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 Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 6:58 pm
Maia thought she heard shouting. Huh. That wasn't Toby's voice. She headed downstairs, and when she found the two, she studied them. She went over to Dari and wrapped him in a hug. "Dari, I love you," she began. "And we love having you with us. If you want to stay home, we will too. We can play games, anything you like."
She looked towards Toby, concern obvious. Something was wrong. Very wrong. And they needed to fix this.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:08 pm
Dari made a disgruntled noise and wrested away just after "with us" although he had been tense and ready to retreat from the start.
"Maia! Maia, I'm not a child, and I do not need to be coddled. You two do what you do. Live your own lives!" He calmed for just a moment. "I don't mean I don't love you, I do, I love you too dearly, but my existence is exhausting! I don't want to have to fight any more!" Dari collapsed back to the couch, his forehead in a hand. Oh my. He hadn't meant to explode like that.
Toby shared a look with Maia.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:15 pm
Maia's expression flickered between shock and hurt, before fading as she looked to Toby. Dari had always liked their company before. Had never objected to her taking care of him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize you felt this way." If there was any way to fix It, she would.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:23 pm
"No, Maia, it's--" Dari's face constricted so much he almost blinked. "It's nice to feel included. To have someone so obviously care for you, worry about you. I didn't mean anything against you..." He let out a distress burst of air that made accidental noise at the back of his throat.
"I know what love is. Romantic love." He looked up to and between Maia and Toby. "I remember it. I know exactly what it feels like, and I also know what it feels like to know you're going to die, and your love is going to die, and that you're never going to see your children again. But it wasn't me. I'm some strange entity in between my people's home planet and Earth. I belong on neither. I am an amalgam of people who truly experienced life, but it wasn't me. It was never me. I hold those who created me in the highest regard, but is it so bad to wish that I could just live a life? Like them? Like all of you? It's a burden I carry, to share their memories. I feel that I must continue on for their sake, but I don't know. I just... I don't know if I can do it any more." Dari's brow furrowed and he frowned. Toby noted it looked distinctly like he was crying, just without the tears or desperate gasps. "And you. You can smell and taste and feel and make love, but it was never in my nature. I desire thing I cannot obtain, that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't been scraped off the burning wall of some crashed alien mechanism. I didn't come from there and I didn't come from here, but here is as close as I'm going to get. Earth is as close as I'm going to get to 'home,' and I can't experience it like the vast majority of its denizens."
There was a long silence.
"Dari." He knelt before the man. "Dari, how long has this been?"
"Not... no. Not long. Just recently things have all been building up--"
Toby took Dari's hand. "What can I do?"
"I don't know..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:42 pm
Dari...wanted to be human. She'd read books and legend upon legend concerning fae magic when she'd first arrived in Arizona, believing it had been Dari's wish. She hadn't given up, even when Toby had said not to worry about it.
He'd been born on earth, of course he deserved to experience it as most people did. Not holed up in the house waiting to cover their faces in greasy paint.
She sat beside Dari and wrapped an arm around him. "We can try to find something to help," she said.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:55 pm
Had Dari's eyes had lids they would have shut tight. Instead his face continued that 'crying' look with just a bit more pain. Toby noticed now how humanized Dari had become. Human facial expressions came naturally to him. There had been a time when his face was constantly blank, but humanity had impressed upon him and now his expressions were as natural as any.
Dari leaned against Maia. Toby kissed his hand.
"We're going to figure out something to help. I promise." Even if it meant harassing the tech team.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:51 am
Maia rubbed at Dari's back, trying to soothe him. Nothing short of amazing would help, she didn't think. Maybe the tech team could create a nonglowing projector. Or maybe there was something she'd missed in the books she'd read. She'd been new to English when she'd began.
"I'll ask Lori, maybe he knows something that'll help. We'll figure this out."
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:16 pm
Dari had given up on talking. He just shook his head and let it hang.
For a period of time when it became clear that no rescue vessel was coming and Dari was capable of passing for human at a basic level, his appearance had been the focus of the entire team. They'd wanted to help him. Now, years later, his projector was the best progress to be made. He imagined they'd mostly given up by now. There were so many more important things than the vanity and lifestyle of one wayward alien.
"I appreciate your concern," was all he said. It was the thought that count, because he was pretty sure there wasn't any hope.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:25 pm
Maia sighed inwardly. The person who'd encouraged her the most, who'd given her hope when she'd been about to give up, needed help and she wasn't sure how to give it. She gave him another hug and looked to Toby. On Monday, they'd have to talk to someone.
But how to cheer him up until then?
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:45 pm
It made sense that, on Monday, only Toby and Maia were at all aware of what had gone on the previous Saturday for the sake of Dari's privacy. All of tat went out the window, though, when they were actually able to approach someone about help. Toby needed to work, so he sent Maia off to bother Lori during or after classes- technically it was his department that worked with tech over ideas in cloaking and the like.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:51 pm
After class, Maia brought up the subject. "Do you know anything about glamor magic?" She asked. "I've read and I can't find anything, but Dari's been depressed so..." She trailed off to study Lori. "I thought maybe fae we haven't read about yet might have the ability to help?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:53 pm
"Glamour magic?" Lori asked, brows furrowing. What, like magical eye shadow? He wasn't sure he followed, and then suddenly it clicked. "Oh, you mean like illusion? Why?" Was Maia feeling self-conscious?
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 2:09 pm
"For Dari," Maia clarified. "He wants to be able to go out without preparing. No more paints. But I haven't found anything that can do that, not in anything I've read. Do you know anything?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 2:25 pm
"Oh." Poor Dari. He was always the most positive guy. "Well... magic, enchantments, I mean there is lore of things like that. I presume it's possible but I wouldn't know where to start looking. That book I gave Luca had something about illusion but it never said anything about anything that complex; giving a human form, like. I can talk to tech and maybe get the wheels rolling on some more research? It's just hard, because they want to do the big projects that help everyone and this is just strictly for one person they believe they've helped enough..." And as he said it he realized how terrible it was and wrinkled his nose.
"I dunno. I have some contacts. I'll check."
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 2:42 pm
Tech didn't sound like it'd be promising to ask, then. Dari needed help. And while there were bigger cases, by natural bias, helping the alien was top of her priority list.
Maia didn't smile, but she did take Lori's hand. "Thank you," she said, giving it a squeeze. "I'll tell Toby. We've been worried."
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