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[knighthooded]

(text - voice - video - telepathy - other)

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day 166

[witchhooded]

[ in the morning, a little pristine box is left by the door of dave's apartment. it's wrapped in red paper, and there's a paper cd envelope taped to it's top. in green sharpie ink, familiar scrawl reads "happy birthday dave! <3"

once unwrapped, the box yields two more boxes and an envelope. one box is for a walkman, that notes it plays cds and is bluetooth compatible. the other box is for a pair of headphones. they aren't the best ones out there, but jade thinks maybe there's way to fix them up. the box appears to have been opened and the reason why becomes clear: jade has modified them to feature dave's record symbol. it looks handpainted, carefully handled.

opening up the envelope reveals a letter, and a hand made IOU for a home baked cake, cashable "literally whenever [he] want[s]!!!". ]

dave,

i did not think it would be very nice to leave you out of the birthday celebrations. even though i guess you are still the age you were before. :p which means i am still older than you! yay! hehehe

so anyway, happy birthday! we have a couple years of birthdays to catch up on so consider this an attempt to make up for the last three years. :) it isnt much but i think dirk could probably spruce up your headphones if you wanted. i figured you would want something to help you listen to music as well though the only thing i can give you is this cd. we used to mix music together all the time, and it has been sooooo long since then. i used to be so excited! you are the coolest person ever to me, dave, and you liked to mix music with me, and remix my songs.... it meant a lot to me. it still does. thank you for playing along with me back then :) you are one of my very bestest friends of all time and i would not have it any other way. i hope this makes your adjustment here in the coven and shehui easier!!!

jade <3

[ popping the cd into the player reveals 5 songs: skyline ballroom, venetian hor d'oeuvres, bonsai andante, lithic merengue and chrysanthemum cluster. ]

[knighthooded]

[it takes a while for all this to sink in. for him to not be holding the box and just staring into it like a fool, smiling in a way that even his shades can't hide. she knew. she knew and when he puts on the music, he lies there on his bed, listening and then replaying the cd. enough to drive the great Dave Strider speechless, really. an accomplishment.

he doesn't respond immediately. it comes after five days, a delivery to her apartment, a cd sleeve that says "for jade" and has a note taped to it.]

if this is one of jades roommates quit snooping in her shit
if this is jade then i hope this got to you ok
thanks for the birthday gifts, you really know how to pick them
maybe thisll make you excited again while we figure out this magic metropolis and i keep getting strongarmed into these stupid jobs
theres gotta be some law against child labor or something we can protest with
anyway let me know what you think

[in this cd are five songs - all of the ones she sent, remixed and played with to draw out different elements, trying different styles out. like they used to do before.]

sunsu

[splinten]

[Well, this is anxiety-inducing as fuck. Dirk can't bear to give the present in person, even though he thought it'd be awesome to dress up as Santa and deliver it. So instead he leaves a box, in red wrapping, for Dave to open. Inside, Dave will find a portable mixing table and headphones, with an archive of a whole bunch of music that Dave can sample and mix. It's signed in orange pen, "Merry Alien Knockoff Christmas. --Dirk"]

SUNSU

[enlightenedhealer]

[Secret Santa Gift Time!

Cheria has left some neatly decorated cookies and a red scarf. After their meeting and conversation she at least managed to get a favorite color from him. Or so she assumed.

The note attached reads:

Happy Sunsu! I hope you can find at least one of these to your liking.

Your Secret Santa, Cheria

Enjoy!]

icly belated

[knighthooded]

[it takes him a long time to process the contents of the box. it takes him a while before he lifts the things out, feeling like he half expects something to burst out and scare him, some trick behind it. but there's none of that, just...this gift. something he misses, with this world hiding his sylladex and no equipment on him.

so it's a few weeks later that an anonymous cd is going to show up at Dirk's place, for him. if he plays it, he'll hear three songs - mixed out of the archive he gave Dave.

it's the one way he feels alright saying thank you.]

Day 210ish, post-kidnappings

[terezias]

[There is a knock, knock on the door of Dave's apartment.]

[knighthooded]

[whoever it is, he'll answer. it's clear just from his presence that he's not doing well - he's stressed, and been pacing around the room. but...a familiar face is at least some relief.]

Terezi.

[what...should he do?]

[terezias]

Coolkid.

[She gets up really close and peers intently at Dave. It is weird just looking at him, without the benefit of her smell-o-vision, but she can tell he is upset.

Unfortunately, this doesn't give her any better of an idea what to do with it. When he was in Sburb she would have questioned him incessantly about his feelings, trying to get him to admit to something, but . . . that doesn't seem right right now. Maybe she's getting soft.

Maybe she's just getting older.]

. . . there is a plan. It is not a bad plan. You have heard them talking about it too, right?

day 216

[witchhooded]

[ in the middle of the afternoon, jade's connection picks up. it's the telepathic equivalent of calling and not saying hello upon the receiver answering. on her end, there's only a burst of incomprehensible static. the connection goes quiet, and she tries again twenty minutes later. the same thing happens but it's terribly clear what's going on from her side when the intense sensation of nausea clips through. jade cuts the connection immediately and re-establishes something a lot clearer moments later. ]

Argh, sorry, I keep falling asleep.

[ it's not a lie. ]

What's up, Mr. Cool Guy?

[knighthooded]

The one where we become fake cops instead of busting down the doors head on. I know that plan. Signed up for it, actually.

[even with his glasses, she'll know that he's looking at her - straight at her.]

You in on it?

[terezias]

. . . I am going to make a lot of noise. So the others can sneak in. I will use my amazing powers of pouring water on people.

[knighthooded]

[there's no possible way Dave can take all that as nothing - the static gets his attention first, and then the sickness - god, what the fuck was happening - and then it's Jade, and he drops what he's doing, focusing on the connection.]

We're hatching a plan to get all of you the hell out is what's happening.

[it has to work. it has to.]

They making you fall asleep, or is this like it used to be, when you'd drop out during a conversation?

[what the fuck were they doing, that would make sickness so strong you could feel it that way. what were they doing to her, to the rest of them. he hates being here, waiting for the organization, for everything to get done.]

[knighthooded]

Pouring water on people.

[it's a flat echo, Dave trying hard to not be as much of a dick as he could be and say anyone could do it.]

You talking water bottles or barrels?

[terezias]

[She was being sardonic anyway, s'cool.]

It depends on the magnitude of the lie. More extreme and more consequential lies drop larger amounts of water.

Day 226

[terezias]

[Terezi shows up bright and early the morning of Yeunai to wherever Dave is camping, carrying two cards. She hands them over to Dave, beaming.]

Happy Yeunai. You're welcome.

[witchhooded]

[ hmmm. jade momentarily weighs her options. it's a little of column and a bit of column b. more than anything, she's cutting off conversation when the nausea from electroshock therapy hits her like a ton of bricks (which, wow, is a really new feeling, but it really does feel like that.) but in this instance...

she doesn't want to worry dave. she also doesn't want to lie to him. at the same time - there's headaches and jaw pains, nausea and short term memory loss. she doesn't want to talk much about the fact she has taught herself to zone out of a situation, leave her body behind and stop thinking for a while. it helps, but she can't imagine it's healthy. then again - is anything about this?

she can't listen to his voice anymore. it hurts; she thinks about davesprite and the nice things he'd say to make her feel better when she felt gross and discomforted. they were healthy in the game, but they still had physical aches. ]

can we switch to text please?
its easier for me right now
it is better to sleep off the nausea than stay awake

[knighthooded]

Wait, back up on this. You can make it rain, literally, by lying?

[damn, he never knew she could do that. or it was something granted by this place, if she could still use it. and then, he grins.]

You figured this all out firsthand. Meaning you were totally about to lie and screw someone over and then whoops, mother nature's stepping in to rain on your parade. Sorry, no can do, busy trying to wash the truth back in your mouth, it's the new rule at Water World, you shall not lie. Holy shit.

[knighthooded]

[Yeunai? he hadn't been paying attention to the alien holidays, but he takes the cards dutifully, opening them -

and they get a laugh out of him, actually, because this is so straightforwardly Terezi that it feels for a second like everything's back to normal.]

Happy Yeunai, TZ. You sure you meant to give me two cards? Because wow, that's a whole lot of friendly feeling flying at me, what with you saying I'm not the hated one and that I'm witty and all.

[terezias]

[She makes a puffed-up, offended face.]

It is not funny!

[Predictably, this dumps a bucket's worth of water on her, and also Dave, if he's standing close enough. Terezi sputters and shakes herself like a dog.]

Fine, I guess it is funny, if you are not concerned with my dignity.

[knighthooded]

whatever you want

[he knows something's wrong. multiple somethings. so many somethings that he could sign up a full team to little league and coach them for the finals. but if she wants text, she gets text. her writing is proof that they still have time.]

if you need to take a nap go ahead
ill be here
probably talking still
waiting for you to wake up and see it
not like we havent done that before
the stakes were just a lot lower when you were just taking naps around your house all the time
but yeah sleep it off
sleep can go kick this things ass
put it back where it came from
no sir not gonna get your way today
not with the secret weapon of a power nap
so strong we had to include it in the name of the damn thing

[terezias]

It is a holiday, so I was feeling generous.

[This is apparently close enough to the truth to escape LIE RAIN.]

[witchhooded]

no i do not want to nap!
i want to talk to you :)
pretty much all there is to do here is nap and stare at the wall
which admittedly the cells are a little bit nicer than you would think??? :\
but still
apparently theres a holiday coming up or something!
it sounds like friendship day
kind of sucks that i will not be able to spend it with you guys.......
well its ok in the end i know you guys are coming