Chapter Text
Your name is Dirk Strider. You're chewing on a cold log of meat-paste, which you only briefly considered cooking before deciding to stay behind in the government-mandated "snack-tent" to avoid the risk of bumping into anyone.
The hotdog drips.
The sound of chatter from outside your tent, paired with the equally unfamiliar sound of fire crackling, does little to calm your nerves. Occasionally a green-clad girl who strikes you as familiar will peak in and grab a soda from the icebox nearby, resting her hands on the lid momentarily. Her head is bowed, but you can't see her face. You get the sense whatever expression she's making, it isn't a happy one.
You try not to think about whatever's bothering her. It's far easier to focus on the screen of your phone, content playing a mindless game to occupy your mind. The string of your hoodie finds its way into your mouth, once you run out of hotdog. Left undisturbed by the world, you chew mindlessly.
Some time passes. Or maybe it isn't much time at all? It gets a little darker, the conversation dies just slightly, but you guess all of those things could happen in a short amount of time.
You were too busy dissociating to notice much of anything, let alone the passage of time. Your brain was thoroughly enraptured with intertwining thoughts of the future, the past, and when someone had time to procure hotdogs. Your mind is a distracting, time-consuming thing, but you don't mind getting lost in thought when there's seemingly nothing better to do-
You're startled from the half-hearted rumination by the frantic unzipping of your plastic safe-haven. A girl, the girl, removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes, hand gliding through the thick black curls that fell upon her back in droves. With more time to look her over, you realized rather quickly that you knew exactly who she was.
Her name is Jade Harley, who you've seen only once but recognize all the same from the many times Jake has described her, and she turns to face you only after sitting on the cooler. She doesn't realize your presence until you make it known, seemingly too lost in her own thoughts to properly examine the tent. You'd be a hypocrite to blame her.
DIRK: Hey. You okay there, Jade?
She looks startled, face brightening the second she gathers her bearings to a slightly tired yet incredibly warming smile. She looks you up and down, and you fight the urge to shrink in on yourself.
JADE: i could ask you the same thing- i haven't seen you all night!
JADE: you must be dirk, then, right?
You nod. She goes on before you can get another word in.
JADE: so, dirk,
JADE: come here often?
DIRK: In a manner of speaking, yeah. Just not great with new people, I guess. I've never been around, what, more than four people at once? Let alone like, twenty.
DIRK: You never said if you were okay, by the way.
She shifts. You're trying to keep your eyes on your phone, keep your voice level and uninvolved, but braving a lookup, you see her eyes darting around the tent, glancing back at you to meet your eyes before responding. You look away as she does so.
JADE: im fine!! just had to take a breather, y'know? there are deefinitely more folks around than im used to, not that thats a bad thing!
JADE: its just always been easy to distribute my attention equally among everyone, but now we're here and there are so many more people to talk to and meet and its obviously fun, ive waited forever for this moment! but im also a little bit...
Jade trails off.
DIRK: Overwhelmed?
JADE: yeah, overwhelmed.
DIRK: Makes sense. Honestly, I've kind of been slacking on the whole "giving new people attention" thing- I actually don't know how you do it for any amount of time, period?
DIRK: So it makes sense that you'd need a break. It's not like you'll run out of time to hang out with them.
Jades' smile became a little sadder, your study of her face ending with you looking away in regret. You think you might have said something wrong, so;
DIRK: Sorry. That was probably some insensitive ass shit to say.
JADE: oh no! :( im sorry, i didnt mean to make you feel that way.
DIRK: Fuck, dude, we can't do this. Apology inception, I mean. You didn't even do anything wrong.
DIRK: This L? It's all mine. And I intend to take it, my pride notwithstanding.
JADE: i really dont know why you think that, though.
JADE: well, you told me, but it doesnt make sense is all?
JADE: you were only explaining to me why its' okay for me to bail out for a little bit! all you were doing was trying to make me feel better, whether or not it works isnt up to you! and, for the record, it did help.
You consider it.
DIRK: You're right, I guess.
DIRK: Sorry, it's like I said: socializing is one of my less well-honed skills. I mean, among many, but the point still stands.
JADE: dirk
DIRK: Fuck, sorry.
DIRK: Wait, shit.
DIRK: Man, I'm blowing this. A distressed babe wanders into the tent and all I can do I apologize for nothing with the grace of a well-greased clown.
Jade Harley rolls her eyes, but you think it must be playfully because she's giggling as she does it. You feel instantly more at ease, the way her shoulders relax slightly and when you look up at her face again her eyes are glued to a place near your feet where a beetle is crawling across the floor.
JADE: you remind me a lot of rose and dave!
DIRK: Well, I think at some point my genes got spliced in their direction. It's hard to be sure. I guess it was really less "me" and more "an alternate version of myself who doubled as a fucking prick and of whom I am a physical copy."
JADE: havent we all, though?
DIRK: Not you, apparently. Jake thinks the world of your adult self, rest her soul.
JADE: i know he does, and i love jake so much its an ache in my chest,
JADE: dont you?
DIRK: Yes.
JADE: so if i had raised jake, i like to think i wouldn't have been so chill with him raising himself on a terrible island all alone. she gave him anxiety! the bitch :/
DIRK: Okay, well, I can't argue with that. It just seems a little unfair to condemn your alternate self like that; she was probably just trying her best. It's rather difficult to fight the forces of a woman like Bitchy Crocker.
JADE: you're one to talk!
DIRK: It's different. Old me was an incompetent and violent asshole who let himself get "possessed" by a fucking doll with the soul of a great evil hanging out inside it.
DIRK: He hurt Dave. Wouldn't you hate him, if you were me?
JADE: i would rather die than hurt Dave :(
DIRK: You said it, girl.
You're both silent. You aren't as nervous as before, but even upon examining the conversation in your mind you realize that you have no idea how to go on. Thankfully, Jade seems far better at talking, reviving your interest in the chat with ease.
JADE: sooo, jake has told me a lot about you :00
DIRK: All good things, I hope? I mean, I wouldn't blame him if not, but I hope it was all good.
JADE: i don't think he could shit-talk you if his life was on the line. i mean i think that goes for everyone in regards to jake but you especially
JADE: he just loves you so much? when he talks about you earnestly his face gets all warm and happy! i think he must know you pretty well, but he also makes you sound like the bees knees. which, hell, maybe you are. you certainly live up to the hype so far!
You snort a little, because you know Jake loves you but hearing someone say it forces a smile from your throat. Jade is looking your direction and grinning right along with you. Her smiles, the genuine ones at least, occupy her entire body, alleviating tension from the air around you.
DIRK: Well, I'm sure it's no secret that I think the world of him, too.
Jade pauses, considering.
JADE: i bet you were pretty stoked to meet him, huh?
DIRK: Fuck, more than anything, Jade. I wanted to see him so badly that sometimes I would spend hours thinking about what it would be like to actually, y'know, talk with him. Face-to-face. Hear his voice or even just sit in silence.
DIRK: I wanted desperately to meet all of my friends, though. They're everything to me.
JADE: yearning is a really easy trap to fall into. i spent my fair share of time on it myself! thats honestly not very surprising though; we were all alone, after all.
JADE: admittedly i did get kinda sick of being so useless and sad about it.
JADE: everyone was counting on me to take charge and do things, even though they didnt know it! and there i was just sitting around like a baby because i couldn't meet my friends.
DIRK: You hadn't earned it.
JADE: exactly! D:
DIRK: I think we both know that's bullshit, though. I mean, a kid shouldn't have to earn happiness or safety or the bare minimum of human contact a person needs to emotionally mature.
JADE: oh of course not!
JADE: but it was what i wanted to think, how i wanted to feel. the situation was bonkers and it...
JADE: it protected me, in a way.
DIRK: It wasn't your fault. I mean, I'm sure you know that, but I when I was younger I just...didn't. I figured that once I'd worked my ass off with this game business, then I could slack off.
JADE: fantasizing was a waste of time?
DIRK: Exactly.
There was a very serious pause, in which Jade made no attempt to hide the way she was looking you over. You didn't shrink in on yourself, it didn't feel judgemental, but it did feel like she was thinking very hard about something.
JADE: but...
JADE: you're not.
JADE: slacking off, that is. when i came in you had yourself so tense and folded up down there i didn't even see you! and this is my first time even properly meeting you even though you're a really cool guy.
DIRK: I'm just...
JADE: scared?
DIRK: Scared. Worried. Self-conscious, inexperienced. Tripping over myself inexplicably everytime the idea of being forced to socialize comes up. The list probably goes on.
JADE: if you want, we could go out there together? most people have gone to bed already, and its not like you'd have to talk!
JADE: jake and i have been sitting together, if you'd wanna join us? he's kinda uncomfortable, too, so i can protect my fair share of boys!
She looked very frank as she said this.
You were, admittedly, swayed.
DIRK: I guess it wouldn't hurt to assess some of our bunkmates. See what their deal is from afar before I end up sharing a tent with some of 'em. Plus, I'm getting kinda sick of eating uncooked hotdogs.
She chuckles.
JADE: Attaboy!
She stood up with a small flourish, crossing the tent to extend her hand. Without thinking, you shoved your phone in your pocket and took it. She heaved you up as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
JADE: i'll personally beat the shit out of vriska if she even looks at you, trust me.
Jade kept hold of your hand as she guided you towards the exit, something you didn't mind as much as you thought you would.
DIRK: Thank you, Jade- I really mean it. You don't have to let me follow you around like a lost puppy, but I'm glad you don't mind. I appreciate it
.
DIRK: I know we don't know each other as well as we could, but I don't think it'd be a hasty generalization to say you're a pretty sweet chick.
JADE: likewise (minus the chick part)!
JADE: and of course id let you hang with me, man.
Jade unzips the flap, hand leaving yours to guide it open for you.
She faces you, equally supportive as she is expectant.
JADE: kids like us have to stick together!