research

who: caleb and dean
where: nevermore
when: ass early morning

Caleb headed over to Nevermore, keys to the joint in his pocket. He felt like hell, really, and was exhausted. But whatever, he also wasn't thinking that he'd be getting sleep anytime soon. Weirdly, the vamps seemed to have fucked off early. Like...there were a few of them right after dark, and there were a few altercations, but then they were just gone. He had his mp3 player actually on to the radio today--first time he could actually remember doing that. He'd had to hunt for a station that had any reports, and apparently, they'd moved on. Or something. That's what it sounded like, someplace downstate, just past the bridge. Maybe the fuckers got tired of getting themselves dead. Either way everything seemed to still be canceled, and no one was calling it safe yet. He walked past a car that all the windows had been shattered out of, broken glass crunching under his boots as he trudged. He rubbed at his eyes, which felt like sandpaper had replaced his lids, and finally started up into the shadow of the building. Hey look, it didn't appear to have been looted. He wondered if Dorian had had the place warded or some shit. Who knew. If he hadn't, that was probably a really goddamn good idea.

Dean had stayed at the house until sunrise and then the moment the sun was up over the horizon, he was out of there, heading into town on his bike, in leiu of actually being able to drive yet. Which he couldn't, though Sophie was pressing on with teaching him on a daily basis, it seemed. But he hadn't wanted to have someone hanging over his shoulder and Oz was going to be helping Billy clear up after the fire, so, yeah - riding into town to meet Caleb, who he hoped was there. In actual fact, he saw his friend walking down the street before he reached the store and he pulled over, hopping off to walk alongside him. "Morning," he greeted the other guy.

Caleb glanced over. "Morning." he greeted. "Survived another night I see." he observed. Which was good. Caleb had already thought about how it would massively suck to show up and have Dean not due to untimely horrifying death. He eyed him for another few moments. "I take it you haven't slept either." he added. Because Dean didn't look any more on top of his game than he figured he did himself.

"Sleep? What's that?" Dean joked. Such a foreign concept. "No, not for.... getting on for 48 hours now?" He'd meant to get some sleep yesterday afternoon, but then - oh yeah, everything had gone to hell and that hadn't happened. "You? How's the whole vampire hunting thing working for you?" Dean asked, picking up the pace a little, wanting to get to Nevermore, impatient to work out just how screwed he really was.

"You should get on that before you start hallucinating." Caleb said mildly, though he wasn't actually giving him shit for it. He hadn't got a stunning amount of sleep either since everything started. When it was over--and it might be--he was planning on dosing himself with sleep meds (or possibly just drink until he passed out) then sleep until he couldn't possibly sleep any more. He thought this was a good idea. "Have you listened to the news?" he asked, walking up the step into the little alcove the door was set into, fishing the keys out to unlock the door.

"Yeah, yeah - got things to do first, then I'll get right on that," Dean told the guy, locking his bike up outside the store. "And no, I haven't heard the news, why, what's up?" he asked as he followed Caleb inside the store.

"Well, last night, the vamps seemed to take off early, and now I'm hearing reports that there's some town getting hit downstate." Caleb answered, flicking the lights on and he stretched when he was inside, combing his fingers through his hair. He wondered if Dor had a coffee pot somewhere on the premises. He worked early, right? Wasn't it criminal to not have a coffee pot or something with available caffeine in it within easy access? He flipped the lock again when Dean got inside, not especially prepared to play shopkeeper today. "What're we looking for?"

Dean considered this new information. "Well, that would answer a few things," he mused. "They hit our place just after dark yesterday, tried to start a fire, but then nothing. Spent the whole night waiting for them to hit again - long bloody night, I can tell you." Not helped by the fact that he'd been spinning his wheels over Thia all night, of course. "And we're looking for disruptors. I think I saw a couple of books in the psychics section before, but I didn't know what I was looking at then, so I could be wrong."

Caleb stopped and looked over. "Tried to start a fire? Did they fuck up? Is everyone okay?" he asked. Clearly, Dean was, but hardly the point. "Disruptors...psychics." he repeated, starting to walk through the store, looking for a nice obvious tag that said 'psychics' or something of the like. "That you then?" he asked, finding a section that was looking more the right place. He saw something that said some shit about teleportation or whatever. That was psychic, wasn't it?

"Well, the house is still standing, so I guess so," Dean told him. "It wasn't much of an effort - I spent most of the time convinced that they'd only done it to get us outside so they could jump us, but... Yeah, nothing. They set it and hauled ass out of there. Really weird. And yeah - that's me, though it still feels weird to have like a name for it. Before it was just shit I could do, only really recently known that there was something it could be called."

"Welcome to the world of the supernatural. You have a title." Caleb said, smirking faintly. "Now you have a category, and a type, and you can know all about how you aren't alone in the world and there are others like you. Apparently, you're not a special snowflake." He paused and picked up a book to read the title. "Are you looking for something just on Disruptors?" he asked. "You're in for finding out as much specific shit as possible, right?" he asked. He looked back over at Dean. "Though honestly, I've never heard of disruptors ever. My brother might have, but he's mid nervous breakdown, probably on a beach crying into his margarita or something." Or 'finding himself'. Possibly picking bar fights. Who the fuck knew.

"'Special snowflake'?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. "Fine - whatever. And yeah, just disruptors," he said, after a pause. He'd nearly added in 'and fades' after that, but he couldn't - Dean wouldn't. Maybe later, maybe once they'd figured things out on his end. Maybe if he still needed to make connections. But he wasn't jumping right in there with something that could risk his best friend's secrets. It didn't work that way.

"Yeah. You never wanted to look into it before?" he asked curiously. "When did you start being able to do anything?" he looked around a little more, crouching down to look at some lower shelves with rows of books on clairvoyance...c c c c c d. Okay. He ticked his finger along the rest of the shelf and stopped on a book that had probably broken the bank with it's creative originality. Disruptors. He took it off the shelf and held it out towards Dean. "Here's one."

"Well, I don't exactly come from an area that's big on this shit. I mean, I could have gone into the city backstreets and maybe there'd be a place like this, but... Yeah, I dunno. So, no, I guess it didn't - I could do what I could do and that was it." Now, though, things had changed - his abilities had the potential to inflict on those around him. He needed to know what he was facing. Dean took the book with a nod, exhaling slowly. Okay, so a book. That would hopefully be more detailed than the one he had. That could either make things a whole lot better, or crash everything entirely. God, he was nervous as hell suddenly.

Caleb grabbed a copy too, though he didn't necessarily see anything else that was so nicely blatant with it's title. "C'mon, table and chairs are back here." he said, leading the way, and he dropped down into one of the chairs, and propped his feet on the table, leaning back on the back to legs of his chair to get comfortable. Then he started opening the book up to start skimming the chapter list. "So you can explode phones. What else?" he asked, tone still curious.

Dean didn't much want to talk - he wanted to read. He wanted to skip right to the end of the damn book and figure out where this was taking him and then work back til he figured out where he was now and if there was anything he could do to stop it. Was there an 'off switch' for him? That would make things so much easier. But, Caleb was being helpful and they were friends and Dean wasn't a neglectful sort, so, he turned to Caleb's question as he flipped through the book - still skipping to the end. "I can basically break anything with moving parts. Temporarily or permanently. So, like - your phone's not on any more," he told the guy. "I can cause black outs, stall cars, crash computers..."

Caleb blinked, then pulled his phone out of his pocket, and oh hey look. It wasn't on anymore. He arched an eyebrow, and turned it back on. "That's...really subtle." he said. "And that sounds like a lot of useful shit. Bet security systems aren't a problem for you. Which...let's just curb my criminal tendencies right here and forget I said that." he added. "What is it you're trying to find out, exactly?" If he knew what he was looking for, he'd have a better chance of finding it.

"No, security systems aren't a problem," Dean allowed with the hint of a smile. "We got rid of the alarm at home because there was no point having it on. See, I can do things on purpose, but I also break shit by accident so in the end, mum and dad just gave up with it." He turned over a page, knowing he should be reading, but nervous about what he was going to find out. "I'm looking for where my abilities are going. The high end of things. Also, whether there's anything I can do to control the accidental side of things and if not, how the accidental stuff will develop as I get better at all of this. See, I found out the other day that eventually, it's not just going to be objects I can affect. I can disrupt electrical signals - that's how it works, see? But people, animals - they all work on electrical signals as well and... Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Frowning a touch, Caleb nodded. He looked thoughtful. "And that," he said. "Is fucking awesome." he decided. "Does that mean you could just drop shit? Like...rampaging demon looking to rip people apart, you just...take that shit down? Because damn if that wouldn't be something to have. Fuck. Especially around here. This summer, I don't know if you were around yet or whatever, there were these fucking demonic cat things, and that would have been really nice. They hospitalized Leija, and Journey." He didn't bring up that Journey was how he'd met Lullaby. Or that Lullaby's bonfire had been attacked and that's what had done it to both of them. "They were nasty little fuckers. Went out with a hatchet after them. Your way sounds a lot less hands on."

"Doesn't quite work like that, as I understand it," Dean said, shaking his head. "Okay - so, like, the stuff you can do? The magic stuff? You were saying that it backlashes? Well, so does what I can do. It makes me sick. Most of the time, actually, just through being me. Low level stuff, but yeah. But when I actively use my abilities, I risk backlash - the more I use them, the bigger the backlash - though sometimes it doesn't seem to have that much of a direct correlation. Like I took out just a lightbulb the other day and I ended up unconscious for half the night. But, apparently, if I tried to just drop something that way? Even if I was good enough, I'd kill myself if I tried it all in one go."

That made Caleb frown again. "That's not good." he said. "Backlash is a bitch, definitely. You should try to find a way around. Honestly, I hadn't, Never did, never thought to, but my brother wasn't overjoyed with the way I chose to defend myself. So, he eventually found a way around it for me. I have no idea how much it cost him or where the fuck he got it--besides it was someplace not in this country--but it's a knife. Any damage I deal with it heals me. So, if I don't quite finish something off with the blood magic, and use that some, I'm alright. Worked beautifully with this bullshit going on. Fixed my broken wrist, healed up everything else. I've got a few slices on my back from last night because shit ran off before I could quite get fully healed up, but in comparison to what I usually have, this is nothing."

"That sounds useful," Dean agreed, thinking of Thia. He knew what she'd do if she ever caught him with major backlash and it made his heart sink just contemplating it. Of course, that was assuming that they could be around each other, but he couldn't let go of the determination that he'd find a way, something. He couldn't lose her - the more he thought about it, the longer it was, the more determined he was of that fact. He'd been thinking over it all night - he wouldn't lose her, she was his best friend. He'd promised that he'd always be there for her - he wasn't going to break that promise now. "At the moment though, what's got me isn't the potential for what I could do with it - it's the shit that goes along with that. The accidental shit. Y'know, I can see the potential for dropping demons, though I don't think that's really gonna be happening - be bloody useful if it could." It could have saved Thia's life the other day for a start. "But what I need to know is - at the moment, the stuff I break without meaning to, it's all inanimate, of course. Annoying as hell for people, but not dangerous. I need to know whether, if I get onto the stage where I can affect living beings, am I going to be making the people I'm around sick? Am I going to be dangerous to people just by being around them?"

"Alright, I see what you're getting at." Caleb said. He nodded, and started looking through the book again, flipping through chapters and trying to find whatever looked like it detailed biological disruption. Like say that handy chapter entitled 'minor biological disruption' followed by the equally as excitingly titled section 'major biological disruption'. "You hit chapter eight, I'll hit seven." he said, flipping to the appropriate pages. "What do you do exactly when you fuck up a mechanical system? And if we're going electricity for the body--what would shutting off the juice even do? Could you cause braindeath with just turning off all the firing neurons? Or..." he mused, not really expecting an answer so much as he started skimming through the introduction to things.

"See, those questions I'm hoping to find out in here," he told Caleb, flipping to the indicated chapter. "I don't really have any idea. I've only known for a few days really how this all works at all. Before I knew what I could do, but not how I did it, so I'm still trying to fit the pieces together," he admitted.

"Alright." Caleb said, nodding and he started to read for a while, shutting up as he sort of filled himself in on what Dean may at one point be able to do. It was about fifteen minutes before he spoke again. "...from what this is saying," he started, dropping his chair back down to all four legs and leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. "If you really wanted to do anything, you'd have to keep at it for a long time. Like a repeated action, specifically designed for something. It wouldn't be an instant effect no matter what. Started going on about immune systems and how a living system constantly tries to repair itself, which works against you."

"Really?" Dean asked, looking across at the page number and turning to that. The information he'd been reading was more into detail about how to do stuff - targeting organs and bringing out certain effects. It was... disturbingly graphic in places. But it was over and above the basic how to stuff. He turned to the page Caleb was looking at and scanned his eyes down it. "Okay, so... That's. Better," he said after a few minutes, sounding entirely fucking relieved. He turned the page and carried on reading, looking a lot more relaxed than he had done even minutes ago.

Caleb noticed the difference in Dean. "You were really worried about that, weren't you." he said, and it wasn't really a question. Just an observation, and one that was fairly obvious. He started scanning some more, remembering that they needed to look up the accidental shit too. Or he thought Dean had said he wanted to know if he'd get more shotty control the better he got. Which to Caleb just didn't make sense. But then again, sense wasn't always readily available in all things supernatural. After all, his life was one big stunning series of nonsensical events that lead him here.

"Wouldn't you be?" Dean asked, lifting his eyes from the page for a second, then dropping them right back down again.

Now, Caleb was kind of aware in that moment that normal people would say 'yes, of course! what kind of monster wouldn't be!'. Only he really didn't know. He would probably look a lot more at the upside than the possible-maybe-downside. So, in the end he didn't actually answer, and hoped Dean didn't notice with his whole being absorbed in reading thing. He could always take his silence as a straightforward 'well of course, for fucks sake' answer, right?

Dean, unfortunately, was rather more observant than that - especially when to came to people not answering questions and he looked up, giving Caleb his full attention until he answered.

Of course, Caleb felt the attention on him, and he looked up. He didn't answer for a long few moments, seeming to weight it out, and then he shrugged one shoulder and partially glanced away. "I'd be more concerned with finding out what exactly I was capable of, and what applications I would have than something that might backlash a little on someone else. But then I dare say I've probably seen a lot more than you and have faced possibly getting really, really messily killed a few more times than you. So maybe it just comes with the territory."

Yeah, but you're saying that from the point of view of someone who knows now that the backlash on others is 'a little' and a 'might', Dean thought to himself as he dropped his eyes back down to the page for a moment, then looked up again. Maybe that needed to be said. "Fair enough, but until just now, I didn't know that it'd be a 'might backlash a little' situation. For all I knew it was a 'would backlash a lot'. That makes all the difference in the world. It's all about assessing the risks and I was looking at worst case scenario and it was pretty damn bad - I needed to know that I wasn't a risk to people." Dean didn't really realise that he was talking about these issues as though they were a problem now, not a problem for some unknowable time in the future.

Caleb caught it, even if Dean didn't. He paid attention too. "Alright, but from the sound of things--you're not. Right now you're not, anyways, right? You're not up to this biological bullshit yet?" That's what he'd been understanding. "And like I said, it sounds like you won't be even if you kick yourself up to the next level, either. Because then it'd be little shit that I guess would more or less fix itself." he said. That's what he'd read anyways, or what he'd taken away from it. The basic gist, even if he wasn't positive on anything he was saying. It was a little new, after all, and science wasn't exactly his biggest forte or anything.

"Yeah, right," Dean agreed, though he didn't sound entirely convinced. How much better did she make him anyhow? This book, with the god-so-much-more-detail had helped, because he'd found he had a long way to go before he'd be able to do more than minor damage at best to living things, which he hadn't known the day before, but still. How much better did she make him?

Caleb looked up from his book again, then propped his chin on his hand and eyed Dean. "You don't exactly sound overwhelmingly relieved." he pointed out. "What's up?" If this was really what his friend was worried about, and he'd found out that it was fine, what was he still bugging over? Didn't make sense. Unless he was just that high strung, and he didn't think so.

Dean didn't answer right away, going back to the book. He could change the subject - he could point out the graphic shit he'd been reading in chapter eight. There was this part on how to cause liver failure. Or there was that page on circulatory problems with some truly gross pictures of grangrene... Or, he could talk about this. Maybe he could do that without mentioning Thia. Maybe he could talk round it. Maybe he should wait until he got home and talk it over with Oz. But Caleb was right here, and he was removed from the situation, and it wouldn't feel like he was going over old ground. He looked up again. "I found... something... the other day that makes my abilities... Kinda pumps them up? Heightens them, makes everything easier," he said, not really liking calling Thia 'something', but it was safer that way.

Caleb arched an eyebrow, looking interested. "Okay." he said. "So...this thing. It just makes you better? How's it work?" he asked. He could kind of see where the correlation was with stressing out over hurting people if you just found out you could be better than you were supposed to be, but he also was more thinking that that was a good thing. Like a free ride, or whatever. He bit back questions, like if it kicked him up enough to be able to do shit he wasn't able to before, or whatever. "What is it?"

"My abilities work because I can channel negative energy. Erm..." How to explain what negative energy was to someone who couldn't see it. Which, sure, he couldn't, but he could grasp the concept and everyone else he'd talked to this about knew Thia and being able to directly relate that made it easier. "Bad karma, really, I guess. It's in places, people when they're pissed, that kind of thing. I attract it naturally - I'm always surrounded by it to some extent, but the more of it that's around, the easier it is for me to work. It's why I cause more problems when I'm upset - I'm surrounded by more negative energy and it sends my abilities haywire. Anyway, I found something that's basically created from negative energy and being around that supplements me. I don't know how much - I only found this out yesterday, but yeah."

Listening, Caleb nodded, following the concept fairly well. He knew about energies you couldn't quite see. Blood magic used something, right? Right. "So...awesome, you could use it to kick you up when you need it, and then you can just put it away when you don't." Caleb said, not seeing the issue here. "I don't get why you're still kind of twitching over it, man." he admitted. "What's the issue? Sounds like a good deal to me."

Okay, so the 'something' thing wasn't going to work here, was it? Because, sure, if it was a rock or something, that would work. "The issue is that I can't just put her away," he said, putting slight emphasis on the 'her' of it all, though he paused for a long while before replying and when he did, his voice was subdued.

That had Caleb's attention, and he sat up straighter, arms crossing on the table in front of him as he leaned on them. "Her?" he asked. He didn't say shit after that, because there was a story here.

"Yeah - kinda makes it more complicated, doesn't it?" Dean agreed, knowing that Caleb was after the whole story and not giving it to him.

"Okay, just for clarity here, you can't tell me there's a girl out there who makes you more powerful and not tell me how that shit works." Caleb said, smirking faintly. "Is this The Girl? The one you were not seeing again? C'mon, you have to tell me." What the hell had Dean been up to? Clearly, interesting things.

As a matter of fact, yes, it was that girl, the one Caleb had assumed existed when Dean had come into school practically bouncing the morning after discovering Thia. The one that the girls on the next table had assumed he'd had a one night stand with because of what had been said. Because there was only one girl, only ever one girl, it always came back down to her. And Caleb had no idea. "Told you how it worked," Dean said, playing for time as he tried to think of a way of stopping his friend being more interested in the 'female' of it all.

That sooo wasn't happening. "Dean." Caleb said, still giving a faint little smirk. "C'mon. There's a girl who's...what some mystical battery pack for you--who is she? Where did you find her? Are you with her or something? There's more going on here, I'm not an idiot." he offered. Then he paused. "And I can also keep a secret."

"No, I'm not with her," Dean said, frowning. "She's just a friend - it... It doesn't matter who she is. It's not like that at all. She's just a girl I know and we just found out that she affects me, that's all," he said, trying to make it sound like no big deal.

Caleb continued to look at him. "...you know maintaining silence over something and talking around it while still saying nothing really doesn't draw any attention away from the fact that something's obviously important." he said. "What's going on? Why won't you say? Who am I going to tell? But seriously--if this is something you need to keep quiet, I can do that. Trust me, if anyone can, I can." He was occasionally probably a little too good with keeping shit quiet. It was just automatic for him.

"I won't say because it's not my secret to tell," Dean said, sounding a little reluctant, though whether it was because he felt bad about keeping something from Caleb, or whether it was because he didn't even want to give up that much to him, it wasn't clear. Possibly both in a weird and contradictory way. Dean had been nothing if not conflicted lately. Of course, Thia had given him permission to tell, should he need to, but he knew that that was reluctant and he held himself to higher standards than she held him. "I'm sorry, I..." he looked away. It would make things easier, he knew. It would give him an outlet that he probably really needed, but it was her secret and she trusted him.

Staying silent for a few long, long minutes, Caleb thought everything over. It didn't make sense if it was just some random chick. If it was, he could even have said 'it's someone from school'. But it was obviously important. And someone who was a friend. He was trying to work it out, trying to figure the angles, even when he didn't have near enough information. "I swear it won't go any farther than me. I have my own secrets to keep, and a lot of other people's too." he said, though it was sort of inflectionless. Not really heavily stated in any sort of fashion. Just there. He also obviously was stuck on the subject, and wasn't really letting it drop in his own mind. He tried to think about it from another angle. "...so this girl. Your friend. She boosts you up, and you're generally speaking a bit freaked about what could happen with that. So...keep your distance. What's she worth? You maybe accidentally hurting someone, since that's what you're afraid of, or being around this random girl?" Only he was kind of under the impression she wasn't so random. Unfortunately, the only girl that he knew that connected to Dean in any significant way was dead. He'd attended her goddamn funeral. ...and if that was it, he was really behind on the times.

"Yeah - keep my distance," Dean agreed, his voice hollow. He looked down, taking a moment. He didn't want to keep his distance. He didn't want to lose her, to have to stop... "What's she worth?" He looked up, one side of his mouth curling upwards, a softness coming over his face as he contemplated that, not able to help himself. "She's worth... Finding a way that I don't have to keep my distance," he said, finally.

Caleb noticed the look on Dean's face. And really that only led him to one conclusion. He sat up straighter again and eyed his friend. "...tell me you don't have a Lullaby-zombie locked in the basement, and she somehow makes your abilities better." he said flatly. "Because man--I'm from New Orleans, alright? This shit never ends well, and I---seriously, please tell me that's not it..."

"No! I don't have a 'Lullaby-zombie' locked in my basement!" Dean exclaimed instantly. No, she's in the room next door to me and she's not a zombie! was the part he kept to himself.

Giving Dean a flat Look, he just stared for a second. "Y'know, if you didn't have her stashed somewhere, or something like that, you probably would have wanted to punch me for the suggestion." Caleb stated. "Especially since she's only been dead a week. Besides. I've seen that look on your face before, man, it was when you were telling me about her in class. So what the fuck? What's going on? ...and again, seriously, zombies--not what you want to be getting into...they turn, or they start to get softer in the brain and it's a mess."

Fuck. Dean was no good at this at all. "You can't tell a soul. Or I will punch you," Dean said, seriously.

That was the answer he was looking for. He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "How the living hell did you manage that?" he asked. "And you're golden, I won't say a thing. But jesus." He was terribly curious how some random brit who didn't even know about his own abilities managed to come up with a dead girl that made him more powerful. Yeah. That was just a whole lot of fucked up right there.

"I didn't manage anything," Dean told him. "I've just... been around to pick up the pieces. This isn't my doing - you really think I'd..." He didn't finish that one. "It was her dad - apparently he was into some kind of black magic shit or something. He cast a spell over her that meant that when she died, she wouldn't stay dead. And no - she's not a bloody zombie. She's a fade - she's alive, living, breathing, all that shit. So don't start in on the brains crap," he said, defensively.

"The zombies I know don't eat brains." Caleb said in an offhand manner. Also, not the point. "Anyways, calm down. Okay. She's not a zombie. She's a...did you say fade?" he asked, checking the terminology. "That's a new one on me, I have to admit. She's breathing. She's not...undead?" Most variety of undead didn't have working body systems. "Her heart beats?"

"Yes, her heart beats, she breaths - she's alive. Just as much as you or me. She just can't stay dead." He looked down a little as he said that, wishing that he didn't actually know that for a fact.

Caleb listened, trying to wrap his head around that. Really, he was a little stuck on the 'undead yet breathing with a pulse' bit. But he tried to focus past that. He also paused as Dean looked down, frowning a little bit. "...okaaay, explain that. What do you mean she can't stay dead?" He curbed the other barrage of questions. Such as if she was around, when had she risen? Did she have to dig her way out of her grave?

"I mean when you asked me the other day if I was okay and I told you to ask again tomorrow? She'd just had her throat ripped out by a pack of marauding vampires. She can't stay dead," Dean told him, harshly, knowing that was unfair of him. But it was still like an open wound. "If she dies, she resurrects 24 hours later, in the same spot where she died."

While he probably could have gotten defensive from Dean's tone, Caleb didn't. He just listened, and frowned when he got the story. "...I'm sorry." he said, though it was more for the loss than asking questions. "And she's back now? Is she..." God this was a stupid question. "...is she okay?" Is the girl who'd been dead like a week and a half alright. Yep. His life hadn't stopped getting weirder by the day, that was official.

"She's..." God, how to answer that question? "She's doing okay," Dean decided upon - the easiest answer, the least complicated one. "It's not been easy for her, none of this has. It still isn't. She's lost everything, she can't even go home because her parents think she's dead. She was living in Journey's old place when I found her and she had nothing. It's..." He broke off, knowing he was on the verge of just spilling everything out there and then and stopping himself from doing that.

"Go on." Caleb encouraged, seeing that Dean had stopped himself. He for one was thinking of entirely different things. Like if she was just floating and legally dead, she'd need a new identity. And possibly a bunch of other shit, but first of all, she'd need some documentation that said she was someone else with a history and all that other bullshit, just like everyone else. He also had to pause and wonder if that was kind of fucked up of him.

"It's just been one things after another and now this as well," Dean told him. "When I found out yesterday... It was like the - it was all too much, y'know? And all of a sudden it's like 'well, you could just stay away'." He shook his head - like it was that easy.

Sense was a bit lacking right now, apparently. Caleb attempted to follow, and thought things over before he spoke. "So okay, you're worried about what she does to you, and I'm assuming there isn't any shutting it off. And you're looking for a way where you don't have to stay away from her?" he asked, slightly unsure, basically checking that he was still following along with the rest of the class.

"Right - she needs me," Dean said, a little hesitantly, but he was sure it was right. She didn't exactly have that many other people, did she? And she'd been saying that Joshua wasn't exactly able to do for her all the things she couldn't see needed doing. "But no, I don't think that there's any shutting it off - the spell that keeps her alive uses negative energy. I attract negative energy to me naturally, but she lives off it. She is negative energy, it sustains her. That's how I blew up my phone. I was holding her hand and tried to turn it off."

Caleb nodded. "So she really affects you. Do you hurt her if you use that and that's what she's made of?" he asked. It seemed logical to him, and he kind of phrased the question gently. Dean already seemed on edge, he didn't really want to set him off more, but he had to wonder.

"I..." Dean started, intending to deny that, but he suddenly realised that he didn't know. "I have no idea." God, was he hurting her? Just by... Oh god, he'd thought that it was only his advancing abilities that he'd had to worry about, but... "I don't know," he repeated, trying not to start panicking again.

Wincing, Caleb eyed Dean. "Well...it would probably stand to reason that if she hasn't said anything, or she hasn't seemed sick or anything when you're using your abilities around her, that you're probably not." he said. That sounded reasonable, right? Sure it did. Whatever, it wasn't like he knew shit about any of this. "Where's she staying?" he asked. Since obviously no one else had caught on to the crazy resurrection that had happened in their town. He might've noticed sooner if anyone had.

"She's staying with me," Dean told him, latching onto that question and pushing the rest of it down, really deep down. He'd have to find out, he'd have to ask her. He needed to know - if he was making her ill, if he was hurting her, would she tell him? Possibly not - this was Thia. She was... she might not tell him.

"Oh." Caleb said. Well that explained the sudden need to know how to fix shit and how to get around everything. "Just til all this shit blows over? Or...." he let that trail off, wondering how that worked. And what kind of family Dean had to allow a random dead chick to take up residence. That had to be one tolerant bunch of people. He wondered what his brother would say. Besides 'we don't have room and I'm not sure how Dorian would feel about corpses in his living room'.

"Or," Dean confirmed. "She doesn't have anywhere else to go and I won't have her hiding out in some semi-abandoned house. It's not safe for a start," Dean told him, still twitching and attempting to ignore the whole issue of whether he was already hurting her. Pushing it down and ignoring it really wasn't helping here.

"So she's just...moved in with you." Caleb said. "Damn. And I thought my life was a mess." he sighed and shook his head, and went back to propping his head on his hand as he regarded Dean. "And now there's this shit. And does her boyfriend know? Are you two..." he trailed that off and knew that it was probably a wholly inappropriate question to ask, but he had to. He remembered the looks Dean had on his face when he talked about the girl, and now she was living at his house and undead, technically, so she was stuck there and no one knew...that sounded like material for...interesting things.

"Joshua's currently living with us too - and are we two...? What? She does have a boyfriend, you know. Obviously you know since you brought him up. So no, like I said before, there is nothing going on between myself and Thia. Though - she was that girl in art class. If you hadn't guessed that already by now," he added, blushing just a little, before he looked down and finally caved, dragging out his phone and quickly texting Q: If I do things around you, does it make you feel bad? Like sick bad or pain bad or anything like that? Does being around me hurt you? D. He had to know.

Caleb smirked as he noted the blush. "Just asking--she died, that kind of makes one single, if you ask me." he said with a shrug. Then he shut up, since Dean was texting someone.

Lullaby, for her part, was half in and out of sleep, but fighting it. She happened to be curled up on the bed, rereading Dean's letter again and looking at the little drawings he'd given her, when she noticed her phone light up and buzz across the bedside table. Reaching out, she glanced at it, and smiled at first when she saw it was Dean, then frowned at the question. Where's that come from? & no. Actually I -always- feel better around you. You've never made me feel bad or sick. No pain, just better. Promise.<3thia

"Don't you think that's her decision?" Dean posed right back. "And anyway, it doesn't - it'd... It doesn't work like that," he said as his phone buzzed with a reply. Which got a smile. He looked up. "No - I don't hurt her. Actually, apparently I make her feel better," Dean said, wondering at that - was that just because he could make her laugh or whether there was something about him. Just thinking. You do? I've found some stuff out - we'll talk. Promise. D

"I don't know, we're discussing the logistics of dating the undead." Caleb said drily. "It's new for me." He paused and watched Dean get the message back. Which was trippy in it's own way. As was watching Dean smile like that. Jesus. He had it bad, didn't he? "Can I see?" he asked, nodding to the phone.

Lullaby got the message back, which she'd been waiting for, then smiled. It was kind of a tentative one, and her emotions gave a little tug. Stop thinking bad things. Talk-talk? In person? <3thia She had to erase the 'please' out of there, but it had made an appearance for a few seconds. Then she bit her lip and waited for a reply again.

Talk-talk. In person. D Dean sent back before considering Caleb. "You want... they're just text messages," Dean said, trying to work out why Caleb would want to see them.

"Yeah, and I've never in my life seen text messages from a girl who's funeral I attended." Caleb said. "You don't have to, I'm just...I don't know. Curious, I guess." he attempted to explain.

Smiling, Lullaby felt instantly a million times better. They could talk! In person! It'd be wonderful! And all she'd have to do was convince herself that she wouldn't immediately go cling to him. She'd...sit on her hands. Across the room. And...whatever she'd think of something. There was willpower and all that stuff, right? I'll see you when you're back then! :) No more bad-thoughts. <3thia

Dean's answer to Caleb was postponed by another message. And there was no way in hell he was letting Caleb be the first person to read that. He read the message over a couple of times and felt huge amounts better himself, before he handed the phone to his friend. "Really, they're just like normal text messages. You'll be incredibly disappointed. Plus, not true," he added. "She sent you a text the other day."

Caleb took the phone anyways, aware they were just going to be like any other text messages, but it was the novelty of the thing. He chuckled. "She signs her name with a heart for you." he pointed out, because he couldn't not do that. Then he held it back to Dean, pausing as the rest of that sank in. "Wait, what? I don't remember that. Huh?" He was fairly sure he would have remembered a message from beyond the grave and all. Would have noted it down and whatnot.

"She signs her name with a heart for everyone," Dean told him, not actually sure this was true, but this was Thia they were talking about - he figured it was a fairly safe bet. "And yeah - she had my phone, she was texting people she knew, checking up on them, pretending to be me. A message came in from you, she replied to it. So - you've had a text from her," he explained, taking his phone back again.

"That's...I have no idea what that is." Caleb said, blinking. He hadn't known. Jesus, that was actually a little weird. Even for him. But he didn't say anything. "Good to know. Glad I didn't divulge any state secrets or anything while I wasn't actually texting to you." he added.

"That a bit much for you?" Dean asked, slightly thrown by this. He hadn't realised up until this moment how much he'd taken Thia's return in his stride. Was this really how other people would react - was this what she'd been afraid of? That 'I can't quite deal with this' reaction from people - only worse. "Are you - is this a problem for you, mate?" he asked, carefully.

"Mostly just makes me uncomfortable thinking I was talking to someone I thought was you and now know wasn't." Caleb admitted. Really, that had fuckall to do with her happening to be a week past her expiration date while she'd done it. "I have trust issues. But no, this...the whole her being back and everything, that's not a problem." he assured him. "That's fine. I'm glad you got her back, I know how hard that was on you." Or, he'd seen sort of, and it hadn't been pretty. "And, she was a nice girl. Wasn't really on my list of people I thought deserved to be randomly murdered, so..." he trailed that off. Then paused. "Is she--does she wonder about that? Who killed her? As far as I know, the police never even talked about leads or anything." He knew if he'd been killed, then come back, he'd want to find whoever'd done it and feed them their own liver, but that was him.

"Sorry mate, I didn't think about it like that," Dean admitted. He hadn't - he'd just been thinking that Thia could do with being able to at least in some way keep up with the people she'd been friends with. And it had made her so happy at the time, how could he have not? "We haven't talked about her death though. It's... There's... There's a lot of adjusting going on. And it's hard. I don't do well talking about it and she doesn't really bring it up," Dean admitted.

That was interesting. "It's fine." he said, letting Dean off the hook for that. He did kind of want to know about the rest of that though. "You don't talk about it? At all? Does she not bring it up because you don't do well talking about it?" he asked. He'd sort of think that was important. But then again, he didn't know. He hadn't ever really dealt with this sort of thing before, and he was willing to bet there wasn't a copy of 'Resurrection For Dummies' in the store for them to find. Or 'Undead Loved Ones And You: The 12 Step Process'. Yep, he was positive there was a large lack of that shit in print.

"We've touched on it a few times," Dean told him, fingering the corner of one page of the book. "But neither of us really... It gets awkward and lately there's just been so much else to deal with." Like convincing her she wasn't an evil monster for starters. That one had mostly consumed him for the first few days. And then vampires hit town. It didn't leave much time for going all Nancy Drew about who'd shot her in the first place.

"I imagine so." Caleb agreed. "...just wondering." And now really wondering. Like he wondered if it had been accidental or on purpose, and if it was on purpose, were they going to go after her again if they knew she was around? Had Dean considered that? He didn't know, so he figured he'd say. "Um...this may not be something you're going to want to think about, but if it was intentional, if someone killed her and it was on purpose...might be best to make really fucking sure no one finds out she's not dead." he said carefully. "I know no one else was taken out when she was, but..." But if someone didn't have a clean shot, that doesn't mean they wouldn't put a bullet through you. he finished mentally, not quite sure if he could put that fine a point on it.

"Who the hell would want to kill Thia?" Dean asked, only he had the answer there and then, straight away even though he'd not thought of it before. Shit. "Her father," he said, answering his own question. "Her father - he did the spell, but she needed to die to make her a fade. She was just perfectly normal, average girl until she was killed. Maybe he did it - to make the spell kick in properly. She told me that he was there, when she resurrected. Waiting for her - he wanted to take her away. From what she's told me about him, I could believe that. But - if that's the case, then he's not going to try again. He knows what a fade is, he knows it would be pointless."

Caleb stared at Dean for a long moment. First of all because his first statement was insane. Who would want to kill her? Did he need a list of the shit out there that would kill her just for fun? Then he was going on about the father, and Caleb listened in, sort of half staring at Dean and wondering just how obtuse he could get. "...okay, first of all, if her old man killed her, and he was the one who did the spell, couldn't he undo the spell? Or...who knows what fucked up shit he could do to her, especially since she can't die. Or won't stay dead, that was what you said. So he could just kill her every day. Or worse. Because there are worse things, Dean." he said, and that last bit was lightly, since he didn't know that Dean actually knew that. "There are a lot of things worse than death. And with a girl who you could do whatever to and she'd come back? That's...that's a fucked up demon, psycho's wet dream." he said. "And you missed what I was saying, I was saying if anything out there had meant to kill her and knew she was still around and went to try again, they could very well try to go through you to do it. Or anyone else she was with."

None of that was anything Dean had considered and it very clearly showed in his expression as he stared at his friend, not sure where to go with that. It wasn't like he was able to protect her or anything, if any of that was true. He was just a guy, nothing special - even if he was some kind of psychic, his abilities weren't anything that could truly help at all. There was Oz, but still...

Caleb felt a little bad, since Dean was looking at him like none of that had ever crossed his mind. And he was fairly sure it hadn't. Shit. He sighed. "...look, Dean, there's a lot of bad shit out there, and we're talking bad shit that you don't even get out of Japanese horror flicks. There's a whole host of evil out there and they would love to get their hands on something like her. And if her father did do that to her...that's fucked up. I don't know what it would take to do that to someone, but it can't be the most stable mind of our time. I'm saying...I'm saying you might have more issues to think about than what she does to you or your abilities. And where she's staying, or...or any of that shit. Or just her and you dealing with what happened. Maybe nothing'll ever happen, and she'll be fine, but...knowing what I know, and knowing this town lately, which really seems to have graduated from shit creek to shit rapids, and may be steadily headed towards shit falls..." he shook his head and sighed. "You haven't considered the logistics of any of this?"

"Honestly? I've been more concerned with trying to convince her that she's not some kind of monster and dealing with the fact that she's died, twice, in the last fortnight. It doesn't leave a great deal of time for long term planning, especially not when you throw a town full of vampires into the mix and then get told that you're on watch to kill your cousin. Look, it's been a really fucking bad week, so no, I haven't planned out every eventuality. I haven't thought about how bloody bad this could get, because, honestly? I'm dealing in the here and now and I'm not sure how much more of this I can take. And I don't want to crack right now. I... I've never had to deal with this before. Two months ago, the weirdest thing in my life? Was me. I'm having to adjust really fast to being here and sorry if I'm not up to your standards yet," Dean told him, though he sounded more insanely tired than pissed off.

What Caleb didn't point out was that he'd found out less than an hour ago and he'd already thought of all of that. They were in different situations. They had different backgrounds and experiences. So he got it, he just...probably had a fucked up mind, to go directly to 'what could a demon do with a girl who wouldn't stay dead?' Well the possibilities were fucking endless. Even he knew that. "I didn't say you weren't up to my standards, man." he said. "I just...nevermind. Look. I'll think shit over on the worst case fucking scenario, how bad could this possibly get in ways you probably wouldn't think of department. You keep doing what you're doing. Alright?" He didn't really know if that would help anything, but he knew he'd be thinking on the whole thing anyways, so he might as well make it official that he would.

Dean didn't answer, his eyes down on the book he hadn't looked at since telling Caleb about Thia. All he wanted was one day, just one day where more shit wasn't piled on top of everything. Just one day where things weren't getting worse every five minutes. One fucking day. Really, was that too much to ask? "I should get home," he said quietly, finally.

Caleb frowned. "I'm sorry." he said. And he actually truly meant it there. "I should have kept my mouth shut. Look, just...don't worry about it. I'm a cynic anyways, I'm always looking for the worst angles possible. Just...fuckin ignore me. I'm sorry." He officially felt bad there, looking at Dean then. And he usually didn't care if he fucked up someone's day with an unpulled mental punch. But he was low on friends right now, and maybe he didn't especially like the idea of losing another one.

"No, it's... fine. Thinking something and not saying it doesn't mean it's not true. I'm just - I'm just going through one of those phases where every day seems to bring new fucking shitty problems, new dimensions of insane crap to deal with. Steep learning curve and everything," Dean said, standing and picking up the book. "How much do I owe your brother for the book?" he asked, looking on the back to see if there was a price there.

Caleb knew about those phases. The last one he'd had had landed him in the psych ward because he'd tried to kill himself. Hopefully, Dean was a more stable person. He watched him get up and shrugged. "You don't." he said. "Just take it. Did you want me to look and see if there's any other books on...whatever?" he asked. Because he felt like he needed to do something to sort of make up for ruining Dean's world view even more than it already was.

"Thanks - 'preciate it," Dean said, not arguing that point, especially since he'd near enough cleared out his bank account on Thia. "And sure - anything you can find. That'd be great," he added, still sounding subdued. He just wanted to be home now. Wanted to tell Thia the good news, not tell her the horrible thoughts, and shut out the world for a while. Maybe he'd sleep for the rest of the day. Sleep would be good. Start again tomorrow.

"I'll look." Caleb promised. "...take care." he added. He still felt like shit. But he knew he'd be scouring the shop for a book on fades, see what the fuck that was about, and he planned on reading through the one on disruptors too. He had time, he guessed. Especially with a lack of vampires to keep killing off every night. School would start back up, maybe. It was hard to tell right now. The town felt shellshocked. War torn, and it kind of was. So...yeah. He'd figure it out later. For now he was going to feel like shit about things, and attempt to at least get himself educated on the situation.