Daniel/Emery

[choosetoforget]

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.

Comments

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

"Should be. Who's going to be looking at my tongue besides you? I'm gonna keep it blue." This time when they stick it out it's a uniform, snaky blue, though the blotches from the ice cream remain.

[choosetoforget]

Daniel isn't expecting that at all. He yelps and covers his mouth when the poor teenager behind the counter stares.

He might be a reformed scaredy cat, but he's still a scaredy cat.

"Anyone can see your tongue!" he hisses with a barely concealed grin.

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

What does Daniel think he has to hide from? Humans barely pay attention to their surroundings. There's no greater authority here for Emery to answer to. They aren't one homunculus here, but, hopefully, the only thing in existence that sort of is one. "Sorry, who's going to pay attention but you?" Still blue.

[choosetoforget]

Daniel looks momentarily bewildered as he contemplates the question.

"Anyone you talk to," he says in a mock whisper. "Don't be an ass."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

"I really think you're overestimating your fellow humans." And Emery has very little intention of talking to anybody but Daniel. The sister and friends are abstractions. Not welcome ones, either. But. They're also right. Humans who aren't trained or paranoid and probably both don't notice a lot.

[choosetoforget]

"Perhaps," he laughs. "But you're awful, anyway. Are you finished?"

He reaches over and tosses the little cup into the bin.

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

"Sure." Messing with Daniel, novel sensory experienced, they're having a nice time, but it can continue anywhere. Emery stands and stretches, a lazy habit left over from his old life.

[choosetoforget]

Daniel, a little embarrassed even though he doesn't know why, looks away and stands up with them. He offers his arm again. "Do you want to go home or do you want to see one of my favorite places?"

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

"Show me the favorite place," Emery says with teasing exasperation, as if Daniel's being completely unreasonable. As for that arm, they take it eagerly. Physical intimacy is weird and intimidating and she's still learning how to like things, but as a tool to annoy Daniel? He'll pick it up fast.

[choosetoforget]

"It's a walk," he tells them softly, but walks along with them, keeping their arms linked. He takes a route with only tourists, pointing out various little shops and buildings along the way. He tells the story of how he was almost scammed out of his money by a grifter. He tells about nearly drowning in the rain after he stepped in a puddle and fell.

Delightful little stories that make him giggle.

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Emery zones out on occasion. Sometimes because there's a sudden, novel thing, a shiny object, a pigeon. Sometimes just because Daniel drones. It's fine. They like the sound of his voice, the way he laughs, the way he makes this dreamy place real. And Emery does retain some information. Just. Lets a lot of it waft by. "So is where we're actually going a surprise?" has asks in a lull.

[choosetoforget]

"It is," he promises. "It's a place I found that I always heard people mention, but never saw until my friends took me. It was dark, so I couldn't stay long, but it was beautiful and raw and I saw photographs of it later and it quickly became my favorite place. I still can't venture far in, but...I think I can with you."

He squeezes their arm.

"Don't tease me."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Daniel. Emery is going to tease you. They tip their head against his shoulder a moment before letting out a singsongy, "I'll protect you from the darkness." For form's sake. It sounds worth seeing, though scaring Daniel is so easy it hardly promises this'll be particularly exciting.

[choosetoforget]

"Shut up," he mutters, elbowing them in the ribs. He walks them both to the station where the metro station is, but he doesn't actually go inside. Instead, he leads him to the tunnels underneath.

The lights are on, but not reliably so, and it's growing dark outside, so the shadows inside are longer but the graffiti is still visible in the light. "People come here and change the art based on their own whims."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Of things Emery finds particularly unfathomable about humans, art is near the top of the list. The tunnels are, well, the sort of place he spent a lot of time. The color does make them... more interesting? At least she won't run into Sloth down here. Her saddest brother in many ways. "Which parts do you like?" Teasing Daniel is one thing. Being outright mean, well, that's for other humans.

[choosetoforget]

He clings tightly to them, glad that he can't actually harm them much because his own knuckles are white. "I like the colors. I like this history behind this place - it is a place where people can simply express their own lives and their own selves without any rules."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

It's actually sort of nice, being clung to. Tension not caused by them but absorbed instead, all Daniel's weird little feelings made concretely manifest. Emery squeezes back. And doesn't even point out that if the only expression is coloring the walls, that's kind of a rule, isn't it?

"Did you do any of it?"

[choosetoforget]

"No, but I was thinking of what I could do," he answers, still walking close to them. "But this is the farthest I've ventured inside."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Emery thinks quietly for a moment, briefly lets go of Daniel's arm, and stretches instead so their arm is around his shoulders. "Scaredy cat. Pick a spot."

[choosetoforget]

Daniel looks to Emery with alarm, but then the arm goes back around him and he leans against him. "I'm not afraid," he protests feebly, though it's more of a reflex than something he truly believes.

"I don't know. It doesn't need to be big." He glances around, finding a place where the light hits the wall. "There."

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Emery steers him closer, firm but not too quick. Time in the dark, after all. "I'm guessing you didn't bring what you need with you to get ice cream?" She doesn't know what Daniel would actually do, anyway, presumably... paint stuff. But their role isn't really the art. It's to make trouble in the right direction.

[choosetoforget]

He shakes his head. "No, of course not. But there are paint cans left over. I don't have the practice, though - what are you plotting?"

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Emery's been in this universe for hours already and hasn't caused any problems! This is a very, very small bit of trouble, but why pass up the chance? He moves again so he's firmly behind Daniel, a hand on each of his shoulders. "Go on, try something. I won't let the shadows get you."

[choosetoforget]

Emery is both reassuring and frustrating in this moment, but Daniel picks up the first can of paint he can find. There's not much left in it, but it's an electric blue, and he makes as good of a lightning bolt as he's capable of. It's not perfect, but he does it and steps back with a giggle.

[cobbledtogetherenvy]

Nope. Doesn't get it at all. But getting Daniel to giggle like a human child is a satisfying result. "Next time you'll come back with a plan." And his bodyguard against... the abstraction of darkness.