Log: Dani and Cain

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Dani and Cain share a moment by the lake with the harmonica. They even bond without superglue.



Dani sat out on the dock watching the sun set and generally enjoying the evening. Taking a breath she lifted her harmonica to her mouth and began to refamiliarize herself with the instrument. She hadn't played often since coming to Xaviers and every time she picked it up it was almost as if it were the first again. Playing some scales experimentally she began a complicated riff that sounded like a train chugging down the tracks. It was aptly named "Train, train" and had been one of her grandfathers favorite peices to play with.

"It ain't Dylan," Cain said, walking quietly up behind Dani, "but that's the thing about a harmonica, it ain't gotta be." Crouching on
the edge of the dock, he handed a bottle of orange soda to Dani, popping the top on his with one large thumb. "How's things?"

"Ah," Dani shrugged, accepting the bottle and taking a healthy swig. "Not bad. It's an off night," and off nights were better spent away from the drama that seemed to have arrived. They couldn't help it. "It's Blackfoot actually."

Cain nodded with a grunt of assent. "It's good to hold onto things. Y'ain't had a whole lot steady since you got here. And lord knows you had your share of crazy time." He gave a quick laugh and clinked his bottle against Dani's. "But you're makin' it through with what you got. Something to be proud of."

"Crazy time is one way to phrase it," she agreed wryly. "Life is what happens between the crazy moments I think. But things ain't so bad overall. Just...you were in the military. You saw stuff."

"That's one way of putting it," Cain said as even the mere thought started to churn memories over in his mind, like a pot set to a slow boil. "Point's that you learn to put the crap behind you, keep moving forward. Y'start letting your memories control you, ain't no different than someone putting a chain around your neck and holding the leash." He shrugged, looking out over the lake before whipping his arm back and throwing the empty soda bottle end over end, watching at it disappeared over the treeline towards the quarry.

"Yeah," he said quietly, "We all got crazy time."

"I was gonna ask, how you deal with the dreams? I see Doc Samson and Jim, but...I dream. Ain't my nightmares, but I see them anyways," the sunset was beautiful tonight and Dani stared off into absently. "Been meaning to ask you for a while, but ain't exactly something you just ask."

Freezing his gaze on the horizon, Cain instinctively cracked his knuckles. The girl couldn't help seeing into his fears. Wasn't like Chuck prying into his mind or nothing. "I deal," he said plainly. "I deal 'cause I ain't too keen on the alternative."

Dani noddded, understanding. "Been there, done that. Ain't interested in repeating it if I don't have to," she looked down at the water and finished her soda, "Sorry, I reckon I ruined your evening. Ain't my intention."

"No such thing," Cain said, breathing deeply and nodding toward Dani's harmonica. "Play a bit more on that thing, it'll be just about right."

Pausing for a moment, Dani began to play an old Neil Young song slowly at first, then speeding up as the song came back to her. She didn't know too many songs, especially newer ones, but she was reasonably proficeint with the songs she knew.

Nodding his head in rhythm, Cain let his foot dangle in the water, sending ripples over the sun's reflection as it dipped over the horizon. This wasn't perfect, he thought, but it'd do.