August 30 2007

who: caleb and leija
where: mgh psych ward
when: evening

Caleb's day had been weird, for lack of a better word. It was his last day, he was out of there the next morning, early, and so people were acting weird. Ruby had been particularly persistent today, harder to redirect than usual. His mind was still ticking over everything else, particularly his talk with Mathias, and how he'd gotten no help there. He still thought that in the end, it was probably best for both of them if he pulled back away from Leija. Unfortunately, every time he tried to put serious thought into the logistics of doing so, it made him feel kind of sick to his stomach. It was apparently one thing to decide that was what he should do, and entirely another to contemplate actually doing it. That part was sucking. A lot.

As the day rolled on, he started wondering if she was going to come back at all, even if she'd said she would. It wasn't like she didn't have reason not to. She probably had...things to do. Things that weren't there with him. When the evening started hitting more, he went back to his room, and was sitting on the windowsill painting again. Practicing, as it were. His mind was barely on it, and while he had music playing--Clutch currently, he wasn't hearing that either. His focus left a lot to be desired lately. Jesus.

Leija had eaten supper with her dad and then asked to go to the hospital again. She'd waited that long to let everything with Thom process and die down, so she'd go in to see Caleb with a clear head. Or as clear a head as she could manage these days, anyway. She promised herself that she would not be so her-focused this time. He needed ... stuff, and she could deal with her stuff all on her own, so ... yeah. She'd do better. Which was maybe a bad way to look at it, but that was what she was doing. She walked the now-familiar walk to the doors, got buzzed in, and signed the book. Hopefully for the last time. They told her he was in his room, so that was where she headed, trying not to be nervous. Because it would just ... he wouldn't have decided in the interim that he was mad at her, would he? She hoped not. Leija tapped on the door and waited for an answer.

its not ez to hid frum evrywon wen you need to go to the grosry stor and by stupd milk and bred and froot and sereol but I did a prity good jod pretndin to be blinb. I did so well at bein blind I bumpt intoo a boy he helpt me pik my stuf up but he coodnt tok and we had a hell of a tim wif me blinb and him not tokin I didnt laf then but I em laffing rit now. he thot I wus blind for sher I am so glad I trikt him. If that vampir will keep my secrit then I will be safe for sher. My ritin is crap if I can stop bein so frekin scrad of peepl mabe I can get a tooter tho wat to pay wif I dont no.

12:13 p.m.

I’m freaking tired, seriously. I feel like someone’s weighted my eyelids closed. Like Lilliputians have tied me down with iron-strong cobwebs so I can’t move. Except I am – moving I mean; I’m writing after all, aren’t I? Yeah, I am.

11:56pm

why is it that i let one thing ruin everything else? i'm fucking tired. after this week...after everything that's happened and nothing's changed. i'm still a freak. kaysen still - doesn't give a shit. and everything else is complete fail.

Who: Kaysen and Charlotte.
When: After school.
Where: Phone call.

Charlotte had spent her entire school day trying to find Kaysen between classes or at lunch, all to no avail. Lulu had sent her a text message that everyone was back, but Charlotte hadn't heard a definite story on what had happened. She was antsy and couldn't concentrate, and then she heard at the end of the day that Kaysen had gotten into a fight. When the bell rang, Charlotte ran home as fast as her feet would carry her. She really wanted to just show up on Kaysen's door, but she had a feeling her family would not at all appreciate that. And there was the chance that Kaysen wouldn't want anything to do with Charlotte. So she hurried to lock herself in her room, and quickly dialed Kaysen's number on her cell phone.

Kaysen flinched when she heard her phone ring. It was automatic, and she cursed herself for it. She'd been kind of staring out her window, all curled up on her bed. The mirror above her dresser had been covered over with a sheet, though she kept imagining she could hear things moving behind it. Which was ridiculous. Even when they'd been there, it had been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that no one could hear them. Why would she hear anything? She wouldn't. She was just an idiot. She let the phone ring twice before she picked it up, and looked at the callerID first. If it was Chance, she didn't want to talk to him. Not yet. But it wasn't. It was Charlie. So she answered. "...hello." she said, holding the phone to her ear as she went back to laying down again.

"Kaysen?!" Who else would answer? Idiot. Now that she had her on the phone, Charlotte found that she didn't have any idea what she was supposed to say. "Are you okay?" she blurted out. "I mean... are you?"

Who: Alejandro and Open!
Where: The lakeshore
When: Midday

After having slept through Jezebelle's heading off to school this time-- thank god; it was way too early to be up without a reason-- and before having to head off to work for the afternoon and evening, Alejandro decided he'd make another attempt at hunting down Melia. One of these days, he'd get her a cell phone, or something. That... worked underwater. Hell, there had to be some way to track down mermaids, right? Somehow. He'd think of something.

Until then, he just walked along the water, hoping idly to run into her and not someone else, or not run into anyone at all. It wasn't raining anymore, but the clouds still hadn't cleared and the wind was making the lake pretty wild-looking. It was, he thought, a pretty nice day.

It'd be even better, though, if that stupid toy block hadn't wound up in his pocket on his way out the door. Alejandro still wasn't sure why he'd picked the damn thing, paid money for it, and then brought it home and mostly ignored it except, occasionally, to toss it boredly around like a Nerf ball, or something. But now it felt like it was burning a hole in his jacket pocket, especially when he kept his hands in them to keep them out of the wind and his fingers kept bumping into or curling around it on accident. That thing sure better be worth the embarrassment of buying it and then carrying it around, whatever it did.

((OOC note: Alex here has the psychic block on his person, which means anyone nearby, maybe within a five-foot radius, has to start speaking their thoughts aloud instead of in their head. No internal monologue for you! =D ))

Who: Shannon and Harper
Where: Harper's Dream
When: Night

Fresh from a shower Shannon walked the brief distance from the bathroom to the her bed to crawl beneath the covers and settle in for the night. Once she had settled, Jasper bound up onto the bed to claim a small corner of the pillow she had rested her head on. The little tabby cat circled around once before settling in, curling into a little ball of fluff near Shannon's head.

Sleep was soon creeping it's way in to claim the redhead, Shannon soon found herself drifting into a gentle slumber within minutes following the closing of her eyes.

Who: Chance and Jordan
When: Early evening
Where: Text Messages

7:15
To: Jac
From: Chance

j - i'm sorry I haven't been in touch. things have been crazy, though i know that's not a good excuse. but i miss you. think we can have lunch tomorrow? you can play me your song. - c

Who: Peyton and Isaac
Where: Phone
When: 10:00ish

Once she returned home from the carnival with Herbert, Peyton showered and changed for bed. She played around on the piano for awhile, internally debating in her head whether or not to call Isaac. Not even to talk about what Herbert had told her - but to make sure he was doing okay. She was his girlfriend, so maybe she had that right to call whenever she wanted - but they hadn't been dating very long, so she wasn't quite sure where the line was. By the time she'd trudged upstairs to bed, she'd made up her mind and dialed his cell phone. If he was sleeping already, she would just leave him a voicemail, at least to let him know she was thinking about him. Sighing, Peyton settled back against her pillows with her phone and waited.

Isaac wasn't sleeping. He was laying in the middle of the floor of his room, music playing in the background. A little loud for the hour, but nobody had come to bitch at him. He sort of wished they would. He'd had to take Kaysen home from school early for kicking some girl's ass. She hadn't wanted to talk about it, any of it, to the point of absolute silence as they walked home. But her side was stuck against him the whole time, and he kept his arm around her, and given her a tight hug before she trudged back up to her room. He felt really ... helpless. Useless. He didn't know how to help her. He couldn't even decide which he was more scared of, mirrors or the dark. Because both were really getting to be terrifying. He jumped a little when his phone rang and he picked it up from where it had been laying near at hand, looking at the caller ID. There were scant few people he wanted to talk to, and Peyton happened to be one of them, so he answered it. "Hi," he said, letting his head fall back again.

Who: Thom
Where: His basement/ Phone
When: Late

Won't be home tonight - meet you at the hospital in the morning. M

Who: Peyton and Herbert
When: Evening
Where: Carnival

As the night wore on, Peyton grew restless sitting at home and she grabbed her iPod and cell phone to head out for a walk. It was a nice evening, if a bit chilly from all of the rain as of late. She walked through Marquette toward the lakeshore, a thousand thoughts racing through her head. She focused on clearing them out, closing her eyes every now and then to let her body relax. The walk made her feel a bit better, and after awhile, she turned to head back home. The lights and sounds from the carnival by the Ice Arena drew her in and she decided to walk through it on her way home. She usually really liked the carnival, even if it was pretty tame. Her parents, when they were together, would drag she and her siblings every year, but the last couple years were decidedly different, what with Cynthia in college and their parents divorced.

Pulling her earplugs out, she slid her iPod into her jacket pocket and began to wander through, glancing at the booths, smelling the funnel cakes and cotton candy. It made her feel better, to be there, even if she was alone. It seemed normal - familiar. A nice distraction from the worry of the last couple of days.

Who: Brian and Regan
Where: City streets
When: Late at night

Despite the rocky start, once Brian and Manhattan had gotten off the topic of hunters and hunting and the morality therein, the rest of the night had gone pretty well. Which was why Manhattan was crashed on his couch, sleeping off all the beer-- and ale, and wine coolers, and even that little bit of whiskey they'd pulled out of the back of his fridge-- rather than driving home, and why Brian was locking up the house as quietly as he could with an unsteady hand and heading out to walk in the wind, despite his own probably high blood-alcohol content. He could still walk straight, dammit. He wasn't that drunk.

All right, the alcohol and the good part of the night wasn't really why Brian was out there. He just couldn't sleep with Manhattan sprawled out there, he really couldn't, because it kept making him think about hunters, now that there were no fun conversations to distract him with. He'd tried retreating to his bedroom, and sleep just hadn't happened. So he was going to try and walk it off, wear himself out a little, so he could go back home and pretend Manhattan wasn't there and get some sleep, then. Maybe do what little thinking he could while still relatively drunk, in the process.

The fact that Torziel didn't want to be left alone in the house even with a passed-out Manhattan-- Brian'd made sure of she'd had more than him, even; even if he didn't have work in the morning, he didn't want to be the drunker one after their conversation-- didn't really reassure him or make him any happier. So he wandered along with his hands in his pockets, hair blowing around in the wind, mostly focusing on not running into things, with a white, fluffy cat trotting along at his heels and laughing at him whenever he wove a little.

Who: Sammy and Jezebelle
Where: The carnival
When: 7 p.m.

Step up, step in line, come see the smallest woman in the Great Lakes area. Little Lily stands at just...

...on, step up, step up. Dollar for five darts. Hit the balloon, win a prize. Posters, vases, stuffed animals. Come up, come...

...and believe me, when I say you have never tasted onion rings like this, I mean it. Fried just right and served piping hot! Just a dollar twenny-five more can buy you a medium drink, and for another quarter you can make it a...

It was a carnival all right. All around Sammy vendors and barkers cajoled and beckoned, trying to convince all passerbys that their booths - that their food, prizes, what-have-you - were the best. The smells of onions rings and corndogs mingled with the smell of popcorn and cotton candy and some sort of grilled food. The pathways between booths and rides were packed with a steady flow of people heading both ways; elbows dug into ribs and toes were stepped on, but no one stopped to apologize as they were shunted along.

everyone's back. isaac is home, his sister is home. thom and leija. Everyone is back and alive. apparently whatever tunnel they were in caved in and they just walked and found a way out, according to isaac. I have questions, some things, in my head, won't let it go. like why did they even go there in the first place? Isaac was upset. Really upset. I didn't know how to help him, except to listen and be there but I don't know if that's enough. I felt like I did with Caleb - like I simply had never experienced anything as traumatic so I had no right to be comforting or try to help.

An empty page. Emptiness. Is there more of it around lately? Perhaps it’s just me. This was an empty page. I found myself staring. Deep into the emptiness, the blankness, the nothingness. I actually had to get up the courage to mar the page with ink.

It’s my fucking diary for god’s sake! That’s what it’s here for – to write in, for me to put down my thoughts and feelings and whatever else I want to. And I was distracted by a blank page. That’s insane, right? Totally, utterly, unbelievably INSANE.

Who: Mathias and Olivia
Where: Outside Babylon
When: Late

Mathias waited outside Babylon, the small selection of cigarette butts around his feet as he rested against the hood of his car betraying how long he'd been standing there - and the amount he'd been smoking. He still wasn't entirely convinced that that this was a good idea, but here he was. Things had been changing for Mathias over the past few days, and changing fast and though the root cause of that change was Caleb, it effected every part of his life and his relationships with the people in it. And that included her, the woman who worked inside, who he was currently waiting for - not that she knew that. As far as she was concerned, he never wanted to see her again. Again-again, since he was becoming almost regular with his reappearances after he'd declared he was avoiding her. Except this time he wasn't going to do that - this time he had no intention of seeking her out just to make a declaration that he was going to stay away - which was another reason for the mass of cigarette butts around his feet. Mathias always smoked more when he was nervous. He lit another cigarette and continued to wait. She had to get off work sooner or later.

Who: Aiden and Dorian
When: Late
Where: The Phone

After hanging up with Eury, Aiden drove a few more miles before he picked up the phone to dial Dorian. He knew it was late, but he didn't care so much, almost pretty sure that Dorian would be awake. And if not, well, the bugger could wake up and answer. And if he didn't, Aiden would just keep calling back until he did. He was feeling lousy for all sorts of reasons, none of which he wanted to think about at the moment, and it made him appreciate the fact that Dorian hadn't cut him completely out of his life when he'd fucked up. Lifting the phone to his ear, he waited for Dorian to answer, impatiently drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

Dorian had had a good night. In fact, it had been a damn good night, and he wasn't all that tired when he got home, despite the fact that he should be heading to bed. He made it as far as his bedroom, but ended up flopped down and flipping through a comic book, hoping that a little reading would help him nod off sometime soon. Then again, if that was really his intent, he should have gotten changed for bed. He was halfway through the story when Aiden called, and he answered without hesitation. "Hey," he said, eyes still on the page. "What's up?"

Who: Joshua, Lullaby, and Sean
When: early evening
Where: Tourville Apts.

Lullaby walked up the steps to the apartment with maybe just a little bit of a nervous feeling in her belly. A new guardian angel...that was interesting. In a weird, 'how come' sort of way that she didn't feel like she should ask. September had been nice, if a bit intimidating, so she had no idea what to expect with a new one. She just hoped that they weren't anti-him-dating. Because that would suck a lot. They would have to sneak around then, and that wasn't ever a good thing. Oh stop being silly. You were invited over for dinner. Just...make sure you don't look like you're going to exacerbate Joshua's curse, and it should be okay. Really. she told herself firmly, right before she knocked on the door, then clasped her hands behind her back and waited. She'd kinda-sorta gotten cute. She was wearing a skirt anyways, and one of her nicer peasant tops. She remembered earrings tonight and everything too, and other matching jewellery. Makeup wasn't really existent, but then she wasn't the type, and she always felt like she was doing it wrong when she did try, so she skipped that part. She started fidgeting as she stood outside the door, and tried to make herself stop.

Sean was in the kitchen, trying to look like he wasn't panicking. What was he thinking? Suggesting dinner, when he couldn't actually cook? It had been a fit of over-enthusiasm, he knew. And now he was trying to cobble something together. Luckily there'd been food in the house - September had obviously remembered that kind of thing - and now he was trying to make some pasta-based something. With a sauce thing. He heard the doorbell and cursed. "Joshua!" he called, stirring the sauce and wondering if it was meant to be that colour. Hopefully. "Can you get the door?"

Joshua hadn't heard the knock from where he was in the bathroom, running wet hands through his hair and trying to get it right. It wasn't working out well. But he heard Sean's call well enough, and abandoned primping to run to the door. Only it was more of an excited bound, and he caught his shoulder on the doorframe. Which hurt only a little, and really didn't matter in the scheme of things. He threw the door open and gave Lullaby a sunny grin. She looked good. And even though it kinda smelled like it was burning, she was there to eat with them. At his place. Which was kind of a first. He reached out and snagged her into a hug, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Who: Dorian and Delilah
Where: By Phone, then The Carnival
When: Late afternoon through the evening

Now that the kids had been found, now that the dreams had left him entirely, Dorian was ready to call Delilah. He'd been wanting to discuss the dream, but more than that, he wanted to see her in person again. While the memories of the dream remained, they were fleeting, not quite as real as an actual memory. As the afternoon wore down, Dorian headed home from work, then searched her number out. Dialing her up, he tapped his fingers on the kitchen counter, trying to decide what he was going to say. That might have been a good thing to figure out before hand.

Delilah was in the midst of playing her cello to unwind from the day when her phone started to ring and vibrate on the coffee table. She played a couple more notes before her fingers left the strings to pick up the cell from the spot she always put it. She opened it and tucked it between her ear and her shoulder. "Hello?" she inquired, picking back up in her music, because once she was in the mood, she was in the mood.

Who: Jericho
Where: At home
When: Thursday, August 30, 2007, 9:56 p.m.

Although he would have preferred to drive her home himself, Jericho had said goodbye and watched Jocelyn leave his house to walk home in the dark. That bothered him. But she was a big girl and, being a witch, he was fairly certain she could take care of herself. Though compelled to, he'd fought off the urge to kiss her as she'd left. Now, he just had to think of where they could go Saturday night on their date. He'd asked her for a date, and she'd said yes.

He should have been grateful for such a spontaneously pleasant close to such a dreadful day, but in the end all it had done was fuel his rage.

Jericho wasn’t sure why, exactly, but he truly liked Jocelyn. He had no desire to feed from her, no desire to seduce her. She was beautiful, no doubt, intelligent, witty and warm. He enjoyed her company, and wanted to know her better. To take things slow. To talk and laugh on the phone. Go on dates. Normal things. When he closed and locked the front door after he'd watched her walk away, it was that word that echoed hollowly in his ears and broke the camel’s back.

Normal.

Who: Jericho and Jocelyn
Where: Jericho's House
When: Thursday, August 30, 2007, 9:00pm

It hadn't taken very long for Jocelyn to find out where Jericho resided. She initially had tried the old-fashioned means by looking through the phone book, but he wasn't listed. Given he was a vampire - and a psychiatrist, she made a few inquiries within Babylon, and to those she knew in town, before finally tracking down his address. She probably could have just called, but it was a rare occasion - or really never - that a guy sent her roses, so she wanted to thank him in person for the kind gesture.

She was well aware of the hours most vampires kept - and even if he was awake during daytime for his patients, she didn't want to interrupt his work so she waited until long after sunset to dress appropriately and head out. With the piece of paper in her hand scrawled with his address, she walked for awhile until she reached Northrup Street. Pausing outside of his house, she gave it a once over, deciding she quite liked it, before she took a breath and headed for the stairs. She could almost hear Val mocking her in her ear, which promptly annoyed her that she was thinking of him at all. Shaking her head, Jocelyn brushed a hand through her hair, took another deep breath and reached out to buzz the intercom.

Who: Corwin and John
Where: Wandering the woods
When: Before dawn

When the rain stopped about an hour before dawn, Corwin decided to take advantage of it before he wound up trapped inside for a good sixteen hours more while the sun was up. He was tired of trying to work his computer without a functioning pinky, anyway. He scooped up River and the tuxedo tom-cat, one under each arm, while the old gray queen followed him out obediently, as well, and headed out for somewhere he wasn't likely to run into joggers: the woods. There were so many patches of woods around Marquette, even within the residential streets, that he didn't have far to go.

Who: Manhattan and Brian
Where: Brian's Place
When: Evening - 8pm

The span of a long moment had lapsed before Manhattan climbed out of her truck with a 24 pack case of beer. After parking the truck along side the curb, Manhattan remained in it until the call she had made was completed. With Brian not really have taken the revelation that she was a hunter all that well a couple days back, it was best he didn't overhear any of her current conversation.

Her arrival at his door was announced with a good, sound knocking to her friend's door. The boxed cans of 24 casually transfered from beneath one arm to the other as she waited for the door to be opened.

Who: Manhattan and Jericho
Where: Phone conversation
When: Thursday, August 30, Just before 8pm

Manhattan pulled the truck out of the drive and onto the street, and once the vehicle was headed down the road toward Brian's place the hunter pulled out her cell, and after punching in a number the mobile was put to her ear just in time to catch the first ring. Keeping the truck moving evenly down the street the hunter waited for either Dr. Jericho to answer the call or for it to kick over to his voicemail. She hoped it'd be the prior cause she had a high dislike for leaving messages when she wanted to speak with the person live.

As soon as his session with Fallon Demeter had ended, and Geo and his younger brother had left, Jericho had immediately retired to his basement sleeping room. Not bothering to undress, nor pulling the bedclothes down, he'd simply lain on top of the floral spread and crashed, hard. He'd been exhausted from the past twenty-four or so hours, and was still attempting to fight off the rage he'd felt upon discovery of what Regan had done to Jace. As always he'd slept fitfully, tossing and turning, awakening with every little noise, every shift of his own weight on the mattress.

He'd just drifted into his deepest sleep in days when his cell phone rang, vibrating under his hip. The curse of a doctor, always on-call, no such thing as an 'off' or a 'silence' button for a physician. Jericho snapped awake, rolled over and grabbed at the phone, the device ringing a second time before he could grapple it out of its holster.

"Dr. Zaitsev," he announced into the phone.

Who: Brian and Olivia
Where: Mya's Diner
When: Late morning

When the morning had proved to be rainless and the news proclaimed sun by afternoon, Brian was prepared for a much better day than the last two. He got up and out the door in time to not be late for work, he had some of the bread from the night before for a quick but tasty breakfast, and he knew Domino wasn't going to be at the diner until later in his shift, so he'd have at least a few hours of freedom before the horrible, gorgeous flirt showed up.

So when he came wandering into the diner a little before eleven, it was with a smile and a greeting for the servers and regular customers already there before he headed for his kitchen to relieve the current cook.

Olivia saw Brian come in, kept the smirk to herself, waved, and went back to finishing up with her current table. It wasn't as if she had been dying to tease him about Domino's text, but after her initial shock, the urge to poke a bit had definitely been there. After ringing the table out, she wandered to the back where he was preparing for his shift.

Who: Leija and Thom
Where: MSHS parking lot, driving around
When: last period, after school

Thom had actually ended up going to his last class, though he'd gotten there early and had a quiet word with the teacher, asking permission to leave class early. He'd fed her a line about being stared at in the hallways and wanting to miss the post-school rush and everything and she'd just formally written him off for the entire class, telling him to leave whenever he felt like it. There was pity in her eyes and he could see her wanting to ask what had happened, but he'd moved away before she'd had a chance.

He had left early, heading out to the front of the school and sitting on the grass, waiting for Leija to turn up, knowing that since she was working on the normal school get-out time, he could have quite a wait in front of him, but he didn't care.

It actually ended up not being as long a wait as one would've thought. Leija's dad dropped her off at the curb. He seemed to not mind being her chauffeur, which was good, considering that he'd told her he didn't want her walking everywhere for a while. John Christiensen knew that putting a short leash on his daughter was impossible, given what she was, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't do everything in his power to keep her close when she was around. It had taken some insisting on her part that she had to meet Thom at school and let him take her home, but he'd relented after a while. She'd wanted to go a little bit early to try and work out what she was going to say.

Who: Marlowe and Domino
Where: Econo Foods
When: Afternoon

Today was shopping day. The cupboards were on the path to bareness, the fridge was in great need of being restocked, and the bags of dog food kept in the pantry? Well they had dwindled down to the last one, and that last one was almost scraping bottom. So with a supply list written out Marlowe grabbed enough cash, hopefully it would be enough to cover the mounds of groceries she was headed out to buy, and stuffed the bills into the left hip pocket of her jeans as she left the house.

Grabbing a cart at the front entrance of the store Marlowe wheeled it down the first aisle as she gave the list she had compiled earlier a once over. Something which had the red head distracted, not really paying attention to the path in front of her. An action that was almost the cause of a supermarket collision. Luckily though for both parties that would have been involved Marlowe glanced up just in time to prevent the near collision from happening.

11:46pm, Thursday, August 30. Transcribed verbatim from the voice recorder of Geo F. Williams. Entry two.

So, like. Found Poppy’s journal when I was goin’ through my last box of books. Didn’t even realize I’d kept it in here, thought I gave it to mom. Lost my last two hours reading it too. He’s got a lot of good stuff in here, yanno? I never realized he put so much thought into these things.

Who: Thom and Isaac
Where: MSHS
When: Between 2nd and 3rd period

That Thom was at school was the most that could be said for him. He was physically there, but he'd spent most of the morning staring out of the window, whatever the teacher was saying drifting in one ear and going right back out of the other. He'd not been pulled up on it - in fact, he'd got some surprised looks that he was there at all. He heard the whispers as he walked down the hallways, felt the stares. A few people tried to say hi, that it was good to have him back, that he was okay. Currently he was having a hard enough time just not flinching when someone clapped him on the back. He was seriously considering just ditching the rest of his classes and heading for the music department for the rest of the day. He could go home, he knew, but once he was there, he wouldn't be able to leave again - and he was still hoping to see people. Isaac, Leija and Kaysen being those people - and the first of whom he could see ahead of him as he turned the corner into the main corridor. He lengthened his stride and fell into step beside his friend, silently.

Isaac had immediately been surrounded by people the moment he stepped through the front doors. Lots of questions, some tears from some of the girls, combined with hugs and manly pats on the back, all that sort of shit. He drifted through it, bleary-eyed and subdued, and something had changed. It had only been a couple of hours, and the crowd had dropped off considerably. He was being stared at instead, and murmured about. Word had apparently gotten around in the wildfire way it always did that even though he was back, St. James wasn't okay. He ignored it, all of it. He just wanted to get through today and go home. That wasn't too much to ask, was it? He didn't think so. Isaac was far enough away that he didn't really notice Thom until they'd gone down a good chunk of the hallway together. He blinked and looked over. "Hey," he greeted.