the zombie and the ghosts

who: caleb and nic
where: his house/her house/hospital
when: after school on
(a bit nsfw)

When Caleb got home from school that day, (thinking he was more paranoid than usual, with the weird bullshit happening, where he kept thinking he saw something then it just wasn't there) he was half planning on going to crash for a while before heading over to Nic's. He hadn't seen her in school, which he didn't find terribly surprising or anything, though it was a bit disappointing. That disappointment was quashed, however, when he got into his room. Because his bed? Was occupied. With a Nic.

He quietly shut the door after realizing that she was asleep. Asleep and looking like a zombie, but asleep none the less. Setting his backpack down quietly, he'd sat down on the floor, watching her. Eventually, he got out a sketch pad, and started to sketch her, wanting to keep the moment for some reason. Probably because this is all going to crash and burn soon. his inner cynic told him. Or maybe that was just reality piping up. Either way, he drew her there, sound asleep, and while he of course recognized again that he was being creepy, that didn't actually do anything to stop him.

One thing that he definitely noticed, is she incorporated the marks on her cheek, like he'd put on her in the painting. That? Well. Did (admittedly creepy) things for him. So did the fact that she seemed to have incorporated the bite he'd left on her into her costume. He wound up with two versions of her in his sketch pad. One where she was drawn as he saw her, with the zombie makeup and all, and the second was what he in his head dubbed as the 'princess' shot. Which she was never, ever going to see if he had anything to say about it. He was fairly sure he'd get hit a lot if she ever did.

She'd been here and asleep for hours now, having snuck out of school before third hour started. Nic had literally shambled around town for a bit before working up the nerve to head here, finally crawling into Caleb's window and then his bed. She'd set the alarm in the hopes of ducking out early, but a sleep that deep and dreamless had been resistant to it, and she'd just kept on in her blissful unconsciousness. His bed was comfortable, maybe it was the smell attached to the sheets and pillows that lulled her off to sleep so easily. Whatever it was, it hadn't faded one bit as Nic slowly rose from the depths of sleep, stretching lazily.

She blinked around the room in slow remembrance, eyes going wide despite the fuzz of sleep as she settled on the form of someone else in the room. Caleb, she realized hazily, helpless against a sleepy, warm smile curling on her lips. Nic stretched again, curling in on herself a little. She felt great, just comfortable enough to not care about her usual nerves and anxiety. "Either your alarm sucks balls," she murmured, lazily stretching a hand towards him as if to compel him to join her, "Or I'm about to have an awesome dream."

He flashed a grin at that, setting his sketch pad aside after shutting it, and he tucked his pen behind his ear, eyes on her. "If I tell you that you're still sleeping, can we go with that 'awesome dream' scenario?" he asked, voice light, seemed kind of wrong to speak louder when she'd just woken up and everything. It occurred to him that he should be cautious here. Because she could decide to ask him what the hell he'd been doing just sitting there, watching her sleep. And he didn't actually have a proper explanation.

Nic wasn't about to question his presence yet; her head was still thick and fuzzed with sleep, smoothing away the sharper edges of her perceptive side. For right now, she was content to bask in the warm spot on his bed and curl the fingers of her outstretched hand at Caleb invitingly. "Only one way to find out," Nic murmured, stretching her legs out and angling her feet to pop her ankles softly. She was dimly aware that she needed to call home eventually and check in, but right now? Those thoughts were very dim indeed, drowned out by the satisfying ache of her bruises from the night before and the grin lingering on Caleb's lips. "C'mere and pinch me," she teased, biting her lower lip to suppress a goofy smile.

He smirked at her, and thought to himself that he could get used to this. Really, if she wanted to just randomly show up here, and crash out in his bed? He was all kinds of good with that. He pushed himself up and walked over, looking down at her, considering his options. "Who says I would want to prompt you to wake up?" he asked, leaning down over her, propping one hand on the bed by her shoulder.

Nic smirked up at him, reaching up and winding her grip into Caleb's sleeve. Whatever they'd agreed on, it seemed like there was room for this sort of thing. Without the awkward tension of before? Nic didn't mind smirking up at him, she didn't even care about the dull sting in her lower lip. "Well, waking me up or letting me sleep, neither one's happening with you up there," she pointed out, tugging him down towards her and laughing. If this was something she could see happening regularly? yeah, Nic definitely had good hopes for this being somewhere she could ditch school at more often.

Caleb let her pull him down, and he dropped down over her, though held himself off of the bed and her by default. Then he shifted, and laid out next to her, back closest to the wall. "Did I inspire you?" he asked, reaching out to almost touch her cheek, but not quite. He also noticed that she'd gotten make up all over his pillowcase, but he didn't care. He didn't mind in the slightest on that score. She was allowed, as far as he was concerned, so long as she showed up again.

Her breath caught in her throat at the near-contact, eyes raptly fluttering down to Caleb's fingers, then back up to his eyes. Nic reached up to rest her own hand beneath the streaks of red, nodding a little. "You did, believe it or not," she murmured, shifting slightly to settle her legs next to his. "I figured I needed something to go with the other side, and it just... fit." She reached to her other cheek, blinking a little at the smudge of colors that came off on her fingertips, then looking down at Caleb's pillow. "Oh shit," Nic cursed, sighing and shutting her eyes, "I owe you a new pillow case." Reaching to her neck, Nic sat up a little and glanced down at Caleb's bedspread, wondering if she'd messed anything else up.

"Because pillowcases are so important to my daily life. I'm really going to be hurting without this one." Caleb said drily, amused, as he propped his head up on his hand. He was aware in the back of his head that this, as nice as it was, was asking for trouble. But...he couldn't stop himself, either. Or, he didn't want to. He reached out to tug her back down. "Don't worry about it." he said.

She chuckled as her back hit the bed again, rolling onto one side and shoving Caleb to try and get him flattened out. "Don't think you can boss me around, asshole," Nic teased, planting her hand and positioning herself over Caleb. "If I want to buy you a frilly fucking comforter, you'll snuggle up in it and let me read you a bedtime story. Got me?" Yeah, it was asking for trouble, but Nic was just having too much fun. She didn't have to give up any of her rougher tendencies, he didn't expect her to get all girly and sensitive, and as of yet (even if it hadn't been a day yet) there wasn't anything to really make Nic freak out or flail.

He let her push him back, and kept up the smirk as he looked up at her. "Oh is that so?" he asked. "Nic, out of curiosity, you haven't sustained a blow to the head recently, have you?" he asked, hand ghosting out to light on her side, fingertips just barely brushing down, before he dropped his hand back to the bed again--since he probably shouldn't have done that, even if he wasn't in any way feeling guilty for it. "It's that? Or you're confusing me with someone compliant." he teased.

She twitched towards the side Caleb had touched, shivering at the brief tickle, then reached out to snag his hand by the wrist. "Actually, I did get my head bumped up against a wall a few times last night," Nic pointed out, drawing his hand up above his head and pinning it down, "And if I'm correcting you?" She paused, drawing in a deep breath and swinging one leg over Caleb, scooting up to rest on him a little but making sure she wasn't right on him yet, half-teasing with the light contact. "I remember you saying you were a little submissive."

Yep. He could get used to this. Of course, in the back of his mind, he was trying very hard to remind himself that this was temporary. That right now, it was great, but when she found out about everything else, it was just going to suck that much more that it crashed and burned. But that didn't have him doing anything to stop her. He really needed to get back to that mindset, but it just...didn't seem worth it at the moment. Later, he was sure he'd feel like shit over it, but not right now. Instead, he kept his eyes on hers, and didn't stop her from doing whatever she wanted. "I can be. Sometimes." he said. "Doesn't mean that I am all the time. Or that it means that you wouldn't have to fight for it." he added lightly, just the hint of a wicked smile on his lips.

"Oh really?" Nic asked in mock-surprise, reaching for Caleb's other wrist and bringing it up to join the first. "Doesn't being submissive mean I don't have to fight for it?" She leaned down and in close, hanging near Caleb's lips as her braids slipped free from behind either ear to tickle his brow. She wasn't thinking that this would crash and burn, not even if Nic still knew there was something out there Caleb thought would drive her away for good. She was far too focused on how good it felt to not be dancing around this. "I mean, if you lied, I can just stop since this obviously isn't your thing," Nic murmured, tilting her head to speak into Caleb's ear and giving him a good look at the painted-up bite mark he'd left on her.

He did look over the mark, and had to smile. She'd used it. Highlighted it. That? He liked. But then again, he just liked that she had it in the first place. He wanted to see her without the rest of the make up on, just...seeing the bruise there. "C'mon...it wouldn't be any fun if there wasn't any resistance involved." he said in return. "And besides...there's the flipside too. I'm not always submissive." Not that he proved that right then. Though, he was pretty sure she recalled when he'd first pushed her back up against a wall.

This was some kind of role reversal, it seemed. Nic was normally the one who was trapped in close, Caleb murmuring all sorts of teases and giving her hungry looks. Though she definitely remembered that first night, the rush of it all and everything they'd talked about in light of that feeling. "I'm guessing you're rarely submissive," she agreed, scraping her teeth against Caleb's neck lightly. Maybe she was pushing, but she couldn't quite help herself. "I wish I had a camera, just to prove that it does happen now and then. But I think that's kinda illegal, in this situation."

"Maybe I only am with the right person." Caleb commented, though it was just a little bit later than it should have been, feeling the scrape of her teeth. She qualified. But then again, they'd have to see. He imagined a back and forth between the two of them, though. Something where the power shifted like a fluid thing, back and forth, depending on mood and impulses. Which really, he was all kinds of good with. Hell. It was what he preferred, if he was being honest.

Really, it wasn't too hard to imagine. They'd been close to such a thing just one night earlier, though Nic had been so overwhelmed that she'd been all too happy to let Caleb trap her. "If you even give me more of that dominatrix shit? I'm gonna make us match, smartass," she warned, nipping at Caleb's neck again. "I like a good fight, in case you missed that. So... I hope I'm the wrong person." And just to prove her point, Nic released Caleb's wrists, dragging her nails down the inside of his forearms and hiking his sleeves slightly down with them.

He had in fact, caught the bit where she liked a good fight. Her nails dragged down scars, of course. He really was a road map, or he was doing a damn good impression of one. He twitched slightly when she tugged the sleeves down slightly, even if he appreciated her nails against his skin. He couldn't help it. It was just an ingrained thing. Even if she'd held one of his arms for him as he'd stitched himself back up, it was hard to get over. But, he didn't let it ruin the moment, either. He pushed himself up, knocking Nic back a bit, off balance, and he grabbed both of her hands, snagging her wrists behind her back as he looked up at her, having forced her to sit back on his lap now that he was sitting up. "Sorry, I was distracted...what was that you were saying?" he asked.

She missed the twitch, by now accustomed to either ignoring it or just pretending she did, and also? Because Nic was having more fun waking up like this than she ever did otherwise. Laughing in surprise as Caleb swung her off-balance and yanked her arms back, Nic struggled in his grip, twisting her arms and rocking from side to side. She was strong? But Caleb had a strength of practice, and leverage against her to boot. "I was saying that you forgot I fight like a five year old," she chuckled, butting her head forward into his chest and rocking him back. Nic's arms strained, but damn did Caleb have a good grip. She laughed roughly, lunging in at a different angle to bite at his chest through his shirt.

He grinned at her laugh, and leaned her back farther, into an even more awkward type of position, keeping her upright, but still bound by the wrists. "Generally speaking, I can take five year olds. They don't put up much of a fight. Didn't anyone ever tell you biting people is rude? If you can't play nice with the other kids..." he teased, leaning just a little back to be out of her range--even if he actually appreciated said biting. "Now, how nice can you be, if you want to be let go?" he asked.

Nic just kept laughing as she was tilted back, her head rolling farther to expose her throat as she grinned helplessly at the ceiling. "So you're only in danger from kids six and up?" she mocked, struggling against Caleb's grip, "I'm about as nice as a burning bag of crap, Caleb. Have you been paying attention at all?" She went with the odd pose he had her in, rocking back a little farther and trying to tug her legs between them. Nic only half-succeeded, getting one knee buffered and resting her foot on his thigh. "Better hope I'm nice enough to not smash the Lockwood family jewels."

"I'm banking more on the fact that if you did that, the games would be over." Caleb said, smirking at her. "But c'mon, I know you have it in you somewhere. What's the magic word, if you really want me to let you go?" he prompted, pointedly gripping her wrists a little more tightly.

Sighing profoundly, Nic rolled her eyes and feigned a look of deep thought. "One word?" she asked, twisting her leg to rub her foot at Caleb's hip. It was good that he had her caught, awkward pose or no, because that move would've made her tip over otherwise. "Abracadabra?" she suggested, looking back down and smirking at him, "Or... if it's more than one word? 'You can bite me anywhere you want'?" She put a sultry note into her voice, batting her eyes at Caleb like they weren't all tangled up and fighting for control of the situation.

See? There was a reason he liked this girl. Really, there were a lot of reasons, but that right there was ranking pretty high right now. He eyed her for a second, then let her go, dropping her back down onto the mattress with the motion. "See the only issue with that is you've got all this make up on." he said, reaching out to smudge his fingers through some on her cheek that didn't have the war marks on it. He still appreciated that in probably creepy ways.

She hit the mattress with a light bounce and a laugh, kicking Caleb's ribs before moving her foot away from him. Propping an elbow under her, Nic smirked dangerously as she wiped at the smudged makeup with her sleeve, drawing it down across her jawline and neck and leaving a smear of colors on the fabric. "Only on my face," she teased, shaking her head at herself. She wasn't saying as much? But she wanted to leave the streaks of red alone for now. She had a hunch that he liked them, and as for Nic herself? She just liked thinking maybe she did resemble the girl he'd painted.

Caleb winced faintly at the kick, and moved back, just watching her for a moment or two. "That's true." he agreed, making a show of eyeing her with interest. Then he reached out and slid her shirt up just a little, on her side, and he lighted is fingers against her skin above her hip. A light little circle was traced, as he watched her eyes. He didn't say he was considering right there, it was all in the implications otherwise.

And those were dangerous implications to consider there, for sure. Nic's eyes lit up with the slow move of her shirt's hem, her teeth closing at the edge of her lip as she watched Caleb raptly. She reached out to run fingers through Caleb's hair with a little shiver, biting her lip harder to suppress the ticklish reflex his touch coaxed. "You know I get to return the favor, right?" Nic asked in a slightly shaky murmur, "And I get to pick a spot too."

There was some distant part of Caleb's mind that marveled at the fact that he was actually having this conversation. That it was here, he was having it, and it was actually seeming...okay. Not messed up in huge ways. He had to wonder if this was what an actual, stable kind of relationship might be like. Or maybe he was just reading in. After all, they had already said they weren't together-together. Right? But would it be like this if they were? And goddamnit he needed to quit thinking about it, because there was still the massive Issue that overshadowed everything. ...though at the moment, that didn't so much make him want to draw back, as to take what he could now. He shifted, leaning farther over her, still tracing that little circle on her skin. "The deal was I let you go, and I could bite you anywhere I wanted." he reminded her, voice ever so slightly quieter than it had been a moment before. His eyes didn't leave hers. "You adding something else on now after the fact? Hardly seems fair." he said--though didn't actually tell her she wasn't going to get to do that. Because really? He wanted her to.

"Was it a deal?" Nic asked softly, legs shifting to accommodate Caleb. She wanted him close, and he was getting there. Nic just needed to keep up the little cues that told Caleb as much. "I thought I was just using some magic words, not signing a contract," she went on, reaching down to where his fingertips arced around her skin and drawing them slightly higher. Really, she hadn't thought much about the hurdles either of them would have to cross since last night, before things had finally flooded between them. And since then? Well, Nic didn't want to. She would in time, but she was just too caught up in how engrossing it all was with them.

"Mmhmm. See, I had you held, you were trying to get out. That was what you offered, for me to do that. So, there wasn't any mention of reciprocation on my part. See that'd be like you getting out for free." Caleb told her, eyes drifting down from hers finally towards the skin he'd exposed, and she helped him with a bit there. He leaned in close, breath ghosting along her side, even if he was careful not to do more than that.

Okay, it was all an anticipation game. Nic thought so at least. He was trying to push her, get a real reaction of desire from her. And Nic wanted to give one, but she was just too stubborn to let Caleb out-and-out win like that. She couldn't help her eyes fluttering shut, though, or the shiver his exhale got from her. "Well... we'll just have to work out another deal, then" she suggested, fingers clutching Caleb's hair lightly, "Have your people call my people, we'll do a lunch meeting on Monday."

He grinned at that, ticking his eyes back up to her, before they settled back on her unmarred skin. He propped his elbow on the bed next to her, and just traced around, a little circle, marking the spot as he contemplated whether or not he was going through with this. He wanted to. That much was incredibly clear. He just knew that it could lead to other things. Not things he was adverse to in any way...he was doing that thing again where he was having trouble finding the down side.

If Nic was asked? She would've told Caleb there really wasn't a down side. All of this was natural for her, even if she knew that it would complicate itself in time. But it wasn't doing that yet, not in this moment. And he was just waiting, making her wait for the aching tingle of teeth on flesh. The bastard. "Searching for some prime real estate down there?" Nic purred, scratching lightly at his scalp. He could go higher and she'd be fine, but if Caleb wanted to take his time? Why rush him? I don't think mom would even be mad if I was late.

"In a hurry or something?" he countered, smirking up at her, and he pulled farther away, to settle his gaze on her eyes. "I mean, if you've got something better to be doing..." he started, like he was going to pull away--even if he did no such thing. That would have taken willpower he didn't have at this juncture.

"My only plans involve scaring children and getting pissed because I suck at videogames," Nic murmured in a rush, holding her grip on Caleb's hair like she didn't want him to move away. "So yeah, I might have better things to do? But I'm comfortable, and you're warm," she teased, sliding a hand up Caleb's back, urging him to come closer. It was different than the night before, less intense, more a mix of their usual banter with a low hunger. So any differences? They were good ones.

He shifted a little higher, due to her urging, and then he looked back down at her side. He drifted his fingertips back and forth, before he leaned down, and nuzzled the area he was planning on leaving teeth marks in in just a moment. But then again he liked kind of keeping things moving. A fluid back and forth sort of thing, sweet...and something else.

There was light bruising on the other side of her, faint marks from being pinned to the wall by him, and the contrast between their dull ache and Caleb's light nuzzling was delicious. To think he could summon that kind of raw heat and this slow playful tease? Nic was fine with shifting between the aggression of before and the tortured patience now, though she'd already decided she would need to find some way to get him back, and soon. Which made Nic squirm a little just with the idea, really. She wasn't the type to even consider that, but with him? I could learn.

He did take his time. Drew it out, made her wait for it. He also took the time to draw in her scent, and kind of actively memorize the moment. It was without warning that he ended the anticipation, moved a little closer, and bit her. And he definitely bit her hard enough that it was going to bruise.

She cried out immediately, the pain edging the eagerness she'd had for him to do exactly that. She fought the urge to arch as he bit her, and Nic leaned forward a bit, drawing Caleb in like she didn't want him to stop. One leg curled around the back of his to hook him as she cradled the back of his head. "Oh god you don't get to stop," she murmured, knowing he'd have to eventually and hating that fact. That deal? Good deal, she thought hazily.

Nic really had a habit of telling him that, and he was appreciative of it. Highly appreciative. In ways he couldn't even describe if he had to. He had been pretty sure he'd get a good reaction out of her, but the one he got was...compelling. He trailed a few kisses up higher on her side, and didn't warn her before he added another bite. Again, hard enough that she'd be seeing the evidence later.

She whimpered plaintively, curling farther in and drawing her arm across Caleb's back. Nic only had that habit because she meant it every time; he was too good at flaring up desires she hadn't even known existed, and she wanted him to mark her up, if only so she could have the reminders of how amazing it all felt. "Touch me," Nic ordered in a harsh whisper, not knowing if there was time for her request and not caring as she released Caleb's hair and pulled her shirt higher. "If you don't, I'm just going to ravage you when we get to my house."

Caleb was really hard pressed to come up with a single reason why the alternative there was a bad one. In fact, that sounded like an incredibly good idea to him. He was down with that idea. He liked the sound of it. But then agan...he also liked the sound of that first part. Of course, in the back of his mind, he really wanted to ask her not to start something she couldn't finish...but all that thought was jumbled together, and it really didn't help that it was in there with a rush of lust. He slid his hand up her other side, and shifted a little more, adding another bite to her skin, a smaller one in size, but she'd feel it since it was over her ribs, not exactly an area that had a whole lot of padding to it. Then he pushed himself up, hands on either side of her, looking down at her. "What was that you wanted?" he asked, voice just a bit rough. In the back of his mind, he really had to wonder if it wasn't just a bit fucked up of him to be doing this with her when she had the zombie make up on.

Trapped down there, looking up at Caleb and wanting to just shed her shirt, Nic wasn't giving her left-over makeup a passing thought at all. She was far too fixated on the softer pressure of his teeth closing on her again, of the damp chill in the aftermath, and how he encompassed the world above and around her in the moment. "You," she growled plainly, giving Caleb a hungry smile, "But I don't think we have enough time to do everything I want. So for now?" Nic reached up, looping an arm around Caleb's neck and leaning up. She bit down on his neck firmly, lips wet and lingering as she gave him a softer mark than his, one that seemed to fit the different mood of this moment. "For now... I just want to feel you touching me."

Caleb made a quiet hiss as she bit him, though he didn't do anything silly like pull away. He turned his face in a little more towards her, and drew in her scent. Today of which was faintly of smoke, a little of the make up she used for her costume, and whatever she'd washed her hair with. He knew he couldn't actually return the favor right now, not with all the make up there. And the fake blood. Still, he stayed where he was, then drifted his hand back down her side, ticking along her ribs, then down across her stomach to stop at the top of her jeans.

Anxiety blossomed and spread through Nic, though it wasn't all in a bad sense. She hadn't been in this sort of situation since before she'd moved to Marquette, and then it had just been some drunken fooling around. It had never been heated like this, and that? Well that made her anxious. She wanted him to keep going, she didn't want him to have to stop, but she knew that eventually they'd hit that wall of frustration again. Enjoy it while you can, Nic told herself, Maybe mom'll go to bed early tonight. She reached down to her jeans, fingers settling next to Caleb's and undoing the catch, then guiding his fingertips to the tab of her zipper as Nic started a slow chew on her lower lip.

He knew he was probably going to wind up frustrated here. But really, at the moment...he wasn't going to complain. Turning his face in towards her shoulder, he breathed in for a moment, easing her zipper down. "Lay back." he told her, voice quiet. It was that, or he just shove her onto her back, but he wasn't going to do that right this second.

She did as he asked, easing back down onto Caleb's bed with a little wiggle against the sheets that'd work a bit of looseness into her pants. Nic was torn; she wanted to grab him and pull him down onto her, tug off his sweatshirt, maybe go for his jeans. But at the same time? She wanted to put herself at his mercy. The fight could wait, a moment of really giving control to Caleb sounded just as good as anything else Nic might want to do.

He looked down at her, and pushed at her jeans, down past her hips. Not fully, not completely exposing her or anything, but giving himself enough room. He traced his fingertips back and forth along her skin, over her thigh, across her stomach below the belt line. He watched her face as he did so, or, her eyes. In his imagination--which was far too fucking vivid sometimes--he edited out the rest of the make up. He just left the scratches across her cheek. And recognized that was fucked of him, but...whatever. He was fucked up. That was just kind of par for the course at this point.

Nic's eyes were wide and lit up, raptly focused on Caleb, on the flick and flutter of his own eyes as he studied her in kind. Her gaze darted around with every swivel of his shoulder hinting at the movement of his hand, movement Nic could feel in every inch of skin. Gooseflesh raced up her thighs and along her back as Caleb drew his fingers along her pelvis and thigh, a shaky breath sucking in past Nic's lips. She reached back behind him as he teased her, feeling under the hem of his sweatshirt to scratch lightly at his lower back in an encouraging sort of way.

It felt good. He liked the scratches along his scars, and vaguely wondered how the ones she'd given him the night before looked today. If she might seek them out, make them worse. But he didn't say anything about it. As far as he was concerned, at the moment, it was all about her. He lowered his head down a little, towards her shoulder, and he nuzzled against it for a moment, fingertips brushing lower, lower, a steady kind of pace, slow, but he wasn't deviating from the path anymore. And when he did finally get there, slid his hand down to touch her, he sank his teeth into her shoulder too, wanting her to have both those sensations at the same time, the conflicting sensory input.

Her nails dug into his back as Nic felt the jolt of Caleb's bite mix with the sudden shock of his touch between her legs, and Nic's head pushed back into the pillow as she gave a little moan that almost sounded anguished. If it was? It was only anguished because she realized just then how delicious that feeling could be. Nic reached her free hand to Caleb's head, smoothing her fingers across his hair and cradling him as he bit at her shoulder, whimpering softly as she pressed into both points of contact.

Internally, there was a smile. A touch of satisfaction at the whimper. He started slow. Because contrary to what was possibly popular belief--he could be gentle when he wanted to be. It was just punctuated with bites. Some of them were harder, some lighter, and he made sure there wasn't actually a predictability to it, so she wasn't tensed up, or expecting it at any given time, she just had to roll with it when she got one. It was that, while he learned her. While he payed strict attention to what got the best responses. What she liked. It was a tease, but one that at least he knew she was going to be enjoying.

It was a tease, the best kind of torture, and every passage of his hand swirled together with the pressure of Caleb's teeth and the heat of his breath to stoke a slow fire that was building in Nic's stomach. The whimper wasn't the only one of its kind, just a precursor for an unsteady stream of little gasps, murrs of enjoyment, and full-body shivers. Even if she could've stifled the sounds, her body was betraying her with those trembles and the slight shifts of posture, the way her thighs would close around his hand fleetingly and part again a moment later, wordlessly asking for more. Nic's head turned to let out a rush of breath against Caleb's ear as he bit and nibbled along her body, leaning in close to nuzzle in and tease the curve of his ear with the tip of her tongue as she gasped plaintively.

He picked things up a little, upped the pressure, the pace, but it was a slowish kind of build. He was taking his time with things, leaving little bites along her collarbone, in towards her throat. He couldn't go higher than that, what with the makeup job she'd done, but he did as far as he could. Caleb left a few harder bites on her chest, just little things she could see later, that, before he started to really put his concentration into getting as many sounds as he could from her, wanting to know what she would do then.

She wished the makeup wasn't there; Nic wanted to feel him at her neck again, renewing the mark behind her jawline and spreading the ache of it down her spine again. That would be pure rapture when it collided with the electric waves he was already sending up, leaving her toes curled in her socks, one leg raised and running a foot along Caleb's leg. The build wasn't helping Nic's self-control one bit, either. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut as Caleb escalated his focus on her, a proper moan shaking its way out of Nic as she rocked against his touch, finally digging her nails out of his back and dragging her hand around his waist then down, fleetingly, across the front of his jeans.

That made him shudder a touch, a tremble that dragged up his spine. He didn't stop what he was doing, didn't let it distract him, though he could make no promises if she kept it up. Which meant he might actually stop her. This was, after all, in his head, about her. And he wanted it to stay that way. So he went about distracting her, instead. He bit back into her shoulder again, and ground his fingers in against her, pushing things.

Nic didn't need much distracting, really. She was already floating on the feelings he was giving to her with every push or stroke, and her own teasing had just been silent praise, an effort to let him know how amazing it felt. "Oh fuck," she gasped, her voice tight and choked, desperate to convey as much as it could in those two sparse words as Nic trembled and squeezed her legs around Caleb's hand again, wanting to keep him from scaling things back. He'd driven her mad with the switch-up initially, but that escalation? She didn't want to go back to before it now.

He grinned, just a flash of one, at hearing that said. And he didn't dial anything back. Not then. He kept pushing it. Kept upping it just a bit at a time. He kept up the bites, working at leaving a mark on her shoulder like the one on her neck. Something that was going to hurt later. That was going to have a mark that was going to last for a while. He didn't draw blood, but it was close, and there were going to be red rings in her skin where his teeth had been.

They both seemed to constantly have to battle thoughts of how creepy their desires could feel, and it was Nic's turn. Or it would be later when she looked back on it, at least. The deepening pressure laced with pain flared from her shoulder, coursing down her arm and through the muscles in her back, making the mark on her neck ache in time with the fresh injury. Which would've been good all on its own, except that the rush from it and the ministrations he was giving her lower down stacked up, dragging Nic past the edge.

Her hand slid down from Caleb's hair and past his collar, scratching desperately as Nic felt her legs go rigid, clamping together. She twisted her head to one side, eyes shut tight as she bit her lip but still failed to stop from crying out, nails raking up Caleb's back and digging into the back of his neck. She got lost in the feeling for a long moment that had her drawing out the plaintive, praising sound; numb to her extremities, aware only of his touch and the race of her pulse.

Caleb gasped in a shuddery kind of breath when she dragged her nails up. They caught on some of the scabs she'd left on him the other night and that he appreciated. He also appreciated feeling her crash like that. He waited for a few moments, feeling the little aftershocks, and only then did he draw back, just a little, enough to give her a tiny bit of breathing room.

Nic's eyes stayed shut for the first moment of the aftermath, one hand crossing her chest to rub slowly at the shoulder Caleb had been biting. She was relishing the feel of it and how each throb coincided with the tremors she felt running through her. "Good god I'm fucking keeping you," she whispered, finally looking up at Caleb and breathing deep, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him down towards her.

That statement at once made Caleb feel really good, and gave him a stabbing ache in his chest. Because if this was just...normal? If this could be them? Then he would be all about her doing that. But it wasn't. Because she still didn't know about him. This was all still going to crash, and he was reminded sharply of why it was he'd not wanted to start this shit to begin with. Because of this. Because of getting attached. Wanting this. Wanting more than this. He kissed her anyways, being drawn down, he just completed it, kissed her, didn't pay attention to the zombie makeup. Wasn't really on her lips anymore anyways. He could feel a little bit of the heat from the cut on her lip, the light swell of it.

Oblivious to the fears he was thinking on, Nic kissed up into Caleb's lips with a fierce eagerness, something that contrasted the lazy joy the rest of her body felt. She wanted to show him how genuine her words were with the gesture, to convey it with pure feeling. Her lip stung a little as Nic pressed into him, and she couldn't help thinking that it described everything with them. Eager pleasure with an edge of pain. She lingered in the kiss, teasing his tongue and savoring the curve of his lips before withdrawing with a sigh, looping an arm around his ribs again. "I think I've never wanted to move less in my life," she murmured. Or call my mom.

He smiled at that, watching her eyes. He rested his hand on her hip, and just kind of took a minute to memorize her there. Which was going to be weird later, because of the zombie-thing, but...still. He supposed everything else about them was fucked up, he might as well have massively fucked up memories of it too. "So don't move." he told her, voice strangely a little softer than usual. It was in response to everything. Her. What she said. How her eyes looked, the way she'd kissed him. That shadow the back of his mind was casting over everything, and the regret he felt for even thinking about it right now. Or how much this was going to hurt later.

Nic smiled back, encouraged by Caleb's expression and the warmth she saw in his eyes, heard in his voice. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," she teased, still not making any move to fix her clothing. Why would she? If Nic felt safe anywhere any more, it was going to be with the one guy who'd bailed her out of trouble, talked down her fear, told her she wasn't alone. "I never would've thought of that on my own... you're a sharp one. And for the record?" she went on, nose wrinkling as her smile stretched wider and flashed teeth, "That was an awesome dream."

He listened to her, faint smirk touching his lips when she teased him. And at that last bit, it got slightly wider, and he reached up to push her shirt aside enough that he could kiss the forming bruise on her shoulder. It was a light, soft little brush of a kiss. "Glad it was." he murmured, lips still against her skin. He might have said more but he was kind of in a strange frame of mind. A quiet sort of one that he wasn't easily going to be shaken from.

She twisted around to watch as Caleb murmured into her shoulder, idly twisting a lock of his hair between two fingers. The gentility was surprising, but not unwelcome. As much as Nic thought she'd never be into it, she figured now it was more that she wanted to know there could be fire too. And with Caleb? There was plenty. Nic wondered about his eyes, about the subdued spark in them when they looked at each other. Was it some kind of contentment there? Satisfaction for where they found themselves? Was that secret of his lurking in the blacks of his pupils? If it was, she wouldn't try to dwell on it now. This was too good, and it was real. "Next time, I get to ambush you when you're napping," she teased, drawing a foot along Caleb's calf.

He smiled a touch at that, the expression pressed to her shoulder, and he ticked his gaze back to hers. "I think I could handle that." he told her. And he could. Or, part of him could. There was a mess of thoughts that rushed in again. Conflicting ones. Like how he wasn't sure just how well he'd hold back if she did. And on the flipside of that, how if he did, would that make things worse? How was it gauged? Was it better to savor things while they lasted? Or was it better to cut them off before they got too deep, because it was just going to be that much worse? And even if he decided that second one...was he ready to let her go? Looking at her there, at the spark in her eyes, he knew he really, really wasn't.

Caleb drew a chuckle from Nic with the sparse words, her fingers curving through his hair lightly. "Brave words," she teased, angling her gaze to steal a look at the mark she'd left on his neck. It was far smaller than the one (several now) that she had, but she just liked seeing it there. It was fitting, the size of the mark he'd left on her. And though Nic wouldn't say it out loud because she knew Caleb would hate to hear it? Hers fit too. It was smaller, symbolic to her; other girls had touched his life before she'd known him, Caleb had talked about them to some extent. She couldn't hope to have the same level of impact, but Nic didn't need to. She had some, enough for her, and that was all she needed.

He smiled a bit at that, and rested his cheek against her shoulder for a moment. "We'll see, won't we?" he asked. "should you ever go through with that." He had a feeling she'd try. He didn't figure it was so much an idle threat as something she would probably love. But then they both seemed to have similar tendencies. Similar tastes. Which...made them stupidly fucking compatible, and he knew that played into why he was so reluctant to let her go. That little thought in the back of his mind that she was going to get him killed some day popped up again. The longer he knew her the more he thought that was an actual possibility. He just...wouldn't back off from it because of that. Not that. Other things. But not that.

Laying there was the closest Nic had ever felt to an absence of the hollow sensation she lived with every day. It wasn't gone, it wasn't filled, it had just been overshadowed by this moment. Even a month earlier, Nic would've laughed to think she could find such symmetry with a guy. Now she wanted to hold onto it, knowing how unlikely it'd be to have happen twice. "Oh, I'm going to," she promised him. "Might need to sneak in stupidly late to catch you sleeping, but it's on now, Lockwood. It is on." That? Was something to look forward to once she was ungrounded. Which made Nic sigh a little as she remembered her outstanding promise to call home. "Think I need your phone, or I'm gonna end up extending my sentence."

"Right." he said. "Have to check in with the warden." He shifted, reluctantly getting off of the bed to grab his backpack, digging his phone out of it. He stopped as he turned back to her, looking down at her, and he brought the phone up, snapping a picture of her there. He did make sure it was decent--just really her face, and such, but still. Then he smirked and tossed it to her.

Ire lined Nic's brow reflexively as the camera phone flashed, but it couldn't sustain itself for long. She burst out laughing, rolling up onto her side to catch the phone, then brandish a fist Caleb's way. "You are dead," she promised with a grin, "But not today, it's a holiday." And it was quickly becoming Nic's favorite holiday, to boot. She dropped the fist to tug her shirt back down, thumbing in her home phone number and laying back as she raised it to her ear.

"Mom? Hey," Nic greeted, smirking Caleb's way as she shimmied around on the bed, using one hand to work her jeans back up. "No, I know I'm late, just listen. My friend Caleb's coming by to hang out." She scowled dramatically as she listened to the other end, sighing. "You said people could come over when you were home!" Nic seemed to counter, laughing a moment later, "Why yes, I do know I get my smarts from you. But I'm wasting his minutes. So! He's changing out of his kittycat costume, we're going to go rent a Playstation, then we'll be over.... okay, love you too. be home soon." She hung up, grinning back to Caleb and tossing his phone over.

He caught it, shaking his head as he chuckled. "Kittycat costume?" he asked. "Really? Are you still going to try to convince your mother I'm gay?" he asked, smirking at her, and he closed the distance again, leaning over her. "After what I just did to you?" then he paused, eyes falling on her neck, and he reached out to trace his fingers through the makeup on the bite. "And how are you going to explain this? And the fact that I'm pretty sure we match around now?"

Doing up the catch of her jeans, Nic laughed at Caleb's accusation, shaking her head. "I gave up on the gay thing the moment I decided I was going to kiss you at some point," she informed him, cheeks coloring a little with the honesty. "Morning after the werewolf, actually." Her head tilted back as she felt his fingers brush along her neck, and Nic moved quick to catch Caleb's wrist. But she wasn't yanking his touch away, rather she was just making sure it lingered.

"At school? I don't really care, people can look all they like. Fuck, I'll show it off... At home? Like I said, wear the hair down." She grinned up at Caleb as she released his wrist, shaking her head. "My mom's not dumb, she's going to see it. But if I hide it? Maybe she just won't push too hard... it's not like hickies are a new invention."

He laughed. "Gave up on that then, huh?" he asked, liking that. He stood, and reached down to grab both of her hands, to draw her up with him. "I like your hair down." he'd told her that before. But he didn't think that it hurt to remind her. "And no. Hickies are in no way new. I think they look slightly more like hickeys, though. Less like someone bit you hard." Also, hickeys generally speaking were red, and she was clearly bruised.

"Well, they've evolved, then," Nic argued with a smirk, rising to her feet with Caleb's help. Her legs felt unsteady again, but every muscle felt good in a way that was foreign. Privately, Nic thought she wouldn't mind if it became more familiar. And that thought alone was enough to make her blush in spite of herself. She kept hold of one of Caleb's hands, guiding it behind her head and stepping in close, lining up his fingers to close on the clasp that held her hair up. "Well, let me give a little wish fulfillment," Nic murmured, eyes fixing on his as she manipulated his hand to pull the clasp away and let her hair spill down in a full mess.

He had no idea what made that so compelling--but good goddamn it was. And she really needed to not be dressed as a zombie anymore, because it was going to start fucking with his head, and a lot. Still, he grinned, a wicked sort of expression, and he snaked one arm around her waist, and pulled her in close, leaning her back enough so he had to support her. Sure, she was over the bed, and if he did happen to let go she wouldn't drop far, but still. He kissed her, letting his free hand drift through her thick hair, untangling it some so when he pulled her back up, it would fall down around her shoulders.

That definitely wasn't a pose Nic was used to, and she managed a brief chuckle of surprise as Caleb leaned her back, grabbing the front of his sweatshirt to anchor herself. Then he was kissing her, trapping her between the steady hand on her back and the rest of him. She thought there might be a glimpse of understanding dawning for her as he worked his hand through her hair, feeling like she might get why Caleb always seemed to like that so much when she did it to him. But really? If he was kissing her, someone could probably throw a dart at Nic and she'd be okay with it. His plan worked, though; as Nic righted herself her hair fanned out, close to her shoulders and obscuring the makeup-smeared side of her face.

He looked at her, and smiled. "There." he said. He didn't say it was much better, or anything, he just....tended to like it down. She looked good like that. And, it was kind of wild around her face, framing it nicely. And he could quit thinking artistically any time now. "So shall we?" he asked. "And am I going to have to make nice with your mom while you shower?" he asked, pointedly eyeing her cheek.

Nic managed not to squirm a little at how it felt to wear her hair down, shaking her head a little at how Caleb seemed to act like he'd corrected something. "Yeah, let's beat feet," she agreed, taking a little step back from him towards where she'd stashed her backpack. "And you could if you wanted," she answered his second question with a devious smile, "Or you could drop me first, go get the game and shit, and I'd be just about done when you got back. Your pick." Because as curious as her mother was, and as much as Nic thought she'd understand the attraction? Caleb seemed leery of the idea, and she wasn't going to shove him into an environment he wasn't ready for. "If I'm there, you'll be safe."

He laughed a little at that. "Is that so? And I think I'll go for that second option. I'll drop you off first, then come back." He didn't mind a little talking to her mom. He knew he could pull off charming and hell. Disarming if he wanted to. He did it with the nurses in the psych ward. He did it with the stewardesses on the plane. So he was capable of it, most certainly. But the less he had to put on that act the better.

She disengaged from Caleb long enough to grab her backpack, shouldering it and shaking her head his way. "You'd better have some good timing, mister. I'm not fielding these 'Nicole who stuck a mousetrap on your neck' questions by myself," Nic warned, reaching out to grab Caleb's sleeve and tug him towards the door with her. Maybe her mom would cut them some slack and not bring up the obvious in front of Caleb tonight. Here's hoping, she mused as she stomped her feet back into her shoes.

"I promise I won't leave you for too long." he said. Then he flashed a grin at her. "You know if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were being clingy." he teased, reaching out to poke her side as he said it. "I mean, I know that you adore my presence...came here while I was out and everything...but really...." He couldn't help it, he had to give her shit her about it.

Well, at least he wouldn't need to worry about Nic's piss and vinegar drying up. "Clingy?" she spat with an incredulous smile, hopping in quickly and releasing Caleb's sleeve. Nic lashed out, bumping her fists off his chest with a little force, the first beginnings of her kickboxing training. "If I'm 'clingy', asshole," Nic went on with a smirk, keeping her hands up, "It's because I'm choking you."

He let her hit him, even if one of these days, he was going to stop her. Take her hand, twist it behind her back--just to show her that he could. He thought part of her might actually need to know that sort of thing, and...he just wanted to see how she reacted. "Really? Good to know." he said, looking amused. "I'll keep it in mind. Now, we leaving, or did you want to do more to convince me that you aren't being clingy?" he asked, sounding far too innocent in tone, even if the amused look stayed.

"God, ego trip much?" Nic asked, rolling her eyes. Caleb was the last person who'd be on an ego trip, of course. "I just don't like getting the interrogation routine from my mom. If we're both there, she'll lay off me because she doesn't want to look bad in front of you, and she'll lay off you so I don't steal her beer. But I know how to handle it, so it'll all be over by the time you get there." Resisting the urge to slug Caleb again, since it was fun, she hooked her thumbs in her backpack and moved to get her shoes where they sat by the door. "Let's roll."

Caleb dropped Nic off so she could shower, and went to get the game system and game. Which didn't take very long, since it was an old game and an old system, so it wasn't difficult to come by. So, he got back to Nic's fairly quickly, and talked to her mom for a few minutes, dropping into a more disarming, charming kind of persona. He could do it. It was easier when Nic wasn't there to witness it. But he did the same thing he did with the nurses at the psych ward with her. Gave her that little edge of mischievous, but generally projected a kind of acceptable image, but not one that was so good that she'd wonder how he'd come to hang out with her daughter.

The Haverstrom house was small, and without some kind of buffer? Things got overheard. When Nic wanted to sneak out, she'd leave her stereo or the television on, and that noise was usually enough. But now? She was finding out how the other end felt. The shower had been far too loud for her to hear Caleb arrive or the first snippets of conversation between her mother and him. But when she left the steamy bathroom behind and slipped to her bedroom? Yeah, she could hear them out in the kitchen. Nic ducked into her bedroom, grimacing as she shut the door and dressed quickly. "Poor bastard," she murmured, "I hope he's still got both balls when I get out there."

Really, her concerns were unfounded; Caleb was a charming guy. Her mother Emily was a shrewd, prudent woman? But meeting the boy her daughter was obviously fond of had softened her edge a little, and Caleb's smoothtalking had gone the extra mile. Out in the kitchen, Emily shut the oven door as she slid a pizza in, figuring no teenager ever turned it down. "So you don't miss New Orleans?" she asked casually, "I know Nicole was about ready to drag me behind the moving van when I first told her we were moving here. And the weather's even similar."

Caleb gave a little half shrug with a half smile. "Naw, not really. The city's an interesting place and all, but it's kind of a mess, too. Especially after Katrina. That and there's just a lot of weirdness, and my family isn't there right now. My parents are in Europe...somewhere. I'm here with my brothers. I wasn't all that attached to the place in general, here's fine. Met Nic, anyways." he told her, glancing down for a second then back up.

Emily had no control over the brief appearance of a light, sweet smile on her lips. So what if this boy wore all black and Nic had already said he was antisocial enough to mesh with her? That comment? That was sweet of him. She still had a maternal sense to contend with, of course, but it was muted a bit for her daughter's sake. "She's a much sweeter girl than she admits," Emily said with a nod of agreement, "And really, it's not so much where you are as who you meet while you're there."

But even with that gentle encouragement, even with the slight lilt of the South she heard in Caleb's voice that subconsciously suggested he might be some kind of gentleman? "I just hope you don't hurt her feelings, Caleb. You seem like a nice young man, it'd be a shame for me to be wrong." Yeah, even if he seemed like a good guy, the protective edge was an undercurrent in Emily's tone. Hurt my daughter and we have problems.

"Don't worry." Caleb told her. "I don't want to hurt her. She's..." he paused, glancing back towards the door, like he didn't want her to overhear this--and in actual truth, he kind of didn't. "That's the last thing I'd want to do. She's special. Never met anyone like her." Which was also true, so there was that ring in his tone adding weight to the statement. Then he quirked a little lopsided smile at Emily. "And yeah. She is sweeter than she lets on." he agreed. "But you've got my word--I want to keep her safe." Which played in a lot more with everything else going on. And that idea that she was going to get him killed one day. He just didn't let that idea back him off.

Nodding in apparent satisfaction, Emily slid a pack of sodas from the fridge and let it sit on the counter. Nic hadn't asked, but Emily wanted to encourage this social time, so she'd make sure they had the little basics they might need. "She told me what you did on Friday, how you got her somewhere safe... I appreciate that," she told Caleb with a serious look, "It's dangerous out there, even in a town like this. And I can't always be there or even assume Nicole will listen if I am. So it's good she has a... friend like you." She gave a little knowing smile, remembering Nic's awkwardness when even talking about Caleb.

Emily stepped over a little closer, frowning lightly. "She is special. I don't know what you two have talked about, and I won't pry, but she hasn't had things easy up to now. So..." Whatever Emily was going to say got cut off in her throat as Nic popped into the open arch of the kitchen door, scowling playfully at the two of them. "Mom? You are not pulling a cougar here. Get off my Kool-Aid!" she teased, walking over and giving her mother a little shoulderbump.

Caleb just gave a little partially amused smile, a very disarming looking one as he leaned back against the counter, hands shoved into his pockets. "Back to the land of the living, I see." he said to Nic. "Non-zombified...it's a good look for you." he told her. Of course, he also appreciated that her hair was down. Which he wouldn't say again, she knew he liked that. Plus, it was practical, in current circumstances.

"Are you sure he's your friend, hon?" Emily joked, grinning at her daughter, "He and I agree on far too much." Nic rolled her eyes, huffing at both of them in one breath. "Hours spent on my makeup, and that's all you two can say?" she groaned, grateful as the doorbell rang. It wasn't quite dark yet, but it was common enough for plenty of kids to start going door-to-door early. "Saved by the bell," her mother teased, moving to grab a bowl of candy and answer the door. Nic just rolled her eyes again, shaking her head and letting the still-damp ringlets of hair shake from side to side. "I thought I was going to deflect question-time with my mom, dude," she told Caleb once the two of them were alone again.

He shrugged one shoulder. "Well, you didn't have to. I think I managed to pull that off nicely." he told her, reaching out to snag her, and pull her in closer. He took the opportunity to nuzzle at the bruise on her neck, just a tiny, tiny bit. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo while he was at it. And he also recognized that that? Was Boyfriend Behavior. But he couldn't help it, he just...didn't especially want to resist that little move there. He let her go when he was done, though. "So, all good for video games then? Silent Hill, running around a great metaphor for badness in the afterlife?"

Even the brief nuzzle at her neck stung the bruised skin, but the gesture made it a good sting. Nic gasped near-inaudibly at the momentary closeness, reaching down low as Caleb backed off. She snagged him by a belt loop, tugging him back a fraction and getting in close before speaking. "If you're done being clingy, then yeah, sure," she answered with a smirk, letting go and moving over to the sodas on the counter. Nic grabbed herself one, turning and holding it up in an unspoken offer as a taunting smile played on her lips.

He let out the lightest bit of a growl at that, but didn't follow her. Or grab her arm and yank her back, which was really the strongest urge. When she offered a soda he nodded. "I'm making you play first by the way." he told her, pushing off the counter to snag the soda she'd picked up for him, and he backed towards the door, keeping her in sight. "Can't have you trying to learn the controls while we're getting attacked by mutant mannequin leg monsters."

"Mannequin leg monsters," Nic repeated dully, shaking her head at Caleb and grabbing another soda. "The hell is this game about? Why do I get the feeling the movie didn't quite get it?" She shrugged at her own question, moving around Caleb and managing not to scratch him or anything, which made her proud as she led him into the living room. "And if I'm playing? My mom might draft you into handing out candy." Which was an idle threat, but she wanted to see how well Caleb could roll with it.

He chuckled as he followed her, and had to resist the urge to mess with her on the way back to the living room. Okay, he was just...screwed. Because now that they'd started things, he was really falling into the kind of role that deserved a title, not one that they were just letting ride. He guessed he should have realized he wouldn't be able to keep that up. It wasn't like he did anything half way. He was probably going to have to think all this over. And soon. Just...not right now. "The movie kind of snagged plot elements mostly from the first game. But threw in Pyramid Head, because...giant guy with the huge blade...best enemy ever. So don't expect to recognize a lot from the flick in the game." he warned. "As for me getting drafted...I could probably handle holding out a bowl for greedy little rugrats in costumes to hoarde. I think I'm qualified for that kind of work."

"I could argue that," Nic pointed out, cracking her soda and flopping onto the sofa in a vague sprawl. If Caleb wanted to sit? He'd have to work around her or move her. "But if I did, it'd take you longer to hook that shit into my TV." She smirked at Caleb before gulping down a swig of soda, waving her free hand as if commanding him to get to work. "I told you I've never touched one of these things, remember?" It was a safety mechanism, a fallback that was still fun, but kept Nic from dwelling on thoughts similar to Caleb's. This didn't quite feel like they were just being them, it felt a little more... deliberate. Intent, maybe. And she didn't mind it? But especially after today, she didn't want to spoil it by asking what was what with them.

Caleb arched a brow at her for the wave at him to get to work. "Anything else her majesty wants while I'm up?" he asked, teasing as he did set to hooking pu the ps2. It wasn't that difficult. NOt brain surgery or anything, and it didn't take him that long, before he was booting it up and sticking the game into the tray. Then he hooked in the controller, and instead of tossing it to her, he walked over, holding it out for her with a smirk.

Nic grinned widely, pleased despite the teasing. She wasn't usually demanding, but if he was going to humor her? "Maybe a foot rub while I figure this out?" she asked, heedless of the loading screen on the television, her eyes fixed on Caleb. Nic raised one foot, wiggling her toes at Caleb and winking his way. Really, she wanted him to just curl up on the couch with her, but somehow she knew that'd get flagged the moment her mom came in the room.

He shook his head and dropped down onto the opposite end of the couch, grabbing her feet and depositing them in his lap. "If I start doing that, your concentration is going to be shot." he pointed out. "You're meant to be tense, and in the moment with these things, not relaxed and being pampered..." he trailed off, reaching out to switch off one of the lamps. Silent Hill wasn't meant to be played in anything but a pitch black room.

She was silent for a moment, reading the opening text on the TV, though Nic's attention wasn't fully there. One foot rubbed along the top of Caleb's leg fleetingly as she aimed a smile away from him, starting the game properly and making her character run a little circle. "Tense and in the moment? Sounds fun. Kinda familiar too," she teased as she started playing, keeping her eyes on the screen no matter how much she wanted to glance over and see what effect, if any, she was having on him.

Caleb was deciding that that wasn't fair. And alright, it was possible that what he'd done in the kitchen hadn't been fair either, but this was less fair than that, even. He glanced down at her foot as it drifted back and forth, and finally reached down to give her what she'd said in the first place, because if she kept that up, it was going to distract the shit out of him. So...choices to make there. "Yeah...I'll back you on that assessment." he muttered, though it wasn't a pissed sounding statement. Just yes, wholeheartedly agreeing.

She chuckled softly, foot squirming just a touch as he grabbed it and started to rub. Without looking, Nic had to guess she'd hit the target. Pleased by that, she turned her focus back on the game as she managed to pilot the onscreen character through a foggy graveyard. The door to the house closed a moment later as her mom wandered back through, lingering to grin at the two of them. "Might not wanna watch, mom," Nic warned from her seat, "Caleb says there's monster-on-mannequin sex in this game. And you got grossed out watching 'The Thing'." Emily laughed softly, taking in the foot rub and opting to give a little leeway. "Okay, okay," she relented, "I'll just cover the door and call you two when food's ready, sound good?"

"Thank you." he said to her mom, able to play that whole nice, polite boy thing well when he wanted to. Now it seemed to work for him in general. "But yes, there's a lot of disturbing imagery and I'm sure you don't want nightmares." He was specifically remembering some cuts from the game being a little less than parent-friendly. And that was discounting the Pyramid Head stuff.

Nic and her mom, despite not sharing blood, nearly flinched in unison. Neither actually did; her mother's smile faltering as Nic's grip on her controller tightened. Nightmares? Yeah, they'd been there for Emily lately, but that came as part of the deal when cleaning up after rampaging werewolves. "Thanks for the warning, you two have... gory fun," Emily said before ducking back out of the room and into the kitchen again. Sighing quietly, Nic bumped him with her heel lightly and shook her head. "Careful, hot shot. Remember where my mom's paycheck comes from?"

He winced a touch, and looked over at Nic. "It's a little different when you just...have seen that shit. And worse." he said quietly. "Sorry, I didn't even think about that." Because he didn't. What he had nightmares about, what had actually sank in enough to do that was far worse. On an epic scale. Things he still had trouble getting past, even when they barely drifted to the surface of his mind. Like nowish. Which had him sinking down in his seat a little farther, and looking away.

Okay, so maybe they weren't going to get too far in the game. Not with this sort of thing cropping up, at least. Nic felt him shift under her feet, glancing over and setting the controller down, leaving her character outside some sort of gate. "It's okay," she murmured, withdrawing her feet and shifting around to lean across Caleb's lap. "She's doing okay with things, she really is. I've asked her about it, and I know they have a therapist checking on people at the hospital. Hell, I even turned the tables and stay up to listen for if she's having bad dreams." Nic reached up to touch Caleb's chin, angling his head to try and catch his gaze. "Seriously, don't pull away because of this... I'm pretty sure she likes you."

He let her turn his face, and looked her in the eyes for a long moment. "I'm not pulling away." he told her. It wasn't really that. It was more the damage his own mind was dredging up with the subject, and how that effected him. He let his eyes slip shut for a moment, and tried to do what he'd done before when this had happened. Tried to re-associate. Replace the imagery in the back of his mind with something closer and more positive. Get the blood connotation to stop letting him see hallways splashed with so much of the stuff that he'd slipped in it a little. That there were puddles. And he thought about her instead. And when she'd been smearing his blood all over her hand and looking so interested in it. It had worked before, he just...needed it to work again.

"Damn right you're not," Nic murmured, watching his eyes slip shut, "My big ass is here to anchor you in." And that was said without knowing his thoughts, it was just a decision she'd made. She'd lived her whole life with that urge to defend, to protect, and while Caleb didn't need her to stand up and fight? Maybe he needed someone to tell him to fight on his own, or be a motivation to see past whatever darkness he couldn't say. Bracing herself on the arm of the couch next to him, Nic turned Caleb's jaw slightly farther to one side and leaned in. She settled in for a light bite on top of the one she'd given him earlier at his house, withdrawing her hand from his cheek once she'd made that contact. Nic's lips pressed in around the bite, her now-free hand seeking one of his and settling it at her side.

She was there to anchor him, and so far that had been working. It did now. Again, he didn't stop her from doing whatever she wanted. When she gave him the light bite, he exhaled, and when she moved his hand to her side, he slid it up farther, then around her back to pull her in a little more. He was fairly sure they'd been meant to be avoiding this. Especially on her couch, when her mom could come in at any time. But then another part of him didn't care. And yet another was finding it really amusing that when most girls probably would have just kissed him or something, she bit him. She'd said before that she was going to keep him, but that little gesture, that tiny little detail had him thinking he wanted to keep her.

Yeah, they probably weren't supposed to be doing this here, it was part of the reason she'd pushed things back at Caleb's house. Get it out of their systems early, hang out like normal. But now? Well, since their deal, she just never ran out of reasons to want to be close. Nic finally released the bite, nuzzling the faintly reddened edges for a moment. She slipped an arm behind Caleb, settling more fully against him on the sofa and smiling as she leaned back. If her mom came in? Well, it wasn't like someone's tongue was in someone else's mouth, they were just... cuddling. Jesus fuck I'm cuddling, she realized, her smile turning a little goofy. But Nic could rationalize it away, deciding that it was only because Caleb had looked like he needed a hug. Or a bite.

He was a little surprised by the cuddling thing too. But not in a bad sort of way. It was just, not something he generally did. Not that he never had in his life or anything, but still. Not quite his usual m.o. He only leaned down to grab the controller before he settled back again, getting comfortable with her before he unpaused the game, and started running them through the kind of quiet first part of the game. At least up until the first monster came out of the fog. He made sure he got through the first cut scene with Angela, too, so she could see it. Like he planned on going up all the side streets so she could see the pointless but creepy notes left in the blood there.

She had to shift and readjust, withdrawing from Caleb a little to watch as he played the game. Nic reached out for the controller's cord, winding it around a finger idly. "So... this town is just empty? That's kinda a boring game, man," she criticized jokingly, " It's like, what, 'population zero, come for the real estate, stay for the random splatters of blood'." That was the ticket; keep things light between them, make fun of him, keep both of their minds off of heavier things. Out in the kitchen, Nic could hear the oven timer go off, and she sat up in anticipation as she yanked the controller from Caleb by the cord. "Make yourself useful and bring me sustenance," she commanded jokingly, "I'm taking over here."

He paused, looking at his now empty hands, then back at her. He arched an eyebrow. "Keep acting like a princess and you're going to be addressed as one." he told her in a teasingly warning tone. But he got up anyhow, and resisted the urge to vault the back of the couch, and walked around it nicely. Then he headed into the kitchen, wondering if he was going to be dealing with Nic's mom again. Not that he minded that much. He'd rather be on good terms with the woman than not know her at all, or have her continually wondering about him, his intentions, or anything else that could be going through her mind.

Nic raised a middle finger at Caleb as he retreated, smirking to herself and glancing after him as he walked away. She sat up on the sofa, tilting her soda back and chugging some down. "Okay, Japan," she muttered at the game onscreen, "Show me what you think is scary." Out in the kitchen, Emily glanced over as Caleb entered, smiling his way. "She bosses you around too?" she greeted teasingly, rolling a pizza cutter through the pizza, "Careful, you'll wind up doing her laundry. Not that I'd mind, I could use a break."

He quirked a little half smile. "She's taking advantage of the fact that at current, I'm not going to tell her to get up and get it herself. I'm in a pretty good mood tonight. Plus, I'm on my best behavior, of course." he told her, going for that little slide in of some honesty, because she seemed like the type of woman who would appreciate it, or at least find it vaguely amusing. "I'm sure I'll get her back eventually, like when she has to meet my brothers." he said good naturedly.

Emily laughed, fishing out paper plates from one cabinet and dishing up a couple of pieces on each plate. "I can only guess about your good mood," she teased with a knowing glance at his neck, not elaborating there. Emily knew what happened at that age, and as long as she didn't catch Caleb sneaking in through Nic's window with condoms or something? She'd encourage her daughter's happiness. "Sweet fuck what was that?" came Nic's voice from the other room, "Caleb! What is this shit!" Emily laughed, handing two plates over and grinning at Caleb. "I think your brothers might be in for a surprise," she joked, turning to face the doorway out, "Nicole! Language! We're a loving family, not a Navy ship!"

Caleb took the plates, and glanced back over his shoulder with an impish kind of grin. "You haven't met my brothers." he said, thinking not much phased them. But still. "I should probably get back and help her deal with this game..." he said, backing towards the door so he could get it open that way, and he headed back into the living room, flashing a grin at Emily before he did so. "I leave for two seconds, and you can't handle this? One little monster and you're already calling for me?" he teased. "What the hell would you do without me?"

Nic had the game paused, the controller sitting on the couch next to her as she looked Caleb's way with a self-deprecating smile. "Hey, I told you I suck at these things, didn't I?" she asked, "So you give me one where some double-legged thing comes kicking at me and I have a rusty pipe to fight it?" She glanced back at the entry to the kitchen, voice lowering. "Fuck you, Lockwood. Fuck you so hard." Of course, even that sour curse lacked venom with the jittery smile she was wearing.

"Technically it's a board with a nail in it. Much more primitive technology." Caleb said, quirking a smirk at her as he set down the plates and sat down. Then he looked at her for a second, and leaned in to murmur into her ear. "Don't say things like that to me." he told her. It was a tone that was hard to read. He said it because it kind of got to him a little bit, in a way that wasn't appropriate for them at the moment. Plus, he just kind of wanted to see how she'd react to him saying something of that nature. He grabbed the controller up and unpaused the game before she could really get a proper reaction in, and easily defeated the monster for her.

Nic was somewhat glad Caleb was killing the in-game creature, it gave her a second to fight the rush of heat to her cheeks after he spoke into her ear. The bastard. Sure, he got her worked up enough that in the heat of the moment she wanted to try everything? But out of the moment, Nic still had her flail instincts functioning. Maybe you took it wrong and he's pissed, not fucking with you, she told herself, fighting the blush out of her cheeks. "Sorry, Mother Theresa. I'll make sure not to offend your delicate sensibilities while you're bludgeoning things to death with a nailboard," she chided, shoving Caleb with her free hand, then grabbing a slice of pizza and wolfing down a bite.

Caleb smirked, glancing at her quickly as he started to run around gathering things from random street corners in the game. "Who said anything about being offended?" he asked lightly, deliberately not looking over at her again as he said it. Just so she could slap her own connotations onto it.

Nic was definitely applying her own connotations, that was for sure. Really, her first guess had probably been the right one. He was trying to get a rise out of her, and he was succeeding. She wanted to throw her food aside and pin Caleb down, just give in to the rush of awkwardness, but she'd already done that once today. Not that seconds sound bad, Nic mused, chewing her food. Maybe two could play his little game, though. "You're just lucky my mom's here, buster," she murmured with a smirk at Caleb, crossing her legs under herself and looking back to the TV, "We wouldn't have even gotten that game hooked up."

"Does that mean that I'm so irresistible that you're going to become a bunny in short order, only adhering to basic rules of society because either grounding or possible arrest might hold you back?" Caleb asked, clearly amused. He got them to the dead end street where there was the body and all the notes, and motioned to the screen as he went to read them in order for her, so she could see the progression.

"Not even close," Nic answered, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen. Caleb was compelling, but so was this creepy little slice of entertainment. And he'd gushed about how fun it was, so she needed to give it a shot. "I'm having fun with opportunities I miss out on most of the time, that's all. I think you'd get sick of me clinging like that real fast," she assured him. Nic knew she would if the tables were turned, part of the appeal was the self-reliance Caleb had, the cynical humor that let him walk alone in a sea of people she couldn't stand. And while she liked his company? Nic wasn't about to try forcing herself directly onto his path. "Besides, you're not as irresistible as you think... I was doing a good job of playing hands-off," she added, eyes flicking from side to side as she read the text.

"Sure you were. Right up until you kissed me." Caleb said, voice low, just in case someone happened to be listening in, or trying to. "After that it hasn't seemed like you want to, all that much." he added, killing off another monster before it got them down health-wise too far. After that, he handed the controller back to her. "You're up. Let's see how good your skills are with a nail-board."

Nic laughed around a mouthful of food, setting her plate aside and taking the controller. "Get ready for some failure," she warned, taking her time just standing in place and swinging, familiarizing herself with the buttons and the timing. Nic started the little guy onscreen forward, a little smile tugging the corners of her mouth as a new area loaded up; dilapidated streets and abandoned buildings, with the faint sound of shuffling feet somewhere in the game. "Maybe I just get a laugh out of finding a worse kisser than me," she murmured without looking over, "And for that little observation? You're cut off, mister. Back in the friend-zone with you. Get used to just looking at those marks you made."

Caleb rolled his eyes and said nothing, because the only thing that jumped up to mind was less on the level of friendly banter, and more on the level of 'for fucks sake'. So, he just opted out on that one, and pointed out the little hidden items up on porches, or in store doorfronts. He knew the game well. He'd really liked it, which was why he'd wanted to show it to her in the first place. He didn't generally have a lot of time for games, but this one he'd played through more than once, even. He'd gotten most of the endings available, and was trying to decide which one to shoot for that Nic might appreciate. He didn't have to really start trying to figure it out til they picked up Maria, but still.

Happy to follow the pointers for the time being, Nic was gradually getting a feel for the game. The awkward gaps in movement grew smaller, there were fewer pointless hefts of the weapon, and she didn't even pause the game by mistake more than once or twice. But somewhere in there, a small part of her brain caught up with the rest of her, replaying her own words. So the second time she paused? it was fully deliberate. "One sec," Nic murmured, shifting on the couch to tug a marker from her pocket. She was quick and didn't bother explaining as she uncapped it, adding a small line to the inside of her wrist where two others already sat, then tugging her sleeve back down over the three. "Okay, let's bloody up this board," she said, unpausing the game and charging into another screen. There it was, some sort of shambling torso-thing. Go-time, Nic mused, smacking away at it with the controller.

Caleb watched that for a moment and arched a brow, but didn't actually ask anything until the creature was dead. It just wouldn't be fair to start asking her to multitask when she was new to the game and still learning it all. So he waited. And when the thing finally went down, and he advised healing, he had to watch her profile. "What was that?" he asked lightly.

Healing her character took a whole new chunk of focus for Nic as she stumbled through menus, getting distracted and rereading letters in the inventory for a long moment. The game was creepy, but it seemed to be more in the atmosphere than the combat. She probably would've been just fine watching Caleb show her all the good stuff, but on the flipside? Nailboarding monsters was kinda satisfying. "What, this?" she asked, leaving the game in inventory and glancing at her wrist. "Just something I was thinking about last night..." Of course, if she didn't explain it? She may as well add another tally right now.

Nic unpaused the game, walking the character around to investigate without guidance idly, focusing on the screen to keep from fidgeting. "Last night, when you called me on my whole 'boy howdy do I suck' thing? Well, I just got to thinking." She glanced over briefly at him, shrugging before looking back to another creature that needed killing. "When do I get a gun or something? Anyway, I got to thinking that whether I do or not, it doesn't help when I go off about it. So... I'm keeping track. Tallying up how much shit I talk about me every day."

"Soon." he answered her first question." "I think it's in the apartments, the first real place you get to explore." he added. Which would be coming up shortly. After the initial run through town. He took in what she said, and didn't say anything for a long moment. Before he nodded. "Sounds like a good idea." he said honestly. Also, he thought that it was generally speaking something that more people ought to do. He was actually, weirdly, kinda proud of her for thinking of it in the first place. It was practical. And it meant she'd listened to what he'd said in the first place. That she was taking it on board, and it didn't just go in one ear and out the other.

Biting back the reflex to comment on how rare good ideas were for her, Nic smiled a little. Really, talking about it made her that much more aware of those reflexes. And just knowing Caleb had made her start to wonder if they were even valid; he wasn't anywhere near stupid, he was smarter than any other guy their age Nic could say she knew. So if he was reassuring her that she was okay? Maybe I'm okay. "Just something to work on," she said eventually, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear, "Not everything I need to do involves classes or reading, right? Some of it's just... building habits. Breaking other habits."

"Classes and reading only carry you so far, no matter what the subject is." Caleb said. Because he believed that. It was why he was wondering why he bothered with school at all these days. "Everything else is experience or learning it on the fly, or working at it." Most of the shit he'd picked up he'd done the hard way. Hell, even his ability to charm some people had only been discovered because he'd gotten himself into the psych ward, and had the time to work it out. And of course, Leija's encouragement on that score. But he wouldn't ever have figured it out in any other circumstance, because he wouldn't have even given it a shot. He'd needed the closed environment to get there.

"Yeah? I figured it'd mostly come down to really testing whatever I learn," Nic agreed thoughtfully, trying random doors on the streets of the game. "Some of it'll have to wait, though. I don't want to compete in kickboxing matches or anything, so I guess I'll just find out if I'm actually good at it when push comes to shove." She didn't feel like she was learning it for any sort of glory, after all. Plus, being in front of a crowd in a sports bra and gym shorts? Nic would forget how to even swing. "But this is still day one of 'let's get ink poisoning', I'll have to see if I can keep at it." Finally a door paid off, it must've been the apartments Caleb was talking about. "Oh nasty," she muttered at the setting, grinning in delight.

He looked over and smirked, glad she was enjoying the game. He'd thought she'd like parts of it, and the general atmosphere of the game. That was the best part about it. The atmosphere. So much was done with sound and shadows. And sure, there was all the blood and such, but it was the little details that added. That made it stand out. "And you never know, push might never come to shove, but you'd at least be ready for it if it did." he commented. "And yes. Nasty. Just wait til the closet scene hits." he said. With the first glimpses of Pyramid Head. Though there was that bit where he was just standing there behind the bars in the hallway, staring.

"I can only assume that's where some of the inappropriate stuff you mentioned happens?" Nic asked, oblivious as her mother peeked in at the two of them and smiled slightly. Emily had to assume there was something between them, but right now? Well, they were just two kids with a videogame, which made her feel good for her daughter's sake. She slipped back out a moment later without a word, leaving Nic to lean forward intently as she played, anxious over the dragging footsteps that carried through the game's halls. "Well, I'm not ready yet in any case. Still got some witchcraft to try and learn, plus my kickboxing class? It's beginner level. I want to be able to properly bust some heads before I have to really use it." Though she was getting a feel for it quickly, surprisingly comfortable with the steps and rhythm of breathing.

And let's hope that you actually have time to learn that shit before anything else happens. Caleb thought, but didn't say. "That's the beginning of the truly inappropriate stuff." he confirmed for her. "And yes, knowing what you're doing before you have to use something is always helpful." he agreed. And if she didn't know what she was doing, she could go to him. She could always go to him. But then, a lot of people had that, or a few, and he hadn't seen them lately. Or spoken to them. Hm. And he really needed to not think about that right now.

"I bet you're one of those guys who reads the manual before he sets up a DVD player," Nic teased, leaning into Caleb to bump him with her shoulder. She had more to say? But then she was seeing her favorite bit from the Silent Hill movie onscreen. Staring her way. "Hey buddy," she cooed in soft appreciation, eyes dancing with delight as Nic stayed leaned into Caleb slightly.

"C'mon, Nic." Caleb said, smiling lightly as she stayed leaned against him. "Can you really picture me reading the instructions for anything? Or being the type that actually follows his own advice?" he asked. "You know me better than that." Just because he saw the logic in it, didn't mean it worked for him. But then he was different, wasn't he. And most of what he did wasn't good for him. That was just fact.

I am SO glad I didn't tell my mom you were gay, she mused with a content little smile as Caleb didn't move. "Honestly? No, I really can't. I think if you had to read a how-to for something, it's because it doesn't work otherwise." Like his blood magic, she was guessing. Caleb had, after all, said she wasn't supposed to study it. Which meant it could be studied. "I know you're a strange one, mainly. So maybe you have a secret obsession with--" She'd been about to say 'manuals', but the door she'd opened in-game finally loaded and hey, there was Pyramid Head, apparently fucking a mannequin-leg monster before killing it. "Holy ass," Nic muttered in awe, turning her head up to look at Caleb in reverence. "Thank you," she whispered, "I so needed to see this game."

He chuckled lightly, flashing a grin at her. "I thought you would appreciate." he told her. He just liked seeing that expression on her face. That? Was a good look on her, he decided. One that he was going to strive to see more than once. "See? You should trust me on things. I know what I'm doing."

"I do trust you," Nic murmured, fingers clicking on the controller as she fought off another creature when the cutscene ended. "Otherwise I'd still be on that end of the sofa." Struggling her way through the fight for the sake of staying comfortable, Nic offered up the controller to Caleb. "Which, if your legs start falling asleep? I can move. Until then I'm planting a flag here." Or she was planning to, up until her mom bustled in through the door. Nic didn't scramble away, but she definitely tensed in readiness at the sight of her mother, now clad in her hospital outfit. "They're calling you in?" Nic sighed. "Story of my life, sweetheart," Emily replied, grinning down at Nic. "Beth just paged me, said they're having a crazy night down there. I'm just going in for a few hours to help them get everyone processed."

Caleb had taken the controller, and frowned slightly at what Emily said, and he looked over. "....everyone?" he asked. "What's going on?" Because he was pretty much willing to assume either there was a bus crash--which really, at this time of night, not likely, or Something Else was going on. Which didn't really bode all that well. He was already tensed to leave, figure something out. Figure out what was happening and if there was anything he should be doing about it.

Emily quirked a brow at Caleb's concern, sighing and shaking her head. "Some car accidents, mostly. Probably people who had too much to drink or wore the wrong costume. Apparently people are a little... irrational tonight." The clash of ideas was plain on her face as Emily remembered the official story from Friday, holding it up against what she was being told now. "They're understaffed in the E.R., and with as many hysterical people as it sounds like they have? I'm gonna have a lot of paperwork to do and sedatives to hand out." By now, Nic didn't like the sound of anything crazy at the hospital, and she shot Caleb a quick frown before looking back to her mother.

Caleb didn't say anything for a long moment, figuring that Emily probably wasn't concerned with what might be the larger problem, if she was told what it was at all. Which made him think of Lisa, and if she was on tonight. Hrm. He wondered if he could see her. Maybe. If Dean were around he would be texting him to ask if he knew if anything was going on, but he wasn't. Shit. "Good luck then." he said to Nic's mom, unsure what he was going to do. Maybe call his brothers. Or Leija. Hrm. Go for a walk.

"I wish paperwork was a matter of luck," Emily told Caleb with a smile and a shake of her head. She didn't like the idea of leaving the two of them here, but with how comfortable Nic looked there? Her mother would need to be a much more cruel woman to break it up now. "I'll call in a bit. Caleb, you're welcome to stay for a while. Don't make me regret that," she said with a shake of her head, leaning down to kiss Nic on the forehead. "Happy Halloween, sweetie," she said, moving to the door and stepping out.

Waiting for all of two seconds after her mom was out the door, Caleb had his phone out, texting a few people. Asking what was going on. "Something's up." he said. "There isn't just some random influx of people at the ER for no reason." And it still might be something normal, like a bus crash or whatever, but he doubted it. It wasn't like the marq-tran had a shit ton of people on it at this time of night.

Nic sat up and scooted over, giving Caleb room to text easier as she frowned. "No kidding," she agreed, "There's never a random influx around here. But car accidents? What'd be causing that? Gremlins? Flocks of homicidal birds?" It didn't sound terrible, but after Friday Nic wasn't of a mind to chance anything like that. Especially not with her mom heading to what was probably a focal point for whatever was happening. "You want to check it out?" she asked, ready to get her shoes on and go the moment Caleb said yes.

He nodded, looking back up at her. "Course I do. I just don't know where to start. Could be anything." he said. Really, it could. Could be demons for all they knew. Just messing with things. Or...who the hell knew. He didn't. Though just people in from accidents, that soudned weird. Unless that was just what they were being presented as.

"Well, let's take a drive towards the hospital," Nic suggested, "Maybe we'll see some of the wrecks on the way or something'll stand out to you. Let me grab my knife, just in case." She gave a reassuring smile to Caleb, not so much to bolster his spirits as to say she was committed to this, then slipped from the living room and headed down the hall towards her bedroom.

He really had to start remembering he had a car, and could drive everywhere. It was just still newish to him, and he liked walking, so he'd automatically thought about going for a walk, not a drive. But hey, wasn't that just more sensible? It was. "Right...I'll just...save our game and wait in the car." he told her, doing just that. God he hoped that this wasn't some new bullshit to deal with. Especially of the werewolf or vampire type. That was just messy.

True to her word, Nic stepped from the house a minute after Caleb, her hair tied back again and her hood pulled up. It was fun wearing it down? But definitely not practical if tonight turned out to be dangerous in any sense. Fingering the grip of the knife in her pocket, Nic hopped into the passenger's seat with a glance to Caleb. "Let's roll," she said, cracking the window and lighting up, "And is there anything I should be looking for, specifically? I think I can spot a werewolf, but what else?"

Caleb thought of telling Nic that the whole smelling like smoke thing was a good indicator for anything that tracked by scent, but just...didn't. At least, not unless the situation warranted it. And he didn't know yet if it did. He started to drive around, heading towards town first. "No idea. Just look around for anything that looks out of the ordinary." he told her, since her guess at this point was about as good as his.

"Can do," Nic said easily, eyes fixed on the roads rolling past them. It wasn't easy to do when she was still so fresh in this world; every shadow seemed to hold a shape, every side street standing out like the one her instincts told her they needed to check. But she didn't have any reason to trust those instincts, all they were to Nic was paranoia. As it turned out, the first non-ordinary thing she saw? Was pretty hard to miss. The car was missing a headlight as well as a large section of the front corner, the streetlight it had hit bent and leaning down towards the street. "Check it," she said unnecessarily, looking past the wreck for anything, well, weird about it all.

Caleb slowed as they went buy, thinking there had to be a lot of accidents if they were literally driving by some and it didn't even look like there were people getting on the clean up quite yet. He didn't say anything and kept driving, and saw a group of kids in costume all running in one direction. Stopping the car as a few flooded across the street in front of him, he jammed it into park, and looked not in the direction they were going, but where they'd come from. It didn't take long to see something coming, though at first, all Caleb could see were the street lamps flickering seemingly in a row.

The fact that kids were running away was a mixed one for Nic. If there was something hostile? It was slow, too. And even if there wasn't? At least those kids would (hopefully) get straight home. "We're staying in here, I'm guessing?" she murmured, eyes fixed raptly on the street where the runners had come from. Her curious side didn't want to, it wanted to go learn about what was out there and trust in Caleb to watch her back. But all Nic needed to do to counter that urge was remember seeing a werewolf up close.

"....yeah..." he said distantly, though he opened up his window, and moved to sit up on the door, arms over the top of the car as he watched the lights flickering, getting closer. The little softlight orangeish globes all in a row, none going out completely long term, but just going nuts in a weirdly orderly fashion. He didn't care he was stopped at a street corner, there wasn't any traffic. As the lights got closer, he saw it. Like he'd been thinking earlier, that it was just paranoia, he saw something that looked like a trick of the light. But wasn't. Definitely not as the figure drew closer.

The spirit was looking confused, walking up the street, still glancing around everywhere. They looked like they had probably been in a car accident. The right side of the girl's form was looking a little...damaged. He hesitated to use the word 'squished'. But her hand was mangled enough that three of her fingers were just pulp, kinda missingish. Her leg was clearly broken too, though she didn't look like she was in pain, or that it effected her ability to walk. He'd tensed for a fight--what he didn't expect was this.

Nic's eyebrows drew together in consternation and awe, this was far more detailed than the picture Caleb had shown her on his phone. There was the strange glow, the transparency that didn't hide the severity of the girl's injuries or the confused anguish on her expression. "Is that... is that a ghost?" she murmured, leaning forward on the dash of the car. "I didn't... how come we can see her?" Nic was thinking out loud more than anything, she didn't expect Caleb to really know. But whether he did or not, she reflexively saw this as a bad thing. Visible spirits on the streets. On Halloween, of course.

"I have no idea." Caleb said. "I can't see spirits. I mean, I know there are people who can, but...not me." he admitted. "she doesn't look like she's trying to scare anyone. she kinda...does she look confused to you?" he asked. Because she looked confused to him. She looked really confused. And she kept looking up at the lights as she went past them, at the flickering, like she didn't get that either.

She'd been a little overwhelmed by the fact that there was a ghost right there up the street, but when Caleb asked? Nic frowned thoughtfully, looking more carefully at the woman's expression. She did look out of sorts, like she wasn't processing what was going on. "Maybe she doesn't know she's dead," Nic suggested, "Or if she does? Maybe she's just surprised that people can see her?" That theory was entirely based on the little frown the ghost gave to the lights, like they were something that didn't belong in whatever sort of existence she had.

As the ghost drew closer, the headlights of Caleb's car started to sputter. She looked over at them, at the car, at Caleb, since he was sitting on the door. "Why are people running?" was said. The sound quality was strange though. It wasn't quite there, it almost sounded like a reverse echo. Kinda like you heard in movies. so Caleb didn't actually quite catch what she said. He was just blinking that he was being looked at. In the eyes, even.

Nic definitely didn't catch the content of the question, but she felt the voice. It was a strange sort of tingle, dancing across her skin and carrying in tone to her ears. She didn't like how close that thing was to the car, or the way those strangely bright eyes were fixed on Caleb, but there hadn't been anything threatening yet. And even if there was, Nic didn't think she'd really be able to do anything about it. So she leaned in towards Caleb's window, settling a hand against the small of his back for her own sake. "Who are you?" she asked the spirit, "What are you doing here?"

Caleb shifted slightly to make more room for Nic, resting his arms on the top of the car as he waited to see if the spirit would answer Nic. Turning her head slowly towards Nic's voice, she tilted her head to the side, and gave a little half smile. "Lauren." she said, even if she still didn't have the right sound quality to do much. It was a little better, but still kinda garbled. "And I was just walking." she added, facial expression kind of betraying the fact that she didn't know why the question was being asked. Like she had every right to be out walking, so....?

Okay, this? This was creepy in far less enjoyable ways than the videogame had been. Was Nic supposed to point out that she was, in fact, well beyond dead? That people didn't normally go for walks at that stage? She shot Caleb a little questioning look, steeling her nerves. "Okay, Lauren... you know you're um... dead? Like, really dead?" she asked, figuring that that bit alone might help the ghost make sense of a few things.

Caleb was quiet for his part of things, just studying the spirit. It was actually...on a weird level, kind of neat. Interesting. He wasn't afraid, and this chick didn't look like she was going to do anything--not that he even knew if spirits could. He came from a haunted city, and it wasn't the spirits you had to watch out for, after all.

Lauren stared at Nic for a few moments, then rolled her eyes with an expression that clearly said 'DUH' all over it. She walked closer, and one of Caleb's headlights failed, and the internal display lights started flickering. "I was just walking. You shouldn't see me." she said. "No one should see me. Does everyone see me?" she asked, voice slightly more coherent this time.

So it wasn't a dangerous spirit, just one that liked to exercise? Nic could handle that, though the fact that it made the headlight flicker and die got her nerves up briefly. After all, she didn't know the limits of ghosts, and here was one having a roadside chat with her and Caleb. "Uh... yeah," Nic answered, "That'd be why people are running. You're pretty visible." Which made her, or others like her, a good guess at what could be causing so many accidents tonight. If their sheer presence didn't run people off the road? Maybe it was also shorting out the mechanics of the cars and indirectly causing the crashes.

"But why?" Lauren asked, frowning, looking confused again. "Do I look wrong?" she asked.

Caleb chose that moment to enter into the conversation. "You look dead, Lauren." he told her. "And you look like a spirit. We can see through you." he informed her. And weirdly, his voice was a little gentler than usual.

Nic had liked that tone the few times she'd heard it, maybe it'd work on this spirit like it did on her. "It might not just be you. Something's really wrong tonight." She glanced to Caleb again, voicing her thoughts with that glance. Were these things the source of the chaos her mother was dealing with now? And then Nic followed that thought farther. Her mom was at the hospital... where who knew how many people had died less than a week ago.

"Shit... the hospital," she murmured, looking back to Lauren, "Not to be a bitch? I assume you've already had it rough, but you should cut your walk short tonight." Then she looked back to Caleb, expression growing grim. "All of a sudden, I think I get why people were freaking out up there." Which she'd be doing herself later, in private. Right now there was shit to try and handle.

Caleb looked back to Nic, and gave a short nod. Lauren, on the other hand, frowned, and glanced down. "What else do I have to do? Where else do I have to go? I can't just...stop being." she said, but apparently it was rhetorical, and she turned, going along on her way. Caleb watched her walking, noticing the lights on the dash steadied out, and his headlight came back to life, even as she walked past more street lamps and they flickered and started going nuts, all in a row as the girl passed.

Well, at least that had been easy. Nic leaned back into her own seat as Lauren withdrew, sighing low and long. "I don't think my mom's going to have any reason to deny things now," she murmured, tugging a strand of hair free of the clip just to tug it anxiously. "I... can we head up there? I don't want to expose you or anything, but she's gotta be freaking out. I need to make sure she's okay." And unless her mom had known about all of this already and was just a damned good liar? Nic doubted she'd be okay.

Caleb still watched Lauren's retreat, before he finally slid back down into the driver's seat. "You'd be surprised." he said, sticking the car in drive to head towards the hospital. He figured they'd have to park a ways away with the influx of people just now, but that was alright with him. His mind was a little busy grinding over everything anyhow. And he didn't quite know how it would 'expose' him if they just went to check on her mom. But he didn't ask. He was preoccupied.

She needed to develop that separation that was letting Caleb turn his gears about the problem itself, not just the people it was affecting. But that was just one part of a long list of things needed to learn, and right now she wasn't thinking along those lines. "God, I hope I'm not," she muttered as he drove, "This'd be some willful damned ignorance if people tried rationalizing it." Hopefully, she could just get in, see her mom, and get out. Hopefully there wouldn't be all sorts of questions, or they could at least wait until it was just the two of them to be asked.

Caleb parked a few streets up from the hospital, and killed the engine, seeing a few more people running around, and a few more lights that were having a bad night. "People rationalize just about everything they can. And the existence of one thing won't equate the existence of everything. Ghosts are a lot easier to swallow than, say, werewolves." he told her. "Ghosts are built into most religions from the ground up, after all."

"Well, if she'll admit to this? It'll be a start," Nic sighed, waiting until the car was parked entirely before popping her seatbelt loose. "I don't need to hit her over the head with it all just yet, she didn't buy it the first time I tried." But this? Well, this'd be harder to deny, and if Emily didn't, then Nic could hope that her mother might at least listen if she said trouble was coming. She glanced out the window at the flickering lights, guessing it meant there would be more odd 'visitors' on the way to the hospital. Nic was determined not to let them spook her out, though. "You want to come up? Or wait here?" she asked, gripping the door handle.

"I have someone I could go see." he said to her. "I don't especially want to leave you alone though, either, though I also doubt they'd let someone non-related in where your mom is. So...what do you want to do? meet me at the Psych ward, or have me go with you and wait in the halls?" he asked, giving her the option there.

It seemed to be a personality trait of Caleb's that he could make her smirk even in times like these. Someone to go see at the psych ward. God this kid rocks, she mused, thinking on his offer. "Go see your friend if you can," she answered, "I don't know how late they do visitations there though. I'll just be down a floor when you're done. Worse comes to worse, I'll find you at the elevator closest to the psych ward admittance." That decided, Nic hopped from the car and slipped free another smoke. She figured she'd need it if the hospital lived up to even half of her imagination.

Caleb flashed a grin. "What, you think I'd be confined to visiting hours?" he asked, not bothering to lock the doors, though he pocketed the keys. "I'll see you shortly. Be careful. If anything's going down...I've got my phone on me." he told her, to head off to the building that joined the hospital proper by the skyway.

"I think you're the only person I know who'd consider breaking in to the psych ward," Nic corrected with a laugh, shaking her head. "But I'll be careful... you too, okay?" Nic reached out to grab Caleb's sleeve, giving him a little smirk and firmly rooting him in her mind just in case she needed something to focus on while searching for her mother. "Catch you soon," she said, moving for the main admittance doors for the hospital.

Rules like that in this case are just something that happens to other people. Caleb thought, but didn't say, before he headed off, looking back to make sure she got inside the building okay. Then he rushed on over to the other building, to head up to the psych ward, noticing a spirit or two along the way. One was just sitting in the lobby, an old man in a spectral wheelchair. Just sitting, not moving.

Across the way, the lobby of the hospital was surprisingly quiet. The front desk was abandoned, which wasn't strange for this time of night, but the shimmery and translucent form lingering near the escalators was. Even if it wasn't dangerous, the sight of the ghostly old man still churned Nic's guts a little. Not looking over, she moved for the elevators and stepped in, and when they opened a few floors higher? It was chaos.

Staff was rushing up and down the halls, and every door Nic passed was occupied with patients. It seemed like part of the halls was off-limits, containing another scattered few spirits that anyone living seemed loathe to even approach. "Mom?" Nic called as she skirted one, working her way over to the information desk and nurse's station.

"Stop screaming," she heard one of them say, a young man with what looked like a trail of claw marks traversing his chest. He looked like Lauren had, bewildered, puzzled, a little bit annoyed by the reactions people were giving him. Nic only glanced his way, pushing on past a few people to reach the desk. "Beth!" she blurted as she made it, catching the eye of a short, heavyset woman who was grumbling into her computer monitor. "Where's my mom?"

"Nicole?" came the reply as Beth looked up in surprise, "What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Nic growled, nodding vigorously. "I'm fine, Beth. And yes, I know how fucked up this is, it's why I'm here. Where is she?" Beth pointed up the halls with a sour expression, chewing her lip. "She only got changed maybe fifteen minutes ago, she's working the rounds, handing out sedatives." Nic didn't give Beth a chance to ask what was going on, she had eyes, didn't she?

She moved off down the hall instead, peering in each door she passed in search of her mom and finally stopping near one end of the hall. There was Emily within, patiently watching as a man with one wrist in a restraint popped pills into his mouth with his free hand. Nic knocked weakly on the door, leaning in the frame as Emily sighed. "We're not allow visit-- Nicole?" she blurted in surprise, just as Beth had done. Emily rose from the bed, rushing over to the door with a panicked look. "Are you okay, hon? What are you doing here? Where's Caleb?"

Nic sighed, reaching out to squeeze her mom in a hug. She figured Emily needed it, and it wouldn't hurt for Nic to have either. "I'm fine," she whispered, squeezing tight, "Caleb and I saw these... things. Ghosts. On the street, and I wanted to come up here and make sure you're okay. I know I'm probably grounded for another week? But whatever, it's worth it." Nic released the hug to smile warmly at her mom, happy to see a match for it on Emily's expression.

"I'm fine too," Emily told her daughter, shuddering a little as she looked past Nic to a lingering apparition. "I'll get through tonight, at least. But where's Caleb?" Nic shook her head, smirking a little. "He's checking in on someone he knows here too," she answered, not looking back. Nic could guess at what was unnerving her mother. "We're gonna head back soon, but I wanted to check on you." Why had she been worried for Caleb's sake, again? Her mom didn't seem to think there was anything odd about him in all of this.

"Okay," Emily said as she saw Beth lingering up the hall, waiting for her, "I need to get back to this though. You go find Caleb and get home, okay? We'll talk about this more tomorrow." The visit had done her some good, it'd help Emily keep her composure until she could get home. And then? Well, maybe talking about everything would lessen the sting of it all. "I will," Nic told her, giving another quick hug, "I love you, mom. And before you go? Find your boss, demand a raise for handling all this shit." She stepped back with a small grin as Emily laughed weakly, moving to speak with Beth. Nic didn't linger, slipping around people and back up the hall to go find Caleb.

Caleb got buzzed into the psych ward because Lisa did happen to be on duty. And she'd rushed around the counter, and gave him a big hug, and looked like she was only reservedly freaking out. Really, she wasn't doing that bad. But then he supposed as someone who worked in the psych ward, being able to keep composure even during insanity was a necessary job skill. He gave her points for composure, definitely. He also noticed that the little figurine Math had given her was still on her desk behind the counter. The monitor was turned their way so he could see when Nic got there.

There weren't that many ghosts in the psych ward itself. The ward was built to make sure no one could kill themselves in there, after all, now wasn't it? But there were two. Two that were wandering up and down the hallways. One was sobbing uncontrollably, the other was just walking, looking like they were talking to themselves. The ghosts didn't actually seem to notice each other--though Caleb noted that when they were about to cross paths, they stepped out of one another's way. It was the weirdest thing. He had even helped for a minute by watching the desk while she went to send someone back to their room, and that was when Nic came back. He buzzed the door and hit the intercom button. "In here, Nic." he said over the speaker.

On the monitor display, Nic snapped around in bewilderment, eventually glaring up at the camera mounted over the door and flipping a middle finger up. "How'd you get in there?" she asked from outside, grabbing the door as it buzzed and stepping in. Nic lingered just inside, looking down at the desk to Caleb and sighing. "Tell me you're kidding. I leave you alone for fifteen minutes and you're running the psych ward?"

"All the nurses right now are busy making sure the crazies are in their rooms, not freaking the fuck out." Caleb told her, having to flash a wicked smirk at her. "I'm good, what can I say?" he asked, standing up and leaning across the high desk towards Nic. "Lisa's okay. She just had to go make sure Ruby is." Because apparently, Ruby was still around. Ruby, who's favorite passtime was offering sexual favors to oh...everyone. Lisa wasn't mentioning that Caleb was back. She'd really liked him. He redirected her well as opposed to just screamed at her.

She moved over, folding her arms on the desk and leaning forward to rest her chin on them. "Lisa? Ruby? They're both nurses?" Nic asked, basking in the silence of the mental ward again, compared to the chaos downstairs. "You been hiding a nurse fetish?" she teased, not thinking it was the right time to suggest getting a costume. "Oh, my mom's cool. She said thanks for you coming up here with me, and I'm not even grounded for it. We're gonna, like, talk-talk about everything later when she's not surrounded by people freaking out."

"I would only be hiding it if you asked me to disclose my fetishes." Caleb told her, smirking. He leaned closer, and kissed the end of her nose, because he just...wanted to. "I'm glad you're mom's okay." he said, voice slightly softer. "...and Ruby's not a nurse." he added. "She was in here when I was, though."

"So should I ask you to disclose them?" Nic asked, smiling at the press of lips on her nose, "Or would it freak me out?" Nothing had yet, but there were still secrets lurking. "So were you gonna go say hey to Ruby? I can hang out here if you want, it's nice. Quiet. Shit's loud down in general care, and I saw a few of the... you know," she said, not wanting to say 'ghosts' just on the chance that someone here would hear it and flip out.

"Weird, when the psych ward is quieter than the rest of the place." Caleb said, voice light. He also had kept in kind of close to her. "Much better sedatives, and most everyone's already sedated on a regular basis..." And he gave her forehead a kiss too. "And no. If she knows I'm here, it'll just get her riled up." he murmured.

Nic smirked at both the comment and the kiss, easily seeing how someone who was already unstable could end up fixating on Caleb. She had, after all, and for all her self-doubts Nic knew she was sane, at least. "Well, the lobby's quiet at least, we can head out that way, skip the insanity." Really, they couldn't if they were hanging out here, but nothing had gotten too weird yet. "You should tell your friend Lisa to bring some of those sedatives down to my mom, it'll make her job a whole lot easier," she said, snaking a hand out to lightly grip Caleb's sweatshirt.

"Somehow I think there are regulations against that kind of shit..." he said, liking when she reached out to grab his hoodie. He leaned in closer, and reached out to tip her chin up, so he could brush a kiss over her lips. And why all of a sudden, right there and then he wanted to do that, he had no idea, and he was sure that it was an echo of something fucked up in his head, but...whatever. The were alone...ish. if one didn't count the spirits. And the cameras.

She wanted to mess with him, to remind Caleb that he'd been cut off from that sort of thing, but really? She also didn't want to. Not when Nic enjoyed it so much. Even with the fucked-up circumstances and setting, or maybe even moreso because of them, it was a little personal triumph when he kissed her like that. "Well, I doubt the rulebook covers how to handle this kind of night," Nic murmured as she moved just enough to stop kissing him, angling her chin down into his palm and kissing the fingertips Caleb had settled at her chin.

"Yeah, I don't think there's real protocol for 'town infested with the restless dead." he said, smiling a touch when she kissed his fingertips. then he used them to tip her jaw down a little, to part her lips and he kissed her again, slightly more substancially than the first brush. This was probably against any kind of regulations as well. He sure as hell knew leaving an ex-patient manning the door buzzer wasn't on the level. And when he wasn't watching the hall monitors and was too interested in kissing his not-girlfriend, that was even worse. He just couldn't summon up the ability to care.

Had Nic known that he was supposed to be keeping a watch? She wouldn't have cared much either. So really, there was zero difference in her behavior as he grip tightened on Caleb's sweatshirt, pulling him into her kiss with a soft growl in the back of her throat. Why did he do this in a public place? Did he want them to get caught? And why did that idea seem a little exciting? "This is the sort of medicine I support," she murmured, teasing his hairline with her fingertips and giving a few locks a light tug. "Lisa's not going to be pissed if she comes back, is she? If I'm here?"

"Lisa loves me. She let me in and left me at the desk." Caleb pointed out. "Which is probably fantastically fucking illegal, and could lose her her job." he murmured in return, giving her another kiss. Yeah, he didn't quite know what was with him, but he wasn't of a mind to even pretend to resist, either. there was a counter between them. A high counter, even. Or...something, whatever.

She could hop up on it, recline easily and let him pin her down. It'd be like a bed combined with a wall. Slab, retard, the word is slab. Luckily, thoughts didn't get tallied on her wrist. She kissed back with a slow enthusiasm, giving Caleb's lip a short bite before withdrawing. "Well, let's not get her fired, hm? No pulling you up on the counter with me or anything, we'd mess up her station. No stealing sedatives and spiking the cheerleaders' energy drinks with them. Best behavior from both of us. Deal?"

Caleb let out a little growl, one that sounded like playful frustration, because it was. "Fine." he said, before grabbing her and kissing her one last time. It was short, but hard, invasive. Then he pulled back entirely and glanced at the monitors. Where he saw a ghost in the hall. On the monitor it looked more like mist than anything. But it was a ghost. Who didn't need to be buzzed the fuck in, so he turned his attention back to Nic.

Following his shift of attention between herself and the monitors, Nic smirked in curiosity? 'What?" she asked, boosting herself up to lean on the counter and peer over to the monitor on the other side, feet dangling behind her. "...oh," Nic murmured in understanding as she saw the haze of the spirit onscreen, though she didn't hop back down. "You see many of them in here? I don't know I'd want to find whatever's lingering around this ward."

Caleb pointed over up the hallway towards the two spirits that were still just kind of walking up and down the halls. "Just those two, according to Lisa." he told her. "They don't seem to be doing much though." he added. He heard a scream, from somewhere in the ward, and tensed up entirely, automatically zeroing in on where it came from, his instinct of course to go see what had happened. It didn't sound like Lisa, but still. And, he had to remind himself, this was the psych ward. There was going to be screaming. Still, he was tense, entire attention focused in, ready to do something if he needed to.

Nic's instincts weren't as refined for this sort of thing, but the scream definitely caught her attention. She glanced in the same direction as Caleb, breath sucking in at the sight of the ghosts shuffling down the hall in each direction. "So is that 'I'm in danger' screaming? Or 'the CIA is stealing my thoughts' screaming?" she murmured, tense and unwilling to look his way as Nic waited expectantly, just daring some menace to show itself. The majority of her mind, even if it could accept the situation they were in, didn't expect danger to suddenly loom here. But she also refused to be caught unaware, just in case some day Caleb was and she needed to cover his back.

Caleb didn't answer her right away. That was the thing. He'd been in here for two weeks, he knew that there were screams sometimes. It just...happened. People freaked out and lost their shit and screamed about it so everyone else would be fully aware as well. He didn't think it was a scream for help, but...he waited, and when another one didn't happen, he relaxed...some. Not a lot. "Think that was just...normal. For here." he told her.

Nodding slightly, Nic still didn't look away from the hallway that fed off from the desk. She was trying to avoid catching any distress that being here might be causing Caleb, because, well... He'd been here, and she knew he didn't like to talk about the experience or what had caused it. But if Nic saw trouble? She'd have to ask. She figured he needed her to sometimes. "Well, I'm ready to fistfight Casper if it's more than that," she joked, "...if you can even fistfight a ghost, that is." Daring a quick glance over at him, Nic felt a little better to just see rapt focus on his face instead of inner turmoil that the mental ward might be dredging up.

"Not really. Or, not that I know of." Caleb said, correcting himself mid-statement there. He looked back at her when definitely another scream would have come already if anything was distressing. Even if someone was dead, someone would have found them by now. "I think it's okay. It's the psych ward. People scream." he said with a shrug.

"What're we doing after this? I'm not sure this is really something one can top," Nic joked dryly, leaning on the counter again. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Lockwood. Fucked up videogames, ghosts, and psych wards? What's on your list for the next date?" Her grin faltered a little as she replayed that. Date? Whoops. They weren't dating, after all. Just... doing whatever this could be called. But humor could always cover up a little slip like that, so she maintained her smile. "Anyone else you need to check up on? Your list is probably longer than mine."

Caleb did blink a moment as she said the word 'date'. And he might have asked about it, but didn't really want to, so he let it just drift past, and addressed her last bit instead. It was safer. "My brothers can take care of themselves." he said. "Dean's in another country, so even if I did try to check up on him, I'd probably just be interrupting whatever the fuck he's up to right now, and couldn't do anything to help anyhow. Besides. Dean can take care of himself pretty damn well too." What with the wicked fucking insane shot he was. "...I don't really have that many people. And...well. This isn't exactly anything dangerous per se."

"How long's he gonna be gone, anyway?" Nic asked curiously, surprising herself just by asking. "I kinda wanna meet this dude." That was the shocking part, she did. She couldn't think of ever really seeing him in the halls, and the fact that Caleb spoke of Dean so highly made her quite curious about what the deal was. If he could take care of himself? Well, he was in the know at the least, if not neck-deep in it like Caleb. Maybe he was something else entirely, something like Ash or Drea. At this point, even if it did surprise her? it wouldn't surprise her to be right with the guess, at least.

Well, I'm not sure. He skipped the country after he shot his now-girlfriend's father in the fucking brainpan. Dropped him with one shot. That man did what I do, only probably better. Of course he was slightly more fucked up and psychotic than I am, but that's not really the point. So, however long it takes to get over the fact that you murdered someone and were scary efficient at it? No fucking idea. Caleb thought to himself. "I don't know. I hope not that much longer." he said honestly. He quirked a half smile at her when she said she wanted to meet him though. That...would be interesting. He wanted Dean to meet Nic as well. ...was that telling? Whatever. He leaned on the counter closer to her again and smirked at her. "Yeah? You want to meet my friend? Just curious who else could stand my company on a longer term basis, or you looking for someone sufficiently badass to oggle?" he asked, teasing.

Nic laughed at the question, stifling her smile behind a hand so she wouldn't get too loud, then curling the fingers of it inward to flip Caleb off sideways. "As if," she said a moment later, "You know my me-issues, buddy. I'm not one of those girls who'll hop from a dude to his friends. Shit, I don't normally make it to the 'dude' square." Which was honest, not a dig on herself. That was a fine line to walk, but if she put the thought into it? Well, admitting what she saw as real problems could only help her move forward. "I just wonder when I find out there's someone in this town you don't think is entirely made from and clothed in pure Suck. Where'd he go, anyway?"

"England." Caleb said, still smirking at her, and he crooked a finger at her to beckon her closer. "Manchester, I think. It's where he's from or whatever. So, he's there, has been for...fuck. A while. Since...just after the Masquerade." he said. What with the murder and all. The body hiding. He vaguely wondered where the bullet was that he'd had Melia retrieve for Dean had got to. "And you never know. You could be sucked in by the accent and shit like I keep hearing the girls in art class moaning over when they aren't insisting he's gay because he didn't want to continue dating a braindead cheerleader."

"If that makes him gay? Then every sane person on earth secretly likes their own gender," Nic agreed, leaning across the counter as Caleb crooked a finger at her. "But I'm not a sucker for an accent, so whatever. All that means is that I have to make sure I don't sing Bippity Boppity Boo around him or anything." She grinned wide with the joke, keeping her hand away from the smile as she looked at Caleb. "You'd best appreciate it, too. Me making an effort to not be a bitch to your extra-special foreigner friend."

I better not say that he's dating a dead girl. That could possibly lose him points there... he thought, amused. And he kind of thought if Nic was ever to be told about Lullaby, he was going to have to tug her aside first and tell her not to freak out in front of Dean. That'd go...well. Spectacularly badly. "I appreciate it." he told her. And he pulled her in closer to give her another kiss. Which he needed to knock the fuck off with, he knew. But he just...wanted to. And kept wanting to. "Anything I'll be expected to do to show my appreciation properly?" he asked, tone completely innocent, but his expression wasn't.

There was a light little gasp over by the hall, and Caleb looked over and saw Lisa standing there. though she didn't look like she was upset with the gasp. In fact, she was beaming, one hand lit on her chest. She all but cried out 'AWWWW!'. "Caleb, you didn't tell me you had a...companion." she said, turning that beaming smile on Nic.

Nic wouldn't have said Caleb needed to knock the kissing urges off. Really, she wouldn't have said anything if he kept doing it. She'd been leaned into the gesture, toes curling slightly inside her shoes as she smiled against his lips when the gasp reached her ears. Nic snapped away from Caleb and back a few steps, grabbing the edge of the counter to keep from lurching backwards onto the ground as she saw Lisa. So say the Ramones; I wanna be sedated. She couldn't really do anything about the startled ire that leapt into her eyes, and Nic quickly fell back on practiced defenses she used in public. Her shoulders hunched a little, posture arching in on itself to make use of the loose flow of her sweatshirt. "I... sorry," she said to Lisa, cheeks burning, "If I shouldn't be here or anything, sorry. I'm Emily Haverstrom's daughter? I was just, um, visiting my mom."

Lisa came back over and walked behind the desk, shooing Caleb as she did so, though she did reach out and affectionately muss his hair, which he half-ducked, but didn't entirely. "Oh it's fine. And Emily, oh! I know her, say hello to her for me next time you see her. I hope she's doing alright with all of this..." she paused, glancing at the two ghosts who were still just...doing their thing. "ruckus." she opted for. She gave Caleb a disapproving Look as he didn't go around the desk, he pushed himself up onto it and dropped down on the other side. "You two should probably get someplace...safe. I'm not sure when the next rounds are going to hit, it's been quiet for about fifteen minutes save for a few people, but...with this going on, people are riled. I hear there are a lot of accidents too, so if you're driving, drive safe, and stay together." she advised them both.

Logically, Nic could only assume that when your job involved dealing with unstable people all day, your perceptions of normal might end up a little off-center. That was the best reason she could think of for why Lisa could describe two ghosts as a 'ruckus'. "Yeah, that's what my mom said too," Nic told Lisa agreeably, smirking at Caleb as he clambered back to her side of the counter. "We just wanted to make sure she was okay, and Caleb wanted to see you, so... we'll get out of your hair now. Nice meeting you," she added, forcing a bit of the polite girl aspect out to make up for her first reaction. Slugging Caleb in the arm lightly, Nic nodded back to the door out of here, eager to get him away so she could either chew him out for the embarrassment or pull him into the elevator, press 'stop', and see what happened. It was fifty-fifty.

Caleb flashed a disarming smile at Lisa, shoving his hands in his pockets as Nic punched him. "Math says hi, Lisa." he said. "And I promise I'll pass along your messages. Have a good night...tell Ruby I said hi when she'll be less...freaked over it." he said. Then he waited for Lisa to buzz them out, and they were out in the hall. With...weird other ghost who seemed to just be hanging out.

Even if she'd seen it on the monitor, the closer look at the ghost got a blink of surprise from Nic. Really, they'd be getting that sort of reaction from her no matter what if she was this close. "Um... hi," she muttered at the spirit, gripping the sleeve of Caleb's sweatshirt to drag him past the spirit. Hostile or no, it was weird. Maybe it was the idea that spirits could exist, but that seeing them like this was an upset of some natural order. Nic couldn't have expressed it so, but it was definitely a deeper disquiet than just 'eek, ghosts'. "You are a little charmer, Nurse Lockwood," she teased in a mutter as she walked.

"Told you I could be when I wanted to be." Caleb said, smirking at her and he actually kind of liked how she gripped his sweatshirt and dragged him along. He waited til they were closer to the elevator, and he abruptly turned her around and pushed her back against the elevator doors, propping his hands on it on either side of her head. He gave her a wicked little grin. "Didn't believe me?" he asked.

She wouldn't have called the grip on his sleeve being clingy, more possessive. Which Nic knew was the same thing, but she didn't really care. And she didn't have time to, even if she did care, since quite suddenly he'd spun her around and trapped her. Caleb definitely liked this scenario, and unsurprisingly? Nic did too. "Did I say I didn't believe you?" she murmured, running her hand from his sleeve up Caleb's chest as she reached out blindly for the elevator's call button with the other, pressing it in. "It's just a stretch with the first impression. Now, with the second? Not so much," she explained, waiting for the elevator to chime and abruptly tugging Caleb back into it with her as the doors slid open. She pressed him like he had with her, turning her step to bump Caleb up against a wall. "For the record?" she murmured, keeping her grip on the chest of his sweatshirt, "I do believe you. I'm here, aren't I?"

Caleb genuinely liked this. the play back and forth with them, the pushing each other around like they had a right to. The switch ups between them. He honestly simply enjoyed it. He grinned at her, watching her eyes. "You are." he agreed, reaching down to snag one of her belt loops, and he pulled her up against him. "But I don't think that has anything to do with whether or not I can play the charming card on demand."

Nic's eyes were wide and shiny again, fixed on him and expressing her delighted surprise from the light tug at her waistline. She went when he pulled, stepping in close with one leg between Caleb's and the other brushing the outside of his hip. "What if it's a different sort of charm for me?" she asked quietly, "Not the one you used on my mom or Hello Nurse back there? Just... you, being someone I get? It's pretty fucking effective, whether it's 'charm' or not." And as much as it was him? It was them too. They smoldered together, and Nic didn't want it to go out, if it even could.

He smirked and took the opportunity to kiss her again. There was a light nip at her lower lip, and he probably would have liked to do more, but...well. Ghosts. People running around in a panic. They probably should get back and play Silent Hill 2 for a while, before he went home. Though he might wind up staying longer, so he wasn't leaving her alone til her mom got back in. He could...crash on the couch. For appearances. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that logic."

Nic's lip tugged under his teeth as she smirked, returning the kiss and pressing her hands into his chest. She pushed off, stepping back and pressing the button to send them back downstairs. "Damn skippy you can't," she agreed, raising her fists as the doors of elevator shut. "You know I'd tan your hide if you did, me and my unnamed sidekicks here." She lingered on the other side of the elevator, figuring if she didn't they might get caught when the doors opened and she didn't even notice. "We're good to hang out for a bit, if you felt like chilling back at my place," Nic offered, "My mom gave the go-ahead, and there's still pizza and fucked up videogames that I doubt are half as fun if I'm playing alone."

"Yeah, I figured...well I figured I'd stick around til your mom got back." Caleb admitted. "Just in case." Because one never knew. Things could turn sour so fast. So amazingly fast, that he just...needed to let his paranoia work for him. Otherwise, he wasn't sure what else to do. He'd be bugging and just watch the house til then and he might as well just do that from the inside.

She wasn't thinking like that, though she needed to start. Nic had seen firsthand just how fast the tables could turn and drop her into a bad situation, but tonight? Well, it didn't seem like that sort of moment. She'd need to learn sometime, but it wasn't going to be tonight. "I don't think she's going to pay you for babysitting me," Nic teased with a smirk, crossing her arms across her stomach, "But I can handle the company, so that sounds good."

"Well, I haven't been monetarily compensated for my troubles yet, so I don't see a reason to start now." Caleb commented. "So...good then. It'll take us a long time to beat the game anyways, so...we'll have enough to do until then." Even if he could think of a lot of other things as well. He just...couldn't actually say that. Or he knew he shouldn't, and for once, he was going with the more appropriate course of action.

For different reasons, Nic had agreed on the same course. Sure, she loved kissing him and feeling him bite her everywhere and anywhere. But before she'd had that option? Well, Nic had just had a damned good time hanging around with Caleb. And she wasn't about to chance letting him think that she was only focused on the physical, so a little space and restraint wouldn't kill her. "You're gonna get repaid when I get paid," Nic assured him, "Of course it'll all take the form of me working on your car. But you seem like a patient, upstanding young man."

"That's me. Patient, upstanding..." he trailed off, pushing off of the wall as the doors opened, and automatically looking out first, and stepping out first. It was kind of just built in habit. He glanced back and nodded that it was fine, and started to lead them out of the building, too. This was so massively messed up on a lot of levels, but...he was just glad that it wasn't anything that was causing mass-deaths. Like the vamps. Or the shadows.

It honestly felt kinda cool this time when Caleb insisted on moving first, like Nic had a bodyguard or something. She smirked a little as she followed him out, glancing around and quickly falling in step with Caleb. "Leave it to ghosts to finally make me run out of shit to tease you for," she said in regards to him trailing off, sighing a little, "I'm so disillusioned right now, Lockwood." Nic leaned his way for a shoulder-bump, breezing towards the door without a glance back. Her mom was fine, Caleb had her back, and nothing was trying to eat her. Why be worried?

"I have faith that you'll find new and interesting things to tease me about." Caleb told her, starting to cross the street. There were less people out now. Probably they were home, avoiding everything or preparing for the world to end. He wondered just how much bottled water was going to be sold tomorrow. Getting back to the car wasn't that difficult, and he was figuring they were going to be in for an all nighter on the game, just because of circumstance, even if they might not have otherwise. He wasn't about to complain. It could always be worse.