(Untitled)

[haolehothead]

Normally, Danny doesn't willingly go into the water.

There's riptide and there's the fear of drowning and there are sharks (Jaws left a very heavy imprint in Danny's mind when he was a kid and that's not something you get away from so easily). He knows all those things, but when Danny wakes up that morning and destroys a hefty amount of property

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[honestlyrubbish]

There are shadows painted under Hermione's eyes this early in the morning, cast by a sun not yet risen to full height and softened by fatigue. It's been a few weeks since she's gotten decent sleep, and yet Hermione continues to push forward as strongly as ever, growing accustomed to a lack of rest and finding it alarmingly simple to keep her mind awake and alert. As it was back home, so it is here- the best way to keep her wits sharpened was to steep her life in fear. Sirius' return had, somehow, only exacerbated that with time. Opening up new possibilities that Hermione had never before imagined, of waves and rocks far out to sea, of people leaving

[haolehothead]

Danny counts to ten as he watches the water fall back to its normal patterns. When he's sure that he's not gonna get overexcited and cause a mini-tornado, he turns to the girl and offers her a rueful smile. "Me? God, no," he chuckles. "But what do you know, instead of waking up an eighteen year old girl, today I wake up with the ability to wreck a lot of property, freeze things, and hold my breath. Do you believe in karma?" he goes on, the babbling coming easily to him. "Because, I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd say this place is trying to unleash one hell of a heap of karma on me for some of the crap it's put me through."

"Sorry, I'm..." He gestures into the air, to fill in the 'rambling' part of the obvious. "I'm Danny Williams and no, I can't normally do that, despite my friends' insistence that I blow enough hot air to do so."

[honestlyrubbish]

"Not precisely," Hermione answers in response to his first inquiry, even if she does have to take a couple of seconds to consider the question. It isn't the first time she's thought about why certain people seem to land on more consequences than others, or why those who are touched by blessings often find them taken away to some degree in short order, but there have been enough exceptions to the rule that Hermione can't place too much weight on the idea. Voldemort, for instance, saw far more success than he did failures, to the point where she can't believe that anything, sentient or tangible, saw to it that he met with justice. It'd be discrediting the efforts of everyone she knew who took part in the war, she thinks to herself

[haolehothead]

"Yeah, it's been a real barrel of laughs ever since I got here," Danny says, the sarcasm thick in his voice. He runs the towel through his hair until it's sticking up wildly, but dry. He goes for the shirt next, giving her a small smile, like he's trying to ease the fact that he seems to hate it so desperately. "So what about you? Are you controlling the birds? Able to turn clouds into shapes? No, wait, lemme guess. This place made it so you could smell out pineapples. It would do that."

[honestlyrubbish]

Hermione shakes her head, a look of worry passing over her face, seemingly unconcerned by his sarcasm- or, if anything, only made more concerned by it. She doesn't know exactly how long Danny's been on the island, but she knows that ever since her arrival, it's felt like every month comes with something new and completely unprecedented, leaving everyone else reeling in its wake. So far, it seems like no one's powers have made too much happen on the island, nothing to turn their world on its side, but that isn't to say that it couldn't still happen. That isn't to say that Hermione might not still have some power of her own, one that plans on pouncing when it's least expected.

"No, as far as I'm aware... I'm not controlling much of anything," she sighs, trying to offer a smile, though it's wan at best. "Which I plan on being perfectly content with, save for the small of me that fears that something may surface later on."

[haolehothead]

The joking demeanor falls away when she starts talking about fear and instantly Danny's back in detective mode, trying to keep a gentle appearance forward so that he doesn't spook anyone. "What do you mean?" he probes, quieting his voice slightly. "What kind of something are you thinking? Is there something dangerous we should be worried about, here?"

[honestlyrubbish]

First she blinks, before quickly offering a sheepish smile and shaking her head, waving a hand quickly. "Oh no, I didn't mean to suggest that I have any reason to be suspicious or worried about any single person in specific. I mean, of course there are plenty of abilities speckled in our population that are... rather dangerous, but I don't have any particular person who I suspect of employing them maliciously or who I expect to lose complete control. More that I'm simply not a fan of risk or impending personal surprises."

[haolehothead]

"Have you witnessed any of them?" Danny asks. "I'm IPD," he assures her, the line in his forehead becoming a lot more distinctive, now. "If there's some danger out there, I'd definitely like to be aware of it before instead of after."

[honestlyrubbish]

"Oh," Hermione blinks, the name finally registering at last; her cheeks color slightly, embarrassed at not having put two and two together until now. "My apologies, I should have- yes, of course, I remember seeing your name now. You'd think that when my job is to go over all of these records, that I'd better remember." Shifting uncomfortably, Hermione's hand lingered on her arm and her brow furrowed as she ran through all the specific instances and rumors that she'd heard.

"I haven't actually witnessed very much myself, having spent most of my time trying to determine whether or not I had a power on my own hands to contend with, but there were areas around the island where the earth had been cut through, sometimes as deep as a few meters. I've heard of people being able to start fires at a mere thought. There's a great deal out there, and I'm sure I haven't even covered half of it."

[haolehothead]

"No, probably not," Danny agrees with a hint of a wary laugh. It's strange, but after missing something to do, there's a part of him that's inclined to hate the idea of needing to alert people. "Look," he says, already yanking on his t-shirt. "Are you doing anything right now? Are you busy? I'd really like to take a look at the earth you're talking about so I can put this to the IPD and the ITF. If someone is going power-hungry in the next little while, at least we'll have done our due process, yeah?" he says, with an encouraging smile.

[honestlyrubbish]

"Y-" Hermione wrinkles her nose, lightly, trying to pick out the best phrasing to get her point across. "Yes, I'm busy, but this is... honestly, part of my job, so I would have gone looking regardless, and I imagine the both of us could be much more productive together. I'm on the Council, you see, and while the amount of control that we have under any of these island surprises may be limited at best, we still do our best to document any and all significant events." She smiles weakly, tilting her head in the direction of where she remembers the cuts in the earth being, then starting to lead the way.

"I find that it helps me think, at least, which was the platform that I ran on, having that attention to detail and the patience to go through every last detail," she considers, tilting her head with a modest laugh, light and under her breath.

[haolehothead]

"Hey, you don't have to explain it to me," Danny promises with a big grin on his face. He struggles slightly with his wet feet, but manages to slide on his shoes and clap his hands together eagerly once he's vertical again. "Okay! I'm ready for a little search party here, let's get some documentation on and follow procedure in the event of unlikely emergency!"

It's, slightly, disappointing that Danny hasn't gotten to do this more because it's rendered him like an excited teenager to even talk about it.

[honestlyrubbish]

In contrast, Hermione finds herself unable to muster anything nearing excitement over the potential disasters they're about to face. If given her way, she'd choose to live a peaceful life, more than content to live among piles upon piles of books and slowly making her way through each one. A life of excitement and danger is, in her opinion, highly overrated by those who've never had the experience of running desperately, clinging to one's life.

She watches a bit helplessly as Danny readies himself, smile wide. It's not the sort of expression that either has worn in years, but Hermione stlil finds herself reminded of the way that Harry and Ron once were, once appeared whenver given the opportunity to explore a hidden passage or to break a few rules.

"Don't you think we ought to, to think this through first?" she asks, though her shoulders are slightly hunched in deference. "To think about what our resources are, so that we know what we have to respond with."

[haolehothead]

It's almost hilarious to Danny and the only reason he lets out an amused guffaw is because it's like he's gone back in time to talk to himself. Don't quote me to me lies on his tongue, but he holds it back because he doesn't want to go off the deep end with someone he's just met. "I feel like if the situation is dangerous, back-up is our first call," he says, as serious as the goddamn grave. "But at the same time, I don't want to waste anyone's time if we find a cold trail. Look, I'm a detective, back home. Investigation is pretty much what I do and I haven't had a case in a long time. Trust me, I know what I'm doing and I am by the book, I am as by the book as you get."

[honestlyrubbish]

Although she startles at his sudden laugh, Hermione shifts her weight from foot to foot, the movement enough to settle her nerves until she's able to face him with a smile, however hesitant and unsure. Inhaling lightly through her teeth, she nods, forces herself to grow accustomed to the idea. He has a point, after all. Their resources are limited (she knows that better than most people, writing paperwork up every day, spending so many hours in the office), and the island starts so many hectic weekends that there's no reason in particular to believe that this one will cause any more harm than all the others.

"Okay," she agrees, nodding as though to further solidify her resolve. "Okay, I trust you. Let's go, then."

[haolehothead]

Danny gives a satisfied nod, but he grows quickly serious because he wants to clarify one thing before they head off. "I mean it, though. At the first sign of trouble, we're going back to get support. No matter how interesting it looks, no matter how heroic it might be. I trust you," he says. "But just in case you're possessed by the spirit of Steve McGarrett while we're out there, it needs repeating. Back-up, good."