“Oh, brother, we’re doin’ great! Thanks for asking! Oz isn’t sick, which is good. Doing sets with no drums had zero energy.” Danny laughed, still keeping an eye on the kids. “Fraser wants to put us in a battle-of-the-bands/talent show type thing.. I dunno, I’m not feelin’ it.”
Alex nodded, sitting up a little to look at Danny. "That's good! And…if you don't want to do that, then don't. No shame in saying "no, I'd rather not", or whatever."
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll sleep on it, I guess- feel bad saying no, ‘cause I’m not someone they can really get a replacement for, y’know? Bein’ vocals and guitarist ‘n all.” Danny shrugged, flopping onto his back. “I dunno.”
Alex shrugged slightly. "Don't let them pressure you into saying yes, Danny." he replied, looking over at Danny. "I mean…think about why you're saying no, alright? I'm sure you've got reasons. Just…talk to them about it, maybe?"
“I’m not. I just want to think on it more before giving a definitive no. Might be fun, but I know for a fact that most of the acts’ll be real bubblegum-pop type shit..” Danny trailed off, sitting up halfway. “Fuck, maybe I do wanna do it. Try goin’ up there with some real hardcore shit, just to see what happens.”
He laughed a little bit at the description, and shrugged. "Yeah, I see." he closed his eyes for a moment. "I think they'd be real pissed at you. 'cause it'd be hard to compare you guys to like…pop or whatever."
“Hell yeah, it would. Pit me against a love song, see what happens.” Danny broke out in a grin, shaking his head. “Eat ‘em alive.”
He laughed again. "Hey, nothing wrong with a good love song." he replied, smiling. "They're fun sometimes."
“I know, I know. I think the band’s got like.. one. Maybe two… Just sayin’ though, if come out there talkin’ about throwing bricks at cop cars right after Chelsea or whatever sings a little ditty about her boyfriend, someone might have an aneurysm.” Danny gestured with his hands as he spoke, suddenly very animated.
Alex's smile twitched just for a moment at the cop car mention, thinking of his father and his father's friends and old co-workers. "Yeah, that's true." He replied with a soft laugh.
Danny fell back onto the grass. “I dunno, maybe I’ll do it. It might be fun.” He picked up Bela as she toddled past, placing her onto his stomach and letting her play with his hands. “What about you? How’s the writin’?”
He nodded. "Oh, the writing is actually going pretty well!" He grinned. "Though I have to admit, it's kinda slow going sometimes."
“Sure, sure. You working on anything interesting lately?” Danny tilted his head curiously.
"My personal project, and some other stuff, too." He replied. "Just whatever work comes my way, I guess."
“Yeah, alright! That’s cool, man.” Danny grinned, continuing to let Bela mess with his hands to occupy herself.
He looked over at the smaller werewolf, then at Danny again. "Yeah. I'm maybe halfway through the first draft of my project?" He shrugged, smiling.
“Sick, bro! What’s the first project, again?” Danny looked genuinely fascinated in what Alex had to say, it showed in his eyes.
"Science fiction." He replied with a sharp nod, smiling. "With space travel and cyborgs and stuff."
“Sci-fi.. cool, dude. That’s super f- that’s super cool.” Danny had to remember not to swear, remembering that they were in the presence of a small child who would parrot words back without a thought.
He nodded again. "Yeah. Although it requires a heck of a lot of research, which…ugh."
“Innit fiction, though? Can’t you just make stuff up?” Danny thought about it for a moment, and you could practically see the cogs turning in his head.
"Yeah, it's fiction, but it still has to be based in reality, especially since it's science fiction. That means I have to do a fu– a ton of research about science."
“Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense.” Danny nodded, voice just the tiniest bit sheepish. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”
He chuckled. "Yeah, it's fine." He shrugged his shoulders. "Pain in the, er…butt though."
“I bet.” Danny sat up, putting Bela off of his stomach. He spoke to her, ruffling up the werewolf’s already messed up hair. “You should go play with the others, okay? Go have fun.”
Alex nodded. "But it's fun. I mean…I get to write a subplot that is a romance between a cyborg prince and a clone slave slash footsoldier, so that's an interesting dynamic."
“Oh, wow. That’s a power couple if I ever heard of one.” Danny grinned, taking in the information so far. “I mean, wow.”
He laughed a little. "Mm…not exactly a power couple at the beginning, considering that they hate each other's guts, but yeah. Like I said, interesting dynamic that makes me exhausted." He ran a hand through his hair.
“Sounds tiring, yeah. Gotta say, though, some of the best couples want to wring each other’s nicks like a pigeon at first.”
He nodded a little. "True." He replied, nodding. "It's still so tiring. Because ugh Ari is going to be the death of me." He rubbed his face.