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

[ThisEmptySoul]

*when he approaches the door to dame's apartment, he hears music playing inside. Thinking that was kind of odd given the hour and vaguely recalling dame heading toward the Jade Dragon, he wonders if she had either slipped out when he wasn't looking or had just accidentally left something on when she left the apartment in the first place. He shrugs, then proceeds to dig out his key and let himself in, but finds when he goes to unlock the door that it was already unlocked. Upon entering, he sees that guy from when he stopped in with Miro before, just sitting on the couch, staring at him... or at least in his direction. It was hard to tell if he was actually looking at him because his eyes didn't seem to really be focused on anything. Draa quirks an eyebrow at him and just shuts the door behind him, locking it afterward*

Is this what you do with all your free time or something?

*He pads across the living room to turn the radio to a rock station, not really caring if Daniel was actually enjoying the pop music that was playing when he walked in or not. It just sounded annoying as hell. Afterward, he makes his way over to the computer and turns it on, leaning back in the chair as he waits for it to boot up*  

[FireSpark]

Daniel hardly noticed the sound of a key going into the door's lock. And for a moment his fugue lifted with the hope of who was coming in the door, only to slip back over him when he it wasn't her. Daniel vaguely recognized the man that walked in. His mind temporarily cleared enough to flash up a blurred image from the corner of his vision at the bar. Whatever.

He eyed the newcomer as he walked over and changed the music to something heavier, though ignored what he had to say. He didn't know the person, and had no compunctions about explaining or justifying anything at the moment. Once the stranger sat at Dame's computer, Daniel nonchalantly pulled the rod next to his thigh, and then went back to his vigil over the door. Now however, he did spare a fraction of his attention and an occasional glance for the other person that had joined him.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

*taps his foot almost impatiently while waiting on the computer, grinning to himself when the desktop pops up. Without looking over at Daniel, he reaches over for the mouse and starts clicking through folders*

You ever looked through dame's personal collection on this thing? twisted Apparently she used to be a gymnast or something. The kinds of poses she can do are amazing.

*opens up one of the milder pictures of dame in a tight body suit, straddling a balance beam. He enlarges the image to take up the whole screen and moves his chair to the side slightly so Daniel can see it*  

[FireSpark]

As the man leaned back with a smirk on his face, Daniel looked over. It was a nice picture of Dame, though the implications that the man was making only served to darken Daniel's mood further. Purposefully, he brought the rod up to lay across his lap, tapping his fingers along the haft. Directing his attention directly at the man, he avoids glancing back at the monitor, and spoke in a flat tone.

"No. I prefer my books."

Almost instinctively, Daniel's free hand goes for the book nearest him on the couch. A small red book titled "The Science of Alchemy", which had been more conjecture and imaginitive than solid facts or knowledge. Looking back at the man, Daniel's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Besides which, I would believe that a collection of anything that is described as personal, would seem to imply that the collection is meant to be just such. Personal."  

[ThisEmptySoul]

*he sighs and shrugs, closing that particular picture and navigating to a different folder*

Books are fine and dandy, but there are certain things that they can't quite capture the way an image can. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words".

*A few clicks later, a new image is taking up the screen, this time of dame in a cute bathing suit with a sultry expression on her face, one of her hands teasingly slipping one of her top's straps off her shoulder. He moves his chair to the side once more, not sure if Daniel is actually going to look at it or not judging by his disinterest.*

One would think that a "personal" collection is meant to just be personal, but not in the case of good ol' damey.

*He crosses his arms and leans back in the chair, still looking at the screen*

Not only did she tell me first hand that I could help myself to browsing through her "personal" collection, but she's the one who made me aware of it in the first place. I didn't even know some of these pictures were here until she told me. On top of that, she even offered to collect some video for me.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel caught a glimpse of the screen, which made his mind skip and his hand tighten about the rod, but quickly diverted his eyes to the book which he now picked up. Flipping it open at random to some piece about the alchemical equipment of one Athanasius Kircher, Daniel focused intently on it, though without actually reading.

"I'm sure if she wanted me to know of them, she would've said something. As she did not, I can only assume she did not feel I needed to know."

Something else the man had said suddenly tickled at a faint memory bubbling to the surface. And for the first time since arriving here, Daniel had his first truly mean thought. Looking back at the man with cold eyes, Daniel smirked mirthlessly.

"As to pictures, books have those too. I'm certain that I saw several such books in the children's sections of stores I visited."  

[damecharlie]

dame pulls out her key, unlocking the door and then enters, only to see Daniel sitting on the couch looking ticked off, and Draa on the computer. Her eyes flicker slightly over to the computer screen uninterestedly and then back in front of her, wanting to make a beeline to her room. After one step though, what dame saw registers in her mind. stressed "Seriously, Draa. Do you really think now is the time to look at those? rolleyes Jesus, there's someone else in the room!" dame motions to Daniel and puts her hands on her hips, anger not quite reaching her eyes, she also stares past them both, "You just gonna start jacking off right there in front of him too? rolleyes Maybe you are gay." dame snorts and walks over to the hanging rack to put up her keys.  

[ThisEmptySoul]

*Is about to comment about there being plenty of picture books in the adult section too when dame walks in, his eye twitching at what she says to him*

I'm not dosib gay! stressed scream
Chances are, you would have let him see them anyway if he wanted stare  

[damecharlie]

"You know what! THAT IS IT!" dame storms over and forcefully pushes Draa out of the chair, closing the picture and the folder and then quickly highlighting all the pictures folders and dropping them off in the Recycle Bin. She then right clicks on the bin and clicks 'Empty Recycle Bin'. "I am TIRED of people insinuating I am a whore! Or stripper or other s**t like that. Dammit! stressed I am a ******** KILLER. stressed " dame stomps off towards her bedroom, "I'm going to Christmas! I'll be back tomorrow! stressed And to hell with ALL OF YOU!!! mad BAH HUMBUG!"  

[ThisEmptySoul]

gonk NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! gonk

*grabs both sides of the monitor and shakes it, as if that's going to make the pictures come back stressed *

You told me I could look at those! Where am I going to get my porn now? gonk  

[damecharlie]

dame whips around, gesturing wildly, "I told YOU you could look at them, not show them to everyone in the damn world, Draa. I didn't tell you you could make me feel dirty for them!! I don't care WHERE you get your damn porn from, but not from me anymore, you a**! You better be glad I'm leaving for tonight or I would KICK YOU OUT. mad Grunny or not! Plus, you still have your damn TesXRyzan s**t under my bed, GO JACK OFF TO THAT!" she storms into her room, grabs all the nudey and dirty mags, including the manga, out from under her bed and walks back into the livingroom, chucking the magazines at him one by one. She saves the manga for last and takes aim, throwing it as hard as she can, "AND STAY OUT OF MY BEDROOM FOR NOW, I'M MAD AT YOU!!!! stressed scream mad " dame rushes back in and slams her bedroom door.  

[damecharlie]

dame packs her things for her trip home, also packing up the presents securely. dame makes sure she has her phone charger and anything else she might need. Then she takes out her phone and calls a cab. They tell her they'll be there in ten to fifteen minutes. dame nods and closes her phone, getting dressed for Christmas with her family and for the winter air. She puts on nice black pants, respectable, flatbottomed boots, a long sleeved shirt, and a vest. dame has a few stops to make before she makes the long treck home. She's glad Bonnie decided to let her borrow her car for Christmas. heart

dame hears the cab honk outside and picks up her things, looking in the mirror briefly before glancing around to make sure she didn't forget anything. dame walks into the hall, grabs her favourite coat, then gets her keys off the hook, glaring at the two men in the livingroom. Then the woman holds her head up high with new resolve, and exits the apartment, shutting the door behind her.  

[damecharlie]

The first thing she does in the cab ride over to Dec and Bonnie's is delete anything that has to do with Flame out of her phone. Calling her a stripper was the last straw. To have a shred of dignity left, she has to do this. Taking a deep breath, she clicks delete over and over again, deleting his number, voice messages, and texts. dame then goes through the pictures and deletes all, even the ones of herself.

Feeling already ten times better, she smiles as the cab rolls into Bonnie's driveway and she pays and thanks him, walking briefly in the house to get the keys.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel stands finally as Dame storms from the apartment, and for once has found a true anger. and unlike his contact with Mahvatshi, this anger is not diluted by fear or confusion. Just a pure simmering emotion, waiting for an excuse to boil over. His hand tightens around the Bakatos rod, and sudden rush fills him. A tinglling runs trhough him, as if every fiber of his being had suddenly been energized. He felt the urge to make a point. Fortunately there was still enough of his calm self left to avoid an unfortunate incident.

In a single stride Daniel reaches the computer and the man that Dame had named Draa. In a single swift move, Daniel seizes the man by the front of the shirt and lifts him from the chair and puts him against the wall with Bakatos under his chin. The ease with which Daniel lifted Draa seems to surprise him, and for a moment dount creeps into his eyes, but is quickly stamped down.

"I don't who you are, and I don't care. All I know for certain is that woman has been trying to pull her life together since I met her. Trying to return to what it was before. But after tonight, I can't imagine why. Though a lot of things have become a lot clearer."

He felt on the edge of loosing a growl at the man, when he suddenly was aware of a tinge around his vision, an orangish glow, much like his confrontation with Mahvatshi in his dream. Glancing at a mirror on the wall to his left, Daniel was shocked to see that his eyes had become solidly red. And were glowing fiercely. Daniel released Draa and backed off.

This was getting out of control. He was getting out of control. With a final look around the apartment, Daniel turned and bolted out the door. As he approached the stairs leading down, instinct took over. With a flicker of thought, Bakatos extended into its staff form, and without pause Daniel leapt from the stairwell's balcony. He landed in the parking lot as easily as if he had merely stepped out of doorway. Without pausing to consider that fact, Daniel subconciously retracted Bakatos and bolted into the night.  

[FireSpark]

((Written with Call Me Call Me by The Seatbelts playing on loop, play it while reading and you'll see why))

Daniel had spent most of the day wandering aimlessly through the city. He no longer noticed people's faces, or even if they acknowledged him, or his lack of weather appropriate attire. Or the large, gold capped, red rod he was carrying. For the most part, he rarely even noticed the fact that other people were around, unless he was about to run into them, and sometimes not even then. He had embarrasingly helped no fewer than four last minute shoppers collect their spilled goods.

But now with the sun well and gone, and the wind picking up in the late eveing hours, Daniel was well and truly alone. The entire day had been a blur of random thought. He had tried to assess his situation logically, but old memories and fresh emotions kept bubbling through, making the task impossible. The cold of night had helped to begin bringing some order to his thinking, as his ability to ignore the physical feeling of the cold only went so far apparently. To distract himself from the chill, he began tumbling the issues through his head again.

Dame was his friend. She had made that abundantly clear on a number of occasions. But he knew she had also cared for him. But as he had come to realize, it was much more in the manner of a Sister caring for a little brother. Or maybe closer to someone who had found a lost puppy on a street corner, and let it stay in their kitchen. She had never said so in their shared time at the institution, but he had picked up on that there was someone that she very truly had been looking forward to seeing again. Then once she had let him stay at her place, he had learned of the intimancy of that relationship. And he had spent the next month trying to pull himself away from Dame and make himself scarce, only to find out how close he himself now felt towards her.

Then there was last night. And suddenly the world had gone sideways again. If not for Dame's presence, Daniel would have sworn that he had managed to travel again, such were the oddities of MW. As a side note, Daniel reminded himself never to go in there again. Turning down yet another darkned street, Daniel continued his mental busy work.

Last night had also seen his first real test, of what he would do when Dame needed someone most. A test that he had miserably failed. It had made him angry at the world, but especially himself. The sudden appearance of Draa in Dame's apartment had only annoyed him, and maybe made him a little uncomfortable with the level of intimate knowledge he too held. Then he had seen Dame's reaction, and again had been dumbfounded. It had pushed him over the edge. He had not meant to be so aggresive, and when he had seen himself in that mirror, it had horrified him. Not at what he looked like, but at what he had been ready to do. What he had been considering.

What now made him ashamed was his presumption. He had built up a fantasy in his head, and when it was finally burst in a flash of reality, he had lost himself. So much so that he had been ready to kill a man simply to protect a woman who apparently didn't need him to. He had presumed that there was anything more between he and Dame than simple friendship, and it had very nearly been catastrophic. He stopped to slump against a lamp post, and stared into the starry night. Where do I go now? What do I do? What can I do? Please? Looking down and across the street, Daniel snickered glumly as he saw that he had wound up in front of the homeless shelter that he had originally bolted from when he went to stay with Dame. An elderly man had stepped out and seen him, and was now waving him over welcomingly. Daniel shrugged to himself as he leaned forward and started across the street. What the hell, right?