savetheearth | this is my ap-log-alypse

Entry tags:

this is my ap-log-alypse

Who: Danny and Emil
Where: LCHS
When: April 11th? I guess? that was a school day right
What: Danny recognizes someone from the Wise Snake fight...
Warnings: dumb teenage boys being dumb and teenaged

While Danny generally has a few friends he can sit with for lunch, he still has to walk to the cafeteria by himself first. So, he doesn't have much to pay attention to when making his way there other than the other people in the hall.

Which is when he spots him--some guy with blond hair. Sure, there are tons of guys with blond hair at school, but this person's face was too familiar somehow. He's met this guy before, and it wasn't in school...so where could it have been?

Oh! It was the giant snake fight! This was the other guy fighting with him and Annie and Russel! This was...the guy who tried throwing Russel into the snake's mouth in the first place. Oh.

With that revelation, Danny has come to a complete standstill in the hallway, staring very conspicuously at the friend-tossing stranger.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To say Emil is nervous would be a gross understatement. The stress has been building slowly throughout the month - first the snake incident, then a bunch of contradicting memories followed by that freaking horn he still had no idea what to make of; and finally, the highlight of this trainwreck of a month - a visit by the FBI.

Emil is a good actor and he knows how to keep up appearance, but this is getting too much.

So when he realizes someone’s staring at him - and a stranger, at that - he stops dead in his tracks, body tensing like a spring, ready to bounce. Who is this guy? A fellow Numbered, a normal student who’s onto him someone and oh God why won’t he stop staring.

He pulls his beanie down, as if to make sure his horn is still concealed. When he realizes that’s what he’s doing, he lets go and crosses his arms instead.

“What are you looking at,” he says, scowling at Danny. Going on offence is the only way Emil knows to deal with uneasiness.

The gesture of pulling down his hat does not go unnoticed. Normally Danny wouldn't make anything of it, but he knows for a fact this guy must have some echoes, and he remembers how nervously he would tug on his own beanie to hide his white echoed-back hair.

When the guy goes on the offensive, though, Danny doesn't back down. Maybe a few months ago he would've, but he's seen and fought enough crazy stuff that this doesn't scare him nearly as much as it used to. (Although the fact that this guy could throw him across the school and he's too human to be able to use his powers to fight back does make him a little uneasy, but he can at least pretend nothing about this worries him.)

"You were at--" oh wait, let's not talk about this so publicly. Danny lowers his voice until it's just barely above a whisper. "You were fighting the giant snake last month."

Oh. The giant snake. Emil briefly considers denying everything before deciding against it. The look on Danny’s face is not of someone who’s still trying to decide whether he’s right or not, he recognizes him.

The only questions is whether this guy is also on the network. After all, most people Emil ran into during the snake incident were much smarter about hiding their identity than him.

“Yeah,” he says, keeping his voice low and his expression neutral. “You didn’t?”

Please say yes, Danny, he may look calm but there’s an awful lot of internal screaming going on.

He doesn't recognize any internal screaming, but hey, why would he lie when he's the one who struck the conversation in the first place?

"I was fighting with you." Danny's pretty sure no one can hear them, and if they can they aren't hearing enough to piece anything together, but still...his eyes briefly scan the crowd of students going from class to class behind them, just in case.

Emil eases up a little. If they’ve already met, then it’s okay… but he still has no idea who this guy is.

“Right,” he says and scans the crowd as well before gesturing for Danny to come with him. A hallway isn’t the best place to talk. He leads Danny to the nearest bathroom and once he makes sure it’s empty, he speaks up again.

“I don’t recognize you. Are you the blue centaur guy?”

At first, Danny doesn't even realize who Emil is talking about. "Blue--what?" Then his mind supplies a mental image of the person in question. "No, he's--he doesn't even go to this school!"

He sighs. "I was the guy in all black--hat and scarf and all. You know, the one who caught Russel before he got tossed into the giant snake mouth?" The "by you" is unspoken, but definitely there, and he gives Emil an expectant look, hoping for some kind of explanation.

...ah yes, now Emil remembers. He must’ve pushed it away with the rest of the incident. Why did he have to be reminded now, after he’s done such a good job pretending it never happened and he had Russel had almost-normal conversations thanks a lot Danny.

“Oh.” Emil flinches a little, breaking eye contact. “That guy. Um. Thanks for... that.” He pulls at his hat again, drops the hand and looks back at Danny before averting his gaze once more. How do you even begin to explain. “This is gonna sound terrible and I’m not saying it’s an excuse for anything but… it was a really stupid Echo.”

His brow furrows. He knows echoes are weird, but...he's having a hard time wrapping his head around this.

"You got a pulse that...made you want to throw him at a giant snake?"

"Y...es." For once he has the decency to look ashamed of something. "Other me used to fight monsters and… apparently he’d throw people at them sometimes. Like. Projectiles.”

Oh God did he acutally say it out loud? He sounds like a total psycho now.

Danny is having a hard time with this. "Like projectiles."

As in, using them like...bullets from a person-gun? Use once and discard? The idea freaks Danny out, and he is now suddenly profoundly glad he got to Russel when he did.

"...You're not going to do that to me, are you?" Because if he does, Danny isn't sure how quickly he can transform to go intangible and avoid whatever fate he'd speed towards.

Ugh. Emil should’ve probably seen this question coming - the explanation wasn’t exactly helping his case - but he can’t help but cringe.

“No! It was a huge mistake and I’m not gonna do that to you or to anyone else ever again.”

He relaxes a little. It's a subtle movement, but it's there--a slight slump, his shoulders are looser, his hands are less tense.

"Alright. Well--I guess that's okay then."

Then he remembers that the second he put Russel back down on the ground during the fight, he went and (understandably) flipped his lid at this guy. It's not really any of his business, but...

"Did you--I dunno, patch things up with Russel after that, or whatever?"

That went surprisingly better than expected, not that Emil complains. He too allows himself to relax as little.

“Yeah, we talked the next day.” Or more accurately, Emil sent a bunch of texts begging for forgiveness until Russel begrudgingly accepted his apology. “We’re fine now. Business as usual.”

And by business as usual he means Russel thinks he’s just an asshole and not a psychotic killer.

"R--really? Just like that? Wow." He remembers just how furious Russel had been after he'd been thrown right there in the middle of the snake fight, so he's surprised that all it took was a quick little talk after the fact to patch things up, but hey, all's well that ends well. Plus, it's not really his business to butt into this too much.

"Well, so long as everything's okay between everyone and no one's getting thrown any time soon, it should all be alright. And you already said you're not gonna do it any more, so..."

"Yeah, no one's getting thrown at anything ever again and I've learned my lesson so can we please talk about something else," he says in one breath. Even if Danny doesn't seem angry, this conversation is making Emil uncomfortable and he'd like to go back to repressing everything.

"Like names. Let's talk about our names. I'm Emil."

Well, that was weird. Danny raises an eyebrow, but otherwise lets the subject drop.

"I'm Danny. ...have you always been at this school?" He may not know everybody in this school, but he feels like at this point most of them are familiar faces. This guy's only ringing a bell from the snake fight.

Emil pretends he didn’t notice the eyebrow raise, determined to act like the previous five minutes never happened.

He’s obviously surprised by the question.

“Are you serious? I don’t ditch that much.” He wrinkles his brow. “Or do I?”

Wow. Well this is kinda awkward.

"I-I don't know. I just didn't recognize you, is all. Uh, what grade are you in?"

“Tenth,” he replies, looking almost offended. Not that Emil ever cared about being known and his attendance is rather poor, but he thinks he should’ve made at least some impression! “I recognize YOU.”

He doesn't, not exactly. It's just a very generous way to say that Danny looks vaguely familiar.

Danny's not surprised by that--he's got quite a reputation for his clumsiness and his family, most kids at school recognize his face, if not his boxers or his parents. He is, however, surprised by Emil's grade.

"Te--we're in the same grade? Seriously?" Okay, now he feels bad about not recognizing him. "I didn't--sorry, I didn't realize. I guess we must not share a lot of classes together."

“Yeah,” he says, still sulking a little. To be honest, it’s not that big a deal but Danny made Emil feel awkward five minutes ago, he feels like returning the favor. “I’m not exactly a wallflower.”

Well, it's working. Danny definitely does feel kind of awkward. "Uh, sorry, I must just not be paying as much attention to stuff as before. What with, you know. The whole, uh, network thing."

Having successfully reversed the conversation and even getting an apology, Emil starts to unruffle. Besides, Danny has a point - Emil’s focus shifted the last two months, too.

“Hmm. This shit’s pretty distracting, yeah. How long are you on this?”

Oh good. This is a safe conversation topic--he can answer this confidently, without any awkwardness creeping in. After all, they're just talking important technical details.

"It's getting close to a year now, I guess. Wow, that's a long time. I found the network for the first time in July, and, well. The rest is history, I guess." He's content to leave it there, but then he realizes that maybe Emil is asking about his first echo, and that's a different story.

"But uh--my first pulse was a while ago, a few years back. In 8th grade."

“Huh. I had no idea they can go this way back.” After reading the FAQ, he assumed Echoes started with the network. “I got mine in… last summer? You know, when something happened to the water. But I found the network in February.” He pauses, looking a bit surprised.

“February,” he repeats. “That’s nothing.” Especially compared to Danny. “Feels much longer.”

He laughs a little, but it's not very humorous. "Yeah, it really does." July seems like it was so long ago. Hell, January feels like a short eternity ago. So much has changed and shifted in Locke and he's run into danger so many times it's a miracle he's lived long enough to see April.

(Except he's half-dead, so he's not sure that really counts?)

"But uh, yeah. Pulses can go a long way back, definitely. It...kinda messed with my, uh--my grades. For a few years." Yeah, grades. Also reputation, but he's not gonna mention that. If Emil's really been around the school a while, then he must already know about Danny's terrible reputation anyway.

Yes, Emil has heard about the Guy With The Underwear. He didn’t realize it earlier, but he homes on embarrassment like a hound and after learning Danny’s name, he’s starting to make the connection.

“Your grades?” There’s the slightest emphasis on the last word and while Emil isn’t exactly smirking, he looks about two seconds from doing so. “Yeah, that sucks.” He most certainly did not mean amusing. “But at least you know why now.”

"Yeah, at least now I know I'm not just--uh, just a massive klutz." He feels awkward under Emil's gaze right now, even though he's gotten pretty damn used to the snickering and reputation over the years. It's still strange to be confronted by it by someone who isn't out to give him a swirlie. He knows Emil isn't going to, but between that smugness and the fact that he threw a guy at a snake (even if he didn't mean to and apologized for it) is making him kind of uncomfortable.

"Plus, I've got it under control now! I haven't had a slip-up with it in like seven months now."

“Man, I bet it sucks when you keep screwing up with your superpower,” he says happily. He’d love to see a slip-up. “You seem fine to me though? What you did back there with the snake was pretty cool.” He means it; Last second saves always look good and the fact Emil was scared out of his wits made it even more impressive. Awkward or not, Danny saved him from murdering someone.

After a pause, he adds:

“Even if the snake got you a second later.”

"Yeah, well...I'm just lucky that apparently, getting smashed through a brick wall doesn't hurt me any more." He rubs the back of his neck, looking unusually awkward for someone who just admitted to being pretty darn invincible.

"Or at least, it doesn't hurt me when I'm a ghost." He drops his voice a little, muttering to himself but still loud enough to be heard by Emil: "I wish it didn't hurt me when I'm alive."

So Danny’s power comes from being a ghost? Huh. Weird, but Emil already knows you can find literally anything on the network. He looks pretty solid now, though, and what’s with this when I’m alive thing? Did he die and turned into a ghost… that doesn’t look like a ghost?

Color Emil confused. He comes to stand closer to Danny, looking him up and down.

“I don’t get it,” he says after a moment and pokes Danny’s arm.

Edited 2014-05-18 10:18 (UTC)

Danny rubs the arm where he's been poked. He'd be annoyed, if he didn't totally understand what Emil was trying to test. (Danny himself had done much the same at first, too.)

"Yeah...me neither. I'm--well, I'm supposed to be, uh, half-ghost?" His tone rises at the end like it's a question, because although he trusts his echoes, he still thinks it sounds really bizarre. "I don't really know what it means either, but it means I can go back and forth between being alive and being a ghost."

Emil quirks an eyebrow. “Half… ghost.” Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense. “That’s uh. Pretty useful actually. You’re like, halfway immortal.”

He imagines Danny hears the next question all the time, but he can’t help it.

“So which one of your - his parents do you think had sex with a dead person?”

He sighs. "Why is that always the first question people ask me about that?" Not like he hasn't been thinking about it himself. "I don't know. Maybe my mom? I seriously have no idea."

“Cause it’s the obvious one,” he replies. “Your mom, huh?” He makes a face and it’s clear that he’s thinking about the how. “Gross.”

Then he smiles brightly and pats Danny’s shoulder. “Aw, cheer up. Maybe he just had a freak accident!”

Danny takes no offense at Emil's expression, although he does find it kind of rude. It just doesn't really hurt or shock him, not when he's already had this conversation before. Instead, he raises an eyebrow. "Who? Me, or my ghost dad?"

“Other you. That’d save you the ghost dad thing in the first place.”

Surely anything is better than a kinky haunted house encounter.

He furrows his brows. "Yeah...I don't know. What kind of accident only half-kills someone?"

He really does want to believe it--it would be a lot less gross than having to try and puzzle out which of his parents was dead, and how conception even worked in that case. But it also made a hell of a lot less sense.

“Maybe he like… died all the way and when someone tried to bring him back with magic slash science it only worked halfway. Or he went someplace haunted and magic slash science made him fuse with a ghost.”

Emil is pretty sure he stole at least one of these ideas from a B-movie, but it makes just about as sense as dead people reproducing.

"Oooookay..." Danny has only one question in response to that, and he's struggling to find a way to phrase it delicately.

"How many weird horror movies have you watched, exactly?" Well, he tried.

A lot.

He doesn’t say it, though. Instead he huffs, clearly offended. So what if he likes bad horror flicks, that’s no reason to disregard his opinion, not when everything about the Numbered sounds fictional anyway.

“Well excuse me for trying to help, I guess you’d rather come from a dead guy’s ghost sperm. Which sounds even more like a weird horror movie.”

"No! Gross, no." Danny shakes his head in astonished horror. A world where he'd prefer being the result of a dead guy's ghost sperm over, well, anything is a world he's frankly disturbed by.

"I'd prefer to not be half-dead at all! I mean, the powers are pretty cool, but I think it's more trouble than it's worth." Between not having a pulse half the time, having his reputation ruined for the rest of his life, and having to consider the ways in which he could have ended up this way (none of which sounded good), Danny isn't sure the powers are worth it.

“Yeah,” he sighs sympathetically. “Wish we could keep the powers and ignore the other stuff. I got some really cool stuff but I know other-me had even more powers that I don’t have yet. Instead I get a ton of random crap, it’s really frustrating.”

What he really wanted was to get better at magical music. Instead he got a horn.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

this is my ap-log-alypse

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sorry for the delay!

no biggie, i'm late too

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject