How It All Began [Solo]

[OOC: Solo thread detailing Danny’s wanderings from when his mutation first manifested to the present day. I likely won’t get that much done, but it’ll be fun at the very least.

This one takes place right after Danny’s mutation has manifested, and he’s wandering through Revolutionary War-era America, still coping with his mutation and the fact that he can’t die.]

He'd just killed a man, the first man he'd ever killed, and he was surprisingly okay.

Dressed in the rags that befitted somebody much lower than his own actual social status (but instead of the class he was posing as), Daniel strode down the dirt path, pack slung haphazardly over his shoulder, as the sun climbed overhead. After dying and coming back to life - twice - it was no wonder he couldn't stay in his bustling little hometown of Jamestown, especially in the late 1700s when people were still rather scared of witchcraft.

Speaking of which, Daniel had absolutely no idea what was going on with him. He’d heard the rumors, of course - children in the next town over morphing into animals, somebody in the capital who couldn’t drown, a man who glowed and wouldn’t stop. But they had always been stories - he had never quite expected something like that to happen to him, not letting him die when he should have. Of course, he got his revenge on his father’s shooter. But now he was doomed to walk the Earth until the end of time, unable to die or put himself out of his misery.

But that was a problem for another time. Now, instead of worrying about dying, he’d have to work on how to survive.

“Hey, kid!”

Goddammit, redcoats. Daniel stiffened, hearing the telltale clopping of hooves as they drew closer to him on the path.

“Kid, you heard me? Get out of my way!”

And because Daniel's sense of self-preservation went out the window along with his mortality, he didn’t move.

“Do you want to die or what? Move!”

Nothing, except for a muffled snicker from Daniel that the soldiers missed. Beautiful word choice, right there.

“I t’ink ‘e’s one of dem deaf kids,” another soldier whispered to his captain.

“Don’t be ridiculous; he’s just another one of those stupid Americans,” came the growled response. And then louder: “Move out of our way! We are soldiers of -“

And Daniel turned around and smirked, planting his feet crossing his arms, staunchly refusing to move.

The captain raised an eyebrow, as the other soldiers looked offended. One of them even drew his musket, growling, “I’ll show that goddamned kid to respect us -“

“No,” was all the captain said, sounding slightly amused. The soldier halted what he was doing, but still glared at Daniel in irritation. “What’s your name?” the man asked, raising his voice so that he clearly addressed their rather small roadblock.

”Daniel," came the response. Wouldn’t hurt to tell them, after all.

The captain stared critically at him, seemingly sizing him up. Suspicious, but better than getting trampled.

And to Daniel’s complete surprise, the man tossed him a small pouch of coins. The bag’s contents clinked as he instinctively caught it, and he looked from the bag up to the captain. Apparently, his confusion was clear on his face, as the captain merely laughed. The pouch was then immediately followed by a small package of some sort, which Daniel caught as well. Only then did the captain decide to explain himself.

“In that bag is quite a bit of money. Get its contents to Captain James Fennel in the barracks in Boston, and you can keep it.”

Er, Boston? That was a bit far. And what exactly had Danny done to make himself worthy for this…?

“Tell him Captain Frederick sent you, and that you’d like a job. I can see your - ah - current state, and I believe that a job would quite help you.”

Yes, in fact, it would.

“So? What do you say? You seem like you could keep that package safe.”

”Sir, yes sir," Daniel responded, lazily and almost patronizingly. The other soldiers were growling with annoyance at this point, and nearly burst into violence with Danny’s sloppy and clearly mocking salute. But before they could, Danny had already taken off into a sprint in the direction of “as far away from them as possible,” off the path and into the woods.

He’s seen some smoke spiraling up from a farm in that direction a while back. Maybe they’d have a horse he could, er, sneakily acquire. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Well, wasn’t this an adventure.