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[danireznik]

laurelborialis​:

@danireznik​

“Princess Buttercup, right?” Laurel asks as she comes up to the other, already reaching for the ladle to pour herself a drink from the ‘smoking’ cauldron. She grins and sighs, her eyes on her pour to make sure she doesn’t spill on either of their pretty dresses. “I loved The Princess Bride! Everyone needs a good Westly in their lives, you know?”

Dani blushes at Laurel’s approach, taking a sip of punch as Laurel pours a cup of her own. “I figured I’ve got the hair already, and a red dress wasn’t too hard to find.” It had turned out much better than she’d expected, to be honest; but then, she’d had a lot more help than she’d expected too. “I─” She’s about to confess to having seen the movie three times in the theater the year it came out, but then Laurel makes a comment about Westley and Dani falters, scanning the crowd for Matteo’s familiar silhouette as if to reassure herself that he’s still there. “No arguments here,” is what she eventually settles on, then offers Laurel a shy smile. “Your hair looks really pretty done up like that.”

[danireznik]

Come the Slumberless To the Land of Nod, Traci Brimhall

[danireznik]

for her twenty-third birthday, dani is celebrating her newfound freedom with a costume from an old favorite film, the princess bride. dressed in buttercup’s iconic red gown, with her hair worn long and loose, she arrives to the monster mash on the arm of her own farm boy: @matteo-emerson.

[danireznik]

endlesshvnger​:

         i guess that means you’re not by yourself. in that moment, he hesitates. it’s not an incorrect assumption, nor an attack against him, but jack’s first instinct is to go on the defensive. as if anyone, particularly someone who’s been placed in the same situation, might try and tear it away from him. but she, of all people, won’t. he knows she won’t. “most of the others are still out here in the city,” he says, voice tumbling out in more of a sigh. “i see them every so often. met a few others here and there that are sympathetic.” none from the very place she’s decided to settle, of course, but that’s besides the point. and also not as true as he would like to admit. in the end, he won’t make the decision for her. if dani feels more comfortable at the institute, he won’t make an effort to force her to leave.

         “are you comfortable there?” he asks, eyes shifting off toward his sides. an old habit, but one he sticks to. nobody could know, not for the longest time. now too many people do. the burden hasn’t left any of them. “at the institute, i mean. there are other options, if…” he trails off, biting his tongue. if she would prefer someone who won’t harbor the enemy in the same building she’s expected to sleep. “if you ever change your mind.”

         her question does manage to catch him off guard, although it shouldn’t. “i’ve managed,” he says, shrugging a shoulder. it’s the least complicated answer he can give. “it’s better than the alternative.” and it’s true.

     ah yes, the sympathetic strangers. dani isn’t trying nearly as hard not to hate them as she thinks she probably should, but no matter how sincere they seem they always make her skin crawl. maybe jack means something else, though; maybe he means he’s made friends, out here in the real world. maybe he’s found people who look at him and see a person, rather than a threat or a curiosity.

     when he asks if she’s comfortable, offers her options, dani looks down at the floor. “yeah, i... i’m okay for now.” there are things (people) there that she doesn’t like, but even with emmeline essex in the mansion it seems like her best bet. “i got my own room, and there’s a huge library, and i’m takin’ classes and stuff.” remedial classes, mostly; all the science and math and history she’d missed from high school. “i’m uh. ‘m thinkin about lookin for a job, if you got any suggestions.” this too, dani is confident jack will understand for what it is: a step towards independence.

    it’s not the most positive answer, but jack doesn’t seem... hungry. at least not the way she’d seen him at essex. and he’s right, whatever he’s had to do to get by out here has to be better than before - at least now he gets to make those choices for himself. they all do. “you’re tough,” she says softly, looking back up at him across the table. “i always... when we were still...” dani stumbles over the words, pauses, then tries again to say what she really means. “thank you. i’d still be in there if it weren’t for you.”

[danireznik]

hqessex​:

    keep your head down and nothing bad will happen. it was a cowardly move try and outrun her previous errors but she knew there was more than enough evidence to not only convict her but place the blame entirely on her. an isolated, emotionally unstable dangerous mutant, that was all they would need and nathaniel would continue with his life (wherever he was). emmeline did not want to just disappear to some remote island but wanted to prove that she wasn’t her father, that she was capable of change. however, that word meant a different thing to different people. the fact of the matter was that she would never be able to completely undo the past thirty years.

     it wasn’t that emmeline was unpredictable - there would always be tears at some point - it was the fact that she was incredibly volatile and didn’t have that specific anchor to steady herself. hurt people hurt people and with her emotions being inconsistent along with her being unable to control her ability now, there was a higher chance she could hurt someone. the woman was sitting down with her eyes looking at a book, only she wasn’t reading it, she was just looking, eyes glazed over her mind went somewhere else entirely. her attention was pulled out of her trance when someone else entered. it was a recognisable face, they had a face she knew and it wasn’t from xavier’s. quickly pushing herself up to her feet, eyes wide and proceeded to create distance between the two.

      “it’s not what you think.” the woman’s breathing was shallow as she put her hands up.

    books are one of the few things that have remained relatively constant in dani’s life; even at essex there had been a small collection the residents were allowed to borrow from, and by the time she was seventeen dani had read them all cover-to-cover. professor xavier’s library seems like it might take several lifetimes to read through so thoroughly, but that hasn’t stopped her from making it a regular haunt between classes.

    dani is already through the open entry to her favorite reading nook when she locks eyes with the woman, and sudden recognition sends a white-hot bolt of fear through her body from head to toe. emmeline essex, a monster straight out of her nightmares, and it’s only the sight of hands in the air, a universal gesture of submission, that keeps dani from turning and running for the library door. she’d known emmeline was here, had been warned by almost all of the other survivors that this was a possibility, but she had really hoped to delay this meeting a little longer.

   it’s not what you think. “well what the hell is it then?” dani demands, startled by her own boldness but determined to stand her ground. this place is safe, she reminds herself. here, if she screams, someone will come running.

[danireznik]

sawyer-sees​:

Sawyer switches some music on, pretty quiet so they can still talk — he just likes being surrounded by noise. The muffled strains of guitar through the van’s shitty speakers, the low hum of the engine, and Dani’s familiar voice updating him. It’s a comfort. There’s no room for bad thoughts in his head through that.

He smiles at the sound of her voice, but keeps an eye on the road (he’s not always the most careful driver when he’s alone, but with a passenger beside him, he’s a stickler for the Highway Code). “Gettin’ your own room’s nice. I can’t believe what a difference it makes, gettin’ your own space. Feels real safe. But what d’you wanna get a job for? Ain’t it better to focus on takin’ classes for now?” Sawyer’s not convinced the Institute is an especially safe place, given their evident Essex Sympathies, but at least she’s got Matteo and Mi around. Much as he’d hated the imprisonment at Essex, he gets kind of anxious now thinking about the people he’d grown close to being out in the wide world. Almost a ‘better the devil you know’ sort of feeling.

“Me? Nah, just been catchin’ up with some of the old Essex lot, workin’ away.” Trying and failing to find contact information for his mom, for Lia. “Honestly ain’t lookin’ to do anything too excitin’. Just wanna… fuckin’ relax for a bit, y’know? Still can’t barely even get used to not feelin’ scared all the time.”

The music isn’t loud enough that Dani can make out any of the details, but the background noise is nice. Everything at Essex was either too quiet or too loud - the silence of solitary, the hushed mechanical whir of machines in the various labs, the cacophony of the ring and the way any moment might be interrupted by a scream of pain from somewhere in the distance. This feels right, and Dani relaxes into the seat as Sawyer takes them out onto the open road.

He asks about classes and she shrugs, turning to watch the landscape changing out the window to her right. “Guess I maybe should, but I don’t wanna...” Dani hesitates. “Can’t live at the school forever, right?” What she can’t say - what she hopes Sawyer will understand without her having to say - is how much it scares her to be dependent on the Xavier Institute. What she means is I need to be able to walk away.

“Kinda feels like all I’m gonna do for the next couple of years is play catch-up,” she admits with a soft laugh, not much more than a deliberate exhale. “You seen Jess or Seven yet? Lach seems like he’s doin’ okay, an’ Mo... well, I heard they were there when the rest of you got busted out, so I guess you’d know more ‘bout how they’re doin’ than I would.”

[danireznik]

lachlanxmcleod​:

Dani practically throws herself into Lachlan’s arms, and he squeezes her back as tight as he can without crushing her. Because, he knows exactly how it is she’s feeling, and being able to feel, even the unsteady, sob racked breathing under his fingers is a comfort he didn’t even realize he had been missing all this time. To know she had made it out of there, and was alive, if not well, was the best possible case scenario. 

Lachlan holds her tight, fingers carding carefully through her hair, cautious to avoid the antlers as he did so. He’s crying too, though he tries to keep it subdued for the sake of them both being able to have a conversation. There’s plenty of reason to breakdown, but breaking down in this very moment won’t be helpful. He’d rather be able to be here in this moment with someone who he had worried he’d never get the chance to see again. 

“I know,” He says softly. The same worries had crossed his mind. The thought that he could never see him again was something that gnawed at him just the way the same thoughts of his family did. But, then again, Dani was family. “But, here I am. In one piece. And, so are you.” It wasn’t the end all be all of their struggles. But, it was a start. And, Lachlan could just be grateful that he was able to be there for her again. “We’re both going to be okay.”

She’s living in a world that as little as three weeks ago would have seemed like an impossible fantasy, something too outlandish to waste time thinking about. Even during her occasional stints in solitary confinement Dani had never dared to imagine a life like this, a freedom like this, and she doesn’t know what to do with it. Lachlan’s arms around her are solid and warm, the gentle tugging of his hands in her hair an old comfort; for a long moment, Dani allows herself to simply melt into his embrace and let his quiet reassurance wash over her: they’re here. Essex House is gone. They’re going to be okay.

“Thank you.” The words slip out before she’s even formed the conscious thought behind them, but they’re no less sincere for it. Dani lets herself lean back, a hand now resting on each of Lachlan’s arms so as not to break the closed loop of physical contact. “You... I heard. What you did.” She hasn’t watched the interview, doesn’t know if she can stomach seeing the seven of them show the entire world what Nathaniel Essex had done, but she knows where she would be without it.

Looking up at Lachlan’s face (streaked with tears just like her own, though he seems much more in control of his own emotions than she is right now) Dani can almost feel the bitterness she’d been harboring begin to fade. None of them deserved what they got in that prison, but... “I’m glad you were with them,” she says, and the corners of her lips curve up into the faintest echo of a smile. “I hope... I hope it keeps getting better. For all of us.”

[danireznik]

hollandbright​:

          Holland  giggles  and  skates  around  in  a  circle.   It’s  rare  she  can  enjoy  the  rink  rather  than  actually  working,   but  she  didn’t  have  a  shift  and  she  couldn’t  say  no  to  Dani.   Still  she  was  awkward  around  people,   especially  people  that  seemed  intimidating.   “I  think  you’ll  get  the  hang  of  it  after  a  little  bit.   Um,   don’t  feel  like  you’ve  got  to  stay  away  from  the  edge.   And  don’t  be  afraid  to  fall.   I  can  help  you  up  if  and  when  you  do.”

Holland’s giggle sounds strange to Dani’s ears, but welcome - she’s still getting used to hearing real laughter again. Dani offers a small but genuine smile as she settles herself on the rinkside bench, tugging off her Keds and carefully lacing up the rented skates. “So just hang on to the rail, huh? I can do that.” Fortunately the rink is fairly quiet at the moment, only a few other skaters drifting lazily around the shiny wooden floor to a song she doesn’t recognize (which doesn’t narrow down the possibilities At All), so once she’s sure her skates are on tight enough Dani pushes up off the bench and cautiously reaches out a hand. “Would you, uh. Can you help me get out there?”

[danireznik]

pridepotential​:

          @danireznik​ !!

         “you’re up late,” she remarks, leaning against the doorway. “having trouble sleeping?”

it still feels like getting caught - like she’s doing something she shouldn’t be, like punishment is imminent - when a teacher pops up out of nowhere. dani tries to recover, but she knows the woman saw her startle, and she pauses to take a deep breath before answering. “yeah, i guess. ‘s kinda nice to get to wander though.”

[danireznik]

matteo-emerson​:

Matteo eyes widen when she mentions the Essex House. Even before everything done recently; he had known the name. When they had first opened, he had only been 9; and suddenly all of the kids who had known mutations were gone overnight. It had bothered him then, and it bothered him more now; after seeing the interviews and reading the stories about it. When the news had come out about what Essex really was, it had made him pause, and think, just how close had he come to ending up there too? If one thing had gone wrong, or he had talked to the wrong person at some point; what would have happened? But those thoughts are unimportant right now. 

Instead, Matteo stays quiet as he listen to Dani tell her story. He bites his tongue hard, and tastes copper when she shows him his ability. He isn’t afraid of it, no, he’s angry. Angry at the scars he can see, at the pain he can hear in her voice. Angry at the situation she had to deal with. One of the lights attached to the institute flickers briefly. However, Matteo knows that this isn’t a time when he should interrupt. Once she seems like she’s finished, he steps forward again and re-enters her space. He hugs her again, this time harder. Leaning down, he rests his head on her shoulder. “…I’m so sorry.” the ‘that I couldn’t save you’ goes unsaid. 

Matteo stands there for a moment, feeling her heartbeat against his chest. It’s racing, but so is his. “I wasn’t even home. That night?” He finally says, voice muffled against her sweatshirt. He takes a deep breath, inhaling the scent of laundry detergent; but hidden underneath it is the smell he remembers, the one he knew all those year ago. He raises his head, arms dropping to his side. He reaches out, taking Dani’s hand. “Paul. He was saying I had to leave. It was a big thing, but he talked shit about my mom and I…” He squeezes his eyes shut before opening them again. “I got angry. Sent a bolt next to his head.” Matteo explains. “Kelly called the police, so I had to get out of there. I spent the night a random place. Tried to go to your place the next day but…” He frowns, as they both come to the same conclusion. She had already been gone by then.  

“I couldn’t stay there, I don’t know what would have happened if I got caught but..” Matteo shakes his head “I hitch hiked to Boston. Lived on the streets for a year-ish. That’s where the Institute found me.” He squeezes her hand, his own trembling. “Been here ever since.” Matteo finishes. What he went through seems so small next to her story. 

“You’re dad was wrong though. I hope you know that. You wouldn’t have hurt anyone. It wasn’t better for anyone” He says quickly, like it was something that had been bubbling since she started. “And you’re antlers? Their..their beautiful”

                     -ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Dani can’t look at Matteo, can’t risk seeing pity or fear or god forbid, disgust, on his face, but as she watches the spike retract she feels his arms close around her again. He says he’s sorry and she believes him, doesn’t bristle at the condolences like she does when they come from strangers, and Dani buries her face in his chest and lets her tears soak the front of Matteo’s t-shirt.

Then he begins his own story, steps back and takes her hand. It isn’t a surprise to hear how his foster parents had reacted; Dani can almost see Paul’s self-righteous sneer, can almost hear the fear ( half performance, half genuine ) in Kelly’s voice. She hates them for it, but at the same time it’s hard not to be grateful that Matteo has been free of them for so long. Even if... okay, living on the streets of Boston isn’t what she’d imagined all those years as she tried to picture what he might be doing. But the important part is that he made it out - that someone from Xavier’s found him like they had just found her and brought him back here, to a place with walls that feel more like those of a fortress and less like those of a prison.

When she feels Matteo start to shake Dani wraps her other hand around the one already clasped in hers. She’s still crying, tears running silently in salty-hot trails down her cheeks, and when he says the word beautiful she lets out an involuntary and extremely unflattering snort, almost laughter but much closer to distress.

“Please, don’t--they’re not, they can’t be beautiful, Matteo, I...I hurt people, when I was in there. They made me do it but I just--I got so used to it and--” Dani breaks off abruptly into another choking sob and steps forward to plant her face in his chest again - the only place she can think of where he can’t see her crying.

[danireznik]

marixsanchez​:

Mari eyes the girl for a moment longer before a small smile finally cracks. What can she say? She’s a sucker for a newbie. Hopefully this one wouldn’t end in disaster like the last one had. “I could, yeah. But, step one is confidence. We should start there if you’re gonna learn.” She sticks a hand out. “Mari.”

The smile that breaks the stranger’s stony expression is barely there, but Dani breathes a small sigh of relief when she’s offered a hand. “Dani,” she replies, a smile of her own dancing at the corners of her lips. Confidence. You can be confident. Dani straightens her spine and squares her shoulders, mirroring Mari’s posture as she reaches out to shake her hand. “Better?”

[danireznik]

endlesshvnger​:

         there’s no easy answer to a question like that, particularly to someone who had, for better or for worse, been left behind. it’s something that all of the escapees will have to deal with now that essex has finally released their prisoners. not everyone could make it out, back then. and no doubt those trapped there had suffered in the wake of their success. “i didn’t know how to deal with it,” he admits, lips drawn into a thin line. “adjusting was—is—difficult.” within nathaniel’s clutches, jack had forgotten how to live. although sometimes he thinks he had never really learned at all. “but it’s easier not… well, not doing it by yourself.”

She tilts her head as Jack gives an answer that, despite its brevity, is somehow more than Dani had expected. It’s strange to think about him out here in the world, strange to imagine him having spent nearly two full years, now, living a life so far removed from where he had been. Dani tries to picture herself two years from now, tries to imagine what it would be like to put the Essex House behind her, and fails.

“Guess that means you’re not by yourself.” For all the envy Dani feels, there’s a part of her that feels happy for him. For all of them, really. “I’m not... well, you know where I am. ‘M not alone, but... it’s just me an’ Mi at the Institute.” And Emmeline, but she doesn’t want to talk about that yet. There’s a lot she doesn’t want to talk about, but the nice thing about Jack is that out of all of them, he’s the one she trusts the most to understand her silence. It was Jack she had been imitating when she froze everyone out, his isolation she had hoped would be less painful than allowing herself to feel the things she was experiencing.

Dani lets her eyes follow the scar across Jack’s cheek to the corner of his lips, pressed tightly together as if opening his mouth for anything more than the bare minimum of conversation would be dangerous, and lets her curiosity get the better of her. “You been eatin’ okay since you got out?”

[danireznik]

screadail​:

from: eyespyinvestigations@hotmail.com to: neetsapizza@aol.com subj: need ur help

i shouldn’t have a problem finding them with that. a picture or description of them would be helpful, if you have one. my rates vary. i doubt you’d be able to afford them, seeing as you’re unemployed. do you have any marketable skills? i have been known to work for things other than money. 

from: neetsapizza@aol.com to: eyespyinvestigations@hotmail.com subj: RE: need ur help

don’t have any pictures but their names are ivan and sofia reznik and last i knew they lived at 74 allen ave, north providence, RI, 02911. it’s been about ten years so i dunno if i could really describe them any way that might help.

i can clean and organize stuff, or run errands maybe? i’m in kind of a weird situation but if there’s something you just need an extra pair of hands or eyes for i could probably help out.

[danireznik]

with @hollandbright​ at the roller rink

“So I haven’t actually done this in... ten years or so?” Dani gestures with the skates in her hands even though it’s pretty obvious what she means; she knows she looks uncomfortable as hell, but she’s determined to keep pushing herself to explore life outside of the Xavier Institute rather than sticking to what she knows. What’s safe. “Any tips? I’m afraid I’ll go full Bambi out there.”

[danireznik]

from: neetsapizza@aol.com to: eyespyinvestigations@hotmail.com | @screadail subj: need ur help

hi saw one of ur flyers this morning and im looking for somebody who moved, could u find them with a name & an old address?

pls also let me know what u charge, dont wanna waste ur time since i dont have a job right now

thank u!!!

[danireznik]

with @volitants​ at the xavier institute

Dani isn’t expecting company, but she’s slowly starting to get used to the Institute and the people in it, so when she hears someone walking into the dorm lounge while her back is turned she only jumps a little bit as she turns to see who it is. “Hey, uh. River, right?”

[danireznik]

marixsanchez​:

“What was that,” Mari barks, “What did you say?” 

“I’m a spineless piece of shit,” The man blubbers in return. 

“So you, can learn. Get the fuck out of my face before I change my mind.” Mari shoves him out of the way, watching him scamper like a stray dog before her eyes fall on a girl. She’d be more concerned if it weren’t for the antlers. “Can I help you with something?”

@danireznik​

“Oh, I--sorry, no, I just...” Dani hesitates, eyes tracking the woman’s hands as she shoves the man halfway out of the alley before he can find his feet. “...that was really cool. Can you--would you show me how you did that?”