Stories of Reformed Daniel

The Magic in Friendship

Daniel sat silently on one of the benches near the Camp stage, staring off into space and frowning. A few days had gone by since David had made him get some rest, by very embarrassing means and Daniel was now trying to change his sleeping patterns. He didn't want to make David worry. He still had a few nightmares here and there, but David's concern made him want to get better. Today was Saturday, aka free day. All the campers were doing their own things, hanging out with their groups or by themselves while Daniel zoned out on a bench. Normally Daniel would stay in his room on free days, but David suggested for him to go outside and try to get to know the campers in hopes of making friends with them. The blonde would've attempted to reject the idea, but David looked so overjoyed about the suggestion and he really didn't want to make him upset. So the man went along with it and tried to get to know the campers...It went about as well as you'd think it did.

As he expected, the campers wanted nothing to do with him. When Daniel tried engaging with them, he would either get angry remarks or just straight up ignored. Now he just sitting by himself and staring into space. Maybe he could just tell David that this wasn't working? No! He didn't want to annoy him. Maybe...he could lie? No! He didn't want to take advantage of David's trust. David was the only friend he had, he didn't want to ruin that. He sighed in frustration as he thought over his options. What should he do? He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. As he continued to think, the sound of shouting caught his attention. Daniel's head shot up to see what the source was. Harrison and Nerris stood in front of Nerris' tower, yelling and making angry gestures at each other, obviously arguing again. "You're nothing but a street performer Harrison! An annoying street performer!" Nerris shouted, her words slightly slurred due to her braces. Harrison looked very offended by that and quickly retorted; "At least a street performer can make money! Have fun making any money with your dragons and elves!"

Nerris gasped over dramatically and glared harshly at the annoyed looking Harrison. "You know what Harrison!? You can kindly fuck off!!" She shouted. "With pleasure!!" Harrison yelled back at her, before stomping off in the direction of the stage. He let out a huff and sat down in the grass. Daniel watched as the young man grabbed the top hat from off his head and glared at it. He looked the hat over with a critical eye, as though there was something wrong with it, then he let out an aggravated shout and tossed the hat away from him. It landed in the grass in front of Daniel. The blonde man frowned at the hat, then looked from it to Harrison, who had pulled his legs to his chest and buried his head in his knees. He felt a pang of sympathy for the young man. He was clearly upset and, from the look he gave his hat, had some pent up feelings that he didn't quite know how to get out. Grabbing the hat from off the ground, Daniel stood from the bench he was seated on and made his way over to the boy sitting on the ground.

"Hey," Daniel kept his voice leveled and calm as to not startle or upset the boy more. "I think this belongs to you." Harrison lifted his head from his knees and stared up at Daniel, who had taken a seat next to him on the ground. Slowly, the young brunette accepted the hat, still staring at it as though it had wronged him in some way. "Thanks..." The blonde looked to the hat, then back to Harrison. "Nerris really got to you, didn't she?" The younger male's grip tightened on the top hat and he nodded his head angrily. "Yes! No matter what tricks I do, she always disses them, makes fun of me and claims that she is the more magical camper!" He exclaimed, only to then let his voice die down to a whisper. "I already know that I suck at this, she doesn't need to make it worse." That really caught Daniel's attention. Harrison thinks he sucks at magic? But that makes not sense. From what Daniel had observed, the young man was very talented when it came to magic.

He'd seen the boy do things that he didn't even think was possible. Why would he possibly think that he was bad at magic? "What do you mean?" He asked. Harrison didn't look up from the hat, but Daniel could see his face fall. "I was sent to this camp because...I made my brother disappear and I couldn't bring him back." Daniel blinked in surprise. He was not expecting that answer. "How did you do that?" Harrison finally lifted his head, showing his broken look. "That's just it, though! I don't know how I did it! I just read about the trick in a book and I wanted to practice it on my brother," He paused. "But when I made him disappear, I couldn't figure out how to bring him back. My parents haven't really spoken well of me since then and sent me here because of that." Harrison let his eyes fall back on the hat. "Now whenever I mess up, Nerris or the others are right behind me, pointing it out and making fun of me." He mumbled dejectedly.