AND WATCH MY PURPLE SKY FLY OVER ME // Danny

[VAYNE CIPHER-VANTAS.]

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

With everything happening in The Typhoon lately, namely things with her sister, Inferno, Vayne felt very stressed and unhappy as of late. And so, when the kitten found enough free time to herself and not dealing with her family issues, she went towards the beach for her favorite passtime: collecting shells.

It was hard finding the perfect one, when most of them were shattered and broken by the strong waves that crashed onto the beach. Vayne didn't give up her search, though, happily trotting along the beachside with a bucket in her mouth, pausing every few steps to see if she could find a whole shell. Or at the very least, one that wasn't so damaged it wasn't just a little piece.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[daniel]

To be quite honest, Danny had no fucking clue what was going on with the Typhoon. Which was fair, he was only now at a point where he was somewhat comfortable at being out and perhaps even considering staying in the land of the pirates. As far as family went, he didn't have any. Not any that he could say without a shadow of a doubt were still alive, anyway. His mother's location and condition were...debatable, unknown. And that was definitely unfortunate in a place where it seemed family was key and everyone could point and say they were tagging behind someone. Not that it bothered him, he had a mother, he did. He just...didn't know where she was. He chose to trot behind Harland and Vayne instead when he saw them, with Harland offering a sense of safety and Vayne's sunshiney attitude balanced out his anxieties.

Speaking of, Danny hadn't expected to cross paths with her on the beach. True, it seemed a lot of people walked along the shoreline, but they usually just sat there in silence. Vayne had a bucket, and was actually doing something, and that was interesting enough. Different. He watched her in nothing more than innocent curiosity for a moment, watching the kitten look through the mostly broken shells that washed up upon the sand. He looked down at his paws, lifting one, then the other, trying to locate a shell to add to the bucket. That was the polite thing to do, right? It wasn't going to be as big as the first shell he gave her, that was a lucky find.

By the time he was actually able to find something worthy of The Bucket, he carried it so carefully in his jaws that he looked like he was carrying glass, and proceeded to drop it with the rest with a quiet thunk, before looking in with a wag of his tail to make sure it didn't break. Luckily, it had not. "I found one."

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[VAYNE CIPHER-VANTAS.]

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

There was... quite a lot happening in The Typhoon; or at the very least, it seemed like there was to Vayne. The poor girl always seemed to be caught up in the drama in one way or another, whether she just happened to stumble upon it or was directly related to someone causing it. It was exhausting and stressful for the young Cipher, and she always felt bad that Roxanne, Michael, Diya, or some other adult had to come and clean the mess up. So that was another reason why she was out collecting shells for the umpteenth time; it was almost like a stress reliever for her.

Usually, Vayne was the only one out collecting shells when most people just seemed to sit there and stare at the ocean. Which, truthfully, she couldn't blame them, but there was just something so much more fascinating about the shells that was washed ashore. She cherished the one Danny gave her and actually kept it close to her bed, mostly because it was the first shell actually given to her by somebody else, but also because it was pretty.

The shuffling of sand made the kitten turn her head, her eyes wide with surprise at first to see who was approaching her, but that was quickly replaced by excitement when she realized it was Danny - and him carrying another shell. "It's pretty!!" Vayne chirped, looking down at the bucket quickly to take a look at it before she looked back up at her friend. "Thank you!" There was a brief silence before she added a bit meekly, "Not a lot of others help me find shells." Was it a sad fact? Maybe, but Vayne convinced herself it was due to her relation with Aphra - who preached to her about how everyone hated her and her family and how they were always out to get her. Obviously, that wasn't the case, and the mere fact that Diya had adopted Vayne was proof of that, but that insecurity was still there.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[daniel]

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it kept going over his head that Vayne was out here by herself collecting shells, with no one else to partake in the activity. Maybe he just didn’t get it, she seemed so nice, perhaps the adults were just busy, but he’d seen others around that were around both of their age, and besides typical group work like training for the future and working around the bay, it didn’t seem like life was so busy and hellbent on survival that no one could spare some time to look for shells too.

”Really?” Now, Danny didn’t know about Aphra, or the history behind Vayne’s rather unfortunate lineage. Then again, had he any knowledge of the woman and her horrid behavior towards her children, it wouldn’t have changed a thing. If anything, he would have probably just been knee deep in disbelief, not quite understanding how two very different people could be so closely related. Soft eyes blinked during his own brief silence, a subtle shift in expression reflecting sympathy. He wasn’t quite sure why, figured that maybe she just sounded lonely and he felt bad. He did understand after all. ”I...I’ll help you! Collect shells and stuff…I-I’m usually out here, anyway.” There was a pause, as if he had to take a breather from all the crazy amounts of talking he was doing. Not really, of course, but for Danny it sure was.

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[VAYNE CIPHER-VANTAS.]

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

It was definitely more so Aphra's own upbringing that made Vayne think that everyone hated her in one way or another, or were trying to be nice to her just because she was a child. This wasn't the case, but it did warm Vayne's heart to see Danny at least seem interested in her and her hobby, even if he might be faking it.

"Aah, you don't have to if you don't want to!" Vayne frantically squeaked out, almost as if she was ashamed or embarrassed that Danny wanted to come along. She appreciated the offer, greatly, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to. Though, given how he was acting right now, it definitely seemed like he wanted to. "I just do it cause sometimes they're really pretty, and they comfort me. Makes me feel better when I'm worried." She explained. [glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[daniel]

”But I do want to.” Dark ears perked up at the squeak, thinking that for a moment she sounded like one the birds that called from the higher branches of the jungle canopy, birds he had a vague memory of watching in the morning with his mother. Lots of red and blue came to mind. A small smile crossed his face, soft giggling  nearly drowned out by the crash of the waves against the sand. ”You squeaked.”

Another pause. A falter in his expression, eyes switching to betray his sudden worry. He’d already put two and two together by the time Vayne was done speaking. ”Are...” He felt a sense of nervousness make his chest tight. Was it okay to ask? ”Are you worried?”

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[VAYNE CIPHER-VANTAS.]

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Danny giggling at her squeak made her smile a little (even if she couldn't hear them, she could see his expression), though given this particular situation, Vayne again, felt ashamed of how the words came out. It seemed like he realized it was a little rude to laugh at her, especially given how vulnerable she was in that specific moment, given how he asked if she was worried. "Um." Vayne mewed, unsure of how to answer at first. "Kind of, honestly." She shuffled her paws. "I guess I'm kind of worried that everyone hates me and my littermates, even if they're acting all nice to me." She didn't mention the fact that Diya had adopted her, probably one of the biggest signs that she wasn't entirely hated.

"My mother wasn't a very well-liked person here," Vayne went on to explain. "Her name is Aphra, she told us that everyone was out to get us and that nobody would ever like us because of our family. Kept us in the house a lot and shooed us away from our crewmates if she felt that were a danger to us." Of course, that was far from the truth, but Vayne still had to learn that. Suddenly becoming aware of how that probably sounded to Danny, particularly the fact of 'you're being nice to me but I believe you're faking' sounded really, really bad. So, Vayne quickly tried to defend herself, "I-I mean, I think you genuinely like me though! I just don't know about, like, Roxanne or-or her family." Again, completely overlooking the fact that the Captain and her fiancé adopted her. [glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[daniel]

Oh. Oh.

”That’s not very nice of her.” Came the simple response, as if that the complications of Aphra’s influence over Vayne simply went over his head. They sort of did, he wouldn’t have understood. Already he was very displeased with the girl’s mother, which was....new. It made his stomach knot up, and he didn’t like that very much. His face scrunched into a pout, sticking his tongue out. ”I’ll...I’ll fight her!” Danny barked, jumping around in a little circle, further displacing the sand at his paws. He, of course, would not be fighting anything, not in a million years by the looks of it. But he could at least tell himself that he could do it. ”I’m strong, I can do it! And, and...I’ll fight the captain too-“ He took a few deep breaths, unaware he’d been forgetting to inhale between his words. ”Actually, w-wait, don’t tell Miss Roxanne, please. I don’t wanna get thrown into the ocean, or something...sharks live there.” Danny stopped himself after realizing he had just threatened to fight the head of the entire place, and began to quietly panic, mentally racing through his hypothetical punishments. His voice even cracked mid way through his begging, tail tucked between his legs.

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]

[VAYNE CIPHER-VANTAS.]

[glow=white,1,400]LIKE WE FORGET WHO WE CAN TRUST ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Danny's sudden outburst made Vayne feel a little better, a laugh escaping her as he threatened to fight Roxanne. "I won't tell Roxie." She promised in between her laughs, moving on to set her bucket down a few paces away from the water so it wouldn't be whisked away. Quickly running back, Vayne tried to poke Danny with a paw, a playful expression on her face before she declared, "Or maybe I will!" With that, she turned around and started to run off.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[daniel]

The poke met its mark, pulling a noise somewhere between a bark and a surprised yelp out from the back of his throat. Vayne was already ahead of him by the time his mind caught up with what was happening, a playful growl following his take off, in which he almost tripped but didn’t. Thankfully, that would have been embarrassing.

”You better not!” Running in the sand seemed so much harder when he wasn’t afraid for his life.  Danny looked over, catching his reflection in the moving water. He stuck his tongue out at the ocean, not afraid of the waves anymore. ”You get back here!” His attempt at a yell didn’t get that far, more of a normal volume level. Totally just because he was running...totally.

[glow=black,2,300]— ❤ —[/glow]