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Hey, Yang? Just checking in with you guys, since I don't know where the fuck anyone is right now. You're still in Goldenrod with the other girls, right?

[ someone here sounds like she woke up on the wrong side of the moon. ] Yeah.

I guess we made it. Mostly.

>[Well, that's one way to get your Knight friend to go from mild worry to straight-up concern in two seconds or less.]

Mostly? Did someone get separated?

Mmn. [ she's quiet a long moment. ] Did you see Blake? On the moon I mean. Did... did we even introduce you? [ her head's fuzzy. that isn't helping things. ] Black hair, cat ears. [ shit, was that public knowledge? should it be by now? can't be bothered to care. ]

Edited 2016-07-04 19:30 (UTC)

I. Uhh. [He tries to remember, but shakes his head. Even though this is an audio conversation.] I don't think so. I don't remember. I guess a lot was going on.

[Josh. The other Dave. A lot.]

She's the last member of your team, right? The B.

That was her, yeah.

[ sighing. ] A lot happened. On the moon. After the moon. Somewhere in between here and home. [ ... ] What day is it, to you?

June third?

[The way she said that, "Somewhere in between here and home..."]

It's been three, four days since the moon, for me.

[ there's a sound as she set her 'Gear down. there's another sigh, clearly muffled by her hand over her face. it's a good thing she's indoors. a lot less need to hide her body language. ]

Four weeks.... give or take a few days.

That's not crazy, right? I'm not crazy, right?!

'Course you're not. That kind of shit happens all the time. I mean, what the fuck, people are here from different universes, of course whack time shit's going to take place.

[Take it from the Time Guy. He sounds very matter-of-fact about it, at least, so she can be assured he doesn't think she's crazy.]

So you went home?

[ there's another sigh of... something. relief? guilt? like things would obviously be 500% better if she hadn't gone home, if that was just a dream, if somehow someone had just pulled some extremely mean-spirited and realistic prank on her while she was recovering from Space Jet-Lag or whatever.

but no. that news is good news and bad news. ] Yeah.

Unfortunately.

[Uh-oh.

He's heard some of this, he thinks, from Ruby and Weiss. He knows what happens to Penny, but if they told him, surely Yang would've known already, too, right? Something worse is going on, he knows it.]

What happened?

I—

[ does she want to talk about this? not particularly. but she's shared some moments with Dave before and he seems on the level.

does she even know the proper order of things? fuck knows, at this point. the details of what she, too, was told in advance and the plans she had made with herself for when she promised everyone they would be back — those plans made a head-on collision with the reality.

the result? a sob. ]

We were supposed to stop it.

Aw, man, I...fuck, Yang. I'm sorry. Weiss and Ruby told me some things...

[God, Penny. Penny's such a sweet kid, she doesn't deserve that, and the girls, seeing a friend die...]

Are you--[No, that's a stupid question. No one here is okay. Dave stops, then tries again.] Do you need anything? We got ditched in Olivine, but, I don't know, I could...I don't know. Anything?

No. It's not about that. They... they told me, too. Warned me.

[ she wiped at her wipe, sucked in a wet breath through her nose. ] It was worse. Worse than I imagined.

[It always is.

Dave bites his tongue as a beat passes.]

Do you want to talk about it?

[That's what he's supposed to say, right? People are supposed to talk about it or they get all fucked up.]

I'm used to some pretty bad shit going down.

[ What she murmured next was either "I don't." and "No." or "I don't know." Hard to say because she's stuck between those two and not exactly leaning toward "yes". ]

You don't have to.

[God knows he never wants to.]

I just...if you ever do, like I said. I know what it's like. So I won't sit there and tell you everything's going to be okay or whatever, or get all upset, I'll just. Listen, I guess. I can do that much.

[ The derisive snort cuts straight through the near silence on her end. It's a bitter, biting tone she's never used before. People have told her before that they knew what she was going through. They've seen wounded Hunters and those ravaged by Grimm before. There's a process. She'll get through it. It takes time, and training, and preparing her body and mind, and...

Yeah she's not hearing any of that. Dave isn't a medical professional, or even (as far as she knew) a soldier. He's just some other kid who said the wrong words: "I know what it's like." ]

What. You? Last I checked, you still had both arms.

[Dave's jaw clicks shut, and the silence it leaves behind feels sharp to him, somehow, like laying his hand on the wrong edge of a blade as it dares him to push down.

His words come out in a slow drawl, deliberate.]

Well, I don't know.

[Weiss already knows. What's one more?]

Do I count as having anything when I'm fucking dead?

I— [ that gasp burned her throat. Yang felt like she had been t-boned at an intersection through a red light. ] What?

I died. Back home. Got my ass killed going up against a couple of our big bads, which was an idiot, yet predictable, move on my part. ...Didn't really think I had a choice at the time.

[It's like he's retreated some distance behind the flat surface of his words. The bitterness is faint; mostly he's tired of it. Of the truth.]

I'm just saying. You can tell me shit.

[ Yang is stunned to silence hard enough that it takes some effort to climb back to a perch to squawk indignantly from. and even then, her tone's more sympathetic. more like herself. ] Shit, I'm...

Since we got here we've been so focused on our problems...

[ she stops herself before the hollow offer for help comes into play. it would be pointless. there would be no way to go to HIS world and fight HIS demons; Yang and Co couldn't even fight their own.

deep breath Yang. let it go. ] How much do you know.

[He sighs and runs his hand back through his hair, and when he speaks again, he sounds more like himself, too.]

I dunno. What I heard, I heard from Penny, and she still hasn't gotten to that stuff, so...

[It's one more degree of separation. Dave sucks on his tongue, then starts to gather his thoughts.]

I know about what happened to her at the tournament, and...I heard about your arm. And something about someone named Pyrrha? And there were assholes manipulating shit at the Festival to make the Grimm attack everybody.

Wait, hold on. When did they tell you about my arm? [ yes that other stuff was Bad Shit and Yang had most of it too, or an inclination about what was going to happen, but that? that detail was missing, and depending on the timeline, she's gonna be mad at people if they held back on her. ]

Like right after the moon? Penny texted me trying to find us and make sure we were okay, and it just kinda. Came out that you guys weren't okay.

Oh.

Oh, okay. [ Yang is not relieved, exactly, but she's also dropped the idea of taking her fake arm and beating someone with it. ]

That makes sense. Penny's the only one who— [ didn't make it ] —didn't see that happening, so she's just been running between all of us trying to sort it out.

...I feel even sorrier for her, now.

Yeah. It's tough, and she just wants to help. I'd be fucking useless in her position.

[More useless than he usually is, anyway.]

I kinda hope she never has to see all that. She's a sweet kid.

I—

[ there have been so many "hold the phone" moments here that it's almost to the point of overwhelming. ] You don't know...?

What? Oh. No, I do.

[No thanks to SOME PEOPLE ON YOUR TEAM who can't keep OTHER PEOPLE'S SHIT TO THEMSELVES.]

I mean...all of it. I hope she doesn't have to go back to any of it. Dying bites, Yang. Hella unfun, zero stars out of ten, would not recommend the experience.

Edited (WHY ARE MY NUMBERS SO INCONSISTENT) 2016-07-14 00:59 (UTC)

Heh. [ so, so wry. ] You don't have to tell me twice. I'd swipe left on death any day. [ she is barely allowed to make that comment. thanks, Ash. ]

Swipe...what? Huh?

[What do left and right have to do with death, what is he missing here, is this a meme.]

Oh it's... from something called Tinder? [ she deflates. ]

I don't know. Ask Ashley. I probably screwed it up.

Anyway. Point is, I came close enough already, fighting what... well I don't think he was the "big bad" but he was a hell of a lot more powerful than anyone I've ever faced before. [ and that cold, hard edge is back. ] Charged in to save my partner. Lost the arm. By the time I woke up she'd left us already. [ deep breath. a sniffle. she didn't even say goodbye. ] That's pretty much my side of the story.

Edited 2016-07-14 01:31 (UTC)

...Yeah.

[He sounds far away again, deep in recognition.]

I was trying to save Jade. But I didn't wake up.

[After a moment, he sighs and drags himself back to the here and now. His job here's to listen, not to talk.]

Your partner's--Blake, right? And if she was just here on the moon, then...hell. That's a real mean trick for this place to pull, on top of all that clusterfuck.

Yes. Yes, it was. [ she'd raise a middle finger to whoever was responsible for that bit of timing, but her only hand's occupied with the PokéGear at the moment. ] Though honestly? It's fine that she's missing. Appropriate really.

[ taking pot-shots at someone who isn't even here to defend herself. stirring up words she'll have a hard time swallowing later. ]

[Ooooh, Dave can smell a bitter ex venting session from a mile away. Thanks, Terezi, for your enduring obsession with spider8itch.

Actually, no thanks at all, that shit was a lot fucked up and kind of destroyed Terezi utterly, and that's not cool.]

This a pattern of hers?

It wasn't the first time, it just hurt a hell of a lot more after—

[ Yang sucked in a breath through her teeth. no you know what? that's too personal, too quickly. ] After. Everything.

Yeah. Yeah, I could see that being the case.

[Waking up alone after his own utter clusterfuck was...well. It was not his favorite experience.]

I'm glad at least the other girls are still with you. I think the rest of my posse are stuck out west for a while, so...but, you know, if there's anything we can do.

[Just say the word.]

[ Yang wouldn't call being here with everyone else as something to be wholly glad about, but at this point, she's too tired to make the point. ]

...yeah. I'll try to remember. [ no promises on her actually doing anything with the information because haha what is ASKING for HELP?!? ]

Thanks, Dave. And, uh. Sorry stuff happened to you, too.

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