( open ) alone, i fight these animals

[rhapsodeity]

WHO: Jade Wolf & potentially you
WHERE: Out and about! There's a lot of locations.
WHEN: Saturday (4/8) and Sunday (4/9)!
WHAT: Jade finds out she can teleport. It doesn't go well.
WARNINGS: None at the moment and I doubt any will come up!


a, saturday morning, freshens: slow, slow me down

[ saturday mornings are usually reserved for cartoons and overly sugared cereal, but today, jade dresses herself (poorly - her shirt is backwards, her hair is a bigger disaster than usual with incredibly obvious knots showing. her skirts lopsided and her leg warmers are uneven: jade's seen better days, outfit-wise) and marches out the door of the wolf family's new abode, stomp all the way. she's only half way sure that her shoes (a pair of brown cowboy boots with a floral design) are on the opposite feet and she is stomping, stomping down the street, furiously determined to go to the market and get that half off ice cream. it's happening.

when jade gets to the market, it's probably obvious that something is wrong. for one, if you know jade wolf, you know she has her mother's blue eyes. they're a nice, cobalt blue, deeper than sky blue but still reminiscent of the clear blues.

the jade today has vibrant, lime green eyes, and they're staring down at a pint of pistachio ice cream. in her hand is a trio of coupons, gripped tightly, and she alternates between pulling the pint so close that her nose is touching it and then so far away that her arm strains.

finally, she groans and opens it to place the pint back in the freezer. ] I think I saw a P! I think... so... Pistachio? Jeeeez. Okay, maybe an eye doctor visit sooner than la--

[ there's a flash of green, or maybe there isn't, and then where jade wolf once stood, only three coupons for half off pints of ice cream float for a moment before gliding to the floor. ]

b, saturday afternoon, pizza port: let go, lay to rest

[ jade is having a terrible time navigating the town, but she's at least sort of good at it. she remembers that, at least, pizza port wasn't always pizza port, so when her legs lead her to the restaurant, she is... suitably surprised by the smell of food.

jade squints at the menu hanging over the counter and clenches her fists. ]

This... is not Home Depot?

[ a beat. ]

What street am I on??

[ SHIT ]

c, saturday evening, just outside the public library: get up, shake the rust

[ on the steps of the library is a girl with messy dark hair, and there are flowers sticking out of it, seemingly at random. she has arguably the most unnaturally green eyes anyone might ever seen, and she looks incredibly, incredibly lost.

she's also wrapped up in a feather boa and has a potted sunflower in her arms; it's just big enough to be obvious that she needs a bigger pot for it than the one she has, now, and jade looks around the block, wiggling in place a bit. ]

Hey!

[ the idiot in the feather boa notices you, or someone near you, and either she asks you a question: ]

Have you seen a little old lady with a hunchback?

[ or she squints at you, and asks: ] ...Ma'am, did you come back to get your sunflower?

[ you are probably not the old lady who left the potted flower with her, though. ]

d, sunday morning, hollingberry field: she follows me into the woods

[ early sunday mornings are jade's bread and butter, and she loves open fields and giant trees she can lay under. despite the forecast yesterday, the sun's shining and the blue skies are clear, completely devoid of clouds. ]

They don't look weird, right?

[ jade grips the lens of her glasses and winces as she smudges them. they're ridiculously large bifocals that take up almost half her face, thick black rims making it clear they're classic "coke bottle" glasses. they magnify her eyes, too, making them look even bigger, and the homestucks continue to blend in almost seamlessly with the animez thanks to how comically giant her eyes are and how brilliantly green they are, too.

no wonder she's so self conscious.

probably not too self conscious, though, because she's still sporting the cowboy boots. ]

Just, um. Well, I never thought I'd need glasses, so... it's a big change for me!

Comments

LOCKED TO DAVE, 4/8, saturday afternoon, enchanted blossoms

[rhapsodeity]

[ generally speaking, employees are the only ones allowed in the back, and jade's no exception to the "customers up front only" rule. she has known this for as long as dave's worked at enchanted blossoms and has not thought it weird at all. of course, jade has always had a flair for the things in life she finds exciting, and she'd be lying if finding out what the back of enchanted flowers looks like isn't kind of exciting. what things go on there? what does it look like?

...she expected it to look a little like a floral dungeon of sorts so the fact it's just. a room, in the back of the shop with a lot of flowers in it is pretty underwhelming. now she feels silly for ever fantasizing about this place.

jade arrived with a flash of green and feeling of static electricity, after rolling around in a joke shop for a half hour. it was something to take her mind off things, even if she couldn't really see the things she's picking up. on her nose sits a pair of groucho glasses, a arrow through the head headband, and her shoulders are adorned with a royal blue cape. in the pocket of her blouse is a toy sunflower, likely the kind that squirts water, and she is

standing there wearing all these things.

shit, now she's a thief.

jade raises a giant gloved hand and pulls her legs together. she'd really liked these shoes and now they probably just complete the ridiculous look. to be fair, cowboy boots are pretty silly looking most of the time. ]

Hi!

[ act natural you don't know who it is yet SHIT ]

[parodeity]

[ .................JADE WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING. dave can't even properly react the teleporting because instead he just starts. laughing. and can't stop. he doesn't usually get caught up in helpless laughter but he was too startled to have any defense since she literally wasn't there a f ew seconds ago. ]

[rhapsodeity]

[ jade's quiet for a beat, jaw slack and eyes wide. it's the sound, more than the image, mostly because she can just see the blurry outline, the blond hair, the dark shades - she knows it's dave because she's heard him laugh before and of course there isn't going to be another blond here unless it's him. she knows it's him but she hasn't heard him laugh like this before and it's kind of adorable?

she can't see it but she can hear it and it's a little infectious so when she awkwardly stumbles over, being careful of her steps so she doesn't bump into anything, she's giggling too. she steadies herself with one hand on his shoulder, and she's still wearing the ridiculous get up when she reaches up to put one hand on his cheek. can't see it so she might as well try to feel it? there's no actual mouth or lip touching it's more like she is just trying to see how big of a grin it is from holding his cheek. dumb plan, but if the world were nothing but jade wolfs then pictures of dave strider smiling would legitimately be worth a billion bucks. ]

It is really rude of you to laugh and not say hello back! And just what is so funny?? Are you laughing at my cape? It's an awesome cape!! Also it is a little heavy.

[ it's significantly longer than jade and is trailing after her on the floor but she still looks like a kid who ran around a halloween shop, so. ]

[parodeity]

Where the hell did you even come from, there's no halloween shops open this time of year?

[ he lets her touch his cheek - it's a bigger smile than usual, visible for people with actual working eyesight - as the laughter trails off. dave helps steady her almost absently with a hand to her elbow and doesn't think about what memories might or might not be waking up at the back of his mind. ]

As to what I'm laughin' at, it's more the whole ensemble and no damn warnin'.

[rhapsodeity]

There's a joke shop up the street, it's kind of small and a little old but it's still good!

[ it's probably just some dingy place she found with liz or bigby in tow one day that doesn't get a lot of traffic. which just makes the thievery worse??? in most cases jade would have attempted to fend for herself, she is perfectly capable of standing steady, thank you very much, but dave is a blurry human shaped blob of color so. fine, she'll take it. ]

I think... [ jade clicks her heels together, standing straight. ] I can teleport?

[parodeity]

Yeah, apparently. I think you could before, too. [ he decides not to mention it looked kind of like the warping shit jack was doing in that fight where jade killed him. ] ...So, how fast do you think you could learn to control it? Or do we gotta sneak in there to pay for your prank stuff. Which, like, I could easily help you do via speed, but still. Yo're worryin' about it right now, aren't you?

[rhapsodeity]

A little, I guess...

[ well. if dave doesn't want to bring it up, then jade will avoid it, too - what's the point of a conversation no one wants to have? ] Well, I don't know, actually! Maybe if I focus really hard? I was not particularly focusing when I got here, though. It all seems preeeeetty complicated, moving around through space like this. [ DAVE GOT THE EASY SUPERPOWER HERE. ]

[parodeity]

You got me. I don't have anythin' like that.

[ like. his sylladex is complex but doesn't involve...whatever the fuck jade is doing. ]

What the heck were you doin' before you got here, anyway? I mean, obviously joke shop, but was there somethin' to trigger the leap, I mean? I only ask to clarify if I gotta worry about you warpin' away immediately or not.

[rhapsodeity]

Hmmm... [ jade taps her chin in thought. aside from the obvious joke shop stuff, she was.... wandering around and thinking to herself dave needs to see how ridiculous this was. she also just kind of wanted to see dave, too, because even though she spends hours with him on the daily, jade really likes dave.

so without really thinking about it, she hugs him? ] I missed you! That's what I was doing, I guess!

[ on one hand jade is kind of really bad at being alone even if she's trying to prove her independence, on the other hand she's got the memory of watching dave die so. who knows which aspect is making her miss someone she talked to that morning, but still. that'd probably be enough to call a "focus", maybe. ]

[parodeity]

[ dave hugs back on automatic, even though. wow. that's kind of embarrassing, if sweet? he clears his throat. ]

In that case, I thiiiink maybe thinkin' about the joke shop and wantin' to be back there may be the key to this mystery? Maybe. I'm obviously no expert on random teleportation shenanigans.

[rhapsodeity]

[ "sweet but embarrassing" was the second choice for jade's middle name. winter won out because it made her sound like the next katniss everdeen. ]

Okay, let me give that a shot!

[ jade lets go to clench her fists, and squeeze her eyes shut. inhale, exhale, focus, focus, focus. her knuckles are white, her nose is scrunched up in extreme concentration, and her tongue is pressed flat against her upper lip--

oh, wait. she peeks with one lime green eye. ]

...Did you want to go? I wonder if I can do that.

[ jade is, notably, still there, but. ]