openmisc | Daniel/Emery

Daniel/Emery

It's a very typical weekend for Daniel. He takes a call from his sister, who very recently struck out on her own and moved in with friends, while he makes tea. He keeps Sasha and Zhenzhen from the counters as he tries to tidy up as best he can. He puts on a documentary for a while before deciding to walk down to the shop for ice cream.

He hasn't even changed much. Sure, his hair is in a bun and the vest is decidedly 2015-chic, but he carries himself the same, very unhurried. Confident now. The barge isn't completely forgotten, but if anyone can compartmentalize and push down unwanted feelings, it's Daniel.

He smiles to an elderly neighbor as he opens his door and walks out to the street.

Really, nothing too out of the ordinary.

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He's a little discombobulated, reaching up to brush his fingers through his hair and adjust his little bob. Then the vest and the shoes and suddenly Emery is right there, beside him, wearing jeans of all things.

"I thought - well, I thought I'd finish my walk that you interrupted earlier," he says. "There's lots to see along the way."

Everyone wears jeans! It's a normal person disguise! "Well, good, you can get me ice cream." Not that they're even sure they'd seek out ice cream under any other circumstances, but eating is sort of fun, and eating with Daniel has a nice... vibe, to it, like a lot of the moments in the last little while have.

He lets the other cats out before he leads the way out the door and shivers at a gust of wind. Daniel doesn't carry the constant fear of the wind, of loud noises, of the monsters. Yes, he still fears the dark, as Emery will see later that evening when Daniel leaves his lights on to cast the shadows to the corners, but he walks with a little more confidence now.

"I didn't know you liked to eat what humans do. Do you know what flavors you like? Do you want to try chocolate? Or strawberry? Or - oh, you can get them all. We'll get you a sundae."

She's a little surprised, but she really only ever ate when someone shoved food in her direction, and Daniel never did. It just never came up. "I don't have to, but it's fun sometimes. I had to learn the difference between tastes so I wouldn't blow my cover on missions." Humans did a poor job of making it clear what you were and weren't supposed to eat sometimes.

The only thing he's ever offered them was tea, and that was because he simply assumed it. He presses close to them. "Then you can try everything. I love this strawberry cheesecake flavor, but they have a new cinnamon basil that I've been dying to - oh. Let's go this way. You can see the river from here."

Neither sounds more or less ostentatious than the other. "I did drink ink on one of my first missions." This is Envy's way of saying that being impressive will maybe not be very hard. On the ice cream, at least.

He tugs Emery towards another street where the river is indeed visible.

"You shouldn't drink ink," he points out. "It stains your skin."

Not exactly the first reason to avoid it, but Daniel's well aware of Emery's non-humanness.

Emery reaches over and flicks Daniel's cheek. "The problem was it blew my cover, stupid."

Daniel reaches up to his cheek. "Stop that!" he complains in a whine. "I didn't know you were stupid enough to do it in front of someone else!"

"I was brand new. Humans aren't intuitive. Either drink out of bottles or don't." Emery looks sour.

"There are certain bottles we drink out of! You need to observe more." He pauses, staring out at the river, still petulantly rubbing his cheek.

"Did it taste of anything?"

"Bitter and slimy. And it was a couple hundred years ago!" Emery still frowns, but it's more performative now. Playing at an argument. "I figured out taste buds better and what humans are supposed to like."

He takes their arm again to wander off, towards the ice cream shop again. The river is less fascinating now.

"What's the weirdest thing you've eaten, hm? Other than ink."

"Annoying humans." It's the sort of thing that's probably a joke, and definitely would be from anyone else, but. "The barge turned me back into a blank slate with no experience about three times. I don't need you doing it, too."

"I'm not doing that!" he insists, getting back on the proper street, pointing out the shop they're headed for.

"I'm taking you for ice cream and I'm making you talk to me."

"You can always just talk to me," Emery says airily. "It's your city. I don't know what half of this is." She's seen other worlds thanks to the barge, but with no intention of living in them didn't pay a lot of attention. Here things are familiar with a half turn. Cars, too numerous, shaped wrong. Buildings constructed from on unknown plans. No automail in evidence, no scars on the scenery or the people.

Daniel lowers his head a bit, showing a true, vulnerable emotion behind a sigh. "I - I want you to like it. I want you to be happy here. I'm afraid if I talk about it, you'll get annoyed with me. Actually annoyed, not - not playfully annoyed. And - and then you'll leave."

"I knew you were boring before I got here," Emery says reasonably. "Why would it make me turn around?" Where else do they have to go? But that's a different problem. "I like you talking to me."

Daniel watches his feet as they walk together. "Well, this is my route to work. But I like to take the long way so I can look at the river. It's - " He laughs. "It's a filthy river, but it looks pretty from far away."

He points down a street. "That's where I like to get my coffee with my friends, but the building smells like smoke. I don't like to smoke."

Emery, by contrast, turns their full attention on Daniel, the staring possibly over the line into creepy and uncanny. Easy to do with eyes like his. They're the least passably human part of the new face. His answer is a little stilted, but they're doing a pretty good job with the flow of conversation. "Trixie gave me one once. Drugs don't really do anything to me-- Well, I guess they didn't, I haven't tried lately. I kind of like the smell, though." Because Emery likes and dislikes most sensory input solely through association, and Trixie is a good one.

As he speaks, he sidles a little closer and, after a bit of awkward hesitation, hooks her arm with Daniel's.

As they pull him closer, looping an arm through his, he raises his head a touch. "I tried a few drugs, but I don't like the hallucinations and strange feelings." He's had enough of those in his life. He doesn't need any more.

"Then you'll like my friends," he smiles. "I tried smoking on the Barge, but - it seemed pointless. But I do like going out for drinks."

The shop is just ahead and Daniel untangles his arm from Emery's to open the door.

Her feelings about these friends are reserved, to say the least. Being known to people just because is too strange, and it's hard enough getting along with one strange human. Daniel'll be upset if Emery can't play nice.

Envy was never jealous of Daniel's other friends on the barge, because, well, they were all stuck in there like bugs in a jar. It never seemed like anything could really change.

Emery isn't quite so confident.

"Well, those don't work on me, either. Guess I'll stick with ice cream."

"You said you didn't know!" he tell them, taking their hand in his and linking their fingers. It seems a little less formal, and it gives him greater range of movement. He orders the cinnamon basil because he's feeling adventurous, and then gets a small sample of rocky road for Emery.

"Try it," he says, handing them the small spoon.

Sweets aren't their favorite, but the textures and temperature are interesting. Marshmallow and nuts vying for his tongue keep him engaged in the bite. "Humans are weird," is her only comment, but he smiles when they say it. Their eyes are busy, taking in the scenery. Cute ice cream parlor was not among the sights of home.

"Don't say that so loudly," he hisses to them with a laugh. He gets his own. "Do you want more or to try something different?"

He'll stay here all day letting them try anything that catches their interest.

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