slow starts

Who: Caleb and Dorian
Where: Nevermore
When: midday

The morning had been even more awkward than night before. Dorian had managed to scare the manager that ran Nevermore when he arrived in the morning to open the store and it had taken a good thirty minutes to really explain what was going on and what intentions Dorian had. Erik, the manager, had assumed that if Dorian was living in the back room, then it meant he was going to be fired, which wasn’t Dorian’s plan, but between that and originally assuming Dorian was a looter the conversation started off on the wrong foot.

Finally by midday Dorian had a handle on things, although Erik was still avoiding him. Dorian was enjoying working in the store in way he hadn’t had a chance to since he opened. He was able to take time and help customers find what they needed, in addition to putting things away and occasionally pulling reference text for his own purposes. It was the most relaxed he felt since before he left and for the moment he was feeling relieved he’d come back.

Caleb was having a day that wasn't really going that fabulously. He was exhausted, beat to shit, he still didn't know how things were going to go with Nic, and when he got home, he'd been told Dor was back. Which had him wondering. All in all, he could have been having a better day.

After getting himself cleaned up, though, he headed down to Nevermore, to at least get the 'hello, I'm not dead' out of the way. The cleaning up took longer than he would have liked, but he generally wanted Dorian not to assume he'd been hit by a bus or set on by ninjas, so he did as much as he could. He also pulled a hoodie on, so it covered the slash on the back of his neck, and was bulky enough to not make the bandages on his person obvious. Which left the huge shiner on his cheek that he'd gotten from hitting the floor with his face when he'd tripped over Mr. Whatsisfuck's head, and a few other bruises along his jawline. There was a light slash just beneath his jawline, but he cleaned it as well as he could and he was hoping it'd be overlooked.

Walking into the shop, he really hoped that the conversation didn't go as poorly as last time, but whatever. He had to at least greet the guy. He looked around first, to be sure that no one else was in the store, and he had an unpleasant little memory of making out with Jamie here back before things had gone so fucko. Things seemed quiet enough. "Dor?" he called, after clearing his throat a little.

Dorian was engrossed in a book when he heard his name. The store had hit a slump and he was looking through an old text on mythical creatures. Although what he was reading was really interesting, it still wasn't helping him find the answer he was looking for. He raised his head up, eyes caught behind hair, which probably needed to be cut and spotted his brother. "Hey Cay," Dorian called, the relief evident in his voice.

Closing the book he pushed it aside, and stood up straight. "I didn't expect you to stop by, just figured Math would call and let me know you got home." Looking at his brother a little closer he noticed the bruises on his face. "School trip was worse than just snowed in huh?" he asked motioning towards the damage, but he kept his tone pleasant. There wasn't a good reason to assume the worse, and for all he knew Caleb had just gotten in a scrape with a classmate.

It was a weird sensation, the whole thing. Things had ended on such a fabulously bad note the last he'd actually spoken to the guy that this sounded downright normal. Granted, they'd just decided to live in a house and not speak to each other anymore after said bad talk but it was still odd. Plus, Dorian was the only person in the world who called him 'Cay'. Not that he necessarily minded, it was just weird. He shrugged a little and glanced away, then back to his brother. "There was some trouble of the demonic persuasion." he said.

Jesus fucking Christ he was going to kill Mathias. Certainly he wasn't justified in being angry at his older brother, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed off. Didn't they just figure out that Caleb needed someone to keep an eye on him? "A demon on a school trip? How'd that play out? Any idea what kind?" Dorian was trying to keep his cool, but the worry was seeping into him as the blame shifted from his brother and settle squarely on Dorian's shoulders. Mathias wasn't going to play responsible big brother, that was Dorian's role and he'd let it slip, lost control. Thankfully Caleb was in one piece, but a string of what ifs flooded into his mind.

"Yeah, they sort of killed all the teachers and one chick who couldn't be bothered to stay away from the fucking windows during a demonic siege." Caleb said, shifting on his feet a little, then he leaned back against the counter. At least he didn't look like the motion caused him pain, since pain didn't bother him, but he was in fact still covered with bruises. Being thrown through a door did that to a guy. "And I don't know. They all looked the same. Long black hair, claws that leave you sick and shit. There were five of them. Or, we killed off five by the time it was all over. If there were others they fucked off before they joined the ranks of the really dead."

Why was it never "just a school trip" when it came to Caleb? Dorian considered the description, and then moved past the boy towards a nearby shelf to retrieve a specific book. "What did the authorities say when they arrived on the scene? Typically they cover up demon attacks." He flipped through a few pages in the book, then settled on a specific page, handing it over to Caleb. "This look about right?"

"They said fuck all." Caleb said. "None of us were even really questioned. Apparently they're going to get back to us during the course of their 'investigation'." he said, rolling his eyes. "I won't be holding my breath." he concluded, then he took the book, and looked over the illustration, and he read a little on the demon type. "...that'd be them." he confirmed with a nod, handing the book back. He didn't mention he'd dealt with one before. He and Math, at the demon bar. He didn't even know if Dorian knew about that, really. He still wasn't about to bring it up ever ever ever.

"Investigation my ass, they'll cover it up faster than Elvis dying." Dorian took the book back, studying the page. "Rakshasas huh? Stupid fuckers, but tough enough. At least five...That's quite a few to just be hanging around an abandoned hospital. You'd figure they'd be somewhere they could feed easier." Dorian tapped the book a few times, thinking and then skimmed the page again. It wasn't new information, he'd read plenty about them before, actually he'd read the whole book in his hand cover to cover once or twice. "You said you killed five? How'd you manage that?" Dorian was stalling a little, giving space for Caleb to talk, something he'd never done well before, and waiting for something he could use as an in, a way to fix the rift between them.

"I didn't say I killed five. Just that as a group five got toasted." Caleb said. "I got like two. But whatever. Blood magic, a little innovation on the part of others. One thing though. People were holing up at the chapel, but they came in anyways. What's up with that?" he asked, since it was one of the biggest twitches they'd had to deal with.

Though he knew Caleb had was around the blood magic hurting him so severely, it still put Dorian a little on edge. Blood magic didn't settle well with most who were immersed in the supernatural and it could make Caleb a target. Not that Dorian was in a place to tell Caleb to quit, and if the he was careful there wasn't much else that could be done. "That's where they are stupid actually," Dorian answered, dismissing his own concerns for the moment. "It seems they think that if they keep trying they'll be able to break the whole 'no demons on holy ground' thing, or find a way around it. That's actually another reason why it seems odd, they tend to actually target holy ground in particular. They're more likely to loiter around churches and attack unsuspecting priests."

Caleb frowned, giving his brother a 'Seriously what the fuck' look. "That's...insane. And would have been great to know when we were there. I guess I'll let people know now, even if it's after the fact." he said, reaching up and dragging his fingers through his hair as he exhaled. "You going to back for good?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Yea, stupid doesn't usually come with a good sense of self preservation," Dorian quirked. His calm demeanor stumbled some when Caleb asked about how permanent his residence would be. "Planning on it? Not really the wanderer type, that's more Math's style. I actually missed it here after I left the last time." Dorian echoed Caleb's movements, pushing his hair off his own face. "I guess I realized the answers weren't out there, but here. There's shit I've got to deal with here and I'm not going to be settled until I do that."

Caleb bit back a remark about how he'd certainly thought he was a wanderer when he'd fucked off. Twice. Not starting a fight, not starting a fight, not starting a fucking fight... he told himself. Instead he was looking away, and he nodded. "Right." he said, which wasn't so much an agreement as it was something to say to acknowledge that he'd heard his brother's words and had understood them as coherent english that he comprehended.

Dorian hated when Caleb did that, the whole acknowledging he was was speaking without really giving anything on his end. It wasn't a surprise that he was short on friends when he acted like that. As annoyed as Dorian felt, he knew it was something he needed to get over. That was one of the major reasons he'd come back after all. "Like the fact that you and I can't have a conversation that doesn't evolve into a fight or a back and forth of monosyllabic answers," Dorian went on, continuing with his explanation as if Caleb's response had almost cut him off. "I'm sorry about how things ended with us. I was a dick, and then I gave up, which wasn't right."

Caleb's gaze ticked back to his brother, really a bit thrown by Dorian's admission there. He wouldn't have guessed that that would ever happen. So, yeah. It sent a flicker of a frown across his features, and he didn't say anything for a minute. "I didn't come here to start a fight, I came here because Math said you were back, so, I'm here to say hi. And tell you I'm not dead, since he said he mentioned I might be a little missing. I'm glad you finished finding yourself, or not finding yourself and heading back here to do it or whatever, but I don't know what you want from me." he said, keeping his voice civil, even if he couldn't quite edit out the edge beneath it. He was trying, he just wasn't fully successful.

A small crease kinked between Dorian's eyes when Caleb frowned like that. He wasn't really expecting open arms, but he hadn't expect his apology to sound like he was trying to start something. In surrender he raised his hands up, palms open. "I'm not asking anything of you Caleb, besides maybe giving me a chance to try and fix things between us. And if it can't be fixed then maybe we just find some sort of way to live with each other that doesn't involve ignoring each other." Dorian dropped his hands to his sides and shoved them in the pockets of his jeans.

Caleb looked at his brother for a few long moments, considering. He didn't know what to say there, either, until finally he shrugged one shoulder and looked away again. He nodded, sort of half giving Dorian an alright to do that. He just couldn't hop on board all gun ho about it when he had a few glaring sore spots when it came to the middle Lockwood. They didn't just heal up so quick, and some of them they never even discussed, and he didn't really plan on doing that now, either. "Are you going to be staying at the house?" he asked.

The nod wasn't much but it was a start. At least Caleb didn't tell Dorian not to bother with trying to fix things. No one said he had to rush into it and fix it tomorrow. Hell, half his goal with returning was to try and stop rushing into things. "No, probably not. I know you and Math got a decent thing going there, I don't want to be in the way. I'll stay here for a while, and then eventually figure out something more permanent."

Caleb finally leveled his gaze back on Dorian. "You're staying here." he said, tone flat and clearly unimpressed. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, why would you do that?" he asked. "I was crashing with you when you didn't especially want me to, then Math came crashing in to pile on top of that shit, what makes you think for a second that you couldn't stay at the house with us?" he asked, clearly thinking that logic was fucked. He and Dorian didn't so much get along. That didn't mean he for a second thought it was a plan for the guy to sleep in his goddamn book shop.

"It's not that bad," Dorian said, attempting to defend his place. Actually he hadn't slept much at all, but he was blaming that on jetlag. "I'm just trying to ease my way back. I up and left you two, I don't really have a right to expect you to move your things around and make space for me." He was trying to be respectful, trying not dive into things and it was still biting him in the ass.

"...because neither of us did that to you in rapid succession and completely disrupted your life or anything." Caleb said, giving Dorian a Look for that. "Besides, everything went up in the fire. All that's in that house is shit some chick Math paid to decorate the place put in there. It isn't exactly a warmly set up home where anything's got sentimental value or even a special 'place' it needs to be." he continued. "Does this place even have a bed? No, fuck that, doesn't matter." he cut himself off, shaking his head. "If you're staying here for your own reasons, whatever, it's stupid, but whatever. If you're staying here because of some whacked idea of not trying to mess up the space we've got now, you're way the fuck off base, and you can drop that noise right now."

And that disrupt didn't have anything to do with me completely breaking down and losing my mind, Dorian thought sarcastically. Mathias had been so understanding and Dorian had assumed that everything he said had made sense. Now Caleb was poking holes in his theory left and right and he was remembering why he always felt so damn sub par around his brothers. "It's for my own reasons," Dorian told him, giving up on arguing the point. The plan to stay at Nevermore was rooted in the tone of their conversation. Dorian didn't feel right moving back in if he and Caleb couldn't be civil.

"Just as long as it isn't bullshit about not interrupting shit." Caleb said, still thinking it was bullshit. In his own head, it didn't matter that he and Dorian tended to not get along, He was still his brother, and while he'd probably just been hanging around with Math too long and the guy's 'family means everything' mentality had rubbed off on him, that still held true. He didn't want his brother living out of a stupid book store. It didn't seem right. But if it was for his own reasons then Caleb had no say in that, so he had to let it drop. That just didn't mean he was happy about it, and that was clear.

"It's more than than," Dorian assured Caleb, but there wasn't any heart in the statement. He could tell Caleb was annoyed with him and Dorian let it shut part of himself down. He hadn't expected to come back and everything was going to be just peachy, but he had hoped that apologizing would take down some of the walls around Caleb, instead it seemed to just put more up.

Caleb glanced around again. "You should still find someplace better than this." he said. It was hardly a home. Hell, some of the shit hotel rooms he and Math had stayed at on the way down to mexico to go pull Dorian's ass out of the fire at least had the basics. But this place didn't have a kitchen, or proper bathroom, or anything. So, it concerned him. It just didn't present itself as concern. Or, more, that was a lot of how Caleb's concern was expressed. In general annoyance for people not taking better care of shit. Like themselves.

"It'll do for now, it's not a permanent thing. Or it's not without a renovation." Somewhere around dawn Dorian had realized that he could very well have the back room made into a small apartment, but that would be an undertaking. An undertaking he wasn't ready for. "Everything else alright, besides the demonic school trip?" No one could fault Dorian for trying to be friendly.

Not really, but when is it ever? Caleb thought. He didn't share it, though. He remembered all too well trying to talk to Dorian. Desperately trying, when he'd been in the psych ward after attempting suicide. And how Dorian had just...not wanted to listen. He'd been there to talk about himself and all of his problems, and he'd had a captive audience. So Caleb wasn't about to offer up anything now, believing the question was cursory at best. Ticking a box. "Fine." he answered instead with a non-committal shrug. His tone was distant. Not pointedly so, he wasn't even necessarily trying to put inflection into his tone at all.

Dorian didn't believe him. Historically things were rarely fine with Caleb. Dorian knew he hadn't been there to listen before, but he wanted to try now, although he doubted Caleb would give much up. "Doesn't sound like you believe that, how am I supposed to?"

Caleb didn't answer immediately. "How about you just not worry about it." he said, not answering the question posed. You fucked off and my issues weren't high on your list of concerns, why start now? he thought, but he didn't take the shot. He was stopping himself from taking any of the shots that were going through his mind. because he still didn't really want to be aruging. It wouldn't help anything, and it wouldn't change anything either. It was why he'd stopped talking to Dorian in the first place, and he'd thought that was reciprocated on Dorian's end. "I have to go anyway." he added on the end of that, turning to head towards the door.

That didn't settle well with Dorian and the hurt showed on his face. He didn't fight back even though he wanted to point out that even though he'd been a douchebag he never really stopped worrying. Instead he just let Caleb turn away without much protest. "That's fine, thanks for stopping by though. It was good to see you." The sentiment was genuine, although cliche.

Caleb tipped a half wave as he exited the bookstore, not really able to say the same, even if he was glad to see his brother again, and was glad he seemed okay. Caleb just happened to have massive emotional issues that sometimes meant he didn't say shit he probably should, and that tended to be exacerbated by Dorian in general. And now he needed to just...go for a walk, try to clear his head, and then hope for unconsciousness later, because fuck he needed the sleep.

Dorian watched him go, frustrated, but relieved Caleb had survived his latest trial. Getting to a point where they could be friendly was obviously an even longer road than Dorian had anticipated, but he wasn't too put off by that. He'd wanted slow, and slow was definitely what he was going to get. Sighing, he moved away from the door and went back to his book.