Chapter Text
It had honestly been a nice day.
The sun was just barely peeking through the clouds, a rare thing given that Gothem was usually covered with smog. The weather was warm from said sun but not humid since it hadn’t rained recently, if Dyl had been living anywhere else but Gothem he might’ve taken it as a sign to get a plant for his window sill. Maybe a succulent since he didn’t know how well he could care for a plant.
All in all, perfect conditions for a walk downtown to do some shopping for some new collectibles he wanted.
Dyl had his headphones on, one earbud off just in case (you can never be to paranoid in Gothem), the warmth was nice. However it was still hot enough to warrant him stepping into a local coffee shop. He makes polite small talk with the baristas before she moves to make his order, some weird refresher he felt a little pressured into buying with the amount of promotional photos of it around the quaint coffee shop. All things considered it was a cozy spot for a mid day drink, self-care if you will. The lights were dimmed, with bookshelves filled with cheap worn paperback lining the walls; the window in the far corner by the emergency exit were covered in wood from what was probably a break in (thanks Gothem); and the tables lined with the cutest cat tablecloth.
“For Dyl?”
He was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of the baristas voice calling out his order which he quickly takes with a thank you before picking seat by the front window where he could see the door. The drink was mediocre and so surgery he had to consciously stop his face from scrunching up. He was surprised it didn’t make his teeth hurt, but he pushed on taking small sips as he watched Gothems rush hour traffic. A fancy looking couple were walking hand in hand with each other chatting tensely about something he couldn’t hear, a teenager was running desperate to keep up with the comical amount of dogs they were walking, a mother and toddler were crossing the street hand in hand while the toddler pointed to something in Dylan direction. Curiously, he follows the child’s finger to a sunflower breaking through the pavement of the sidewalk suddenly.
He’s optimistically sure sunflowers weren’t supposed to grow that big, or that fast.
He barely has a second to stand up from his seat and duck down before the window caves in from the sudden onslot of vines. He hears a bunch of screams from all directions, but he’s already making a break for the back door.
“Over here!” He calls out, though he’s not sure if anyone can hear him over the sounds of chaos all around them. He holds open the door as the barista and two of the three other patrons go running out into the back alley and away from the destroyed shop.
There’s a choice he could make.
He’d be safer out in the open away from the building that was slowly crumbling and folding in on itself.
Or he could run inside and help the man trapped under one of the book shelves.
The choice was pretty obvious in his opinion.
The sound of the door swinging shut behind him was overpowered by the man’s groan of pain as a few more books slide free from the case and hit his body. Dyl rushes over the fallen furniture and vines nearly tripping and falling flat on his face in his haste, but he slides in next to the man and pushes against the bookcase. For a few tense moments case doesn’t budge, then it’s slowly lifted enough for the man to squirm his way free and rush for the back exit without so much as a thank you. Dyl understands the rush to get out so he doesn’t pay it any mind as he himself makes a break for the door and into open air.
The outside world is chaotic but thankfully mostly devoid of civilians. The road is cracked and lifted serveral feet with vines and a type of sunflower he’d never seen before, it a few petals and a yellow center, everywhere. There’s a car hanging by some roots and smoke is coming from a fire somewhere he can’t see. It honestly doesn’t even smell like smoke, more like a sweet pine sort of scent as the sunflower seeds spread out. That actually probably wasn’t safe to inhale but whatever; he turns his attention towards running in the direction he hopes there will be no fighting.
He makes it a few blocks before anything else happens which is honestly a miracle in and of itself. There’s a loud crash and the sound of a buildings structure straining, he turns around just in time to watch the Signal explode into a bright light. He falls fast, landing on his knees as he blinks rapidly to no avail. He can’t see anything except for some bright spots in his vision and he can only hear a loud ringing. He thinks he feels his body swaying a bit as he tries to stand up despite his disoriented state not even realizing he’s speaking out loud. “Fuck…I swear Gothem is gonna make me go blind.”
“It’s temporary.” A deep voice says from in front of him startling him into looking up. Which is a mistake because his eyes and head hurt and that just made it worse. There’s a steadying hand on his shoulder before he’s guided up by this mysterious figure. Dyl sways a bit before again trying to blink away all the spots in his vision.
“You sound like you get into fistfights” he blurts out still a little disoriented and not truly caring if he accidentally pissed the guy off. He’s rewarded with a snort.
“Oddly specific, what’s your name? What were you doing so close to the fighting?” the stranger questions as he guides Dyl towards an ally so he can lean against the wall away from the line of fire.
“You just kinda sound like it you know? I’m Dyl, I was trying to drink this honestly awful refresher when the flowers cracked open the street in front of the place I was at.” He grumbles honestly a little annoyed with the situation now that he’s not in any immediate danger. He can see a bit better now, though his vision is still splotchy, and he can make out the figure of a tall guy in a leather jacket with black hair and a white streak. The white streak honestly makes his head hurt a little with how much it stands out against the darker colors.
“ ‘m Jay, here, it isn’t spiked don’t worry.” The guy, Jay states handing over a small water bottle from god knows where. Dyl debates for a moment before deciding the guy probably wouldn’t have helped him up if he was going to drug him. Taking the bottle he tries to take a sip, key word being tried because he quickly discovers his depth perception has gone to shit as the water spill onto his shirt.
“… are you laughing at me?” He asks after a moment of silence watching as Jay turns away with his shoulders shaking.
“No.” It’s said firmly but Jay’s shoulders are still shaking and Dyl swears he hears another snort.
Frowning Dyl tries again successfully getting the water into his mouth. “It’s rude to laugh at a temporarily blind man..” He huffs out trying to sound serious but he honestly sounds more indignant than anything else. This time Jay does burst into a small fit off laughter, and Dyl can’t help but think it’s a nice even if it’s at his expense. He’s a bit confused as to why someone is being so nice in the middle of a disaster in Gothem, but he won’t question it for now. He slumps against the wall taking a seat as he finally fully catches his breathe, his muscles are aching and his head still hurts but Jay seems like good conversation, and Dyl isn’t quite ready to make the trek home.
“What are you doing this close to the fight anyway?”
—————————————————————————————
Later, Dyl lets Jay walk him halfway home before shooing him off. (he has enough self preservation not to show a random stranger where he lives thank you)
He wakes up to a small basket with some teas for headaches and a variety of snacks, complete with a card that has a little Signal logo and an apology for the trouble. Dyl honestly thinks it’s a little weird since he probably wasn’t the only civilian caught up in the burst of light, but he wasn’t going to look a gist horse in the mouth.