deercountry | (closed) october catchall

Entry tags:

(closed) october catchall

Who: Daniel and various others.
What: October shenanigans.
When: During all of October.
Where: Locations vary.

Content Warnings: None so far, will edit if this changes.

( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at

queeningsquare. )

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[ That could be a lucky guess, technically speaking.

But Daniel knows it's not. Sure, Terry might enjoy bluffing, but there's nothing he loves more than lording things over Daniel's head, right? Especially something like this. Something that makes him immediately look back into his own memory, but it's so hard to remember those specifics when it was decades ago. That night when he burned the form, when he had that talk with mister Miyagi about how he wasn't going to join the tournament after all. Had there been someone else with them there? Daniel doesn't remember seeing anyone, but.. surely if a giant like Terry had been there, he would have noticed somehow.

Where had he been? Just how much of him had the other been watching that entire time? Not even just that night in the dojo, but possibly even beyond that?

Terry definitely is getting the satisfaction of seeing shock move over Daniel's face until it finally turns into anger. ]

All that over a karate tournament?! [ Maybe sitting there with a snake around your neck isn't exactly the best position to backtalk someone in, but Daniel isn't stupid. If Terry wanted to just kill him, he would have done so already.

Besides, the brattiness hasn't faded with age. ] You were sick-- you still are! It's been decades, and you're still following me home! And what for, just to 'test my defenses'? Get real!

[ It'd probably help if Daniel actually used half a braincell on contemplating why Terry is going this far with him specifically, rather than just running his mouth. ]

Oh, there's so much more than just the tournament.

[ Love, for one. If John asked him to move a mountain by god he would have tried to do it. Back then, at least.

It's not just about John. It's about Daniel, too. He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought about some alternate reality where Daniel embraced his inner Cobra Kai and stayed on as Terry's student. John would put up a fuss about it, perhaps, because that wasn't the plan. But Terry would convince him that it was an even better outcome.

But he's still happy enough to have him as an enemy. There's a certain intimacy that comes with hatred. Love and hate were just two sides of the same coin, after all. ]

It's been decades and you still look at me with that same mix of fear and rage you did back then. [ He shrugs, absently examining his surroundings. The barest hint of a smile is the only emotion he shows. ] We share the same sickness, you and I.

[ He doesn't bother trying to argue that he's not sick. He is, and he knows it, but for as long as he tried to drag himself out of that pit it turns out he's happier dragging other people down with him. ]

[ Daniel hates that the other can see what Daniel knows is there in his eyes so clearly. He can feel it in his gut, after all. It's like every single time he's in Terry Silver's presence, he's that boy in the old dojo again, staring at the other with that fear and rage as everything fell apart-- from the moment you've met me, I've been making you do things you didn't want to do.

The worst part is that it's true. That he didn't even stop to think about anything Terry was making him do back then. That Daniel had been too captivated by it all, an older man coming in and protecting him, touching him, praising him, knowing just how to say all the right stuff that made his insides flutter..

.. until he realised it had been manipulation the entire time. The two of them are not the same, Daniel tells himself, Terry was the one who manipulated him, used him. They share nothing, because the alternative thought that they do is too much.

He rises to his feet, no longer caring about what the Omen may do. Maybe choking and passing out is preferable to actually having to consciously face the other (but then why is he still replying, why is he still engaging) and Daniel wants to feel at least a little less helpless here, even though standing does as little to cover their heigh difference as it did back in the day, leaving him still having to look up at the other as he always had to. ]

And what's that sickness?

[ His breath feels stuck in his throat in a way he knows has nothing to do with the snake, and so much more with the emotion that threatens to overwhelm him, even if it's a comical contrast with Terry's own casual attitude. ]

[ When Daniel stands up, Terry recalls his omen. There's that fire he was looking for. ]

I think you already know that. [ Whatever answer Daniel comes up with for himself will hit harder than anything Terry could tell him, solely because it came from his own mind.

He stands straight, squaring up as if he's getting ready for a fight. But he doesn't strike first. He doesn't want to strike first. Or at all, really. But if he acts like a threat, perhaps he can bait Daniel into making the first move. ]

Hit me. Come on, after all these years, you deserve it.

[ He tilts his head back, giving Daniel a good angle to strike him on the jaw, if he wishes. ]

[ He's pretty sure that there's never been a single thing more tempting in his life than this. Every single time he met Terry back home lately, they were always out in the open - but here, he could just do it. No one would have to know. And isn't it true that he deserves it after all this time? Shouldn't he be allowed this much after everything?

Daniel's posture already shifted the moment the other man's did, tighter, ready to defend the moment Terry would strike, but the consideration of this opportunity does have Daniel clenching his hands into fists.

But mister Miyagi wouldn't want this, right. It's the one thing holding Daniel back, when every single other thing makes this so tempting. Not even the thought he got a little exasperated with Johnny for doing this exact thing could hold him back instead. No, it's just the looming disappointment of a man who is already gone, who would never know-- but Daniel would know.

Still, he obviously struggles. Visibly. He grits his teeth, lips tightly pressed together, blowing a breath out of his nose. All those telltale signs of Daniel trying to hold back his temper and rapidly losing.

As evidenced when he speaks up with: ]

I get it now. [ His tone is tight. And there's anger in there, sure, but there's also more-- a kind of malice. ] You have nothing here. No one you get along with from back home. No money, no dojo, no reputation-- nothing.

[ This should feel bad. Even though he didn't punch Terry, this is basically the same, right? Much more vicious than he ought to be, but Daniel just can't help it. Getting this out, trying to dig back into Terry in revenge.. it feels too good. Terry was right, Daniel does deserve this. It's what this man drags right out of him.

It makes the look in his dark eyes get a little wilder, the corners of his mouth curving up without him fully realising. ]

And so you come crawling back to harass me, because that's the only thing you've even got. Must be sad to be at rock bottom.

Oh, Danny, you can be so cruel when you want to be.

[ But he's still smiling. If only he knew about that little scheme to raise the rent for everyone in that Reseda strip mall just to force his high school rival out, he'd be proud as can be. How devious.

But even this is pleasing enough. He notices that slight smile, that bit of joy Daniel takes in hurting him.

If only Miyagi hadn't gotten to him first. ]

But if you think this is rock bottom, you've got no understanding of what rock bottom is. [ Being somewhere new without his vast fortune isn't great, but it's better than being stuck in a cage and waiting to die. ]

[ Under different circumstances, or facing a different person, Daniel easily could have cared about being called cruel. Even now there's a voice in his mind that tells him he should probably care - but it's momentarily pushed back for now.

Still, as Daniel listens to the rest of what Terry says, first replying with a: ]

Yeah?

[ There's the tiniest chance of him calming down a little, some good sense about him returning as he almost seems to catch his breath here - but it doesn't quite reach, still a little too hyped up on the adrenaline of the moment. ]

You think it can still get worse? [ There's an edge to it that almost makes it sound like a challenge. If not just because Daniel obviously has no idea what Terry is actually thinking about as he's saying that, figuring the other is just trying to taunt him, trying to get under his skin. After all, he never asked the other much about his past back when he would have cared, when he would have been immensely curious, given more time—

And after that it was too late to ever start caring anymore, to see this man as anything else other than his personal boogeyman. ]

I know it can get worse. Much, much worse. For you, too, Danny.

[ He wants to get Daniel riled up, and doesn't like the hint of calm he sees in him, so he chooses his next words carefully, trying to say what he thinks would piss him off the most: ]

If anything, I've been extraordinarily merciful. You should be thanking me.

[ And with that he reaches over to stroke Daniel's cheek with one finger. Sometimes a little affection is worse than wrath. ]

[ There's a brief moment where that finger first touches skin where Daniel seems to freeze up like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

It's brief, though it's visibly there, and the next moment Daniel's hand moves instinctively to try and bat that hand away. Definitely not in any practiced karate sort of way - more like how someone who's afraid of spiders might attempt to get one off. Frantic. Desperate.

Forget those words about Terry having been merciful - technically true, considering what he could be doing - or any reasonable thought. Daniel just hisses out, just as instinctive as that movement from a moment ago: ]

Don't touch me.

[ He probably ought to know better than to give weaknesses away to Terry Silver so easily, but it's not like Daniel has ever been good at hiding them.

He's spent ages haunted by the other's touches. He's not going to let him add to it now. ]

[ When Daniel swats his hand away, Terry retaliates by grabbing him by the wrist and squeezing hard. He relishes in their size difference, in the way his large hand curls all the way around Daniel's arm.

He could snap the boy's bones like a twig, he thinks. But he doesn't. He's merciful. ]

I told you, Danny boy. You don't get to tell me what to do here. [ He chuckles, low and dark, and digs his fingertips into Daniel's forearm hard enough to leave a bruise. ] The wonderful thing about having nothing is having nothing to lose.

[ And with that he releases him, and he turns to take his leave (although he'll stay if there's any protests). ]

[ It hurts. The grip first, and then the way it only seems to tighten around his wrist. For a moment he's convinced the other is out to break his wrist, but the moment he thinks he should do something, gritting his teeth against the pain, the pressure is suddenly gone.

And so is Terry, moving to walk out. For a moment Daniel does nothing, just standing there, a part of him worried the other may take it as an excuse to stay and make things worse if Daniel moves or does anything.

It's only when the other is out the door that his legs finally carry him to follow, all the way until the door, brown eyes staring out into the dark night, like he has to make sure Terry is really gone.

By the time he moves back inside, his heart is beating in a way he can feel even all the way up in his throat, and he breathlessly glances down at the red skin on his wrist, knowing that it'll transform into a bruise that will haunt him and remind him of this encounter for at least a few days, if not more.

Despite the exhaustion that has settled into his blood this month, Daniel doesn't sleep a wink that night. ]

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(closed) october catchall

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