Dani Ferreira

“You are so welcome.” Niklaus played along with her words, putting the alcohol he’d used to make their shots, back on the shelf. “Why? Because you get free bottled water?” he raised a brow, smirking faintly. “Let’s be real— it’s because I’m here, right? I knew it.”

“I guess you’re part of the charm.” She smiled at him, mischievous. “But you shouldn’t let that get to your head.”

The brunet couldn’t help but not understandingly, shoving his hands inside his pocket as he mirrored the girl’s smile. “It is pretty crazy, isn’t it? Everything’s happening all at once, it’s weird but in a good way. It also makes me anxious and strangely I have like an existential crisis at least once every week if I think about it?” the chef chuckled. “I get that. I think anyone who’s away from home can understand what that feels like, being homesick. Even if it wasn’t the best place to be. For how long have you been away?” he questioned before extending his hand for her to shake. “I’m Aristóteles, but you can call me Ari, everyone does. I’m from Oaxaca, Mexico.”

“It’s funny, with all this movement and loudness, I’m way less anxious here than I was at home. I can’t explain it at all, it’s just how it feels for me. I didn’t plan this at all, but it felt into place.” She shrugged. “I’ve been here for five years, but I try to go back once a year, see the family and the place. Nice to meet you, Aristóteles! My full name is Daniela, actually, but everyone calls me Dani. Mexico is a wonderful place, too. I’ve only been there once, but I hope I can go back soon.”

“Right”, Declan drew out slowly. Apparently there now was only one museum in the world, but he really didn’t feel like arguing about it. “Of course it is. I bought myself a 3.6 million dollar car when I got divorced”, he shrugged. Marriage was horrible, happy people still didn’t need that validation. “Ireland”, he said. Preferring New York over Brazil was even more ridiculous, but he wasn’t getting into that. “It’s Declan.”

“Well, I did do some impulse shopping when I got divorced, but it was nowhere near 3.6 million dollars.” She laughed a bit about how absurd this stranger sounded. “And what’s keeping you so far from Ireland, Declan? Did you come because of ties here or are you running from something there?” Dani loved to know the stories of how people ended up in New York, with so many different roads leading to the same place.

“Oh, they break up the days that are dreadfully slow.” Tatum replied with a laugh. “Tatum Wells, pleasure to meet you. I’m a homicide detective, if we’re being specific. Think Olivia Benson from Law & Order, before she worked her way up to Captain. She’s my inspiration, truly, I’d like to eventually work my way up the ranks.”

“Not to sound morbid, but homicide detective does sound like the most interesting police career there is. I hope you do make your way up there.” She nodded. “It’s something I could never see myself doing, though. I work at MoMA and I pretty much live for art and history.”

“I’m so glad to hear that you’re well,” Cecelia replied, a genuine smile on her facial features. She thought Dani was a lovely person, and she enjoyed their conversations. “The children are wonderful, thank you so much for asking. Jack actually just asked me to come back here, so you’ll be seeing more of us even after this exhibition.” It made Cecelia happy that her children were becoming interested in the places New York City had to offer. “Of course I like the work so far. I have complete faith in you. Do you know how lost I would be without your help?” Cecelia said, a laugh escaping her lips. Listening intently, Cecelia followed Dani and nodded as she spoke. It was clear how passionate she was about her work, and she loved listening to her speak about the different pieces. “I can’t wait to see it. I’m sure it’s marvelous. I’m not surprised you managed to get one. You don’t seem like the type to give up easily.” 

“That’s great to hear! We have amazing tours for children here, I bet they will have a lot of fun!” She commented, always happy to know of somebody’s interest for the museum. MoMA was like her baby, and she was proud to see it reach all sorts of people, royal kids included. “Oh, I’m positive anyone in our theme would assist you with excellence! I do love to work with your projects, though. You always give us opportunity to host new, amazing experiences here.” Dani said, thankful to be doing exactly what she was doing every day. “Oh, thank you so much! That means a lot to me. Well, it’s always a team effort, but I guess I can be a bit persistent when it comes to this.” It felt great to have her efforts recognized, and she was very, very happy with the team’s achievements.

“I will admit I am leading man material in pretty much all ways, but I don’t think I would want to deal with the eight shows a week thing. I like making my own schedule” he said with laughter in his voice, leaning in to press a kiss to his friends cheek in greeting, wrapping his arms around her when she wrapped him in a bear hug. “You are scaring him. You’re also trying to ruin my rep. All of my employees know that I’m the devil and you come in here and sully that immediately”, he told her, obvious laughter in his voice.  Elias was smart, an educated, well read man but even some of the things Daniela talked about had him raising his eyebrows. “I apologize for your….problem with finding adequate reading material but you need a god damn break, so I won’t be blamed for dragging you out.”  He finally sat, tapping the bar so Zeke would bring him a fresh drink. “You should be glad I’m busy working! Would you much rather I be lazying around the penthouse all day?” he asked and then smirked “Oh trust me if I could convince Casey to pack her bags we’d be living on a private island already, she’s much more logical than I am, though.” he gave her a look, though, because he knew Daniela, and he knew her worry was genuine. “I’m fine, Dani, I promise you. I’m taking care of myself” he assured her “what about you, how are you?”

Dani laughed with his pretend complaints. “Maybe I have the mission to destroy the devil’s reputation. Eventually, they will all see you’re the biggest dork.” She answered, in a playful and affectionate tone. She rolled her eyes at his judgment of her routine, but she smiled. Elias was kind of right about her need to get out a bit more. She just refused to admit it. Her eyes lighted up at the mention of Casey. Dani was very happy to see the good influence the girl seemed to have on her friend. It was good to know that Elias had someone like her in his life, giving him something concrete to consider before taking risky or impulsive decisions. It reminded Dani of how Susan used to keep her down to earth, a bit. “Oh, and how is Casey doing? The babies are almost here, right? I just can’t wait to meet them.” Even if Daniela was not very good with children, there were some kids that meant the world for her. Elias and Casey’s babies weren’t even born yet, but they had already won her heart. “I’m glad to know you are. And you can always call if you need anything, you know.” She sighed at his question. “Well, I’m good as always. I miss her sometimes, but it gets easier with time, I guess.” Dani didn’t need to mention Susan’s name. He would know who she’s talking about.

It didn’t take even a whole second for Ivy to do what she did every time she got comfortable in the arms of someone she loved which was to take a handful of their hair gently, rest her head on their shoulder, and start to dribble. It was a sure fire way to know she was as relaxed as she could possible be, which was how Carlotta knew to never worry when Daniela was holding onto her daughter. Pulling a face the woman wrinkled her nose at the mention of her daughter being smarter just because she was being provided with everything she would need, shaking her head. “I don’t know about that, she’s my daughter after all, let’s just hope she has her daddy’s brains and then she can be whatever she wants to be.” There was a tinge of sadness in her tone that was gone before it was possible to even register it, waving her hand a little bit to brush off the meaning of the words just as rapidly. “Over two hundred? No I had no idea! I knew he painted a lot of things but I didn’t really know what they were, he’s very good at it what’s for sure, I’m not surprised.” At the mention of going to visit his house in France the woman who often had more money than sense thanks to her marriage span on her heel to turn to the other with a bright look of excitement filling her eyes. “Do you want to go to France? To see the waterlily house I mean. We could totally go, we could go this week if you wanted, David is away in China or Japan or something on work so he wouldn’t even know I’d gone anywhere. Not that he minds. We could take Ivy to see the flowers.” Clapping her hands a couple of times she was hardly listening to the offer of playdates to teach the baby Portuguese because her mind was now on if it would be more effective to charter a plane to get across the ocean or go commercial, the second one potentially slowing down the speed they could get there but still. “Hmm? Oh, that would be fun! I love playdates!”

Dani gave Lottie a faint smile, just a bit sad that she thought so little of her own intelligence. “You know, you should give yourself a little more credit. I meet a lot of people here at MoMA, and few are so earn to learn new things, curiosities and so on as you are. That’s precious, Lottie!” She said, sincerely. “And this little one will be brilliant, I am certain.” She said, feeling the calming baby scent of Ivy’s head. Dani had a big smile while Carlotta casually suggested a trip to France. Sure, she was very attached to Lottie and Ivy, but she could never take up such an offer. “That’s very, very sweet of you, Lottie, but it’s hard for me to travel. Pretty much every time I am on vacation I go to Brazil to see my family. Maybe someday we can schedule that, though. Who knows?” She suggested, honestly hoping that time and money one day would allow her that. It’s not that she couldn’t do it with a little effort and organization, but for now it sounded more like a distant future plan than a concrete idea for her next vacations. “By the way, have you ever been to Brazil? We also have cool museums and different places I think you two would love. The biggest open-air museum in the world is there, it’s a really fun place to visit with children.” 

“Oh, really? That’s so cool. I love museums. I think I’ve been to them all in the area quite a few times. Blows my mind how museums could collect sug beautiful things,” she smiled as she spoke. “Oh hands down. I would genderbend him in a heartbeat.”

“I am very, very biased on that issue but yeah, I love them. Every day, I’m still enchanted by the place I work in.” She laughed with the other. “Lin and Quiara are truly brilliant at creating characters.”

“Oh, love, that’s amazingly sweet. They are iffy on talking. Getting better, but they are three. Lately it’s the stage where you say something and they repeat it. Watching my mouth as never been as important as it is now,” she smiled at the woman.

“Oh, I always have a hard time controlling what I say around kids. I tried swearing on a different language around my little cousin once, but he started repeating that as well and it didn’t really work.” Dani shrugged, smiling.

MARIGOLD: Do you listen to what’s on the radio? 

Not really, but that’s mostly because I’m almost never in a car or something like that. One of my favorite things about NYC is that I can get nearly everything I need done without needing to drive. It’s not that I dislike driving on it’s own, it’s just too stressful and not very practical.

HELICONIA: Do you like when it rains?

I would rather have a sunny day, always. Rain just gets on the way.