Sign Language Will Be a Must

Who: Geo, Sammy, and Herbert
Where: Out!
When: Starting just before moonrise

Geo sat - sprawled, really - in the back of Sammy's minivan, kicking idly at nothing-in-particular with a scratched bare foot as he watched the strangely-warm street through the open hatch. Sammy's minivan. Wow that just seemed wrong. The old, battered van - even with its paint scorched and bubbling on one red side from the fire - had always been their Mom's. It just seemed...wrong, to have it belong to anyone else. The will had been rather clear on the splitting up of the vehicles, though, and the keys now attached to Sammy's totem necklace made it difficult to dispute.

Not that he wanted to, anyways. He wasn't like Helen.

The mirrors all had cloth over them. He'd been more merciful to Sammy's van than he had been to his car, or Helen's car. After last night, though, he still wasn't sure that keeping the mirrors intact was a good idea, but right now it was a moot point. They were gonna come anyways. So far, they'd got lucky - Marek less so, the older man was a mass of scrapes and scratches - but just how long that luck would hold up was just a matter of waiting. And, at least tonight he'd have a slight advantage.

And so he waited.

In the front seat, Sammy studied the garage and parking lot, watching for any of the shadowed beings in case they came for Geo again. He hoped they wouldn't - they'd done away with quite a few of them recently - but just hoping probably wasn't nearly enough to keep them away. Not that he knew anything really about how they came, and why, and if they would ever stop. Though, again, he hoped that they would. If they didn't, there was a definite call to freak out, and freak out badly. Nothing - absolutely nothing was going right in this town, and it was beginning to suck out loud.

Herbert was completely oblivious to the fact that his friends had been fighting all day-- or at least that Geo had. He knew about Olivia-- he had the gashes on his shoulder to prove it-- but Geo? As far as he knew, his friends were safe, and would continue to be. All the worry on his mind was about the full moon, the shift, and the form. He trudged to the Williams' house, somewhere between reluctant and relieved. At least he had company planned for the night. When he got within sight of the house, he perked up a bit, craning his neck and looking for them. All he saw was the minivan, and the scents in the air were too far and too difficult to separate.

Spirits take it, he was going to have to knock and maybe meet the rest of the household, wasn't he....

Geo heard Herbert before he saw him, his senses heightened by the last day. On alert and wired, almost. He sat up, leaning against the wall, before he finally stuck his head out the back. "Oy, Herbert! Over here!" He waved his arm with a slight grin. It wasn't totally normal to be grinning at a time like this, but he figured he'd had a crappy enough month to get away with a little not-quite-sane behavior. It was the only thing keeping him sane.

The call got Herbert's head turned right around towards the minivan, and he broke into a larger grin, himself, lifting a hand to wave right back and charting his course right to Geo. "Hallo!" he said once he was in a distance where he didn't have to shout. "How are we? Are we ready to go?"

Sammy popped up, aiming two thumbs-ups at Herbert after hearing the were-bear’s question. This was totally a new thing for him – the only ones around when he changed, usually, were his family, and he had completely expected it to be just Geo this time around. This, though, was different, and right now, different was good, since it made sure he didn’t dwell on anything. Like the fact that their parents weren’t around.

"Ready to ditch this popsicle stand, yeah." Geo stood, hissing when the scratches on his leg - bare from the knee down, a pair of sweatpants sacrificed to make new shorts - pulled. Those were the only things he wore right now, and he'd probably keep 'em on too. Just so he could haul around his cell phone...

Not that his talons made it possible to use, mind.

The fact that they'd only done this before with their parents hadn't even crossed Herbert's mind, though it probably should have. Him, he'd only ever done it alone for the past decade and then some, with the sole exception of the previous one with Fallon, so it simply didn't register that they might not have, too. But if it was an unintentional good, well, he'd take unintentional. Right then, he was just eager to leave streets and cars and whatever else behind.

Except then he caught the whiff of "hurt" and saw Geo's legs and he stopped, blinking. "What happened?" he asked, pointing so his meaning was clear.

"Those freakin' shadow things." Geo grumbled, following Herbert's pointing to his legs. "Discovered, however, they don't like being hit with things and; they go down easy." One of the few things that had him not climbing out of his skin.

Herbert blinked at Geo. "Oh... oh, no, they're after you, too, now?" he said, dismayed. "I thought they were leaving you alone? Or did-- or did you get in the way? I got in the way this morning, and they got my shoulder." He really, really hoped Geo wasn't getting attacked on his own. Really, really. That just wouldn't be fair.

Sammy answered for Geo, though his brother was free to tag on anything he felt like, if he wanted to. "Yeah. Don't know exactly why. But yes." If they'd just kept on going after Marek, things wouldn't be so bad, but that wasn't the case and so it was bad.

"Well. That's not entirely true," Geo spoke after he caught what Sammy's note said. "We, ah. Me and Peyton. We kinda think it's from me goin' to the Babylon, but we don't really know why. Or how. Or anything actually useful." And it was frustrating; worse than the vampires. At least the vampires had to leave off during the day, and couldn't come inside without being invited, and all that. He shook his head, hopping out of the van. "It's so freakin' stupid."

Herbert blinked. Babylon. "Olivia works at Babylon," he mused. "So maybe that is it...." Though why "realm guardians" or whatever the shadows were would care about a bar, Herbert didn't know. He shook his head a little. "I found out some stuff at Nevermore, and a few of us think they're, like, things that track down people in the wrong... realm. Plane. Something. But what that has to do with Babylon, I don't know." He put an arm briefly around Geo, and would do the same for Sammy once he got out of the van, too.

"Is it on another plane? Realm? Whatever?" Sammy hopped out of the back hatch, stretching - he'd been bent over to walk out of the car, and it had been kind of awkward. "That be why people who went there are being chased?" That was the only thing he could think of that might connect Babylon and whatever Herbert had been talking about. And it would kind of make sense, too.

Geo let out a harsh bark of laughter. "I have no clue, but I know it freakin' moves," He'd been surprised to realize it himself. He hadn't noticed until he'd been talking to Peyton. It was like there was something there that had kept him from noticing until he really thought about it. "And that Peyton doesn't know where it is when, yanno, she's lived here her whole life...I'd say that's some pretty suspicious behavior right there."

"Yeah, that is," Herbert agreed, frowning. He really hadn't noticed it being in a different place-- he'd only been there twice, and he'd never actually gone in-- but then, he might not have, he'd just found it when he'd expected to, was all. Sammy got his hug, too, then Herbert motioned for them all to start out. They needed to get well into the woods before moonrise, after all. "Suspicious, I mean... so maybe Babylon is it." He didn't know specifically who all had been having trouble, besides Olivia, Olivia's boss, Thom, and now Geo.

Oh. Thom. "Do you think Thom and Isaac and the others had gone to Babylon, too?" he asked.

What was it Peyton had said? Something about mirrors. And...something. Something about being stuck...

In another realm. Behind mirrors.

"...no, I don't think so, but that time they...disappeared." Peyton hadn't said whether Herbert knew where Isaac and Thom and...had it been Kaysen? had gone when they'd disappeared, the week that he and Sammy had moved here. "Peyton...Peyton said they were trapped behind mirrors. Her exact words were 'whole other realm. Or whatever.' I think your theory might have just got a lot more credence, 'cuz, I mean. If the Babylon is on another plane, and where-ever they disappeared to was, and these...these things are there to guard things like that..." He eyed the sky. Moonrise proper should be soon. "...freaky."

Who knew where else these things might be showing up, if that was the case?

Herbert was officially impressed a little, at Geo using fancy words like "credence"-- truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure what the word meant, but it sounded like a good thing. "Huh. So maybe that is the case." He knew very little about where the missing people had gone, really; no one had really told him anything, and he'd never thought to ask. They were back, that was what mattered. "Do you think they'll be bothering you tonight, too? Even in the full moon form, and all?"

Sammy had been a little behind them while they continued their discussion on the things and where they'd come from, but now he jogged to catch up with them, slowing only once he was beside them again. "If they do," He wrote, keeping his eyes on the paper, only looking up every now and then - if he almost ran into something, either Geo or Herbert would tug him out of the way he was sure, "We can stop them. Easy. Right?" He and Geo were pretty scary looking in battle-form, and he imagined Herbert would look even scarier.

"They don't exactly run away from things that can hurt them, so I'd guess they'll probably keep coming." Geo flexed his hands with a careless shrug. "The fact that they go down so easy an' should only pay attention t'me makes me not really care. It's about freakin' time something showed up that I can actually do somethin' about." Unlike crazy rich guys who wanted him stuffed, or vampires, or whatever.

"Real easy," Herbert agreed with Sammy, pleased for that, at least, rather like Geo. He wasn't afraid, he had already bitten several out of existence, and he was perfectly happy to help Geo not get scratched up anymore. "We'll be okay. Besides, all I'll have to do is stand in front of you and they won't know where you are," he added with a little roll of his eyes skyward. He was, after all, going to be huge.

That admission sparked another thought in Sammy and he looked between Geo and Herbert, pen moving rapidly over his paper again. When he'd finished writing he shoved the paper where both of them could see it easily. "Can they fly?" Oh, he hoped that they couldn't 'cause that made everywhere safe, and that wasn't fair. And the fact Herbert couldn't fly? That was unfair, too. He should be able to fly as well, bear or not.

"Nah." Geo shook his head, grimacing. "They just follow on the ground, mob you as soon as you land." Unless you get your talons through their faces first. Which he had done, but not before they'd managed to claw his legs up more. Meh. Wasn't like most people saw his legs anyways. "They can't go up," that would be freaky, wouldn't it? The pseudo-robes just...floating "But neither can Herbert, so that as an option's a no-go."

"Don't worry about me, you can lure them into following you and I'll just lumber up behind and chomp them," Herbert said cheerfully-- which might sound odd to Geo, who knew he'd chomped a vampire and then felt horrible about it. "Then nobody gets hurt."

Sammy grimaced at that, studying Herbert for a minute. "Do they taste bad, or like nothing?" They were shadowy, so maybe they didn't? Not that he was going to go around biting them or anything, that was such an unpleasant thought. Though, if he had to, he would. He just...didn't want to. "They're shadows. Wouldn't think they'd taste..."

"Like nothing," Herbert answered with a little shrug. "It's very weird, and really a little disconcerting, but it could be worse." They could taste like flesh and blood and bone. Ick. He made a face. "So I don't have any problem biting them in two. It works really well."

Geo slowed to a stop as they finally reached the woods, hands tucked in his pockets. "They don't like being kicked in the face, either." He grinned, lopsided. "So, good for us, bad for them." He cracked his knuckles before taking a step into the woods, looking over his shoulder at the other boys. "Lets get this show on the road, yeah?"

"Yes," Herbert agreed, though he looked in the direction the moon would rise from with, he admitted, a little trepidation. It was one thing to say it would be better with friends-- after shifting again on purpose-- in the light of day-- but the sun was down now and he still wasn't horribly comfortable with this. He never was. But he followed Geo, anyway, hands tucked in his pockets for the mere minutes he had left in which he had hands or pockets.

As he watched Herbert tuck his hands into his pockets, Sammy again praised his own foresight in wearing a hoodie. When they shifted – or before the fact – he’d have a place to put his notebook where it wouldn’t get covered in dirt. And then, it’d just be a matter of finding it later – he doubted the shadow-things wanted his notebook. An almost-grin split his face as he hurried after the two. “You get to be like me tonight.” Like him, with the not speaking and the relying on motions to communicate. Yeah.

Glancing over the written note, Herbert smiled some. "Yup. And my big old paws aren't even good for holding a pen." They'd be down to gestures and guesswork. But that was okay, he didn't mind that, really.

"You should try it with talons." In all honesty, the combination of nightdark, shadow-bastards and no vocal communication had him leery, but there wasn't much they could do about that. He cracked his knuckles, leading into the woods until he could barely see lights through the trees, chatting the whole way. "It's like begging the pen to explode - I mean, not like black ink on black feathers makes much of a difference, but still. It's the principle of the thing."

"And you can't form letters," Sammy added onto what Geo was saying, slowing and finally stopping as he looked up at the sky. "So it's useless anyhow." Though it would be nice if they were still able to communicate that way, really. There would be less guesswork and confusion, then.

"Somebody ought to invent a sign language for full moon forms," Herbert suggested with a little sigh, following Sammy's gaze after looking over the note. "Or something. You still owe me lessons in that," he reminded Sammy, looking back down. "Maybe that could work some." If he knew it.

So meeting at Marek and Helen's was completely out of the question, that left Herbert's apartment, or staying at school once it was done. Either worked fine for him, and he suggested both while he still had the ability to write. While they were all still in human form. While it was still easy to simply communicate.

Reading over that, Herbert nodded. "Work would be best-- Nevermore, the bookstore. You can come by whenever, I work every day after school." They didn't have a lot of time left, he thought. "From four-thirty to closing. And afternoons on the weekend. And we're not all that busy, so you won't be a problem if you come to just... just hang out." And he'd liked that. "Either of you, both of you, whatever," he added, looking over at Geo hopefully.

"Sounds awesome to me," Geo grinned. "Have someplace to hang out, just be lazy while he," He waved one hand Sammy's direction almost carelessly, "Teaches you sign..." He'd offer to help (and probably would help eventually) but for the basics? That was all Sam. Well. The basics and half-a-billion phrases that really didn't count as basics. Or polite. Geo coughed to himself, leaning against a nearby tree, toeing at the twigs underfoot with his toes. "Maybe I can even help shelves stuff or somethin' so you get twice the work done."

"I don't know about doing my work for me," Herbert chuckled, giving the sky another glance before leaning back against a tree to start pulling off his shoes. "But everything else, yes, please!"

Soon Sammy was the only one left upright as he balanced on one leg to haul off his first shoe, then on his other - now bare - foot to get the other off. Shoes done away with he tossed them to land beside a tree before looking at Geo. "Tell him to look at me," he signed to his older brother, "I'll at least show him his name before we shift." And then his hands were hidden again as he worked his hoodie over his head and tossed it after his shoes.

"He says pay attention," Geo translated with a grin before he reached up to take off his eyepatch. "An' he'll show you your name before his hands go all wrong-shaped." That said, he gave Herbert a lazy salute and changed before moonrise could force it - stretching his arms out to their full wingspan with a bird-beaked version of a yawn.

Also in the process of getting undressed, Herbert missed the signing, and he looked up with a blink at Geo's voice. He half-forgot the statement, in fact, staring a bit at Geo's form. He'd never seen a wereraven shifted before-- or, well, period, until he'd met Sammy and Geo-- and it was just a little bit awesome. Or maybe a lot awesome. "Wow," was what he said, standing there in his socks and underwear with his jeans an shirt in-hand.

Sammy chuckled, writing “Next time, then, when I teach other stuff” on a note before returning the notepad itself to his hoodie. Then he was stripping down the rest of the way necessary, leaving all his clothing and his ever-present necklace in a small heap before he joined Geo in shifting before he was forced to, pale flesh turning to glossy, dark-hued feathers. Now the only “human” left in the woods was Herbert.

Geo finished his stretch-and-yawn with a snap of his beak, shaking his feathers out jauntily. He was, as a rule, rather fond of his battle form. His feathers successfully preened back into place, he took a few steps forward before he noticed -eyes much sharper in this form- Herbert's stare. He just grinned - as best as a boy with a beak can grin - and gave him two thumbs up.

Poor Herbert was Geo's opposite, there: he wasn't shifting until he had to. He did give his friend a sheepish grin when he was caught staring, looking chagrined. "Sorry. Didn't mean to stare." And with that-- and a glance aside at Sammy, who looked just as awesome, which could easily have turned into a stare, too-- he set his clothes in a neatly folded little pile on top of his shoes, shed the last of it, and waited for the moon with resignation. "I hate this part," he muttered.

Bird-Geo frowned as best he could, picking his way - surprisingly delicate for a creature his size - across the leaves and twigs to wrap one feathery arm around Herbert's shoulders, resting his head on top of Herbert's head, mindful of things like personal space. There was a difference between comforting and awkward, after all.

The werebear made a little rumbly noise in his chest and ducked his head briefly against his friend's shoulder-- wow, he was actually shorter than Geo, in that form. Not that it would last long. The moon was coming up, and he had to back off before he wound up bonking poor Geo on the underside of his beak with his own massive growth spurt. He tried not to fight with it this time, but old habits died hard and it was an uncomfortable change, jerky and forced rather than comfortably fluid. Fur sprouted, his head shot up another three feet and then some as he grew to nine feet tall, and he grew a tail, slightly longer and brushier than a real bear's tail when in this form. His face and body was far more bear than man, but his muzzle was shorter, his legs longer, and his hips more comfortable for standing on two rather than four. To his endless discomfort, his claws were even longer and sharper in this form than the other.

Shaking his huge head once it was over, he rumbled again, this time apologetically.

In battle-form Sammy’s sense of smell was greater than in human form. When he caught the wafting scent of apology he came forward to, kind of skipping, aiming a kick he didn’t mean to land at all at Herbert as if to tell the werebear that he didn’t need to be apologizing for anything. Yeah, being unable to really communicate? Definitely a hassle, but somewhat easy to overcome if your were really good at miming.

Geo just repeated his earlier thumbs up sign, eye wide. Herbert might not like it, but hell, the other boy looked awesome. He rather hoped Herbert could smell the "impressed" scent. He took a few steps deeper into the woods, scanning the shadows, before looking back at his brother and his friend. "Shall we?" His body language seemed to say.

Herbert just scratched his head sheepishly with a little grunt that sounded confused but pleased, if a bear-ish grunt could even do that, and bobbed his head. Hey, at least he hadn't scared them, what with his being huge and dangerous and, well, scary. He dropped to all fours, not wanting to tower over anybody, and bobbed his head. "Let's."