the rapid knocking on his door, only to open it to find dani standing on the other side, is something that eddie had not expected this evening to entail. she’s bloody, a gash across her forehead, and the sight has eddie’s eyes widening slightly. it’s not that he’s a stranger to the sight of blood, not by any means, but her standing here like this has him taken aback.

what the hell happened to her?

he realizes then that he might have asked that aloud, judging by her response : i’m gonna need some help getting clean. eddie still doesn’t know what transpired — but he opens the door wider regardless, reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder to pull her inside.

“ the bathroom is this way, ” he says, gesturing for her to follow him. he isn’t asking any questions. not just yet. admittedly, his curiosity is piqued, though — what has dani done? what happened to leave her with a gash like that and covered in blood, only to end up on eddie’s doorstep?

once in the bathroom, he points for dani to sit on the edge of the tub, and meanwhile he moves to the sink spigot to wet a washcloth. blue eyes flicker towards her again as he waits for the water to warm, taking note ; she seems eerily calm, given the circumstances. a bit preoccupied, sure, but other than that? surprisingly fine.

dani is calm, and it's not a state of shock. though it's certainly something to reckon with, the knowledge that her father no longer breathes is not unsettling. this was the way that things were meant to be, whether she saw it beforehand or not.

eddie is being so thoughtful with her. his tenderness is more surreal than the reality of what she's done and briefly, her brow furrows with that realization. they both felt the kinship between them, that much dani was confident of, but this is a TEST of their bond. she sits and allows eddie to help her, her own hand raising instinctively to lay gently on his arm as he cleans her face. then, the question she was expecting.

there's a dignified nod to satisfy him for the time being, though words follow shortly after.

"i didn't know where else to go..." clearly, the most important of the story: his understanding that she didn't want to put him in this position. "it just kept pouring out of him. you hear how much blood's in a man, but it—"

it sprayed all over her, coated her hands too. what she wants to say next scares her, scares her in a way that most people couldn't imagine her being scared. and yet, she doesn't carry SHAME in her voice, only the hesitancy that says, will you shun me for this?

"all good things, i hope," she jokes. percy doesn't know why he's here, why he's playing at being jed after so long, but she'll follow his lead. she always does. so she lets her face go soft and sympathetic, just like she would for any innocent person who found themselves in the fog. she's not as good a liar as danny, but she can hold her own most of the time.

jed has half of the survivors wrapped around his pinky already, primed to fret over him and bathe him in attention. this, at least, should help to spare her from any close skepticism over that initial shock she so eagerly tucked away. there's a look in his eyes that she's familiar with by now. he's proud as she sinks her teeth into what he's created here.

"oh, uh," he casts a nervous look around at the other survivors. for jed, it felt taboo to bring up their past lives, insensitive in a way that couldn't be easily forgiven. though he'd normally boast about his job, here he blinks and stares at his shoes, deflating a bit with a sigh. all a performance and yet, the SHAME seems natural over jed's frame. anything in order to twist his audience into knots.

"i was a journalist..." his lips purse before those dark eyes return to her, warm with hope. "i'm not sure exactly how that could help me here, though..." danny wonders how she'll take that, what direction she'll run in with it. the stage is hers now, ripe for the taking.

Michael has never been admired or liked before, until now. Until Jed, who seemed so eager to meet and interview him. Not a drop of fear in his eyes or in his body language, just pure, raw excitement. It was strange, even stranger when he came back a couple more times and now, he's out of Smith's Grove and in his car, and then they're in a small little house seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Michael's hospital gown is stained with blood and rain water, though he doesn't mind. How can he mind, when now he is free? Never to return to Smith's Grove. They're going to spend the next couple of weeks looking for him, and though he doesn't plan to hide from them, he also isn't going to lay down and let them take him. Something tells him Jed-- Danny-- won't do so, either.

danny knows it may be optimistic to think that the look in michael's eye is GRATITUDE. though he hoped this would earn him some brownie points, he doesn't feel owed anything inherently. this was danny's risk to take, and danny's risk alone. but he's reinvented himself enough times now that plucking a rose from its confines to release it unto the world is WORTH IT, even if it goes no further.

strange, to move in front of another without the conscious filter of a manufactured identity. jed (though he's gone by many names now) had become so enmeshed into his daily life that his own persona almost seemed the worse fit. though he moves as fluid as ever, a cat stalking despite having no prey, he stretches restlessly as he walks back to the the pile of supplies he stashed away. his arms reach over his head, his back arches, and he breathes into the tension til his boots land at the edge of the heap.

"i had to guess your size, big guy." danny drops into a squat, rifling into a bag and pulling out a t-shirt, underwear, and sweatpants, all neutral colors. gotta be more comfortable than what he's wearing already. his keen eye let him estimate the size of him faithfully, thankfully. in truth, danny knows a VAST DEAL about michael and would continue to study him with fascination.

notably, his back has been turned to michael while he's occupied. it's a show of TRUST, without even a second thought. michael could've killed him by now and danny sees no reason that he would.

the clothes are placed on the table in front of michael. seeing the pace with which he's tearing through that food, another can of chili is plucked out of a rubbermaid bin and cracked open, poured into a bowl and placed down as well. offerings upon offerings.

"you mind me callin' you michael? are we on a first name basis, you think?" danny flashes a crooked smile, waiting to catch michael's gaze and see the nonverbal response.

Xavier Samuel Alphabet: Josh