DIRK: [ARISE]

[evenindeath]

Of all the places to wake up, 'dumpster' had not actually been in Dirk's top thirty list. Of course, once he realized that's where he was he considered that had been an error in judgement on his part. It was where he belonged and thus should have been number one on his list.

"HAL?" he said, his voice a raw and rough croaking to his own ears, but his sunglasses skewed on his face showed nothing but the sky above, a bright night lit by a moon and too much light pollution from the city around him for any stars. He brought an aching arm up to right his sunglasses and give them a tap, the the bare bones of his Heads Up Display on them became visible, flickering in and out of focus. "HAL?" he asked again, but there was no answer. It said he was offline with no signal available.


The past - however long it was came back to him in flits and flashes, what lead them here. Him here, anyway. Finding our that what his friends went through was a beta run for the whole thing, that it had already failed once and they were an attempt to restart under more favorable circumstances. That their game was a null game too in different ways but unfortunately just enough overlap that the plan to make a working game between the two of them wasn't going to work. What was there left to try, a third attempt where they would likely once more end up with more problems and no solutions?

Dirk had been careful who he proposed the plan to and how he said it. Jake was the driven type, charismatic - it didn't matter he couldn't figure out how to pull it off himself, if he suggested it people would be more likely to listen, to try.

"Do you think there's a way to get out of the game entirely?" Dirk had asked Jake in what passed for late one night on a meteor where they'd taken refuge, time and day having no meaning.

The question had been posed seemingly carelessly, but it had stuck in Jake's mind like Dirk knew it would. Soon enough they were all working together on 'Jake's' new plan to try and find a universe beyond the games entirely.

There was no guarantee it would work. No guarantee they'd go to the same place, or even... anywhere.

But what other option did they have?


And now Dirk was here, in a dumpster.

It smelled terrible in a weirdly unfamiliar way to him. It was the kind of terrible that came from cramped living conditions of too many people in one place, and he had literally never experienced that before. When he managed to push himself up and crawl out of it (and get all the ... leavings... off of himself) just looking to the other end of the alleyway where cars went back and forth gave him pause as he thought that every single one of those had at least one person in it. Watching for just a couple minutes, more people walked by without a glance in his direction than he'd ever seen in one place in his whole life.

Wherever they'd landed, it wasn't his home. Not when he knew it.

Distracted by that utter culture shock, he managed to miss the sound of someone coming the other direction until they spoke.

"Hand over your money - anything you have on you," the gravely voice ordered, and Dirk turned slowly to see the barrel of a gun staring him down, and attached to it a man that could either be twice his age or a little younger with a hard life behind him. Dirk was guessing the second was more likely.

"Are you fucking deaf? Hand. Over. Your. Cash. Fucker!" the man repeated when Dirk just continued to stare at him.

Oh, this? He'd seen this in plenty of movies. He knew how to handle this.

"Yeah, no," Dirk said, with a careless flick of his wrist his clothing glitched and blurred into a different but similar set, his pointed sunglasses doing the same to be a fully face covering gas mask. The people who fought crime always wore masks in those stories, right? From the same place his new clothing came from he drew his katana.

He was used to enemies that put up a fight to someone on his level, and maybe would be over-estimating this guy's abilities.

Comments

[evenindeath]

Dirk leaned in, and even with it being his injured shoulder on Jason's side it didn't stop him from being close enough to bump shoulders as he looked at the images scrolling by. Some were familiar because he'd seen them in movies and television shows recorded ages ago. Out of all of them the only two that seemed familiar beyond 'I've seen a picture of this can before' were, oddly- "We got Tab" and "Oh, yeah, Faygo, we have Faygo still."

Then, because sharing was caring, he grabbed one of the stacks of cards and quickly sorted through them until he found what he was looking for. The image on it was of a six pack of at a glance were soda cans.

He tapped the edge of the card against the work bench, and just like that, the card was now blank but there was a real life six pack of soda cans on the empty space he had hit the card with. They had the general size and shape of soda cans, but... that was where the similarities mostly seemed to end.

The label design was all super high contrast flat back and white, with some kind of horned monster on it. Pops of eye-searingly bright orange, yellow, and red were used here and there, the monster's horns having a gradation of them that made it look like it was made of candy corn. All over it was also some kind of test that could generously be described as if someone threw the font they used for the Klingon alphabet in star trek into a blender.

The monster on the can was also wearing sunglasses.

Dirk took out a pair of wire cutters from the tools he already had out and snipped one off the six pack because as it turned out that was thin metal rather than plastic and tossed the can to Jason before he tapped the cans on the now five pack with the blank card. They vanished, and the picture on the card now reflected five instead of six.

"Careful, it's ... sweet?" he said, not sure how else to describe it.

It tasted like drinking liquid funfetti cake was what it tasted like, the syrup about twice as thick as the cola.

[lazarusinred]

The whole process of retrieving the soda and putting the pack back, it was interesting. Given the tech Dirk had also produced... some kind of techno-magic? It was not unheard of, especially when alternate realities were at play.

Sweet huh? Well if the soda that Dirk just had did not qualify, best to be gentle. He took a tentative sip.

"It's like," he said and made a face before taking another sip, "like drinking a- a birthday cake." Another sip, because reason was no longer part of this equation. "No, like the icing on one of those white frosted monstrosities with the- the sprinkles." It was a lot, but he would make a best effort to finish it eventually. It had been a gift after all.

"I can see why the cola was startling."

[evenindeath]

"That's the Batter Witch for you. There's chocolate and red velvet in there," he gestured to his projected sylladex on the wall, "somewhere too. Just had to make do with whatever the drones I shot down were carrying or what I was able to replicate. No supermarkets in the middle of 300 miles of ocean."

He said it like it was a fact of life everyone had to deal with.

"Really as long as it wasn't grub chips it wasn't bad. Those are salty as fuck and mildly hallucinogenic and that green powder on them gets on everything."

Not that Dirk was the most fastidious of people, clearly, but his mess was clutter over dirt. Before he could complain further, there was a soft chime from the light grid setup, a robotic sounding mimicry of his own voice stating "Process interrupted - corruption discovered in base code."

Ah, yeah. Back when Hal's code was locked into the sunglasses, he'd disallowed the base code to be messed with - both because Hal was a shit, and because Dirk didn't want to risk him being seen as a virus and deleted or harmed. It was easy enough to manually fix when there were problems there, so he attached the light grid to his laptop to access the code there.

[lazarusinred]

Dirk's casual complaining about what his apocalypse had been like made Jason very grateful for his selection of supermarkets and bodegas. The chime, however, brought an end to whatever moment they were having.

"Right. I'll leave you to it." There was gear in want of a cleaning. Grabbing both his sodas he made his way to the other side of the room. The couch and coffee table would do just fine for this work.

When he set himself to a task and actually started it, it was easy for Jason to get lost in it. He was not sure how much time had passed while he had cleaned his jacket and armor. He had not noticed the time when he had sat down, so the clock was a useless metric. Anyway he needed his repair kit. Which was on the work table.

The thing about Jason was that he had to put effort into making sound as he moved around. Effort that he did not like to expend. So when he came up behind Dirk, Jason placed a hand on his upper back. No longer gloved fingers thoughtlessly finding skin there. The repair kit was just right there, a quick reach and grab.

[evenindeath]

Dirk was more than familiar with hyperfocusing on a project. It was why Hal came about in the first place, originally created as an auto-responder for when his friends messaged him while he was too busy with his own work to chat with them.

While there were some things that seemed inherently out of whack with the new universe, it wasn't the first time Dirk had adjusted for that. It looked like most of the garbage in the code came from attempts at automatically adjusting going haywire and leeching back into the source. Easy fix, mindless and meditative work. Checking the laptop as well he found a similar corruption and fixed it.

Instead of saying 'no signal', it asked if he wanted to attempt to reconnect. He stared at the question for some time.

He wanted to know if his friends were okay. He wanted to know if they made it out - if not here, then somewhere. But…

If they had a chance to make a clean break from him, wouldn't it be better if he let them have it?

He had just resolved to close the chat program when the unexpected touch to his back had him jumping, scattering cards and a thankfully now empty soda can.

"Jesus-!"

[lazarusinred]

"Sorry," Jason said. You apologized for things that you did not intend. "I just needed-" Grabbed up the kit from the far side of the table and sighed soft enough that it was only noticeable at this close range.

"Uh, how is it going?"

[evenindeath]

Dirk brought a hand up to touch where Jason had, an unconscious motion, heart beating rapidly from more than just surprise.

"Fine. Uh, fixed. Got it figured out," he said, quickly grabbing his sunglasses to slide them back on. He'd already closed the chat on them, too. Might reopen it in invisible mode later. The program they all used didn't technically have an invisibility mode, Dirk had hacked his own.

He closed his laptop, picking it up and tossing it carelessly at the projected sylladex. It hung in the air right in front of it for a brief breathless moment before turning to pure light and shrinking - sucked up onto a previously blank space like a comical vacuum effect, the former blank space now showing the image of the laptop.

"What about you how's the - whatever going?"

[lazarusinred]

"Repairs. Still going." Unconsciously he rubbed his forearm. The new scar still ached. That always took more time.

From his vantage point the bruising on Dirk's shoulder was prominent. He had not thought to ask before, but no time like the present. "Did you want something for... your... shoulder?"

The question stretched out as he had caught a glimpse of an unfortunately familiar shadow outside. Faster than what could even be considered casual he reached around the other side of Dirk to twist the blinds closed.

"Ice, aspirin?"

[evenindeath]

"Sure, ice," Dirk said with a nod. Facing Jason as he was, the window was to his back and so he missed the shadow there - he'd have looked anyway with Jason closing the blinds like he did, but reaching past Dirk meant he had to get up in his space again and…

"So when I say humanity was effectively wiped out I mean literally me and my friend Roxy were the only two humans left alive and her hive was on the other side of what was left of the USA. I didn't see another human being in person until I was sixteen and the world was finally dying for the last time - red miles, meteors, raining fire, oceans burning, whole nine yards," he said quickly, before he could stop himself and gall back on silent indifference that was his go-to.

That had ruined things with Jake, holding back all the time, only giving away information after he had carefully weighed what kind of reaction he would get for it. He wasn't going to do that anymore. He wanted to be better. So fine, let Jason know why he's so fucking weird when Jason gets close.

"So if I'm- if I act weird just say something so I can fix it."

His heart was still pounding, a flush creeping up his neck.

[lazarusinred]

Oh that, that put things a new perspective. It felt like something given, and something that deserved more than an agreement.

"Hold that thought," he said and went to the kitchen to get an ice pack. Just as he entered the kitchen his phone gave a chime, followed by another. Great.

Fishing his phone out he was greeted by a secure group text.

Damien: I think we are in trouble. There is a strange man in Jason's apartment and it stands to reason they would target our weakest member first.

Hey.

Dick: It could be a new friend.

Tim: That seems unlikely.

Before it could spiral much more Jason hastily sent:

Jason: I'm fine. If you can manage to not be assholes I'll tell you later

And promptly muted his phone before shoving it back into a pocket.

Returning with the ice pack, Jason broke it up a little so it would rest better on the curve of a body. He sat on the edge of the table to face Dirk. "May I?" he asked gesturing with the pack. When he got approval he placed it where it would do the most help and continued to hold it, even though he did not strictly need to.

"My mom ODed when I was young. My dad went to prison not long after. I... ended up on my own. Until I got the attention of the man who adopted me. By stealing the tires off his car. He is a very intense person and when something bad happened... we had a falling out. My adopted brothers are also a pack of weirdos, but thanks to them it sometimes seems okay. What I'm trying to say is I can be hard to be around. Tell me if I make you uncomfortable, and I'll fix it." Echoing the same phrase from Dirk. "And I'll tell you if I think you are acting weird."

[evenindeath]

He had been briefly worried that it had been Too Much - Dirk was frequently Too Much when he let his emotions get the better of him, and this certainly would be setting new Strider records from 'hello' to 'FUBAR' but let it never be said that Dirk wasn't always working to surpass his own abilities when he had no competition to offer a significant challenge.

But Jason was just getting an ice pack, like Dirk had asked for, and when he held it to Dirk's back himself Dirk held very still to not jostle Jason or give any indication however accidental that he would rather do it himself.

Even before this, Dirk had suspected that for all the superficial similarities to Jake, Jason was more the same type as Dirk. The confession that felt like truth for truth made it that much more certain for him.

"You don't think I'm weird yet? Guess I'll have to up my game. Can I get an indication of my current standing?" He asked, half joke, half challenge.

[lazarusinred]

"You'll have to work extra hard to earn 'weird' around here." Jason was not going to back down from even a slight challenge, but if he could get more stakes out of it, well. "I'll tell you, if you tell me how I make you feel. Since uncomfortable does not seem to be it." No joke, all challenge.

[evenindeath]

Jason had jumped to the challenge of a fight before, but that could have been for any reason. He could have just come from one and was still keyed up by it. He could have only cared because at the time he thought Dirk could be a direct threat. But here it was again, no gun pressed against his stomach this time but that voice was the same, the rising tension that sent Dirk's heartbeat racing.

"That seems a little unfair, since I asked you first," he pointed out, "Also not counting the mugger you're only the fourth human male I've ever met - and only the third I'm not related to."

So, you know, his bar might not be accurate at the moment.

[lazarusinred]

"I'll give you my answer and you can or not. I'll learn something either way."

Putting things into words was not one of Jason's greatest strengths. He was smart, very smart, but between thought and word things got jumbled sometimes. Particularly with emotions, and this was nothing but. Backing down now would be giving into fear and that was enough to keep him from finding a comfortable half-truth.

"I am interested in you." Oh god that had sounded bad in his head, but it sounded worse out loud. "There is a connection that I want, but I don't even know where to start with that." It was honest, painfully honest, but it came with the same tense challenge. Go ahead and let him down like everyone always has.

[evenindeath]

Okay, fine, fine, that's how you want to play it? Dirk will play your game of chicken and he will annihilate you.

"I'm super gay and you're stupid attractive," Dirk said flatly, like the words didn't even matter. Being exposed to more people and human culture in general, he'd… not necessarily 'gotten over' his aversion to human labels, but he understood the purpose of them, especially in a time and place where they were common. "But I completely fucked up my only relationship with what was at the time the only other guy I knew by coming on too strong so I'm trying to be fucking chill here. So no you don't make me uncomfortable."

Fuck you and have your fucking feelings.

[lazarusinred]

Any blithe comment Jason would normally summon up was lost in this careening disregard for keeping his vulnerabilities locked down. It felt like falling - exhilarating and terrifying.

"I've never kissed anyone, despite living in a world of billions of people. Even after I figured out that I was gay I was still to busy with trying to- to just fucking exist. You have to know you are attractive and the only person I have ever let come here that I am not related to. We can be chill. I don't know what that looks like, but we can do that."

[evenindeath]

Dirk knew what chill 'looked' like, but that had always been his problem. He could manage 'looks' for it just fine, while under the surface he was anything but. Turning his head to look Jason in the eyes, he didn't need Hal reminding him of what happened when he'd pushed Jake so hard. It got what he wanted, sure - but at the cost of not being able to keep it. At the cost of Jake feeling so put-upon and stressed that he took the first exit he got.

"You wanna kiss someone?" he asked, instead of doing the smart thing and backing off. He had plenty experience there. It was the most him and Jake had done, but they'd done it quite a bit.

[lazarusinred]

The smart thing would be to back off. It really would be. But it was just a question. For now.

Jason was also... Jason. Feeling pressured was something he would push back on rather than seek an exit. He did not feel pressured now. What he did feel was his heart beating against his ribs.

"I would," he answered. The only memory of what could be something enjoyable, being pushed on him. Like so many things in his life. For once he was entertaining the thought that he could change that with things he chose for himself.

[evenindeath]

He'd asked first, hadn't he? Given Jason a chance to back out. Whether or not he was the type to hardly mattered, he'd had the opening and he hadn't taken it. So Dirk carefully reached out to grab the front of Jason's shirt and give a tug to close the little distance there was between them, closer than they had been in the alley right after the fight.

"You can change your mind at any time," Dirk reminded him, the final warning before leaning in to press his lips to Jason's. It was positively chaste, all things considered - just a hint of teeth, because Dirk couldn't stop being Dirk even when he tried - a gentle opener that could be pressed or walked away from as Jason chose.

[lazarusinred]

The part of Jason that was always situationally aware was very thankful he had already closed the blinds. The rest of him was caught up in the kiss. It was soft and given in a thoughtful way, a contrast to how they had met. Or perhaps more that both could exist in each of them. Violence and a kindness.

Where he lacked experience, he had trained for the majority of his life to read how people moved. He could make it not completely awkward. As the kiss came to what felt like a conclusion shaped as a question he pushed forward, wordlessly asking for more.

[evenindeath]

With the way Jason fought, Dirk expected him to be able to follow a lead easily. He was glad to be right, that his read had been correct - and even more glad when as the initial kiss softened to a close Jason pushed forward to keep it going. Dirk's hand tightened where it still gripped Jason's shirt, other hand coming up to rest partially against his neck and the back of his head so he could give the gentle indication for how to tilt his head just so to make it easier to deepen the kiss. Dirk opened his mouth to it, tongue swiping at Jason's in a challenge for him to keep up.

[lazarusinred]

It was easy to follow Dirk's gentle directions. Tilting his head Jason opened his mouth in deepening the kiss. His tongue seeking Dirk's. To rise to that challenge, he would hungrily keep up.

The ice pack did not seem so important now and could be retrieved later. He slid his cooled fingers up Dirk's neck and into his hair. Reaching forward with his other hand Jason ran his fingers across Dirk's ribs. He pressed forward slightly in question. The chair did lack armrests, it would be easy to join Dirk there.

[evenindeath]

The cool touch of Jason's fingers was much better against Dirk's skin than the ice pack, really. It had done its job, and now Dirk was distracted by the growing heat between them. He leaned back in the chair instinctively, making as much room as possible in invitation even as he continued to pull Jason towards him. That gnawing hunger for more that came with finally being fed after a lifetime of starvation.

[lazarusinred]

That hunger was not unfamiliar to Jason. He had not been starved, but had spent a lifetime getting just enough to always be hungry and telling himself that was a point of pride. Feeling Dirk pull in answer, he pushed forward to close what little distance there was. Even with his eyes closed it was easy enough to straddle Dirk and join him. Pressing as close as he could, gently applying pressure to the back of Dirk's head. Closer. More.

[evenindeath]

The sour-sweet after taste of the soda on Jason's mouth was in that moment the best thing Dirk had ever tasted. He let go of the front of Jason's shirt only so he could get a better grip around his waist, so there was no more space left between them for even air, everything narrowed down to every point of contact between them and where it was skin meeting skin it felt hot enough to be a brand. The hand around Jason's waist was quickly sliding up under his shirt, fingertips dancing along his spine - and still Dirk wanted more, he wanted everything Jason would give him-

Even if the arms had been removed from the chair, it was fundamentally not made for two people to be in it. Eventually leaning back and into one another led to what was surely the inevitable for anyone watching from the outside- the sudden shot of weightlessness for a heartbeat before it overbalanced and crashed to the floor.