museboxingring | DARIA OPEN POST 2016

[Joseph couldn't sleep.

Too much on his mind, too much he was trying to figure out, and too much creaking in his hand as he tossed and turned in bed. The old man gets up with a frustrated groan and heads out of the bedroom with a tool bag and a cigar.

After lighting up, he opens the toolbox and gets to work on his mechanical hand. He was no engineer, but he had his artificial arm for long enough that he knew how to oil it, do basic repairs, and so on.

So here he was, sitting in the apartment commons at two in the morning, tweaking with his metal fingers. He normally wasn't the type to worry much but, well. It was one of those nights.]

[Someone was up late too. Partially because of her stupid roommate, the other was...well, herself really. A lot of it was due to her just being HERE and she felt, well, bad. She couldn't quite place it but it caused her to wander the halls. She didn't feel comfortable in her room with all of that noise anyway.

She was just hoping maybe a walk through the dorms would get her to want to go back to bed.

It was probably stupid since she didn't want to interact with anyone. But her nerves were too haywire for her to remain, and pacing around in a room she didn't feel comfortable in wasn't keen either.

What a mess she was right now.

Though, she did some across Joseph eventually. On accident but it seemed to just happen by chance. Daria didn't know how to take it though, as she fiddled with her fingers in her jacket pockets.

Joseph was up at this house, and he was one of the only people she didn't hate talking to. Was the chance worth it? Maybe he was busy and didn't want to be bothered. Maybe comfort wasn't worth talking about. Maybe she should just turn back and go be a hermit again.

Maybe a lot of things. But she just kind of stood there making no noise for a few moments. She turned around.]

[Joseph sets his cigar down in an ashtray long enough to rub at the back of his neck. Ugh. He starts muttering to himself about nothing in particular. He could fix his own hand just fine, but it was a lot easier when other people did it.

Then he finally thinks to look over his shoulder.]

Hmh?

[Daria hoped to get out before he noticed. She caught him in her peripheral and she noted his shadow's head turning to her. Daria's own shadow reacted and looked at her, eyes staring right into her soul.

Her Stand. She ignored it for now.]

Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you.

[She felt really apologetic about this. Joseph was a nice enough guy that her brain went into that kind of territory. Respect? A little? Maybe.]

Continue with your self care, I'll leave you alone.

Is that you, Daria?

[Joseph blinks and shifts up in his seat. The awkward apology actually gets him to chuckle a little, and takes his cigar back and holds it up.]

I wouldn't exactly call it self care, but these things don't really affect a man like me to begin with. You don't have to go.

That would be correct.

[Very awkward, yet Daria still somewhat stood there. It was honestly an accident, her somewhat aimless wandering was stupid on her part. It felt better to not hang around people especially at night.

This was a really stupid idea.

She was going to blame her damn nerves and insomnia for her bad judgment.]

I shouldn't be out here anyway. It was a mistake.

Edited 2016-01-26 01:30 (UTC)

He's got the Party Wagon, he's loaded up on road trip snacks and pop, and he's gassed up...that is to say, the car's full of gas. He's not giving her that one. Anyway, the Stanley Cup playoffs are at 6 tonight, it's 8 in the morning and how he just needs her to get out of bed.

Casey'll lean on the horn as long as it takes.

It was eight o'clock. In the morning. On a Saturday.

Daria rolled on her bed, eyes clenching shut to the loud noise going on outside. That obnoxious honking made her think about death, and her issuing it. She wasn't the first one to start yelling though. It would be her father, Jake, and he would be the first person Casey would see.

Jake walked outside and looked at the van, then back into the house.

"Quinn!! Your date is here!! REALLY early too!"

Jake was loud so that would be the only thing Casey would hear until he would see a tuft of bouncy red hair enter the fray, look confused, show some form of disgust, and walking away. "Dad, are you for real? In THAT car, helllooooo??"

Too much racket for Daria to ignore now, she had to put a cease to it. She was missing out on doing a whole lot of nothing on her weekend. She rolled out of bed to look out the window.

Oh.

What. Why?

Well, looked like Daria was going to have to be confrontational. There had to be a reason why Casey shown up so early in his Party Wagon. On a damn Saturday. It didn't take long for Daria to get dressed ever. A couple of minutes. Easy. Not like Quinn.

"It's okay, family. It's under some form of control. Probably."

She got long stares from Jake and Quinn before Daria spoke again.

"Yes, it's for me."

Bye, family. She walked on out before they could say anything else regarding a boy in a car waiting for her on a Saturday. The less opening she gave the better. Daria made a stride on over to him. Soon she would be in ear length for a more private conversation.

Wait, hey.

[Joseph beckons her over.]

What's a mistake? You being here is actually perfect, I need an extra hand with this.

[Actually, he could probably do just fine on his own, even if it was a lot easier with someone else, but the way Daria was acting was suspicious. If he got her to sit down with him, maybe she would talk about whatever was bothering her.

Hell, maybe she needed something to distract her. He could do that too.]

Casey was half hanging out the window, leaning on his arms, when he gave Jake what he totally knows is his smooth grin, the parent-disarming grin that he seems to think makes them feel at east but actually looks more like he's planning to sneak them both into an adult theater.

And when Quinn showed up...well, a little wave, a coquettish smile, full dimples on display...in a totally smarmy way of course, pushing buttons like always. She leaves before she gets the full effect. Too bad. Now there's nothing to do but wait for Daria.

So Casey ends up propping his feet up on the dash to wait. Whistling a little. Examining his various hangnails. Until...

"Sup, Dar? Ready to go? I got snacks and pop and stuff so we won't have to stop for food 'til on the way back. Snag a donut and hop in!"

Casey would just receive a long stare from Daria, and yes, she was also aware of the nosy family peeking out the window behind her.

So, let's have them take things slow here. Nice an easy, they needed a footing here, okay? She crossed her arms, in need of a...few answers to some questions.

"Good idea, except for the fact you neglected to tell me even remotely of where we intend on going and why before you came early on a Saturday."

[Daria made a "hrm" sound as she realized she still remained. Saying "no" would be wrong, and needlessly mean. Daria was anti-social, acted mean sometimes maybe, but she wasn't selfish and cruel.

Joseph was the only other person that was genuine with her on this base. In this dump. The whole horrifying dump.

She thought hard about this. Soon enough, she decided that being here wasn't bad. Maybe she needed it. Maybe she needed to talk to a reasonable person. With a price, she helped him out. But by that logic, she was rewarding someone kind enough to offer any kind of comfort.

She realized it didn't help to be completely alone right now in her mental state.

When did being alone really affect her? When she wasn't around her best friend anymore.

Daria walked toward Joseph, a bit slowly.]

Alright, you pulled my arm, I can maybe help with yours.

[Joseph waves his hands over and gestures to the adjacent chair.]

Heh heh!

[The old man grins. For now, he opts to wait to ask her what's wrong. It'd probably help more if he got her to relax first. He lays his arm out on the table.]

Alright. The joints need greasing, and one of my fingers is loose. Take that little bottle of oil and squeeze it out between these parts.

[He gestures at the joints between his fingers. As for the loose finger, he starts to carefully twist it until it POPS! all the way off. He looks it over, looking at the inner workings underneath.]

Hmm... I've had an artificial arm for fifty years now, and this is still so bizarre to me.

"Playoff games! Duh!" He digs in his hoodie pocket as he stretches his legs out and...oops, hang on. The tickets aren't there. Are they in the cup holders, or more to the point, in the ancient fast food cups with the change, worthless windshield fliers, and the old sunflower seeds. No, uh...

"Jus' a sec!" Glove compartment! Right? Under the manuals and registration stuff...or maybe with the bandaids he kept around in case he remembered to bandage any of his cuts (wait, no, he never remembers to do that.) Not in the supermarket bags full of old energy drink cans or...

Oh, right, his back pocket. If trying to pull them out of his jeans while sitting on them with his feet up looks ridiculous, especially as he grunts and tilts his hips upwards...well, he's too focused on his task to notice. Finally, he gets them free and holds them up in front of Daria like a prize he's won.

"Took me all night on the phone, but I totally snagged us tics!"

She couldn't help but stand there idly as Casey fumbled trying to find those tickets. Why was she so curious to see this through? Even if this whole deal seemed beyond her, she had done the whole "crappy van road trip" before. Maybe that dumb sentimentality had her remain here. Even if she could give or take some of the things that happened.

She could remember the embarrassing peanut butter stain on her butt and the duct taped glasses like it was yesterday.

But again, she ended up not hating it, she was with Trent after all. Well, anyway.

Oh, look, there's those tickets. Uh, alright. She looked right at them, right at them. Look at him, he was so proud of them.

"Hockey tickets?" Daria said, merely as a repeat from what he said. Did he really think sport games were her thing? She didn't know how to regard the other things he said. So she just kept her thoughts to herself, as if waiting for more to this story. She just continued to be inquisitive.

"It looks like it's from a few towns over. Pretty far."

I'm no surgeon or mechanic so that sounds easy enough.

[Daria was pretty sincere with this, and honest. She quietly started doing what she was instructed, making sure she was very careful with this procedure. Taking the oil and squeezing it on the joints and trying to maintain them by getting rid of any excess.

It was when Joseph tried small talk when Daria was knocked back a bit mentally. She would be dumb to assume there wouldn't be any of that, but she didn't know how to deal with it. Unless if she went back to her snarky database.]

At least you don't have to worry about breaking bones anymore, and you have a hefty discussion piece?

Neither am I, so we're even.

[He shrugs.]

Heh! True. I'm not going to thank the man who chopped it off or anything, but you got a good point.

"Which is why I got all the stuff for a killer road trip!" Give her the Winning Smile. Nobody can resist the Winning Smile.

He really didn't want to go on his own. He was supposed to go with Nick and, after all that time trying to score tickets...well, now he was a little stuck. Daria was going to need a lot of convincing to go to a noisy hockey game, but she was his only option.

He's not going to TELL her that, of course.

"So, whaddya say? You in?"

Not one text, not one phone call, not one clue or idea how this entire process could've happened. Daria had no proof of anything, just that doofy smile to try to win her over. Cute, very cute, stupidly cute. But. But. Daria was a hard ass broad. You win her with reason, most like.

Casey really needed to sell this to her, and with more than that silly ~~adorable~~ smile.

So she could be snark or she could still genuinely question. Daria went to that hockey game at her school, and she only went with the promise of watching one of her teachers settle a score and have a heart attack in the process. That didn't happen, but she did watch her science teacher slug a guy.

She could...go to the game and keep the guy company, with the promise of some brutal fighting. Again, she wanted him to admit that to her, to understand that. Maybe she was tugging him a little, maybe she was being needlessly merciless.

Maybe it was worth it and she didn't care. She wanted him to be fair and straight with her.

Let's see what some more "gentle" questions get me.

"Maybe, as much as it sounds fun to go on a road trip eating" doughnuts for a few hours, why do you think I'd like to go to a hockey game? I don't even go to pep rallies at school."

Maybe you could be like Iron Man, have a blaster or something attached to it. Then you could thank him. He'd be grateful, I'm sure.

[She was just going to finish up here. She wasn't serious, by the way.]

Nah. Iron Man would be pretty good, but the man's not worth thanking.

[Anyway. Joseph flexes his other fingers as he sets the detached one on the table.]

Not bad.

Not what I'm saying. You seem like a scratch my back, I scratch yours kind of guy.

I know if I had a limb missing, I'd think smacking a sadist with my new one specifically might be good enough thanks.

Or getting those Iron Man blasters.

[She let out a shrug. Though she thought in her head a bit, about what she said and what she just saw. This...couldn't have been easy. But pity fifty years down the road seemed in bad taste. Joseph was used to it after all. It would, uh, be pretty disrespectful. She didn't want to be disrespectful.]

Nothing slipping is there?

Edited 2016-02-01 00:09 (UTC)

[Joseph goes quiet for a moment at that. Then, suddenly, he shrugs. His face stays neutral. It's a long story, and he doesn't feel like telling it yet.]

Something like that.

[Anyway. Now that everything seems right, he looks into the wiring where his detached finger should go. Nothing seems out of place... he supposed it was just loose. He shakes his head, takes his finger back to start screwing it back in place.]

Doesn't seem like it now. Suppose it was just loose.

[Pause.]

So. You're out pretty late.

That was a very good question. Just...really great. Casey had better come up with an equally good answer and quick.

"...Well...'cause...'cause pep rallies don't got penalty boxes! C'mon, don't tell me you never wanted one of the cheerleaders to whack each other in the chin with those pompoms." He's kind of wanted that, and he's involved with school sports the pep rallies are meant to get students worked up for.

And also a teenage boy in front of cheerleaders.

Anyway, he knows she's way too sharp not to pick up on his dishonesty if he lets her think about it for more than a second. "Not to rush ya, but we are burnin' daylight! You in or out?"

[That was fine. Whenever Daria didn't make for good small talk, which was almost always, she tended to just crack her own weird sense of humor.

But she didn't expect anything in return for it, which was why she didn't ask for specifics.

So when Joseph asked, it made her lock up a little. Figured he would ask. It was in his nature, she was sure. To be curious why young folk were out unsupervised in a rather detestable setting.]

I'm in my teens, we adapt to having garbage sleeping schedules.

[Which was...true for her actually. While there was truth, there was a clear avoidance of really anything he could imply.]

DARIA OPEN POST 2016

HEY GIRL I HOPE THIS IS OK, could assume this is Withstand?

<333

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