And It Had Been Going So Well...

Who: Dean and Oz
Where: Outside their house / by the lake
When: After school

When Dean got home from school, Oz was sitting on the front porch, sort of half waiting for him, half absently playing his guitar. He hadn't gotten it out in ages, what with imminent death possibilities, which really killed any creative spirit he'd had going on. Either way, he was playing now. Which had gotten a couple of squees from the dead girl upstairs. He'd plugged in his amp for her earlier to play a little, apparently sometime after Sophie had gotten schooling squared away for her. He was back to acoustic by now though, playing Creep by Radiohead, one of the two pretty much default songs he always played when he was in thoughtful mode.

Dean headed up the driveway on his bike, half an eye on the weather, since he'd gotten wet riding in this morning in the drizzle. But so far, he was still dry - a fact of which he was definitely a fan. he slowed to a stop and dismounted, propping the bike up against the front porch as he took in Oz - he'd been able to hear the music from some distance away, but he hadn't realised what he'd been listening to. "Didn't know you played," he commented, not making a move to walk into the house, since he'd have to squeeze past the guy and, really, that seemed rude.

"Really?" Oz asked. "Huh. Yeah. Have since...oh I don't know. I was a kid I guess. Was in a band when I was in highschool." he added. He sat back and stopped playing for a moment. "Got a few minutes?" he asked. He wasn't going to immediately snipe the kid for a talk if he had other things going on at current, but he did still need to have a chat with him. So, it was said in a sort of laid back manner, giving Dean and out if he wanted it for now.

"Yeah - you don't play that much any more then?" he asked, realising that he'd seen the guitar around a few times, but not actively being played. But then again, he couldn't see his cousin playing either, so that didn't really leave too many options, did it. "You're good - I was listening. And yeah, just got homework, y'know, so... I can put that off," he allowed with a slightly amused look in his eyes, though he did look up towards his bedroom, his mind darting to Thia.

"Thanks." Oz said. "I've been told I can play pretty well before." Actually he knew he was good. He actually hadn't realized it had been as long as it had been, or that he usually played during the day, when Dean was gone to school. "Yeah, you can put that off for a bit." Oz agreed. He noted the look, but didn't say anything. He almost told him that she was fine, but he wasn't one hundred percent positive that that's what Dean was doing, and he didn't want to make the assumption. "So...about the gun." he started, playing again, though a little more quietly. "I can take it back, or you can keep it, it's up to you, but I'll need to know which it is, and if you are keeping it, we'll have to talk about that." he added, just so it wasn't a flat statement that had no direction attached.

That had Dean's attention very firmly back on Oz, a surprised look on his face. He hadn't actually expected that at all, though when he thought of that he had trouble on the why he hadn't expected it. He realised that he'd never actually thought that he'd be given a choice on that - he'd assumed by now that it was a permanent thing. In fact, he'd stopped thinking about it at all. This morning, when he'd dressed for school, he'd had to actually put the holster back down again and remind himself that he couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't be wearing it to classes. Apparently, even after less than a week, he was so used to it it was second nature. Even though he still had moments where the implications of that made him break out in a cold sweat. It was just more evidence of the kind of person he was increasingly afraid he was, or that he was becoming. But still, the answer was there, immediately. "I'll keep it," he said, quietly. Because he may hate that guy, he might not want to be him, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he needed to have something to protect the people around him, and his abilities weren't going to cut it. So, he needed something else. Not being able to help was, after all, unthinkable.

Oz nodded, stunningly unsurprised by that. "Thought you might." he said. "Alright, if you're going to keep it, you definitely have to learn everything about it. How to clean it, become the best shot you can, all that. And of course, if you're ever caught with it, you get sent home. No passing Go, no collecting 200 dollars you're just deported immediately. Absolutely nothing we could do about that, so...that'll need to be thought about. Not sure what there is for that beyond being careful, but who knows. If you want to try looking into...alternative methods of concealment, be my guest. But just know that it's serious. Also...if you're going to be keeping that, then I'd like you to learn how to use and use well every weapon we've got in this house, and if there's anything else out there you want to learn, you'll get taught. If I can't teach you, we'll find someone who can."

Oz had actually lost the boy at 'deported' as Dean felt his heart begin to race at the sheer implications of that. No, no - that couldn't happen, it couldn't, no way in hell. They couldn't make him leave, they couldn't. he struggled to keep up with the rest, knowing on some level that Oz was just laying it out there, but fearing it all the same, his face turning white.

Oz paused in his playing and looked at Dean for a long moment. "You alright?" he asked simply.

Dean swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, erm - say that again?" he asked, dropping his bag to the floor, before sitting down where he was, looking up at oz on the steps.

"Which part?" Oz asked. Then didn't wait for an answer, and started at what would likely be the most distressing bit. "If you get caught with a gun, you're out of here." he said. "That's just the rules, honestly. You'll get sent back home, and there won't be anything that can be done about it. Now, I don't think you'll be reckless with it or anything, but I want you to know the full implications here. You'll have to be damn careful. I suggest you don't carry it unless you have to, and if you do, then come up with some good way of concealing it. I don't know of anything but a good coat, but that doesn't mean there isn't something out there. If you want to look into it, go for it, and you might want to, just in case."

Dean nodded, exhaling slowly through his mouth. "Got it. I'll think about it," he assured Oz. Actually he was thinking he'd talk to Caleb about it - so far, everything was pointing towards him being a guy that would probably know about concealed weaponry. Which Dean figured probably shouldn't be something he was starting to think of as normal. "I got that part - it was the rest. Erm, sorry, 'deportation' kinda - it was distracting," he admitted.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Oz said, wincing slightly. "I'm sure it'll be fine, you're not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, I trust that you'll be responsible." he added. "Alright, the rest of it. If you're going to be going this route, then I want you to learn how to use every weapon we happen to have on the premises, just in case. And if you want to learn other things too--you can. I'm fine with just about anything you might want to learn, if I can't teach you things, then we can find someone who can. So...there are options."

Again, Dean took a slow breath, but he nodded. "Okay," he agreed, the set of his face and the tone of his voice determined. yeah, this was a good thing, this would help and he could worry about himself some other time, some time when major bad ass wizard types weren't about to potentially appear out of nowhere, or vampires and demons weren't going to be gunning for them. Sometime when everyone that was important to him wasn't potentially in danger from anything and everything unknown and unknowable. That day in the future that was probably never going to come.

Oz nodded. "Okay then. There's a book on firearm maintenance in Sophie's study. And I figure first thing first--learn everything you can about your gun, then we'll move on to other things. But hey, you'll probably be the only one in your class who can properly fire a crossbow, and hit your mark with a bow and arrow. ...or possibly not, considering the hunters around here, but definitely on the crossbow part."

Dean raised an eyebrow at that. "Crossbow? Bow and arrow?" he asked. That kind of thing hadn't actually ever occurred to him and it definitely took him by surprise. He'd mostly been thinking along the lines of firepower, guns, more modern weaponry.

"Yep. See, you can shoot a vampire through the heart at close range with a shotgun slug but it won't actually do you a lot of good. Shooting it from far off with a wooden arrow, however, will drop it and it never even has to know you were there." Oz pointed out.

The teen considered this, reflecting on that and realising that that? Actually made a whole lot of sense. "So - if that's the case, why weren't we going all Robin Hood on them the other day?" he asked, frowning a little.

"Range was a little fucked." Oz said. "Also, not exactly many people in the house who even would be able to do it. It's not something you can kind of just pick up and be spot on at immediately? Firearms are easier. Also--wooden arrows are actually a little harder to come by nowadays than you'd think. Or maybe not. Most of them aren't made that way anymore. I have maybe...five or six? At most? And those weren't mine. Sorry...the bow isn't mine either actually. But...that's just another story."

Dean took 'another story' to mean 'I don't want to talk about that' - so he didn't ask. Though it did run through his mind that Thia'd probably say that he should ask - given how aghast she'd been to find out how little he knew about his cousin and the guy in front of him. But, that wasn't Dean's way. "Okay, so... does that mean that we'll be getting more? or just that I'll be learning for emergencies sake? And what about the crossbow?" he asked, thinking this through. Was Oz suggesting that they go out and get a whole lot more weapons, just so he could learn to use them? If so, that was... He wasn't sure what that was, actually. Either impressive, or scary. or something else entirely. But he refused to let himself turn away from this opportunity.

"I have a crossbow, also not mine, but it's in working order, and everything. The only bolts for that though are silver, so, we'll need to get other shit for that. As for arrows, I'll be trying to get more, considering. But getting practice ones in town that are just normal will be easy. Might as well learn on something easier to come by." Oz said with a shrug. "Other than that...let's see. There's the shotgun, a set of throwing spikes if you want to learn how to use those. They're silver too, incidentally. There's a few axes, other things. A lot of it's more close-range stuff though, which I'd wanted you to avoid at all costs during the latest bout of bullshit." And the majority of it had been Amanda's. Oz himself had trouble utilizing them, but he felt better about letting Dean use them. He didn't usually touch them, but...yeah. It was alright for Dean to. It was a little messy in his head on that score, but he wasn't going to talk himself down from it either.

Dean frowned. "Why do you have so much that you can't use?" he asked, wondering at that. "I mean - you can't even touch that kind of thing, can you?" That seemed really weird, or, again, scary. Did Oz have such a problem with himself that seemingly more than half the weapons they had in the house were things that could specifically kill him? If so, that was a whole new kind of screwed up.

Oz glanced away for a second, and actually started to play again, giving himself a minute before he answered. "No, I can't touch that kind of thing." he said. "And I have a lot of it because I had a cousin who was a hunter. They belonged to her. I used to make sure she had a few things to take me down if she had to...this was back before I had any control, of course. When I was a threat. She used to actually carry the spikes on her, most of the time. They're nice, I...spent quite a bit on them, actually." He quirked a little half smile that died nearly immediately. "She got pissed when I first gave them to her, but she understood why she needed to have them." He stopped there, blue eyes sort of half downcast. He had told Dean before to ask about things if he wanted to know, so...yeah. He wouldn't not tell him.

Dean was torn between two questions, both of which he actually thought he knew the answers to. One because it had been discussed before and the other because Oz' body language made that fairly obvious, at least the probable 'what', if not the 'how'. "What happened to her?" he asked, eventually and hesitantly, obviously still unsure that he did actually have the right to ask that kind of a question.

Oz continued to play, and tried to think about how to word it. "It was actually when our town was hit by the vamps. Everything had gone to hell so fast. Sophie was gone, Billy I think had taken off at that point. She and a few other hunters had been going to make a bit of a last stand, try to take as many down as possible. I didn't want her to go alone, told her I was going to go with her." Didn't exactly have a lot to live for at that point, so a suicide mission was fine with me. He didn't say that, however. Definitely not something you told the kid you thought would do the same thing, or at least heavily consider it. "We were about to go, and I turned my back on her for a second, and...next thing I know, I'm waking up about ten miles out of town on a bus. Never saw her again. I know she did it to protect me, and I know she died in town, probably before it was flooded."

Dean exhaled slowly as he took this in, thinking that whoever the girl had been, she'd had the right outlook on things. It didn't even occur to him to ask why she'd stayed, or why Oz had been willing to. Sometimes there were just things that you did. And one of them was that you protected your own first. "Whatd id she do to you?" Dean asked, actually curious for that - had she just hit him over the head? Or something more subtle?

"Tranqued me." Oz said, shaking his head and he actually quirked the ghost of a smile for a second again before it was gone. "My friends used to carry hypos with enough tranqs in them to drop me. But...never was very comfortable with that. That's...that's way too fucking close for me to be while not in control. But...yeah. I digress. That's what she did, though."

"Do you still have that as well? The tranq gun?" Dean asked, trying to not sound overly interested, but still, filing the information away for potential future use. Since he was apparently surrounded by overly stubborn people who he doubted could be reasoned with or made to see sense. He didn't know a single person who had actually left town whilst the vampires were raging - their neighbours didn't count. He didn't know them. No, everyone he knew had stayed.

"Never was a tranq gun--hypos. Needles." Oz said. "And still no. None of them around anymore. They got lost with the flood, and I highly doubt Sophie kept hers."

"Oh, right - shit, yeah, that's... close." Tranq gun would be better, have more range. Dean wondered if you could buy them and if so how old you had to be. Probably eighteen - you couldn't do jack shit at sixteen, it was really crap. "I'm sorry - about your cousin," he added, looking it as well.

Oz glanced to Dean and gave a nod. "Thank you." he said. "Actually...she's the reason we're living here." he said, glancing back up at the house. "She took out an insurance policy on herself and put it in my name, then obviously, she didn't make it. And accidental death for a sixteen year old...the payout on that was insane. Set me up for life, though I'd take her back, if I could." he admitted.

Dean had always wondered at the house, the amount of money that seemed to be around - though oz and Sophie rarely flashed their cash. It was more a sense that money wasn't really any trouble - the house was well maintained and decorated, yet far from ostentatious. Sophie had a fairly new car, but again, it was more sensible than flashy. Buying things for Thia hadn't even raised an eyebrow and whenever anything needed to be done, what it would cost wasn't even mentioned. But for all of that, Dean could appreciate exactly what Oz meant. Money didn't mean anything when compared to people. It wasn't even anything he had to respond to, because they both knew they both understood. "What was her name?" he asked instead.

"Amanda." Oz said. "There's a picture or two of her in the house...long hair, brown eyes. Doesn't really look like a hunter." he said, that light half smile back. It stayed slightly longer than the others this time, even if his mind was back on her, and everything that had happened. He still missed her. He also wasn't sure if he was actually ready to give her things up, but thought she'd probably want them to be getting use anyhow. That was what he was telling himself, and he was sticking to it. "If you wanted to look through what I have of her weapons, there's another trunk under the stairs. Key should be on the ring with the cage key."

"Thanks," Dean told him, not commenting on the fact that he'd seen the pictures around - that didn't need to be said, it'd only be stating the obvious. He wondered if the offer was an implicit dismissal, but he didn't move - he had some things of his own he wanted to discuss. He glanced up at the house again, this time actively looking for Thia, but she was nowhere in sight and for once he was thankful for her deafness - it meant that he didn't have to worry about her overhearing what he was about to say. "I was wondering if we could talk about Thia," he said, after a moment.

"'Course." Oz said, looking back at Dean. If he was being honest, he was a little relieved to be off of the subject of his cousin. As it was he was already thinking there was a long walk alone in his future, but it could wait. "What's up?" he asked.

Dean didn't answer straight away. There was another glance toward the house and he considered what to say. "I told a friend of mine the other day, about Thia. Good guy, I trust him, but we've been talking since and some of the things he's put forward worry me. He's set me thinking on a whole other line - about possible potential threats to her, because of what she is." He didn't know if he could come out and actually talk about the horror that was her as some kind of demon play thing. He could barely let himself think about it - though the nightmares lurked in the back of his occasionally over-active imagination. But to say that outloud, no, he didn't think he'd be able to manage to give his fears life like that. "Like, both generally and - we were talking about her father today." That, he could handle. That was less terrifyingly scary and at the same time more real. He may be dangerous, but Dean didn't think that he'd actually be out to hurt her. From what he knew, that didn't fit.

Oz paused, then finally put his guitar aside. "Let's take a walk down by the water." he said, since Dean kept looking towards the house, and while Oz could pretty much gauruntee Thia wouldn't be overhearing anything, he could understand the paranoia there. He walked down the steps, hands shoved into his pockets as he thought things over. "Okay so threats because of what she is." he said first. "And her father...fill in some blanks for me."

Dean stood, leaving his bag where he'd dropped it, and fell into step beside Oz as they headed down to the lake. "Reading up on the fade spell, it's pretty major black magic. Something that Caleb - my mate - confirmed. He does blood magic stuff and he said from what he could tell, it's at kind of a major bad ass level. Which is problem one. Problem two is that, from what I know of Thia's dad, it all adds up to potential obsessive weirdo traits. he wasn't there when she was growing up, but he suddenly appeared in town not long before she was killed and tried to get to know her. Then he was waiting for her when she resurrected. he's gone and everything now, but... What if he comes back?"

Milling that over, Oz wasn't sure what to say, really. Besides he didn't think it sounded very good. "And he's gone right now why?" he asked lightly. Dean hadn't actually filled them in a whole lot on what had actually happened. And while they'd had conversations about Thia in general and the like, this was a little new. So, he figured he'd best ask.

"She stabbed him and basically told him to fuck off," Dean shrugged. "When she found out what he'd done. She doesn't want anything to do with him and he wanted her to come away with him, start a new life somewhere else."

Oz's first thought wasn't helpful. It was along the lines of 'her??' in regards to having stabbed someone. So he looked a bit on the surprised side, really. Yeah, he wasn't sure he could picture the girl stabbing anyone, let alone a parent. "That's...I see." he said. "Alright, then if she wants nothing to do with him, and ran him off, he could be back, though if he's been gone most of her life, maybe he'll stay gone." Not that he was discounting the possibility that he wouldn't, but it was an option.

"Maybe," Dean agreed. "Hopefully - but what if he doesn't? What if he decides that, no, this time he's going to come back and not take no for an answer? I mean, Thia's not exactly... I saw that look on your face and yeah, I couldn't imagine her doing that either. And probably neither could he. But he'll know next time, won't he? And what if he thinks that now she's had time to get over the shock, she'd see reason. Only when she doesn't, what if he decides to force the issue? Or just decides to make her come first and convince her afterwards?"

"Sounds like a potential problem." Oz agreed. Then he sighed. This wasn't going to go over very well with Sophie, he didn't think. "I'll...think about it. I'll probably have to talk to Maddie though, she'd be better on the magical-knowledge part. I don't know much about that, just little things, really. I've known witches but never really figured out anything in depth or the like. So...yeah. That'd be far more her department than anyone else's." He also felt an internal little twitch when Dean was starting to talk about anyone being taken away by force. Not quite as strong as he felt about the option of sending Dean home, that feeling of abandoning someone, but it was along the same lines. He didn't like the idea.

"I was thinking about getting Maddie involved," Dean told him. "She does white magic, right? Caleb said that was mostly defensive stuff, so i was wondering if there was anything she could set up for us here, warding type things - like she did for the vampires. And finding out where the guy is right now would be useful - maybe keep an eye on his movements. And I wanted to know whether there was anything she could set up that would, like, give us a warning if he ever actually arrived in town or anything. Assuming he actually left - since I don't have the first clue what he looks like, I think the only one who does is Thia and she's not exactly been getting out and about lately - so we don't actually have any guarantee that he's ever really left town." yeah, Dean had been thinking about this one a lot and the more he thought about it, the more he was bothered by the potential.

Arching an eyebrow, Oz glanced at Dean sideways. "...you've put a whole lot of thought into this." he noted. "You're sounding downright tactical." he added. Then went on. "Yeah, Maddie does white magic. Talk to her, she'd be able to answer your questions, though...sounds like a pretty good plan to me, really." he had to admit, and he had that little stab of pride in Dean again. He flashed a grin and everything.

Dean flushed a little at the praise and looked away. "It just makes sense and yeah, been on my mind," he mumbled, as always batting away the compliment, though he did feel it. Thia's voice sounded in his head, telling him that it was offensive when he refused to take a compliment and he looked sideways at Oz and shrugged. "Thanks," he added.

"You're welcome." Oz said. "But ...yeah, that sounds like a pretty sound plan, might as well go with it. If you can get me any more information on the man, that'd be good. I don't know how willing she is to talk about the situation, but it would be best to know as much as possible up front. I'm sure she'd be more comfortable talking to you." Though Lullaby seemed a little...chatty, really. She was friendly.

Dean nodded. "I'm going to try and talk to her - but I think that right now she's got enough on her plate without worrying her with things that might just be speculation, so I'm going to have to find a way of trying to bring up the subject without getting right into it." Which, with Thia, could really be a challenge. "Might take me a while. But - I need to know if this is a problem for you? With potential shit coming for her. We'd be in the way and I need to know where you stand." This morning, with Caleb, he'd declared that oz would stand with him, but he wanted confirmation of that and he'd figured that it was also only fair to ask. Though he didn't know what he'd do if it turned out he was wrong.

"Dean, I'm not going to leave the girl to get picked up and taken away by some crazed stalker kidnapper father." Oz said. "This is a complication, and it could wind up being dangerous, but that happens. I'm not overjoyed about it or anything, but it's not like I didn't expect there to be complications anyhow when I agreed she could stay here in the first place. So...don't worry about it. We'll deal with it. I'd rather her be someplace safe, and someplace we could probably prepare for something like that than...the alternative."

"Thanks - I thought that's what you'd say. Was kinda relying on it, actually. At the moment, it's not like I'm all that much use if anything comes for her," he said, self-depreciatively. "Which, yeah - I want to change. So any time you want to start teaching me what I can learn, that's great. And I'll make time for it. Except Thursdays after school - I'm gonna be being late home on Thursdays," he added, remembering that.

"Yeah?" Oz asked. "And any time, really. We could start doing that in the evenings before dinner or something." he suggested, not really wanting to do anything immediately when he got home from school, just so he didn't use it as an excuse not to get his homework done. He'd been sixteen before, he knew he would have. "What's going on Thursdays? You sign yourself up for extra curriculars?"

"That'd work," Dean agreed - and it'd mean that he wouldn't have to miss out on Thursdays too, which was good. If he was going to be learning, he wanted to be learning as fast as he could, since if shit was coming it probably wouldn't be polite enough to wait for him to feel competent at something before it hit. "And yeah, kinda - I've enrolled in a first aid course. First one's basic, stand alone, but after that there's a longer, more indepth course," he said, reminding himself that he needed to ask Sophie for the money for it. He didn't really feel right asking Oz, even though they'd just been talking about how he had money to burn. Asking Oz would be like taking advantage, and Sophie could get the cash back off his mum.

"Really?" Oz asked. "That's...really useful." he added. "Good for you. I know it's always good that Sophie's competant at that shit, she's had to patch up me or Billy pretty often since she's been back. So...yeah, that's good." he said. There was that pride thing again. See? Dean was competant. Kid had a good head on his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. None of this is going to go away, so I may as well be as prepared as I can be." And anyway, I'd like to think that something I was doing was actually helping people, he thought to himself. After all, most everything else seemed to him to be purely destructive - even if it was in defence of the people he cared about, it was still entirely destructive. He was fairly desperate for something to counter that.

"Right. And, that'll definitely help. So, go for it. I know that the kits here are pretty good too, and we probably have more supplies than what come with your standard kit." What with the frequency of use and all. Sophie he was sure had stocked them up. Oz sort of let her do that kind of thing and was usually just confident she had it more than covered. She had yet to let him down on that.

Dean took this in, silently as they walked. Eventually, though, he looked across. "If there anything I've forgotten? Or that I should be thinking about - anything else I should be doing?" he asked, honestly sounding like he figured that there would be, that he'd have missed something glaringly obvious that would come back and bite him in the arse.

Oz took a few moments to mill that over. "Nothing comes immediately to mind." he said. "I think for now, things are looking pretty covered, or they're at least going to be covered as soon as possible, so...yeah, I'm thinking things are good. I've got a question, though. You said that you don't want to talk to her about some things because she has enough on her plate...do you have any idea how she might feel about learning something to help defend herself?" he asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Dean asked, rather than answering the question. "I assume you do have something in mind?" he added. How he felt about it would depend upon what it was, though he knew that the question hadn't been how he would feel about things, but how she would. But still, he wanted to know.

"Not sure. I don't know her very well yet, so I'm not sure what she might have an affinity for. I just think if she might have someone specific coming after her, she should probably know how to do something to defend herself. You said she stabbed him before. ...which kind of...yeah. Sorry, it's difficult to picture. But I don't know. She should be able to do something. People might not always be in a position to help her, she should be able to help herself." Oz said.

"I'll talk to her - it might make her feel better, more in control," Dean mused after thinking about it for a moment. "I know she feels better since she found out about the healing stuff," he added, his tone odd with that, torn between being glad that she'd taken something positive from all of this, but still hating the fact that the only way she could heal people was to take their injuries upon herself. That didn't seem fair at all.

Oz noted the tone there, and glanced at Dean out of the corner of his eye. "You don't exactly sound overjoyed." he pointed out. He didn't necessarily ask him to expand on that, but he figured he'd give him the opportunity.

Dean glanced back. "Should I be overjoyed that the only way she can help people is by hurting herself? That's like me going 'oh yeah, eventually I might be able to stop a monster in its tracks, but only by killing myself'. Only less terminally permanent, I guess. Sue me, I don't like the idea of seeing her in pain," Dean said, with a hefty dose of sarcasm.

Smirking, Oz shook his head. "I just was saying you didn't sound overjoyed, I didn't say you should." he said, chuckling a little bit. "It is a bit of a shitty trade off, I agree." Though he also thought Dean might be a little overly sensitive about it. Overprotective could be a fitting word as well.

"It is - and she's all gung ho about it as well, which, really, is my problem with it," Dean admitted. "I can see how in certain circumstances it could be useful, but, like - the other day she was healing bruises on me. Just shitty little bruises that weren't doing me any harm and weren't stopping me getting on with things. And, it's like... She'd do that with anyone. Which means that if she's with a group of people and she's taking all these crappy minor injuries that aren't anything to anyone individually, but they're all in one place for her, which makes them so much worse and they wouldn't hurt each of us, not really, but she's only one small person. I just - it's bordering on masochistic is what it is. And I think that's part of it. She feels guilty, about what happened, about what her father did. And this is her way of... You know, I don't know whether it's making it up to the people who died, or punishing herself for their deaths or what - possibly both. but I do know it's not just about healing other people. Not when she's taking injuries we can't hardly even feel."

Listening, Oz couldn't help but wonder if Dean had any idea that he was never quite so animated when he talked about anything than if he was talking about Thia. Probably not. It was still just interesting to see, considering how reserved Dean usually was. He listened to him rambling on about the whole thing, clearly taking issue with it. Oz pondered it over. "She hadn't taken my black eye." he pointed out. "Of course, I told her not to. She listened." he added. Then he went on. "I can see what you're saying, but there's other ways to look at it. If she is doing this as some kind of internal penance, then she might need to do it for her own peace of mind, Dean. And I understand what you mean about it being masochistic, but if she's taking things that aren't hurting other people, then it won't be hurting her too much either. Would you rather she started trying to find bigger things to heal--because that would be problematic at best. As for the if she was hanging out with a group of people thing, she's not really slotted to do that any time soon. It's just us, and barring another near apocalypse, not many people are over for her to be drawing off of. If it's mental for her, and not like you say--only about healing people--then I don't see the harm in letting her do that, if it makes her feel better about the grand scheme of things." he said lightly, figuring this would not be a popular opinion.

"No, that wasn't quite what I was saying. What I meant was that if she's taking little bits from me, and little bits from you and Sophie and whoever else might be around, then those little bits are going to add up, aren't they? They're just going to keep building and building until the little things that we might not think twice about all club together to be a big thing that's a problem for her. And she only didn't take your black eye because you wouldn't go near her, you know. If you'd got close enough to her to touch that day, she would have taken it," Dean pointed out. "And in any event, I don't think it is healthy for her to get into a mindset that the only way she can be of any use in this world is through her own suffering."

"I hung out with her today, and she respected my wish." Oz pointed out. "And she'll heal too, right? She's not incapable of healing? So what you're talking about...we'd all have to become massively clumsy or something to build up enough hurt on her to really effect her." he finished. He paused, thinking, then he continued. "It is useful. And if you don't think that's a healthy outlook for her, then help think of something else she can do to contribute that is beyond that. If what she really needs is to be doing something active to...balance out some internal scale, then try to think of something else that she can do. Redirect her."

Dean nodded, if somewhat reluctantly. "Yeah, she'll heal as well - normal rate, so it's just transferring the pain." Which was another problem he had with it, really. Why should she have to live through his pain, his injuries? It didn't make sense to him. "See - I only think it's useful for bigger things. It's not useful for her to be taking my bruises. It's not like the transference makes it any better - they're still the same bruises, except they're on her now rather than me. They don't heal any faster on her, it's exactly the same. See, if your argument was, say... Sophie had a sprained ankle and couldn't drive, which would mean none of us could get into town because she's the only one with a licence. Then, yeah - in that situation it would be practical for the injured person to not be Sophie. But every day stuff? Not so useful, not really. But, okay, maybe she needs it," he allowed, finally, wondering if he was just being selfish here. Was this all, at the end of the day, just him being more concerned with how watching her suffer, or thinking about her suffering affected him than what she actually needed? He knew that was at least a distinct possibility, but he still didn't think it was healthy. "And redirection, okay - I can give that a go. Try and think of something," he agreed.

"You seem to be...pretty adamantly against it." Oz noted. "But really, with the pain thing, you were saying it's just little shit that isn't really causing any pain, so...would stand to reason that it isn't hurting her much either. What's really bothering you about it?" he asked.

"It might not be hurting her much - I don't see why it should be hurting her at all," Dean told him. "I don't get it - I don't get why she should take my injuries, whether they be where I - I dunno, got clumsy and walked into a desk at school, or fell off my bike or whatever. Even if it's bigger stuff - why should it be her who suffers for that and not the person who got injured in the first place? It's not right and it doesn't make sense. There's no logic in that. Why is it better for Thia to suffer over and above anyone else? Like I said, yes, I can see there could be a time and a place. When the injured person would be more useful uninjured for one reason or another. But for other things, I don't see why her suffering is preferable to anyone else's - no matter what the injury, large or small. And in some cases, her taking the injury would be downright stupid. Like if it's the kind of thing that would require a hospital visit. Seeing as how she's legally dead at the moment, so wouldn't be able to attend. She took Billy's injuries - that right there's a prime example. We couldn't do shit about that, if things... If she hadn't died again, we would have been stuck with a girl who needed stitches and who had a badly broken arm. We couldn't take her to the hospital unless we'd've tried to drive her bloody miles away and paid through the nose - plus the car journey would have been hell for her. And if we hadn't, her arm probably would have healed badly and she'd be crippled. Great. At least Billy we could have got proper treatment for. I just don't think she's really thought it through. She just sees something she can do and goes with it. That worries me."

Listening, Oz wondered if there was any out in the middle there, or if it was all circular logic. He was thinking circles. "Okay, again--with the little shit, she isn't really suffering. I don't especially think it's fair or logical either, her taking something in exchange, but I've found that there's little in this world you can get for nothing. There's always some payment in there. But it kind of seems like you don't want her healing little things, and you don't want her healing big things, and you only are situationally alright with her healing medium-level things." he stated. "And, you said she probably feels like she owes, or something...that in and of itself means that there probably isn't a lot of logic to it, Dean. I understand why you're not keen on it, but at the end of the day, it isn't your decision, and you can only understand what she's going through or how she feels by conjecture. If it really is something she feels she needs to do--then she's going to do it regardless. No matter how you personally feel about it."

It was, that just confirmed it - this was actually just him being selfish about things. He looked away. "Right. I know," he said in a voice that was almost a mutter. he should just keep his mouth shut about it and get on with things. He stopped and looked back in the direction of the house. "I should get back, I've got homework to do," he said, closing back down again and withdrawing from the conversation almost visibly.

Oz stopped, and eyed Dean for a few moments. "I know I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear, and I'm not even saying that you don't have valid points, because you do, and no one can tell you how to feel about things." he said. "But...that doesn't mean that you have to just...fuck off immediately either." he said. "If you still want to, you can, but..." he trailed that off. "I still suggest the redirection thing, since it's bothering you, and maybe it'll save some grief for everyone later."

"No, I know - this is my problem, that's all. There's nothing I can do about it and I should just get over it, right? And I already said I'd give the redirection thing a go, so you don't need to tell me that again," Dean said, not meeting Oz' eyes, though he looked vaguely in the direction of his face, more toward his chin than anything else and soundnig somewhat sullen.

Oz arched an eyebrow. "Is that all you took away from what I said?" he asked, an honest question. And it sounded vaguely confused. He knew he had issues with communication sometimes, but he didn't remember putting things like that.

"There's nothing I can do about it, you don't particularly see a problem with it, obviously this is just a me-thing. I can't deal with seeing her hurt, so I'm being a selfish wanker and creating a problem where there isn't one. Ergo, I should just get over myself and deal," he said, bluntly, knowing that that wasn't exactly what oz had said, but it was what he was reading into it, from his uniquely Dean perspective, always willing to believe the worst about himself - this time that he was just being incredibly selfish about the whole thing. He also didn't think that he'd done a particularly good job of explaining to oz where he stood with this, or Oz wasn't getting it and so he'd lapsed back into his default 'I'm just not going to talk about this' state.

"I didn't say any of that." Oz said first, giving Dean a bit of a Look. "Look--here's the rundown from my point of view. You're concerned. You care about her, that's going to happen, it's normal, and frankly if you weren't, I'd wonder. Doesn't mean you're being selfish, or even that it's a problem. I don't think either of those things. What I'm trying to say is that I think you might be a little oversensitive to what constitutes as 'hurt' for the girl, and that if there's a psychological reason she feels she needs to do something, you being upset about it won't change her mind. All it'll probably do is create distance between you, depending on how hard you're taking this, and how serious she is about it. Right now it seems like you're taking it pretty hard." He stopped and sighed. "Dean...she's probably going to have a lot of issues. This looks like the start of one of them, the whole amends thing. Unfortunately, I don't think any of us really knows what it would be like for her, and we can't take her to see someone. All that can really be done is try and catch these things when they happen, and deal. I'll back you up that it's probably an unhealthy way to deal right now, but I don't know what to give her to put in it's place. And...if there isn't a replacement for a coping mechanism, then..." things broke down. But he didn't think he needed to say that last bit.

"Fine, I'm oversensitive. I told you, don't worry about it, I'll deal. And I'll look out for her and if there's anything I can do, I'll do it. And she knows how I feel about this already and I'm not going to be pushing it down her throat all the time. It's not going to become a major issue between us - I won't let it. I'm not out to make things worse for her, or make it harder for her to cope with anything."

Oz internally sighed. Teenagers. Now, if Dean could deal with things Thia-related like he did with trauma of other kinds, he would be set. "I was just trying to give you an alternate perspective." he said finally. Clearly, Dean was in Pissy Mode, and that was all that was going to be going on there. So...he could go sulk in his room while pretending to do homework. Which he was fairly certain was what Dean was really going to be doing.

"Right," Dean said, not really knowing what else to say. An alternative perspective where I'm possibly selfish and definitely oversensitive and you're probably just discounting everything I'm saying anyway because you know I like her. So, what, you've put all this down to puppy love or some shit like that. Great alternative perspective, thanks. "I should start my homework - did you want to start practice tonight, or tomorrow?" he asked, lifting his chin a little higher and setting his jaw as he quiet firmly changed the subject.

Oz just barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Tomorrow." he said, thinking that tonight was just going to go poorly depending how long Dean wanted to play pissy bitch. Which from experience previously, he could actually play for a while. Therefore, yeah. A good twenty four hours and then some before they started working on things together seemed the prudent plan. "I'm going for a walk. I'll see you." he added, starting to turn towards the waterline again, to go for that walk he'd been planning on since he'd talked about Amanda.

Dean didn't try to stop him and, actually, was relieved that he could just head back up to the house alone, which he did, grabbing his bag as he walked past and up into the house, heading straight upstairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him. He dropped the bag on the floor, ignoring it and the said homework inside and threw himself down on his bed, grabbing a pillow and hugging it across his chest as he lay there, staring across at the blank wall on the other side of the room, letting his brain just not think for a while. Yeah, not thinking was good. And homework could wait.