, have I said that I'm glad to see you for a bit here? I missed you and I know I've not had a ton of time since I got back from England." she said genuinely. Which reminded her of the last time she saw him when she was still over there, and how that had ended.

"I think we've both been kind of busy," Billy agreed. Hell, he'd got married inbetween times, even if it hadn't been a huge ceremony which had required months of planning or anything. "You been okay though? I see you got new hearing aids," he said, glancing at the side of her head. They didn't seem to be much of an improvement to him - big, bulky things, but he guessed that getting hearing aids for a dead person wasn't exactly a walk in the park and you probably had to take what you could get.

Lullaby went to sit down on the floor, taking a drawer of broken jewelry with her so she could pick through as they spoke. "Yeah, Dean kinda sorta went to my house and stole them for me. I had these when I was younger. They're not as good as my old ones, but it's been kinda hard to get me new ones. Oz has been trying but I guess it's difficult without medical records and stuff. But he says the ones he's ordered for me should be in sometime soon, and in theory they'll be better than my other ones? So, we'll have to see. I'm just happy to be hearing anything again, honestly." she said, looking up at him. "Being pretty much totally deaf is...not nice. I mean, I can get along and everything? But it makes things...harder." she said, making a little bit of a face.

Billy raised an eyebrow, turning to look down at her. "'Kinda sorta'?" he asked her. "That a 'kinda sorta' as in 'did'. As in you know he could get in trouble for that, right?" he asked, though he moved straight on again. "Yes, of course you know that, but still - it could have been dangerous." Not that Billy was a great person to be preaching considering the consequences of your actions. He was the worst for that - he rarely thought that anything bad would happen as a result of what he did. He was rather better at spotting it in other people though.

"I claim no knowledge of how he happened to come upon these and think it should hereby be thought of as lucky happenstance?" she suggested, not looking terribly convincing. "I know it could have been. Dean tends to...well, he feels really guilty over pretty much everything ever? So he's not felt overly good about the fact that he shorted out my last ones, and he knows I kinda...withdraw, I guess is an accurate description."

"Lucky happenstance that he wasn't caught," Billy agreed. "So, does he feel better now that he's replaced them?" he asked her. He found Dean a hard person to read, especially lately. The guy hadn't exactly ever been all that talkative, but the dreamwalker had barely had two words from the guy since he got back from England. Thia was a much better guide to how things were going there.

"I don't know, I haven't really gotten much of a chance to talk to him." She said honestly, not looking especially happy about that. "He's been really busy, and Oz and Sophie are both kind of preparing for the end of the world with the school trip and all, so they've kinda had him busy doing that too. I figure he'll at least feel a little better, though. I know my whole not hearing anything has been getting in my way, and he knows it. I mean, I didn't say anything about it? But he just knows me too well on that."

Billy looked a little puzzled at that. "End of the world - it's just a school trip," he pointed out. "Sure, a really, really badly timed school trip, but a school trip all the same. I still don't get how they ever got permission to take kids away from their families over Thanksgiving - or how they ever got teachers who'd agree to work a holiday."

"I got the impression that it was really, really hardlined in like word from on high." Lullaby said. "I know Sophie was scrambling to get him out of it, and really wasn't able to. Which is why they took off to be nearby just in case, and Dean's probably the only guy carrying a fully stocked first aid kit that has stuff in it that aren't even in normal ones." she said. "I wish we could all be together for the holiday too though, it would've been nice. It's kinda...y'know, the first real family type holiday that's come along since I died." she admitted. Which was having an impact on her mood, but she was happy she was getting to spend it with Billy and Maddie. She just wished everyone could attend.

"Well, we'll still have Christmas," Billy offered to her, and to himself as well. He was really getting behind this whole concept as 'family'. The idea of 'pack' wasn't even bothering him as much as it once had - as long as Oz didn't try any dominance shit on him or expect him to fall into line. Just because the wolf had instincts, that didn't mean that he had to put up with them. "I'm surprised you didn't go out with Oz and Sophie. Pleased you're here, but I would have thought you'd be there with them," he added.

She shook her head. "No, Oz and Sophie...well, I'm kind of hoping they take the opportunity to talk." she said honestly. "Plus, I wanted to see you guys. I haven't got to much and I miss you. So, it was the best plan. They get to go off and hopefully get some talking done, and I get to see you. All's well or as well as it gets when there's holidays happening without them."

"And we're glad to have you here," Billy told her, honestly. He didn't comment on Oz and Sophie's need to talk - that was generally a given, though Billy didn't know whether such a thing was really possible. He'd known both of them for years now and he doubted he'd ever met two people worse at conversation. "I know you don't live here anymore, but I meant what I said that time - you'll always have your room here, and if you ever need it, you just have to turn up. Hell, you've even still got a key," he pointed out.

She smiled at him brightly at that. "Thank you. And I know. I feel welcome here." she told him, since she did. Even with the house and it's weirdness she felt welcome. "Maybe I'll come by more often. How long are you taking off of work for things?" she asked. Since they hadn't been able to go away for their honeymoon or anything, but she assumed they were still doing something of the kind. She didn't want to interrupt alone time for the couple, understanding at least on some level what her being around meant for the both of them. Plus when Billy was working he tended to work a lot.

Billy considered that. "I don't really know - I should get back to it once the holiday's been and gone," he admitted. It wasn't like they had a whole lot of spare cash, after all. Especially not with a baby on the way. And whilst Maddie's store had garnered some interest, his wage was still the major one for the household. A household that wasn't cheap to run, especially not in winter.

"Well, lemme know when you're gonna be around? Or if there are days you specifically take off or something? Then I can come visit when you're going to be here." she said. "If I don't drop by to check on Maddie now and then." Since the farther the woman got along, the more she planned on doing that. Just to be sure that she was alright and everything.

Billy gestured a little. "I work for myself," he reminded her. "So, I basically work where and when I want. Within reason. The people I work for expect me to turn up to do the job, but I can have times when I'm not around pretty easily. That said, probably easier for you to let me know when you're coming over - I kinda tend to... Sometimes I work too much," he admitted, since he knew that he had a tendency to just work every day for weeks at a time.

Thia laughed. "Yeah you do." she said. "You kinda seem to get wrapped up in it. But I guess, at least you're good at it, and you seem to enjoy it." she said. "That's important. My mom didn't really like her job. It was kind of the only thing that used to make her really cranky. But I guess you and Maddie both have occupations that you're good with." And she needed to stop talking about this, because she was thinking about her mom, and she was thinking about her own future, and how the hell was she going to get a job, and what kind would she get, and...yeah. She was still aware of the pricetag that had come with her new identity.

Billy chuckled a little. "Well, there's not much else that I know how to do," he pointed out. "Amazing destruction of my home town kinda stopped me from graduating, I don't have any formal qualifications, but this was something that I could do. And people seem to want to pay me for it, so that works out nicely, really." And he did enjoy his job - he'd always felt a certain amount of satisfaction from working with his hands.

"I guess I never really thought about that. That you didn't graduate." Lullaby said thoughtfully. "Did Oz? I know Sophie did, since she went home and did that. And I guess I don't know nearly enough about Maddie's history to know if she did or not. It's good though that you found something you like. I keep sort of trying to figure out something I can do. That y'know, isn't criminal. Because some of the things I can do are really suited to that but..." she made a face. "Not for me."

"I think Oz got his GED, and Maddie's life wasn't exactly geared towards education - she had a job to do, a person to protect, and a line to carry on. And she knew she had to do that all before she hit eighteen." There was a sadness in his tone as he talked about his wife's former life. He'd experienced some of it, in her dreams at least. He'd lived through her death, knew something of what she'd given up. He'd tried to give her some of that back, once - she'd been mad at him for it, but he didn't think she'd really actually minded. And it had helped her.

"She knew she had to do that before she was eighteen?" Lullaby asked, not thinking she got this part of the story. She'd gotten kind of their hook up story from Sophie and all, but yeah. She didn't know that. "How and why?" she asked. "Sounds like...well. A really not so good deal." she admitted, feeling for the girl. She had no idea what she would have done if she'd been told her time was up at sixteen.

"Her death was prophecised," Billy told her. "When she was younger - she knew when she was going to die. And no, it wasn't a good deal. Maddie really didn't get a good deal." Billy still wished that her life could have been different, even though the fact that it hadn't been meant that he'd got to know her and they were happy here and now. He tried to always focus on the here and now, talking about her old life always made him a little uncomfortable. He knew about Jack, about the man she'd been in love with. he knew about the husband she'd had, and the daughter they'd had together. He knew all of it, but that didn't make thinking about it easy for him.

Looking just a bit stricken at that, she listened and Maddie kind of made more sense to her now. Jesus with that kind of a life and everything, it was kind of no wonder her personality had gone the way it did. Not that she minded Maddie's tactlessness. Really, she knew for a fact that Maddie was usually much less pissy than she seemed to be. The lines didn't match up. "That's really awful." she said. "I kind of think that's worse than like...well with me. I didn't know it was coming, I didn't have anything hanging over my head. I really can't imagine living with that, just knowing, and having a bunch of things to do before it happened."

Billy smiled a crooked smile. "There's a reason she tends to just cut through the bullshit and get things done," he said, sounding softly forgiving and slightly amused by the tendencies of his wife. He knew there were yet more of her personality traits that could be tracked back to her spending countless years alone as a spirit, commenting to herself on society.

Lullaby smiled. She liked Billy's tone there, and the way he smiled and everything. Really, his story really did just give her inner romantic warm fuzzies. Even if her inner romantic wasn't all that alive and well, she'd never been that much of a girly-type-girl to be overwhelmed with that kind of thing but still. It was sweet, damnit. "I like the way you talk about her." she told him. "Kinda gives a girl hope that there might be happy endings in the world occasionally."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Yeah? Well then, guess I'm glad to be able to help out," he said. He considered that theirs was a happy ending, most definitely. He had everything now he'd never even dreamed of - or, would never have dreamed of if he'd been able to dream, that was. He'd never even allowed himself to consider it before, and now he had it all. Wife, daughter on the way, a wonderful house, a job he enjoyed. The fact that they didn't have a lot of money still wasn't important to him. That was one thing that hadn't been on the list before and still wasn't on the list now. "And maybe you'll find your happy ending someday. I'm glad things worked out between you and Dean, by the way," he added, knowing that he'd known about Dean's feelings for her a long time before she did, and knowing he'd said nothing about it.

"It's nice to think about." Lullaby said. "Just...that things sometimes work out. I know I kinda...was having a rough time there for a bit when I was in England." Considering she'd called him about it. And then he went and mentioned Dean, she smiled, a bright, if slightly shyish sort of expression. "I'm glad too. I just...I don't know. We work." she said. Which was just plain truth, there. They were incredibly compatible people. They evened each other out well, they communicated very well, and they knew each other's strengths as well as shortcomings. They worked.

Billy nodded, knowing both those things, that she'd had trouble, and that she and Dean were good together. Billy had never had the doubts that Oz had once held about them, but then Billy had a romantic streak a mile wide, even if he didn't shout about it. He'd fallen in love at fifteen and it never occurred to him that he was, in fact, unusual to have decided at that age that this was it. He expected it in everyone else as well - of course, that belief had just been backed up by his best friend's relationship.

"Is it dumb of me that I miss him right now?" she asked, laughing a little at herself. "It's weird, like, we've got our own rooms, and sure, sometimes we share and everything, but most of the time I know he's there, just in case. And in case of anything, really. In case anything happens, in case I'm feeling snuggly, in case I have some random thought flit across my brain and feel the need to go share it. But when he's gone away someplace, it always makes me miss him."

Billy had to fight not to look amused as she talked. It was sweet, if slightly inappropriate to be talking about her sleeping and snuggling arrangements. He wasn't going to pull her up on that though - it was just the kind of person she was. "No, that's not dumb at all. They're going to be gone until Friday, right?" he checked, sure that Oz had told him that they all be back by the weekend.

She nodded. "Yeah. And he texted me today and everything, which he tends to do when he's gone too, but yeah. I just miss him and that's besides the fact that I worry. Though I think mainly? He's just kinda bored there." she said, smirking faintly. Dean also tended to text her when he was lacking in entertainment wherever he was. She would have liked to have looked around the place and everything, but it wouldn't have been fun without him.

Billy considered this. "I'm not surprised - I mean, really? There's not that much to know, other than spirits are just like people, most of the time. You get interesting people and boring people - they've basically been taken to the middle of nowhere to talk. Given a building full of strangers and... that's that. Unless they're managed to find spirits who are willing to stand at the front of a room full of teenagers and give a lecture, or take questions or something."

She laughed a little. "Well, they're going to an asylum, so somehow I don't think there'll be that much going on with that. Not at all positive that they'd find someone who'd do that, or maybe they would. But the coherency factor might be a little off..." she suggested. "So yeah. He's bored. And will be bored til Friday I guess, and miss out on family dinner time. Unless we have a different dinner." she said, thinking about it. "Just kinda...move the holiday. Since really, we could do that. It isn't like any of us has some crazy, deep attachment to Thanksgiving. It's more about the whole get together and dinner thing than the actual day of the week."

Billy looked at her. "This mean you don't want to have Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?" he asked, wondering what Maddie would say to that. There'd been preparations going on, after all. She'd probably grumble, but Billy was sure that he could talk her round, given a bit of time, if that's what was really wanted - and it would solve his own internal, mostly unspoken, issues of not having everyone here.

Shaking her head, she sat back a little. "No. I know Maddie's been working on things, and I wouldn't want to take that away or anything. Just...maybe we could have another one when everyone can make it too." she said. "Unless you think that it's a good idea and Maddie wouldn't mind. Growing up, a couple of times we moved holidays around to whatever day people could make it on. My parents always made sure my friend Journey could make it, and he couldn't always the day of."

"I'll talk to her about it and see what she says," Billy promised the teen. "She's been preparing for tomorrow, but maybe we can have two. I'm sure Oz and Sophie would like that as well, so it might be a good idea all round."

"They probably would. I know Oz would he kinda...I think he gets kinda happy when everyone's together. Even if most of the time we don't unless there's a crisis." she said. Then paused. "Maybe we should make more of a point of that. Getting together when things don't suck." She thought it was a good idea. and maybe it would be a nicer sort of tradition they could get on board with. And okay, so she liked the feeling of having some sort of a family again so she was all about delving into that in as many ways as she could.

"It'd make a nice change - we should definitely do that," Billy agreed, since it really did seem that they only got together as a group when something was going very, very wrong. And, for him, it was even more than that - he hadn't really seen much of anyone since he'd made the decision to stop Walking, which brought him round to another point. "And, I know I never said but - I'm sorry, about that night, when I came into your dreams."

She looked at him for a moment. "That wasn't your fault." she said. "I don't know what happened? But whatever did, I know it wasn't because you tried it or anything. I was okay. I mean, sure, I needed a little bandaging and stuff, but not anything too bad. So you don't have to be sorry." Biting at her lower lip a moment, she looked at him. "I hope Dean didn't give you too hard a time." she added.

"He was worried about you, and whether it was my fault or not, you got hurt because I was there. Horror movies aside, you can't be hurt in your own dreams. You can only be hurt when I'm there, so, following that along - it was my fault you were hurt," Billy reasoned out. "I didn't mean it to happen, and I don't know why it did. So - I'm not Walking until it becomes clear what went on." Which might be easier said that done, since Billy didn't know where on earth to start looking for answers to something like that. He'd met very few other dreamwalkers in his time, and it wasn't like there were a whole host of books on the subject. At least, not books that appeared to be more than old myth and fairytale - he'd never been good at picking the pieces of truth out of old wives tales and legend.

Frowning a little, she thought about things a little more before she spoke again. "I know he was worried, but still. I...am aware how he gets sometimes." she said, thinking for a moment about what happened with Andy. Or how defensive he got when they'd been talking about Sophie and her possibly opinions on her. "And I can follow the logic, I just don't agree with it." she added, because yeah, sure, that line of reasoning could be traced and everything, she just still didn't think it was cause for apology. "If you don't Walk, then how will you know if it's even anything more than an isolated incident?" she asked. "If there isn't anything to look up. I mean, I dunno what kinda books are out there on Dreamwalkers. I know they don't have much on Fades." She made a face, considering the only text they did have on Fades wasn't exactly singing their praises. It had been hard to read, particularly given Thia's natural aversion to what she was in the first place.

"I can't justify risking my friends - or even complete strangers - to investigate a theory," Billy put to her. "I don't need to Walk, I can life my life perfectly happily without it. You could argue that I'd be better off without it, I sleep better, I'm not so tired all the time." he didn't mention that sometimes he missed it - bottom line, dreamwalking was just fun. When he was in a world he could control, that was. Having that level of power was a rush that he couldn't even begin to explain to people. He was a god there - here, he was just a guy who couldn't even throw a punch. He thought that he'd miss it more, though, if he didn't have a life and a family to fill in those gaps, but he did and he counted himself more than lucky for the trade.

"I can understand not wanting to risk people." she said. "But I still think that it needs to be looked into. It's what you do. It's part of you. And we might need it someday. You helped with things before with dreams. You can do things that no one else can. And now that you know there's the possiblity of danger, you could always cut out the second it arrives. The only reason I got hurt was we didn't really know what was happening, and I didn't know how to wake myself up. ...does anyone know how to do that well? I can't quite wrap my head around it. Especially not in-dream. I get kind of confused."

"Some people are good at it," Billy told her. "Me? I sometimes have difficulty with it myself. When I was your age, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't wake up on key. I don't dream myself and when I Walk, I know that I'm in someone else's dream. I never have that thing that I hear people talking about sometimes - that they're in a dream so vivid that they don't know they're dreaming? I always know I'm in a dream, but when I was younger, that didn't help me in waking up from it. Once I was in a dream, I was in it for the ride, until the dreamer woke up. Eventually I learned to be able to go from one dream to another, as a way of escape, if I needed to. And as I got older, I learned to make myself wake up - but that's not guaranteed. Some times I can do it - but sometimes it's just easier to get the dreamer to wake up themselves, and throw me out," he explained. "Some dreamers can always wake themselves up, whether I'm there or not. Some can wake up if you explain it's a dream and it's important for them to wake up - if you can get that message through. And some dreamer just can't grasp that at all. No two people are the same."

"I woke up because I was in pain." She said, nodding in understanding of what he was saying. "So, I think I'd be out." Plus, Dean would throw a fit, but she wasn't saying that. "I don't always know I'm dreaming. I'd say most of the time I don't. What about Oz, or Sophie, or Maddie? Are any of them good at waking themselves up? I don't know who you've visited a lot of." she admitted.

"Oz is good at it - and he was always the person I visited most. I tend to stay out of Maddie's dreams," he told her, which, to him, was for obvious reasons. Until lately, she'd not had dreams for him to Walk in. And, added to that, he'd Walked in her dreams once and she'd been mad at him, so now he stayed away, out of respect.

"Why don't you talk to Oz and see what he says?" she asked. "Because seriously, I think it needs to at least be looked at. I mean..." She gave a crooked little half smile. "I've been kind of...y'know...sorta..." she rolled her eyes at herself. "I've been meaning to talk to you. And Sophie. About some stuffs." Stuffs you won't be too happy to hear, prolly.

Billy made no comment about the possibility of speaking to Oz. Currently, his decision was to not Walk. It seemed the safest one right now, and whilst Thia could argue that his abilities may one day be needed, and whilst there'd been a couple of times in the past where that was the case, mostly he was pretty damn useless. They didn't really need his skills. So, he didn't comment, instead turning to her other point. "Yeah? What kind of 'stuffs'?" he asked her.

"I don't really know how to put it? So I'll just kind of talk. And I ramble, and you know that, because you've heard me do it before, and so I don't know why I'm explaining it to you or anything but here's my point, anyways. We're kind of living in a time where things are going really wrong really fast and kind of really often too and when you're not dreamwalking you kind of don't have the basics required to sort of...stand up for yourself and neither does Sophie and sure she relies on Oz and everything and you do too, and all and everyone relied on Dean before and stuff and I mean I can take risks and it's not going to matter in the long run but I've been learning archery in hopes that one day it might be a tiny bit useful or something and Maddie's got her magic and everything but you really need to sorta learn how to defend yourself, or do something to help out offensively and so does she because otherwise in a crisis situation we've got this thing where there's only a couple people who can do things and sometimes we don't have breaks like with the shadows it was all day, all night and do you see what I'm saying?" she asked, totally out of breath by the end there.

Billy could keep up with rambles. He was used to deciphering dreams - a rambling teenage girl was hardly an effort. "You're saying that at best I'm useless and at worst a liability," he summarised, not sounding either upset nor surprised at being called either or both. He was aware of the situation - he'd been aware of it for years, and he wasn't always happy about it. Not by a long stretch.

She made a face. "God that sounds really awful when you put it like that." she said. "I'm just...with the way things are going, we need everyone to be able to hold their own, I guess. Like...like okay. When I died last time. When the shadows were around, and I took everyone's injuries, and everything...if we'd all kinda been a bit more on top of our games? It probably wouldn't have got there. I mean Oz was..." she shook her head. "I'm surprised the guy was still even standing. Pausing, she tugged up her pant leg a little to point out to Billy faint rake-mark scars. "These are like...everywhere. I don't even know how many I picked up from him. But he was out there doing what he was because he wanted to protect everyone. And Dean was doing what he could too. But for most of that day? You, me, Sophie and Maddie were all just kind of sitting around." Until she'd decided to go off on her own, that was, and try and figure something else out. But that wasn't the point. "We need to be better. More efficient. Things won't hold if everything lands on one person's shoulders, or even two. We've been lucky, but..."

"It might sound awful, but that doesn't stop it from being the truth," Billy said, accepting of the fact. "I understand what you're saying, Thia - really I do, but don't get your hopes up too high with me. I've tried learning things in the past and... It's incredibly frustrating sometimes. To know I can do so much when I'm sleeping and if I tried the same when I was awake, I'd probably do more harm to myself than anything else. There's a reason I need a protector - and that's what Maddie is. It was just that her magic didn't work against the shadows. Trust me, any other scenario and she wouldn't 'just be sitting around'."

"I know." she said. "Maddie I'm aware can do a lot. There was a reason I went to her when I wanted to do the tattoo design for Dean." she said. "But still, I just..." she gave that little weak half smile. "I guess just give yourself time to be frustrated a bit, and know it'll happen. And try to keep working past it. And if something isn't working, then try something else. Like...well okay, Dean's great with his gun but can't shoot an arrow for the life of him. So he's sticking with the gun." Sort of. Not reallyish. But that wasn't her point either. "Maybe you'll find something you can get behind and work at, but I think it's definitely time to start taking those steps. I mean like, maybe you and Sophie could even take a basic self defense course for starters? They're being held all the time at NMU, open to the public."

Billy knew she wasn't going to drop the subject - and he had nothing against trying, especially not something like self-defence. As long as they didn't put a weapon in his hand, something that he could use to accidentally hurt the people on his side. There he'd draw the line. "Sure, I can look into that - can't speak for Sophie, but I'll look into it," he promised her.

She smiled. That was good enough for her. For starters. "Cool, thank you." she said. "Now here's where I ask you whether you think Sophie would take it better coming from me or you." she said. She didn't really want to pawn it off on Billy, but she didn't know how Sophie would take to her saying anything of the kind. After all, last time anything of the kind got discussed, she decided to rattle off all the 'preparations' she'd done with the weapons upstairs, even though no one had done a goddamn thing with any of them. Like just having them was meant to mean she'd not been doing nothing to help Dean during the day she'd been out of commission. So she was still just a tiny pinch upset about that entire deal. She probably always would be. At least it wasn't active. What it really meant was she knew better than to trust Dean's wellbeing to anyone else.

"Let me talk to Sophie," Billy said, after a moment's thought. "I think I can probably sell it to her. And she might actually be interested. I know that so far, when everything goes wrong, she tends to concentrate very much on organisation - and she's always been the only one of us who has any kind of medical skills, but she might be interested in widening that out. Like you say, things are going downhill. Time to get out of the old roles." After all, he, Oz, Sophie and Maddie had been through a lot together, and they'd got used to working together as a team. Oz had always been their front-man, their major offence. Maddie had supported and backed him up with that. Sophie had always made sure that everyone had what they needed, and patched people up - which they all too often needed. And he, well they'd already covered that he didn't really have a role. Not in the conventional sense. He'd just always been there.

Internally, she was relieved there. Coming from a peer, a friend, that would likely just sound different than coming from someone like her. She smiled. "Thank you. Honestly I'd be...well. Nervous, trying to have that conversation with her." she said. And then she went in the entirely opposite direction that her feelings of a moment before had gone. "I thanked her the other day for everything she does." she said. "I don't know if she gets that much. Or if any of you do." she said. "So, just for the record...I appreciate you. I appreciate you, and Maddie and having a place here. I appreciate everything."

"Thank you - it's not needed, but thank you. And I'll talk to Sophie - so you can just not be nervous. You can just concentrate on relieving Dean's boredom by text," he teased, quirking a smile at her.

She grinned and giggled at that, knocking off a little salute. "I can do that." she said. "Maybe I'll request strange text-animals. He was bored enough to work out how to send me a bunny when he was stuck waiting for flights to England." she said.

Billy gave her a puzzled and slightly doubtful look. "Okay, well - if that's... Well, fine then," he said, not quite sure what else to say to that. Possibly it was a them-thing. He really didn't need to know. "I'll leave you to it then - and if you find anything in that lot, feel free," he told her, gesturing to the bits of broken and old jewellery.

Brightening right away, she sat up straighter. "Really? Thank you!" she said, excited. Now she had permission, so she knew she could do some projects. some pieces had really caught her eye, and so heck yes she wanted to make things out of them.

"Sure - just as long as I'm not expected to actually do anything vaguely creative, go for it," Billy told her. He might work with his hands, and he may occasionally do a turn as a painter, but he wasn't any kind of artist, not in his own opinion.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lullaby said, smiling and starting to separate out some specific pieces. "I'll do the creative bits. I think I'm getting better with the whole jewelry thing. I mean, other stuff, Dean's a whole lot better, but I like doing this, it's fun." And it would kill time so that would be nice.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then - and I'm sure that Maddie would love to see what you make," he added, wanting to encourage her to spend more time with his wife. Not that he thought that Thia really needed a reason to be sociable, but possibly Maddie did, and it was old habit by now, always thinking of ways to get her involved with people. Only now he didn't have to look for people who could see her anymore.

"Okay." she said with a little smile. "I'll entertain myself with jewelry bits, and we can figure out dinner things later." she said. "See you later." she promised, starting to put things together that she thought matched, so she could make something interesting. She was happy, at least, that she'd got to talk to Billy, though. She missed the guy. So she'd definitely start having to gently prod people in the direction of getting together when things weren't awful. It'd be nice.