Fun and Games

She wasn’t stupid she’d noticed that he had started to stop playing whenever she was around, for the most part she made out like she hadn’t twigged, although she’d made an effort to be home less, starting to spend more and more time away from home. Stubbornly ignoring how it all made her feel, she repeatedly told herself that those feelings were just trouble and no good would come from them so it was best to give them no attention. Returning home after being away for about four days as she’d been busy on a job for ice and then had stayed away purposely. Having visited Killian and Renee instead, she’d dodged their questions about why she hadn’t returned back to Jory, making it quite clear that it was her business and she was not interested in sharing. Opening the door in time to hear the music stop she again ignored what she felt, sweeping it under a mental rug, heading into the kitchen she made a sandwich out of leftovers, ignoring the fact that she didn’t feel hungry. After all, it’d been a few days since she’d last ate, she had to eat or she’d start to loose weight and really worry the two who had raised her, it’d be so easy to shut Jory out again she could feel parts of herself advocating for that choice but she didn’t want to, didn’t want to be alone. So she wandered into the living room where he was sprawled out, taking a seat on the couch she tucked her legs underneath her as ever immaculately groomed, ones outer visage was what made first impressions and in her line of work that was extremely important. Breathe in, breathe out, chew and swallow, each bite was an effort yet she made sure to appear as normal as she could manage, once finished she set the plate on the coffee table and reached for the blanket she always kept on the back of the couch, pulling it around herself. Just like her appetite, her muse for playing or creating new music had waned recently, whereas once she would have happily gone to her piano to play, she just didn’t feel like it instead wanting to snuggle down and rest.

She moved enough to wrap the blanket around him as well and leaned her head on his quietly “Ice was rather demanding” she didn’t really feel like going into his lack of playing right now so she just snuggled into him and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. At least for this moment things were okay, shoving everything away apart from how familiar it was for them to be cuddled into one another like this. Looking at him and considering things very carefully she kissed him seeking to initiate more than what they were doing right now, wanting more, once he gave in she lead him towards their shared bed and afterwards rested her head on his shoulder absently tapping her fingers on his chest in a tune. They had to talk about it even if she was scared of what the answer would be, ruminating over it she glanced over at his face, lifting her head a little to do so "You’re not playing anymore” the words weren’t an accusation nor was there any kind of negative tone, it was more of a fact “not talking about it and avoiding it isn’t healthy for us” again more words that were truthful, "I love you Jory, I don't want us to stop talking or end up drifting apart" the final sentence was spoken very softly. Although she was unsure if they’d ever be a truly healthy relationship compared to the couple who had raised her, they were in a better space than when they’d started and she wanted things to continue like they had been. Some how she’d fallen for the curly haired musician who wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but he was sweet and endearing, he had saved and saved to replace the piano that had been broken courtesy of Lana, that Piano was now one of her most precious possessions although she wasn’t really sure how to explain that to him, that he knew she loved him would just have to do, even once the piano had been destroyed she’d continued to love him and even regret making such a rash choice to kick him out. She’d never been the best at taking back things she’d said which had been why she’d struggled to go and find him and take him back, for them to stop talking again felt wrong so she would push and push at the parts of herself that wanted to shut him out, she would stay open with him, she had to and perhaps if she was he would start playing for her again.

Listening intently, Dani frowned slightly and flicked her gaze towards them, reaching out she took one of his hands and inspected it brushing delicate fingers over his “Lana did something to you than just breaking them didn’t she” well, she would just have to go talk to Killian and his wife about it. If he didn’t know what to do he would know someone who would, he was useful like that “No matter. We will figure this out and fix it, Renee is a very good healer” letting his hand go she reached up to brush her fingers through his hair for a moment not letting herself believe that this might be unfixable. It had to be, they would find a way to make it better then she’d go beat the life out of the demon that had hurt him, after all she was sick and tired of others hurting him, he was hers and wasn’t’ to be used like he was some kind of weakness. They’d go in the morning after breakfast, she settled back down with him so much lighter now that they had a plan that they would go through and his lack of play wasn’t because of not wanting to, yawning widely dani tucked her head under his chin rather comfortably and closed her eyes, confident that this was just going to be a minor bump in the road.

Smiling slightly when she felt the gentle nuzzle, Dani didn’t bother nodding “yes, we’re going to go see Renee, if she can’t fix it she might know someone who can. You’ll just have to be prepared to be asked a great many questions about what happened to you” she imagined whoever fixed his hands was going to need details of what happened to him but she would be there with him. For now, they needed to rest “Sleep, it will all be sorted out soon and we can get back to normal” yawning she turned onto her side a little more an arm around him loosely, following her own advice she was soon asleep. Sleeping in for once she didn’t stir until the sun moved high enough in the sky to shine through a small gap in the curtains, screwing her face up in a scowl when the bright light hit her face she turned to hide her face in the man's shoulder grumbling. Grumbling louder when she heart Tui chirp the time, right now she didn’t give a shit what the time was even if it was nearly eleven, it was nice being snuggled into her Jory especially since she hadn’t had the time to do much of it recently however once woken up her itchy feet had her up, showering, dressed and making something to eat already planning out the visit to Renees. Returning to bed with a plate of toast she perched on the side of the bed eating one slice while the plate with the other few slices was set down near the man “Eat, healing requires strength from both parties” well aware that she seemed bossy Dani also didn’t care about that, there were more important things on her mind mostly to do with making sure that his hands were healed so he could play without pain. Part of her cursed the demon for doing something to his hands obviously intended to cause pain to the pair of them, part of her brain was cooking up exactly how she was going to torture and punish the demon for touching something that did not belong to it.

Amused that as usual food was the thing to kick his ass into gear, Dani stretched and nodded “Yes, if she can’t do anything, she’ll know someone who might be able to” there was no ifs about it in the long run, someone would be able to help him and then they could go back to the way things were supposed to be. Brushing her fingers through his hair gently she let his hair flop into his face and stood “you’d better get up lazy, Things to do after all” he got a brief flash of a smile before the blonde was out of the room. Making her way over to the piano she sat and began to play humming along to the music she made, waiting for Jory to get his ass up and ready, once he had she closed the piano and stood before they both were taken to her parents.
Walking straight in and smelling that as usual Renee was baking something in the kitchen Dani headed right there and greeted the woman who’d raised her by stealing some mixture out of the bowl and dodging the light whack aimed at her for her thieving. It didn’t’ take long to explain the problem with Jory's hands and soon renees smile at their visit had faded “I've already done everything I can for his hands dear, but, there may be someone who could be of help” admittedly originally she hadn’t been all that kind to him things had changed and she’d made the effort to reach out and apologize to him. Writing down his name and address on a piece of card she passed it to her daughter “Here. Be careful the pair of you” knowing that Dani wasn’t really one for hugs she resisted the urge and instead waved them off hoping that everything would go well. Accepting the card Dani flicked a glance at Jory “We might as well go now then” farewelling Renee and smirking a little when her mother passed the boy something to eat on the way over it didn’t take much longer before they were knocking on a door of the address Renee had written down for them.
However, the woman who answered it wasn’t what Dani had been expecting, studying the brunette quietly she spoke politely “Good Morning, we’re looking for Damien” Lyra studied them, as ever a little protective of him due to his unsavoury reputation, noticing the shadow bird perching on the man's shoulder however she let them in and put them in the kitchen “Damien! Guests for you” her voice was directed in the general location of his lamp where he’d vanished into earlier that morning while she set about making some tea for them all.

Watching as shadows and smoke came out of the innocent enough looking lamp, there was a familiar pain when she saw the mans soul shadow, she felt so incomplete without her hyena by her side, she’d gotten good at hiding that pain yet here it was once again. Flicking her gaze from the beautiful creature to the tall blond man when he spoke “Yes” she had little to no connection with her brother, the last time they were properly together was when they had been born after that life had taken them on very different paths. But, none of that mattered right now, Oliver, Kelly none of the mattered to her, “Daniella. The blank-faced idiot is Jory.” Business, this was just every day business, “You’ve likely heard of Lana, she decided to do something to his hands” purposely leaving out the reasons why as it was none of anyone elses business “He can’t play his guitar, a medical mystery Renee couldn’t puzzle out, she thought you might be capable and up to the challenge of figuring out what happened and if it can be fixed” Well, Ice would be proud of her at least, she’d sounded cool, calm and rather detatched from the entire affair.  “Interested?” She was fully expecting to have to do something for him as payment, he would hopefully tell her what that was fairly soon and she just had to hope that it was something she could do.

Listening Lyra just shook her head and stepped away, starting to make a pot of tea for all of them, there was some ginger cake in the pantry so she cut a few slices of that and passed them out, after that she left them to it heading into the living room to sit in her favourite spot in the sun. Dani accepted them both but didn't drink the tea or eat the cake, she knew what shadow masters were like, she'd grown up with Killian and Renee and now worked for Ice, shadow masters were far too good at reading one another and getting under one another skin and she expected him to do the same, just as she would any shadow master, her walls were up and her pride would not allow her to show any kind of weakness or anything other than cool polite interest. A part of her knew that it was pointless to try and feign detachment to the issue at hand, Damien was a shadow master, and quite clearly not a thick one it wouldn't take him much to piece together who Jory was to her, but what was the point of announcing it? She'd already suffered because someone had found out how important he was to her, that he could be used to hurt her, setting the cup and plate down on the bench dry mouthed and not hungry, Dani waited to hear what he would say.

Standing there quietly as the other shadow masters shadows flowed over and inspected Jory's hands, her own shadows appeared to be nonexistent, she’d learned from very young to keep them hidden in her casting shadow to the point where it seemed to most she didn’t even have them. Her gaze wandered to the coyote during Damien's examination of her Jory, as ever missing her Zali, how was it possible to be whole and yet feel like such an important part of her was missing, she missed talking to her, having her there, listening to her unwanted comments. Flicking her eyes away before her staring became rude, she drew herself out of her thoughts when she heard him speak to her “When I can hear him play, yes. Last time his joints all started swelling, we haven’t tried testing it out on other instruments yet” A slightly bitter smile tainted her features “I apologize I probably should have tested that out before coming” poison and magic, he had to be able to be fixed, he had to be, what would she do if she lost him as well and had nothing. Sensing her internal distress the bird on the man's shoulder shifted its weight slightly but didn’t give her away, Dani didn’t say anything more, there was nothing more to say until she was asked more questions which she would do her best to answer.

Wouldn’t’ that push more of the poison through him? Still, if it put them on the path to a cure, without a visible cue from her, Jory’s guitar appeared in his hands “Play” speaking in the tone of voice that he knew meant there was to be no arguments her gaze moved to meet his green eyes. He needed to do as he was told, she’d had him for long enough that he should just do it, even if it hurt, she didn’t want to have to repeat herself after all. Not while she was internally feeling so many different things at once, silently willing him to just do it and get it over and done with.

Thankfully, he obeyed, making a note to reward him for it later she stayed silent and out of the way, working to keep everything she felt to herself, which was why she wasn’t touching Jory for fear she’d show what she was feeling on the inside. Part of her was keeping track of the conversation and another part was dedicated to thinking positive, what really drew her out of her thoughts was the appearance of Iris. There was a definite lack of shadows yet she had a soul shadow and felt like a shadow master, considering things she moved and took a seat near Iris “Jory” using a foot to push a chair out for him to take a seat trying to puzzle out what she felt in regards to this stranger. She’d never actually met another female twin before, and the missing shadows, there was a sense of kinship there “It’s actually a pleasure to meet you, Iris” although she’d spoken to Damien respectfully before, the way she spoke to Iris was different. Some how she felt like there was a sense of kinship on her end anyway. However, she wasn’t here to socialize, she was here to get Jory fixed and go home, so she reluctantly turned her attention back to what was happening “I can find the demon and try to get it out of her.” Her tone became frosty as she spoke of Lana, she would quite enjoy hunting her down and torturing it out of the bitch, although she was aware nothing the demon said could be trusted and that she could lie and tell them something that would wind up with Jory dying.

If it had just been her and Jory she might have taken his hand gently, instead she stayed still “Yes, she wasn’t pleased that I picked him up after she grew tired of him and discarded him” She was a little happier to share some more information with Iris as she had a very distinct feeling that Damien wouldn’t give a shit about why the demon had done this and that was fine she didn’t expect any more from him. With a simple quiet movement her shadows appeared to set down her own rejected tea and cake down in front of Iris, she might as well have it since Dani wasn’t interested in the drink or food. She continued explaining that Nightshade was deadly and it would take time to find a cure if there was one, it seemed that Damien should hopefully be able to find a cure but as it was Jorys time was ticking. Looking at Jory, her eyes glittered, she couldn’t let him die, clenching her jaw the woman's attention was returned to the blind woman “Then I’ll find her. Is there anything we can do to stop the poison or delay it?” she didn’t dare let herself hope as a sinking feeling in her chest and stomach took over, he wouldn’t be able to play his guitar around her anymore. If that was the case she would learn and play instead, he could learn her piano and then he could still have his music without pain and without dying, he couldn’t die, that wasn’t allowed to happen. She couldn’t lose him as well, the sensation changed to a feeling like she couldn’t breathe properly, as if there was a hand around her lungs that wouldn’t let them work properly, first things first would be hunting Lana down and ripping the knowledge out of her then promptly murdering her so she could never hurt them ever again. But that was in the future, she had to focus on what was happening right now, turning her attention back to Iris she waited silently for the gentle woman to respond.

Dani didn’t show much outward emotion when iris confirmed what she had been thinking, “Thank you. We’ve both taken up both of your time long enough. Time for us to leave Jory” standing up and pushing the chair in, she assumed that Damien would let her know if he needed anything or came up with anything. The temptation to just shut everyone out and distance herself continued to tug at her, however she kept resisting it, she would push that away and keep pushing it away until either they found a cure or until he passed away. Unable to get out of that place soon enough she stood outside breathing rather shakily. “We should go home, I’m going to start hunting Lana, so I can get information out of her to help you and then I’ll crush her into nothing” her voice got colder and colder as she spoke. Taking them home with a flurry of shadows, her protective walls lowered, and her emotionless face became troubled, turning to Jory she just stepped closer and hugged him nuzzling her face into his chest, shaking slightly. He couldn’t die, he couldn’t be allowed to die, she needed him. Feeling like she was close to breaking apart she hugged him tighter not daring to let herself speak lest she burst into tears.

Continuing to lean into the hug she took several deep breaths and pulled away nodding “Alright, come and sit with me” taking his hand, Dani walked over to the piano, lifting the cover off of the keys before sitting she studied the ivory keys for a few moments organizing her thoughts. “It shouldn’t be too difficult to teach you since you play the guitar you already know the sounds of the notes. You just have to learn what key corresponds to each note” once he knew what key made each note he’d be able to take guitar songs and turn them into piano songs. Lifting her hands to brush her blonde hair out of her face she took a deep breath and lifted her hands deciding she’d teach him a basic song and they’d work from there, the only thing she could do was teach him to play and simply hope that Damien would figure something out. The fact that she had to rely upon someone else for Jory’s future health and wellbeing didn’t particularly sit right with her, but what else could she do? He could not die, he just couldn’t, her mind could foresee what paths she would walk down if she lost him and none of them were bright and happy, and yet there was a bitter part of herself that chided her for letting herself fall as hard as she had for this simple-minded idiot. She never should have opened herself to him, things would be a lot less painful if she was like Ice and simply didn’t feel anything anymore, staring down at the keys as she worked on teaching him, a fairly patient teacher compartmentalizing her inner torment.