Daniel Leto Glimpses

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel was arguing with a man about how much his services were worth and there was another customer waiting their turn. It was the first time something life this had happened. Normally, the Darkling only handled one order at a time.

However, with his recent windfall of contacts, Daniel had decided to try to expand his ‘business’ a little. More money would mean a better computer or at least better part to build a better computer. Plus with his appointment as ranger, he needed some survival gear. Though that would probably have to wait until he actually did some computer searches on what all you needed for survival gear. The Hedge was hardly a single environment. Sure, it tended to stick to local climate and local (mutated) wildlife but it could change on a dime. All weather, all terrain gear. That was expensive.

So, Daniel was making an effort to make some more funds. It unfortunately wasn’t as easy as getting back in contact with old buyers. He sold fake IDs after all. Not good ones, but so long as a card held, he didn’t get a lot of repeat customers. So it was a matter of getting his name out there and encouraging recommendations.

Unfortunately he didn’t have a lot of contacts in the criminal underworld. It had been something he avoided. The black-hat hacker community was much smaller than he was comfortable with and he planned to avoid that as much as possible. Especially after his run in with the Winter court in Minnesota. He knew they had fingers in the illegal hacker community. So for now he stuck with his local customers and made sure they knew he was available.

It was a lot more work than he expected, especially given his recent luck. That was the danger on depending on pledges to get you through life. In the end, the benefits always faded away. Though, there were lifelong promises but those held their own risks.

So Daniel restricted himself with texts to former customers. He instinctively focused on those that weren’t teenagers looking for drinks. Unfortunately that left him dealing with more and more immigrants. Most of whom spoke English at least a little. However as he argued now over price in a shouting match where all either side could do was hold up figures, the Gravewight knew he’d have to learn Spanish at some point or even Filipino or Chinese. Whatever the case, rudimentary sign language wasn't cutting it.

[Daniel Leto]

Daniel had never been camping in his life. He’d never been a boy scout. He was a city boy through and through. And he was supposed to be a Ranger.

The Gravewight sat slumped in his chair watching another youtube video by some survivalist nut on how to build a shelter out of sticks and mud. It was even sort of interesting, but this was just one in a long list of videos and articles he had seen and he’d been at it for what seemed like hours already. He didn’t care that his watch said only 45 minutes, he was going to go with hours.

The video paused with a mouse click and Daniel got up to stretch his legs. The sun had barely set and he was already tired. But then Summer was on its way and that meant longer days and later sunsets. It was a double whammy as not only a Winter courtier but also a Darkling. The extended hours of daylight left him feeling drained after having to endure the sensation that his very essence was being magically suppressed by the constant sunshine. More caffeine would be required if he was going to get through the night.

After grabbing a liter of coke from the fridge, he sat back down and exited the window, deciding to try another link. Something help spark his interest. He had his doubts. It was all setting up tents, and identifying poison berries. Wait… urban zombie survival guide? Daniel sat up a bit more. Now that could be cool. Not exactly Hedge specific but there had to be some crossover knowledge. He opened a new tab.

[Daniel Leto]

Incubi. He’d heard of them but aside from the Sandman had never faced one. Daniel didn’t know what it was. An incubus of some sort. Whatever that meant. He’d been trying to work on his contribution to the boy’s therapy, crafting his idea for how it could work as a ‘good’ representation of fear and healing. Then suddenly the incubus manifested, and began ripping apart the boy’s sanity bit by bit. It looked like a shadow made of black fog and it hadn’t been pleased when Daniel had started repairing and interfering in kind. It had brought Daniel into a ‘physical’ form at almost the same instant and attacked.

The battle ravaged any chance for Robby to have a pleasant night’s sleep. Daniel tried to keep his attacks to a minimum but as the clash wore on he was forced to resort to harsher tactics. Even knowing what it would do to him Daniel let the glamour flow into his ‘body’. Hardening flesh into stone and black steel wings. They were equal in almost all regards but Daniel had luck and the cold outlook Winter to give him the advantage. Slowly the shade began to fade.

“So many fractures in his mind. All too easy to get in and exploit. We’ll break-in in a flood of fear and passion.” Even wounded it continued to goad the Gravewight on.

“I don’t care.” The Giver of Comfort said coldly “I’ll walk the paths to heal the wounds caused by ghostly barbs. Whatever river might come, I’ll swim it, no matter how dark or bottomless. I’ll dive and find where the deepest fears or passages of passion has taken hold. I’ll heal it. For the good of all. I swear it.” He wasn't sure where the words came from, they just seemed the right thing to say.

The seconds seemed to stretch. The Gravewight poised to make another attack if the shadow made another move. He was pretty sure it was. It felt like it was smiling behind the dark vapors that made up its body.

“Now leave. Or I’ll kill you.” His voice was calm, cold, confident, and completely serious. The thing seemed taken aback at that. Almost frightened and confused. It knew it had no choice but to depart or it would be ended.

The Granter of Death watched the shade fade from the dream. Yet for a moment, it seemed to be like looking into a bestial mirror. Another Darkling, pale and transparent, staring back at him with pitch black eyes and disappointment.

Daniel spontaneously joins the Order of Oneirophysics. -1 Willpower to swear Oath.

Daniel woke up feeling sore all over. The dream had been mentally exhausting and from the feel of it, physical as well. He groaned like a zombie, holding his hand in front of his eyes to block out the cursed and forsaken light coming through the window. This was not his best day ever, even compared to some of the worse hangovers he’d had before his durance. Not even his palm could block out the bright rays of morning. Literally.

A moment of mental confusion followed that thought.

Daniel held out his hand in front of his face, to see that indeed, the rays of dawn were literally shining through translucent skin.

The calm he normally put on fell like a shattered mask as he yelled and tried to back away from the strange limb. Not that he had much luck getting away from digits attached to his body. Daniel hit his head hard against the head board. Which served to help break the panic up with some pain before it got too out of control.

Swearing and feeling not only foolish but still on the verge of freaking out, he went into the bathroom of his motel room. Thing weren’t much better there either, unfortunately. His reflection had changed. Instead of the pale white of marble, his face was drained of color and substance. Like the fantasy of stone.

Daniel did his best to steady his breathing as he ran his semi transparent hand over features bordering on unreal. He was still here. That much he could tell, but it was like some part of him had been left behind.

Tentatively, he reached out to touch the mirror. Solid. He tested to make sure he could open the cabinet and the hinges squeaked reassuringly. He was solid. The world was solid. He wasn’t going insane.

Daniel touched the cold glass again just to be sure.

This was going to be hard to explain to his friends. 'Why do you look like an ephemeral fairy all of a sudden?' 'Not sure, just woke up this way after a dream.'

Yeah, that would go over well.