Clearly, She's Crazy

Who: Dorian, Caleb, and Ten
Where: The Lockwood Residence
When: Early Morning

When Caleb didn't return for dinner, Dorian thought nothing of it, sure he'd show eventually. When it got to be ten, he got annoyed. At midnight, he was just plain pissed. And by one, he was an odd mix of worried and murderous. Sometime around two he fell asleep on the couch, close to the door in case Caleb came home. Dorian woke the next morning with a sense of panic, wondering how quickly his mother would tear him to shreds for losing her youngest in the first week he arrived. On the off chance that Caleb had come in so quietly that Dorian hadn't woken up, Dorian ran down to Caleb's room, entering without knocking. It didn't even register that there was more than one person in the room. All that mattered was that the bed was occupied. "I can't believe you," he said, anger flaring now that he knew his brother was home and safe. He didn't give a damn if he woke him up.

Tensiel wasn't the heaviest sleeper, nor the lightest, but you didn't have to be either to get woken up by the tone of the voice snapping into the room. She blinked, grasped vaguely in her brain for reasons why she was neither in her truck nor in a motel nor in a closet and hit upon a name. Caleb. Ah, that was why she was in somebody else's comfortable bed... it might also be why she was about to get into trouble.

Oh well, Tensiel and trouble were rarely all that far apart. Still, it was probably a bit early for it. In an effort to put it off for a moment she curled up into a tiny ball under the covers and willed the situation to work like an alarm clock, press 'snooze'. Get whoever's voice that was to go away for five minutes and then come back. For all her supernaturality, or whatever, Tensiel really was just a teenager and this was the proof.

"Jesus fucking christ!" Caleb cried when Dorian was suddenly in the room, a big wall of fury. He happened to be on the floor. With a blanket that wasn't his. He sat up, blanket still half over his head and looked up at his brother. "Will you keep it down?" he added, half looking over at his bed to where there was ball-o-Ten. Was she still sleeping? The fuck? OH well...nevermind that he'd just shouted himself, really. Then he looked back up to Dorian. "...erm...I can explain this." he tried. How he was going to explain this, he had no idea. He hadn't exactly thought that part through.

"Keep it down?!" Dorian blinked, his brother's voice dragging his eyes down to the floor. From there, they glanced up a the bed again, confusion hitting for only a second before it truly registered that someone else was in the room with Caleb. "You brought someone home with you?" he asked, fury dying just long enough to get an explanation, which Caleb seemed to know was required. He glared at his brother, crossing his arms over his chest. "What the fuck is going on?" he said, his voice just a touch quieter, though not to a whisper.

Caleb looked pained at his brother, looking back towards Ten again then back to him. "She didn't have anywhere else to go." he said first. He really hoped Dorian caught the whole 'she' of it all. That yes, he had a girl in there, and could he please not be a total ass. "She's fine, really, just..." please? he seemed to ask silently, giving Dorian a reproachful look. He got that he was mad, and it was probably a crappy situation, and he'd left yesterday and hadn't come back, and all that other stuff, but Dorian could yell at him for it later. Really he could. She's a 16 year old runaway that you're going to be pissed I brought home, sorry about that. If it helps, I think she's insane. Oh, wait, that probably won't help. Right. Yeah, I'm stupid. And fucked. Sorry.

Dorian did catch the 'she' in the sentence. In fact, it shut him right up. He stared at Caleb, chewing on the inside of his cheek, honestly not sure what he was supposed to do at this point. He wasn't a parent, was a poor substitute in fact, and part of him wanted to cheer his brother on for bringing a girl home with him. The other part was still raging that Caleb hadn't come home, even though he was there now, safe and sound. Dorian's eyes moved from Caleb, to the girl in the bed, and back again. "I'm glad you're okay," he whispered, the the rest of the sentence could be deciphered from his expression, that he was pissed as hell that Caleb hadn't come home. Yet every time he glanced back up at the bed, that expression softened a little, till he shook his head with a silent laugh. "Later, you owe me one hell of an explanation."

Oh thank christ. Caleb thought as he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Dorian wasn't going to give him hell right here and now. Awesome. Maybe his brother wasn't the worst person in the known universe after their eldest brother and of course, their parents. He quirked a lopsided half smile at Dorian, which was a lot coming from the sullen teenage half-demon. "You'll get one." he promised, knocking off a half salute. "Um...I'll just...wake her up, and then we'll meet up in the kitchen?" he asked hopefully. There was a plea for some form of breakfast in there as well, but he wasn't going to push his luck that far. Yet.

Sighing, Dorian nodded, the exhaustion from the night before creeping in. He still had to go to work today and the amount of sleep he'd gotten was less than desirable. Coffee would be the first order of business. "Okay," he said, slowly backing out of the doorway with the smallest of smiles. That was the first time he'd seen Caleb crack one since his arrival, so the girl couldn't be all bad. "I'll see you there," he said, then shut the door behind him before heading towards the kitchen and starting up the coffee.

Caleb sighed and flopped half over when the door finally shut again. He lay there for a moment, then pushed himself back up, and leaned his arms on the bed, resting his head on one of them. He reached out to lift up the blanket to peek under it. "Hey. Ten." he said, sort of in a normal tone, but there was a bit of a soft edge to it. He didn't want to startle her. Sure, she'd apparently slept through shouting, but that didn't count, right? That was his story and he was sticking to it. She could have been faking, he supposed, but he didn't want to chance it. "Wake up..." he added, catching sight of her slightly mussed up hair.

Incredible though it might have been, Tensiel had taken advantage of not being bodily tossed from the bed to go right back to sleep despite the noise. She woke up when Caleb peeked under the blanket though. Oh good, he was fine too.

"m'awake," she declared, shoving her knuckles into her eyes and rubbing them to wake herself up more. She blinked at him, then propped herself and clambered out the covers so she was sitting cross-legged looking at him. "Morning," she said, heedless of the way her dark brown hair had come away from the braids she kept it in, or how wrinkled her clothes were now. Instead she concentrated on Caleb, who had a vague air of disbelief about him. In an effort to dispel that she gave him a small wave.

"Need me to take off?"

He watched her then blinked. Finally, he shook his head. "No." he answered. "Just...I kinda sorta left here yesterday after an argument with my brother, and...nevermind, it's fine. He's waiting in the kitchen." He pushed himself to his feet, and dragged his fingers through his hair. His clothes were the same from yesterday as well and wrinkled. "His name is Dorian." he added. "Want to come meet him?"

Tensiel glanced up at the ceiling, seeming to ponder it.

"Sure," she said a little distractedly, and with that she hopped out the bed, pulled her shirt sleeves a bit to bounce out the wrinkles and started fingercombing and re-braiding her hair with a somewhat unnatural speed as they made their way to the kitchen. Her eyes took in a clean little kitchen and she started to realize how weird it was being in somebody's house, especially when she found herself looking at somebody who resembled Caleb in odd ways. Taller though.

"Hi," she said, drumming her bare toes on the linoleum floor. "Caleb helped me out last night... with sandwich finding."

There, now surely Caleb would not get into too much trouble with his big brother. Justice would be done.

Caleb was mildly fidgety, which was why he didn't take a seat, because he wasn't sure he'd sit still. He offered one to Ten though. "Yeah. She, um...well she just got into town, and she didn't have anywhere to go really so...I just thought she could stay here tonight." He'd just skipped the part where he asked if that was alright.

Dorian had decided that Caleb could lead the direction of this discussion, since they were going to be having another one later, when he could grill in him into the floor. In the time that he'd been waiting on them, he'd started up the coffee machine, put some toast in the toaster, and began to fry some eggs. "You didn't have anywhere to go?" Dorian asked, looking over at the girl. She couldn't be much older than Caleb, or even younger. He could never tell with girls of that age, but she really shouldn't have been out alone. "It's fine. I just didn't expect Caleb to have anyone with him. Sorry for waking you up so... abruptly." He got out glasses for the three of them, pouring orange juice for himself, then setting it on the table for them to help themselves. "You're traveling alone?" he asked, still trying to understand that part.

Tensiel looked between Dorian and then Caleb and then Dorian and then Caleb.

"You guys really are related," she said factually. They both seemed to have trouble with her general situation that she was assuming had to be a genetic abnormality. She settled down in the chair Caleb indicated and tucked her knees up under her chin. Her wings were itching for a stretch but this wasn't really the place. "I'm driving north, well... not for a while I guess. Is there a gas station here? My truck's thirsty." A thought occurred to her right then. "Oh, and I'm Tensiel. Tensiel Smith. Hi."

"Yeah, there's gas stations." Caleb said. He was leaning back against the kitchen counter, being quietly panicked. "Are you leaving then? Not stopping here even though it has a 'q'?" he asked. He glanced over at his brother, wondering just how insane the elder was thinking he was right around nowish.

There was something terribly wrong with this girl, so much so that he had trouble keeping back the snark. Lucky for her, Caleb answered the question before he could get to it. It also gave him time to analyze the situation, trying to decide just what to do and how to handle it. Caleb was looking towards him, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to have an answer or what. This was... not normal. "I'm Dorian," he said, as if it needed to be said, then jumped back on subject. "So, when you leave here today, where are you planning to go?"

Rolling her shoulders slightly, Tensiel looked between the two males and then glanced out the window and spotted some sky. Maybe she should go for a fly, get some exercise before she went looking for some fuel. Best not say that outloud though. "Well... like Caleb says this place has a 'q' which makes it cool, but I'm not sure where I'm going. I guess I'll know when I get there, oh - your eggs are burning, is that okay?"

Caleb was internally flailing again. Okay so she was really completely freaking insane, and she was proving that. Like, in loud, screaming detail. That was awesome. He was a dead man. Though despite the obvious crazy going on, he still didn't really think she should be just...left to her own devices or whatever. That would probably be bad, right? Something like that.

Dorian hurried to take care of the eggs, trying to get his head around the girl sitting in his kitchen. From what he'd seen of her, and that was only five or ten minutes, she was a complete and total nutcase. And Caleb had brought her home with him. Granted, she didn't seem the type to kill them all in their sleep, but there was definitely something missing upstairs. "So you might stay because there's a Q in Marquette?" he asked. This logic didn't seem to make sense to him. "You should find a place to stay. And... and if you can't, let Caleb know." That didn't mean he was going to put her up again, but maybe they could figure something out. The entire situation made him uncomfortable.

Tensiel got the increasing feeling that she was making Caleb's brother a bit unsettled. She didn't know why, and glanced to the younger guy for a moment. They were both generous, even though they seemed to think it a fault, somehow.

She really did need to learn how to deal with people, she guessed. "I guess I can look around town for a while, but I don't know how good of an idea it would be to stay." After all... she'd tried not to stay anywhere too long in her travels, just because of what'd happened back on the islands. She almost smiled in Caleb's direction. "At least I know this place has 'q' and fish sandwiches. But I won't go without saying 'bye'."

Caleb looked slightly pained for a second. "You're just going to wander around town and see what's what? Then maybe take off to someplace else where you don't have anywhere to go?" he asked. This was unsettling. She was cute, and batshit insane, she shouldn't be left to do that, right? Some crazed serial killer would find her and make a suit out of her or something. There would be badness. He looked over at Dorian as if his brother may provide a little bit of help.

"Why don't you have Caleb give you the number here and the number for the store? That way, if you don't find somewhere else to sleep tonight, you're not camping out in the park." Because God only knew what might happen to her out there. No matter how crazy she was, Dorian could not, in good conscience, leave a teenage girl to sleep on the streets. "I've got a sleeping bag around here somewhere. And an air mattress. But... you're really just driving around? Where's your family?"

Tensiel's eyes drifted between Caleb and Dorian again. They were quite lucky, she wondered if they knew. "They're far away," she said simply. "And thank you for helping." She was starting to wonder if i might just be easier on Caleb if she stayed for a little bit. Which was an odd thing to think, but then he had been kind (even if he seemed confused over it) and she'd been raised to value kindness and to propagate it, no matter where it appeared. But then, she knew that until she found another angel like her, or until she felt like she knew where she was really meant to be she would keep moving. Perhaps it would be cruel to stay longer.

She would have to think about it. Instead of doing that now she blinked slightly and looked up at the celing again. "You know, just driving around shows you a lot of things. It's not a bad thing to do. But I guess after a while it makes you tired." Her fingers drummed a bit. "Oh, you have a very comfortable bed, Caleb. Good for tired."

And for reasons he couldn't have begun to explain, Caleb blushed a little. Which really had him moving quickly to the fridge to get something to drink, so it wasn't so obvious. "Good?" he suggested. "Glad you slept well." He hadn't really, but he'd been on the floor. Not that he was really thinking about that. He was more wondering what the hell do to now. He really had to start learning the art of planning ahead. He certainly hadn't done that last night. "But...er...yeah. I can help you go get fuel for the truck, then...maybe come back here after you...er...ride around, I guess?" he said, thinking it was safe to look back, as he'd managed to quit blushing now.

Dorian served them fried eggs with toast, not quite having gotten around to cooking bacon. He just wasn't up for it this morning. He was still tired and there was a weird girl in his kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee and remained standing with his plate, knowing he'd have to leave in a minute to start getting ready for work. However, he did not miss Caleb's blush, which earned a small smile-- they'd definitely revisit this conversation later, when he could properly pick on his little brother. "Just let me know what you decide. I get off work around 2pm." He was speaking more to Caleb than to Tensiel, but only because this was his brother's problem to deal with. He'd made an offer, but he expected her to try and find a place to stay first. "I'm gonna go get ready for work. Would you two mind cleaning up the kitchen when you're done?" he asked.

Picking up her fork, Tensiel poked happily at her eggs and toast and nodded. "Okay," she took a biteful. "Thank you for foods." Another small biteful. She sure was getting plenty of food in this town, that was a good reason to spend at least a day. Tensiel poked and separated her eggs, practically reduced her toast to shreds, then blended the two together and happily ate. Caleb was lucky if he got this every morning. So was his brother, come to think of it.

Caleb sat down and had to stop and watch Ten for a second before he actually managed to turn his attention to his own food. "Thanks." he said to Dorian. Sort of a belated reaction there, but he was still living in weird land. The appearance of Ten seemed to have thrust him headfirst into the twilight zone and no one had bothered to warn him first. Oh well. "I'll...I guess see you after work." he added to his brother. Yeah, he did in fact realize that he still owed more of an explanation.

"We'll need to talk," Dorian called back before he disappeared. If Ten returned with Caleb, his brother still needed to find time to offer a decent explanation. Dorian still wasn't pleased with where this was going, but he didn't see a huge number of choices. He'd have to worry about it later. Work was calling him in.

Tensiel watched Dorian leave out the corner of her eye, and once he was gone looked over her quickly emptying plate to where Caleb was treating his food with much nicer manners.

"That went well," she said cheerfully. Hopefully the rest of the day would go the same way.

Caleb looked up and at her cheer, he had to smile back. "Well, I didn't get thrown out." he conceded. "Let's get your truck gassed up, then...I dunno, you can do whatever you're gonna do. I'll just...hang around here today, and you can call? Or come back?" he suggested. She'd already said she'd say goodbye if she was going to leave, but he kind of wanted to make that even more solid between them. He knew he'd wonder if she didn't. Not worry or anything. Really. Just wonder. Honest.