2020-09-03 - He Totally Looks Like a Serial Killer

Byron was supposed to bring back popcorn shrimp from the boardwalk after work. Or that's what he'd told Lilith. Now it's several hours later. The last text she'd received from him said: I'm running late. Found a dead body at the beach, so we're being questioned. See you in a bit, hon!

Followed by: And don't worry about me. The deed is done. It's just a corpse out here.

As if that would make anyone feel better.

Once they get redressed and collect their things, Byron looks about ready to leave. The cops or SOMEONE ate his popcorn shrimp. It would otherwise be pretty damned cold by now. After his brief exchange with the Hilton who took over the Sea View, he turns to Bennie, "I think I got a good look at his face." It's a quiet exchange. She might be confused by what he means though. It also doesn't look like he's planning on sticking around to have this discussion. "Want to share a few drinks at my place?"

"So long as I can raid Lilith's jammies because even I can't make this paper bag look fashionable!" Bennie consents to the drink, after all she wants to pick his brain about what he was able to read off the gasoline container. She felt the shiny usage, all right. "Wait. Dude totally didn't have a h--Oooh. Yes. Right. And we can talk about Aliens. And Gunner can sniff all your things and make you uncomfortable. But don't worry, he won't pee on anything. I don't think." The blonde babbles as she follows after Byron. "Wait, is Lil home? Because last time I was running around in my bra at Alexander's house, Isabella almost mistakenly smothered him with a pillow."

The car's not his Wraith. Part of the Wraith was melted, but the car was at Rosencrantz's shop anyway. No, it's a fancy Lincoln rental. One that Byron doesn't mind a dog slobbering all over. "Did you hear that my car caught on fire after a chase across town? Yeah, so I'm stuck with this for now." He then laughs, "Lilith's home. The shrimp? It was for her. Now instead of a tasty snack, I'm bringing home good company and a dog. She always wanted to get a dog, so I'm sure she'll be more than happy to have Gunner for company this evening."

There's not much said along the way, just casual conversation, but the drive from the boardwalk to the Apartments isn't a very long one, it's just further down a long stretch of road. Bennie is all too familiar with this place, something which Byron is a little concerned about. With Bennie and Gunner in the elevator, he presses the topmost button after inserting in his PH key. It's almost as if he forgot to mention as he whips out his key to open up the door to his place, "Oh yeah. We have a cat as well, but despite how it looks, it's usually... okay. Don't worry too much about it."

The door is unlocked and he tosses the keys into the plate in the foyer, "Lilith, I have Bennie with me. And a special guest."

Lilith didn't really reply with much more than 'okay <3' to Byron's heads up text about being late. She knew he'd probably... well, she doesn't know, but apparently finding dead bodies takes a while. Anyway, she's not much thinking straight, she's bothered, she's been bothered all day. The woman can't really go to work and be out on the shop floor lately because she's supposedly a murderer and if she has to hear another person say it to her face again, she MIGHT become a murderer for real. She's been home working on her auction and estate side hustle and managing shop things via phone images and her laptop for spreadsheets.

The first text happened at 11 am.

Murdering cunt.

Lilith did not have a good time with that, but eventually composed herself and remembered that she is not a murderer and Byron is not dead. In fact, before he finds a dead body, she sends him a kissy face to fish for one back at some point in the earlier part of the day. Then her belief is reassured by the fact that he texts again to say he'll be late. See? It's fine. (It's not fine and the cat knows it, he's been sitting on the back of the piano watching her like a hawk. He does that a lot after one (or both) of them disappear from home.)

Byron being late becomes a problem, though. It's not a witting problem. It's just that an hour after he's supposed to be there, roughly, she gets another troll text.

What happened to him should have happened to you. Rot.

Byron isn't home, see. She looks at the clock and forgets that he texted to say he'd be late. She forgets this because she's having horrible imagery she believes. For an hour, she locks herself in the bathroom and choke sobs so the cat will stop staring at her crying. At some point, she starts to get confused as the belief wanes but doesn't fully go away without him around to confirm it and she just doesn't think of texting him because it was a bad time. Also, she broke a few things, but she has time to clean those up (while crying and anxious about what's real in good ol' PTSD GH fashion).

So when Byron comes in she's drinking. There's a bottle straight on the coffeetable with a glass and it's vodka straight she seems to be pouring instead of seltzering it up and adding ice and limes and whatever else she usually does to it. She also is still running tears, but not really crying, she ran out of that a while ago. Therefore, when the door opens and she hears Byron, she about has a heartattack on the spot and just stares where she's swaddled in his robe on the couch.

"... oh. Guest? Hi."

Bennie's eyes might look a little stormy at pulling up to the familiar apartment complex, but otherwise there is no change in her demeanor, no instinctual reach to mistakenly push the fourth floor button in the elevator.

Gunner, however, is looking a little excited beyond his usual dopey demeanor. The gentle giant is dancing little circles in the elevator and wagging his tail like a whip, panting enthusiastically and giving little hops off his front paws waiting for the door to open. He looks a little confused when they're getting off at the Penthouse, and Bennie scritches his ears in apology as she trails after Byron.

"He won't be any trouble..." Which was right, in theory. Normally she'd be able to tell him to 'guard' and he'd lay by the door but seeing Lilith in seemingly emotional distress kicks in his recent training as an emotional support animal - his vest was left with forensics in case it had trace evidence, but he's legit, honest! - and he pads over to Lilith and almost hundred and thirty pound weight is leeeeeaned into her legs and his big ole head invades her lap.

"Oh Em Gee, is everything okay?"

Byron was bringing Lilith an evening snack, so he doesn't expect the place to smell like a home cooked meal the way it often does. This is also one of the few days recently that he'd been away for as long as he had. Usually, he has short meetings or he might drive out to check in on things at the casino, but today he was stuck chatting up a couple of investors among other things, so that's why he was gone for much of the afternoon until now. It was nearly midnight by the time they were released.

"Lil?" Just seeing the state which his fiancee is in is alarming, but there's some part of him that isn't surprised. He even blames himself for this. The dog gets to her first, affording the brunette his attention before Byron comes to join them both, reaching to snatch that glass right out from Lil's hand. "Is everything alright? Did something happen?" /That/ was his true concern. Something is always happening in Gray Harbor and things can happen at any moment.

He's dressed in whatever attire they were given, since their clothing is now in the evidence bin, so he looks like some hospital patient more than anything else right now. "We... I don't know if you've seen some white crows around? Our names were stolen recently in some kind of Dream that was marked by the presence of these damn crows. The incident left, I don't know. I can't explain it. It messes with your mind sometimes, I think."

Lilith almost drops the glass while holding it partially above her head when she gets the surprise guest, and for as much as she might not have been expecting Byron with the worst thoughts... she was even more not expecting a big ass hoss dog full of love to get. It actually scares her and makes her think she's confused again, or Dreaming and this is a trick dream, that he's really...

Oh, no, he's taking her booze away, this just got too real for her to keep on that train of thought and there's a dog right there. After staring between Byron and Bennie, then dog again, she doesn't push it away or anything, she just kind of recoils before easing up gradually and putting a hand out to be sniffed. Honestly, she wants to grab that big lovin' hunk of dog and squeeze, but that's weird if it isn't your dog, right?

Finally, she pulls in a breath and explains while getting more bearings, "... I got very confused. I'd been getting trolled on my phone with..." She pauses and shakes her head a little, "I just got confused. That's all." Then she catches on that it's midnight and they have guests because... suddenly, she squints at Bennie, "Are you okay?" Nevermind what Lilith looks like at the moment. She looks at Byron then and asks, "... and you're okay?"

(Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be sloshed, just numb-buzzed, to Byron's eyes.)

Bennie's hands disappear into the sleeves of her might-as-well-be paper onesie, fingers fisting on the edge of the cuffs as she stands there awkwardly. "Easton mentioned one once. He kept seeing it in odd places, once on the balcony of his apartment and when it caw'ed he swore it said Tom's name. His dead best friend." Her bottom lip gets worried by the edge of her teeth, no doubt spinning up a new conspiracy theory about his disappearance and adding name stealing albino crows into the mix.

Gunner sniffs at Lilith's knuckles obligingly, and then his big pink tongue lulls out to give her hand a lick. He doesn't seem concerned that she recoiled, the dopey beast not going anywhere anytime soon when she still seems distressed. He merely gives a good natured grumble and gently steps up onto the edge of the couch and tries to occupy her lap. "Oh, I'm fine. Just a little body barbecue. Actually, it reminded me of this one call we got where a man fell asleep on his couch smoking a cigarette and...you know, maybe this isn't the best time. Byron and I were just going to compare notes, but we can do that whenever."

Sticking closely to Lilith, Byron buries his face into her hair and gives her a reassuring kiss, which might get doggo slobber on him in the process. "Looks like you have a fan, there." There's a smile that can be heard in his voice and seen across his lips, but Lilith will notice the usual intensity of his eyes when he stares at her. "Want me to get you a glass of water or something?" It's too late for coffee to help sober anyone up." Still holding onto that glass and reaching for the bottle on the coffee table, he turns to Bennie, "Can I get you anything? I've got most things that you'd find in a home bar. And probably more." But his collection is not as extensive as Easton's.

Carrying the booze off, he nods, "Yeah, those birds, they know how to get to you. It's like they're trying to get under your skin. Make you feel guilty or bad about something." Standing near the bar now, he sets both bottle and glass down, "The first time, the crow called out Vivian's name." He says it rather casually, trying not to make a big deal about that. "Then my father's name. Well, we were pulled into a Dream recently that's connected to those crows. We had our names stolen from us then and on getting them back, and this is something that we were warned about, there's some aspects of our memories that have been warped in some way. We're dealing with that as best we can."

With visitors present, who makes an appearance but Smog/Smaug. The cat is a puffy grey thing with this look of disdain on its face, sometimes bordering on hell bent angry. "Want me to cook something up real quick?" Places like Gray Harbor doesn't usually have 24 hour delivery services, but there are still some places open. "Or call for delivery?" Pouring himself a glass of whiskey to start, he sets out another glass for Bennie, "It always amazes me how much of an iron stomach you EMTS and medical sorts have. That... that was more than gruesome."

"It's really okay. It's not like... either of us are sleeping any time soon, from the sound of the day on both sides." Lilith tells Bennie a little quickly once she realizes she's about to be lapdogged by a non-lapdog and she should probably get used to that considering Byron's birthday gift they've yet to acquire from Seattle, "I could use the noise of people talking about something tangible that isn't in my head and it sounds like a charred dead body is plenty real to focus on."

Also she seems to be borrowing the doggo for what he's got to give now and that drink in her is just enough in combination to make her giggle suddenly despite herself as she gets a nosy snout on her drying tear-face. And she's got Byron nuzzling into her hair at the same time like a double shot of lovin', face tipping up to catch the kiss before he steps away to get Bennie a drink. Arms wrapping around the animal, she squeeezes the solid dog-frame and starts to talk to it now, "... sorry. I thought you were a dark Hell beast in a Dream. Hi. Oh gosh, look at that face..."

The stankface cat seems to get even more stankface somehow while watching her squeeze on the dog. Surprisingly, it's not circling Byron for food, it's just JUDGING. Cats might not think like humans, but if he could, he'd totally be huffy about the fact that he skipped TWO naps to stare at this lady today to make sure nothing stole her again. Ingrate humans, right?

Anyway, for as quiet and notably dog occupied as she is while Byron explains a few things, Lilith is listening, "... call pizza maybe? If you guys aren't... sick from the smell."

Bennie doesn't call Gunner to heal, hoping that his giant presence will help alleviate some of Lilith's unease if that giggle is any indication, even if she herself is feeling a little tense at the moment. But she gets offered alcohol! Drifting closer to Byron (and the bar of course), "Well mentioning Tom's name is one sure fire way to get Easton's guilt matrix way the heck up. But I hope where ever they are now, they're sharing a drink and dirty stories together. Uhm, no vodka after my latest drunken cherry binge. Maybe just a single malt if you have it?" But speaking of her stomach's fortitude, she mentions, "Remind me to tell you the story of the one time I had to plastic wrap a guy's guts back into his abdominal cavity after he tried to do self-exploratory surgery. Or you know. Uh, don't remind me. Sometimes you forget that's not polite conversation when your bestest friend is Alexander. Isabella pinged me back, by the way. She said she'd look into the writing in that photo. I mean, we're assuming it's writing." She turns to Lilith to loop her in, "So body bonfire, but there was this stranger writing in the sand next to it. All weird triangles and stuff. It could be a lame attempt at Pictionary, for all I know. By the way, Lemon juice. That's the only thing that's going to get that smell out of your hair."

"If those crows ever start bothering you, I don't have much advice on what to do to stop it. But I have a feeling that Lilith and I won't be the last people who to get their names stolen and are forced to wander around without an identity." Taking up his own poured glass, Byron journeys to the kitchen to grab Bennie a cold one. It's a good thing that he's not eating just yet, because he can only imagine how horrifying witnessing what Bennie brings up must've been. If basking in the stench and horror of a burned corpse didn't kill his appetite, Bennie might just have done that.

Seeing that the cat has wandered in, he looks between the feline and canine. It doesn't look like there'll be fur flying, but the Smog just got here. "Hey." He calls out to the cat, "I'll get you something to eat when I'm done here, alright?" Pet owners talking to their pets...

"I nearly tripped over a gasoline can out there and I gave it a quick read." He can just feel that swell of emotion coursing through him as he tries to think about it. After having opened up the bottle, he makes his way back to join the others to hand it over to Bennie. "He... from what I could tell, he felt justified in what he did. I... also got an image of him, if you don't mind my sharing." This would mean that anyone interested would have to open their minds to him so he can pull up this image for them. "Or I believe it's the guy."

"Woah. Who self-disembowels? That's new levels of masochism." Lilith thinks for a moment she might be a little slow on the uptake thanks to vodka after considering the mental image of how someone DOES that, but... hell, she could probably do that to herself. Why is she thinking about this? Either way, she looks more confused and fascinated from over the dog's head as opposed to grossed out, but she hasn't been smelling burning body all night, either, "That sounds like a Clayton bedtime story for when he can't sleep. Bet he sleeps like a baby after stuff like that. Visions of murdered sugarplums dancing in his head."

Lapsing into silence to listen about burning bonfire bodies and triangles, the brunette tips her nose and face with nuzzle down at dog-head, "Right on the beach at the festival? Was it dead before it was burned, could you tell?" She pauses, "Was it the same guy writing in the sand?"

When Byron moves to the kitchen, the cat decides he's done enough judging, he's not missing a midnight snack because of this. But on the way, he's a total jerk about it. Instead of taking a straight shot to meow at the man's ankles, as typical, it jumps onto the back of the couch, walks across the back cushions and stares with lean down sniff at the dog on Lilith from over one of her shoulders. Then deciding it's better than a dog, maybe, it asserts dominance and uses the animal as a spring board. From the back of the couch, it jumps on the dog's back, then leaps to the coffee table, THEN goes to get food.

Gunner for his part just gives a deep woof at the cat's annoyance, but he's far too comfortable laying his head on Lilith's shoulder and lavishing in the attention to chase after for retribution.

Bennie takes the beer gratefully, "He was convinced there was something inside him..." She whispers in conspiratorial tones to Lilith as she shows interest. "But the doctor's just thought he was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, so he took matters into his own hands. And then. At the hospital. When they were trying to stuff all the outside back into the inside, they found a parasitic twin! So it turns out he was right! The wouldn't let either of us keep the mass of hair and teeth though." And she seems absolutely bummed by that.

Oh right! The murder. "Well, the corpse didn't have a head? So I'm guessing definitely dead before he went into the fire. Those things don't just fall off on their own." Or can they? Her head tilts in thought as she looks back to Byron. "Ooh, mind juju. Yeah, I'm cool with it. Usually gives me a headache, but whatevs."

Bennie tries a pose for Science! |

After he's set his own glass of whiskey down onto the coffee table, hopefully the cat didn't knock it over, Byron returns to the kitchen to open up a fancy gourmet cat food can to pop the content out onto a fancy plate, looking like a cake or something. This he sets down on the floor next to the kitchen island, before he once more rejoins the others, but he doesn't immediately take a seat. Instead, he just gives Bennie this look. The first part of the story wasn't gross enough, she had to further add to this. "That's... Wow. And here I was right about to dial out for food."

The paper bag type thing that they are wearing doesn't bother Byron overly much, but he's home and he could change if he wanted to. Probably wants to shower before putting on anything new though, so he continues wearing this for now.

Now, if what Bennie says is disgusting enough, just remembering what he'd witnessed in this read was enough to make him all that more uneasy. "The body wasn't fully intact. No. I... I got a good impression of him forcing it through a bandsaw. Like in shop class."

"... that's the most Gray Harbor thing I've ever heard. Makes sense now. If it didn't come out, he'd probably have birthed it into a demon." Lilith seems to be satisfied with this bizarre explanation while eyeing Bennie during the quiet info-share, actually. She doesn't so much focus on the whole gore issue so much as to how and why it worked that way for the guy.

Lilith makes an imitation woof after the cat when Gunner does, "Smaug is super rude, isn't he? Isn't he?" She squishes the dog's jowls on one side after a rub over the head, then leans her head in against where the animal has that rest on her shoulder, "I try to tell him that but he just stares. Gonna take his eyeballs and his nuts. Probably at different times, though." She's actually only serious about one of those things, probably. Cat does not care, it is eating and has no idea. So long as doggo doesn't go investigating his food, it's whatever for now.

"He looks like a serial killer. Maybe he felt justified like on that show Dexter where he only takes out his kill urges on jerks. Or maybe he's just a weird serial killer. Or possessed. But those glasses? Mm, serial killer." Lilith pauses, "Though if he cut its head off before burning it, maybe he's a witch hunter. Or a demon summoner." Ok, she's into demons tonight, "Maybe possessed. Definitely a serial killer, though, look at him." Pulling her head up to look at Byron then, she wonders, "... did it give you any semblance of his name when you touched the thing? Didn't it do that before with something you touched?"

"Hey, I'm pretty proud of that one. Mainly because he didn't die!" Bennie chirps before she takes another sip of her beer. She looks tempted to plop down on the couch and curl up in the cuddle puddle of Lil and Pooch, but due to her own hair being saturated with the smell of burnt wood and burnt body, she refrains. Instead she just tries to relax so Byron can get into her brain meats. "Ooh, neat trick. Your brain is super sci-fi." She says at first. Then, "He's kinda hot for a serial killer."

A glance at the others as the image is taken down in her mind's eye. "What, we were all thinking it." Okay, maybe not. "Band saw though. Yikes. You said he felt..justified? Like these people had wronged him, or he was just doing the world a favor? Or witches!!" She excitedly points at Lilith. "It was definitely Salem-ish! Or MAYBE A VAMIRE HUNTER."

"Wait, the guy lived?" Byron's brow quirks just realizing this. "Who was it..?" Gray Harbor is a small town! If it was a townie, they'd know the guy! Though it would be rude of Bennie to disclose that, he supposes.

"I decided to go with 3D imagery here. I often use a more boardroom set up, projecting an image on a holographic screen." Now that the hologram was gone, he reaches down to scoop up his glass and going in for a much needed sip after tonight. He could remember staring into blazing inferno, looking down at the charred remains of himse-- Of some poor guy who had his head sawed right off. Probably along with other pieces of him. To this, he's ready to drain almost half of his glass.

"I... I couldn't get a sense of his name. No. But I did get an impression of a workshop or garage within town limits. That would be a good place for the cops to start. Though... we're a blue collar town, there are a ton of these places around and this one could just be part of his home." Licking at his lips, he considers, "This guy..." There's another shake of his head, "He was absolutely sure that he was doing the right thing, just as he push the body through the blade. He was completely and utterly certain of this. We just have to figure out who the deceased it. Well, not /us/, but the police do." He then considers, "At first I was concerned that this was connected to the shakedown of the town by that rival criminal group. I won't say that I'm relieved that it's not. But wasn't there a mention of a murder or so recently in the news?"

"Mm, that park ranger body, I think? On... the beach. Which honestly, I would expect him to be in the forest dead, if a park ranger is going to be dead. But maybe he was enforcing fishing licenses or just taken there. Also there's that kid from Seattle that's plastered everywhere with the Japanese name. And the only reason I remember that, other than his face being posted, is because the last place he was seen was Cracker Barrel and I thought... yeah, that's not good. That place has a hellsmouth under it or a writhing robot star above it, unsure which."

Byron knows EXACTLY what she means about Cracker Barrel.

Then Lilith pops off with, "Hey. Is he a teacher that can use the shop? Should look at a yearbook. Not that there aren't garages and workshops around with buzz saws all over a lumber town, but the teacher or principle is always the vampire hunter or the vampire, depending." Apparently, vodka and taking her mind off other matters with a giant dog in her lap is therapy, she's just letting all the things spill out of her now, but that one is totally Bennie's fault for saying vampire. Granted, it would be a way to kill a vampire? Maybe?

"Totally lived. But I miiiight have used my magic hands at some point? Dunno, I feel like I was such a baby back then. Totally against HIPPA for me to give you his name, but let's just say he might bag your groceries."

Bennie just sort of..wrinkles her nose at everything relating to the murder now. "It'll be interesting to see what Isabella has to say about the writing. Maybe that will help us fill in a little, not...that it's our job beyond concerned citizen. Say, would you guys mind pupper-sitting tonight?" No, she doesn't actually need anyone to watch Gunner, but maybe he's needed here.

Lilith seems to be making note of all the dead bodies around town. "A park ranger and a kid from Seattle. It doesn't seem like it's connected. Were they all found along the beach?" Byron asks, considering this, "I mean, this guy... this might be his own murder. Like, maybe the victim did something against him. Like I said he felt justified to do it. I'd prefer to not have a serial killer in town. Not with everything that we have to go through." And not after Gohl. "But if not a serial killer, then what? Three different killers? I guess we can't chalk the other two up to gang warfare?"

Taking another, a smaller, sip of is whiskey, Byron's serious expression turns into a smile, "Works at Safeway, eh? Now, I'll have to keep a look out for this one." He more than likely won't approach the bagger, but it's amusing to know. "A Baby Bennie, eh? I'm sure baby Bennie had just as much ice in her veins to be able to handle predicaments like those." Lilith's mention of perhaps this man being a teacher has him nodding. "We could look that up. I mean, if idiots think that Alexander Clayton is their teacher, he could always snoop around without being questioned." Would he really use Alexander like that? Posssibly.

Byron is still standing there after this holographic display, watching Lilith play with that huge pooch, though he turns to Bennie when she asks them to dog sit. "Nonsense. Do you think we're letting you leave dressed in that?" He gestures with his free hand at what Bennie is wearing. What /he's/ wearing. "Feel free to sleep over. Take a shower, get some rest." His dark eyes drift over to Lilith now, "I think you should be able to fit into some of Lilith's clothes." If Lilith doesn't mind! And what does a guy know about women's sizing?

"I'm about to order food anyway. So kick back, we'll watch some television to get our minds off things. Drink more. Eat some. And then get some rest. After what we saw today, I don't know about you, but company sounds good."

"I don't know if they ever found the student. Maybe, maybe not. I scan for interest more than I read and I just remember Cracker Barrel and the name was not-white, more or less." Lilith says to Byron, then just kind of stares at him for a moment after he asks for company. From Bennie. Like she's not sitting right here and... really, she didn't think much of it til he got to that point, clothes and guest room is no big deal. But now she's thinking... she wouldn't want to be alone with herself either, maybe, if she's having... confusions of...

"Alright. My leg's falling asleep. Let me up, cuddles, I'll go get some things to put in the guest room and make sure there's towels in the hall bathroom." Lilith quickly extricates herself to push up into a stand and tugs on Byron's robe while untying it on the way to the bedroom to get into her own clothes, other hand working in grab and rake through some of her hair.

At that offer, Bennie seems to light up. "Eeeeee! Sleep over! Did you hear that Gunner?" The dog is too busy giving a lazy stretch after being kicked off the woman's lap to respond much beyond a little tail wag at Bennie's enthusiasm.

Before he's even going to try and kick back and relax, Byron's heading for the master bath for that shower to rinse off... whatever remains of the deceased that may be clinging to his skin and hair, after having been exposed to that gruesome bonfire. While Bennie gets herself washed off, Thorne uses this time to place an order for an extra large pizza with the works. He'll probably be in and out of the shower before it arrives.

Now that he has this alone time to spend with Lilith, he asks her, as she's up and about, coming up behind her once everything's good and settled, "You might need another shower." His tone playful, even if there's this annoyance in his tone afterwards, "They're holding onto our clothing to run tests on in case we're carrying evidence in their fibers. Of all things." He probably looks ridiculous standing there in his flimsy paper gown thing, but his eyes turn serious now, "What's wrong? You looked so upset when we came in."

When Byron comes in from ordering pizza, she's changed into her own long and thin cotton cling of white nightgown and is brushing her hair in the mirror of the bathroom, staring either at herself or nothing. When Byron comes in to stand behind her, she blinks a few times, looks at the brush, then puts it down, a shoulder shrugging up a little.

"I got confused. And I didn't know late would be... so late. It confused me more. And I didn't expect... to be entertaining."

Lilith got more than confused. Lilith was screaming and choking and sobbing in the bathroom breaking everything she could get her powers on that wouldn't be missed. She fixed the mirror afterwards to look at herself like the monster she believes herself to be sometimes, but amplified. She truly thought Byron was dead at her hands there for a little while, it was the most awful thing, and she couldn't snap out of it fully without seeing and hearing him. The vodka is wearing off and she's remembering too many details.

After flatting her lips into a hard press, she turns to look at what Byron's wearing, then side steps to open the shower door for leaning inside.

"You should probably shower so you can go entertain and have your company, though."

He doesn't really know what happened. And she's not telling him. Instead, Lilith forces herself to go a little cold inside, old tricks. If he doesn't want to be alone with her after being out all night, she'll oblige. She doesn't want to be alone with herself either, but maybe that's just what it's going to take at some point to ensure he doesn't end up with a skewed and broken spine on the kitchen floor with a knife in his chest like she saw him.

Byron's afraid to touch her, not wanting to further contaminate Lilith with any residue that may linger on his skin, even if it's just ash and smoke. It seems she doesn't care to shower with him, so he won't bring it up again. "I would've texted you after that last text I'd sent, but by then we were already under police scrutiny. They had us change, made us stand around in these ridiculous things as they asked us questions, then let us go on our merry way. It took a while. Someone ate the popcorn shrimp that I'd picked up too during that time."

She can see his hand reach out to her chin, but he keeps himself from touching her. Looking over his shoulder out at the hallway, it sounds like Bennie was still in the bathroom. "I didn't mean to barge in with company when you were.. overwhelmed. I should have sent a text before setting out, but I wanted to get out of there and into actual clothes, so I wasn't thinking." He also didn't expect her to be in such a state, but anything and everything happens in this town. So maybe he should have known better.

"I just want to kiss you right now. Kiss away the pain." There's a part of him that wants to do a read on her, to see the turmoil, but he has to hold himself back from doing so. It was easier to do that when she wasn't standing right in front of him, it would be harder to detect. And by her words, he can tell that's upset. Her use of 'YOU' is enough to inform him of that, rather than we. He'll have to try when she's not paying attention. Maybe when he's in the shower, he can attempt to reach out to her mind. For now, he won't argue with her and nods slowly. He won't even make a light statement about the dog. He's used to this coldness from Lilith when she's in a particular mood.

"We'll have pizza and probably go to bed before too long." That's when he finally leans in to press a kiss to her forehead as she's leaning against the door frame, "I'm here for you, Lilith. Okay?" With those words said, he makes his way towards the shower to rinse himself off.

Lilith running cold feels safer to her than running hot, she does that too and right now that might be a particular problem, she's not sure, so it's where her defenses go to. Just dreams of killing Byron used to terrify her to such lengths, it's what pulled them apart to begin with. So the whole ordeal wasn't just awful, she was telling herself the whole time that she knew it would happen, that she was a monster, that she should have stayed AWAY. But... it also feels nasty and reminds her of the way she was not so very long ago.

The woman tilts her head a bit while looking at Byron and listening, right about the time he says how much he wants to kiss her and steal it all away. Her eyes close when he leans in to kiss her forehead and she nods a tiny bit at the spoken plan and sentiment that comes after. Folding her arms about her midsection, she watches Byron get in the shower and bites hard at her bottom lip with bruising work of pressure back and forth between her teeth. After a short time, though, she does leave the bathroom. The door closes.

He may not get much of a chance to do anything without her risking notice, though. She comes back in within a minute and closes the door. Stripping out of her nightgown, she gets into the shower with Byron and... she has lemon juice in a lemon-shaped squeeze bottle from the fridge, "... come here. It'll be cold. Let me do your hair."

When Byron's in the shower, he just turns the water on and lets the various shower heads cascade clean, filtered water all over his body. He had a lot of things on his mind and the one that really stands out now isn't the corpse on the beach. The one that he imagined was himself, burning in that fire. No, his mind was on Lilith. Her face was stained with dried tears, her eyes were red and she looked miserable just sitting there on the couch in his robe. What happened throughout the day?

Byron tries to keep in touch as often as he can, but you can't tell what a person is going through by a text message alone. Maybe he should always insist on voice chatting. Or video chatting. All of these things race within his mind as he just lets the water drip all over him. Maybe he should check in on her now that she wasn't in the room. A remote viewing of her emotions.

The door suddenly closes (again) and with paranoid as Byron can get, he's attentive to the gentle click of the closed door. That's when he sees her, Lilith stripped down out of her night gown to join him beneath the shower. Despite some of the tenderness of the burn at his skin and even more so the annoying painful mark on the palm of his hand, Byron has the shower's heat on near full blast, wanting to rinse the soot and death off of him. Bennie mentioned the lemon juice, but he was a guy who uses a body wash, shampoo and conditioner combo in a single bottle.

There's a smile of appreciation for her presence here. It's a quiet one. This was no time to beam brightly with joy or smirk with a devilish confidence. In fact, he's actually surprised that she came. "I don't know what I'd ever do without you to watch out for me. But then again, you probably wouldn't be able to stand it when I'm sleeping next to you with hair smelling like some bonfire." Just having her here brings him some relief. It didn't mean that she didn't still hurt. It meant that she wasn't shutting him out again.