Passing on goodbyes

Who: Dylan and Kavin
When: Late afternoon
Where: The streets of Marquette

After dropping of Peyton at her house, Kavin decided that waiting to check up on Nate wasn't going to last long. His car seemed to steer itself in the direction of his friend's house. On route however, he came across a boy walking down the street. From the back he kind of looked like Nate, but he didn't walk the same. Something about his stride was different, but Kavin pulled over ahead of the boy and glanced back.

Dylan.

Just as good right. Trying to find a guy? Ask his brother. So that's what he did. Kavin rolled the window down and parked the car, turning off the ignition and called the boys name. "Hey, Dylan?" Maybe he could tell him what the hell was going on.

Dylan had only gone out to get out of his new house. It felt like he was suffocating in there. His new family were nice enough, what little he saw of them since he spent most of his time in his bedroom, but they weren't Frank and Nate. He didn't want to see anybody and he had his doubts about anybody wanting to see him too but just in case one of the twins decided it was time for family bonding, he'd headed out for a 'walk' before they could come up with anything to do. As for anybody else, there was Leija - of course there was her - and May or that group of friends but they were the types who would call first and all had his number if they needed him. He doubted they would.

He was headed back to Nevermore with his when someone pulled up in front of him and rolled down the window. With all of the stories about child molesters and kidnappings, it might have been understandable when Dylan took a wary step back away from the curb but he didn't run away. It took him a moment to recognize the person and when he did, he frowned harder. What did Kavin want with him? "Uh, yeah, it's me. You're Nate's friend, right?" He let that hang in the air while he took a breath then continued. "He's not here if you're looking for him. I don't know where he is, Frank packed his favourite and headed west yesterday."

Kavin blinked at that and then frowned and then blinked again and brushed his hair out of his face as he tried to process that news. "Left?" he questioned finally. "Are they coming back, do you know?" Why would they leave? More importantly, why wouldn't Nate have told him that? To say he was hurt would have been an understatement. All kinds of emotions welled up inside of Kavin and he really didn't know what to say or to think or even to do. "I... he didn't tell me. I mean... I'd heard he wasn't around but... I didn't think he'd just fly off the face of the Earth without giving me a heads up."

"I think it was West, California anyway." Dylan squinted towards the direction where the sun was slowly descending for a moment then turned back. He was almost sure that was west but his directions weren't the best. If he knew where he was going, he counted it as a win. Of course it didn't matter where Nate had gone or the direction he'd headed in but it was easier to think about. Easier to worry about something that didn't really matter than to start thinking about his father's abrupt leaving all over again. That hurt too much and from the look on Kavin's face, he wasn't alone. He shrugged and flicked a stray lock of hair from his eyes. "Yeah, he didn't have time. He wanted to though, said to say he's sorry and he'll call or something when he gets a chance." Okay, so maybe Nate hadn't said it like that. He'd screamed something general about his friends when Frank had said they were going again but, well, Dylan knew he would have said it if he'd hadn't been so distracted by everything else. "If it helps, I didn't get a heads up either, Frank told us right before he left. Work stuff, I don't know. Fuck him anyway."

Gone.

And there it was. Laid out in front of him. Nate had left with Frank. Disappeared without a single word. Left. Hauled ass. Packed his shit and went off. For work. And that just made things worse. He could get hurt, he could get killed. If it was for work, it was a hunt of some sort and that? That had him freaking out on the inside. But at the same time, there was that hurt, that worry, that anger. He wasn't sure what to say to the kid before him and for a moment he didn't say anything. Finally he managed to muster up the voice to speak without it sounding shuddery. "Where you headed? Need a ride? It's cold as balls outside."

Kavin didn't need to say anything, Dylan already knew what was going through his mind. It was the same things that had been through his own ever since Frank had announced they were leaving. Well, he and Nate were going. As for the bastard child? Frank didn't want him, that was clear. And then Kavin was offering him a ride. That was weird, he was Nate's friend but then again, Nate was gone and he probably wanted more answers than 'maybe he'll call you'. He could understand that.

Nodding, he pulled out one of the books he'd borrowed from Nevermore. The title pointed directly at Kavin and it was a second too late that Dylan remembered it was clearly about werewolves. For a moment he panicked. What if Kavin was one? Dylan had said one of his friends had been attacked or what if Kavin thought he was crazy? No, he wouldn't and even if he did, Dylan could write it off as a book of fiction but still hoping his brother's best friend hadn't noticed, he dropped the book back into his bag and pointed up the street. "Uh, I've got to go to this one place first but um. Yeah, it's cold. I was going to go to Mya's, you can come if you want. I don't know how much else I can tell you about Nate but we could talk about other things."

He noticed the book, but he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, the kid was the son of a hunter and if he was reading up on werewolves, good. He needed to be aware. "Yeah... we don't have to talk about Nate." he agreed. He didn't want to talk about Nate anyway. Why bother? Wouldn't make him come back. "Come on, I'll take you there."

Dylan nodded and pointed forward again. "Give me, like, two minutes okay? Just got to do what I came to do." Dylan gave Kavin a small smile and headed into Nevermore. He left the books on the counter with a note scribbled onto the back of business card stating who they were from. He didn't stop to talk to Dorian or anybody else in there and headed back out to Kavin. He stopped by the car and leaned down to peer through the passenger window. "Lemme in by the hair of my frozen chin."

Kavin gave the boy a smile, but it wasn't his normal smile. It was a bit forced, but he unlocked the door to let the kid into the car. "Anything interesting?" he questioned, eyes flicking in the direction of the store and then back at Dylan. "They've got some cool books in there."

As Dylan slid into the passenger's seat, he gave Kavin a weary glance. There was something about what he said that made Dylan take notice. It sounded like it was a casual comment but there was something more to it. He didn't have to say it but Dylan guessed he meant it as something more serious than the regular fictional fantasy found at Barnes and Noble. How did he know? That worried him but this was Nate's friend and surely he was smarter than to associate with demons, right? "Yeah, some cool stuff," Dylan finally said. He tried to keep his voice calm and even, to keep the nerves out but he wasn't sure how well he did so it was safer to change the subject entirely. "Friendly people too. My step, uh, I don't know what to call him. Seph, my carer's other kid, he works there. Foster brother, I guess. Iunno." He shrugged and wriggled in his seat to get comfortable. "It's fucked up. I hate it."

He nodded. "Yeah... gotta suck." Kavin agreed. Nate was his friend but he was Dylan's brother. Just finding out you have a dad and a brother after your mom dies and then losing them too. That was way worse than losing a friend in Kavin's mind. "So the diner then." he smiled, hoping he didn't sound as depressed as he felt when he pulled away from the curb. Maybe there would be some good conversation. Or maybe not, he wasn't sure. But something had to stop the pain he was feeling inside.

Dylan nodded his agreement but didn't say anything else as Kavin pulled out of the curb. The diner sounded good and even if the conversation sucked, at least there would be food and warmth. That had to be something, right? Even though he wore gloves, hand-knitted with grey and purple stripes, his hands were freezing. He rubbed the palms together and held them over one of the dashboard's vents. "I'm from California," he complained. "I'm not used to weather like this! How the hell do you live?"

"Inside." he said without hesitation. "Or covered if you have to go out. Getting warm clothes is definitely a must do kinda thing around here." Poor kid. All the other shit he had to deal with on top of a change from California to Michigan. The more he talked to Dylan, the more he felt bad for him.

"Clothes, really? I thought you went naked and just hoped you didn't lose your important bits." Dylan laughed and glanced across again to shoot Kavin an amused grin. It occurred to him that maybe Kavin would take the sarcasm literally but probably not and it was his own issues if he did. "Kind of feels like the only must-do thing, really. It's such a small place. I mean except for..." He made a vague gesture with his hand, not interested in being the one to call it a werewolf. If Kavin knew, he could do it and if not and Dylan did say, he'd look crazy. "Those attacks were something. Not a must-do but something."

That got a little chuckle from Kavin. "Yeah, I wouldn't recommend naked. Wouldn't want to freeze anything important off. Wouldn't be able to replace it. It is small and yeah... the attacks... I'm just glad all that shit is over." He wondered if Dylan knew about everything and if he did exactly how much he knew.

For a moment, Dylan thought that Kavin was referring to himself as small and his face clouded over in confusion. He'd never heard a guy depreciate himself like that, usually the opposite, but then Kavin kept talking and Dylan quickly caught up. He gave the other boy a slight smile to cover his embarrassment then nodded somberly. "Yeah, the say it's over anyway." He watched Kavin for a moment and then, feeling brave he added, "At least for a month."

"Guess that means you at least got clued in?" he said with a little glance in the boy's direction. "I'm glad. It'd suck if you were completely clueless and they left like that." he muttered. "What all did they tell you?"

Leija hadn't thought he was crazy, Kavin didn't think he was either. It was always a small thrill when he foundout that someone didn't look at him like he'd lost it, to find out that other people knew too. But how did he really know? There were some things that Nate and Frank had told him, others he had put together himself but he obviously didn't know everything yet. He shrugged, "I don't know. Enough, some things. Like, that it's real and the stuff happening here and what went on back home, stuff like that. How'd you find out?"

"It's a long story." he explained. "And I really doubt you wanna hear the whole drawn out thing. I read a lot. I don't take things for what they are and I know that suspicious attacks are usually the work of more than just bears." he shrugged.

Bears. That certainly caught Dylan's attention. The coroner had said his mother had been attacked by a large animal and while they couldn't name a species, one of the cops on the scene had said it looked like a bear 'or something'. But Kavin couldn't know about that, could he? Nate knew and they were best friends but it didn't feel like the sort of thing they'd share. It was too private, a family thing for Dyl and Frank to deal with alone; it wasn't even Nate's family. "Yeah, they always say it's bears when they don't know." He spoke quietly then added, "Even if there aren't bears for miles. Like Berkeley when my mum died, they said it was bears then too but it's a fucking city! Wouldn't someone would notice a wood beast walking down the suburbs?"

"Seriously." Kavin muttered as he pulled into the diner and found a parking spot. "It's ridiculous." He rolled his eyes and brushed his fingers through his hair. "It's pretty fucked up that they assume everyone is too stupid to realize that. I think a lot of people do, but they're in denial about anything else. But that many people spontaneously dying or getting attacked? Yeah, not bears."

Dylan nodded. He didn't like talking about these sort of things but it was nice to have somebody outside of the family who got it. He hadn't had the chance to go into real detail with Leija, he hadn't wanted to then. "Do you think it'll happen again? Next month, I mean. Someone killed all of the people who were bitten and stuff, that's fucked up, but they probably didn't get the one who started it." He shook his head. "Should just lock them up on the full moon or something. Shouldn't kill them, they're people the rest of the time. Nate says so anyway."

They hadn't killed all of the people that got bitten. Gabe was still here. Kavin was glad about that. "Yeah." he agreed. "They are people the rest of the time and if they know how to handle the change, they're not dangerous to themselves or other people. Like if they lock themselves up to protect other people and all that. I'm hoping it doesn't happen again next month, but in this town... you never really know."

"What do you mean in this town?" Dylan frowned for a moment as he thought about it. There were the werewolves but nobody had seemed to expect them and there were the ghosts too but they seemed to be all over the world. It wasn't just a Marquette thing so what exactly did Kavin mean about 'this town'? He didn't know but he didn't like how it sounded. "Do you mean this is, like, regular or something? No way, next you'll be telling me vampires are here too or something."

"They have been." Kavin admitted. "Look, you need to know that this isn't the first time that something fucked up has happened here alright?" he said, turning the car off and pocketing his keys. "I'm not going to sugarcoat things for you because I think you should be able to be prepared and not just be sitting around here thinking that that was a one time thing. I mean... werewolves aren't the first bad things to come through Marquette."

Dylan watched Kavin turn off the car and shook his head. No, he had to be kidding. This was just a very bad joke and only one of them thought it was funny. Yeah, that was it. A joke. When he looked up at Kavin's face again, it was clear that he wasn't kidding. Dylan's nervous smile dimmed and he shook his head again. "No, no way. I know there's stuff out there but it doesn't, you know, live here or anything. That's crazy talk! My dad wouldn't just leave me in a supernatural hotspot when I've already got one demon after me. I mean, yeah, shit, there is stuff but it's not all here waiting here."

"I didn't mean that it was all waiting here." he sighed. "I mean... look, stuff comes through here all the time and I'm sure you're with someone else right? Your dad didn't just leave you to fend for yourself, right?" That'd be pretty fucked up. "He probably chose the person real carefully so that he knew you'd be safe. He's not the kinda guy that would just haul ass and leave you without any preparation or anything unless he knew that someone else was there to protect you." At least Kavin hoped so.

Dylan knew it was true but it didn't make it feel any better. All he knew about Doc was that he didn't mind questions, had an awesome record collection and he was Frank's friend. That didn't tell him enough to feel happy or safe about being left with him but Kavin had a point. He sighed and said, "Yeah, well. Doc's cool and all but... I should have been with Dad. He took Nate, he should have taken me too. He promised me!" So maybe it wasn't fair that he was taking all of this stress and worry out on his brother's friend but he didn't care. He couldn't go to the twins and Doc was cool for now but he was probably looking for the next chance to dump him on someone else too. He liked Leija too much to talk about this stuff with and anybody else he was close to had left; there wasn't anyone else he could complain to! He slumped down into his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "I fucking hate him. Nate too, he said if Dad left then he'd stay behind then we had a fight about this girl he liked too and... Fuck them both, seriously. They're bastards."

Kavin sighed and leaned back against the seat. He felt horrible for Dylan and horrible for himself all at the same time. "They suck." he agreed. "For leaving. For leaving without notice. For saying things and not meaning them." he muttered. "But there's nothing we can do about it now, so we gotta move on and get over it. I'm not going to waste my time being upset about some shit I can't do anything to change. So come on. I'll buy you dinner or something. But you gotta stop moping."

Dylan didn't want to stop moping. He was quite happy to sit around and stay miserable but Kavin obviously didn't need that kind of pressure. He'd feel sorry for himself in his own time later, not right now when the person he was with needed cheering up too. They both did, where was that girl he'd met the other day who had done a good job at that? He gave Kavin a small smile and straightened up in his seat a little. "Yeah, sounds okay. You alright though? Nate really did like you, kept telling me about you before that party we met at and yeah. It's... I don't know, don't think he'd have wanted to leave you without saying anything."

Well if that didn't pour salt in the open wound, Kavin didn't know what did. Not only had Nate left, but he hadn't wanted to leave. "Yeah. I know. Still sucks." Kavin muttered. "He was like... my best friend or some shit. But yeah, lets get something to eat. I'm starved." he said as he got out of the car and shut the door behind him, heading into the diner. Depressed wasn't a very fun emotion.

Dylan stayed where he sat fora moment then climbed out of the car and followed after Kavin. There was no point in dwelling about this and as much as he wanted to, he knew it would only make things worse in the long run.

Inside the diner, Dylan stood staring at the menu for a moment. He already knew what they had and what the dishes he wouldn't eat and a quick check confirmed there was nothing new. Nothing vegetarian and new anyway. "So... What're you getting me?" He nudged Kavin's shoulder lightly and gave the boy a quick smile. "Nah, it's cool. I can pay for my own, you know."

He returned the smile with one of his own and shook his head. "Hey, I can pay for you this time." he told him. "A consolation prize for not getting to go with Frank and Nate, yeah?" It was the least he could do for the kid.

It was a shitty consolation prize but weren't they always? At least Kavin was trying to make him feel better, that was a start. He nodded and pointed up towards the menu board. "Can you get me that then, the veggie burger please?" He turned and glanced around the diner, it wasn't crowded but he took a couple of steps towards a table and said, "I'll get us a seat."

Kavin nodded and gave the kid another smile, then turned to the guy behind the counter and made their order. He knew it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. The poor kid got a shitty hand dealt to him. Maybe Kavin couldn't fix it, but the least he could do was make it slightly less sucky.