Idiots

Who: Oz and Billy
Where: phoneland
When: morning

Oz grabbed the cordless and headed outside, sitting on the porch as the speed dial blipped in his number. He wasn't sure quite what he was going to say, and that was nothing new. He wasn't exactly someone who was the best at communicating when he wasn't feeling under a lot of pressure and stress, so he wasn't exactly figuring that he'd be doing any stellar job now. But, at least Billy was used to that, so maybe it'd be fine.

Billy was at the old house again - the plan had been to head for his old house to work on the attic again, but he'd called in to the other place to check on Dean's work, only to find there was no sign of the guy having done anything at all for a couple of days - which was teenagers for you. And so he'd stayed - he didn't mind doing the boy a favour, but he wasn't going to fall behind as a result and if Dean couldn't stick with his promise to fill in, then Billy was going to go right back to the job that he was actually being paid for. He set the paintbrush down on top of the can and fished his phone out of his pocket when it rang, catching it just before it diverted to the machine. "Yup?" he asked.

"Hey, Billy." Oz said. "We're back. And...well, there's shit going down." Yep. Subtle, Oz was not. "Do you know by chance how good Maddie is with anything healing?" he asked. "I know she can do little charm things, but...think she could manage anything larger than that?"

"You okay?" Billy asked, then looked around at the room he was in. "...Dean," he surmised, since that would explain why the kid hadn't been round here.

"I am, yeah. The kids--not so much." Oz explained with a sigh, dragging his fingers through his hair as he looked down the hill towards the trees. "Both of them." he added in, since Billy had guessed the Dean-bit. "Thia's father finally showed, apparently."

Billy whistled quietly under his breath. "Okay, so - that's bad, I'm guessing." Obviously, since his friend was calling about healing spells. "I'm not sure what Maddie can do in the way of healing, but I'll find out - I'm at yours. I'll call her now, and if she doesn't pick up - she's still having issues with the phone sometimes - I'll head on over there. Soon as I know, you'll know, okay? Though - she'll probably want to know about severity, type, that kind of thing." Assuming that the answer wasn't 'there's nothing I can do', of course.

"They both have slashes on their backs and legs." Oz said. "Badly stitched up, as far as I know. Sophie looked better. I just...y'know, smelled the blood all over the house." he added, making a face. He could even catch faint traces of it out here, from what they'd dripped in the driveway and on the steps.

Billy wanted to know what had happened - and when - but there were priorities, weren't there? And if they needed a healer, having an indepth conversation about the whys and wherefores of the cause of the injuries would only delay possibly aiding the results. "Okay - I'll call you back," Billy promised.

"Right...I'll be waiting. And thanks." he added, hanging up the phone. He set it down next to him on the porch, and Oz set to waiting, hoping that it would be a very short one.

Billy didn't pause - and as he dialled Maddie, he was already packing up, figuring there was at least a 50:50 chance she wouldn't pick up as he headed downstairs.

Maddie never quite remembered where she stashed the phone. She tended to forget about it, and when it rang, she had to go hunting for it. Thankfully, the handset wasn't that far, and she picked it up, also not really remembering to check the caller-ID. It creeped her out a little bit, knowing who was on the other end before she even spoke to them. That and half the time it was just numbers. Either way, she pushed the 'talk' button. That was simple enough. "Hello?" she asked, sounding a tad suspicious. People she didn't know called sometimes, trying to talk her into things. She never liked those people.

Billy stopped just as he hit the bottom of the stairs, since she'd answered. "So, there's problems with the kids - they're hurt and Oz has called asking about healing. And whether you know any spells that can help," Billy told her, figuring that she wouldn't thank him for the niceities when there were problems

Maddie frowned. "Well, how bad is it?" she asked. There was a touch of worry undercurrented to her tone, but just that. She was worried, of course, but flailing about things never helped. Panic was for people who had time to fuck around. Maddie pretty much never considered that option. She was heading back to her designated room for all things spell-work, thinking of a few things, but if it was anything major--she wasn't a bloody healer. Not that they were terribly common, either. Of course, if it was bad, she had a suggestion.

"He didn't say exactly - but apparently Thia's father showed up and they're both fucked up - slashes on their back and legs. And if Thia hasn't just automatically taken Dean's wounds..." Billy pointed out, letting that one hang.

Maddie stilled at that. "He showed up? Is he taken care of? Where are they now?" she rattled off. Then she went on with the next bit before she actually got answers. "As for healing, if things are bad, then I've got just the thing. You call up the wolf, tell him he's an idiot, and to put the kids in the car and take them to that stupid mine we were at this summer--there's a healing spring in it." she said.

"I don't know any of that," Billy admitted - he'd been focused on getting Oz his answers first and foremost. "And a healing spring? That... Sounds about perfect," Billy said, sounding a little surprised. It wouldn't matter how bad they were, would it? Healing was healing.

"Right. So...call him and tell him that, he'll remember the way, and if he doesn't, tell him to come get me, I remember it. Though we really need answers to the 'where the hell is the guy now' question, because if he's still around, I'll need to be preparing a lot of different things..." she said, mind already going towards beefing up even the stuff she already had done--which was considerable. But she could get a little more creative, she supposed.

Billy considered for a moment suggesting that Maddie called Oz direct, since there was information she needed there, but he decided against that. At least, against suggesting it to her. if she wanted to, she would, but he knew she wasn't a fan. "Okay - I'll call him back, tell him that, get the information you need and... I'm just gonna come home, okay? Then if you need to go over there, I can drive you. And if you need anything else, I can help out," he said, envisaging an entire day of being go-between on the phone.

"Alright. Be careful on the way home." she said. But then she usually said that, regardless of what was going on. It was habit. She always wanted him to be driving safely, and not picking up hitchhikers or...whatever else. She told him she loved him, then hung up the phone and started rifling through her family's spell book, just in case she wanted to set up something nasty. She had an idea in mind, anyhow.

Call two down, Billy dialled Oz again, figuring the guy would pick up quickly as he headed out of the house and got into his truck. He'd ordered a new one during the week and hopefully it'd be ready for collection by the end of the week, then he could get rid of this one which had been absolutely fine until the move, but just didn't seem right anymore.

Oz did in fact pick up right after the first ring. "Hey--what's the word?" he asked. He didn't at all figure it would be Maddie calling to tell him herself. She was still getting used to the phone and he knew generally had to either look up their number, or remember how to punch it into the speed dial, and the witch just wasnt' that terribly adept at it.

"Maddie says that you're an idiot and the mine has a healing spring," Billy said, sounding vaguely amused at being able to pass on that message. "Also, she wants the rundown on whether she needs to be prepping to take the guy out," he added.

Oz squeezed his eyes shut and thunked his head against the side of the house. "I am an idiot." he agreed wholeheartedly. "I didn't even think of that." It was something he definitely should have remembered but...it felt like forever ago, and especially with the other crisises they'd had to deal with, it seemed stupidly distant. That wasn't much of an excuse though. He was thinking about traveling there, and thought maybe tomorrow would be best. And all of them being there to help the kids because walking over that terrain wouldn't help out their situation even if they were getting healed up. "And...er...no." he added. "Dean's done that."

"Dean's done what?" Billy asked a little stupidly, not making that connection, even though, really, there was no other connection to be made.

"He's taken care of the situation. He...I don't know. From what I understand, he showed up after they went to a party the other night, and tried to take Thia, and hurt Dean with magic or something, and Dean wound up shooting him." he told Billy. "He doesn't really want anyone to know. That's why you didn't get a call the other night when they were both apparently bleeding all over the place. I told him you and Maddie needed to know, but...if you could possibly not mention it ever ever ever, that might be a good plan."

Billy opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. He felt oddly hurt that he hadn't been told about this already. Not that Oz hadn't called him already, but that this had happened days ago and that Thia hadn't told him. He'd thought - well, there was the whole 'surrogate parent' joke, wasn't there? That the girl came to him for things. But, apparently not for this. They'd been hurt - badly by the sounds of the various things Oz was saying - and she hadn't felt like she could contact him. "...Sure. I can do that," he said, quietly.

Oz paused. "You alright?" he asked his friend, not so over-focused that he didn't catch the quieter tone. Billy was his best friend, after all. He caught it when he didn't sound perfectly on the level.

"Yeah, no - I'm fine," Billy told him, shaking off the feeling. Or trying to, anyway. It wasn't like it was important right now. "Look - if they didn't want me to know, then just don't tell them you told me. I'll never mention it, promise," he said, unconsciously switching to the 'them', even though Oz had only referred to it being Dean's choice.

"No, I already talked to Dean about it. Told him I was going to talk to you. He's...sort of decided it was all his fault, which is stupid, but what he's doing. There's logic failure going on. But still. I told him that we're all family and that that's not really something to keep from family and all. I figure he's worried that you guys are going to blame him or look at him badly or something." Oz said. "We're not telling his parents or anything."
Billy raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't actually make any comment on the strangeness of declaring you didn't keep things from family, yet could in the same breath declare that you weren't telling a guy's parents. He knew full well that there were some things parents didn't need to know. Though, in actual fact, his own mother had known a great deal of what had gone on in his life. Then again, she'd been fully involved and aware of his being a dreamwalker - and she'd been killed by vampires when he was seventeen. "Well, whatever you want," Billy told him instead.
"He knows I'll tell you. Plus, if we're bringing them to the mine...which I'm thinking should be done tomorrow, we might need yours and Maddie's help. The way in to get there isn't really that good of terrain, and with their injuries, they might need help and I'd rather have all four of us, as opposed to just Sophie and I." Oz added.
"We'll be there, don't worry," Billy told him. "Will a healing spring work on her?" he added, wondering about that - he didn't know much about the healing potential of a fade, after all. And every time she'd taken injuries before, she'd died either from them, or shortly after.

Oz stopped for a moment. "...I hadn't thought about that." he admitted. "I have no idea. Fuck." It was difficult to keep in mind that whole she was not only something supernatural, but kind of defiant of the kinds of supernatural he was familiar with. Like he and Billy--they were human...or, kinda. He was less so. Billy was human. But neither of them counted as undead, and occasionally he wondered if Thia might. She did die...and dissolve, and...yeah he had no clue whatsoever.

"Only one way to find out, I guess," Billy told him - there was no point worrying about it. If it didn't work, it didn't work. It wasn't like healing springs were a dime a dozen and they'd be able to find out by just looking in a book or anything.

"Yeah. Guess so." Oz agreed. He hoped it did, though. That would otherwise suck. Because as Sophie had been indicating--she didn't really know how wounds and everything even affected a fade, and so they were a little at a loss.

"So, you want to go tomorrow?" Billy checked. If they were needed today, then they'd be there today. Then again, Oz knew that. That was just how they worked.

"Yeah, give them another day to kind of rest up and everything. Generally that's all they've been doing. Sleeping a lot and occasionally getting up to talk or eat or whatever. Take more pain meds, then they go back to sleep." Oz said. "They're in your room, actually." he added randomly, thinking about it. "Sophie and I are back to where we started." Which was mildly amusing.

"That won't do them any harm. And hey - at least in my room they've got a great view of the lake. There are worse places to be bed-bound," Billy joked, finally properly getting over his twitch about not being told.

"Very true." Oz said with a little half smile. "There are much worse places. Actually, I think it might be the best place, considering. But yeah, be by tomorrow? I'm sure Sophie'll make breakfast or something." Since she was the best cook among them. Plus it had been a while since they'd been able to just do something normal like that. Or what might be considered normal. His own idea of that could possibly be a bit weird.

"Fine, we'll be over early then," Billy promised. He'd never been one to pass up a free meal, never having gotten the hang of cooking himself.

"Cool, I'll see you then." Oz said. Then he paused, and added in something else. "I really wish you could have been there for the wedding. I missed you." he told his friend. Occasionally, Oz was given to being a little overly sentimental, and now was one of those times.

"Yeah, wish I could have been there too. Sucks that it had to happen that way - there's this great little area I found in the grounds that would have been just perfect - down by the trees off to one side, kind of a glade-y thing. Maddie and I were thinking of having our ceremony there. Should be really pretty," Billy told him.

"Sounds nice. You'll have to show me." Oz said. He was still sad that Billy wasn't able to be there for his. It left him feeling like something was left incomplete, mostly. But he couldn't fault his friend for not wanting to leave his pregnant fiancée home alone. And she couldn't leave, as far as they knew. So...yeah. Shit happened. "I should probably go check on the rugrats though." Not that he would say that in earshot of either teenager...

"Don't let them hear you call them that - and you know, you're not that much older than them..." Billy pointed out. Not that he was that much older either, but at least he was out of his teens.

Oz flashed a grin and chuckled. "Yeah, I know." he agreed unrepentantly. "They're still the kids, and I can call them rugrats when I'm out of earshot..." he said. Because yeah he did know better than to say it when they could hear. Or Thia could read it...that would just be silly of him.

"Well, at least you're not that much of an idiot - I'll see you tomorrow," Billy promised, starting the truck up. He was still going to head home, at least for a while. It'd be easier to deal with Maddie face to face and she was bound to have a whole host of questions he doubtlessly wouldn't be able to answer.

"See you then." Oz said, then hung up and sighed, heading back inside--even though it still smelled like blood to him, and they'd have to take care of that sooner or later. It wasn't pleasant, and kind of gave him stress headaches after he'd been inside for too long. However, he also wanted to be near so if they wanted anything he could hear that and go get it. So...it was back to hovering for the werewolf.