Bubble-Headed Bleach Blonde...

Who: Geo and Linn
Where: Seven-Eleven
When: Mid-Evening

Geo had left Fenton's with a sick feeling in his stomach. Something was happening, and whatever it was? It wasn't normal, at all. The tall boy's shoulders were slumped, one hand shoved deep in his now-empty pockets, the other clenched around the grocery sack of old, beat up record covers. He'd still bought those - but the CD had stayed in Fenton's. He hadn't had the guts to pick it back up and take it back out with him, not after dealing with that David guy. Not even with this weird...lying jag he seemed to be stuck in.

He was almost scared to go home; afraid he'd wind up telling Fred or Laverne something as obviously wrong as claiming his name was Sammy...almost equally afraid that he'd tell them something else, and they'd believe it. And so, he was still wandering, despite the chill in the air. The weather kept threatening to rain, but the thick tan wool of his duster was barring the ominous damp from reaching his skin.

He eventually wound up outside a 7-11 around dusk, blinking into the bright interior before finally straightening his coat. He was hungry - he'd missed supper in his 'round town wanderings - and still had the remainder of that forty he'd used to buy the necklace, the poster and the records. He thought for a minute more, then pushed open the door. He could use a slushy - and maybe some chips too - right about now.

There was a television in the corner playing the sports, but he ignored it as he made a beeline for the snack-shelves, feeling moderately brighter at the concept of food.

Linn was holding a large slushy cup up under the green-apple machine. It was one of the psychedelically-colored 7-11 cups that looked like it was left over from an Austin Powers promo, but Linn had a brown paper towel wrapped around the cup, blocking most of the colors. The green-apple slushy was spewing out only half-frozen slushy, and Linn looked pretty upset. "Damn machine," he muttered, pulling his slushy cup away to study the mess. Served him right. He should have just gotten the hot chocolate like he had planned. There was no reason for him to be getting a slushy on a cold evening like tonight. Oh well. Maybe the guy had just refilled the machine and it needed to freeze up more. He stepped aside to wait a bit, his eyes turning to the baseball game.

Geo's beeline slowed when he noticed the other boy already there, not really wanting to test out the lying thing right now. He hung back in the shelves, picking through. Did he want Cheetos, Doritos or Fritos? Potato chips or pretzels, or - quite possibly, right now - some of each? He reigned back his typical appetite enough to just grab a bag of Fritos and a pack of Skittles before the guy at the slushy machine turned to look at the TV. Geo tucked the snacks inside the bag of records - if the clerk noticed, he'd just claim he'd left them there while getting his slushy and (odds were) this time they'd believe that - and snagged a cup, poking at the machine. Now he didn't even know what flavor he wanted anymore.

He relaxed, slightly, as he stood there contemplating the options. Before long - but still before deciding - he looked over at the other boy. "Who's winning?" The question didn't have anything even resembling a statement, and that came out alright, much to his relief. Maybe he could talk in questions all his life?

"Yankees, looks like," Linn responded to the guy, without glancing at him. He was already riveted to the game. Didn't matter what sport was on. He could get sucked into watching any of them. He just loved to watch people move. "Yep. And it looks like A. Rod just got another homer. There's basically no hope for the Mariners." He turned his attention to Geo as a commercial came on. "You like baseball?"

"Yeah, hockey and baseball and football, anyways," turned into "Not so much" between thinking and saying. He rolled his eyes at himself, turned toward the machine for the amount of time it took for the annoyed expression to pass. The food had distracted him, and the fact that questions came out normally, but now that nervous-sick feeling was back. He loved baseball. Why.am.I.lying?!

"Alright, sorry." Linn wouldn't have gone on for so long if he had known that the guy wasn't interested. He wasn't a big talker as it was. He let his eyes stray back to the tv as a funny pet food commercial came on, but found himself saying, "Hey.... is the slushy machine working yet?"

"Yes." No, no it wasn't, it was runny and not-slushy and if this didn't stop he was going to scream. "I mean, I don't know." He amended - he did know, yeah, so...that was still a lie, but now he shouldn't look like an out-right jerk, right? "I don't usually drink slushies, so I can't tell." Except for the fact that he did drink slushies, the machine was not behaving, and he could have probably fixed the damn thing, thanks to the job at Pizza Barn back in Skokie...the whole three weeks he'd worked there, anyways.

Linn eyed Geo, his attention finally pulled away from the television for good. The guy didn't know? Okay. He'd try it and see. Putting his paper-towel wrapped cup up under the dispenser, he pulled the knob. And right away his cup started getting filled with melted bright green liquid, spraying his dark blue hoodie just a bit with the initial spray. "Shoot." He let the knob go, and looked at Geo. "Still not working. I swear, I'm going to be here all night waiting." Looking down into the gross bright liquid in his cup, he asked, "See any place where I can dump this out?" He didn't normally come to this 7-11, so he wasn't sure where the sink was.

"Not a clue, man, sorry." He managed to slide the apology in there before whatever was making him lie took it out; but forcing it out made his tongue feel like it had been shocked, all tingly and burny and not exactly nice. The fact that he'd passed a drinking fountain on the way in only made it worse. He was good at lying - it was something his mom had taught, and his poppy - but that...lying should only be used to play tricks on people and to get out of bad situations. And to help people. This was none of those. He played with his cup, not really looking up. He felt bad doing this, but nothing was helping. "I'll go tell the guys at the counter their machine is busted, though." No, he wouldn't. He'd wait for him to find someplace to dump the non-slushy slushy and then fix it himself. Or something.

"Alright. Well. Thanks for that, though. I guess I'm gonna go look for a sink." Without another glance at Geo, Linn headed down the perimeter of the store, figuring that there was bound to be a sink somewhere along there. He eventually came upon a soda dispenser and, furtively glancing toward the front of the store to make sure he wasn't being watched, Linn dumped his cup out there. So it wasn't a sink. It was close. He let the television take over his attention for the time being. ARod was up to bat again. Awesome.

Geo just waited long enough for him to get out of sight before he was over and prying the back off the slushy machine. The problem was exactly what he'd thought it was - just a case of certain bits being put together wrong - and he quickly fixed that before the cashier -or the other boy- could come over and see what he was doing. He snapped the back on correctly, grabbed his cup and finally decided on cherry. This time, the slushy came out right. He grinned, but didn't actually drink anything - he wanted to make sure he had some way of showing him the right answer as he went pacing back towards the end of the aisle again, waving the cup at him wordlessly.

The waving of Geo's arm caught Linn's attention from the television. "Ah! Is it frozen again?" Without waiting for an answer, Linn started back toward the machine. He held out his cup to the machine and pulled the knob. Yep. Green slushy. His favorite. With a toothy grin, Linn held his slushy up to Geo. "What is it they say? Cheers?"

All Geo could do was raise his cup - he didn't want to try talking again right now, worried of what he'd say. Instead, he gathered his bag, and headed for the counter to pay for the slushy before the clerk got too worried or whatever. He decided he'd wander back to the TV once he'd paid - just because he'd been forced to lie by something didn't mean he had to act that lie.

So this guy wasn't very friendly. It didn't bother Linn none. He took his time filling his cup, putting the clear dome-lid on first so that he could fill the slushy all the way to the top. Then he paid the cashier and was about to head out when something on the TV caught his attention. Not the game. That was over. 12-3, Yankees. No... now the TV broadcasted one of those special news bulletins. And what the news told him made Linn's blood freeze.

Geo just stood there, staring at the TV, one hand around the bag, one hand tangled around the pendant, slushy forgotten on the shelf next to him. The reporter on the screen was visibly shaken, skin pale, eyes skittering from side to side nervously as she spoke. "And the latest in today's breaking news, there is still no update from the police on the horrifying mass murder that apparently happened overnight just past the Michigan borders, but according to our sources, the already high body count is still rising..."

Had this been happening all day? The footage that flashed over the screen - shot from a helicopter - was still bright, still daylight, and the label on the side of the video said 'filmed earlier,' so it had to have been happening for hours, at the very least. The numbers they were giving right now were way above the fifties and - worst of all - they didn't sound accidental. He pulled on the necklace, nervously, just to do something with his hands. He needed some form of resistance to think. There was a small jerk, and the knot in the lanyard slipped loose, the pendant falling off in his hand.

Geo sighed, shoving the necklace in his pocket and reaching for the slushy again. At least he'd have fixing the necklace to think about when he got home. His hand was shaking when he closed it around the cup, but he took a huge gulp of the frozen treat to cover the motion as he joined the other boy by the TV.

Linn turned to look at Geo. His face was quite pale and drawn. "It's... not far from here," Linn said quietly, almost as if he wasn't talking to Geo, except that he was looking at him. From his comment, it seemed like Linn might be upset because he was afraid, but all that went through his mind was that people were dying and he hadn't been able to do anything about it. That girl from school.... those strange burned figures... now this... People around him were DYING, and what was he doing about it? His slushy sat in his hand, sweating against the napkin it was wrapped in, completely forgotten.

No, it's not. He thought - then tried to say. But, what came out was "No, it's not..." He almost sighed out of reflex at the last few hours - but almost choked when he realized he'd said what he'd thought. "It's not far at all." Despite the horrible news story, he felt like a weight had been lifted - he wasn't lying anymore. He blinked at his slushy - maybe it was the fact that he hadn't eaten or drank anything since last night? Could that have done...something in his head? Maybe? "I don't..." He shook his head, meeting his companion's eyes. "I don't get what's been goin' on lately anymore."

"Me neither." Linn's face showed a grim frown. "I need to do something ab--" At that moment, showing the same bad timing that it had been showing all evening, Linn's cell phone rang. One-handed, he dug through his messenger bag pocket, finally finding the phone. As soon as he found it, the ring stopped, and the screen was blank, as if it hadn't rung at all. "Stupid phone..." he muttered, throwing it back into his bag. He was sure it was his mom. But... yeah. No message? Then he wasn't in trouble. He turned his attention back to the TV, surprisingly preferring to think about the tragedies... "You ever think there's something we can do to stop stuff like this from happening?"

"I don't..." Geo paused, thinking back to his conversation with Bu' about fate and signs. Something about this conversation reminded him of that. "I don't know, I mean...you think about police and military and stuff, people who can actually do things, and....none of that fits me." It never will fit me as long as I get distracted by every little damn thing that crosses my path. "I've lost in every fight I've been in, I can't..."

He gave a one-shouldered awkward shrug. "I'm not anything special, how could I do anything? You can't tell until you're actually in the situation, and by then..." He got distracted by the ticker along the bottom of the screen. It's rumored that several of the bodies show signs of torture; police have neither confirmed nor denied this rumor. He shuddered, visibly, pulling his eyes away from the next line. "...by then, in a situation like that? It's t-too late."

The truth? Dangerous situations didn't seem to faze Linn lately. He knew it wasn't smart to get involved in fights that weren't his, but darnit, he just hated to see someone get hurt! "I think if you're nothing special, you're more likely to get past the bad guys," he said naively. "I mean, look at me! I'm way more of a threat than I seem." For extra emphasis, Linn flexed his arms, as if to prove that there was more there than meets the eye. But who could tell under that bulky sweatshirt, anyway? All of Linn's attention was off the TV now as he tried to prove some kind of convoluted point to Geo.

Geo just stared at him for a moment, chewing on his slushy straw, one eyebrow raised. "You serious?" That was a weird way of looking at things. He waved at the TV, blanching away from the images of ambulances and police cars lit by floodlights on-screen, live. "So, what. All of them, don't you think they - 'least some of 'em - were 'nothing special'? Doesn't seem to have worked so well for them." He felt like a jerk the moment the words left his mouth. People were dead, and here he was, making smart-ass comments about that fact.

Dang. This guy had a good point. "Well...I'm just saying that 'nothing special' works if you're going to be a hero. Catches the bad guy off guard, right?" Linn's attention was back on the tv, though. "Though why THESE people were chosen for this kind of death..." He frowned again, his eyes shifting back over to Geo. "you think they were chosen? Or is it a freak accident... an unlucky town?"

"Oh, I hope not." The words came slow, rasped - almost a prayer. "If it's an accident...it could happen again. Anywhere. As bad as it sounds...I hope there's a reason they were killed. I hope there's...there was something there and now...whoever, whatever did this has got it. So it stops." And then I hope something finds whatever did it and kills it. "If it's a freak, an unlucky town...well. You been 'round the last week. What would make Marquette any less unlucky?" He shuddered, visibly this time.

Geo's words didn't comfort Linn, and he quickly said, "But maybe Marquette is done with its trouble." He didn't believe his own words for a minute. This guy was seriously freaked, and it was starting to freak him out, too. He moved closer and put a hand on Geo's shoulder as if he had no other way to comfort Geo besides the physical, though if truth be told, he was looking for some sort of comfort for himself, too.

Geo wasn't usually a touchy-feely type of guy with people he didn't know. Granted, he also wasn't one of the types to freak out when a stranger touched him. The other boy had a strong grip for someone who looks so skinny - it was strangely reassuring. "Maybe." He didn't sound all that convinced. Probably because he wasn't convinced. He held the hand from the not-touched shoulder out. "'m George." Not Sammy. Man, I hope that David guy doesn't go looking for someone named Sammy because of that... "Or Geo, either works."

Linn let Geo's shoulder go and grabbed his hand, shaking it firmly. "I'm Linn. Always Linn." He gave Geo a small little smile. "Nice to meet you. And..." He snuck a look back at the TV for a moment. "...don't worry. I think things'll be alright. And if not... well. I'll try to do something about it, yeah?" He spoke with the kind of naive optimism that children might speak with, and it might have seemed strange coming from a tall, lanky 17-year old.

And what the heck do you think you could do? You're, what, my brother's age? He kept the snarky thought to himself, chewing on his straw again, trying to ignore the way it squeaked between his teeth. "Yeah..." His hand was getting cold on the slushy cup, but the insides of his stomach felt all the colder. This week...it was all just too much. Too much at once. Part of him wondered if the lying kick had to do with stress...maybe? The TV shifted screens to a police chief talking; it made him shake his head. "He's not got a clue what he's talking about."

That was for sure. The police chief was talking in circles, trying to make it look like he knew what was going on. Linn squinted as he listened, then announced, "He claims they have the perpetrators in custody while at the same time ensuring us that, while they don't know who the perpetrators are, they are positive that they are gone now." Linn mocked the police chief's way of saying 'perpetrators', not being able to keep from smiling just slightly --the guy sounded so ridiculous, as if he thought using such big words would make him sound more legitimate. "He's convinced all the old ladies and school children that things will be okay, but what about us normal people?" Again the reference to being a normal... being nothing special. Though Linn didn't catch the fact that he was back to that topic again. He was back to trying to think of ways he could help.

Normal. What is normal? Vampires? Lycanthropes? Demons? If we're normal...it seems like humans are screwed. But does that make us the good guys or the bad guys, or does it depend on the person? He'd never thought of it that way; but it was a scary thought. "I guess we just keep our eyes open, pray for the best but prepare for the worst..." He nabbed the straw with his teeth again, worrying at the innocent plastic. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.

Prepare for the worst. This Geo guy was smart. "Okay. I mean... I'm not really religious. I'm usually of the breed that HOPES for the best. But praying. It could work." Linn finally stuck the red straw into his mouth, perhaps to stop himself from talking. He took a short swallow, and realized that --gross!-- the slushy was all half-melted. Fighting the temptation to spit it back out, he swallowed it with a sick look on his face. "But, George. Geo." Linn looked at the dark-eyed young man in front of him. "How are YOU going to prepare for the worst?"

Geo was only able to meet Linn's eyes for a minute before he had to look away, almost stabbing himself in the gum with his straw as he moved it to talk. "I don't...I don't have any idea." And it was frustrating. Yeah, sure, trouble comes and he could turn into a big bird creature, right? But once the trouble went away and people were thinking...what? A government funded laboratory and vivisection or something as delightfully enjoyable. "None. None in the least." He gave a little smile - it didn't even get close to reaching his eyes.

Smart and honest, he was. "Well, then. You just keep hoping and praying and wishing for the best. Because you worrying? It's not going to do you and your family and your-- your whatevers any good." Smart, and honest and, Linn had decided after studying this guy just a bit more, that he was also pretty high-strung. Linn searched in his mind for a way to assure him that things would, indeed, be alright. "I mean... look at me! I was upset about the slushie machine, right? I had all that anger...that self-doubt--should I have gone to a different 7-11? What did I do to deserve a crappy slushie?-- and bam, man, the freaking machine fixed itself. It's like...I shouldn't've been so down and negative. It was for nothing." He waved his gross-again slushie at Geo, convinced that he had finally found the way of making him feel better. Yeah, man. Life was like a lousy slushie machine. He was kind of proud of his analogy; he usually sucked at high thinking.

Geo just stared, one eyebrow raised. Was Linn serious? "I..." He couldn't even think of a response for that. "It's not like I'm tryin' to worry," He finally managed. "It's just really hard not to lately. Yanno? So much shit goin' down, police have no clue, no one has a clue, and if they do they're not doin' anything about it..." It was frustrating, that was it. That was the perfect word for it.

"And then there's those of us who are willing to do something, but don't have any ideas, right?" Linn prompted, obviously including himself and Geo in that category. He let out a short sigh. "You're right, man. Worrying seems like just about the only thing WE can do right now..." It wasn't that big of an admission that Linn thought Geo was right. He was more apt to agree with people than cause a fuss. "I just wish--" But whatever it was that Linn wished, it was left unsaid as his phone --still acting up since he had met that weird David guy-- starting buzzing again. Linn looking around for a place to set down his smoothie, didn't find a place, and shoved it at Geo so he'd have two hands to search in his messenger bag.

Geo took the slushie without thinking, wondering silently what Linn had been about to say. He found himself looking down at the paper-towel-wrapped-cup with distaste - the remains of the slushy were a radioactive green color, all melted and runny and not-at-all appetizing; though the fluorescent lights made the liquid all glittery. He kept turning the cup this way and that, trying to catch the reflection of the ceiling tiles on the surface without really realizing what he was doing.

Linn found the cell phone and opened it up to talk, only to see that it wasn't a call at all but a voicemail message... "...shit." That was weird... why was it using the call ringtone as a message ringtone? He entered the code on his phone and listened to the message, frowning increasingly as he realized that a) the message was from his mom, b) it was from 3 hours ago, and c) he was in big trouble. With a loud snap he shut his phone and stuffed it into his bag. "Hey, man.... sorry to bail. I gotta scram, though. Parental units are super mad." He noticed Geo's dazed, distracted expression. "Hey... you ever want to talk about this again... um. Well, here. Lemme give you my number, alright?" He held out his hand, to reach for the slushie.

Geo was getting the lights, the signs and the panels in the liquid now; that was actually pretty cool - until an outstretched hand came into his field of vision and his mind snapped back to here-and-now. Wait - what had he just said? His phone had rung, he'd....oh, right. Cell phone. Phone number. "Ah, yeah, ok, number...um." He looked around for a second. He still had the smudged remains of Bu's number on his hand from Saturday - not that he hadn't showered, he just hadn't scrubbed it off, and that pen of his was, like, super-strength - and he didn't really want to write another over top of it, so he did the next best thing, pulling the slightly-damp paper towel off of the cup, folding it in half one-handed and offering it to Linn instead of the slushie that he was probably looking for. At this rate I'm gonna have half the town's numbers...

"Oh. Um...." Linn reached back in his bag for a pen now, and after a little bit of a struggle of trying to write on the moist paper, he jotted down his cell phone number, his name, Linn Constable, and the words, "guy with the slushie." He was so bad with names that he never expected anyone else to remember his name. "Here ya go," he said, holding the paper towel out to Geo. He started to hold his hand out for the slushie, looked at the multi-colored cup with a small grimace, and then added, "and you can um... throw that away for me, if you don't mind."

Geo pocketed the paper with a nod. He was familiar with angry parents - he had the rather suspicious feeling he'd be dealing with a set once he got home, himself - and just knew that sometimes they were pushy enough that you couldn't even toss your own trash, you just got. He put Linn's half-full cup into his own drained one, and bent to pick up his bag. "I got it. You get home, good luck with the parent-dragons, a'ight? I'll see ya 'round, I guess. Small town and all."

"Hey, thanks," Linn said with a small wave. He headed to the 7-11 door, reaching into his bag for his beanie at the same time. It was cold on his way in. No doubt it'd be worse out now. Even the TV didn't distract him as he hurried to get home. His mom was going to be furious. Her message? It had been from hours ago, reminding him to pick up Georgie. Whatever was wrong with his phone, he'd have to get it sorted out soon. Then he'd get to thinking on the whole protecting thing. It was a scary world, just getting scarier by the day, and he had a duty to do.

Geo watched the boy leave before he shook his head and left - without paying for the fritos - the opposite direction, hand clenched around the pendant in his pocket. He has his own parent-dragons to face...