The changeling, and the changed one

Daniel had arrived in town a few weeks ago, and he had to say it seemed like somewhere he could actually settle down for a bit. He'd found a small shop in what the locals called "The Ghost Town" to set up in for a while, and made camp with what few belongings he had, a couple cans of food, some junk food, a few bottles of water, his pack, a knife, and a hand crank flashlight and radio,  the green military style jacket that had been his father's was draped over his pack as he sat by the fire. He liked this "Ghost Town" it was very easy to stay in shelter, yet far away from everyone so his curse wouldn't effect people, and in this little abandoned shop he could be sure nothing sinister was stalking around with a mere glance, large warehouses and abandoned apartment buildings were an issue for him after some encounters with... well he didn't know what to call them... yeah he could stay here a while.

A pair of frigid pale blue eyes scanned out across the abandoned street with the intensity of a cat on the prowl, he knew the changeling was here...he could feel him...The very scent of the fae's magic almost turned his stomach, his scarred hands clenching with a silent but intense contempt as he sauntered towards the store. He would kill him, or he'd be overcome and would die, that was all there was to it as far as he'd concerned. The bastard killed his parents after all.

Daniel was completely oblivious to all of this, aside from that someone was approaching the store, his senses had been rendered keen by his years on the street, and he had been rendered cautious, though not hostile by any means. He slipped on his father's jacket, and slid a knife into one of the inside pockets as he left the pot of canned chili heating by the fire. While he tried to avoid people as a general rule, it took far more than one interaction, brief or extended for his curse to leave a mark on them, which prevented him from simply booking it. So Daniel simply looked at whoever was entering the store, and gave a small wave as they did, probably someone who smelled his food cooking, he was more than happy to share "Howdy..." was all he said, as he looked up and realized whomever it was, was too well dressed for that to be the case.

The image of Flynt couldn't have been a relief to Daniel to be sure. Especially because despite numerous differences in build and demeanor, the first thing the changeling noticed was that their faces looked nearly identical, except for the eyes. Where Daniel's were a deep and steely blue, like still water, the stranger entering had almond shaped eyes like glistening steel or frigid glacial ice, and they were boring right at him.

Several moments of silence passed between them as Daniel waited for this individual with a strikingly similar face to say anything basically, as time went on with nothing but the hateful stare meeting Daniel's inquisitive stare and silence Daniel began to experience serious Deja vu, as he recalled a near fatal encounter with a shape shifter "I don't want to accuse you of being too handsome to be human, but... you're one of them things that go bump in the night aren't you?"  The transient finally asked after over a full minute, with a nervous smile, his hand did not go to his knife, he didn't want to show that particular card yet as he knew whatever it was would probably be stronger and quite possibly faster than he.

Flynt snorted at that, expression stoic "Not the kind you are thinking of, changeling." He replied, though his voice was perfectly calm nothing could hide the content that dripped from every word. "You can stop feigning ignorance now, I know what you are." He continued in his grim baritone "I..... know what you did to my parents." a hint of emotion appearing on his face.

"What?" Daniel asked after taking a moment to process what he had said, and looking utterly confused... a look that would swiftly be replaced by anger as he stood up and walked over meeting his counterparts eyes with anger in his eyes he couldn't suppress, a nerve had clearly been touched. "I don't know what the hell a changeling is, but how MY parents died is none of your business shape shifter." Normally Daniel was rather slow to anger and violence, but not this time; how dare this thing talk about HIS parents. Daniel's fists were clenched, their knuckles white, he didn't care if this thing was faster or stronger, he wan't going to lay down and let it take his skin or whatever its deal was.

Flynt's arm moved almost on it's own, whipping out the blade hidden in the folds of his coat in an instant as his face became a mask of fury. "Say that again you bastard,  I dare you, say it again and I'll cut off the face you've stolen here and now!!" the fae hunter hissed, cat like pupils narrowing as the urge to cut down the changeling washed over him. "Your parents, you stole them from me! You killed them! Drained them slowly until they were nothing! And you call them yours?!"

"Don't you dare say they weren't my parents! Don't you dare say it was my fault, I can't control my curse! I didn't even know I had it until it was too late! You didn't know them You didn't love them!" Daniel shouted right back with equal fury, barely able to stay his hand, long enough to realize this person knew a hell of a lot more than any shape shifter should, and what's more he seemed to know about Daniel's curse "What the hell are you!?" he shouted barely registering the blade.

For a moment he was silent as his mind, still volatile from return tried to handle all this, then he spoke"I'm Daniel Lewis Walker, the original one, you're a decoy, a replacement, a Changeling" Subtly he tucked the blade back into his jacket, the instinctual want to strike out, to kill, abated by the rush of emotions and the confusion he was feeling.

Daniel noticing his hand had moved closer to his own blade, moved it back to his side. He took a moment to think on what was just said, it made sense... it made far too much sense, his abilities, his curse, the way he began to get sick if he stayed away from humans, what happened when he was near by, and he knew there were things like that out there, but he still couldn't just believe that. He stepped back out of the stranger's personal space and took a breath after a moment of silence "So you're telling me, not only are they not my parents, not only am I not human, but I'm some kind of... emotion eating monster?" Daniel asked him as he stepped back, and went to lean on a wall "...I can't believe that... why would anyone even swap a human something like that?"

Flynt fell a sting of pain in his chest as he watched the changeling's reaction, this was no deception, he could see the emotion. He had come here to kill this poor fae, he had almost done it mere seconds ago, the thought formed a hard lump in his throat. The silence returned for some time as he peered deep into Daniel's eyes "Because my parents loved me, and whoever sent you here wanted to make sure they wouldn't go looking...when I went missing. The fae, your..your people, they kidnap humans, whisk them off, change them, make them slaves. They like taking those with family and friends, strong emotional ties, but they need a low profile...and the only way to make sure people don't notice...is to replace those they steal."

Daniel held his gaze for a moment, before taking a keen interest in the dying fire which he went to put more wood on. "How can I believe this?" He asked Flynt without looking up at him "How am I supposed to believe I'm just some monster that will always feed off everyone near me, that I'm not even me, but the child of... assuming you're telling the truth, whoever took you I guess? and how did you grow up among them without ending up like the people near me?" He voiced all of his questions hoping one would make proving it impossible. He also clearly didn't know that he could stop himself from feeding.

Flynt inhaled deeply, closing his eyes as he prepared to speak "The thing you call the curse, the thing that killed my...ou-our parents, the drain you cause in people the longer you stay around, you can turn it off."

Daniel was quiet for another minute before asking "I can what?" he had heard full well however and was mostly just dumbfounded at the suggestion, and the idea that he could just "Turn off" this thing that had killed his parents, and driven him to become a transient semihermit. That was... good news, he had killed his parents, he had comet to terms with that, but the idea of being around people again, filled him with hope even through this painful revelation. All he felt right now was about every emotion he had ever known, as he finally looked up at the stranger and asked "How?"

Flynt lookver over him with an expression that was a strange mix of distrust and sympathy "This is gonna sound weird but You feel that strange tingling warmth that you in your chest? The sensation you feel when you're around people, especially those feeling strong emotion? It spreads through your entire body right? It makes you feel good? Focus on containing it, visualize it in your mind and create a barrier around it, you'll feel it fade when you've done it right."

At this point Flynt would have been feeling the effects of the draining, only slightly due to his conditioning, but still present. Daniel began to focus without a word he immediately directed all his concentration to cutting this off, and after about five minutes relief passed over his face as flynt felt the draining stop despite all else, he felt relief that this turned off... and then the greater implications came down on him like a ton of bricks... the relief on his face vanished, and Daniel said "So... you were telling the truth then..."  He took a moment to process it all before just kind of plopping himself down by the fire and holding up his pot offering "Chilli?" He didn't know what else to do, it was all too much, and in reality he decided he was just overthinking it all, and the only things that had really changed were that he could turn it off, and that he knew the truth... he hadn't turned into someone else, and he wasn't going to be some child stealing monster... Daniel was still Daniel, and it didn't matter whose vagina he cannon balled out of.

Flynt couldn't help the small smile that sneaked across his lips, and simply gave a silent nod, making his way over to the fire and sitting down with legs crossed. "You're taking this a lot better than I'd thought you would."

"There's no use dwelling on it, I am who I am." Daniel said pouring them both a cup of chilli with a spoon each. "I came to terms with the fact that I killed the best people I had ever known a long time ago, I told myself there was nothing I could have done because I didn't even know about my curse, and I still think that's true... I blamed whatever cursed me at the end of the day, and now I blame whoever put me there. The only thing that's changed between now, and yesterday is that now I can turn it off instead of always being a ruin dwelling hobbo, and now I know the truth... well some of it, there's a lot I need to look into, but I'm still the person they raised and they're still the only family I ever had, and it's not like I'm going to go make up with the scum that swapped me and start kidnapping babies tomorrow.. Sooo... Thanks." Daniel said a little awkwardly

Flynt's stomach rumbled loudly as he smelled the cup of chili, he hadn't bothered to eat in a day or so, having been intent on finding his...prey. This was a strange turn of events wasn't it? Sitting across fire, sharing food with someone who was almost like...like him, or a long lost sibling. They'd had the same parents, lived in the same house, they had the same face, though Flynt's was more scarred and worn. He couldn't help but still feel tense though, looking at him just...just didn't sit well with the Changed, at least not yet. "..You're welcome."

Daniel didn't seem nearly as wary about it and took several bites of chilli, before pausing "So... Daniel then?" He asked after swallowing the chilli, wondering what to call this stranger who was in fact no stranger at all, using his name for it felt a bit odd, but to be fair, it had been the stranger's name first. Daniel had no plan to change his however, so that could get a bit confusing "So... what were the things that took you like? what happened?" Daniel wondered honestly, it all sounded so strange, but he figured he should ask about the fae and all, and he was curious how his... brother kind of, he supposed; had been holding up for the passed several years.

Quickly he began to dig into the chili, shoveling spoonful after spoonful into his mouth "Flynt...Flynt Greywater, that's my name now" He replied between mouthfuls of the food "The fae, they're...fickle, often amoral, utterly indescribably self-centered, manipulative, they feed off the emotions of others. Whether positive ones like happiness and love, or pain and rage, and they're masters of manipulation so they can coax these out of humans. When they took me I....I don't ....I think I was running back home? But ...a lot of my memories are muddled, I only remember the big things, my old name, where I lived, our parents...but not the details....I was taken by an Unseelie fae, a sadistic monster that prayed off pain and screams and rage, and he made sure to get all three out of me, and all my fellow slaves. I was trained to be a fighting slave, battling in the Death Holes for his entertainment, and...and that's all I'll say about that."

Daniel looked rather shocked at the story he had been told, he had known from what they had done with them that the fae were, bad, but that bad? It was all a little bit incredible "Fair enough, I'm glad you survived" Daniel said and began to get back to eating his chilli, ift made a lot of sense now why Flynt had been so eager to kill him at first. He had no follow up questions as he didn't want to make Flynt relive what had happened to him any more than he already had.

Flynt nodded slowly, and ate a bit more before pausing to speak "I..If I'm honest, I..I don't have that much memory of our parents,I know their names, I know they loved me, and I loved them, and that I miss them a lot...but not much other than that. What...what were they like, what was life like for you before they passed on?"

"They were... Remarkable" Daniel said to him after taking a moment to form all he thought about them int something that made sense "They were insanely patient, I was something of a trouble maker which I suppose is hardly a surprise, but they were always there to explain why what I did was wrong, sometimes dad would have to break out the belt, but never without good cause. He was a doctor as you know, but he was great about not letting his job interfere with his time at home; he was very fun and we goofed off and did things like camping and hiking a lot, but he was also very introspective and taught me a lot about listening to others and treating them with kindness instead of being impulsive and screwing with them for shits and/or giggles, but also to stand up for myself. Mom was... well she was always there, the best mom I could have asked for, always there and ussually supportive like a ray of sunshine. She worried a bit much, was very protective, and could give a look that would shame a charging grizzly bear, but that's mom's for you,  this one time I got attacked by a coyote while we were all hiking and she kicked the shit out of it, right in the jaw..." He paused  and the smile he bore while recounting this vanished from his face "Of course...  they lost a lot of that by the end..."