Vampire apocalypse.

Who: Kaysen and Charlotte.
When: Late.
Where: Phone conversation.

Charlotte had been doing her best not to freak out. She flipped channels on the TV, but didn't get any information. There were fires, a gas station had blown up, general chaos... but no one could say what specifically had happened, just to stay at home and await further information. Valen never called back, and she was afraid if she called her mother she'd just worry. Charlotte tried to meditate with her hands in a plant to feel better, and kept sending Anna upstairs to look out the window and make sure things in their street hadn't blown up. So far, so good.

She had to check in with her friends. Wiping her hands off on her pants, she quickly dialed Kaysen's number. It was late, but... well, there was an emergency of some sort going on, and they'd just been talking about keeping up to date on this kind of thing. She just had to know her friends were okay.

When her phone rang, Kaysen jumped a little, but then answered it. "Hello?" she asked. Then it occurred to her she should have checked to see who was calling. Most people she knew who did were like...in the house directly or hopefully sleeping by now. But nope. Apparently not.

"Kaysen?" Charlotte started. Anna walked over to her and plunked down to put her head in Charlotte's lap, and Charlotte scratched behind her ears. Nothing out the windows again. "It's Charlie. Um... are you okay?"

"Oh, heeey. Yeah. I guess. Are you?" she asked. She walked over to her window to try and see across the street to Charlotte's house, but everything looked dark. But then again, so did their house.

"Um. Okay." Charlotte replied. "My step-dad called and said that bad things were happening and to lock myself in the basement. I've been surfing channels trying to figure out what's going on. I guess there have been fires and a gas station blew up..." But if she was locking herself in the basement, and her step-father the cop was worried, there had to be a lot more going on.

"It's vampires." Kaysen said. Which sounded insane. It sounded stupid. It sounded like something you heard in a movie, only less dramatic. Because she'd just said it, like 'it's bears'. Because it could be bears. Only not. Because that was way less likely.

Blink. She said that so casually that at first it didn't register at all with Charlotte, and once it did, she had to take a few more seconds to try and figure out if Kaysen was joking or not. "V...vampires? Like... like vampires?"

"Like vampires. Fangs and like...blood drinking n stuff." Kaysen said. "I dunno much more than that though, I dunno much about vampires at all. But that's what Thom said it was, and he would know." Because he was Thom.

"That's... that's bad." Charlotte finally said, feeling like she was in completely over her head. And all she was doing was hiding in her basement. "But um... you're safe?" Vampires were blowing up parts of the town and doing God knows what, was anyone safe? She wasn't sure. No book had prepared her with vampire apocalypse protocal.

"Yeah, home, safe I guess. Um...I don't really know more than that, but like, if I find out stuff tomorrow, I'll call and let you know, kay?" Kaysen said. "I'm sure we'll try to figure out something. Or maybe Thom knows more, and he'll tell us tomorrow. Either way I'll call anyways. Maybe we could all get together or something, I dunno. What do you think?"

"I have no idea." Charlotte admitted. "Probably safety in numbers? I... know nothing about this stuff. I just want to make sure everyone's safe. So... keep me updated so I don't think you got eaten." she said. Oh God that was a horrible thought. She had to check on Herbert. He'd said he had a nose for trouble. Who would win in a fight between a werebear and a vampire?

"I'm pretty sure once dawn hits we'll at least be safe til like...sunset." Kaysen said. Which sounded far more comforting in her head before it was out loud like that. Because after she said it, she didn't think it was that comforting. More like 'so hey we have this many hours to live then we're fucked again'. Oops.

It was comforting in some ways. So long as they made it til dawn. "Okay. We'll figure it out then I guess. If my mom lets me out of the basement." Because knowing her, she'd get home and royally freak out. "I wish we would have had this system idea a week ago." she said, sighing. "Just... live til dawn."

"Yeah I know." Kaysen said with a sigh. "Figures we'd get the idea like...too late for it to actually help, huh?" she asked. "I talked to Chance about it, he thought it was a good idea. Though I dunno if he'll like...come to meetings n stuff. But he'll know about it and I know he'd contact me if anything went weird, and I'd contact everyone else." So that was something. Even if it was stupidly late. Stupid timing.

"That's good." Charlotte offered. "Um... Herbert has a couple of friends he'd like to invite to the meetings, but I told him I had to talk to you about it first. We can probably figure it out when vampires aren't blowing things up." The collective powers that be that were 'They' would probably get that whole vampire thing taken care of, right? She wasn't so sure about the police, but... well something had to happen and work out. Charlotte could not wrap her brain around anything else. It was possible she was more than just a little bit in shock.

"Really? Like who?" Kaysen asked. It probably wasn't terribly important right now, but she did have to admit that the thought of other random people wandering in on their meetings? Not that okay with her. Not because she didn't think other people deserved to be in on shit...just that historically speaking, people didn't fucking like her. And if it was anyone from school, then it would wind up being people who had most likely made fun of her or been cruel in some fashion. So...maybe she'd be skipping out on those meetings.

"A witch in our school that did blessings for him and another kid that's a--" Charlotte stopped short. Oops. Kaysen didn't know about the whole were-bear thing, did she? "A new kid. I don't remember his name, but he's a lot like Herbert. It seemed kind of weird for me. Like, I want people to be safe, but bringing new people into the group is kind of scary." Charlotte marveled at how easily she used the word 'group'. She was part of a group. Granted she'd only ever said anything to a few members of said group in passing, but... a group! She belonged. Even in the vampire apocalypse.

"Like Herbert? Another kid that's a what?" Kaysen asked, paranoia automatically assuming that she was Missing Something. Which made her think even more that she wouldn't be attending the meetings even before their little thing got off the ground. Charlie could do it. She could show up and like, run things, Kaysen wasn't ever gonna be miss mary sunshine organizer in the first place, so, yeah. Whatever, she was just gonna be useless there anyways. Right? Right.

Charlotte resisted the urge to bash her forehead into the wall. She could hear Kaysen's paranoia, and knew that for once, it was kind of warranted. Charlotte was hiding something. Now, Kaysen had casually mentioned vampires, and they'd been through some insane stuff together. But how would she feel about this? It seemed like the type of conversation one shouldn't have on the phone. "Herbert's a werebear." she heard herself blurt out, because above all, she didn't want Kaysen being upset with her. "I mean... he's... yeah. Like a werewolf. But a bear. I've seen it and I rode him and it was really weird but he's not dangerous."

Kaysen's mind went asplodey. She sputtered for a few moments, and really, the stupidest thing got picked out of all of that, and what came out of her mouth was an incredulous: "You rode him?!"

Charlotte blinked a few times in confusion. "Yeah we were in the forest and he-" Blink. She realized all at once what Kaysen was thinking and Charlotte didn't think she could possibly be more horrified or red. "OH MY GOD!" she blurted out. "Not like that! That's... that's... oh my God! I meant like... like a... like not that!" Oh God her face was never going to go back to its normal color. And someday she was going to have to look Herbert in the face again.

"Oh thank christ!!" Kaysen blurted back. "I thought--and that's--oh god." she continued. "I...that would be way too weird and if you're sweet on him and stuff that's totally fine and I'd wanna know if he was your boyfriend and stuff but I probably don't want to hear about any bear-on-person stuff going on just for the record and seriously if you wanna talk about it and stuff you can just be really really vague!"

At that moment, during Kaysen's ramble, Charlotte honest-to-God flailed. It was only with one hand, but oh God did she need to UnHear the past three minutes. "Kaysen! I can't even count how many things are wrong with that sentence! Oh my God, oh my GOD, no, I-" Blink again. "Wait a minute," she said, much more calmly, "I just told I'm friends with a werebear and all you're concerned about is interspecies... intercourse." she said, having to painfully force the word out. Her face was never going to be normal again. "This is coming from the person who thought I was crazy for saying fire might like you. Is the world really ending?"

That stopped Kaysens' mental trainwreck in it's tracks. "Ummmmmmm....yeah, probably." she said. "I guess after vampires attacked the town n shit like that, and like being trapped in an alternate dimension for a few days, that doesn't sound as stupid as other things." she added. "But...seriously, a werebear? And wait, you said some other kid is like him?!"

Charlotte supposed that logic was actually pretty good logic. Herbert wasn't trying to attack them, so this was closer to a good surprise. "Yeah, I don't know what, um, animal... but he's a were. I haven't met him. If we don't want other people there, Herbert can just keep them updated. I don't think he'll mind either way, he's pretty easy going." Especially for a bear!

"Um. No, he can do that. Like...if he's got more friends and stuff to bring in, he prolly should." Kaysen said. I just won't be there. You can keep me updated. And so can Isaac. she thought. "But...yay for it picking up? Even if it is kinda too late?" she suggested.

Charlotte smiled softly and picked at a loose thread on her shirt. "Yeah. Hopefully things will..." She wasn't really sure how to finish that sentence. Hopefully the vampire hoard would move on and leave them alone? And terrorize someone else? That didn't seem like something to hope for, but she didn't see how this town was going to take care of a vampire infestation either. Did they have people that dealt with that sort of thing? Special secret branches? Forensics, homocide, mythical beasts? She was going to have to do some researching when she could leave the house again.

"...yeah." Kaysen agreed with the unfinished statement, even if she didn't know how to fill it in either. What with the weird. And what did anyone say to that? Seriously. "I'll um. I'll talk to you tomorrow kay? And we're here, and all that, and like...um, our house is apparently safe." she said. "There's more of us here and stuff, and...I dunno."

"That's good." Charlotte said. "Call me tomorrow night? Or I'll call you. Just so we both know we're both... still here." she said. "I need to try and call Herbert anyway. Um... good luck?"

"You too, Charlie." Kaysen said genuinely. "If anything happens thought, like, call too? I mean, I can set things on fire..." she added. "I've got this lighter from the guy with the gun from the caves and stuff and I can always try? So if you're in trouble like...I'm right here."

That made Charlotte smile warmly, feeling oddly touched. It was nice to have a friend that would set things on fire for you. "Thanks. And same to you. I, uh... can't do anything really cool, but... I can sick dogs on things and try at least." Though she still needed to tell Kaysen about her telepathy there. Now was most certainly not the time.

"Kay. keep the puppies inside though. Edison says hi, too. But um...yeah. Guess we should go. But definitely there'll be calling." Kaysen assured again. It was weird having a friend. Like a kinda for real one where she would try to save her and stuff. Yep. The world was totally ending.