So Who's Going to Watch You Die? [closed]

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel scans the intersection for the twentieth time in the past five minutes, hands crammed in his pockets. He's not anxious and he's certainly not fidgeting. Well. Not overly.

And if he were, hypothetically, fidgeting and shuffling and shifting in one place restlessly, it'd be completely justified given present circumstances. He's just a little on edge, mostly thanks to shared group dreams which are, apparently, possible - something he's recently discovered in the worst way imaginable. He'd been hoping all morning that leaving the apartment and interacting with the real world for a bit would brush away the last few echoes of the nightmare, but there's still a chill in his spine regardless. Expected, but no less unwelcome.

So, yes, he's a little concerned, primarily about Seth. It's true that Seth has lived here for longer - much longer - and he'd acted like he was used to the shared nightmarish experiences by now. Daniel has more than a few issues with that sentiment (the foremost being that horrible nightmares in which people get impaled and imprisoned and die should not be something one gets used to, personal history with nightmares aside) but he's also hoping Seth can clear up a few questions about the Dreaming. It might not have been real in the strictest sense of the word, but it had certainly felt like it.

Also he is worried.

That line of thought just keeps looping on back.

Daniel's phone buzzes, a text from Seth. Soon the phone returns to his pocket as he crosses his arms, takes stock of the intersection again, and waits.

Comments

[powerdealer]

Not much of a professional career - until he was an 'interstellar diplomat', of course. But maybe not traditional archaeology.

"Well, yeah, but there's always paperwork. Even I had some paperwork, if only to keep track of everything," he answers. Dealing doesn't really require an awful lot of paperwork, just a little private bookkeeping.

[peacefulexplorer]

"True," Daniel concedes with a shrug. "But even if most of my more recent paperwork usually involved explanations of why antagonizing the giant mosquitoes on some planet or other was a bad idea, well, still didn't make it my favorite pastime." He's chosen the levity route and he's sticking with it. After the panic and assorted pain of the night before, he thinks they could use it.

[powerdealer]

"Giant mosquitoes, huh?" Seth asks, looking up with a smile. He's seen a lot of weird things, both here and in his home universe, but not that. "Glad I've never met any of those. Regular sized ones are bad enough." It's true, though - paperwork is always going to be more boring than the thing you're doing paperwork about.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Regular-sized ones are bad," Daniel agrees. "Giant ones are worse. And giant ones that happen to be sentient and easily offended - god, don't get me started."

He cracks another grin at that, this time lacking in sardonic edge. It feels good to just be able to talk easily and openly. No desperately taking each others' minds off physical pain or discussing the logic of shared dreams or anything remotely weird. Though, in hindsight, Daniel can see why "giant mosquitoes" could be construed as a little weird in terms of subject matter.

He'll have to work on that one.

[powerdealer]

Seth chuckles lightly. "In my universe, the only weird animals we had were ones changed my the storm. Telepathic dogs, zombie cats.. Possibly a time traveling iguana," he says with a crooked smile. Seth can't be sure Iggy never used that power, after all.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Possibly? Still waiting for confirmation on that one?" Who'd have thought they could bond over this sort of thing? Still, it's preferable to bonding in a flooded underwater prison with both parties bleeding out in some capacity.

He sobers up a little at the thought, apparently unable to let that go. It's still a little too stark in his head.

"Listen, uh," he mutters, joking about time-traveling iguanas aside, "even if that whole, uh, whole thing was a dream I still feel like I should thank you. Like, profusely. You saved my life twice in one night and the second time it, well. It didn't go so well for you. So, I mean, if you want, it, uh. Well. Dinner's the least I can do."

[powerdealer]

"Well, it's difficult to ask an iguana if they've gone back in time and changed things," he answers with a smile and a shrug.

He looks up when Daniel suddenly turns serious though, a little surprised at the sudden and quite obviously heartfelt thanks. He also worries Daniel might be attributing a bit too much importance to the whole experience - not that proving you would risk your life for someone isn't important, but that Daniel seems like he might be feeling guilty about how it 'didn't go so well' for Seth. And Seth doesn't want Daniel to feel like he owes him anything, but at the moment he's not sure how to put all that.

"S'alright, mate, really," he answers quietly, with a smile he hopes is reassuring. "I mean, I won't say no to dinner, but you don't have to do anything."

[peacefulexplorer]

"What, you kidding?" Daniel raises an eyebrow in mock offense. "You died. And that's really more my department, so just for that I owe you, like, what? Five or six dinners at least."

In Daniel's experience, saving someone's life, be it in a dream-fueled metaphysical experience or no, usually warrants some measure of thanks.

[powerdealer]

Daniel's reply, even though it's joking, makes Seth frown rather than laugh. Thankfully he is saved from having to think of a reply, as he realises they are practically outside his apartment now.

"Ah, here we are," he says, fishing out his keys and going to open the door to the stairwell.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel halts, watches Seth open the place, and studies the building's exterior thoughtfully.

"Seems nice," he comments, which is a completely and totally inane thing to say about an apartment building or any building really, because "nice" as a qualifier is a frequently overused and lexically vague and practically meaningless term by now, but if he's interpreting Seth's body language and general air correctly then that means he's probably trying to change the subject and Daniel is only too happy to go along with it. In the most forced way possible. How quaint.

[powerdealer]

"It's pretty good, yeah," he answers, leading the way inside and up the stairs. There's just a couple of apartments, and it's one of those very narrow buildings that look a bit squashed. Clearly a pretty old building too, but well-kept. Or at least the appearance of being well-kept, as he found out while Gabe was gone that it has a little bit of a glamour over parts of it.

"Friend of mine bought the building, so I don't have to pay rent. And it means pretty much guaranteed nice neighbours," he explains, unlocking the door to his apartment and leading the way inside, closing the door behind them.

The apartment is mostly one long room - save for the bathroom - with bedroom in one end, kitchen at the other, and living room in the middle. It's a bit sparsely decorated, but decent enough and reasonably tidy, and there's a reptile tank between the bed and couch - though it's currently reptile-less. There's also currently a little pile of office supplies on the coffee table.

"Make yourself at home. Coffee?" he asks, heading over to the kitchen to get them some. He assumed Daniel would want some, so he even started making some just before he left.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Yeah, thanks." He'd had some this morning - it's always a struggle for Daniel to make it vertical and reasonably coherent before 8 AM without it - but now that it's noon there's already that weariness pulling at the corners of his head. Ah, the pitfalls of caffeine dependency.

He follows Seth in, looking (as usual) like someone who more or less wandered in by accident. The place is nice, he decides promptly, though he's still getting used to living spaces that aren't his own cluttered apartment back home. He notices the little heap of office supplies and grins a little, but it's the tank against the wall that demands his attention the most.

"Got a pet?" he wonders aloud, wandering over to peer inside. He can't see anything, but then it could be one of those tiny snakes or the lizards that are good at pretending to be rocks.

[powerdealer]

"Uh, not yet," he answers, glancing back. "Hoping to find a snake soon. There's a rabbit nextdoor and a dog upstairs, so I'm trying to fit in," he jokes mildly, pouring them both a mug of coffee and bringing them over to the couch.

He's been considering getting a snake or some other reptile for ages before Johnny got his rabbit though. It's mostly just a sign that he's actually settling down and able to see a future living in this city as more likely than other possibilities.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Pet central over here, then?" He rejoins Seth at the couch and sits, now inspecting the pile of office supplies with mild interest. "Seems like a nice place. Nice area, and, and so on. Never had a pet myself, though. Work just didn't really allow for it. It's hard enough taking care of the rent when you never know if you're gonna be stranded offworld for a month or so."

[powerdealer]

"What kind of pet would you get if you could, then?" he asks, sitting back in the couch and taking a careful sip of the coffee. He tries to guess what kind of animal he could imagine Daniel having. But apparently it's surprising that Seth likes reptiles, so it's probably not that easy to just guess about someone.

[peacefulexplorer]

"I don't know." He considers it as he accepts his own mug and sips. "A cat, maybe. They're pretty low maintenance. And we'd have the whole 'nine lives' thing in common." He shakes his head and shrugs. "Never really thought about it much, honestly. Had enough trouble just taking care of myself sometimes."

[powerdealer]

"In a... 'oops these aliens are trying to kill me' way, or in a more basic 'forgot to eat and haven't done laundry in three weeks' way?" he asks. Because both are pretty relatable.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Uh." Daniel frowns over his coffee and has to think about that one for a minute. "Both, actually. Also in a, um, 'this guy is literally Satan so you should probably stop harassing him' kind of way. I'm bad at that sort of thing." He says it with a partial smile, but he isn't completely joking.

[powerdealer]

Seth shakes his head and smiles in an 'oh, you' kind of way. They've already talked about the presence of Lucifer though, and it's not a subject Seth is keen to linger on.

"You might not want to get a cat in this city, actually," he points out, remembering. "We have these... creepy telepathic Rift cats here."

[peacefulexplorer]

"Do we? Fantastic. Place just gets more interesting the more I hear about it." He chases that one with a much larger gulp of coffee, which simultaneously feels immensely energizing and causes his eyes to water some. "Not that there's any proof that normal cats aren't telepathic. I mean, they were worshipped as gods in Ancient Egypt so maybe that whole mentality was just a little more accurate than we thought."

[powerdealer]

Seth narrows his eyes a little, considering this. "Well... These cats also have glowing, completely white eyes." But at least they're easy to recognise when you see their face. And they can be pretty helpful when you need information. And also deeply frustrating, of course. "There are normal cats as well, for the record," he adds.

[peacefulexplorer]

"That makes me feel better," he says earnestly. "I do like cats. The normal kind. Used to be allergic but, well, that didn't stick."

He adjusts his grip on the mug a few times, shuffling it around with both hands before he looks up again. "And, uh, what about you? I'm guessing you've owned reptiles before?" He inclines his head at the empty tank.

[powerdealer]

"Not here. I've recently gotten that set up," he answers. "But back in my universe yeah. That possibly time-traveling iguana. Who.. unfortunately got eaten by a zombie." He raises his eyebrows - yeah, he knows how ridiculous it sounds. Though perhaps not more ridiculous than giant mosquitoes and telepathic cats, all things considered.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel chokes on his coffee for a second but recovers admirably.

"That - um. I'm sorry," he says, blinking rapidly, completely unsure as to whether a fumbling apology is an appropriate response to hearing that a friend's time-traveling iguana was devoured by a zombie. "Um. That must have been hard."

[powerdealer]

Seth can't help but smile a little at Daniel's surprise. "Yeah, it was pretty crap," he answers. "Aaand, yeah, it was as weird and messed up as it sounds. That sort of shit happened uncomfortably often, actually."

For a while he'd actually done a really good job of not getting into it, though. Just... staying out of it, not getting himself involved. It was a pretty effective method for neither endangering his safety nor his feelings. Also not very fulfilling.