Who: Herbert and Sammy
Where: Sammy's locker, MHSH
When: Between 2nd and 3rd Period

Though Herbert hadn't seen Fallon over the weekend, he'd been expecting to see him in first period that morning, maybe to talk about Lullaby or maybe to plan getting together to work on homework or maybe just to share amused glances at how the people around them smelled, twitched, or clicked their pens so loudly. Except all during first period, he wasn't there. It didn't seem like Fallon to miss school-- wouldn't he get in trouble with his keepers at the ranch? And why would he ditch a class he had with a friend, anyway? Was he sick, maybe?

There was only one other person on campus who he thought might have heard if Fallon wasn't coming to school that day: Sammy, another friend. Herbert got out of second period in a hurry, so he could be waiting for him at his locker during the slightly-longer break and not miss him on accident.

Sammy had hoped that he could talk his mother out of making him go to school today, but...the idea didn't fly with her all that well. In fact, she'd given him a ride to school, just so she could make sure he didn't manage to play hooky by walking off and just...not showing up. So, he was there, and he got out of his second period class shortly after Herbert got out of his, and he caught the familiar scene of werebear as he headed for his locker to pick up his math book. He picked up his pace, smiling slightly as he avoided classmates and schoolmates in front of him, finally reaching his locker.

Sammy spotted Herbert before Herbert spotted Sammy, because when he caught sight of him, he was looking right at him. Herbert lifted a hand to wave, smiling slightly, back, but he still looked worried. That could have been due to the whole Lullaby thing, of course, even though it really wasn't just then. "Hallo, Sammy," he began, looking hopefully for a notepad out already so the raven-boy could answer.

It was a school day, so of course he had a notepad out already. It was kind of useless and tiring during the course of the day to have to constantly search through his backpack whenever he wanted to talk to someone. He shifted it onto the inside of his arm as he held it flat then dug his pen out of one of his pockets. “Herbert! Hello.” He answered, pen cap between his teeth.

The exclamation points were always fun. Herbert grinned a bit more, watching as he wrote. "Was your weekend okay?" he asked first. "After the NMU thing, and all?" It wouldn't be polite to just jump into "have you seen Fallon?" immediately, now, would it? And he didn't want to ask about the memorial, which was on everyone else's mind.

Sammy leaned back against the locker as he pondered that question, and how he should answer, and finally he did answer as he pushed away from the locker again when he realized he was standing in some girl’s way. “It was…” He thought again then shrugged bony shoulders. “Unique.” The horse – the one he’d rode with Fallon when they’d gone to the beach Tuesday – had shown up on the front lawn Sunday evening. Unique was a perfect way to describe his weekend. “How was yours?” He’d gotten a note and…had Herbert received one too?

"Okay," Herbert said. "Went to the carnival with my roommate, which was actually pretty fun. Had more candied apples." Which he loved, probably too much. And which made him think of Fallon again, and he sighed. "Sammy, you didn't hear from Fallon over the weekend, did you? He's in my first class, and he wasn't there this morning."

Coincidences could be fun, and coincidences could be un-fun. This coincidence was one of the un-fun types. Sammy nodded his head, looking around though he highly doubted anyone was going to be looking over his shoulder at what he wrote other than Herbert. “Yeah…heard from him – kind of – last night,” He admitted, shifting his weight from his left leg to his right. “He wrote me a note and his favorite horse found her way onto my lawn with it in her saddlebags…”

Herbert frowned a little down at Sammy. "What did the note say? Do you know where he is?" If he was all right? That much, Herbert didn't ask, not yet. Surely a note-- delivered by horse-- would mean he was all right and just couldn't get to them somehow. Right? Though not getting to them also made him think there was some kind of trouble....

Sammy frowned back at him, wishing he was just as clueless to the situation as Herbert was – even though he wasn’t. “He…left town. The note really didn’t say that much besides that he had to go.” He raised his hand, tugging it through his curls for a moment as he thought. “He said he’s going to miss us, but he couldn’t stay in Marquette.” Had there been more? He tried to remember and eventually succeeded. “We’re not to worry, though. He’s with friends.”

"With friends," Herbert repeated, baffled. "I hope he's okay." And not in prison, or something, for stealing. Or running away from prison... Herbert had no idea how those sorts of things worked, and that worried him a little. "Why didn't he come say goodbye in person?" Well, Fallon didn't know where Herbert lived yet, but he could've said goodbye to Sammy, at least.

“I…don’t remember.” Sammy dipped his head, shaking it apologetically. “The note probably said, but I’m terrible at remembering a whole lot of things. Maybe it was easier, or…” There was another shrug of those oh-so-bony shoulders, and a brief spreading of his hands. “Or better…” He looked up at Herbert. “I could bring the note to school tomorrow, then you can read it, too? Maybe you can get more out of it then I did…”

Herbert scanned over that as it was being written, and nodded a bit. "If you don't mind. Please. I'd like to read it, if just to--" He paused, trying to find a word. "To know," he finally finished.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, it’s all just…” He shifted again, this time back onto his left leg as he rubbed at his forehead. “It’s all just…very, very confusing. I though he was doing fine and know he’s just…gone. Not around anymore…” And now my ducky babies don’t have a mama. “I don’t get it. But at least we know he’s alright – at least we can assume so…”

At least leaving a note probably meant he wasn't in jail. When he sent the note, at least. Herbert nodded a little sadly. "At least. I thought he was doing fine, too. I thought he liked it here." He scratched at his ear with an unhappy, thoughtful look. "I just hope he's not in some kind of trouble."

“He’d…” Sammy frowned, unhappy himself. “He’s not a minor now. He’d go to jail if he got arrested for something, wouldn’t he?” It wasn’t a good thought, but Sammy was thinking it anyhow as his frown just continued to grow. He hadn’t thought about that until now – what if he’d gotten picked up for something after he had written the note? “You don’t…think that happened do you?” Since Sammy didn’t have a voice to use to convey a tone of worry, his writing seemed to convey his worry for him, all hurried and sloppy.

"I really don't know. I hope not. I mean... he can always just change form to get away." Which thought just hit him right now, and made him relax quite a bit. Even in handcuffs, Fallon could get away, because no human-sized handcuffs could hold tiny fox-paws. "Nobody'd arrest a fox, right?"

The worry eased a bit at the new idea Herbert put forth, replaced by amusement at the mental picture his words created. “…not that I know of. You’re brilliant!” Curls bounced as Sammy nodded. “Just brilliant. I mean, yeah, they could catch Fallon, but chase and actually catch a fox?” He bit his tongue, snickering slightly through his nose. “It’d look like the Keystone Kops.”

For a moment, Herbert looked bemused. He'd never been called brilliant before. "Would be kind of hard. Normal hunting wouldn't work, since he's smart like he is." He started to smile a bit. "They wouldn't know what to do-- most people don't believe in things like that." He had no idea what the Keystone Kops were, but he'd let that slide. Thinking Fallon would be okay was taking precedence.

Sammy nodded at the comment about people not believing in things like that. “So we’ll…” He smiled slightly, looking just a bit pleased. “Assume he’s alright until we hear otherwise. It’s better than having to constantly worry that he’s not okay.”

"Definitely better." And since the warning bell rang right then, that'd have to do. "Still bring the note tomorrow, though, okay?" Herbert asked hopefully, hefting his backpack again. "I really want to at least see it."

“Yeah, I’ll bring it. No problem!” Sammy wrote before dropping his own backpack on the floor. He turned the notepad towards Herbert with “I’ll talk to you later.” written on it under the other stuff then put it down as he set to work on his combination.

"Thanks," Herbert smiled, and gave the little wereraven's curls a tousle before hurrying off to p.e.