Researching Ghosts

Who: Alexis and Thom
Where: Nevermore
When: Afternoon

With Michael gone, Alexis had the house to herself, though her night was just as restless as ever. She needed to talk to her father, who arrived home sometime during the night, but it wasn't urgent enough that they discuss it at three in the morning. Even if she had tried to talk to him then, she wasn't sure what she wanted to say, and instead spent her waking moments trying to figure that out. What did he hunt and what did he not? It was a question that followed her to work that afternoon as she pulled the books on ghosts that she and Thom were going to look through. She planned to get an answer soon; she wouldn't let the weekend pass without finding out. Until then, there was work to be done.

Thom had tried to do some internet research on ghosts that morning, thinking that he could come with his own input, maybe some printouts or something. But googling for 'ghosts' or 'spirits' gave him so much shit that he'd given up. Even if he refined his search properly, all he basically got was rumours, worries and news articles. And movies. Fiction - nothing which really told him anything, so in the end he'd given up and just headed out to Nevermore to meet up with Alexis. Hopefully that place would have some more reliable information. It had helped with fire elementals, after all. He caught sight of the blonde as he opened the door and headed over, taking her pile of books off of her straight away - ever the gentleman-type.

"Thanks," Alexis smiled, letting Thom take the books from her. "I was trying to pull out anything that might be useful. Dorian says the books in the back are more spot on than those in the front, so I tried to keep to those. I figured we didn't need to filter through accounts of haunted houses and things like that." Following him to the back table, she smiled and pulled out a chair. "So, hi! How's your Saturday been?" There was nothing wrong with a little small talk, right? She hadn't intended to jump immediately into work, so she backed up instead.

Thom piled the books on the table, taking the next chair along as he sat. "It's been okay - tried googling, but there's so much shit out there at the moment that I don't know if I actually found anything," he admitted. "There's no way to tell whether what you're reading is truth, rumour, speculation or just plain ordinary bullshit, so in the end I gave up. I prefer this place anyhow - I've had some good books from here in the past."

"I had an actual, first hand experience with a ghost last night, so I can add that in. It didn't come with a clear cut explanation, but it's better than the stuff online," Alexis said. She'd done a fair amount of web browsing herself, only to find that the internet was now flooded with ghost stories. Filtering through them all would take forever, so she was hoping they'd do better at Nevermore, where a a good percentage of the books held accurate information. "Everything I've read here has been helpful so far. This is just my first time to look up ghosts."

Thom looked surprised and leaned forward on the table, looking across at her. "First hand experience?" he asked. "So - what happened?" He sounded honestly interested and, really, it was a lot closer than he'd got. Sure, he'd seen them by now - who hadn't, but still - 'first hand experience' sounded like it was a lot more than just seeing a ghost in passing.

It was nice how he didn't roll his eyes and say she was crazy, though she never expected Thom to do that anyways. "I had this ghost in my house, and he kept following me around. And it-- it really freaked me out," she explained. "I ended up calling a friend, and then together we sat down and talked to the ghost." Though, really, Thia did most of the talking. Alexis doubted she'd have ever given Michael what he needed by herself. "He was confused about how he died, about what happened to him. And once we helped him figure that out, he just kind of faded away."

"Really? Cool - I didn't know that kind of thing actually worked," Thom admitted. "I mean, I think I saw in a movie once a thing about how talking to ghosts sometimes worked - but that was a horror movie, so it didn't and I think the ghost just got pissed and tried to kill everyone," he teased.

"I didn't really know it would work either," Alexis smiled. "I hadn't even thought to talk to him. In fact, it was probably the horror movies that made me run from him in the first place, so I know what you mean. But yeah, we talked, he had this-- this moment and then he just faded away. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. One second he was there, and then he was just gone."

"Just like that?" Thom asked. She had his full attention right now as he tried to figure that out, his brain working. "He just wanted to know how he died? And that was enough to, what? Send him on or whatever? That's... really useful to know actually." And then some - that was the first solid bit of knowledge Thom felt like he had about things.

"Yeah," Alexis said, nodding. "It turned out he'd been bitten by a werewolf, then ended up turning on the full moon. Except he didn't know what had bitten him, and cursed werewolves typically don't remember anything that happens when they're in the crazed werewolf form. So there was this big block of time missing for him, and then he got shot. Once we were able to piece it all together, it was like he had his answer and that was the thing holding him here. I don't know if it's quite that easy for all of them, but... at least that's how it works for some." Now that she'd told the story, she hoped she hadn't dug herself a hole where he wanted to know why the ghost had been in her house, following her around. She hadn't been the one to kill him, but she didn't really want to get into who had.

"And you managed to figure that all out? Or was it between you?" Thom asked, clearly impressed with that. He still didn't know what he would have done if they'd found Chrissy's ghost. He hadn't planned that far the other day. What would he have done, especially with Alexis there - would Chrissy have talked to them? Would she have said anything. She didn't really know anything anyway, did she? Thom felt guilty at that - felt guilty at the fact that things were so much simpler now she was dead. He didn't have to really pretend like that anymore.

"We figured that all out between us, but I think we really lucked out in it being something so recent and simple. There are a lot of things that can tie spirits to this world, and I don't think most of them will go away with just a little discussion," Alexis said. "It makes me think that, the older the ghost, the harder it might be to lay them to rest. That's... just a theory, though." It wasn't like she'd done this enough to know for sure, but maybe one of the books would have a better explanation.

He considered that and reached for the first book. "Well, you're one ahead of me on theories then. And knowledge, currently. You're definitely leading - I've got some catching up to do, I think," he told her with a smile, flipping through the first pages. "But if something ties a ghost here, then it would make sense that the simple ties would be easy to find, so the ghost would go away quicker, right? So, the longer a ghost is here, the more complicated or harder to find or whatever is the thing that's holding them here?" he suggested, wondering if he'd just made any sense at all there, or if he was just talking rubbish and she was about to start staring at him as if he'd just grown a second head.

"Right," she said, actually following him on that. "In this case, he'd only been dead, like, a week, and so we actually knew what was going on in the time frame he died. If he'd died ten years ago, I don't think we'd have had a clue where to start. And I don't necessarily think that ghosts know why they're here any better than we do. They just are, and so we're all confused. Plus, I don't know if that's true for all ghosts. There could be different kinds," Alexis said, picking up another book and beginning to scan through the table of contents. She didn't necessarily know what they were looking for other than answers, but there were so many questions that it was hard to decide where to begin.

Thom nodded, reading quietly, scanning the pages quickly for anything that stood out as pertinent information. He turned some pages, then perked up a little. "Okay, so - this might be something," he told her, pushing the book across and pointing out a passage. "So, according to this, something has to keep a ghost here. Like a tie to this world to stop someone... moving on or whatever." Thom had never been a highly religious guy, never believed in heaven, or hell, or anything like that. He knew there were angels, but only because he'd dated one. That tended to take the gloss off things.

Alexis moved to read the passage he was pointing to, listening at the same time. "So, like, in my case, it was maybe rooted in the ghost's confusion over his fate? He couldn't move on without knowing what happened?" she said, trying to tie the two together. If she could apply the knowledge, then she'd have a better understanding of how it would work in other circumstances. "This makes it sound like it could be a wide range of things, like something they need to do or experience..." No wonder there were so many ghosts hanging around. It seemed like a pretty easy task to feel like your life was unfinished if you died early or suddenly.

"Well, it would make sense with why some hang around and some don't," Thom mused, looking up from the book at her, reaching to push his hair back out of his face absently. "I mean, I know the news has been full of the fact that there are ghosts everywhere and shit, but they're not - not really. Not compared to, oh, well, everyone who's ever died ever. Even if you just take the recently deceased, there's not all of them around. So either it's random. Or, there's a reason." It made sense to him, anyhow.

"If it was everyone who ever died ever, I don't think we'd be able to move without walking through a ghost," Alexis said as she nodded her head. That had to be creepy, even if she'd never done it. She'd always imagined it would be cold. "I think there almost has to be a reason, otherwise they'd be stuck here for good, right? There's gotta be something tying them to this world and that'd be lacking if it was random." She hoped she was making sense and not just regurgitating what he said into something incomprehensible. Her eyes dropped down to the book and she leaned forward as a specific line caught her attention. "Here it says that they could have ties to certain objects." She didn't know if that applied to Michael, but if it did, what would it have been?

"Objects?" Thom asked, craning forward to look at the line. "How's that work then?" Having a goal to accomplish made more sense to him than there being a thing which was important. He wasn't sure how that kind of thing would work.

"Well, it-- it says that they can draw energy from these objects," Alexis said, trying to make sense of it as she spoke. "That it makes them stronger. Have more substance. Which might explain the on and off appearance of ghosts before Halloween. Like, a ghost draws energy, clunks around a house a little, scares people, then disappears again when they run out of energy." Maybe that was how it worked, but she wasn't sure.

"Well, it'd explain poltergeists at least," Thom agreed. "So - does that explain why we can suddenly all see them? I mean - has there been some kind of surge in power or... something, lately? It just seems really weird, that for ages we couldn't then all of a sudden bam and they're everywhere. That's one of the things I'm really having trouble with. Like this whole talk about how this is a sign of the end of the world - that's gotta be bullshit, right?"

"I... I don't know," Alexis said, scanning the next few paragraphs, then looking up at him. "This makes it sound like it's specific objects per ghost, not one big object that powers them all. And if there was, why would it suddenly go into effect?" It was like someone had flipped a switch, or opened a curtain. Suddenly, the ghosts were there for everyone to see. "I don't really believe it's the end of the world. I mean, I'm not very religious, but from what I hear, it's not about ghosts suddenly wandering around and shit like that. But maybe you're on to something. Maybe something did change that's giving ghosts a low level of energy at all times. I just don't know what."

"I can ask my mom - she tends to know a lot about these things," Thom offered. He'd hardly seen her since Halloween, what with everything going on, but it was Sunday tomorrow - they'd be having dinner. They never missed dinner. Except that one time, but he'd been stuck in the inbetween then. Good excuse, he thought. He turned back to his book and started flipping through the pages. "Maybe this all has something to do with the fact that it happened on Halloween?"

"Your mom does?" Alexis asked, a little smile curling on her lips. "My dad knows a lot, but he's lacking when it comes to ghosts." There was a perfectly good explanation for that too. He didn't usually hunt ghosts. That wasn't necessary to say, though, since most people seemed to know little about them. "Halloween has a lot of history behind it," she said, following his train of thought. "I saw a book somewhere about it-- about pagan holidays, really, but I think that's originally what Halloween was. All Hallow's Eve, or something like that. Maybe there's something mystical there."

"Yeah - my mom does," Thom said, the barest touch of defensiveness at the smile on her face. He didn't like people looking like that about his mother, though god knew the woman didn't need defending against anyone. It was just in his makeup. What he was. Overprotective kinda came with the territory. He sorted through the books until he found one that looked like it might have more about Halloween in it, flipping through the pages until he found something interesting. "Okay - so it says here that the reason that Halloween got it's reputation because weird things happen that night. The 'veil' thins - whatever that is," he said, showing her the page.

Alexis immediately backed off, a touch surprised since she'd admitted that her father was knowledgeable himself. It made her even more curious, but less willing to ask, especially since it wasn't the sort of question she wanted asked in return. Instead she focused on Halloween, hoping her slight discomfort didn't show on her face. "The veil?" she asked, coming to look at the book alongside him. "Like... like in Harry Potter?" It was the first thing that game to mind and she couldn't help but be a little embarrassed about it. Harry Potter was not at all real, but the concept, well, might make sense. "In the fifth book, Sirius falls 'behind the veil', which is this curtain that separates our world from the spirit world. It's very literal in the book, but the idea was that the spirits were behind the veil. The dead."

"You think I'm the only person in the world who hasn't read Harry Potter?" Thom suggested, relaxing as she backed off, quirking her a smile. "I never really saw the appeal, but... maybe? The veil stuff? It would make sense," he agreed. He knew that the reason for his lack of Harry Potter reading was because he'd been studying magic himself - the idea of mixing reality and fantasy like that had never really appealed to him.

"That's okay," she smiled. "I'm not suggesting JK Rowling has some miraculous insight, just that the concept seems close, since it's the only time I've ever heard of a veil of this sort." Nothing else in those stories seemed even slightly realistic, even though she'd enjoyed them. They were fairy tales; a basis in reality made sense, but that didn't mean everything was possible. "So, if the veil is like a curtain, then on Halloween it's at it's thinnest. Increased chances of seeing ghosts and all. But maybe this Halloween, the veil... got torn, or lifted, or something like that." It was a thought, and she'd probably have thought it crazy if there weren't ghosts wandering around to back her up.

"Well - you never know. She could be some high level witch or something. Maybe that's how she really made all her money..." Thom joked, before seriously considering her proposition. "And yeah, that would make sense - if the veil divides, then maybe if it's thin enough, it got ripped." he paused, considering that. "Do you think that's only between us and where the dead are? Or, like... Do you remember the shadows?" he asked her. "I've been where they came from, I think. And that's somewhere else as well. I just wonder if that's linked to this, somehow..."

"Would explain everyone's obsession with the books," Alexis grinned. "She could have been warning us, or sending subliminal messages, and we never realized it." Even if she didn't believe that was the case, it was a frightening thought. What if only the people that read Harry Potter were seeing the ghosts? Half the world would be crazy! It was a good thing Thom was there to prevent that theory from taking seed in Alexis' mind or she really might have believed it. "Maybe," she agreed. "Maybe the shadows coming through helped start the tear. If we consider that there might be multiple dimensions, then it might not even be something we did that brought our world together with the spirit world." Alexis paused, biting her lip. "Is it possible to go where the shadows came from and find out?"

Thom paused at that and looked toward the backroom. "I'm not sure. Maybe? But I don't think I could do it. Or - I wouldn't want to do it even if I could," he admitted with a visible shiver, looking back at her. He looked around, but they were alone in the store. "We came out here," he told her, leaning in a little anyway. "We were brought out - we couldn't find our own way out. We were stuck in there for days. Just this... nothing world. Corridors with windows out through the backs of mirrors. That's how we were brought out - someone who could walk through mirrors. the way in was different - we were investigating this weird dream thing people were having over the summer. Some people in town were all having the same dreams, driving them to go up to a mine outside of town. So, we all went up to investigate and we found these tunnels. And a group of us followed them down one path and it collapsed behind us. The only way we could get out was through this weird door in the wall. Which also closed behind us - and left us stuck in the inbetween. And I think that's where the shadows came from. I - I wouldn't recommend it." He didn't discuss the fact that he still avoided mirrors whenever he could, the fact that his house still didn't have any mirrors. Any of that.

Alexis leaned in to listen, drawn into his story. She'd heard of weird things going on in town, but nothing really compared to this. What he described sounded terrifying-- being stuck in tunnels in another dimension, unable to find their way out. As interesting as she found the supernatural to be, that was not something she wanted to experience for herself. "Okay," she said with a little nod. "I think you've... appropriately convinced me. Let's cross that off our list." Note to self: do not go through the looking glass. Alexis bit her lip, wondering where to go from there. She'd been drawn off track as she listened to him, and now it was a bit more difficult to jump back in. "So were you having the same dream as everyone else?" she asked. "Did it just stop, after you went into the tunnels?"

Thom shook his head. "I wasn't dreaming. I knew someone who knew someone, you could say - I was just trying to help out," he explained. He tried to think back to how it all had started. "I think it started with Lullaby Draven. I don't know if you know her. She... died a while back. But she, and a friend of hers - Charlotte Angel - got a group of people together. They both knew people who were having these weird dreams. I got involved through Isaac St James. Neither of us had the dreams, but he asked me to go, so I did. By the time we got out of the tunnels, yeah, everyone's dreams had stopped," he told her.

"I know Charlotte and Isaac," Alexis confirmed. Now she'd have to ask Charlotte about it, since she was someone that Alexis was somewhat comfortable talking about supernatural stuff with. Probably because they'd met in the library, looking at the same sort of books. "That's so odd. Kinda wild. I wonder what made some people have the dreams. Did anyone ever figure that out? Like, was there some connection?" She knew this had gotten off topic from their ghost research, but maybe it would help in some weird way. Things had been going on in Marquette for quite a while, so it wouldn't surprise her if this was a part of it in one way or another.

"I got kind of lost," Thom admitted to her. "But I think they were all some kind of psychic. Somehow, once we got trapped in this weird world, it didn't quite seem so important how we got there...."

"Yeah, no shit," she said with a little laugh. Mentally, she added on that she needed to ask Charlotte if she'd had the dreams, and if she had... was she a psychic of some sort? If so, that was definitely worth knowing. Just cause! "I'm glad everyone made it out. I don't think I'd have had the foggiest idea what to do. That's just... bizarre. And you said you came out here? In Nevermore?"

"None of us had any idea what to do either," Thom admitted. "I mean, it wasn't like we'd gone though 'getting out of another dimension 101' or anything. I... Look, don't say or anything, but seriously, I thought that was it. I didn't think we were ever getting out of there. Which... Just never tell Isaac that, okay? Cos... I dunno. I hold it together. But... Yeah. And we came out here. Someone came and got us," he told her, not willing to give names there.

"I'd never tell him, or anyone else," Alexis said with a little smile. "It's like, I've always believed in this kind of stuff, but living through it? It's different. Having a ghost in my house, following me around, I freaked out. If Thia hadn't been there to help me, I'd probably still be hiding in the attic, hoping that ghosts can't really float." After Thia had left, she'd been utterly embarrassed at her own behavior. Her father was a hunter, for crying out loud, and she'd acted like a child scared of the boogyman when it was just a confused ghost that wanted some answers.

"Thanks," Thom said, with real gratitude. "I just... I don't know. I've always been the one to hold it together, of all of us, y'know? But that whole episode, really freaked me out. But it's over with now. I don't - I don't really want them to know," he admitted, feeling a little vulnerable about it all. He was meant to be a protector, dammit - he was meant to be able to deal with all of this. But he was still hiding from mirrors and cowering in corners at times.

"Everyone slips up every once and a while," she said, hoping it would make him feel better. And she really believed it. No one was fearless, no matter how much they wanted to be. He was allowed to be freaked out by the possibility of being stuck in another dimension till he died. "You're probably not the only one who was bothered by it. But I still promise--lips zipped," she said, smiling as she pantomimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

He chuckled a little at that giving her a grateful smile. "Thanks. But yeah - wouldn't recommend trying that one out. It'd be like saying 'hey, let's go where ghosts come from'. Bad idea. Or possibly I'm just really paranoid..." he admitted. He hadn't died, after all, going into the inbetween.

"I think it's the kind of thing that would make things worse, rather than better," Alexis observed. "Knowing me, I'd get trapped, and then it wouldn't matter what was going on with the whole ghost thing. I'd have a different issue to deal with. Plus, all those shadow things..." She hadn't been fond of those. In fact, they'd pretty much sucked. If the shadow things were in the inbetween, she saw no reason to give them a visit. "So, what got us there again?" she said with a little laugh. "The link between the shadows and the ghosts? If the answer's hiding in the inbetween, then we'll just have to live without it."

"I think the idea that there's different worlds? Or realms? Or something like that. And maybe if the walls are thinning between some, maybe they're thinning between all of them? I don't know - I don't even know if the shadow things were meant to stay in the inbetween. Maybe they could always come here. But I know that I couldn't see ghosts before. And I can now. So something's changing. I'd just feel better if I knew what that was," he admitted to her.

"That's right," she said, glad he could get them back on track. Except that really just brought them back to an area where they still didn't have answers. That was what he'd come in for, so she'd hoped to provide some insight. "So would I," Alexis said. "It's hard to tell if we're not the ones doing it, though. And is it even possible to stop it? Or is it too late?" There were so many questions and she wasn't sure there was a book around that could provide the answers.

That, Thom really didn't have an answer for and he deflated a little. "No idea," he admitted. "Really - no idea. I don't even know if this is something that needs to be stopped, except - I don't know. It seems that the more supernatural shit out there, the worse? If that makes sense?" he suggested, closing the book, feeling down about things.

"Well... I don't know that seeing the ghosts is necessarily bad," Alexis said, hoping that might help. As far as she could tell, they weren't really hurting anyone. She'd learned that on her own and felt rather silly about it afterwards. "Besides the ghosts, Marquette seems to be a kind of hub for the crazy. Every other place is okay. Not that that makes us feel safe, but... I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to be the optimist."

"Yeah, it does seem to get it worse than anywhere else. Or, well, most other places, anyhow," Thom agreed. "But things seem to be going downhill fast, even taking that into account. I've lived here my entire life and it's never been like this before..."

"There's always been stuff out there, but... it was kind of quiet, you know? Things didn't happen enough to make the news, since the news would've just thought they were crazy," Alexis said, thinking of her mother's death. "Maybe this means we start preparing for the worst. Whatever that is."

"I dunno - looking at some of the channels, I think sometimes the news still thinks people are crazy," Thom joked. There seemed to be all sorts of views out there, and some people would deny absolutely anything, even the undeniable. "So - did you always know about things then?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of his usual determination to not ask questions for fear of putting himself in a position of being unable to answer any in return.

"Kind of. Yeah," Alexis admitted. "I got exposed to it when I was young, and everything since then has only given me to reason to believe. I just try not to talk about it a lot because it tends to make people think I'm crazy." Even if she moved around a lot, she tried to make friends where she was, and being the girl who believed in ghosts and ghouls didn't really help. "Being in Marquette, though... it's harder to keep my mouth shut. I mean, since there is stuff happening."

"Takes a lot of effort to keep up that blank look," Thom agreed. "But even here, some people'd think you were crazy. I mean, it's not as bad as, say, TV shows where every week people are being stupid by not seeing obvious things, but I do sometimes think some people are willfully blind. Maybe it's best though. I'm not sure what would happen if everyone knew what was out there."

The comment about being 'willfully blind' reminded her of Kyle and she wondered what she was going to do there. Breaking up with him seemed like the solution, more due to how he'd handled it than what he'd believed, but she'd never broken up with someone before. She definitely wasn't looking forward to it. "I think people might really freak out," she said. "And that could be a lot worse. Have you always believed in this stuff?" she asked.

Thom nodded. "Yeah - I was brought up with it. My family's always known and my mom never saw any reason to keep it from me. It was like a family secret thing - y'know 'we know this, but you can't tell your friends' kind of thing? So this, for me - it's... Sometimes I'm almost glad things are happening, because it means I can talk about things. But, most of the time, I wish I still had to keep that secret, because it's not good stuff happening that means I can tell." he thought he could have explained that better. He just remembered how Isaac had reacted to realising that his best friend had kept things from him all their lives.

"Yeah, it's nice to be able to be open about it, but not so great due to the circumstances," she agreed. She wanted to ask why he'd been brought up with it, but then that meant getting into her own reasons and she preferred to stay away from that. One, possibly two, people in Marquette knew her dad was a hunter, and that was more than enough. "Maybe if we can use our knowledge to help, it won't be that bad. I don't like being defenseless. And I want my friends to feel safe. That seems to get harder and harder, unless everyone knows what precautions to take."

"Right - that's one good thing. I want my friends to be safe as well. I just wish they didn't actually have anything they needed to be safe from," Thom agreed. "Before I was doing little things - y'know, things that could help without people really knowing they were being helped? Like - when the vampires were in town, I gave out these bracelets - just beads and leather, really, but they had a charm on them. I'm sure there are some people in school that only took them because they thought they looked cool."

"That's really awesome," Alexis smiled. She'd never thought of doing something like that, and now wished she had. But she liked that he was going out of his way to look out for people, especially from vampires. "Was the charm some kind of religious symbol?" she asked, thinking about what might keep vampires away. "I wonder if there's anything we can do now. To help people, I mean."

Thom shook his head. "No - from what I understand, only some types of vampires have a thing about symbolism. And the ones that hit town weren't those type. Basically these were just imbued with a little bit of white magic - nothing very strong, but enough that if something bad was seeking to do harm, you'd be less of a target. Like a 'don't notice me' spell. It wasn't vampire-specific though, I didn't know how to do that." He'd learnt that since - he was much better at tailoring spells these days, though there was always the danger of making a protection spell too specific, even if it did mean you could make them more effective.

"You know white magic?" Alexis asked, even more interested now. Not only did Thom know about things, but he was enough of a believer to have picked up a bit for himself. "I've always thought it would be cool to learn, but I didn't know how my dad would feel about it. Though I guess I he didn't need to know. Now I don't think he'd mind... What else can you do? I mean, if you don't mind telling me. I'm not trying to be nosy." Though she realized she very much was. It was exciting! White magic was good! And not anything she had to worry about in terms of evil and bad, which was the important part.

Thom shrugged, not minding telling her things. Alexis had seemed okay from the times he'd talked to her in the past and this kind of thing about himself, well, it was okay to talk about all of this. With everything that had been going on recently, he figured that more and more people would be investigating magic anyhow, and preparing themselves for whatever may be thrown at them. "Not much," he admitted to her. "I've been trying to learn a little magic. Most of what I know is defensive - some protection charms, a few shield spells. I'm getting better though. I can't really do anything else that's, well, at all supernatural." His other 'skills' were of the first aid and fighting types, but the only thing that the average person on the street would think odd about that was that the laidback guy with the shaggy hair and the guitar had a wicked sharp knife and a stocked first aid kit on him most of the time. He knew he didn't really look the type. But then again, he didn't really look the type to be involved in magic either.

He didn't look the type, but neither did she. Alexis knew that if she could actually keep her mouth shut, no one would suspect she knew a thing. Unfortunately, she was the type to babble on about the supernatural, which usually led to other questions. Until Marquette, though, she'd never told a soul about what she could do, always a little afraid at how that would go over. Thom knew white magic, though, and had been willing to confide in her, so maybe... maybe she could trust him. It was something to consider. "Defensive spells are the way to go. Everything I've read talks about the dangers of black magic and how addictive it is. If you've gotta fight back, it seems like there are better ways to go about it," she said. Protection charms and shield spells were the kind of thing she should look into... after she got a better hold of her own special skills.

"I think my mother would kill me herself if she found I was looking into black magic. Though possibly not as quickly as she would if I tried, say, blood magic or something like that," Thom agreed. Not that he hadn't been tempted to look out some books anyway, especially over the past week or so. He had been wondering whether, with things as bad as they seemed to be getting, white magic was going to be enough. "White magic's hard work though - everything takes so much time. It's slow going, learning new things, collecting the ingredients and everything," he admitted.

Even with her father's reassurance that he only hunted those who were endangering others, Alexis didn't think she could ever bring herself to attempt black magic. There was too big a fear there that she'd put herself in category she wanted to stay far away from. And blood magic was just far too dangerous. And dark. And painful! Definitely not for her. "So you're not really going to, say, whip up something in a pinch with white magic," Alexis observed. "At least not until you're really good. I'm sure you'll get there," she smiled. He'd put a lot of effort in already, and impressive amount it sounded like, so it was easy to imagine him progressing further. "Would you mind if I, like... came and watched next time you did something?" she asked, biting her lip. "I mean, if it makes you uncomfortable, or breaks your concentration, then I completely understand. I'm just... curious."

"No - it'd be fine, if you wanted to," Thom told her, easily. "You wouldn't be the first audience I've had." Isaac and Peyton had both been interested, though nothing had really come of that. He'd leant Isaac some books, but didn't know whether his friend had got anywhere with them. "If you want, I could show you how to I make one of the spelled bracelets, that's not too complicated," he suggested to her.

"That'd be great," Alexis grinned. "I'd love to learn something like that. Even if it's just something little to help protect the people I care about." Then she could give them to her friends, just in case. Most of them seemed to be aware of the weird that was out there, but every little bit helped! "I can give you my number, if you want. Then you can just call me when you feel up to giving a lesson, or have got something I can watch. Would that be okay?"

Thom considered this, then stood. "Hold on," he said, before heading off into the stacks. He returned a couple of minutes later holding a book and he flipped to the page he wanted as he sat back down. "Here," he said, pushing the book over and pointing to the right hand page. "This is basically what we'd be doing, though my version has a couple of extra steps at the end. The first parts the same. See the prep work that needs to be done there?" He pointed to the small series of steps that were mostly just collecting and drying herbs and tying them into bundles; getting leather thongs and preparing them in a certain oil and making sure you have the right stones. "If you really want to learn how to do this - all those things can be done in a couple of hours. It says you should dry the herbs yourself, but I've found that you can actually use ready dried ones, as long as they're still whole - and I know a healthfood store in town that sells whole herbs. And the oil you need. In fact, I can give you a list of places where you can get all of this. The prep itself takes a couple of hours, then it's mostly a case of leaving it for a day or so before you can do the actual spell. Did you want to give it a go getting things, putting them together, then we could get together later on in the week and I'll show you how to do the actual magic part of things?" he suggested to her.

Alexis looked over the objects she'd need to buy, making sure she knew what each of them were before nodding in agreement. "I can do that," she said, figuring the prep work wouldn't be all that hard. All she had to do was follow the instructions. Like cooking from a recipe. "If you give me the list of places where I can get things, then I won't need to hunt for them, so I'd really appreciate it. But this is definitely workable. Thanks," she smiled, looking forward to her lesson. It felt good to be doing something proactive, something more than just hiding out when things got bad. This way, even if they did, maybe her friends could stay out of it long enough for her to think up something better to keep them safe.

"Not a problem," Thom told her, grabbing a pen and paper from his bag and scribbling down names and addresses for her. Thing about having lived in this town all your life - you knew where absolutely everything was. "If you just give me a call when you've got everything, we can arrange to get together the next day and I'll take you through it," he promised her.

"I'll do that," she said, eager to run out and get the ingredients already. Unfortunately, she had to work, otherwise she actually might have. Taking the completed list from him, Alexis figured they were all places she could hit up on Monday after school. She could even start on her way home today, if they were still open. "I've never actually known someone who could do magic. Did you just learn by coming in here and picking up a book?"

Thom shook his head. "No - my family had books already, I was kind of led into it," he told her, this time skirting around the fact his mother had started with teaching him when he was younger, before he even knew what he was and why he'd need it. It had simply been part of his upbringing.

"That's really cool," she smiled. "I'm sure it's easier to learn when you've got someone around who knows what's going on." She assumed that if the books were in the family, that there was at least someone around who knew magic. Alexis had had her own kind of teachings growing up, but it was more along the lines of physical defense. Having never actually used it, she wasn't all that sure how good she was in practice.

"Yeah, it helps with the basics - and knowing that you're not going to do something wrong and end up with something irreversible and harmful," Thom agreed. "And to teach you that white magic's not easy and that just because something doesn't work the first time, doesn't mean you should just give up there and then," he added, which was a little bit of advice for her.

"With a protection charm, how will I know if I did it right or not? Will I have to wait and see if it works?" she asked. While willing to take his advice, she was a little worried about the result an unsuccessful charm might have. "I guess that means you don't want to depend on it, just in case. Maybe make sure I have a back up plan or something."

"You'll know," Thom told her, with a knowing smile. "Just wait - you'll definitely see." He'd prefer for her to see the effect of it for herself, rather than try and explain it - it'd be more fun that way. "And you can depend on it - just as long as what you're depending on is something that you know you know how to do. You have to be prepared, and precise. Careful. White magic isn't something you can kind of throw together," he told her.

"Now I'm excited to see how it turns out," she smiled. She got that it wasn't something quick, that it took time and careful work to get the result she wanted. But she was willing to put the time in, to learn what she could if he was willing to teach her. "Thank you for this," Alexis said. "I could probably try it on my own, but I wouldn't even know where to start. Probably reading everything I could get my hands on, but you never even know if what you're looking at is accurate or not."

"Not a problem at all - it feels good to be able to help people. And with everything that's going on, the more people know, the better, as far as I'm concerned. If people know how to protect themselves, well - I know I'll sleep better at night for that," he added. He just couldn't help it, he was a protector to the core - he wanted everyone to be safe, stay safe.

"Exactly," Alexis nodded, knowing what it like to worry about people, though probably not to the degree that he did. Every time her father went out, she wondered if he'd come home. At least he knew how to protect himself. What really got her worrying were nights like the full moon, when she wasn't sure how to keep Kyle inside. Even if they weren't dating, she'd continue to worry on that front. "Sometimes I wish everyone knew the score, so they could really protect themselves, but then we'd have more people scared, so..." She shrugged, remembering that they'd already talked a bit about that.

"I dunno - you have cities with massive crime rates, dangerous places - but people still walk the streets at night in them," Thom said. "Whether it's safe to do so, or not - people still do it. And they'd have a list of reasons as long as your arm why they have to. And yeah, maybe some of those people can protect themselves - but I bet a lot of them, when it really comes down to it, couldn't. I think that's just people though. A whole lot of 'it'll never happen to me' out there."

"I think they were able to get by with that for a while, since most of the time people really never had a supernatural experience. Now that we've got ghosts wandering around, it's a little harder to hide your head in the sand," Alexis said. It felt like now everyone had an excuse to believe, even if she knew that wouldn't be the case. "I still don't know if we need protection against ghosts. So far, they seem mostly harmless, except for the fact that they creep people out." Herself included.

"Yeah, of all the things we've seen, they do appear to be the least threatening. Least ignorable, but least threatening," Thom agreed. "Which is something at least." He pulled a couple of the books he'd been looking at toward him. "I think I'm gonna take these as well - there's too much in them to read here - lightweight reading before bed," he said with a wry smile.

"Makes sense," Alexis said. "They'll either keep you up or put you to sleep. Let me know which." Checking the spines of each one of the books, she wrote down the titles and authors, in order to keep track of which books were out. "We're renting books now, kinda like a video store, since some are hard to replace. Which I guess makes sense, considering how I've never seen most of these books before. So you've got them for a week at ten dollars each." Considering what used to be the price of the books, it was a pretty awesome deal.

Thom looked surprised, but pleased. "Really? Cool - you sure that's okay?" he checked. He'd been willing to buy them, getting set to wheedle the money out of his mom, but if he could rent them, he could definitely cover that with his allowance - and probably be able to afford to come back for more next week. "That's great, really!" he grinned, hoping she now wasn't suddenly going to change her mind.

"Yeah," Alexis smiled. "Dorian changed the policy. Works pretty well, since most people don't really need to own the books. I know he'll still sell them on occasion, but this allows for more repeat customers." Especially since there were so many kids that came in and couldn't afford the full price of the books. She didn't exactly know how Nevermore made enough money to afford them, but that wasn't really her problem. "So yeah, they're yours for a week."

"Fantastic, great - really. And - you know, he's right. Usually I have to be really sure I need something to come here, but now - god, I'm gonna be in here all the time...." he said, probably a little too enthusiastically, looking very much like a little boy who just got told he could have all the toys in the store for Christmas.

"Well, awesome," Alexis grinned, pleased to have given him such good news. "Then I have someone to keep me company from time to time." It wasn't like she worked all that often, but their schedules had to be at least someone similar, considering they both had school blocking out a huge chunk of their time.

"More than likely," Thom said, pulling out his wallet and passing over a couple of notes. "I hope you don't mind - and, if I'm annoying you, just tell me, okay?" he added, easily. He didn't really think he was the annoying type, but he was the type to put that kind of a statement out there, knowing that it'd never come up. He had that kind of easy confidence that didn't quite touch at arrogance about him.

"I really don't mind," Alexis laughed, taking his money to place in the cash box. "Really. It's a lot more fun to talk to you about it, than, say, a freshman that's looking for a book on love potions. Thank God we don't have any of those, otherwise I'd worry about the results." While she figured that such things did exist, she was glad they didn't have them at Nevermore.

Thom pulled a face. "I never saw the point in those. If someone's going to like me, I want them to like me. Forcing that just always seemed.... off, to me. Wrong. I don't know what I'd think about someone who'd be wiling to do that to someone," he admitted.

"Exactly," she said. "If someone doesn't like you back, forcing them seems to indicate you don't really respect them in the first place." It wasn't something that a thirteen year old girl might understand, though, which was a good reason they didn't offer it at all. "I'd rather talk about ghosts and white magic any day," she smiled.

"I'll remember not to talk to you about love spells then," Thom told her, standing up as he gathered his books. This loan thing was really going to work for him. "So - I'll see you at school on Monday?" he suggested to her.

"Sure thing," she smiled, picking up the books he didn't need to return them to their place. "Thanks for dropping by. I don't know if we came up with any real answers, but I think it helped a little."

"No - I think it definitely helped," Thom assured her. If nothing else, it had been good to talk things through. That wasn't always readily available. So many of the people he knew looked to him to have all the answers. It was nice to have someone who didn't automatically expect that of him.

"See you Monday, then," Alexis said with a smile. She was glad she'd been able to help him, as well as find out a few answers for herself. She'd always thought she knew enough to get by, and then the world seemed to tip, making it evident just how little she actually knew. At least she had a plan on how to expand her knowledge, to possibly learn a little white magic, and spend time with a new friend who she didn't have to hide quite as many secrets from. There were still a few, to be sure, but talking about the supernatural definitely wasn't off limits.

"See you Monday," Thom agreed, slipping the books into his bag and heading out of the store. He felt better for this - he was looking forward to what might come of it. And that made a change.