Oh you're that guy.

Who: Isaac and Geo
Where: Near the Marshes' house
When: afternoonish

Fugazi safely deposited at home, Geo spent...quite a while, actually, prowling around town, making sure that - if the dog had been an excuse to catch up with him - he wasn't followed. And that if he was, whoever was following would be horribly bored. But after two hours where no homicidal maniacs popped out of bushes, or attempted to take his head off, he felt safe enough to go prowling through town.

The other stalking figures were also gone. He hadn't seen a shadow since dawn. Not that he minded, of course - quite the opposite. Maybe now people would stop going around with slashes random places. Hell, maybe now people would stop dying. His duster flapped behind him as he trudged heedlessly through puddles, blinking water out of his good eye. Rain. Figured.

He paced down the street Peyton's house was on, resolving to just make sure everything sounded right before he left. No good hanging around with who-knows-who watching.

Isaac was hardly aware that it was raining. It had been doing it all morning, and then it stopped for a while, and now it was going again. But it wasn't cold, so it didn't warrant his attention much. There was too much else on his mind. His dad was in the hospital in Ishpeming and he kind of felt bad for coming home, but ... there were people here that he wanted to look in on, had to. And hospitals were depressing and that one was crowded with people from Marquette, and it was all just upsetting. His dad was stable, so he'd come back. And was now on his way to see Peyton.

At least that had been his intention. He glanced up as he was getting nearer to her house, and saw someone walking in front of him, in a duster and with dark hair. Looking at the Marsh house. Frowning a touch, Isaac paced him. Maybe he was being paranoid, but maybe that was smart in this godforsaken town now.

Geo had spent the last night - in between waves of shadow-bastards - fixing his duster. The torn sleeves were now hemmed, making the former-coat now more like a really long vest. There were a couple sets of inside pockets now, too, over the chest...his hand went snaking towards the long pocket that held the butcher's knife in its crudely-sewn leather sheath at the sound of footsteps behind him. He inhaled, slightly. The rain was making it difficult to scent things, but...what he could smell was familiar. Second-hand familiar, like the scent left behind on a shared jacket: he was used to smelling it mingled with a different smell...

He let go of the knife's handle when it finally sank in. Of course. He let the duster's flap fall closed as he turned, smiling. "Hello Isaac." It took another second to have just what a bad idea that might have been sink in....wow, Geo, creepy much?

Isaac had been staring hard at his back, even more suspicious when the dude seemed to reach into his coat for something. But then he was turning around and saying his name. He startled a little, eyes going slightly wide before recognition kicked in. He'd only seen the guy pretty briefly, hanging back as he had been at the funeral. He'd really just been there for Peyton, but his mind supplied an association and a name, thankfully. "Geo," he said. And because he'd taken up sort of a defensive stance, he let his shoulders relax a bit and took another step forward. More friendly-like this time. "How'd you know?" he asked with a small tired smile.

"I. Uh." The easiest thing to do, no-lie, would be to tell him the truth. That he'd recognized him by his smell and the sound of his heart - Isaac could probably handle it, he'd been in the mirror-place, he knew about things. Wereravens were practically benevolent after the shadows and vampires. But last Sunday had burned Geo bad, so the raven boy just shrugged. "I guessed, honestly. Figured if I'd run into someone here on a day like," He paused to squint up at the sky, ignoring the drizzle soaking his patch. "Like this, it'd be you. Lucky guess, huh?"

"Yeah, guess so," he said. He didn't know for sure if there was Something About Geo, but in the middle of Peyton's ramble the day before, there'd been something about him getting work at a bar that moved? Or something. He couldn't exactly remember, in light of the fade stuff that had come right after. But he wasn't about to go questioning the guy. This was the first time they'd really officially met, and he was Peyton's friend, so. Not to mention the hellish time he'd just been through. "Were you goin' to see her?" he asked, nodding toward his girlfriend's house.

"Can't." He shifted from foot to foot, shaking his head once. "Some..." He hesitated for just a second. "...stuff came up, can't really be bothering her...just came by to check on the house, yanno? See that everything looked...normal. Or what passes for normal right now." Windows, doors...especially doors, since those locked. For all the good it had done. "Looks pretty decent from here, anyways."

That sounded kind of odd, but that was becoming run-of-the-mill around here, wasn't it? " ... I talked to her earlier, she's all right," he said, even though Geo hadn't exactly asked. "Everything okay? I mean ... well, shit, okay as it can be, I guess." He'd already guessed that the answer was no, but he asked the question anyway.

"Eh. No." Geo answered honestly. "But it's gettin' better, slowly. I mean, the shadows are gone...that's gotta be the start, right? Thought the whole place was going nuts, an' I only got, like, the last few days of it..." He shuddered once, shoving his hands into the normal pockets. "Sounds like a few people had it a lot longer, know I ran into a couple, but..." He shook his head again. "Never thought I'd be movin' to the freakin' Hellmouth or whatever."

Isaac chuckled dryly at that. "Yeah, I've been one of those people. Since the start, shadowy fuckers," he said, tucking his own hands into the pockets of his jeans in a subconscious sort of mimicry. "But they seem to be gone, yeah, so that's something. Trust me dude, I've lived here pretty much my whole life? I never thought it would turn into the Hellmouth. All this shit's pretty new to me, like, completely. And it fucking sucks."

"That it does." Sucks out loud, as Sammy would say. "And...yeah, I never been much of a skeptic, but this town is a whole new level of psychotic. I mean, it's nice, I don't think my hometown woulda handled it any better - prolly would've made it worse, actually - but seriously. Every now and then I just keep sitting there and wondering when it's all gonna stop..."

He was nodding his complete and utter agreement. Though he felt a little niggling of guilt for that, as Geo had lost his parents, and Isaac hadn't. He had, in fact, been really really lucky in that regard. That neither of them had been seriously hurt, even with the vampires, and they both still mostly had their sanity. As far as he could tell, anyway. He was half-tempted to say something like 'sorry for your loss', but he wasn't sure if that was welcome from a pretty-much-total stranger or not. Or if ignoring the subject was worse. What did you say to grieving people, anyway? He'd never really had to do it before. "Yeah," he said, a little quieter. "And you've had it worse than most. I'm really ... sorry about your parents, man."

"...thanks." Geo ducked his head just a bit, almost like a bird catching its balance before he managed to meet Isaac's eyes. The other boy really did seem sorry. Geo just didn't really know what to say - half the time, it felt like he'd turn the corner and there they'd be. Waiting. He shoved off that train of thought as unhelpful right now, especially in the rain. "It's just...it's all so screwed up. And it needs to stop already." The last words were growled angrily at the sky before Geo combed a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and letting it out slow. "Sorry."

Isaac knew that was lame, and he'd probably heard it ten thousand times already, and it didn't really mean anything. Well, it did, but it wasn't helpful. He wasn't at all sure how to be helpful when it came to that, or if it was even really possible. He watched as the frustration that was probably ten kinds of compounded surfaced. "S'okay," he said to the unnecessary apology. "I'm feeling the same kind of thing, believe me. It all bypassed 'getting old fast' a long time ago, y'know?"

"Yeah...I feel like someone took my life, dumped crappy Buffy the Vampire Slayer script into it, and then just, like, stuck it in the oven 'till it's all so melted and mixed up that I can't tell which way is down anymore." Geo blew out another breath before he continued, switching to 'we' instead of 'I' without noticing. "So, instead we get stuck sittin' 'round waiting for the next hand-grenade life throws our way, hopin' t'high heaven we manage to put the pin back each time before it blows up in our laps..." It was so freakin' frustrating.

It was actually a really good sort of image, and Isaac nodded, part of his brain tucking it away to maybe get stuck into lyrics or something someday. "Yeah, I didn't know anything about any of this supernatural bullshit until about a month or so ago, so I too feel like I've been dropped into some bad WB show." Only bloodier. Where people stayed dead and it actually mattered. To say that his mindset hadn't been very cheery lately -- or anybody's, for that matter -- was a vast understatement. "We've kind of got a little group going, though ... sort of to all keep in touch when shit like this happens. So far it's not really worked so well, but we didn't have much time between the vampires and ... this, so ... if you want to be in the information loop, some people know some stuff, and we're supposed to help each other out through this kind of thing ..."

"Yeah?" Geo could dimly remember Sammy mentioning something about getting the house blessed or warded or charmed or something like that, but that had all been before the fire. He hadn't mentioned it since. "Stuff." He looked down the street for a moment before he started walking, slowly. Just pacing from sidewalk square to sidewalk square, back and forth, back and forth... "What, uh, what kind of 'stuff'?" He traced light air-quotes around the word, peering sidelong back at Isaac. This group was probably the one Sammy had mentioned, the one that had Herbert and Peyton in it...

He watched, digging his hands a bit deeper into his pockets. "Some white magic ... I think some other people know other things ... I dunno, we haven't had much of a chance to pool resources yet," he said, wincing a little. He still felt kinda bad about tearing Charlotte a new one. "But um ... I'm learning white magic, and my best friend knows some. More than me. Peyton's in it," he added, as though that might be even more incentive. And hell, it might.

"Think my bro' is too," Geo finally confided, pacing back towards Isaac. "Sammy." He shook his head, glancing up at the sky. "Other people knowing other things...and white magic." That was awesome, really. At least all this crap had a light side. "Y'can count me in, if y'want. I mean, I ain't an expert on anything..." Other than lycanthropes. He paused to let that thought sink in, then shook his head, amending. "Well, I'm an expert on one thing but it's real specialized. And I'm good at gettin' stuff that you're not supposed t'be able to find." Though, at the moment it was mostly limited to his music junk - there wasn't anything saying it'd be harder to find non-music stuff. "So I might be a help at some point."

"Sammy's your brother?" he asked, looking vaguely surprised. Not that it really should have, the curly-headed kid was a new arrival, and so was Geo, and he knew that sort of, so ... he'd just never made the connection, not having really interacted with either of them personally until then. "Cool then, he should have everybody's contact information and stuff. And if he doesn't, here let me get your number ..." he said, pulling his phone out and opening up the address book inside. "The way I see it, the more of us that are networked, the better, you know? You never know who can contribute what."

"Yeah, exactly." Geo pulled his phone out of his pocket, flipped it open and rattled off his number. "We should think up a safehouse type of deal, too...somewhere, eventually." He could easily see things reaching siege point again, and having someplace with room and food and the suchlike would be a good idea if that did happen.

Isaac put it into his phone, and then gave his to Geo in turn. "Yeah," he agreed. "That was kind of why I wanted to know where everybody lived, to sort of try and map out a middle-point. Where we could all get to the easiest, you know?" He tucked his phone away again. "I mean ... me and Thom and Peyton all kind of live close together, but it might not be the best place to come for everybody else. But we do need to do that. Maybe have a backup planned too, in case the safehouse is in the middle of the shitstorm."

Geo thumbed in the number before he flipped his phone back closed. "Wouldn't hurt to have a couple places in mind, couple places to run to if things get bad, different places for different situations..." Were the true adults doing things like this? Or were they too busy pretending things weren't happening? He wondered what he would have told his own parents - and then backed away from that thought post-haste. No need to poke fresh wounds. "Wonder how much it'd cost to get, like, a old shortwave or somethin'..."

"Probably not much," he said, sounding like he thought that was a good idea. Because he did. "Me and Thom used to have a set of two-ways that we played with when we were kids, I bet if we all kinda pooled together, we could get a few sets, tune 'em all to the same station. Just in case people's phones get fucked." Or the towers went down. Didn't that happen on 9/11? ... would shit get that bad there? God, what a fucked up thought that was. "But yeah, a couple of spots to store batteries, water, that kind of shit," he said, gears turning now. It was true; the more brains they had together, the better.

"Phones are a piece of cake to screw up..." Geo found himself saying outloud before he could think better of it. He shook his head, clearing the thought, before he patted down his pockets, looking for a piece of paper. Once he found one (and a pen) he started scribbling things down. Maybe tonight or something he'd go flying around and scout stuff out... "Canned food. Tuna, that spam crap...anything that'll keep for a while." He looked up from jotting that down with a teasing grin. "Plus it's got the added attraction of bein' cheap."

Isaac was glad that he was taking notes, because they were good ideas and he sure as hell wasn't going to remember them. He was nodding instead, missing anything to read into on the phones comment. "Flashlights, maybe some weapons if we can get something substantial," he was saying, looking at Geo's bit of paper. "I really think we all need to be taking those first aid classes somebody mentioned, too, and like ... self-defense shit. You guys do any hunting or anything?" he asked, glancing up. If someone could teach them to shoot without killing each other ... it might be good to know.

"Hell no." Geo half-spat, half-growled at the idea. Manhattan might have turned out to be nice, but between her and Bu', it seemed fairly obvious that hunters weren't a one-of-a-kind deal. "I mean...that came out a bit strong. Sorry." He took a second to collect his thoughts. "We don't hunt, but my sister's a cop - don't trust her, though, long story - so I can probably figure out some way to get access to some thing..." Bu' came to mind yet again - maybe she knew how, and could teach them? "And knives are hella easy to find." He added flashlights and weapons to the list, staring down at it before adding in block letters the same time as he said it. "Generators. Old gas generators. Maybe. Not on the top of the list, but still...there."

That reaction had an eyebrow arched, but Isaac didn't really react beyond that. "I meant like ... deer hunting or something," he said, then shook his head dismissively. He really was still adjusting to thinking like someone who knew shit about the supernatural. "There's tons of outdoors stores close anyway, and I think eighteen's old enough for a hunting rifle ... but yeah knives. And generators. And the regular sleeping bags type shit." And instruments, if he was building his own fantasy shelter, but he didn't say so. "I'll ask around too, see what kind of resources people have for that kinda thing."

Geo wouldn't have really blamed him for the instruments thought, had he known it. He was mentally figuring record and cd players into the mix, but they were (sadly) at the very bottom of the hierarchy. He scribbled the last mentioned items on before he looked up, squinting. "Maybe even a tent or two, in case...whatever's happening goes for the houses. There's a lot of woods out there. Sometimes, they might even be safer..." If colder. And less civilized. His mind was already cycling through the idea of scouting out locations and stuff - that'd be easy in full-raven form.

God, he hadn't even thought of that. Yeah, this had definitely been a good idea. But the prospect that they could be turned out into the woods surrounding Marquette in the middle of winter was ... fucking depressing, honestly. "Yeah, that too, we should have a place," he said, though he didn't sound thrilled by that prospect. Isaac ran a hand through his hair and looked dismayed for a brief moment. "How the fuck do you prepare for shit like this? Like ... I don't even goddamn know what bases to start covering, 'sides the ones we've already been through. Jesus Christ," he ended in a mutter.

Geo looked up from his paper just in time to notice the look of dismay, accompanied by a smell of the same. He bit his lip and looked back to his paper, folding it up. "I...think we've got enough to start," He finally said, feeling slightly awkward. This was a lot of stuff to worry about. And it wasn't fair, he couldn't help but think. We're still technically just kids... But none of the 'adults' seemed to be doing much of anything (visible, at least), so it might very well fall down to them...

....wow that was a depressing thought.

Isaac felt bad about the little outburst, but really, he felt kind of overwhelmed. "We'll get together again. With everybody, y'know? Get it all organized and written down and everything," he said, to hopefully not sound like as much of a pussy. He tossed a quick glance toward Peyton's house and then looked back at Geo. "Sure you don't wanna go say hi or anything?" he asked. Because that's sure as hell where he was going, but he could wait if Geo wanted to talk to her.

Geo shook his head abruptly, taking a step back. "I better not." He managed a tight smile, waving the folded paper. "I gotta get back home, but I'll start lookin' 'round for some of these. See if I can't find what I can figure out to get things cheap an' whatnot." Even if it meant repairing secondhand stuff or whatever. As long as it worked reliably....

"Okay well ... catch you later on, then," Isaac said, and gave him a nod. The reluctance to go and see a friend of his was kind of weird, but it probably wasn't any of his business. "Keep in touch, yeah?" He gave the other guy a nod and a little half-wave, turning to head on to his girlfriend's house.

"Yeah, you too." Geo nodded, backing further up the walk, fully aware that this must seem strange. Manhattan may have promised he'd be safe, but she hadn't said if Derek had other people like her. The thought made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. "Tell her I said hi." And then he turned on his heel, ready to head back towards his house.