Fun and Games

Lost in playing with her music, the gentle music continued to sound from the instrument she manipulated, not hearing claws click on the wooden floor Dani remained oblivious to the fact she wasn’t alone until one of her feet reached back under her seat and brushed against a warm body with short fur. Jumping subtly with surprise, she glanced down and recognized the tail sticking out from underneath the seat, opting not to scold him instead she chose to continue playing, he understood her music and he was safe to be herself around. She was starting to believe that music healed far more than stitches and bandages, it soothed the soul and smoothed out the wrinkles. After a few songs she switched to one of the songs that her foster mother renee had taught her, although Renee had only ever taught her the lyrics and notes for ones voice dani began translating it onto the piano and soon the instrument reverberated with the gentle song. It had many messages. One such message of the song was that the sea is calming, it flows where it pleases, the ocean is free and vast. Let your dreams keep you calm and let the ocean free guide you too safety and let the ocean spirits watch over you as you sleep.. Starting to sing along to it, quietly, the words seemed to take on a more important meaning than they had when she’d been little, finishing the song with the irish gaelic words that loosely translated to ‘love forever’ Dani began to understand what the song wanted to say. That despite deaths, sorrow and tragedy, her family would help guide her through the harsh and strong winds of the world, setting her free and returning her to those she loved again and again. Perhaps more touchy feely and sappy than her usual outlook, but perhaps it was an example of how she’d changed, learned and grown during the past few years. With aching fingers, Dani quietly asked a shadow for the time and was somewhat amused when she was told how long she’d been playing for. Getting up she stretched luxuriously before crouching down and studying the dog under the seat “Sick of being inside yet? Going to the park” wandering back into her room to grab shoes she was finally outside again with a pleased sigh, despite the fact that she knew her mother would be less than pleased at her leaving the house so soon after her injury Dani was past the point of staying inside any longer. Heading for the park that was not too far away, she tucked her hands into her pockets after brushing her thick blonde hair out of her face, relaxed and at ease.

Smirking to herself when the goofy dog perked up and yelped when he hit his head on the bottom of the chair, Dani's sigh of contentment was only coloured by the memory of all that pain she'd had to go through because of ice. Watching the excited creature bounce around her in anticipation and Joy of being able to go to the park, Dani remained quiet, once they got there she glanced at him "Find a stick and I'll throw it for you" it'd be a good way to keep him busy whilst she thought and mimicked some form of exercise. The sun was warm against her back brightening her mood slightly and chasing some of the pain away, sitting down on a park bench where there was a fair bit of space in between big old trees and a river some ways to her right the blonde took the stick when it was brought to her and threw it as far as she could. After this the thoughts came back, Ice had done this to her, forced her to spend time and energy on some looser who hadn't been worth anything and Dani knew it, it'd been over the line. A slightly dangerous look tugged one side of her mouth down and her eyes to harden, she had to do something about Ice but what, there was no point in trying to kill her, that'd been attempted and hadn't worked, no there had to be a more efficient method. Absently taking care to keep her gaze on something that wasn't the dog incase he got the wrong idea, Dani eventually tired of their game and refused to throw the stick anymore. Giving the doberman the command for heel she wandered until she found a coffee vendors shack near the park, "Pick something to eat, a Muffin or a Sandwich" dani told him while ordering a hot drink well aware of Jory's bottomless pit.

Amused at his hopeful tone and pleading look Dani made the choice for him "One Sandwich please" purchasing it for him she wandered back to a sunny spot and sat down offering the dog his food. Sipping her drink while he wolfed the food down, Dani leant back against the tree behind her thinking to herself, by the time she'd finished her drink, the blonde had made up her mind on what she was going to do next. "Shift"it wasn't a question, repeating herself until he finally obeyed the shadows produced his guitar for him "Good, now play" it'd be far more pleasant to sit here in the sun and listen to him play, wriggling a little to rest her chin on his shoulder, the young shadow master sighed contentedly willing away the ache just behind her eyes. Wanting nothing more than to just sit here with him and relax, Dani patiently awaited the moment when all her thoughts that buzzed in her brain would grow quiet and settle down. He silenced them when he played for her, she could just be in the moment and not have to worry, "Please" the soft plead slipped out without her realizing it, when she finally recognized that she had, she shut up fairly quickly not saying anything omre.

Settling against him a little more, eyes closed and her body relaxed, everything that wasn't the music and the musician fled her mind more. It was like coming home, listening to him play and sing all the while his familiar smell invaded her senses, some how even the constant throbbing was soothed and lessened, resisting the urge to press a kiss to his jaw which had the risk of interrupting the music that had allowed her to relax as much as she had. Unable to melt into him any further, she began humming along when she recognized one of the songs. After a few more songs she lazily began softly singing along, sounding quite different to how she normally did, softer, it'd been a long few months, what with the man she'd had to live with and manipulate and in all honesty she was thankful that he'd been there with her through it even though he'd been forced into killing the mark. "You're mine" the words usually spoken rather possessively were said with a degree of tenderness and fondness. Not knowing the song he played next she stopped singing listening to it contentedly enough, as far as songs went she had the feeling that it was one he'd composed himself.

After the song was finished, a smile wound its way onto her features as he cuddled into her and murmured a response that she knew by now was more than just an expected response. Fairly confident that he felt the same as she did allowed Dani to return the phrase "As I am yours" a hand slipped up to briefly brush fingers over his cheek gently, almost forgetting that they weren't alone, that they were in a very public park where others could come across them. Very tempted to put music to the side, after considering things for a few moments she kissed him warmly all the while inching a little closer as there wasn't much space between them to begin with. It cemented the knowledge that she had to get back to roaming and working, although she loved her parents she preferred having her own space.

Smirking at the cheeky comment Dani just shrugged quite content when an arm was slung around her keeping her close, fingers absently traced over skin again when his eyes closed almost peacefully. "Mine, I do not need either one of my parents walking in on us" thankfully she had no idea what pain the future held for them both, allowing herself to believe for now that they'd be left alone and would be able to be happy. Her father had managed to achieve that with Renee so surely it was within her own reach? "Public schmublic Jory, shy?" slightly cheekily said, the lop sided smirk that curled up one side of her face remained cheeky and almost playful. Torn between teasing him and continuing where they were, she kissed him again deciding for now that staying where they were was the best course of action, it was pleasant in the sun and it was comfortable leaning against him too even if he was a little bony.

Unable to help the quiet laugh that erupted at his request for more food "Alright then Jory" the pain was ever present but there was nothing she could do about it. It was much more pleasant to distract herself, snuggling into him with a content sigh, listennig to him continue to play until the pain got too much Dani stood up and yawned "Food time then" waiting a little impatiently for him to get up Dani headed to her closest safe house stopping at a super market on the way home. Sitting down on the couch nibbling on the chocolate she'd gotten with her legs tucked underneath her Dani took a good amount of strong painkillers while she remembered. Relaxing more as the pain started to melt away, she kept an eye on her jory before inviting him to join her with a gesture.

A warm happy smile brightened up her features when he joined her on the couch nestling close to her, feeling so warm and fuzzy on the inside the sensations grew shoulder when he tucked his head on her shoulder quite comfortably. Slipping an arm around him so he stayed close and didn't go, Snuggling there with him, time seemed to slow down and become less meaningful. A revelation overcame her, surprising her in how intense the feeling was, nuzzling her nose into his hair, Dani murmured softly to him "I Love you, my Jory" pressing a gentle affectionate kiss to his forehead caught up in what she was thinking. Almost giddy on how right and perfect this moment felt, she completely shed her exterior, all of the manipulation, the different layers and revealed completely who she was at her core. "All mine" the arm tightened a little not enough to hurt but rather possessively not expecting him to reply to her, not expecting anything from him right now just wanting to savour this moment.

Falling asleep there with her Jory, she awoke at the feeling of something watching her only seconds after the room was torn apart, properly awake by the time she hit the floor her eyes were straining and the sharp pain behind her eyes returned announcing the start of a migraine. Pushing herself up off of the floor, Dani got up onto her feet still unable to see very well the world her was all blurry Jory, where is Jory? she wasn't able to see him but she could very vaguely see that the world around her was a mess. Deciding that sight, for now, was useless Dani shut her eyes tight and felt some relief from the bright light and dark shadows, able to feel her shadows around her one of them let her know where Jory was unsure of who their opponent was that in the room with them pain shot through her as their assailant sent shards of glass her way ripping their way through her. The man was relatively well groomed although somewhat shabby, quite intent on taking Dani now whilst she was unable to properly defend herself it took little effort to stride over and slip a pair of silver handcuffs onto her, the bounty hunter paid little attention to the man who appeared human also in the room assuming he was some sort of toy.

Hissing venomously when she felt silver start burning her skin the deep growl of Jory alerted her to his presence and his intentions, pulling back from the man and dragging the handcuffs with her as one had already been snapped onto her wrist Dani focused intently on her shadows channelling her thoughts into them as best as she could. The pain from the glass that had been thrown into her hurt, but hurt was something that she’d gotten used to, getting up unsteadily she coated her shadows around Jory in a sort of stab proof vest in a last ditch effort to keep him safe. The mans attention had now been shifted to the dog, tall and built muscular he had  a single eye the other was cloudy and had an old ugly scar over it, his decent but shabby suit was in stark contrast to his dreadlocks that suggested his hair previously might have been a fiery red, dark brown skin and delicate soft hands with long pianists fingers didn’t seem to match the rest of them. Summoning some of the glass back he turned and went to stab it into the dogs side, moments after Dani had thoughtfully wrapped shadows around him, the shadows grabbed the spear of glass and shattered it squeaking indignantly that this stranger who in their opinion smelled had dared to ruin a rare peaceful moment for their two favourite people. They continued to defend him from the shards of glass the man threw at them, when the dog knocked the man to the ground Dani spoke “Don’t kill him Jory” she wanted to know who the hell this pumped up prick was and who’d sent him, her head was splitting like someone was taking an axe and hitting her frontal lobe over and over again. Wanting to be sick she managed to hold on, covered in cuts and ripping blood, up close and personal the man had no defense against the dog always relying on his telekinesis to defend himself which was useless against the defensive angry shadows.

Managing to rifle for the keys for the cuffs on the mans person she unlocked the handcuff and managed to remove it, shadows became thick black curtains and blocked out the light completely allowing her able to see better and with less pain. Greatly relieved she looked over at the man and scowled furrowing her brow trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with this man, right now her head hurt to much to really focus on things apart from finding some pain killers and settling down with the dog for a while. “I need to send him somewhere” but unable to think properly she ended up sitting there with her head in her hands, rocking backwards and forwards before making a split decision to send him to one of her other safe houses, locked in a box and hidden away to deal with when she no longer had such a splitting headache. After he was taken away she took a heavy dose of pain killers with help from the shadows and began digging through her flesh with the help of them to remove the last of the glass “Jory we are not telling my parents about this” fairly slurred from the pain killers and migraine she ended up just curling up on the floor closing her eyes again, the shadows would prevent her from bleeding out and the fact that her blood would stain the dark blue carpet didn’t really register. Why did pain keep happening? Fuck the game all she wanted to do was just enjoy Jory for a while but it wasn’t quite working out the way she’d hoped, remembering the dogs behaviour about the man she managed to add “We’ll rip the man apart later when I don’t have a migraine okay?” it was like the baseball bat was coming down on her face again and again all over again, curling up tighter she groaned wishing that he could kill the one who’d brained her several times over again.

The warmth of the dog was nice, about to work up the will power to pat him he nosed her before moving away and shifting, listening acutely to the noises in the kitchen she looked up at him when he came back from walking around the house. Understanding that he wanted her up, Dani decided to trust him and stood, letting him lead her to the next room where their bed was, snuggling underneath the blankets the heat from the packs felt wonderful and his familiar body was a welcome relief. Cuddling close to him she kissed his cheek gently murmuring a soft “Thank you Jory” sometimes it scared her still, the amount of love she felt for the man, she’d never expected to feel like this about anyone and now she felt this way she could understand her fathers relationship with her mother. A part of her was so grateful they’d raised her so that she actually understood now what a good thing she had with Jory, usually one for tucking herself right next to him, she rested her face on his chest, an arm around him holding onto him tightly, although she felt nauseous it wasn’t enough to warrant moving away from the warmth that seemed to seep into her and keep her going. Held together by shadows and still rather bloody she tangled her legs with his just wanting to be with him and not have to think about anything else “its like the bats hitting me in the face again and again” mumbling through the cloud of pain wanting to establish some type of communication between them, just wanting to talk to him to establish some kind of normal, so she wouldn’t start crying like a weakling, it’d been a very long time since someone had been bold enough to break into her safe house and it’d never happened when she’d felt so safe and content in the world. So she kept herself as close to him as possible, tensing her jaw in an effort to try and stop any kind of unwanted emotional out pouring.