( if you have a minute why don't we go ) [CLOSED]

[rehashes]

Who: Dave Strider (rehashes) & Jade Harley (greenshift)
When: Backdated to 1/28, daytime
Where: OUTSIDE
Summary: Spoilering Dave.
Warnings: Language probably, also discussion of death/suicide/accidental friendmurder/what the fuck


[ so Dave is heading for "somewhere outside" to meet Jade, bundled up in what is probably too many layers, as usual. he looks maybe a little more grim than he might normally, too, although that's hard to tell considering how he always looks - shades on his face and lips pursed to keep from showing any kind of feeling. which he sort of figures might come in handy about now, because he... really isn't sure how to feel about what he's meeting Jade for. it's not that future spoilers are a big deal to himself anymore (not after the Davesprite fiasco), and what's more, he... kind of has a feeling he knows exactly what Jade is going to say already.

that he actually went through with going to meet up with Rose on Derse to help her with the green sun, which means...

well, he may as well get the story straight from the furry's mouth. after all, she's the one who's been so upset, and that thing she said about it being her fault has him a little worried. this whole situation is just really uncomfortable and he doesn't exactly know how to handle it, or how he's going to handle it when it all comes out, but. well.

for now, he'll just go with Business As Usual. ]

Comments

[greenshift]

[ "somewhere outside," indeed. it's cold as usual, and jade's by now accumulated more proper clothes for a place like this, because whatever comparisons she might make, lofaf was definitely never quite as cold as this part of canada. it might be the winds here, cutting right down to the bone no matter how many layers or how thick of a jacket she might have on, blowing her unruly hair into her face and eyes no matter what she does to try to prevent that. she's waiting, mittened hands at her sides, and she has her lunchmuffs on too because they're warm even if she can't use pesterchum anymore and she feels better for having them.

she'd been hoping to avoid this conversation altogether, use her usual excuses about the problems of knowing the future before it happens; or better yet, just never get into it to start with (or better yet, not be in a situation where she knows about something awful and he doesn't. thanks for nothing, canada). could it change anything if he does? even for the better, somehow? she doesn't think so, but she's not the one with the timey wimey magic powers. the rest of us cant take back things that have happened, as she'd said (and in fact she doesn't seem to have any powers to help with things to start with, but she's been doing her best). and maybe it's in some small way a relief, not having to keep something from one of her friends like this, even if everything else about all this is terrible.

some very small way.

so she waits, keeping an eye out for dave, and knowing full well that the real hard part is still yet to come. ]

[rehashes]

[ and sure enough, here comes the bundled up coolkid now. only he can look this awesome while wearing all those layers and keeping a serious, straight face like a boss, trudging through the snow like it's out to get him or something. every snowflake, an offender out for blood. but soon. soon there will be vengeance.

okay not really. to all of that. just no.

casually tips his chin up as he approaches. ]

Sup.

[greenshift]

[ watching dave in the snow is never not entertaining, something she'd first discovered at lofaf and gets to enjoy here. not that she actually feels like laughing right now of course, but her smile when she sees him is genuine. ]

I maaaaybe should've picked somewhere warmer, huh?

[rehashes]

Nah, I'm good, this works.

[ he says, with the faintest quiver in his voice. come on Dave, it's not that cold, you big fucking baby. also he is definitely relieved to see Jade smiling, although he supposes he wouldn't expect anything less from her regardless of the situation. ]

So about that shit we were talking about earlier.

[greenshift]

[ she really does not believe that, but you know what, okay dave. she will nod a little and go along with it. and - that smile was kind of short-lived as she bites her lip before answering. ]

Yes, it's probably about time I explained that.

[rehashes]

[ excuse him while he hooks his thumbs in his pockets and gives her an expectant look. or, well, at least, as expectant as he can look with those shades and pursed lips. ]

Yeah.

[greenshift]

[ nothing else for it, then. ]

It was after you come to LOFAF to help me with the frog breeding. We stoked the Forge and found a lot of frogs and got a lot of breeding done! Kanaya thought it'd be impossible to finish everything to make Bilious Slick, but by the time I got here it was almost done, thanks to your help!

[ in fact, she'd found the very last frog she'd need to appearify right before finding herself in canada, and there's a bit of yellow string tied around her pinky to make sure she doesn't forget before getting back. ]

But then Jack Noir showed up too and attacked us. [ you is really more the truth of it, since he's barely treated jade to even an achingly bec-like growl. she pauses, even though she remembers what happens next more than vividly, a blur of a fight that ended wrong, accidental and terrible. ] We fought him, but - Dave, I'm so sorry, Bec used to redirect my bullets a lot, but I didn't think he'd be able to do something like that!

[rehashes]

[ to Dave's credit, he keeps an impassive face up until that last part. it all pretty much sounds the way he was expecting it to - he was just about to text Jade and ask her if she needed his help anyway (although he figures he probably would've ultimately ditched the idea and just dropped in as a surprise, because what is communication), and okay, cool, frogs and stuff...

but then Jack Noir and fuck, that sucks. his eyebrows raise and for a long moment he just. stands there like that, with his eyebrows raised, blank, knowing what she's going to say before she says it but asking anyway: ]

So, what, I took the hit?

[greenshift]

[ she's watching his reaction closely, not even sure what she's actually expecting, if anything at all. it's understated, of course it is, because this is dave and not, say, john, and what she ends up doing is swallowing (because she's not about to cry, okay, that'd be stupid) before going on.

if by 'going on,' she means nodding kind of sharply and pausing before really answering. a lot of hits is what she thinks but doesn't say. ]

And he stopped after that, because he has enough of Bec's instincts to feel like he's really my dog and not try to hurt me. [ just. follow her around. but she's not bringing that up unless it's asked. ] So I was able to make sure you woke up on Derse with Rose okay, Karkat checked and said it worked.

[ he can probably gather what she means by 'make sure,' and there's sort of a stab at comfort there too, that at least he didn't die for good. ]

[rehashes]

[ ...

ah. ]

Welp.

[ well that's. that's cool, he guesses. hanging with Rose is cool, he guesses. Derse is cool, he guesses. being dead is cool, he guesses. it being accidentally not really Jade's fault is cool, he guesses.

aw, damn. he can't keep a straight face at that one. there's a notable knit to his brows, frowning and uncrossing his arms so that his shoulders slump a little. ]

Fuck, and I was making all those jokes. No wonder you ragequit me.

[ yes, because that's the issue here. he'd rather focus on Jade than on the rapidly growing Can't Deal With Dying crisis that's having a jam in the back of his head right now. ]

[greenshift]

[ it being accidentally a lot bit jade's fault really, at least how she sees it. and she's sorry, she is, sorry that her dog got prototyped and (lost forever) doomed them all, that she'd not been able to do a thing about jack noir until it was almost too late, that she'd finally for the first time met one of her friends in person and killed him, that she was completely, utterly powerless to help with the tumor or the green sun or do anything but move forward with the plans for the scratch and try to make sure things work out as well as possible. it was almost a relief when jack noir decided to trail her, keep away from the people he actually can harm, despite how much karkat called it messed up or creepy. it was fine. ]

I still could've said something about it earlier. And you were right, you would've done something about it if you were in the same situation!

[rehashes]

[ fuck, but then who's taking his place, that's his next thought. is there a new Alpha Dave, like there was when Davesprite happened? or is there just a Daveless session going on in the waking world now, which, you know, is cool because dreaming, but... wow, that's terrifying.

no. okay. just focus on Jade and her feelings. the less he has to think about this the better. ]

Not much there is to do about it, really.

[greenshift]

[ we cant all take things back - just like that, then. even though that's exactly what she's doing in a way, taking back the session and even the universe, if trying to make sure they all come out of it rather than getting undone as well. she makes an assenting sound, still closely watching, and there are a lot of things she might be saying now if they weren't talking about something like his inevitable death at her hands. ]

I'm sorry, really sorry.

[ which she doesn't really think helps either of them to say, but she says it anyway. ]

[rehashes]

[ it doesn't really help, because that just reminds him that Jade's had to deal with this for however long now, and it's pretty obvious it's been eating at her, and he's sure not been doing anything to make it easier with all his stupid asshole dead Dave jokes - which god damn it, they were never even funny in the first place, but now they're really not funny and he feels like a dick, but probably not as much of a dick as Jade feels. and he doesn't want her to, but he doesn't know what to say about it that would change that, either, because he sure as fuck wouldn't be that easy to placate if it were him, either.

playing it cool is just how he's going to have to deal with this information, though, because getting upset is going to make it worse still. actually, he's starting to wonder if there's even any possible way to not make this harder.

probably not. ]

It's cool, don't worry about it. Shit happens. [ no, fuck, that doesn't sound right. ] I mean, it's not like I'm perma-dead or anything. Especially not here in the wonderful world of Canada.

[greenshift]

[ she's been putting it out of mind in her own ways - well, after the "hysterical episode" as karkat put it (and yes, she still remembers it) - like focusing on the scratch, karkat and kanaya and passwords and more frogs than she could count, cute little things that she kept around to keep the time loops stable and to keep the place from getting too quiet. and then there was canada, people and trolls to meet and talk to regularly, get to meet face to face and have fun with. it's been okay because she's been okay because she can handle it, even the sad things.

no problem.

and he's right, it's not like he's perma-dead here or in the game. he's just helping rose with her mission to use the tumor to blow up the green sun, just part of a thing that's going to happen that will end in at least one of them actually perma-dead, both chances at life in the game burned out (literally). but that's something in her future as well as his, and it's something she's been getting more and more hints will work out much better than her fears, so she swallows that down. ]

That's true. [ she could maybe sound more convinced, but she could sound a lot less convinced too, so there's there. ] And it kind of worked out okay.