Who: Sean and Joshua
When: noonish
Where: the apartment

The morning had passed in a whirlwind. It had started the night before, when Joshua had received the news that September was leaving. He was getting a new guardian, and ... it wouldn't be her anymore and that was just ... weird to think. On the tail of that had come the news from Lullaby that the kids were back. The other teens, from the mine. Which was a relief, but it was all mixed up with everything else going on. September had taken a cab to the airport that morning, and he suspected it was because she wanted to avoid one of those goodbyes. What with Sean coming in at nearly the same time, it had been hard to get a word in edgewise. There'd been a debriefing and some general 'take care, I'll be in touch' and then she was gone. He really wasn't sure how to feel about it. How to feel about any of it.

And now he was sitting in the living room, looking at the bags and stuff that Sean had brought with him, trying to process it all. He knew Sean, and if there was a polar opposite of September? He was it.

Sean was in the other room, standing in front of the mirror with the door shut, giving himself a right good talking to. He'd arrived said some hellos, then pleaded some time to freshen up after the long haul journey and disappeared into the bedroom. September's bedroom - no, no, now it was his bedroom. He'd written himself a list, on the plane - of things he had to remember to do. It had been a good list - a comprehensive list, all planned out.

He'd left it on the plane. Now he hadn't got a clue and he was trying not to panic. He was going to forget something, he knew he was - it was inevitable. Two days. Two days he reckoned he'd last before they dragged him back to Ireland. He probably wouldn't even get to see the lake before he went.

Get ahold of yourself, man he told his reflection, firmly as he stared back at himself. He took a breath, and turned, walking out into the main room. He gave Joshua a grin as he walked out into the room. "Ahh, see now, that's better," he said, happily as he sat himself down on the arm of the couch, resting his feet on the cushions. "So - tell me about Marquette!"

Joshua looked up as Sean perched and felt a little twinge of pity at that question. Poor guy probably didn't know shit about what he was getting into. "Well ..." he began, wondering just where he should start. "It doesn't look like much on the surface. Small town with small town people, kinda ... like home, y'know. But there's a lot going on here. A lot of the bad underground shit that most of the town doesn't know about. Let's see ..." He bit his bottom lip for a second and started to tick things off on his fingers as they occurred to him. "My girlfriend was attacked by a demon, I met a witch in a bookstore, I keep running into ... people who know -- all over the place, it's kind of crazy. A little while back there were all these cats hanging around that all looked the same? They were demons. They attacked September and put her in the hospital for a while, and they got Lullaby too and made her sick and everything, and a bunch of people at this party she was having. But they all just kind of ... died on their own, at the same time. About a week ago a bunch of people were all having this same fucked up dream that was luring us to this mine? And Lullaby -- my girlfriend -- was in it, only she was dead and all ... cracking and falling apart. But that was only one night. So we all went out there and explored and there was this healy water that I really should go bottle up and bring home and one group of kids disappeared for three days but apparently they're back now. ... oh, and there were two kids murdered a little before that, on the front steps of the school. Teenagers. And I got attacked by a vampire." That was a little out of order, he thought, but everything that sprung to mind.

"Woah, woah there, slow down and hold up!" Sean said, holding his hands up in a warding gesture with a little laugh. "That's... a whole lot for a guy to take in all in one go, you know. So, what you're saying is that this place is a fucking hell hole and that anything can and probably will happen?" he suggested, easily. He shook his head. "Trust you to end up in a place like this, you unlucky bastard."

That made him grin a little bit. Okay well, more than a little bit. "Pretty much, yeah," he confirmed. At least the angel wasn't freaking out. If September knew at all what Marquette had been like, she would've dragged him by the ear to a plane immediately. Speaking of which ... "But I'm not leaving, so I'll go ahead and lay that out now. Not to be a dick about it, but ... I'm just not." He shrugged a shoulder. Maybe that was stupid, but that's how it was.

"Who said anything about leaving?" Sean asked, looking honestly surprised. "You're a Barclay, lad - you're gonna have shit to deal with wherever you go, aren't you? And at least here you know that it's there. Might make you a bit more careful where you step. Better the devil you know and all that lot. Course, you get attacked by another vampire and we'll be having a long talk about a curfew for you - just to give you fair warning."

Okay yeah, maybe this could work out. He chuckled and reached up to rub the back of his neck. "I'll do my best not to, trust me," he said with a sheepish kind of grin. And with the way September had shown up all vengeance and beat-down? He definitely wouldn't be touched by the same vampire. Which gave him a little twinge in his chest for some reason, but he ignored it. "My TK's getting a little better, I've been working on it." Which meant he'd been getting a lot of bruises in the process, but that was all part of the deal.

Sean raised an eyebrow. "It has, has it?" he asked, looking at his new charge. "You getting it under control?" he added - because control was good, especially in regard to this guy. "Show me?"

"Working on it," he echoed himself with a faint grin. There were still times that he lost control, of course, but they were getting less and less. To demonstrate, Joshua looked at the coffee table in front of them. With a little bit of concentration, he picked up the remote control with his mind and drifted it -- slowly, so it wouldn't go flying -- through the air toward Sean.

Sean was tensed to duck, in case he suddenly had to avoid a careening remote, but instead he was a little surprised to find he just had to reach out and pluck the thing out of the air. "Very impressive," he allowed with a smile. he chucked the thing down on the sofa carelessly. "So, now, am I right in thinking that I've heard you mention a girlie a few times?" he asked, propping his chin in his hands, elbows on knees.

It wasn't very impressive, but it was in the fact that he hadn't knocked anything over. Or himself in the face. Because as a Barclay, Joshua knew that even remotes could hurt. At the question, he grinned stupidly. Just couldn't help himself, and there may have been a faint blush in there somewhere too. "Yeah, Lullaby. She's ... great." That totally didn't even begin to cover it.

"Lullaby, eh?" Sean said with a humorous smile. "And she's 'great'? Is that all there is to the girl? Surely you have some more things to say about her than that? Is she beautiful? Smart? How old is she? How long have you been seeing her? Information, lad - be a little more open about these things. And, most importantly - when do I get to meet her?" Because, for all of that, he hadn't missed the look on Joshua's face which spoke more than any words could.

Joshua laughed a little, the blush most definitely there now. "We've been dating maybe like ... a month? And yes, she is beautiful. Not like ... supermodel-knock-you-out beautiful, but that sort of ... real beautiful. Cute-beautiful. And yeah, she's smart. Smarter than me, I think. She's sixteen. Oh, she's mostly deaf. Um ... has hearing aids, but she still can't hear very much. It's got to be really loud. She can talk fine, and read lips, and she's teaching me sign language." All the while he kept up that dreamy smile that had Puppy Love written aaalllll over it. "Whenever you want. I think she's in school right now, but I'm sure she'll wanna meet you."

Sean was manfully trying not to laugh - and succeeding for the most part. But that look on Joshua's face was priceless, it really was, and Sean could find humour in almost anything. "Well then, why don't you get her over for dinner tonight?" he suggested. "No time like the present, after all and I want to meet this Lullaby of yours."

He looked inordinately pleased at that, which wasn't too much different from the expression he'd had a second ago. September had said stuff every so often about having Lullaby over, but the immediacy of 'tonight' was ... good. "Sure, I'll text her, see if she can." He was sure that she would, and that she'd be feeling better anyway, with her friends back alive and everything.

"You do that," Sean agreed, looking pleased with himself for actually making a firm decision on something - see, he could do this whole 'adult responsibility' gig. No problems. "Then maybe, if you've not got plans, you could show me round this town," he added. That had been on his list, he remembered - learn the layout of the land as quickly as possible. He grinned, see, he was on the ball today!

"I think I can handle that," Joshua said with a crooked sort of grin. Not that he knew where a whole lot of shit was, but he could show Sean around what he knew. Marquette wasn't huge or complicated or anything. It was weird to think that they were actually going to sort of ... maybe hang out or something. Or maybe it wasn't weird, it was just ... different. He stood up to head to his room to get his phone. Lu would be in school, but it was around lunchtime, maybe she'd be able to get back to him pretty quick.

"Fabulous then - I'll go and get my coat," Sean said, hopping down off the sofa and grabbing one of his bags. The others he just left right in the middle of the room, where they'd been dumped when he got in from the airport. He didn't seem to think that this was at all odd behaviour as he disappeared back into the bedroom.