Who: Chance and Kaysen
Where: Chance's House
When: Early afternoon

It was another day without school, for which Chance was thankful. He wasn't sure he'd have gone even if school had been back in session. He wasn't having a particularly good morning, given he hadn't slept much the night before. He was too busy trying to deal with the fact that Devon had died. And that Kaysen had nearly probably killed herself trying to save his life. He was maybe handling everything better than he could have been. Anger and pain still wanted to surface. He still wanted to hit things and break things and find someone to blame for everything, but he couldn't. After his mom left for work, he sat out on the porch, watching a few of his neighbors cleaning up their yards. Everything felt quiet and still now, without a barrage of destruction to report on the news this morning. Chance wondered if maybe the vampires had moved on. Maybe. He sat on one of the porch chairs, staring ahead, his mind shifting back to Kaysen. It was easier to think about her than anything else. She wanted to know about him. And he wanted to tell her, yet at the same time, now he was afraid too. He didn't want her to be scared of him. That was his worst fear, that she would look at him like he was a monster, or something to be frightened of. Sighing, Chance leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair. After a moment's hesitation, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and forced himself to punch in her number. He'd at least ask her how she was feeling, just to hear her voice. Maybe if she was feeling better, he could convince her to come over. Or to allow him to come see her. Hearing her voice wouldn't be enough. He wanted to see her, hug her and just be with her, as cheesy as it was in his mind. She'd help him maintain sanity, at least for a little while.

She heard her phone ring, and then answered it, smiling a little when she saw it was Chance. "Hey." she said as she put the phone to her ear. Edison hopped up on her bed with her, and marched over to snuggle. "How're you? Are you okay?" she asked. And why was it, that that question popped out automatically? Jeeze, their lives had gone off the bloody deep end. Where it was actually seeming normal to start out a conversation in the middle of the day with 'are you okay'. Yeah. Hell in a handbasket, here we come.

"Hey, yeah I'm fine," he answered. It wasn't a complete lie. He was feeling better just because she was on the other end of the line. "What about you? How are you feeling?" She could barely move when he'd left her asleep on Thom's couch. He worried about her, but she sounded okay, so maybe that was a good sign. Maybe soon they wouldn't have to be constantly asking each other if they were okay. If Marquette ever got back to normal.

"A little better. I keep trying to like...meditate and stuff, but it's sort of slow going. I can move lots better though. Like, getting up and walking? Totally not beyond my abilities anymore. So that's cool. Are you bored? Just checkin up on me? Dying for my bright sparkling personality?" Kaysen asked. "Also...you heard, right? That stuff seems to have moved on and stuff? Like, we might be sorta safeish?"

Chance blinked and allowed himself a small smile at her sudden output of questions. He was glad to hear she was doing better and that was a bit of weight lifted. "Uh, yeah I heard that stuff seems to have died down. I guess we'll find out for sure tonight, though." He wasn't sure about being safeish. Not in this town anymore. "But yeah, I'm checking up on you. I want to see you... since you've got that whole walking thing going on, wanna come see me? Or I can come pick you up maybe." He didn't want to hang out at her place if her brother was home. Or Harkin was there.

"Is your car still even driveable since I set it on fire?" Kaysen asked doubtfully. "I can board over. I haven't done that in too long, and I'd like to. So..yeah, I'll see you in like, half an hour?" she asked. Usually it would only take her about twenty minutes, but she was giving herself time due to still being kinda tired.

"Oh, shit." He'd forgotten about his car. Chance laughed a bit, though it wasn't a humorous as he'd like it to be. "I forgot about my car." His mom had even panicked and shrieked this morning when she'd seen it. He'd been bombarded with questions, none of which he answered. Yeah, he'd forgotten about that. He'd forgotten about a lot of things. "Yeah, if you can board over... I'll be here. Be careful, all right?"

"Yeah, I will." Kaysen promised. "I'll see you soon." Then she hung up, and headed out to do that. She made sure she had on her hoodie though. Just in case. She didn't especially want to draw attention to herself in any fashion. Absently, she sort of wondered what the bracelet she'd been given did too. She'd probably have to ask Thom. She pondered that and just how bad the damage was to Chance's car on the way over, but kind of forgot about it again when she got there and walked up the steps to knock.

He opened the door almost immediately when he heard the knock. He'd tried to make himself look somewhat presentable, but he didn't get much further than shoving his hands through his hair. She'd probably understand his looking like crap, given the circumstances. "Hey," he greeted with a small smile, widening the door for her to come inside. "You look a lot better."

"Thank you." She said. "You kinda look like hell." she observed with her usual tactlessness. Though that didn't stop her from putting her arms up around his neck and giving him a big hug as she walked inside, and used a foot to sort of toe-closed the door. "Are you okay?" Hadn't she already asked that? Oh yes, she had. But still, he didn't look okay. So there was some worry going on.

He wasn't bothered by the lack of tact. He felt like hell so he knew he must look it. He hugged her back, face pressed gently into her hair. "I'm okay. Just... tired, I guess. It's been a long couple of days with the entire world going to shit and everything." His arms tightened around her. "Just glad you're here." Chance pulled back to look at her. "You want something to drink or anything?"

"No, I'm okay." she said. "Is anything else going on?" she asked. "Or just...maurading vampires out to kill us all?" Weirdly, Kaysen was feeling a little...clingy. Kind of. She didn't much want to let go of him at any rate, so when they pulled back, she kinda sorta snagged his hand and held onto it. She also sort of half-listened for his mom, in case she was around, but she didn't hear anyone.

"Mostly the vampires," Chance said, reaching up with a hand to scratch a bit at the nape of his neck. That wasn't entirely true but he wasn't sure he wanted to say much more. "Ah... Devon's parents called me a couple of days ago. Wasn't... good news? So... add marauding vampires, and... everything else. I dunno. But I think I'm okay... I will be."

It was probably bad, but it took Kaysen a second to place the name. It wasn't as if Chance talked about him a whole lot or anything, and Kaysen herself hadn't ever really met the guy. Sure, she knew of him and everything, and knew his friend Jordan had been dating him, but Devon-types and Kaysen-types didn't exactly hang. But she remembered quickly enough. "What was the news? Is he um...gone?" She couldn't think of a more delicate way to word that. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm okay. And no, there's nothing you can do," Chance answered simply, not bothering to confirm that Devon was dead. He didn't really feel like saying it. The only friend he really had since he moved to Marquette was dead. The blunt thought prompted a tiny twitch inside of him, but he ignored it the best he could. "I just don't want to talk about it right now." And to further that desire, he reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Everything okay at home? With your brother and Harkin and everything? They didn't freak out on you, did they?"

She shook her head. "No. They didn't." she said. She might have freaked out on them a little, or Thom, at least, and she had freaked Isaac and Thom out with the whole gay thing, but they hadn't really freaked out on her. "And the parents are still kinda...they've been kinda weird since Isaac and I went missing and then Josh and Mary were killed. So, they're okay." she promised. "Can we go sit down though? I'm still kinda tired. I'm getting better, but still a little tiny bit exhaustable."

"Yeah, sure." He took her by the hand to lead her into the living room. It worried him a bit that she was just tired. He tried to put it into perspective that she'd set fire to, well, almost everything the other night. He nudged her onto the couch, studying her face. "Your parents didn't know the... er, inferno out in the street did they? How did you explain your condition to them?"

"They aren't asking too many questions right now." Kaysen admitted. "Like, I'm pretty sure their minds are all blown? They sorta seem zombie like and shellshocked. Like they can't quite get what's happening, and so they're not really trying too hard to break their brains. I actually kinda feel bad for them. I mean, it sucks knowing, too, but I dunno. I just don't think they'd believe me if I said the 'vandals' were really vampires, and the fire the other night was me." she said, sitting down, and she sort of immediately started to push him over, so she could lay down with him on the couch. Her plan was to lay sort of half off to the side, half on him cross her arms over his chest and prop it there, so they could talk.

He followed her nudge, shifting on the couch so she could lay down with him. It was much better than standing, that was for sure. "This shit doesn't happen here. Or it's not suppose to. I guess if you don't know what's really out there, it can be confusing and fucking scary. I think it's worse when you do know," he said. "I mean, your parents might be okay in a few days, when the town's looking back to normal and if things stay quiet. But other people are going to know better." There could be darker things out there than vampires. "Fuck, who knows. Maybe ignorance really is bliss and you should be thankful they don't know everything."

"I dunno. Maybe. Or maybe it just puts them in danger because they don't know what's really happening. It's a toss up." Kaysen said with a sigh. Then she paused, just taking a few long minutes to look at him. "You were going to tell me about you." she said softly, not sure she was ready, but she was about as ready as she was going to be, she thought. She didn't say that Isaac had said what he was called, and that he could heal. It felt sort of...wrong. Like it had been cheating or something. So she wanted to hear it all from him directly instead.

His eyes ticked to hers, studying them intently for a few moments. It was possible his heartrate picked up a bit. He had no reason to be anxious about it. He'd tried to tell her before, and had wanted too. Still... Chance licked his lips and swallowed, his eyes never leaving her face. "Are you sure you want to know? I don't want anything I tell you to scare you, and if you're still feeling weak, we don't have to talk about it now."

"I want to know." Kaysen said. "I think I should, if nothing else, kay? So just...tell me. It's okay. It's voluntary, I want to hear." she assured him. She still wasn't sure she was ready but she also felt like it was well past time for her to be. So, she was jumping the gun a bit here, in hopes she could handle whatever it was he told her.

Where did he even start? Maybe he hadn't thought this through. Chance shifted a tiny bit on the couch as he struggled for the right words. He could just begin with the simple stuff. Simple enough stuff anyway. "I'm a Fade," he explained finally, watching her closely as he did so. "I can, er, travel through mirrors, which you already knew. I can heal people... and I fade into shadows sometimes. I can't really control that. Sometimes it just sorta happens when I don't mean it too. I'm still finding out more about what I can do, to what extent. There's more to it than what I know."

She listened, and there was the word again. So right. Fade. "What's a fade? I mean...are you um. Human? Or..." she trailed that off. Mirror travel didn't sound so bad, neither did healing. The shadows thing was a little weird, but it wasn't scary.

"It's... ah... a being created through dark magic." Chance released a slow breath, lifting one hand to rub at the corner of his eye. Might as well tell her the truth. He'd wanted her to hear it from him, after all. Not someone else, and not some book. "Through sacrifices. My life span... it's pretty much... I'm immortal." The whole thing was so complicated for him to explain. "I'll live as long as the sacrificed's line would have lasted. Family line, I mean." This is where she freaked out, and Chance internally braced himself for it.

Kaysen was left staring at him, and blinking. A lot. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She was absolutely shocked, and had no idea how to even wrap her head around what he said to her there. Not at all. Jesus. A being out of dark magic? Did that mean he wasn't a person? Or never had been? Sacrifices? That sounded a whole lot like killing people! Were there people that were dead? He was immortal? God, is that why he lived through trying to kill himself?

He took in her reaction, understanding it completely. She kind of looked the way he had when his mom had explained everything after he'd shot himself. "I know it's hard to wrap your mind around," Chance said quietly. "But I didn't... it wasn't me who sacrificed people. My mom... after my dad died she got really... obsessive with keeping me safe. I was young when she had it done. I always wondered a bit, why she never showed too much concern when they diagnosed me as bipolar. I just didn't think she cared." Which hadn't helped his state of mind at the time. "I'm still me, Kaysen."

"Your mom's killed people?" Kaysen squeaked. Yeah, she totally wasn't moving forward from the possibly horrid death thing anytime soon. Because yeah. With the...yeah. God. "Is...what happens? Is that why you lived? When you tried with--is that what happened?" This made absolutely no sense to her and she wasn't at all sure she wanted it to start.

"I know. It sounds awful," Chance said, wincing a bit at her. "I've never really forgiven her for it... for what she did. That's why we don't get along now." He didn't want to talk about what happened with his dad's gun, but it was part of who he was. And if she was going to know, he probably ought to tell her everything. As much as he could. Then she could decide whether or not she wanted to still be with him. "A fade's only... activated when they die. That's when the spell takes effect. So... last spring after school..." Chance winced again. Maybe he didn't have to tell her everything. "I'm not evil or anything, Kaysen, I can promise you that much."

Kaysen sat up. She sat at the far end of the couch, half curled up, looking at him over the tops of her knees as she hugged them. "Did you know? Is that why you...and you tried to kill yourself? But..and your mom..." She really couldn't hack that, she didn't think. Even if Chance hadn't hurt anyone, and he wasn't evil, apparently? His mom was. And that was not okay on any sort of level. Because if she could sacrifice people then who's to say she hadn't killed other people? What if she'd like...gone nuts and it was her who'd killed like...Lullaby and stuff? Or if the police were wrong and Josh and Mary were killed by this psycho woman? It was making her uncomfortable to be in the house. This was a murderer's house. God. Oh god.

Chance frowned when Kaysen moved away from him. That had been what he feared, that she would be afraid. He sat up, keeping his distance from her. He knew he probably should have left the bit about his mom out of it. Some days he hated her, but some days... he knew she had never been the same since his dad died. A part of him still pitied her. "I didn't know what she'd done. I had no clue. Last spring was hard for me. And I'd stopped taking my medicine and just...I tried to kill myself. Only it didn't work. I woke up and I was fine. Like it had never happened. That's when she told me... I didn't come out of the house at all that summer until the day I saw you at the middle school skateboarding." He took a breath and looked over at her, curled up at the other end of the couch. "I understand if you want to leave."

"Is sh-she coming home soon? And you just...live here? And it's just something wacky your mom did that one time?" Kaysen asked, near tears. "How can you live here with her? How many people were sacrificed? Was it here? Can I look them up at the library? Did they have families? Are you just okay with this?" she asked, looking at him, and she attempted to keep herself from hitting full on hysterics, but it wasn't the easiest thing.

"She's at work," Chance assured her quickly. "And no, it didn't happen here... it was when I lived in Bloomfield Hills. She's not like... after dad died, something snapped in her, I think. I was young, but even I could tell she was different. And then one morning, it just felt like she was back to who she was before and we packed up and moved here. I can't explain it, Kaysen. And no, I wasn't okay with it. I'm not okay with it. It was hard for me to deal with and accept, that I was going to live forever because other people died. That's a fucking lot of weight to carry around. A lot of fucking guilt." He stood up abruptly and began to pace. "Do you think I want to be what I am? I don't. But I can't change it now."

"Yes, that's terribly insane and I back you on that and I'm really really thinking that's about the worst thing fucking ever, but you just told me your mom's a murderer!" Kaysen squeaked. She realized she kind of wasn't afraid of Chance, because really, if he'd wanted to hurt her or something like that, he had more than enough opportunity, and hell. Probably cause during the course of their relationship. She was more than stuck on the his mom was just at work somewhere, and she'd killed people. She didn't particularly give a fuck that she'd lost someone and snapped. Big fucking deal, it happened all the time. That didn't make everyone into like, a murdering psychopath. And she was just like...in town. She was in her house. Oh god oh god oh god. What would she do if she thought Kaysen wasn't good for her son? Would she just take her out to save the trouble? Kaysen was feeling overheated again. Fuck.

"What do you want me to do?" Chance asked her, his arms falling to his sides. "What can I do?" It wasn't like he could prove anything his mom had done. It wasn't like he could just up and leave. And she'd been helping him discover more about his abilities... not like that excused anything she'd had done before. But she wasn't wandering around Marquette slaughtering people. This had happened years ago. Even still, looking at Kaysen, he could see how freaked out she was. He just didn't know how to make her feel better about it. "All I can do now to remedy what happened is to try to help people. Because I can. I have the means to do it. I can try to make things right somehow."

"Remedy the situation? There isn't a remedy! There's--" she made a vague flaily gesture. "There's dead people! And you could tell the police! Call in to where it happened and turn her in! There's lots of stuff you can do! And if you're helping now, what are you doing to help? God, I can't believe you're sitting here and just...like you live here! With a woman who killed people! What if she's killed people since! I'm sure it's not that much of a problem once you've done it the first time! You're talking like she just had like, a bad patch where she had to visit the psych ward for a week or something!"

"I don't know what happened, or when," Chance stressed. "I don't know anything about what actually went on, other than what she told me. And given my track record in town, and my relationship with her? No one's gonna believe me if I just walk into a police station and say, by the way, my mom had people killed so I could live forever. Yeah." Chance sucked in a breath to try and calm himself before he began to pace again. "I'm trying to figure things out, to figure out the extent of what I can do. I can heal people, Kaysen. People who are about to die? I can change it. Maybe that's not anything to you, I don't know, but it's something to me. My mom... she hasn't killed anyone since, okay?" Though he had no clue really. He rarely knew where she was half of the time. "You make it sound like I have some kind of option here. I'm not eighteen, I can't just up and walk out. Where am I suppose to live? On the street? Do you know how quickly she could have me locked up in some psych ward myself if I ran away? I've already gotta see a therapist, I'm already on medication. If I walk out, she calls the dogs on me, and I'm gone. What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Oh good god, Chance, you wouldn't have to say that for fucks sake, use your goddamn head! You don't have to say anything about why she did it! And I said already to call there, not here, if it didn't even happen here then hello! Not much they can actually do! And turn her in then you can I don't know, hit up foster care for like, the few months til you turn eighteen or something, or stay with your friend up...Jordan or something! And healing is fine! Don't even put in there the whole bullshit 'it might not be anything to you' crap, because I didn't say that I asked what you are doing! If you're out healing people cuz you can then awesome! But I don't know any of this shit because I wasn't told so don't expect me to just know, okay? And I'm sorry but your excuse about her having you locked up is bullshit because if she was under suspicion of murder I highly fucking doubt they'd be taking her word as gold, do you?" Kaysen said, it all coming out in a near but not quite hysterical blurb.

"No, Kaysen, use your goddamn head. You make it sound so easy! Call some police station and say that my mom had people killed. Oh, by the way, I don't know who, or how many, or when exactly, just yeah... look into it okay? Yeah, right. Just like that. A seventeen year old, suicidal kid with bipolar disorder who has issues with his mom. You show me any cop that would take me seriously. And if, but some miracle, they did? Then I can fuck around in foster care, which'll probably take me out of Marquette, until I'm eighteen and then what? What do I do then? You think money and shelter is just going to appear on my birthday? Word doesn't mean anything. It's about details and evidence and I don't have any of that shit. I have what she told me last spring. Sacrifices. That's what I have." He raked his hands through his hair in frustration. "I don't even know if she did it. It's fucking dark magic and she's not... I just don't know."

"Oh my god do you just want to let her get away with this scott free?" Kaysen shouted back. "You wouldn't be taken out of Marquette, you'd be here, they don't move people because of school! And it's not like it'd be that hard to research, would it? I'm sure it wouldn't! And you just...sat on this information, and--god, Chance. Having been told your mom killed people or had them killed--y'know, I really don't think there's a huge difference there!--really big factor in any kind of mental issues you're having or problems with your mother! And it's murder, they can't not take it seriously!" She knew if it was her, she would have been trying to track down as much information as possible...and at this point, she might anyways, since he'd told her the town.

He dropped his hands to his sides and stared at her, unblinking, for a few moments. "Stop talking to me like that. Like I'm okay with all of this, that I've just ignored it and brushed it off. You're not around when I'm with my mom, when we're screaming at each other. I've been trying to deal with a lot of shit. And this stuff scares the shit out of me sometimes, okay? And despite everything... she's still my mom. And that makes it fucking tough."

"You found out about this before, and you've just been here, and...what am I supposed to think?" Kaysen asked. Her voice was ever so slightly calmer. Not a lot, but a smidge. "And she's your mom but she had people...she had them sacrificed, and there's nothing that'll make that okay." she said finally. "And just...yelling at her, and not doing anything, that..." she looked away, and bit at her lower lip, shutting up for once.

"That what, Kaysen? Tell me what that makes me," Chance said, his throat closing up. She really didn't get it. And that's probably because he couldn't explain it to her. Finding out you could blow your brains out over and over and never die? Finding out people had to die for you to live, even if you didn't want to? That your mom's issues were far greater than your own? He hadn't been pro-active in putting his mom behind bars because he didn't know if he could. She was his mother, and the only family he had, despite their problems. He couldn't just get the police on her ass and happily get shipped off to some family that didn't know a goddamn thing about him. And Kaysen made that sound so simple. "You might think it's easy. That this whole thing should be so simple. Turn in my mom, go play family with some other people and be okay. But you're not me. You're not in my position and you're not dealing with this shit the way I have to. So you can judge me, and think of me as a monster, or whatever the hell you want to think of me as. But you're not gonna understand this. I shouldn't have even told you."

That had Kaysen hopping up and marching over towards him, that anger flaring up bright and immediate. "Oh don't you fucking dare start putting words into my mouth, Chance, I didn't say a word about you being a monster. Because you know what? With everything you told me? I'm not afraid of you. I'm didn't say anything about you being a monster, I'm not afraid of you but I am shit scared of your mother now! Jesus christ, what was I supposed to do? Just...say oh hey that sucks, gee, maybe I should come over for dinner some night? No! And maybe it's just crossing my mind that if she was batshit fucking insane enough to kill people before to make sure her precious little boy lived forever, that maybe it's not that far a stretch of the imagination that she might want to take out a problem girlfriend. Or anyone else in your way. Because if she's done it once, who's to say she wouldn't do it again? And I'm not saying it's easy, it's just right! There's a huge gigantic difference! But you're acting like oh, you have a few issues with it, but really she's fine now, so whatever, no big deal, you're just going to sit on it and hide behind your own issues and other bullshit that doesn't even stand up if you think about it a tiny bit! And that's bullshit! That doesn't make you a monster that makes you fucking coward." She snapped. "So fine, whatever, you think you shouldn't have told me about that bit? You know what? I back you up on that, if all you're going to do is sit back and just...float, because it's more fucking comfortable then doing the right thing." With that, she turned on her heel and started for the door, not wanting to be around if his mom did come home. Even if she felt like her heart was breaking, and she thought she smelled something burning. Wait a second..was something burning? She had to stop dead in her tracks to look around to be sure, because oh god, she really couldn't burn his house down, especially not when he was there and just--fuck, the pillow that had gotten knocked on the floor when she'd stood was smoldering.

Chance said nothing as she spoke, though he wanted to. But what could he say? So he was a coward. Maybe he was. He was fucking scared to do the right thing. He was unsure and conflicted. So he was a coward. His jaw twitched, his eyes grew dark, but he said nothing. The fact that Kaysen thought his mom might hurt her was laughable. His mom would never hurt the one person that kept Chance from trying to find a way around the whole immortality thing. And it was laughable that she thought he was just floating because it was comfortable. She had no fucking clue just how uncomfortable his life had been over the past few months. He watched her turn to leave, still silent. And he watched the pillow on the floor start to smoke a bit. Walking over, he bent down to pick it up and toss it on the couch. And then he walked past her toward the stairs to head up to his bedroom. If she was going to light the house on fire, he'd let her. Right now, he was just angry enough... he didn't care. He never experienced a fiery death before.

Kaysen got out a "No, don't!" when he went to pick it up, and she frowned as she watched what he did. So she ran over in his wake as he headed upstairs, to pick it up and find the kitchen sink, to douse it thoroughly with water. As she did that, staring at the pillow's top that started to properly burn just before it was soaking up water well enough, she tried to think of what to do. His silence wasn't good. She preferred when they were shouting at one another. And last time they'd fought like this, she'd hung up, and it had almost got him killed. Only, apparently, that wouldn't have mattered. God, her head hurt. As the sink was properly filling up, and that burned smell started to get less pungent, she leaned over the counter, resting her forehead on her arm, eyes closed. She breathed deeply, trying to figure out what to do. She didn't want to make the same mistake again, and at the same time, she stood strongly by what she'd said. If the case was different, then she needed more information. What she was stumped on was what he'd expected her to do. Maybe she should have spent more time telling him that the him-specific stuff wasn't bothering her. It was weird, and crazy, and all that, but he didn't scare her. Though the bit where he apparently just lived with a murderer, that was a lot for her to take. She didn't know what to think or what to do. Fuck. So for a few long moments, she didn't do anything, until the water started to overflow the sink, reminding her it was on, and she squeaked, jumping and turning the water off. Shit. She looked around for a towel to mop up the mess with, sleeves now soaked, so she tugged her hoodie off and left it on the counter for a second.

He heard the sink turn on as he got to the hall landing and paused. Sighing, he scrubbed his hands over his face. Chance just wanted to lock himself in his room for the rest of the day and not deal with this shit. Turning, he went back down the stairs and into the kitchen. He saw the water, her hoodie on the counter and walked past her again to the small closet off the side where his mom kept all the cleaning supplies. He pulled out the mop and went to the sink. His mom was seriously going to start wondering why things were turning up charred. First his car, and now one of the couch pillows. She was going to think he was some kind of pyro. "You can just go," he told her dully. "I'll clean it up. Just... go, okay?"

She bit her lip on the first words that wanted to bubble out of her mouth, as she sort of stood and hopped back away from him so she was out of his way. She looked away for a long stretch of moments, then back at him. "...how was I supposed to react?" she asked, voice subdued. Sort of matching his, though there was a little more underlying upset emotion beneath it. She also wasn't being confrontational as she said it, she honestly wanted to know. What had he envisioned?

"I don't know, Kay. You can react however you need to react, and you did." He began to mop up the water that had spilled on the floor. He didn't look at her as he spoke. But his tone held no anger, or hurt. Just resignation. "You said I'm a coward who's floating along comfortably instead of doing the right thing. But you don't get how hard the right thing would be for me, how hard my life's been since I shot myself, and that's fine. I can't expect you to." His eyes did tick up to her face briefly. "So I don't know exactly how you wanted me to react to your reaction. You were gonna storm out again. And I think that's just as bad as hanging up on me. So if you wanna run, go ahead. I won't blame you for it. I'm just not gonna stop you anymore."

She crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away hard. "Okay, well Chance? One thing you do to me every time we have a fight, is you expect me to just know. You expect me to for some reason understand fully what's going on in your mind, or in your life, but you haven't told me, and I'm not psychic. So if there's some reasonable explanation here, then I'd like to hear it. If not, then all I can go on is what you actually say out loud, to me. Half the time I think you just expect me to pick shit out of the air, but I can't. I stand by what I said. And you know, I'm sure it hasn't been easy--I said that already. But that doesn't mean it's right, either. And it doesn't mean that I can be comfortable, wondering if I'm in danger. Or anyone else is. Or even what happened. You just told me that your mom is responsible for the death of at least one person. And that's just not okay, no matter how you look at it. And she's just going to work, and living her life, and someone else is dead and gone. But it seems like you haven't even thought about how to deal with that, or the logic stuff on what would happen if you did turn her in. Because a lot of the stuff you were saying--Chance, half of it doesn't even stand up, if you think about it at all. And I'm not saying you don't have valid points too, just..." She didn't know how to deal with this in any real fashion. "Do you need help? I can help you. I don't know how, but I can try." She finally looked back over at him, on the verge of tears, but she managed to hold them in for now. And she was speaking calmly, even if it wasn't the steadiest voice she'd ever had. Nothing was in any new danger of being set on fire.

"I told you plenty," Chance said, lifting the mop to wring out the water. "I told you I was scared. That it was hard for me, and you blow it off so that I don't think you really understand just how hard. And I don't expect you to know stuff. But guess what? You never bother to ask anyway. You just take what information you have and make assumptions. Like I've just been floating along guilt free since I found out about this stuff. You freak out, you shout at me, and you call me a coward, or passive aggressive, or an asshole. You hang up on me, you storm away. And now you ask if I need help. After all of that, now you get it." He set the mop against the counter and turned to her, his eyes and voice quiet. "That should have been your first reaction. But instead you just... you just go to the extreme opposite spectrum of that and expect me to be okay with it."

"You haven't said how hard it is." Kaysen said. "Just saying 'it's been rough' doesn't give me any kind of idea, because y'know, anyone can say that. So if it's been hard, then tell me how hard. Tell me what it's like for you, otherwise, I'm not going to know." she pointed out, trying to keep her temper in check, and being she was feeling scared and depressed, that was easier than usual. "And I'm sorry if I didn't deal exactly well with the fact that your mom is a murderer. And you haven't exactly said anything to me up until now about needing help. So I'm supposed to magically know that I'm supposed to put all of that aside from the get go, and just say 'okay honey, well, clearly you need help, what can I do?'" she asked. "So fuck you that should have been my first reaction, you haven't let on pretty much at all that you would need my help, and with everything else you've said, it sounds like you've made your decision anyways. Like you just...didn't really think about it, decided that it was too hard, and instead let it go. If that's not how it is, then clarify for me. And for another thing, I don't actually expect you to be okay with it. But if I'm wrong? Then I do expect you to correct me, but again--I can't read your mind, all I can do is go off of what you actually say, what comes out of your mouth. So if I'm going off of not enough information, fill in the blanks, maybe I'll understand, but I can't unless you do that." She didn't know how she was managing to keep that upset but calm thing still running, but it was. Of course, she felt really incredibly nauseated right now too, but she was ignoring that.

Chance closed his eyes, dropped his head a bit and breathed in through his nose. It took him a few seconds before he could look up at her. She was so fucking frustrating sometimes. "If my answers don't live up to what you want them to be, you ignore them. I've told you this was hard. So I wasn't specific on how hard?" He held his arms out wide. "It's been this hard, Kaysen. How's that? My reasons, my explanations aren't good enough for you, so you blow them off and revert back to thinking I don't think about it, that I don't care what happened. That I'm a coward. Fine. Maybe I am. Maybe I am an asshole. Maybe I am passive aggressive, and an insensitive prick, and every other name you've ever called me. So here's the real question, what're you still doing here? Because I sure as hell can't figure it out."

"Live up to my--Chance, I'm trying to talk here! And you just...you give me these flat answers with nothing behind them, no explanations that back up what you're trying to say, and how am I supposed to figure this out? It's like you give me this cardboard cut out answer, with some blanket generic word on it, and I'm supposed to just know how deep that runs. Well I can't, I'm not capable of it. If you want that then find yourself a telepath. So maybe I wouldn't ignore them if you actually explained them, instead of just giving me the bare bones and expecting me to put together the entire picture on my own. I'm here because I care about you. I care about you more than I've cared about anyone who wasn't like...my brother and stuff in...ever." Because there wasn't a real timeframe there, she'd just honestly never felt as strongly about anyone in her life until he'd come along. And now she did have to wipe at tears. "I'm sorry if I...I'm sorry I'm me. But can you tell me, maybe? Just...for real tell me? Explain to me?" She looked over at the counter, instead of him, where there was still water standing on it, and she started to push heat in that direction. It was a focus, to try and run off the excessive energy she had, so she didn't set anything else on fire accidentally. So maybe pushing it towards water would...she didn't know. Burn her out. Drain her, something. Cuz you couldn't set water on fire, now could you. She had to try and ignore everything else he put in there, because if she didn't, things were going to get worse and she didn't want them to become worse. She felt like it was all her fault again, and at the same time, she felt like everything was unfair. ...so basically it was a normal day for her. Full of pain and confusion of one form or another. She just hated the source. She'd rather go to school and take a week of the worst people could dish out rather than this.

He turned and set his elbows on the island in the middle of the kitchen, bending over to press his palms against his eyes to fight back the headache. He took a breath and lifted his head to look at her. "It's not all been bare bones, Kaysen. A lot of it you've ignored, or skipped directly past, or told me it wasn't good enough for you. You want me to explain it to you again? I've been thinking about this nearly every day. I told you, I carry guilt from knowing what happened every day. Believe it or not, I'm seventeen! I'm constantly freaked out by what I am now, I sometimes still want to get my dad's gun and see if this spell is still in effect and I sometimes pray that it's not, just so I can put myself out of this misery. I know the right thing to do would be to call the cops, but without any details to give them. Anything, what're they gonna do? I've thought about it, I've considered it. But the other thing? She's my mother. Somedays I hate her with a passion you probably wouldn't ever really believe. But somedays, I can remember what she was like before we moved here... before my dad died. I can remember her laughing when my dad put me on my first skateboard, or taking me for fucking ice cream and hugging me and... she's my mom." His voice wavered before he could help it and he pushed away from the island. Shit if he was going to cry like a fucking girl. He took a second to clear his throat. "I'm not condoning what she did. I'm not saying I'm blowing it off, or ignoring it. It's just every time I think about it, I feel so fucking conflicted that I want to blow my head off all over again just so I don't have to think about it anymore, even for twenty four hours. That's how hard it's been." He lifted both hands to scrub them over his face. "That, on top of Devon... and being what I am, and worrying about you... and Jesus... I know you're freaked out, and scared and probably won't believe me, she'd never hurt you, Kaysen." With a breath, he blinked, his red eyes seeking her out. "She knows how much I love you. She knows you're the only thing keeping me from trying to get out of this shit. The only reason I'm still around."

Kaysen wasn't sure what to react to first. There was a lot, although one of the things that stood out most was that that was a much better explanation than he'd been offering her before, and why couldn't he have done that in the first place? Beyond that? She was the only reason he was still around? Oh god. She knew that he loved her. He'd told her. And said it since and everything and she knew that. She was still trying to work out the definition of the word in her own estimation. She'd never really kinda been an overly romantic sort that had dreams of one day finding The One, and didn't actually have a definition of 'love' like other people seemed to. Not in that automatic 'you just know' sort of way that always confused her. How did they know? Where did they get their definition? So in the end, she just looked over at him, looking lost, confused, hurt and scared. "...I am?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Yeah." He sighed again, wondering if he'd just shifted one kind of fear to another for her. That was heavy stuff, he knew, and she really wasn't made to have to handle those kind of revelations. "Yeah," he finally answered, a bit tired now. For as much as he wanted to tell her everything, Chance felt like maybe he should have made some kind of outline in his mind first - and omitted a lot of it. At least until she was maybe... thirty or so. In which he'd still look seventeen. Chance ran his hand through his hair again. "Look, it's not like... like if you dump me I'm going to run off and do everything I can to find out how I can... die." Maybe. "It's just... this summer when we started talking... things started feeling better for me. You don't know how hard it is sometimes. But you were there, and...you made me happy again. And mom... she recognizes that. I don't know... this feels all fucked up all of the sudden."

She listened, trying not to feel panicked. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but she gave a good effort. She also pushed herself up onto the counter and sat on it, sort of half staring at the floor for a few long minutes as she digested that information. "Things started feeling better and I made you happy?" she asked, looking over at him again. "...do I still?"

Chance looked over at her. "Yes." That was said without hesitation. And despite the circumstances, he twitched a tiny smile in her direction. "When you're not driving me absolutely insane. But if you didn't... if I didn't love you anymore, or you made me miserable constantly, I wouldn't be with you." He kind of hoped the same was true for her, though he doubted it if Kaysen didn't want to be with him, she'd be sitting on his kitchen counter at the moment.

She made a bit of a face. "Sorry I drive you insane sometimes. You do with me too though, so I think we're even." she said. Then she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She felt slightly better that he said he wouldn't stay with her if he didn't feel strongly about her anymore. It made her feel less pressured. Then she kept looking at him for a long time, and gave him a faint smile, not sure what to say next, really. And that she'd already said more than enough today.

He didn't really know what to say either. He still felt kind of shitty, and tired and a part of him was afraid that whatever he'd say next would just start the badness all over again somehow. He didn't even really know if he should go over to her and kiss her. If she'd even want him to. "Do you... want me to walk you home, or something?" Because he was fairly certain she wouldn't want to stay there with him for the day.

She thought about it. "...yeah." she said. She didn't want to make them part ways, she still wanted to be around him, but she didn't think she could hang out at his house. Not now, not knowing what she knew. "...from now on, think we can um. Not hang here?" she asked, sliding down off of the counter. She just didn't think she could manage it. It would creep her out too much, and make her feel just bad. This issue wasn't resolved, either she knew.

He slipped his hands into his pockets, feeling slightly worse, but he supposed that was to be expected. "Yeah, that's fine." He started walking toward the front of the house, considering for a brief moment to grab his skateboard but decided against it. He didn't feel like boarding. Or doing much of anything, really. He'd take her home, come back and maybe try to sleep. Or something. He didn't really know how to feel at the moment. She hadn't really said much about what he was, or what he could do, other than she wasn't scared of him. But that was okay. He'd wanted to tell her and he did. And he'd just... deal with whatever happened.

She grabbed her hoodie, and headed out the door, not wanting to be inside a place that a murderer owned. It made her feel creepy just thinking about it. She really didn't know how to feel. And it was weird. She was kind of fine with the Chance stuff, but there was that huge sticking point with his mom. She didn't get on her board when she walked out, she picked it up to walk with him. "Are you going to think about anything?" she asked hesitantly, once they were on the sidewalk again.

Keeping his hands shoved in his pockets, he spared her a quiet glance. He knew what she was talking about and what he really wanted to do was never think about it, or talk about it, ever again. But he had a feeling that wouldn't fly with Kaysen. He ticked his gaze straight ahead and said nothing for a second. "Yeah, I will." Unfortunately, with his best friend dead, Jordan grieving on her own, and Jezebelle gone... thinking was really all Chance had to do now. He tried to think of something else to say, but the weight of everything felt too heavy for him to really think of anything coherent, so he fell back into silence.

She had been going to take his hand, but he put them into his pockets. So, she did the next best thing, which was take his arm. It was small, and probably wouldn't mean anything, but it was all she could think to really do. And she quite desperately wanted to do something. Kaysen also wanted to think of something to say. Anything would do. Her mind wasn't coming up with anything helpful, however. Shit.

He didn't mind walking in silence. He sort of preferred it at this point. He walked alongside her for awhile before pulling his hand out of his pocket and taking her hand. He supposed it was a good sign that she didn't mind him touching her. When they neared her street, he finally spoke. "Could you... not tell Thom or your brother about this? It's not really something I'd want to get around." Especially to those two.

Kaysen bit her lower lip. She'd actually been planning on talking to one or both of them, just to see if she could make them make sense of it for her. She needed that, someone to actually talk to about it and get that outside opinion. But if Chance didn't want her to, then...she guessed she was stuck. "...okay." she said, not feeling like she could even ask for leeway on it. She looked up at him, fingers laced through his, and she gave his hand a squeeze in hopefully a reassuring manner.

"Thanks." He fell back into not knowing what to say, so instead he returned the small squeeze of fingers. He knew it was meant to be reassuring, but he didn't really feel reassured. He wondered if he ought to talk to his mother. She would probably freak out, that he'd told Kaysen what happened. Or maybe she wouldn't. Hell if he really knew. All he knew was he had no clue what to do anymore.

She nodded. "...Chance, are we okay?" she blurted, because she didn't know, and she had a feeling he didn't want to come inside her house with her and go to her room or spend more time or anything and she didn't want things to end on this unsure note. So, she just asked, as they drew closer to her house.

He looked at her, wishing he didn't have to hesitate in his answer. He didn't really know. He wanted to be okay, but with things out in the open like they were, he wasn't sure. "I don't know, are we? I mean... I want to be. I just... don't know really how to deal with things now. Things aren't going to be the same anymore, are they?"

She really hated those few seconds where he hesitated. She also looked fairly miserable, and looked away for a moment. "The you-stuff I can deal with fine." she said. That she was firm on. "You wouldn't hurt me, and just like...filling me in on the other stuff you can do doesn't change anything. If you were gonna try to hurt me you could've done it way before now. So...that stuff I'm okay with. It's strange and new and everything, but it doesn't change how I feel about you." she attempted to explain. "The stuff about your mom though...I can't...I can't just forget about that." she said, voice much quieter on that front, and she stared down at the sidewalk because she was too afraid to look up at him.

Chance knew he couldn't ask her to let it go, or forget about it, because she wouldn't. Which was where he felt his dilemma kick in. He nodded at that, again unable to say anything. He'd explained to her his reasonings behind his reluctance. He couldn't do much more than that right now. "Okay." It was a lame response, but the only one he could think of at the moment. He stopped a few feet from her driveway. "Sorry... about all of this."

His stopping where he did worried her all the more, and she felt a little sick to her stomach. "...not your fault." she said. She also didn't know if the question about them being okay had actually been answered in any way. She was kind of thinking it hadn't. She stopped with him, and looked at her house, then back at him. Behind him, there was the charred lawn of Thom's house, the black marks on the sidewalk where it had burned and left soot or something. Then she made herself look him in the eyes. She knew her own were vulnerable, and she should say something, but nothing came out.

Yeah, it really kind of was his fault. All of it was. And instead of feeling better that he'd told her about himself, he felt worse. Like it had been a big mistake. Chance felt a bit foolish now, thinking that it might have been something to bring them closer together. Bonding and all that shit. But it didn't feel that way to him. He hesitated, and then leaned down to kiss her briefly. "If we have school tomorrow, I'll see you there, okay?"

She kissed him back, and felt a little weird that it was so brief. She drew her lower lip between her teeth and ran her tongue over it, and nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you." she said. Kaysen felt all sorts of unbalanced now. Like everything was wrong, and like...Chance was going to walk away right now and be gone-gone. Like tomorrow she'd be getting a text message that said something like 'hey, I choose my mom over you. see ya'. It felt like everything was ending and she didn't know if it was her being overly dramatic, or if it was real. The trouble was she didn't trust her own judgment on that score. Or any score right now.

Chance brushed his fingers over her cheek for a second, before he placed another kiss on the top of her head. He squeezed her hand before letting her go and turning to walk back home. This had, by far, been the worst couple of days of his life. And he didn't know how to deal. It would have been easier to handle a year ago. A year ago he'd been out getting laid, or getting high or starting a fight. All of that was much simpler than this. He knew he'd have to go home and just try to figure things out... if that were even possible anymore.

He turned to leave and Kaysen just watched him go. She stood there, not knowing what to do, and still feeling like everything was massively fucked. But what was there she could do? She couldn't pretend she didn't know. She couldn't pretend it was fine with her when it so amazingly wasn't. Couldn't be. In Kaysen's estimation, she'd be a lot less of a person if she could just blow that off. She bit at her lip to try and stave off tears that welled in her eyes, and she turned, heading into yard, not going inside but dropping her skateboard at the base of the tree and climbing up it, to curl up and cry for a while alone.