Text Turned Visit
Submitted by buttahfly on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 22:42.
Who: Geo and Buttah
When: afternoon
Where: Helen's house
To: Geo
Sent: 2:43pm
if you don't mind me knowin, where you at, babydoll? i got some stuff for you an sammy. - Bu
500 Albert Street. sister's
500 Albert Street. sister's house. she's out right now. might be a good time.
..
on my way, sugar, won't take long.
...
Geo had returned to his rapidly-becoming-familiar perch on the kitchen counter after he'd got back from Peyton's. The counter was nice - he could reach the fridge, see down the sidewalk through the windows, just....sit. And think.
...or not think, as he was trying to do now, watching for Bu'. He was back in his own clothes now, thank all things holy. Most of Marek's clothes were way too narrow, and smelled...off. Wrong in ways he couldn't explain. Having his own back was a tiny relief in this ocean of irregularity.
He hopped off the counter when he saw her coming; heading for the door.
..
Buttah had parked at the curb and leaned in the back to pull several shopping bags out of the backseat. She shut the car door with her hip and started up the lawn, glancing the house over in a habitual sort of way. Their sister's house. Which they apparently were both miserable in. Not that anywhere else would probably be much better, considering the circumstances.
All she'd really had to do was detail out said circumstances to Socko, and he'd forked over some cash for the cause so Bu could go shopping. There'd been fires in her neighborhood back home before, entire floors of apartment buildings destroyed, and she knew that necessities were always needed. A big one being clothes. Which she was exceptionally good at shopping for.
When Geo opened the door, she set one hand's load down and stepped in to give him a one-armed hug around the shoulders. Familiar, maybe, but the guy had just lost his parents.
,
Geo didn't mind the hug - Peyton's, earlier, had helped, after all. Any other day, he would have counted this - being hugged by two pretty women on one day - as something good. But this was completely different; there was nothing but support and friendship in these hugs, and he fought back the return of the tears desperately as he hugged her back, a bit desperately. "Thank you so much for coming," He mumbled, pulling back and swiping at his good eye with the back of his hand. "'s good to see you."
..
She remembered Sammy telling her about the eye, but it had gotten kind of lost in her worry over everything else. It was something else to see him actually wearing an eyepatch. She squeezed him gently while he was there, and her face was nothing but sympathy as he pulled back. Bu made a soft 'tsk' sound with her lips and stroked his cheek briefly. Poor sweetie, he was gettin' it from all sides, wasn't he? "Good to see you too, darlin'," she drawled, giving him a little nod. Telling him how sorry she was again was pointless; nobody would ever be as sorry about things as this family right here. And he looked like he was about to cry, so. Moving on.
She picked up the bags again and came into the house. "Okay, I was mostly just guessin' on sizes, but I used to shop for tons'a cousins, so think I did okay. I got receipts for everythin', though, if it don' fit," she said, finding a spot to put it all down. Several pairs of jeans both for him and his brother, along with a couple of shorts too, in case. T-shirts -- mostly plain, she didn't know their taste in music or anything -- boxers, socks, sneakers she'd skipped, but there was an extra $50 tucked into two pockets.
...
Curiosity, always half-blessing, half-curse. His mom always said that when the world blew up, he'd have been the one with his finger on the button, the one saying "ooops." That thought stung too much, so he reveled in the curiosity-for-curiousity's-sake instead, pushing the mother-though away, moving to peek in the bags.
And he looked up, face somewhat confused. When her text had said "stuff," this wasn't what he'd had in mind. He'd been thinking little things. Not...not this. "You...you didn't have to do th-this..." I only met her once! "I m-mean, it's ap-apreciated, but..." Jeans weren't that cheap.
..
Buttah waved a hand at him dismissively. Okay, so maybe she'd gotten caught up and gone a little overboard, but ... it was for a good cause! And she had only spent everything Socko gave her. And okay, that had only included one top for herself, which was still in the car. "Shh, shh, none of that," she told Geo, shooting him a Look. "Neighborhood I come from? Shit like this happens, ya'll all pull together. You got a temporary roof, I'm assumin' she's feedin' you, so ... clothes. It ain't as much as it looks when y'lost everything, an' we got it to spare." She straightened up and looked at him, hands resting on her hips.
...
He was familiar with the 'don't argue' look, and her shushing was...oddly reassuring. "She's feeding us, yeah, but..." He bit down on the rest of his protests. If it had been her house, he'd have done the same. "Thank you so much; I don't think I could stand wearing Marek's clothes that much longer, an' Sammy...Sam practically swims in 'em." Plus the smell keeps making him gag. He kept claiming they smelled like blood under the salt-and-earth scent, but Geo still couldn't get that one. "That'll help a lot."
..
Buttah hadn't the first clue who Marek was, but she chuckled faintly. "I mighta gone a lil big just to be safe, but there's a coupla belts in there too," she said, nodding to the bags. She took a glance around the house, then looked back to him. "An' if ya'll can't stand it here, we got a sectional that ain't the prettiest, but it's comfortable." She and Socko had already talked about it, and he'd cleared the idea. That was one thing she'd always liked about stoners, they were usually generous with their space. "An' if there's anything else I can do, sugar," she added in a soft tone. Not that there probably was -- she knew that she wouldn't know where to start dealing with a family loss like that -- but still. She had to offer.
...
He had the impulsive urge to tell her about the gunshots, but...he still wasn't sure. Still didn't know what they meant, other than the fact that this wasn't Laverne's candles fault. "You'll be the first to know, promise, but I think we need to try an' tough it out...least for a little while." He answered, just as soft.
He thought for a second, playing with the frayed hem of his shirt before he decided, continuing as quietly as he began. "Are...is there anything o-out there that has to k-kill things to survive? Or, like, tends to kill things, period?" And for all he knew, he was barking up the wrong tree and it was just, like, a normal crime gone wrong.
..
The question caught her a little off-guard, though it probably shouldn't have. He knew what she was, more or less, and she was fairly certain she had a good idea in the other direction as well. Buttah slipped her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and thought about it for a moment. "I ain't sure that there's anythin' out there that has t'kill to survive. I know f'sure that there's shit out there that takes great pleasure in killin'," she said somberly, watching his face. It was a horrible sort of thing to have to tell someone that had just lost part of his family, but it was honest. "That's the sorta thing my family's dedicated t'huntin'."
...
"I...thoughtIheardgunshots." Not thought, did, but did was too definite. "B-before everything went to hell. I just..." He shook his head, flopping down on the couch before looking back at her. "I don't get it."
..
Bu blinked, then moved to sit down next to him, perched on the couch's edge. Her face was sympathetic. Sometimes there wasn't anything to get, but she didn't tell him that, because the senselessness of something always made it that much worse. "Gunshots comin' toward the house, or just around? One set or two? ... I can keep my ears open, hon, if y'want." She thought she knew just the place to do it, too.
...
"One set, four shots. An'..." He sighed, palms to his eyes. "Inside the house." He looked back at her, grimacing. "An' I can't tell the police or I'll have to answer how we really got out of the house and I can't really do that." He felt his face harden - something he really wasn't used to. "But if you hear anything..."
..
It was really just confirmation of what she already suspected, or figured that she knew, and Bu tucked it away. She didn't have anything personal against were-things herself, her family had always more been focused on the ... more decidedly evil races. "You'll be first t'know," she promised, something more solid and heavy in her voice. She slung an arm around his shoulders to give them a firm squeeze before standing up. "I best get gettin', 'fore your sis comes home."
...
"Yeah..." He stood as well, rubbing the back of his head before giving into the impulse to give her a real hug, clinging for just a second before he let go, backing up a little. He waved at the bags with a small smile. "And thanks again for this. I'll...we'll try to return the favor sometime, if we can."
..
Buttah didn't mind the hug at all. She gave him a firm one, clunking her head lightly against his and squeezing. Her heart went so much out to them. She gave him the same sort of little smile as he backed up and chuckled softly. "Don' worry 'bout it, sugar," she said, then headed for the door. "Keep in touch, yeah? An' I will too. Take care'a yourself, sweetheart." With a quick check of the driveway, she slipped out and started for her car.