Who: Sophie and Lullaby
Where: Sophie's house
When: Around lunchtime

After she'd gotten some sleep--or what she was counting as sleep, considering it had been light and restless, Lullaby had given it up. What she didn't want was to fall asleep then have screaming nightmares, and like...send everyone into a fit or something. Dean would hear that. And depending how loud she was, Joshua a floor up probably would too. Then there was the Oz-werewolf-factor, and yeah. Basically? She just didn't want to go there. So she was avoiding. Which meant she was still dead on her feet, but she was trying. Either way, once she had decided she was going to be awake for real, she'd read a little, though her attention wasn't on it much. So, setting the book aside, she started downstairs to find Sophie.

She actually found the woman in the first place she'd looked--the kitchen. She stood there, feeling self conscious, hand up over the scar on her neck unconsiously. "Um...Sophie?" she asked. "Is there anything I can be doing to help? I can cook...um...some." she said a little sheepishly, and she tried a smile that she wasn't sure how it came off, but there was effort there.

Sophie had actually managed to get some sleep - Oz had insisted she go and lie down in the early hours of the morning and, to her surprise when she woke several hours later, she'd been asleep before her head touched the pillow. As such, she was feeling a hell of a lot more with it today. "Help? Actually, I was about to make lunch if you wanted to give me a hand - nothing fancy, just some sandwiches," she told the other girl. Her tone was polite, bordering on friendly, but in a hesitant kind of way. Sophie still didn't know how to deal with the younger girl, especially not considering the last few days, and though she wasn't going to blank her, or be any less than polite, she really didn't know how to deal with the situation.

She smiled a little better that time, and Lullaby came over. "That'd be great. Thanks." she said. "I'm kinda feeling a little at loose ends, so I'd like to do something useful." she admitted. "Um...I know I said thank you for everything before, but I wanted to say it again. Thanks for everything, you've been really great, and it's all appreciated." She was kind of trying to say it for everyone--she actually had no idea if Joshua or Sean had said thanks for the crashing-house and all that. "I'm sure it's kinda weird to have a bunch of people just randomly show up and hang out." Particularly with nightly vampire attacks. Or okay, just the one, but still. That was a doozy.

"That's okay - you kind of get used to it," Sophie told her, going to the fridge and getting things out, setting them on the side - a couple of packs of ham, salad-y bits, butter, bread, some sauces. "Living with Oz, you get open house a lot. It's a pack thing," she shrugged - as if that concept hadn't taken any time at all for her to get used to or anything.

"Yeah?" Lullaby asked curiously. Then she half blushed, embarrassed, since she wasn't sure if that was an okay thing to really ask about or something. But she was curious. She did tend to get girly and want to pet Oz a bunch when he was in wolfy form. She thought she'd caught sight of him outside from her window--unless there were other black wolves around, and that had her wondering. Lullaby had a terrible poker face. "If it's weird or not okay to talk about, I can retract the question." she added in hurriedly.

Sophie eyed her, askance. "The single, one word questiont hat I could simply have anyswered 'yeah' anyway?" she asked, opening the bread and shuffling out the whole loaf onto the board. "Spread or fill?" she asked the girl. "I you don't have to retract the question, though you might want to make it a little more specific if there's something you wanted to know."

"Sorry." Lullaby said, wrinkling her nose cutely. "I'm kinda new at all this stuff so I don't know what's sort of not alright to talk about and all that. I guess I was wondering about what you said there. Like um. The pack thing. So this happens a lot? And it's..." she trailed off, not sure how to phrase things. "And spread." she decided, moving over to where things were put out. She couldn't mess that up.

Sophie swapped places with her and took a couple of knives from a drawer - a butter knife for Thia and a sharp one for her as she began to cut up tomatoes. With the number of house guests they had, they'd be needing a lot of lunchables. "From time to time," Sophie told her. "It's more of a mindset than anything else. Like... We keep a room for Billy upstairs, not that he uses it that much, but the space is always open. And, like, having such a big house for just two people. I don't think J could like anywhere smaller. There's far too much space here for us, but - well, right now is a great example of why we might need it. And, really, while you're here, you can talk about generally anything. We're all fairly well versed," Sophie told her, keeping her tone light and conversational. So, she could be the queen of avoidance at times - Thia didn't need to know that, did she?

She wondered for a second about the J thing, then thought it was probably Oz. Which made her wonder what his name really was, if it wasn't Oz. "Jay?" she asked, having to smile a bit. "Is that his name? I always thought it was just Oz..." she said, starting on her work, absently tugging the hood of her hoodie up a little bit to half cover the scar in a totally unconscious gesture. She could follow what else Sophie was saying though. She guessed if your ...what did Dean always call him? Her partner? If they were kind of in for a big group of people to look after or whatever, a big house and occasional houseguests made sense. In a weird sort of way.

Sophie laughed a little. "Because 'Oz' is such a common guy's name, right? His parents wouldn't have hated him at all to give him that," she teased, loosening up a little. "No, his name is Jasper," he told Thia, wrinkling her nose a little - she's never liked that name. "Osbourne - hence the Oz. And I call him J, because I've known him for longer than he's been going by Oz. And I refuse to call him 'Jasper'."

Lullaby watched Sophie as she spoke, and then suddenly burst into giggles at that. "Wow, that's..." she giggled some more, and was grinning brightly at Sophie now, a purely genuine expression. "I was informed this morning that the reason Dean insists on calling me Thia is because he thinks Lullaby is stupid." she explained. That was just...rich. "I mentioned it cuz all of you guys call me Thia, and it's strange, because really he was the only one who called me that. I mean, my friend Journey, he used to every once in a while, but Dean adopted that right away. I didn't know why until I mentioned the Thia-phenomena here. I guess you guys do cuz that's what he calls me." She still found it funny though. Guess there was a bad-name-trend going around.

"Basically, yes," Sophie told her. "I mean... I didn't really even know you were even caleld Lullaby until.. Much later on," she said, changing tack mid-sentence as she realised she'd been running head-long into saying 'you died'. Wheeeee, let's be avoiding that subject!

No such luck for Sophie! "Til after I died?" she suggested lightly. She figured that would be the timeframe. Hard to miss on the news and stuff. She wondered if Sophie and Oz had gone with Dean to her funeral. and she started wondering if it was even alright to talk about that. But then, Sophie had said they were well versed, right? "Understandable." she said. She bit at the little cut on her lip, her mind sort of all over the place then. Mostly because it drifted up to the surface of her mind to ask about the boys and the cage last night, but she kind of didn't want to bring it up at the same time.

Sophie didn't answer, pushing her pile of tomato slices to one side and opening the pack of ham, before beginning to assembled sandwiches. "So - how was the bath? And did you manage to get any sleep?" she asked, her tone maintaining that light conversational tone.

Okay, so no talking about that. Lullaby assessed. Cuz wow was that blatant. It threw her slightly, but she tried not to let it. "The bath was good." Traumatic! Kind of. But it gave me an excuse to hide behind a locked door and cry for a while. "And um. Some." she said evasively. And by some she meant 'not really much of any but I'm afraid of terrifying vampire nightmares'. But that kind of pertained to Death Number Two, and since they were quite clearly not discussing anything to do with that, she figured she'd leave that out too.

"I don't think anyone's getting all that much sleep at the moment," Sophie allowed. "Aside from maybe Billy - but that guy can sleep anywhere." And it wasn't like he had to worry about nightmares, from what Sophie understood - not that she could talk, since she didn't get them either, thanks to the soul bond. "You should try again later, before it gets dark," she advised.

"'Kay." Lullaby said, catching herself half reaching up to rub at the scar on her neck again, her mind mostly on the vampires and that whole messy being ripped up thing again, but since she caught it she stopped herself mid-motion, and returned to making the sandwiches. After a few long moments, she glanced at Sophie hesitantly. "...um, can I ask if you have any ribbon?" she asked, in a helplessly nervous sort of tone.

Sophie caught the nervousness in her tone and turned a little, stopping what she was doing. "Erm - I might have, why?" she asked, because it was a strange request - and it was an especially strange due to the sound of her voice. Why on earth would someone be nervous about asking for ribbon. Then again, why would someone want ribbon in the middle of all of this anyway?

Lullaby almost sort of leaned slightly back, in that automatic 'make oneself smaller' way. "I um." she started, then sighed, and looked down at the floor, partially away from the blonde. Then it all sort of came out in a rush. "I have a scar from where I was bit and it's big and noticeable and it's just this big reminder and I think I've already freaked everyone out enough and I don't want to see it myself and I'm sure no one else does either and then have to think about it but I don't have anything to cover it with and I figured if there was ribbon I could try and sort of...cover it up. Like a choker." she made herself stop then, and ticked her brown eyes back to Sophie, what with needing to be able to read her response, though it was difficult.

Sophie watched her as she spoke, noting the way the other girl reached up to cover her neck and she suddenly felt for her. "I'm sure we can find something," she said with a nod and a small smile. "Come on," she added, leaving the sandwiches for now. "Let's go upstairs, have a root through my draws and see what we can find for you, okay?" she said, kindly. Right now, it didn't seem all that important what had happened and possibly for the first time, Sophie was actually seeing Thia as just a sixteen year old girl, rather than someone entwined with magic that she didn't know how to deal with.

Lullaby didn't know what she'd been expecting, but it hadn't apparently been that, since it surprised her. She sort of half looked back at the sandwiches, then nodded. "Thank you." she said genuinely, sounding insanely relieved. She'd sort of take anything really. Anything that might make it so people didn't see it. She set the knife down, and sort of waited for Sophie to lead the way, not sure where 'upstairs' they were headed. There was a whole lot of upstairs, after all. "It doesn't have to be anything special or anything, just as long as it covers it up." she explained further.

Sophie headed out of the kitchen and up the stairs, leading the way to her bedroom and from there into the dressing room. She hadn't been kidding when she'd said the house really was rather too large for them - something that became clear since Oz and Sophie had what was nearer to a suit of rooms than a master bedroom. The dressing room had countless fitted drawers and cupboards and against one wall, under the window, there was a small couch. A door on the far side led into their bathroom. "Now, I can't promise to have anything that'll be perfect or anything - I'm not really a ribbons and doodads person, but we can see what we can find for you," Sophie said, pulling open a drawer and starting to root around.

Lullaby looked around as she was brought through. "You have a really beautiful home." she said, sort of fully appreciating it in this half-seperate time she was spending with Sophie. It was a different feel altogether than when she was in other rooms, or with other people. She could take a second to appreciate her surroundings more. She moved herself so she could keep her eyes on Sophie, and be able to read her lips. She caught most of what the woman had said, but thought she might have missed the first bit. She got the gist, however, so didn't ask for a repeat. "Anything is fine, honest." she said. "I just really sorta...yeah." she said. Catching sight of a dead-girl-reflection over against the wall, she winced, and moved, putting herself so that Sophie was blocking her reflection from her view. She moved again, since there were two mirrors. If she never saw her reflection again, it would be too soon.

Sophie didn't catch sight of the reflection - which was probably a good thing. She was too busy rooting, pulling out bits and pieces that might be useful and laying them over her arm. She'd managed to find a couple of bits of ribbon - though they weren't particularly long and she didn't know if they'd do. And she'd found some long, narrow, gauzy scarves, plus a couple of square silk scarves that, in all honesty, she couldn't remember ever wearing - or why she'd have them in the first place. But, out they came and she eventually took the pile over to the couch. "Thanks," she said, belatedly, looking over at Thia. "When I first got here, I didn't really know anyone and I had a lot of time on my hands, so... redecorating the house. Which probably makes me sound stupidly boring, but I really enjoyed it. Course, the actual hard work was mostly done by Billy. Having your own pet handyman comes in handy," she joked.

She smiled at Sophie when she said that. "I don't think so." she said. "I think if I had a place like this I'd put in a ton of time decorating. Because...c'mon, this place is gorgeous." she said, relaxing a bit more and she looked over the things Sophie had brought over. She started with the ribbons, looking down then holding some up, trying to feel with her fingers if the edges of the scar were visible. "I bet that's nice too. Just 'hey, I think I'd like a window seat over here." she continued. Which actually made her miss home, considering she'd had a window seat and she missed that thing terribly.

Sophie sat back and let her look. "Yeah, it was a bit like that. A little bit like playing as well, at times. J basically gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted - which was a little frustrating at first, til I cottoned on to the fact that, no, he really didn't mind what i did and then just stopped asking him to okay everything." Being that it had been his money that she'd been spending and she'd been incredibly aware of that at first, but then again, during that time they'd been finding themselves again in their rekindled relationship and everything had needed to be re-established.

The part about it being like playing reminded her that she and Dean had actually made a fort this morning in the closet. So apparently, it was still alright to play around, even after highschool, just in maybe different ways. Even if they hadn't really had the intention of playing when they'd made it. "So all the decorating and everything is all you?" she asked. "You've got really good taste then too." she said easily, since she honestly thought so. "I think this is probably the prettiest house I've ever been in." she added. She kept going through things one at a time, setting some aside to re-consider, others in a 'no' pile. "Must also be nice kinda being away from town." she added.

"Well, not all me - I basically just did the ideas. Colours, wallpaper, carpets and things. Then I'd tell Billy what I wanted and he'd... go do it. Or a couple of times I'd come home and find out that he'd found a carpenter to come in and make something, because he couldn't find already made what I'd said I wanted. I've known the guy as long as I've know J, really - he knows that I get fairly picky about things when I get an idea into my head, so, yeah... He told me that he figured it'd be better to get things built than to, hmm, how did he put it? 'Rip them out again in six months because you've decided you hate it'. Or something. And, well, i wouldn't mind being further into town, sometimes. Obviously not right now or anything, but I grew up in a city - it took me so long to get used to the quiet here. But J likes it - he'd live further out if he could. And I'm used to it now. Have to admit, I love the views."

"I always liked it here. I was one of those kids who didn't have plans from like...the cradle to move away." She also laughed a bit. "Guess it's good to have him doing it then since he knows you so well." Lullaby paid attention to the whole thing, still taking care of her own sorting, but she was liking talking to Sophie. Getting to know her. "So you guys-like the lot of you-have all known each other forever then?" she asked. She mentioned knowing Oz before he'd been going by that. And now apparently Billy fit in there too. "Maddie too?" She asked, since she knew there was the ghost involved. She'd even seen her the once, though mostly she remembered she formed words kinda like Joshua did, and she had red hair.

"Yeah, we went to high school together. or, well, Billy and J did - Billy was a couple of years ahead of us. I arrived when I was fifteen. And nobody knew about Maddie until a few years ago, but apparently she was around as well. Billy just didn't tell anyone about her," Sophie told Thia, picking up one of the discarded scarves and running it through her fingers.

"And you've just all stayed together?" she asked. She was smiling as she thought about it. It sounded nice. Wait, she knew there'd been a seperation in there somewhere, Dean had mentioned little bits but hadn't gone into detail. So she half wondered if maybe she shouldn't have said that. Crap. She couldn't take it back now.

Sophie's smile faded. "No," she said, looking down. "No we didn't." She broke off for a minute, wondering whether she should just leave it at that, but decided that, really, she had no right. And she shuold own up to what she'd done as part of the penance she was still amking herself pay for her actions. "I, I left. Went back to England with my parents. We had a situation bit like this, really. Acherus vampires hit town, decimated the population - people were terrified, some fleeing, lots dying, some fighting back. My mum and dad decided they'd had enough. J wanted me to stay, begged me to stay, really - but I left him," she said, her voice hollow. There was much more of a story there, but where did you start, where could you start?

Lullaby could defintiely tell there was more there. She half paused in what she was doing, to focus her full attention on Sophie. She nibbled at the cut on her lip a tiny bit as she considered. "Well...with a situation like this, I don't think anyone could really blame you for leaving..." she said. "And you said you were fifteen? Or something? You probably couldn't have stayed on your own, right?" she asked. She was watching strange lines start to come off of Sophie, ones she thought she'd seen vague traces of before from the boys, but it was more pronounced in Sophie. Again she was struck with the idea that maybe the different types meant different things. She started to try and draw them in a little at a time, giving second effort towards helping someone's mood.

"Sixteen by that time. And yes, they could. I could..." J did. "It was... complicated. And J wanted me to stay with him and his family." First time he proposed to me. "But, I left - went back to England, and didn't ahve contact with any of them for the next three years. From what I understand, Billy took to the road, J moved elsewhere with his parents. And then it was just coincidence that they met back up here."

"Maybe it was fate." Lullaby said. She didn't actually know if she believed in fate anymore, really, but she used to in some ways. "How come it was so long before you came back?" she asked tentatively. She was still drawing on the blackness, a steady flow of it was there after all, but she was trying not to do anything too abrupt. And it also might not work. "Did things go kinda...wrong?" she asked, not sure how to word that. Things must have. Probably with all the trauma...

Sophie smiled a little, though there wasn't much humour there. "Yeah, you could say that. And it wasn't fate - it was magic," she admitted, looking uncomfortable. She didn't like thinking of it like that. Sophie had a very deep-seated dislike of magic and she tried to ignore the fact that magic had created the soul bound. She'd managed, over the years, to come to terms with the bond itself, but to actually openly think of it as magic still made her twitchy.

Lullaby watched as the lines around Sophie got thicker. Changed. It was different than the other kind. It sort of made her feel bad, but at the same time, she didn't want to not listen to the story. She just pulled a little harder at the blackness. "What happened?" she asked. She hoped now wasn't the time where Sophie told her it was none of her business--which it wasn't. "Dean kinda said you don't like magic much." she added tentatively. And hey! That's where I come from, apparently. Damnit.

"He did?" Sophie asked, then nodded. "He'd be right. It's nothing... Personal." She sighed and figured that she may as well get out the entire story, insane as it was. Maybe it might make some difference, or some kind of sense. "Okay - bear with me. This gets... insanely complicated," she apoligised upfront. "When I was fifteen, my family moved out to Colorado. I started at the high school there, met people, fitted in, y'know, like you do. Anyway, I met J - he was in the year below me. I didn't know anything about anything. Werewolves, vampires, demons - didn't exist. There was nothing like that in my family, I don't have any abilities, completely normal. Anyway, J and I got on, he was my best friend. Nothing more than that between us - at elast, nothing from my end. His side of things, well.. I don't know. Didn't matter anyway, in the end. Because there was a school play called. Romeo and Juliet. I've always enjoyed acting, so I decided to go for it - so did he. And we got the title rolls. He was fifteen, I was sixteen and that's where it starts getting complicated. Becasue the drama teacher was a witch. And decided for some insane reason I've never been able to fathom that turning us into our cahracters would be a great idea. Maybe it was meant to be some psycho extreme form of method acting or something, I don't know. So, suddenly I'm bloody Juliet Capulet, madly in love with J, we're both creeping around sure that our parents will literally kill us if they find us togetherand declaring undying love for each other. Because - and I don't know if this was intended, or just a side effect - not only did we have to become our characters, we felt compelled to follow the story to it's inevitable conclusion." Sophie wondered if Thia could see where she was going with this at all yet.

Lullaby listened to the quite insane story, following along and trying to keep up. God that was weird. But then Sophie paused, and Lullaby sat up straighter, looking worried. "But--they die in the end!" she said--which yeah, hello obvious. And just as obvious was that Sophie was sitting there, perfectly well and so was Oz...wherever he was. But still!! "God that had to have been terrible!" she added, thinking this entire thing was sounding like a really spectacular way to fuck up someone's life something fierce. Especially considering Sophie had said she hadn't known anything about anything.

"Yeah, they die in the end," Sophie confirmed, shifting a little. "But not before Romeo kills Juliet's cousin. And not before they get married," she added, with a suggestion in her tone that whilst the final step might not have been successful, the rest of it had happened.

Jaw dropping, Lullaby stared for a minute, before she collected herself enough to shut her trap, and she started blinking again. "I--" she started. "Did someone else die? And married?" she asked. Yeah. Wow. And now she was wondering if Oz had killed some classmate. Ohhhh that was a really really horrible thought. She liked Oz. He was nice and had pretty eyes and was snuggly as a wolf and didn't look at her like she was nuts cuz she wanted to pet him and had been really like...nice and yeah.

"It got... confusing. But yeah, someone died, another was badly injured. J... Turned in front of half the school. That fight - the one where Tybalt kills Mercutio? That happened, really happened - except Romeo didn't pick up a sword to fight back, Romeo turned into a werewolf and tried to rip his throat out. he didn't do it, thank god, but it was close. The guy playing Tybalt, he'd been J's best friend before that. They never did speak again. He switched schools as soon as it was all over. By the time I got out of the hospital, he was gone."

Lullaby looked sufficiently traumatized by all that information. She also unconsciously reached up to cover her throat again when Sophie mentioned throats getting ripped out. He's downstairs or something. And he tried to do that to someone. Oh god. Oh god. She attempted to calm herself down, to not freak out about that information, but it was difficult to. "...Oz didn't kill anyone...did he?" she asked in a small voice. Since she was saying that someone lived. She thought maybe she was confusing things, but it had been a while since she'd read the play.

"No, he didn't - I stopped him," Sophie told her. "And don't worry - J's not a threat to anyone. He's not.. like that. Not any more. He has control now. He didn't back then though - but I had that. Which is the other complicated thing and what this all was leading to, really," she explained, knowing that that was a muddle - there was so much here, twists and turns.

Relaxing visibly, she nodded, though she didn't remove her hand from her neck. She was far too busy listening to even be continuing to contemplate the other things in front of them. Because the story was just...far too intense and complicated to not give her full attention span. She paused for a second, her mind lighting on something. "...Romeo and Juliet get married. And Dean refers to Oz as your partner. But you guys both wear wedding rings." she added, stringing that together. "...so what happened? And how do you control a werewolf?"

"Too young to marry," Sophie shrugged. "But we were in the very tight grip of a spell - and so we found another way. Got a blood witch to perform a binding on us. It wasn't meant for humans - it had been formed as a quasidemon something - I don't really know what. At the time, we didn't really care. I remember it was beautiful. I was so happy." She looked down. "Nobody really knew what the effects would be. We found out the first the next day, but we didn't really appreciate what had happened until quite a long time after. We bound ourselves together, we bound our souls. And the day of the fight, we found out that that meant that the wolf would listen to me. It considered me Mate. It wouldn't hurt me. Ever. And I could calm it."

When Sophie looked down, Lullaby ducked her head slightly so she could keep reading better. She paused as Sophie continued the story, trying to follow it all. "...but that's a good thing...isn't it?" she asked. "Um. The wolf controlling thing. I'm kinda...totally unable to wrap my brain around a soul bond. What else happened with that? What else did it mean?" she asked, since Sophie had said 'the first' which meant there was more.

"Yes, the wolf control was a good thing," Sophie allowed. "But at the time, I... As far as 'Juliet' was concerned, she'd just seen her husband try and murder her cousin - the fact that she'd managed to stop him? I remember having really conflicted loyalties about that one for a while. Of course, then one thing led to another and I was in hospital having attempted an overdose, so... Yeah. For me, the soul bond problems didn't kick in until afterwards. Someone managed to break the spell just after I ODed. They got me to hospital - I was ill for days. And then I came round and... I could remember everything, but... The feeling of violation. I was sixteen and this had just been done to me. Not just the initial spell that made me someone else, but the bond. I'd had no choice in it at all and suddenly my life was something completely different. The bond meant that I could find him when he was hurt, that we shared dreams at times, that I could control the wolf, that I could never be with anyone else. And it was all so easy for J, he just jumped into it without a moment's pause, but me... I didn't know where I ended and the magic began. What was me and what had been forced on me? If I love him, was that me? Or was that the bond telling me that I had to feel that way? And I dealt with the whole thing spectacularly badly and basically started running from the whole thing."

Lullaby had major pangs of sympathy there. She knew exactly what it was like to just have something completely life altering as well as irreversable done to you. From the description, Lullaby couldn't tell which was worse. What had happened with Sophie, or what was happening with her. She supposed in the end it didn't really matter. I just was. They both had to deal. "So that's why you left? Did you guys...I mean, if you were that messed up about it and didn't want it and stuff, couldn't you try to break it?" It sounded really sad. And made her wonder why Sophie was here now. She pulled more on the blackness, filtering it through faster.

"It's apparently unbreakable - very much the case of 'til death do us part'. Back then, I was all for trying to find a way out. J, wasn't. he didn't see that it made even the slightest bit of difference. He loved me, what did it matter? And the perks for him were such that he ddin't want to let them go. For the first time in his life, he didn't ahve to be afraid of the moon, you see. For me, I was less certain - I wanted to know whether what i felt for him was real or not. That's what took the time, realising that it was. Letting go of that doubt that being forced to become someone else had left. I needed time to be able to do that, but I couldn't think there. So, yes, that's why I left. And once I had that time to think? That's when I realised that I'd made the worst mistake of my life. Course, by then it was too late," Sophie told her, sadly, though she was finding this easier to tell this time round. In the past when she'd tried it, it had simply been too upsetting, she'd find herself getting wrapped up in the emotions which went with the memories.

Weirdly, Lullaby felt like that was a bit of a better thing. It was kind of sad, the entire mess, and sad that Sophie said she'd realized things too late. But it was heartwarming, that she was really in love part. But then Lullaby was sixteen and while not the girliest girl in the world by far, that didn't mean she couldn't feel warm and squishy over a love story. "It was too late?" she asked. That confused her just a bit. Since they where here now. But she imagined there were bits left to fill in for her.

"Yeah," Sophie confirmed. "Remember those vampires? Well, they ripped the town to shreds. And then, those people who were fighting back? Used some kind of magic against them - which succeeded in destroying teh vampires, but only because it broke the dam above the town and flooded the whole place." Oh yeah, Sophie really, really didn't have any cause to like magic. "J got out, but, of course, he and his parents had to relocate. So, I couldn't find him. Had no idea where he'd gone. Too late."

Lullaby made a face. She also thought to herself that if she were in love with someone, and had to find them, she'd scour the earth and like...hire detectives. But another part of her brain told her that she'd pay for those detectives how? It was just a silly romantic notion, and probably only really happened in the movies. And bad movies at that. "How did you find him again?"

"The bond," Sophie told her, with an appreciation of the irony. "I told you it kicked in when one of us was hurt? Well, J decided to undertake this bloody stupid ritual. He'd been told that he could control his wolf himself. Do you know the difference between born and bitten weres?" she asked.

Nodding, Lullaby could actually answer that one well. "Yes. I read up on them after I found out about all..." she made a vague gesture that was supposed to encompass 'the supernatural'. "It wasn't that long ago." she added in a little bit of a quieter tone. She and Sophie had a lot of things in common, it seemed. Which was kinda sorta making her feel better in a weird way.

Sophie nodded. "Good, well, J's bitten - but he was told about this ritual, which could take away the lunar madness. And with me gone, he wanted to be able to control himself some other way. He knew it could kill him - he did it anyway. The last ritual did almost kill him. And it activated the bond. In a big way. Pulled me here from Manchester. And, well, here I am still."

And there went the inner romantic, awwing. Lullaby smiled a little, though it was one of those weird moments where she didn't know if that was appropriate or not. "So you came over to be with him?" she asked. "I mean, I guess I can understand why he'd wanna do that. But at the same time, if I were you I'd probably be twitchy about it too." Since she'd caught the part where Sophie had termed it as 'bloody stupid'. "...are you happy?" she asked in that hesitant manner that said she didn't know if she was allowed to ask that. And the she disclaimered it. "You don't have to say."

"Now? Yes," Sophie reassured her. "It's taken me a while to get here, but yes, I'm happy. And whilst I wouldn't say that I came over to be with him - that woudl suggest a choice in the matter I didn't have at the time, but it was completely my choice to stay. I just... kinda wish now that things could ahve been different."

Lullaby looked thoughtful at that. "What would you change if you could?" she asked curiously. And also wondered if she should shut up. But Sophie was talking, and that was a good thing. Plus...couldn't get a more interesting story. She noticed that the blackness was starting to taper off some too, not quite as thick as it had been before. She kept drawing it in anyhow, actively going for getting rid of as much of it as she could.

Sophie smiled a little. "I wish I'd never left in the first place. I wish I hadn't caused the hurt and the trouble that I did. We're still kinda dealing with the fallout of that." And she wished that she hadn't been left with the problems she had. Like the fact that she'd been unable to agree to marry him. Like her issues with magic. Like so much else. the entire experience had changed her as a person and she still wondered from time to time what she would ahve been like if all that hadn't happened.

"...you guys seem to have a good relationship from an outside persepctive." Lullaby offered. "I mean--I know I haven't been around a whole lot, but I notice like..." she paused, and tried to think of how to put it. "Like, there's ways you guys look at each other?" she suggested. "Especially when it's not looking at each other but like...the way he looks at you, or the way you look at him when you guys aren't paying attention." she said. She'd caught the looks. That much, definitely. One didn't have to be around long to pick up on those if you were at all paying attention.

Sophie shook her head. "Oh, there's no question that we love each other. But what happened left us with a whole lot of trust issues. And communication has never been our strong point, though we've been working at that and we're getting better. trust me - you should have heard some of our arguments. I'm fairly sure half the town could once we got going," she told Lullaby, pulling a face.

"I'm sorry about the trust issues...that's really important." Lullaby agreed on that one. She'd been hedging around some herself lately. "And hey...if you guys argue that bad but you're still both here and everything, then maybe it's okay. I mean...you guys are in love and together...there's not much better than that. Even now with everything going on--you've still got each other." Then she made a little bit of a face herself. "Hi, I'm sixteen and a romantic. That sounded pretty corny, huh?"

"Yeah, that sounded pretty corny," Sophie agreed, plucking up a scarf and holding it out. "What about this one?" she asked, figuring she'd been monopolising this conversation for about long enough.

Lullaby took the offered scarf, and looked at it. "I like the colors." she said. She started to fold it, so she could tie it around her neck and figure out if it covered, or if it would scratch. After a lot of mental debate, she came out with something else though. "Can I ask you something?" she asked. "I um. You said before that magic changed your life and everything, and all that and...well it did with me too. I'm still kind of sort of not even close to dealing with it all. I mean, one day I was just normal, and the next I was this...thing. I sort of don't know how to deal with that at all. Was there anything that helped you? Like...to make it easier, or to keep in mind, or anything?"

Sophie considered that, trying to take the time to actually give the girl something that would be both true, and helpful. "I still have times where I don't deal well with what happened to me," she started, speaking slowly. "I'm getting better with that, I have my life on a much more even keel now, but I still have twitches. Like I don't like magic, I don't really trust it. But I can appreciate there's a time and a place now. As long as I don't have to be directly involved. As for the rest, time, first and foremost - the time to work out that I was still me. That though what happened definitely changed my outlook on life and changed certain aspects of me as a person, it didn't change me - who I was, how I felt, my personality or values. The part of me that really made up me. That took me a long time - to be able to trust myself again, not second guess anything."

Lullaby considered that, though she looked a little troubled. She glanced away for a minute, then back to Sophie. "...I really worry that I'm not me anymore." she said quietly. "Dean says I am. He seems pretty sure. But sometimes I just don't know. I mean, everything's so messed up, too. Like...I can't go anywhere. I can't do anything, because I died. People went to my funeral. The stuff I do have? I got cuz Dean and I climbed in my window and stole it. I'm just...it's really scary. All of it." She bit at her lower lip again, because she was feeling that urge, the slight lump in her throat rise up. She didn't really want to cry. Hadn't she done her crying quota for the day? Seriously.

"It must be," Sophie agreed with her. "I was scared, really scared. I remember when I left, all I wanted to do was run away and start a new life and forget that anything had ever happened to me. I didn't want any of it - I hadn't asked for it, I didn't want it, I couldn't cope with it. I remember being so angry because I was only sixteen and I couldn't cope with it and it was all so unfair. I felt like my life had been totally derailled - which, really, it had been." She realised that there were parallels between herself and this young girl and, really, that made her feel better about her. Whereas before she'd seen her as a creature of magic, somethign to step around and treat kindly simply because she was here and Sophie'd been brought up to be polite, now she was a person, a young girl who'd been through much the same as what she had - only worse. "I know it's nothing compared to what happened to you, but..."

"I dunno. You almost died." Lullaby said. "Plus, your whole life got derailed too." she added, because she didn't at all think Sophie's life and times should be downplayed in any manner. "For me I'm trying to figure out what to do next. And my problem, is that there doesn't really seem to be a next. Like...I can't go home. And...and one of my biggest fears is that people are going to find out about me, and I'm going to be carted off to have crazy experiments done on me because I can't stay dead like real people. So I'm afraid of that. And I'm afraid of what I'm doing to people." she added. She looked away again for a long moment, before looking back to Sophie, though she had trouble meeting the other woman's gaze. "Like, I don't know what I would have done if Dean hadn't found me. But at the same time, I worry that...that me being around is really bad for him. And he'd get pissed with me if he heard me say that, he's told me before and probably will til like...the end of days, that he would rather know and everything, but Most people get to deal with losing someone and move on. And now he and Joshua don't get to, and...it's not like I can just go back to being me. If that makes sense. So like...there's this huge weirdness about it all, and I'm different, and..." she trailed off and tried a smile though it failed. "I'm rambling. I'm bad for that."

"I don't know whether having you around is bad for my cousin or not - though, he doesn't react to well when.." Sophie puzzled a quizically comical face as she realised what she was about to say and then said it anyway. It was a strange world they lived in. "When you die." At least she was more comfortable in saying that now. Somethign had definitely changed. She'd opened up more now. "But, Dean was in a bad place when he got here - he seems to be in a much better one now, though I often wish he'd get over the whole 'sullen teenage boy' thing, but I guess that's just because he's, well, a teenage boy. But, he seems to be... he's easier to live with now than he was when he was first here. And I'd say at least some of that's down to you - more than likely most of it. I know you're his best friend. He cares about you," she said, careful to not put any other kind of suggestion in there, sure that he cousin wouldn't appreciate that.

Lullaby had to give a little smile at Sophie's mention of the 'sullen teenage boy' thing. "I know he does it, I guess I kinda got used to not seeing it much though. We'd kinda have lunch together and have silly conversations and stuff. Plus, if he gets pouty, I call him on it or deliberately try to get him to quit it." she said. "You really think so though? About him seeming better? Even like...now? And yeah, about the death thing...he kinda told me that you guys put him and Joshua in a cage last night." she added, sort of watching Sophie carefully on that. "He really hit Oz?"

Sophie nodded. "He really hit Oz. And kicked him. And fought all the way down to the basement. And blew the lights when they brought Joshua down trying to get out again. And then promptly knocked himself out for a few hours - which, really, was the best thing that could ahve happened for all concerned," Sophie informed her, assuming that obviously Dean had already told her all of this. "And, yeah, I think so - and if you talk to Aunt Vicky about what he was like ebfore he came over here, I definitely think so. Apparently 'sixteena nd angry at the world' really was the perfect way to describe him," she added.

Lullaby sat up straighter. "He said--that brat!" she said. "He said he got sleep last night." she sulked a little. "He'll have to be informed that unconsciousness does not in fact equate sleep." She said this very firmly, shaking her head. Then she attempted to get herself back on track. "Really? Yeah...I guess..." she was having a little bit of trouble imagining it. Not a ton, but a little. "I guess I don't see that in him. Or he's not like that around me. I really care about him too. I kinda really don't know what I'd do without him. He's been...well. You know there's just some people who go way above and beyond? That's him."

"Ah - then... He didn't tell you about that?" Sophie asked, realising that she'd put her foot in it. Whoops. "Way above and beyond? Really? I guess I've never seen that side of him. All I know is that he spent most of his time skulking in his room when he first got here and now... Actually he still spends a lot of his time in his room, but there's less of a skulking, pissed off, feel to it. And he's started to actually talk at meal times. And he and J seem to be getting on better as well."

"No, he really left that out. He just told me about the cage. Then I told him that he's never ever ever allowed to do anything like that ever again." Lullaby said. "...then we kinda both agreed that maybe it'd just be best if we could avoid me dying again. So...we're going to go with that." Sure they were. She listened to Sophie's description of Dean and she quirked a little half smile. "...seems like we see very different sides of him." she noted. "But yeah...like, he's just...been there. And he's brought me random things, and helped, and we've been trying to figure out what's going on with me and what I can do and--oh god, I'm sorry, I remember now that he was in trouble because he was out with me. I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to keep him out that long. I'm sorry you worried." she cut in with that speed-ramble at the end.

"Yes, he did get in trouble for that - and you don't get to apologise for him for that. He knew the rules, he broke them. I was pissed - and look! Vampires! Seems I was pissed with good reason, if a little prematurely," Sophie told her, unforgivingly. "I don't blame you, but Dean knew what he was doing - you didn't 'keep him out', he stayed out. Unless you forced him to stay - which I very much doubt."

Lullaby couldn't remember if she knew Dean was supposed to be home or not, actually. "...I didn't. We were out at the orphanage. Sort of learning about some of my abilities and stuff. We found out some about his too. Or, kinda. And I guess less my abilities, and more like...stuff about me. It wasn't much about what I can or can't do. But yeah.." She had to stop herself from saying she was sorry again. "Seems like that was ages ago, but it wasn't, huh? My sense of time is really off. 'Course, I missed an entire day, and before that I was kinda in and out from healing Billy. But--at least he's okay now."

"He is - and immensely pleased that he doesn't have to go to the hospital with it," Sophie told her with a smile. She didn't mention about why Billy was okay, or ask about abilities. She was feeling more comfortable around Thia now, but she wasn't ready to take that step. She didn't want to find herself back in discomfort zone again.

"I'm really glad I could help there. He was...really messed up. So yeah. That was good. He seems really nice. And he kinda..." Lullaby paused and then tilted her head to the side as she pondered. "He kind of wasn't talking to me like I was weird?" she suggested. "Like I went downstairs, and went into the living room, and we were talking sort of normalishly. Which I'm not sure if that's a word. But anyways, yeah. It was strange, but kind of neat. Actually...I never met him before even, that makes me wonder why he felt like he wasn't meeting me for the first time or something.." She mused, then realized she was talking to herself. "Sorry. Tangent."

Sophie actually had a pretty good idea she knew why Billy had talked to her like they'd met before, but she wasn't going to risk embarassing people by passing that information on - she just knew enough bits to be able to piece together a theory. "He's like that sometimes," Sophie told her instead. "Billy lives in a little world of his own, doesn't play by the same rules as the rest of us," she explained. "Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not so much - I'm glad it was good for you."

"He was nice." Lullaby said with a smile. "He um, he has something to do with dreams and stuff, right?" she asked. Actually, she thought she should probably ask Billy about that directly. Though she didn't know if she'd get an opportunity to. Absently, she'd started to tie the ends of a smaller ribbon onto a thicker one, so she could get it around her neck and see if it would work. Then she paused and gave Sophie a little half smile. "Ever get the feeling that everyone you know in the whole world is something other or at least touched by it?" she asked. She almost added in 'except you', meaning the both of them. However, she knew more than well enough that she herself didn't even qualify as human anymore.

"Yeah, he's a dreamwalker," Sophie confirmed. "Which means that he can enter the dreams of anyone he knows and change them round. Which is part of the reason he often acts like the rules don't apply - because, when he uses his abilities, they just... don't. Which can be incredibly frustrating at times, trying to remind him that he lives in the real world where he can't just make everything do what he wants just because he wants it, but you get used to him eventually and it's not like he's ever going to change... We just trya nd keep an eye on him - which frustrates him no end. And yes, I feel like that a lot," Sophie confirmed. Though she would put herself in the 'touched by it' class, even if only reluctantly.

Lullaby had to smile at Sophie's description. "Sounds like the makings of a great friend." she said. "I've kind of had that sort of relationship with any really good ones in my life. The kind where you're kind of constantly looking out for one another and even if they drive you batty you love them anyways." she assessed. "That sounds interesting. And possibly kinda scary." she added thoughtfully. Then she made a face. "Though I probably wouldn't want him to poke around my dreams now. Maybe before it would have been okay but I have a lot of nightmares since..." she made a vague gesture.

"Well, he's apparently good at making nightmares go away, so you might want to consider talking to him about that," Sophie suggested. "Though I know some people don't feel comfortable with him poking around in there."

Lullaby looked a little troubled at the notion, but it was sort of less that he'd be poking around her head and more she didn't know how other people would react to her nightmares and what if they were scary for him too? She definitely didn't know enough about any of that. "I'll think about it." she said. "I wouldn't want to ask and like..I dunno. I kinda have trouble asking anyone for anything a lot of the time, and even if it's something he does naturally and stuff, I guess I'd still feel like I was imposing." Even if he had been nice to her, who the hell was she? And who was she to go asking him for things--especially when it wasn't as if she had anything to offer him in return.

Sophie hid a smile. "Okay, whatever you want, but you may be surprised. So - find anything you think might work?" she asked, looking at the pile.

Lullaby nodded. "Yes, a few things. Do you mind if I take a couple?" she asked. "And if I sort of rearranged them? I can replace anything I take, eventually. I've got a little money and stuff." she added. "And again, I really really appreciate this. Actually all of this. Talking and this stuff, and...everything." she said genuinely, giving Sophie a smile.

"Take whatever you want - and don't mind about the money, they would have just sat in the back of a drawer anyhow. So you can tell yourself you're doing me a favour," Sophie told her, not mentioning the rest all that much. "It was nice to chat with you too."

Smiling more, Lullaby gathered up the few things she wanted to work with, then stood up. For the moment, she tied one of the scarfs around her neck, feeling along the edge of it to make sure the scar was covered. "And here we go for now. I feel better. Wanna go finish up the food? There's a lot of boys to feed." And ones that weren't Dean actually seemed to eat a lot, in her experience.

"That there are," Sophie agreed, standing. "And sure - let's go cater to the ganets," she joked, leading the way out of the room.