“Yeah . . .” Daniel smiled.

Without realizing it, he sniffled. The tears were still stinging his eyes and threatening to out themselves, and they nearly did by the time Daniel turned away from Danyr. The sudden realization that he choked up and nearly shed tears over Danyr’s words filled him with a sudden bout of embarrassment. With his back to Danyr, Daniel wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his sleeve.

This was altogether a fantastic revelation, though. When they got out of here, he’d actually have a place to go. Maybe somewhere to call home. Someplace he might actually remember, with people he could call family and friends. Of course, the actual depth of his feelings for Zera complicated that subject—but . . . well, that’d just have to work itself out later, if all went well.

Daniel moseyed to the living room. He’d altogether given up on sleeping in beds. It was such an infrequent opportunity, and nearly every time, he hadn’t gotten that good of sleep anyways. In the living room, furnished as it was, Daniel occupied the length of a cushioned couch and put his arm over his eyes. The storm outside made it hard to hear or even think, let alone sleep. Or maybe it was the thoughts he could hear.

“Oi, Danyr?” Daniel called out from the other room, “When all this is over, oI’m treatin’ you guys to dinner. You and your girl and Zera. I’ll treat you to dinner for years.”

If Danyr noticed Daniel's emotional state, he didn't say anything. In all reality, it was likely that he did; Danyr tended to notice things. He certainly didn't mention it, though. Stretching a cable taut across the table to hold the tension while he worked, he listened to Daniel's call.

"Dinner for years? You don't even have a job! Let's stick with one dinner, to start."

It was nice of Daniel to offer, in any case. Not that Danyr was too worried about the eating situation back home. He worked with his hands, thinking about their situation, and just not coming up with much in the way of information...

"I'll wake you up when I'm ready to sleep."

"Well, when oI get one," Daniel replied enthusiastically--albeit tiredly.

He really planned on it, though. They'd go back to Xexoria and he'd get a job somewhere, probably something to do with manual labor or something, as he didn't have the intellect required for a mentally taxing job or anything, and from his experiences traveling the world(s), he'd much more physical potential than anything else. Once he had that sort of job, he'd work some terrible hours and devote most of his money to repaying Danyr and his girl for their trouble, and Zera for, well . . .

Daniel's thoughts slowly trailed away and broke into randomness. Thoughts about Zera led to thoughts about relationships, which led to thoughts about ideal places to take girls out to, which led to thoughts about the sky. Somehow, someway, Daniel thought of a clear blue sky. His thoughts blanked at that very moment.

In no time at all, the young man was sound asleep. He was altogether exhausted. By everything. The storm. The wreck. Washing up on shore. Running. Fighting. Hiding. The day was eventful in almost every unlucky way imaginable, and it didn't take Daniel's body long at all to simply give up on being awake . . .

Curiously enough, the topic of jobs hadn't come up before: in the time Daniel had been in Xexoria, however short, none of the people he'd met seemed to be employed. Danyr had bankrolled the purchasing of supplies, despite not seeming to have a job. Quite possibly, it had something to do with his refusal to talk about certain things...

Daniel would soon find himself dreaming, oddly enough. A very peculiar and specific dream, in fact. One in which he was only a spectator. He was in a gray stone room, with a single small window and plain bed, shuttered over as a terrible and violent storm raged outside. He was pressed with against the door to the room, a heavy wooden thing, and the whole experience would seem a bit disorienting. First, he was a bit shorter than usual. His arm, as it came into view, was somewhat shorter and smoother than his own, and as he looked down, it would become glaringly obvious that he was in fact female, dressed in a red dress that was a bit too large. Not that the person didn't seem familiar... On the other side of the door, Komodo's emotionless voice could be heard faintly.

"I didn't expect him to hit me so hard. Everything we saw from him suggested he was entirely unskilled."

A second, haughty voice could be heard, one that Daniel had heard only briefly before: that of the man he had briefly encountered before he'd been sent back to Utopia...

"He did alright when I fought the damn kid. Of course, your damn sister didn't help, and now he's got someone used to fighting with him. We ought to just kill the damn girl now. There's nothing they could do about it."

A third, somewhat more commanding voice spoke next. His voice was older, and significantly more powerful, if somewhat muted at the moment.

"I'll decide what to do with my own daughter, thank you very much. We're not killing her because you feel like it. You're lucky you're so useful in creating the hybrids, or I might just send you to try to deal with them. Besides, if the two of them were to peacefully leave with her, it wouldn't make much difference. I need the machines here operational, and I would rather not deal with either the boy or my son interfering with those. We have the bait and control of the situation while she's alive, anyway. Put her in the top floor of the new tower, and fill it with the best hybrids. That close to the machine, they'll have a lot of energy in them, and any of the hybrids our problems defeat are still going to be harnessed..."

The conversation ended there, and the sound of heavy boots approaching the room could be heard. Daniel, or the body he was occupying, seemed a bit more lively and excited, but would quickly retreat to the bed, sitting in an exaggerated defeated pose, as if she was still a longtime prisoner. Komodo would open the door, the right side of his face swollen up on one side to a degree that would likely entail a lot of nursing for someone who could feel pain. His words, now that they were closer, were even slightly slurred.

"You've moved up from prisoner to bait, sister."

He motioned for her to move in front of him, pistol in hand, to escort her to her new place in a different tower. At Komodo's remark, she looked around briefly for something, perhaps a weapon of some sort. The room, on second look, seemed almost weapon proofed specifically: the bed was bolted to the wall, the lone sheet tied to the bed, and she hadn't even been allowed shoes... Walking out, she seemed somewhat more defeated and worried, as Daniel's consciousness faded from the dream...