-insert name here-'s Place and Everywhere Else ~ Geezerville

[FireSpark]

Daniel gave dame a sidelong glance, not entirely certain what she was talking about. taking a drink to clear his mouth of the food he had been chewing. Shrugging his shoulders he leans back with a hand scrubbing the back of his head.

"I don't know about judging anything. I mean, I wasn't really asking for that. It's just, I don't know, maybe it's just that you don't seem shaken by it. You're so calm it could seem normal sort of revelation. I guess the idea of something like all this being "normal" was a little unsettling."  

[damecharlie]

dame takes a bite of potato, chewing quickly, "Daniel, we all got here for different reasons, through different means, and because of different happenings. I, of all people, have no reason to doubt or be surprised of anything. When you tell me something truly shocking, I'll let you know, okay? It's not that it's "normal" per se, it's just that truly little in my life is normal so I just...take everything with a grain of salt." dame shrugs again and takes another sip, then another bite, "Plus, I am just a calm sorta persona bout certain things. xd Now, you do something to piss me off, or something that comes up that pisses me off, you will see a not so calm damey. xd " She giggles and tries to eat.

After a few minutes, she turns towards Daniel slighty, "Daniel, I feel you should know this about me. I am a big believer in fate, destiny, whatever you want to call it. Perhaps that is one reason I am not shaken by things or odd revelations. I believe things happen for a reason, whether bad or good..." She gets a mischievous glint in her eye, "Would you like me to be shaken and freak out? Cuz...I can. xd wink "  

[FireSpark]

Daniel waves a hand in he air, as he takes a drink.

"No, no. That's not what I meant. I mean, you best of all know how little a grasp I seem to have on the social interactions that everybody seems to take for granted. Hopefully not permanently so, but that's a worry for another time."

Daniel sets his mug down and leans back on the couch.

"I think I was just looking for validation, for my own concern towards all this I'm uncovering. That, and, well..."

Daniel shakes his head, his shaggy hair waving with the motion.

"Nothing, I guess."  

[damecharlie]

dame eats while he speaks, sipping on cocoa in between bites. She pretty much scarves the potato down as fast as she can, finding she a lot hungrier than she thought she was.

When Daniel's demeanor changes slightly, she looks at him in concern and places her cocoa and potato on the coffee table in order to direct her full attention to him, "Oh I am quite certain you should be concerned at what you are uncovering, love. I mean, either way, you have to deal with what you find out." She pauses a moment, placing a hand on his arm, "No, it's not nothing...go on, Danny..." she speaks in a gentle, encouraging voice.


((So...it occurs to me now that a loaded baked potato and hot chocolate would be completely nasty together, I think. rofl ))  

[FireSpark]

((Depends on the flavor of the cocoa and what was on your potato, I would think. confused ))

Daniel looked at Dame's hand on his arm, and then up into her eyes. He leaned forward where he sat again, his eyes searching for something else to look at.

"No. I know I haven't picked up on all the social standards around these parts, for these times, but there are certain things that are practically universal. Trust me, it's nothing you need to worry about."

Standing slowly, Daniel gathers up their dishes and carries them into the kitchen where he begins the cleaining up.  

[damecharlie]

dame sits there confused, and kind of...put off. Swallowing her feelings, she gets up from her spot, heading into the kitchen. She leans against the doorjamb, "Daniel," she forces the look hurt away, "I want to help you, whether that be by giving you shelther and food, advice when you need it, or lending an ear when you need to talk. So please, talk to me. You are my friend, Daniel. Of course I am going to worry, especially when you push me away."  

[FireSpark]

Daniel sets the plate he was rinsing down, and turns the water from the sink off. Placing his hands on the counter, he leans heavily, his head sagging low. Shutting his eyes, Daniel can draw up the recovered memories all too easily now, not that he bids them to come. His voice suddenly seems tired.

"While I was back there, in Adalanuis, their sages helped me. With my memories. Wasn't much else to do really. I remembered some though. Bits and pieces. Strong emotions. Stuff like that."

Straightening somewhat, Daniel raises his head, eyes open now but still staring straight ahead at the wall before him.

"They worked from the emotions I had experienced, and the memories I had made since coming to. One of the more powerful memories, not exactly fun stuff. I, I lost, someone. Someone close."

Rasing both hands, he scrubs them furiously through his hair for a moment. His face grimacing, at the effort of forcing his thoughts out. He looks out of the corner of an eye towards Dame.

"I mean, knowing now what I am, I must've known then it would be inevitable. Me being an unchanging constant, while the universe around me just spins ever onward. Heck, I've probably seen all sorts of aquaintences pass on."

Finally forcing himself to look up and at Dame directly, his eyes and face seem resigned. Suddenly more tired than ever.

"I guess, maybe, it's just realizing the futility of some things. Maybe it was bad for me the first time I had to face it. The first time I lost someone I..."

Daniel sighs, and rubs his eyes with a hand. Slowly his pushes himself forward and makes to carefully pass Dame in the doorway. He starts to raise hand, as if to lay it on her shoulder or arm as he passes, but stops himself.

"I'm learning to accept my fate. What I can and can't do, and what I can or can't have. I'll be fine, eventually."

Letting his hand drop, Daniel continues out of the kitchen and back to the front room.  

[damecharlie]

dame comes into the livingroom and stands near the entrance, hands on her hips, "And just what exactly are you saying you are, Daniel? Why are you so bummed? What HAVE you remembered, hon?"  

[FireSpark]

Daniel buried his face in his hands, groaning softly.

"Dame, please. I don't know what else to say. All I know is that for the short time I've known you, you've been on a mission to gain control of your situation. To regain control over your life. I didn't get it at first, because there were too many holes up here."

Daniel jabs a finger at his temple for emphasis.

"But I grew, and thoughts and feelings slipped through, and I began to understand. Since then, I've been doing everything I can to stay out from under foot, to be less than shadow, so that you don't have to worry about me."

The strain in Daniel's face begins to creep into his voice. His tone rising, becoming less controlled.

"Lets face it, I'm a mess. I'm a thing, that bounces all over the when and where of the universe. But this head full of holes is making me have to learn it all. And every time I pick something else out, it's worse than the last thing."  

[damecharlie]

"Daniel! Who in the damn 'verse AIN'T a mess?! You are NOT a burden to me, do you hear me, Daniel whatever-your-last-name-is? Why is everyone trying to say what is stressful to me or what is a burden to me or what is this or what is that?" dame is full on ranting now, pacing back and forth, gesturing wildly. "I am the master of my own damn ship, dammit! LET ME STEER IT!!! YOU!" she points to him, "Are the master of your own ship! So stop moping, jack knife that jerk in the back who is currently steering your ship and TAKE BACK CONTROL!" She holds up her hand talk2hand , "I KNOW it won't be easy, Daniel. And I KNOW you are working on it. I know it's difficult and irritating and depressing and overwhelming. I KNOW this. But I also know this, "Everything worth having is worth fighting for." She seethes, eyes wild, and stands there staring at him, looking a bit rabid... sweatdrop  

[FireSpark]

Daniel lets his arms drop to his sides. He'd done it again. The last thing he wanted to do, and yet he had riled her again. For a long moment his eyes just studied his feet. Some many words to choose from, so many that he wanted to say, so many that he shouldn't. His internal struggle decided, he looked back up at Dame with acceptance.

"You're right. Everything worth having is worth fighting for. But sometimes you have to recognize when you aren't going to have it. That you aren't meant to."

Daniel looked around him quickly, though he didn't know why. He was suddenly beginning to feel trapped, he needed to be free of the walls. Needed at least an illusion of freedom. And he needed to be somewhere else before he felt like adding anymore to his statement.

"I need some air. I'll, uh, be right outside."

Not waiting for a reply Daniel opened the front door, stepped out, and closed it behind him. Walking to the nearest corner of the building, Daniel looked out at the sky, and then promptly slammed his forehead against the wall, and left it there. His eyes closed, his face strained. The pain the slam caused to his head wasn't as much as he knew it should be, but hopefully it distract from the pain inside it.  

[damecharlie]

((Nah, don't worry your pretty little head, Daniel. dame's crazy, everyone knows it. xd ))

dame sighs, she knew she shouldn't have yelled, he isn't used to her craziness yet. She supposed he didn't know that in five minutes she'll probably have forgotten what she said anyway. After a few minutes of giving him his space, she grabs her coat, throwing it on, then grabs a warm blanket. She makes sure she has her keys, just in case, and walks outside, shutting the door and waiting a tick for her eyes to adjust to the dark.

Her night vision quickly setting in, dame leaves the porch and looks around. After walking down the path a step or two, she sees Daniel at the corner of the building and walks on up to him, "You are gonna catch your death of a cold," she scolds like a mother hen, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders. After tucking in the blanket around him, she notices his forehead is bleeding. eek stare stressed "Alright, Wolverine, just because you can heal yourself doesn't mean you go 'round slamming your head into the ********' brick, okay? Jesus." dame starts wiping at his head.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel almost jerks back in reaction to Dame reaching for his head. He managed to stop himself from recoiling violently, but she couldn't have missed it.

"I'm fine. Can't even feel it. Or the cold. Not so sure about the whole death thing either."

And though the cold doesn't bother him, he still keeps the blanket around his shoulders. Sighing, he leans back against the wall, watching Dame fuss over him.

"You know, I meant what I said in there. About not messing with you doing what you want. The last thing I want is to make anything more complicated for you. But I just keep feeling that sooner or later, that's just what'll happen."  

[damecharlie]

dame pulls back her hand awkwardly as he twitches, using it to instead push some hair back behind her ear. She watches in fascination as the blood draws itself back up into his wound and then it heals seamlessly, even pushing out bits of brick crumbs. After it heals, she does tentatively reach up and brush the crumbs off his skin. "Daniel," she says as she works, "If you were interferring with what I wanted, I would stop hanging out with you, love." She looks up and bats her eyelashes at him prettily, "Because, for the most part, I end up getting what I want. Or pretty damn near similar."

She leans back and straightens her coat, putting her hands in her pockets, "You are not making things more complicted, hon. How would you be doing that anyway? I don't really see you that often. Unless you start breaking holes into my ceiling or walls or something, or whisk me away somewhere without my permission, I think we're golden." She turns around and leans against the brick as well, blowing her breath out to see it frost in the air.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel looks away uncomfortably as Dame flashes her eyes at him. He suddenly wished for something to pull one of them away, to put an end to his awkwardness of the moment. Though on the positive side, he noted internally, at least he wasn't fumbling his words or choking on his tongue just because she looked at him like that.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'll be golden then."

Looking over, Daniel watched dame for a moment. She seemed to be taking it all in stride, a lot better than he was. Heck, and I used to be the care free one. Maybe her time in the institution had done her good. She certainly wasn't acting the way she had once described her life.

"So, do you know? What you want I mean. I don't ask out of doubt or anything. It's just that I don't even know what I should want."