Father Daniel Correlli (danielcorrelli) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-01-18 19:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | daniel correlli, zdanny alejandro |
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To reveal or not to reveal, that was the question. Whether ‘tis nobler.....ah, whatever, Daniel was born centuries after Shakespeare anyways. It wasn’t that nobody...wait. Daniel paused to think. Who knew what he was? His clients, maybe a few other staff who had helped to locate him for services. Other than that....huh. Maybe no one living. When had that happened? And those that had tracked him down and knew what he was, they were the sort of people that didn’t share information. Additionally, finding him on the dark web was very different than knowing who he was or where he lived. They two did not meet and he worked hard to keep it that way.
Grabbing a beer, he heard the doorbell as he closed the fridge and grabbed a second one for Danny before going to get the door. Danny had snagged Daniel’s address from him over texts and driven over in the shitty old red civic he’d had since Chicago. He wasn’t told to bring anything, but he had offered to buy Daniel a drink, so Danny came to the door with a six pack of New Holland Cabin Fever, his favorite beer for winter. He was curious, but also cautious about this evening. Daniel hadn’t been offended or rude in their text exchange, more amused that Danny was asking at all. Of course, there were a lot of reasons why someone would be reluctant to tell a stranger, fellow supernatural or not, what species they were. And Danny would’ve eventually stopped pushing and let Daniel have his secrets. But just when he’d been about to let up, Daniel had invited him over. The fact he wouldn’t tell him in person could mean a demonstration was called for, and Danny was eager to find out what kind. If worse came to worst, he could always transform into a dragon, leave Daniel’s house to be eaten by a pit of acid, and fly back to his own apartment. Danny wore a black tshirt under his jacket and an old pair of jeans that were a size too big for him and made him have to tug at them every now and then to keep on his hips. His boots were older than most humans anymore but had served him faithfully through a lot of moves around the country. That was back when shoes used to be made from quality materials. He raked back his shabby dark hair and stood on the other side of the door on Daniel’s front step, waiting to be greeted. Opening the door, he grinned at the six-pack. Awesome. “Come on in,” he greeted, stepping aside to let the other man through, leading him towards the kitchen to put the beer door. The house was older, in good repair, but clearly not updated as much as it could be. There was still wood paneling on the walls and there were bookshelves in nearly every room overflowing with books. It was clean, but cluttered. “Clearly I’m not konmari-ing my books,” it was probably a good idea to go through them at some point and get rid of what he didn’t need at some point, but not now. The furniture was of similar age, well kept and clean, but dated. The one standout was the new coffee maker in the kitchen, “One day I’ll remodel, but....” he shrugged again, “not now.” Remodeling was such a hassle even if he did probably need to update the space. Maybe when he decided to sell the house? Then again, he matched his house in a lot of ways, wearing old, faded blue jeans almost see-through in places with an old band t-shirt and flannel overshirt with steel-toed work boots. Danny looked around as he followed Daniel inside and made note of the eclectic style the man seemed to have while also looking for clues as to what he was. Apparently, he liked to read. Could mean anything. Dated furniture, could mean he had bad taste, not a lot of money to update the place, or had lived so many eons that this was considered new. “Nice place.” Danny nodded and stuck the beer in the fridge to stay chilled. Now that he was seeing Daniel in person and in better light, he let his eyes wander over him. Not bad looking, by most human standards. Had a good sense of humor – that he’d already gleaned from their text conversations. But what Danny really focused on were his supernatural senses, particularly the ones he inherited as a dragon. He reached out with them and explored Daniel and what he sensed like, getting something back that was new and confusing. Not a lot of help, there. “I’m glad you don’t live in a cave or under a bridge. I wouldn’t have shared a beer with a troll.” He grinned and twisted off the top of a bottle, taking his first swig. “Hey now, don’t dismiss a good pithouse, they have their uses,” Daniel chastised, more teasing than anything. He used jokes to deflect from questions he didn’t like or outright ignored them, depending on the circumstances. It was difficult to answer and question that he pointedly did not hear. Danny did not come here for a history lesson on earthen dwellings either though. The house wasn’t HGTV-ready, but it wasn’t bad and it was home. Well, okay, it was bad, but it was well-kept, though dated. Whatever, he was dated. And past his expiration, didn’t stop him either. One thing was certain though, houses did not age like fine wine, not without a hell of a lot of work “So. What are you?” “I should make you guess.” Danny chuckled and made himself at home, hopping up to sit on a clear area of the kitchen counter. He dangled his feet, swinging them idly. Taking his time to have a nice long swallow of beer, Danny drew it out and finally sighed. He had to admit, telling someone outright what he was took away some of the fun, but he wasn’t going to get answers out of Daniel otherwise. Looking over at the other man, Danny shrugged. “I’m a dragon.” “Ah,” despite what he was, he actually had no way to tell what others were. He could often get a sense of otherness, but that was vague and unreliable at best. In places like Summerview, everyone had some sort of otherness. In places like Atlantic City, there were often too many people around for him to pinpoint anything, much less try to guess what someone was. Some of the more obvious he could guess, but dragon....dragon wasn’t obvious unless you were attuned to the different personality quirks each type tended to have and that wasn’t always obvious or helpful. “I’m not,” he added unhelpfully, taking a pull from his beer. Danny snickered. “No shit. I’d know instantly.” That was one he could sense from a distance and had learned the hard way to avoid if he wanted to live. Which he generally did. Generally. Xi had given him a purpose and he was looking forward to the future. No reason to risk another dragon ripping out his throat. He bumped his heels against the cabinet doors beneath him and waited for Daniel to say more. When he didn’t, Danny lifted both eyebrows impatiently and stopped his feet from moving. “Well? Need me to force it out of you?” He smiled and it might’ve been threatening or flirtatious, depending. “You could try,” Daniel offered, eyes glowing green in the light. “You...are not a nice person,” he stated with a feral sort of smile, a predator, but not one interested in killing or eating the other man. Simply one who enjoyed what he did. “Delicious. You have wrought pain to so many. Bad dragon....very, very bad,” he couldn’t get specifics, not from a dragon and certainly not one that didn’t feel remorse, but that did not mean he didn’t get the jist of what Danny had done. Letting his eyes return to normal, he took another sip of his beer, leaning against the opposite counter like nothing had happened. “Now do you know what I am?” Danny’s eyes narrowed and he felt his body tense for a moment. Glowing green eyes? That was eerie. So was the fact that Daniel seemed to look into him. Not a nice person? Delicious? The dragon was starting to get a bigger picture and he cocked his head. “Demon.” He drank from the bottle, but his whole attention was on Daniel. “Close, but not quite,” He smiled, not entirely amused, “I’m not borne of hell. Just of man, like Flash Gordon.” Danny probably didn’t get the reference. Not many did and it had nothing to do with age, “Though, it wouldn’t surprise me if I was classified as one. The people who do things like that aren’t too fond of me. I circumvent the rules they like. Makes things....messy.” “Messy in a good way?” Danny smirked. It sounded nice, being one who could thwart a demon. Danny had never known a demon, personally, but he’d heard stories. If Daniel could circumvent them, well, color Danny impressed. “Is this your real form?” Curiosity led him to wonder and he let his eyes once again rove over the other man. Daniel stretched his arms wide, beer bottle dangling from his fingertips, “What you see is what you get,” he agreed, “This is me. Not a witch, not a vampire, not a shifter, unable to change into anything, not a succubus or fae of any sort....” he was running out of options, at least the common ones. “But....I cannot die. Well. I can, anything can if you try hard enough, but....I don’t tend to stay that way long,” the only thing he knew that could kill him was to pass his power on to another and he had no interest in that. “Are you cursed?” Danny’s eyes narrowed. He, too, was running out of options. There were some pretty obscure supernatural types out there, and he knew he couldn’t name them all. He probably couldn’t even name half of them. “Do you bleed? Bruise? Can you get an erection?” Danny smirked as he asked the last one and sipped his beer. “No, yes, yes, yes,” Daniel had a small smile as he finished his beer and went to pour them both a shot of whiskey. Double for Danny, he would need it. “Give up?” he asked, deciding to tell him. “Yeah, I fucking give up, man. You’re not making it easy on me.” Danny complained, watching Daniel pour. Whiskey. Hitting the hard stuff. Danny liked where this was going. Taking a shot and swallowing it, Daniel poured himself another, then handed Danny his glass, “Sin eater,” he replied, waiting to see the reaction. Danny gained a whole new level of respect for Daniel when he shot his whiskey like that. Not everyone could. Some even saw it as an uncivilized approach, since whiskey should be sipped. But when you wanted to get that buzz, there was no faster way for it to hit you than to shoot your whiskey. When Daniel told him what he was, Danny considered the words. Sin eater? Sin eater? He took the glass slowly, still watching Daniel, then shot his own back with a smooth tip of the glass against his lips. Daniel had poured him a double, so it took Danny two swallows. He held it out for a refill and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What the hell is that?” Refilling without comment, Daniel handed the glass back. “Exactly what it sounds like. I take in the sins of the dying so that they are innocent in the afterlife. Heaven, hell, whatever you want to call it. Every human culture has some sort of afterlife though, typically where they assess your deeds in life to determine if you go to a good place or bad on. Christianity is the obvious one, ,but it’s in Egyptian culture, Aztec, even Jews historically had a version, though that practice didn’t make it to more modern times,” he smiled humorously, “As a dragon, I cannot take your sins, not that I much care to. Most sin eaters have gone to ground, like me, because of, well, a lot of reasons. We’re a relic from times gone by. Even when I was born, we were swiftly on the decline. People do not believe anymore.” Danny absorbed this information, staring at Daniel as the man spoke. He took his glass silently but didn’t drink from it yet. He had about a thousand questions to ask and couldn’t decide where to begin, but the last thing Daniel said caught Danny’s curiosity the most. “Wait, they have to believe in you for you to exist? Or is it like… if they don’t believe in that whole sin concept, you don’t get to eat, and you die?” He sipped, watching Daniel intently. Ah, theology. On this topic, Daniel was a scholar, though far from an expert, “Everyone sins and what is considered a sin doesn’t actually vary all that much around the world, whether the culture has a sin eater or not. I’m speaking from a Christian standpoint since it is what I know. There you can pardon sins, clear the slate and go to heaven. Confess to the priest, last rites, whatever. Even in Protestantism says believe in Jesus, ask for forgiveness and your sins are gone. If your sins are gone, cleansed, then there is nothing for me,” he paused making sure that Danny followed. “However, there are those who do not wish to confess, do not agree with the church, who are excommunicated, who still fear hell. They want to be cleansed through loopholes. I am the loophole. And if they are desperate enough, rich enough,” then Daniel smiled, feral despite his lack of pointed teeth, “and they are smart enough, then there are ways to find me. We have never been common knowledge, but for all that we are in the information age, we are not in the age of belief and of faith. It makes....things more difficult. There will always be evil men, doing evil things, whose hands will never be clean and who fear their mortality. And I will always be here.” The whole concept of morality was laughable to Danny. He believed people made choices, and that was as complicated as it got. Selfish reasons weren’t always wrong, righteous reasons weren’t always right. Who got to say what was a sin and what wasn’t? Danny certainly didn’t believe in some omnipotent omniscient god. Not even multiple gods. So did that mean he didn’t have anything for Daniel to eat? Other than being a dragon, apparently. Danny chuckled and shook his head, sipping now. “I can see why you avoid telling people. That shit is convoluted. If you don’t eat sin, or whatever, do you die? Why are you in a sanctuary city if you can pass as human and humans give you food?” It was very complicated, “I originally came here because I was being hunted by the church,” Daniel answered. “The Catholic church does not like...loopholes. Or errant priests. Somehow, they found out I not only still roamed around, but was creating loopholes in their doctrine. The church has lost a lot of power in recent years, but it is still powerful and not to be underestimated,” just because it did not control the USA did not mean that it did not have control elsewhere. “I stay because I like it. And because changing identities gets old. Here, I’m as old as I feel like admitting to. Or not.” He had foolproof identification of course, but he didn’t need to use it most of the time and that was the point. He assumed Danny would understand that, likely being older than he physically appeared. He paused a moment then added, “You make it sound like I’m a vampire, needing human blood. It’s not like that. I eat your sins, you die. Police frown on serial killers. They make whole TV shows about it.” “Huh,” Danny rolled this over in his mind and held his cup out for a refill. He was starting to feel the alcohol as it warmed his belly and it was a pleasant buzz. “So… you don’t need to eat sins to survive. You just do it for kicks.” He grinned at Daniel. “I’ve got nothing against someone who offs humans, by the way.” Did he need sins to survive? No. But they were delicious and he enjoyed them. Like decadent dessert, he didn't want them all the time, but when he wanted to indulge, it was a nice treat. The perks were delightful too. “I only eat the sins of the dying. It's perhaps an odd moral code, but it works for me. And I'm not ignorant or naive enough to think that I'm going to heaven or anywhere good when my time comes.” “Shiiiiit,” Danny chuckled. “With any luck, the void will fuckin’ welcome you with open arms.” And Danny raised his glass to toast to that. He certainly wasn’t a believer in any kind of a heaven/hell system. He welcomed being swallowed up by nothing when his time came. “I think we’re gonna get along pretty well, you and me.” He winked. |