Needs Must

Who: Mathias and Dorian
Where: The Lockwood Residence
When: Evening

Dorian's day had seemed rather full, and by the time he headed home, he was starting to think an early bedtime would be nice. Or perhaps that was due to the anticipation of seeing Delilah again and he wasn't tired at all. Not yet, at least. He couldn't seem to make up his mind. After leaving Nevermore, he'd stopped by the hospital to visit Caleb, gone to the store to pick up dinner, then headed home. Groceries had gone into the house, but the toy chest remained in his car. He'd rather not have Mathais end up locked out when he got home, even if he'd be filling his brother in on the toys anyways. He started dinner, then collapsed on the couch, flipping on the tv for a bit. It was a nice change of pace to let his mind go numb, though he knew it couldn't last all that long.

Mathias had been avoiding the hospital all day - there was no way he was going to visit Caleb until he had something to tell his brother, since he knew the guy would be all over him about Leija and he wasn't big on directly lying. He much preferred to sidestep questions and tell half-truths, make people believe they'd heard something other than what he'd actually said. Dorian could visit today - he hadn't been called to look for Leija and could fob Caleb off a lot better than Math would be able to as a result.

He was late home, but he'd wanted to hang around to see the locator spell performed - because if there'd been any result? Well, Mathias wouldn't have been heading home, he would ahve been heading to that spot on the map. but there'd been no spot to head to - nothing that was the usual. And so he'd given up and solemnly driven home, letting himself into the house and dropping his bag by the front door - its usual spot these days. He silently walked into the living room and threw himself down next to Dorian. "How was he?" he asked, eyes on the TV. "Still worried about Leija? You didn't have to tell him she was missing, did you?"

"He seemed okay, though his eye was bruised. He wouldn't tell me anything about it. I kind of avoided conversation about her altogether, when possible. I told him I worked today, about the witch I met this morning and the dreamwalker I met in the afternoon. If we could just find Leija, it could be construed as a good day," Dorian said, looking over at his brother. "Any luck?" While Leija wasn't their responsibility, the fact that she was missing was discerning. Dorian had seen her go into the mine. The fact that everyone missing was in her group, was not a good sign, though no one seemed to know where they'd run off to. Mathias had taken it upon himself to go check the mine again, and Dorian hadn't heard back. It was the only issue weighing on his mind at the moment, the fact that the one person who his little brother seemed particularly close to had disappeared.

Mathias shook his head. "No, no luck at all - went up to the mine this morning, but that passage is well and truly gone. Met a guy there who knew people though - I ended up breaking into Leija's house and stealing some of her things so we could do a locator spell. Not that that worked - where they are, it's not on any map," Mathias said, sounding tired. Everything he'd tried had led to a dead end.

Dorian scowled. "That's not good," he said. "We need to find her. We can't go see Caleb again and not have some kind of an answer." Dorian wasn't fond of lying to Caleb, and he'd only been able to side-step this time because he'd turned it over to Mathias. Next time it would be unavoidable. His mood darkened farther then, as he remembered the other issue pertaining to Caleb. Or maybe it wasn't even all about Caleb at this point. It was more an issue Dorian had with their parents. "I received a plane ticket in the mail today," he said, looking at Mathias. "Do you know anything about that?"

Mathias took thinking time for a moment as he reached forward and flipped the sound off the TV with the remote. She'd done it - she'd actually, fucking done it. He had been hoping that she wouldn't - that she... He didn't know what he'd been thinking. Clinging onto a childish notion of his mother, perhaps - one that had been shattered yesterday. The last remnants of that idea were disappearing now. "Yeah - mom sent it," he said, his voice low and verging on dangerous, suggesting a great deal of repressed anger, especially from someone so usually cool and calm as Mathias. "Did she send money too?" he asked, then carried on. "I wanted to talk to you about that actually - wanted to yesterday, but with everything else... I spoke to mom yesterday morning. About Caleb - did you know they hadn't even called him? Not once. Nothing."

Dorian should have known this had something to do with their parents. He should have sensed it, but he really had hoped this was something unrelated because... well, the truth brought on a growing sense of anger he had wanted to avoid. Today had been decent until now. "I kind of suspected, but no, I didn't know for sure," Dorian said darkly. "She sent money, but I didn't think much about that. I could do with the money. But why the fuck does she think Caleb needs to go back to New Orleans? There's nothing there for him, not even his family. Unless she's coming home?" It seemed... unlikely, but Dorian had yet to put all the pieces together yet. His mother had summoned his little brother home, but she wasn't even there to take care of him. And from the way things were going, Dorian doubted she wanted to take care of him, a fact that made her like his mother less and less each time it was reaffirmed.

"I can't believe she fucking did it," Mathias breathed. He shook his head. "No - she sent the pane ticket because Caleb is, apparently, causing trouble for us. And that's not on - she seems to be under the impression that he's been a Bad Boy - and his punishment? Is that he gets to fly home to New Orleans and spend the rest of the year, until mom and dad get back, sitting at home. Alone - with no income, guardian or anything else." He thrust up off the couch and started pacing the room. "I told her - I fucking told her and she didn't... You know, she... Fuck her - fuck them both, really. How much did she send you? Whatever - doesn't matter. You're not spending it. Neither of us are. I told her and she didn't believe me - she thought she could just ignore me and do whatever she wanted. I'm taking over Caleb's finances now - whatever you need for him, I'll give you - we'll work it out between ourselves. And, no - that's... We need to work something out for Caleb. They don't give a flying fuck about him, so they don't deserve him. The guy needs people who care about him - which means me. And it means you. I know you can't afford to bank roll him, so I will. I have the funds - I'll just have to access them, which is no hardship, but I'm not going to be like them - not just another person handing money hands off - that's not what he needs..." Mathias said, talking as he thought, rambling more than he ever did, looking much more agitated than he ever, ever did.

Dorian's fury was quiet, perhaps because his brother was doing all the walking and talking. If Mathias hadn't been quiet so agitated, Dorian would have been in his place. Instead, he was trying to keep his temper down, though he knew himself well enough at this point to know that his eyes were glowing uncontrollably. If he wasn't careful, all the glass in the house would be at stake. "What the fuck is wrong with her?" Dorian asked. "He's her son. Just like you. Just like me. You don't just-- drop a child completely. I don't care how old he is, you don't treat a person like that. Even if he was fine, that would be bullshit. It's the last thing he needs and-- It's not like she's incapable! She raised us just fine, so what about Caleb? And what about Dad? Is he just- just blind? Or does he not care either? What--" Dorian shut his mouth, the taste bitter and strong. He hadn't thought he could be more upset with his parents than he had been the other day, when he'd hung up on his mother. This won out easily. "What do we tell him?"

"According to mom, he's not her child. He's not her son - he didn't develop any abilities. I think she sees him as some kind of by-blow," Mathias said, the venom in his tone all for his mother. His father, well, he ignored that issue completely. He'd always been his mother's son - his father had only ever been the Other Parent. Mathias had only ever really looked to his mother, had her on a pedestal - and it was a long way to fall from there. For Azura's image in her eldest son's eyes, the landing hadn't been a soft one. She'd shattered into a million pieces. "I don't know what we tell him - I don't know what's best. I just know right now that they don't deserve to be able to call themselves his parents and I won't have her sending money to appease what little conscience she may have. She doesn't get to have that and neither does he." Mathias sat down heavily, resting forward on his elbows. He looked over at his brother. "I'm going to be staying," he said, making the decision there and then. "If we're doing this - which we are." He assumed Dorian was with him on this, always one to assume everyone was with him on something. "Probably until he graduates." It would make this the longest Math had stayed in one place since he'd left home at eighteen, but it had to be done - he wouldn't just be like his parents, sending money home. "I'll have to find somewhere to live," he cocked a smile. "Can't sleep on you couch forever, right?"

It didn't work like that. She couldn't disown her youngest son just because he didn't have her abilities. He had the tells, had the temperament, and dammit, he'd been born of the woman. She couldn't possibly claim Caleb wasn't hers. "We could put the money in a college fund. Or I could send it back. Or I could use it for myself. Whatever you think," Dorian said, shrugging. He didn't care what they did with the money, but he agreed with Mathias. Whatever his brother thought was best. "I was thinking of building out the dining room," Dorian said, a bit surprised on the change of subject. "Adding a bathroom and making it into a little room I could rent out, or... something. I don't know. Houses are expensive," Dorian said with a roll of his eyes. Most people knew this, except he'd jumped the gun a bit. "You can stay there, unless you want a place of your own. I-- need to rethink my living arrangements a bit." It was a constant battle for him, trying to find something that worked, that settled his mind and his pocketbook. "But I'm glad you'll be staying. I think Caleb needs it. He needs both of us, and he's a handful."

Mathias considered this, then shook his head. "No - fuck that, she doesn't get to pay for college either. No... I'm thinking we throw it in a bank account then when he's old enough, we give him the money to throw away on something he doesn't need. Fuck them, they don't get to contribute to anything worthwhile." Mathias didn't see the rest as a change of subject - merely a segue onto a related topic. "You know me, bro - I'll live anywhere, it's no big for me. I think it'd be better for Caleb, though, to have us both around - and if you need help with the bills, you know I can cover the extra. You were going to rent the room out, well, you can rent it out to me as much as a stranger, right?"

Dorian liked the idea of Caleb blowing the money on something for himself. Something like good colored pencils or pastels. Or, if they waited a bit, a car. Whatever Caleb wanted, he could have, as far as Dorian was concerned. "We'll let him have it, like you said. Let him spend it on something for himself. And yeah, I can rent it out to you. That'd work fairly well, I think. I just need to figure this house thing out, you know? I took on a bit more at once than I probably should have, but I also think a house is good for Caleb. I think having both of us around is." Dorian completely believed that, that Caleb needed them to be there. They'd done their best, but this was going to get harder, Dorian thought, at least while Caleb came to deal with the fact that his parents had dropped him and that his brothers had pretty much adopted him. Dorian didn't know how to tell him, or if they even should, but he'd feel the difference, at least with them.

Mathias could admit to himself that the decision he'd just made? Was fucking scary - Caleb was around his junior year, if he hadn't officially gotten to school yet, but still - that meant that Math had just committed himself to two years in this town. And he was trying not to immediately feel trapped. This was his own free will, his own decision. It was needed and he could do this.

Fuck.

He could do this. "So, what do we tell him?" Mathias asked his brother, betraying none of the panic outwardly.

Dorian didn't sense the rising panic, having no real idea where his brother's anxieties lay. If he'd had a clue, he'd have known just what this meant for Mathias, but this was one area where they were lacking. "We tell him that we feel that it's in his best interest that we take over financial responsibility for him. We don't need to go into detail about mom being a complete and total bitch, and I think we want to stay away from the reasons why she's neglected him. I think we try to highlight that we're doing this for him because we care about him, because we know that Caleb will see what this means from the other side, even if we don't bring it up. I don't know... How do you tell someone their parents don't care for them?" Dorian said, extremely displeased. No answer seemed to be quite right.

"You don't," Mathias supplied - the easy answer. "But, I'm not sure - If we tell Caleb that we're taking over financial responsibility - after the conversation I had with him... He's going to put two and two together. The kid's not stupid." He sighed and leaned back, reaching for his cigarettes, then just playing with the pack in his hands, as usual uncomfortable smoking in his brother's house, no matter how many times he was given the okay. "We could just not tell him about the change. At least not straight away...."

"That's true," Dorian agreed. "We could wait until he's stable. It's not like he'd know the difference." With the amount of attention their parents paid to Caleb, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two. What he would see was increased attention from his brothers, though that had already been an ongoing occurrence. It wasn't likely to stop any time soon, either. "I hate to lie to him, but I think it would be better for him not to deal with this right now." The key word being 'right now'. They couldn't keep it from him forever.

"Not lying Dorian," Mathias corrected. "It's just not telling him something that he doesn't really need to know. He ever asks - tell him. But if he asks, that would suggest that he's in more of a position to be able to cope with the answer. Course, he's gonna know something's going on anyway - if I'm moving in properly," he pointed out.

"True enough," Dorian said. If Mathias was settling, Dorian would have taken notice, and he knew Caleb knew well enough to do so as well. It was a bad situation all around, but so long as they supported each other, Dorian believed they'd get past it. Caleb was his concern. And, speaking of. "So, what are we going to tell him about Leija?" Dorian asked. "Because he will ask."

Mathias himself was controlling his inner panic about the decision he'd just made. All in all, it was probably a good job that Dorian hadn't actually come out and said the 'settling' word, because that might have been a little too much for the eldest Lockwood - even though that was exactly what he was doing. He just needed some time to rationalise that in his head. Get used to it. He was, though, grateful for the subject change - especially back to Leija, since that was something he could really concentrate on. "We don't tell him anything," Math said, firmly. "Because I know what'll happen - because it's what I'd do in his place. We tell him what we know and he'll try and get himself out of that place. Which he'll probably succeed at. And then all hell'll break loose. Anyway," Mathias added. "There's apparently nothing he, we, any of us can do. I found out where she is. Earlier on tonight - you ever heard of a place called the Inbetween?" he asked.

Dorian, for his part, had no idea what he'd do in Caleb's place. If it was one of his brothers, he'd probably follow suit. For a girl? That was now up in the air. Mention of The Inbetween turned the conversation far darker than Dorian had thought it would go. He'd honestly hoped that Leija was still lost in the mine somewhere. This was far more difficult to work with. "I've heard of it," Dorian said, his worry growing tenfold. "Are you sure that's where she is? I have no idea how to-- to retrieve someone from there." And he wasn't even sure where 'there' was. Inbetween, most likely. Inbetween worlds, theirs and... somewhere else.

"Apparently so." He thought of the basement spell, of the spirit who'd cast it, of what she'd said. He didn't have any reason to doubt her words and the reaction of the people in that room had been enough to convince him that it was either the truth, or an elaborate hoax. And he could think of no reason for it to be the latter. "Do you have any information on it? I've been told there's no way to get there, but I don't believe that - there's always a way. Just because someone doesn't know what it is, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And Leija and her group got there, so there's a way - we just have to find it," Mathias pointed out.

The first thing that came to mind was Chance climbing into Nevermore's bathroom mirror, but Dorian couldn't be sure of where he'd gone. While The Inbetween made sense, it could also be some bizarre mirror world that Dorian was unfamiliar with. Besides, he didn't feel he could send Chance in on that sort of a mission. It had been obvious that he didn't feel completely comfortable in that world to begin with. "I think I have something on it down at the store. There's not a lot out there on it, due to the fact that it's hard to purposefully get there. Or get back. I tend to think of it like a rip in the fabric of our world. They fell through a hole. They have to find their way out, or we have to find the hole ourselves." And he could be wrong. This was one area that Dorian really wasn't sure he knew what he was talking about.

"I don't really think we can rely on them getting themselves out," Mathias said, shaking his head. "And there's only so long we can keep the truth from Caleb. Personally, I'd prefer to get them the hell out of there before he starts kicking up a fuss. I'm going to be avoiding the hospital until we find them - I don't want to risk Caleb doing something stupid. And if the only thing that can stop that is getting the girl back, we get the girl back." Which is what it came down to - Mathias' obsession with saving the disappeared party had its sole root in the effect that disappearance would have on his baby brother. Had Leija not been in that party, like as not, Mathias would be just getting on with his life. After all, shit happened.

Dorian's interest in saving the missing party had the exact same roots, though he'd never admit it as easily. He was not out to save the world. There were too many people that needed saving to bother. He wouldn't let himself feel responsible for the rest of those kids because he hadn't thought it smart for so many of them to be there in the first place. But with Leija missing, it put a different spin on the situation. Caleb needed her back, so Dorian would help get her back. It was really that simple. "So where do we start?" Dorian asked. "Do you think we need to head back up to the mine? And if we can get to her, how can we guarantee that we can get back?" Because the only thing worse than Caleb losing Leija would be for him to lose both his brothers as well.

Mathias shook his head. "No - the mine's a dead end, we need to find another way. Take a look at whatever you've got on the Inbetween - I can make some phonecalls, see if any of my sources can dig me anything up." He considered whether a visit to Eris would be in order - that woman seemed the type who would know things. But then again, he was already in more than he wanted to be with her and she wasn't the kind to give away anything for free. No, he'd leave it a few days before he called on her. He had other people he could run down first. "Anyone you could think of that would know anything?" he asked.

Dorian considered this, along with everything he knew of The Inbetween. "I've been... I've been researching something for a customer of mine. A high school kid. He's not a ghost, but he's been told he's a Fade. It's not a term I'm familiar with, but I've been putting out feelers. One thing he can do is crawl through mirrors into some other world. I can't be sure, but this might be one entrance to The Inbetween. Problem is, I don't think I can ask him to go looking for them. He seems pretty creeped out by the whole thing. But you might be able to use that information. I... I don't know. My other thought is that it's something like The Dreaming, but I think that's a different realm entirely. Then I go back to how similar a Fade is to a spirit and I wonder if spirits can enter The Inbetween easier than we can. I'll need to keep looking into things."

Mathias stood and walked across the other side of the room - he thought better standing up. After a moment, he turned back to look at Dorian. "This is for our brother," he said, seriously. "Ask the kid - find out everything you can. If we have to use him... If you need someone to convince him, if you can't do that - I can. And I will. 'Might' is all we have to go off and this is the best lead we have. Because I can tell you right now that spirits can't enter the Inbetween - at least, not voluntarily. And I can say that with all certainty, because one told me that tonight. So your--fade?-- he's all we've got to go off of. So he's it," Mathias said, determinedly.

If it hadn't been the only path open, Dorian wouldn't have even considered it. While he didn't mind using people from time to time, this felt a bit like using a kid, and... well, he'd kill someone if they took advantage of Caleb the way he imagined they would be taking advantage of Chance. But it was the only option they had open at this point, so Dorian would work with it. He nodded eventually, accepting that this was the path they were going on, no turning back. "I can talk to him. Maybe even convince him that it's not dangerous, or give him a way to find his way back. I know he's worried about getting lost. I'll call him first thing tomorrow morning, though it may be afternoon by the time he gets back to me. He's got school."

Mathias had no such qualms - though he'd be up there with Dorian on the killing thing if anyone tried it with Caleb. But Caleb was family - and that was different. Everyone else was just fair game, a means to an end and the end was getting Leija back to keep Caleb stable. And if this teenager was what it took, then Mathias would sacrifice him to the cause if that's what it took. "Let me know how you get on - and if you need any help in convincing him. In the meantime, do I have time for a shower before dinner?" he asked, easily moving on now that they had a plan.

"Yeah," Dorian said with a small laugh. "I don't fix anything that needs a nailed down schedule. It'll be ready when you're ready." And in that time, Dorian would think of how he wanted to handle Chance. When it came down to it, he was doing a hell of a lot of work and research for nothing. Perhaps he'd found his method of payment, one favor for another.