Jane and Jake
Four days later, you sit in the living room, knitting needles clasped in your hands. Your hands are shaking a little bit, but you’re doing this for Kanaya. She wanted to knit with you- you just need to forget what they feel like when they thrummed with power, what they felt like releasing that power onto your enemy.
You hold them tighter, begging your hands to stop shaking.
A cool hand is on yours, and you slowly stop shaking. You look up, and she’s there. Kanaya’s eyes are concerned.
“We don’t need to. I can show you tricks on a sewing machine, if you’d like, instead?”
You give her a cautious smile. “I just need to be distracted.”
Kanaya smirks. “That can be arranged.” She leans in, gives you a chaste kiss on the lips. You can’t tear your eyes away from her. She takes the needles from your fingers, instead holding your hands in hers.
“Kanaya, I love you, I love that you’ve got someone in that quadrant, but could you takes this to the respiteblock?”
You look over. You had forgotten Karkat was there, lying on the couch. He’s sitting up now, though. You feel yourself flush; Kanaya laughs, but you can see her glowing slightly out of the corner of your eye.
“Jealous, are we?” you retort, rolling your eyes. You feel your blush fade. He rolls his eyes, lying back down.
“Don’t even go there, Lalonde.” You want to rib him further, but you decide against it. So, you lay back, looking at Kanaya.
You hear the tap of soft shoes coming into the room- you glance over, see Jade coming in to join the three of you. You shuffle up a little, but the couch is only a two-seater, whereas Karkat’s sofa is a three.
She plonks herself down on Karkat’s sofa, not sitting on his legs. She could have, but you suppose it would be pretty uncomfortable, and unnecessary. Karkat’s short body only took up two of the seats, and maybe an inch of the third. (Not that you would take up much more).
Jade sighs. You glance over at her, still holding Kanaya’s hand.
Jade is staring at the ceiling, head supported by the sofa back. You frown a little.
“I want to be somewhere different.”
That’s all she says. You face her, Kanaya doing the same. Karkat sits upright, shuffles backwards to rest his back against the sofa arm.
“Why’s that?” Kanaya asks, curious.
Your sight is drawn to movement in the doorway. Dave is leaning against the frame. He says nothing.
“I dunno… Going a little stir-crazy? You guys have actually gone out, found us and Dave.” Jade shifts in her seat, obviously uncomfortable.
You’re a little shocked. Holy shit, why didn’t you think of that? They’re cooped up here, under the excuse that you don’t want to lose this place.
Kanaya gives your hand a feeble squeeze, as if trying to communicate that she felt the same. But you’re clamming up, and you’re silent. When you don’t squeeze back, she draws her hand away, and not even the coolness of her skin is there.
You just feel hot. Hot and embarrassed and foolish.
Karkat winces a little, but speaks up regardless. “I agree with her. You guys are treating us like fucking wrigglers- we’re just as old as you. We can choose to do what we want, we’re not completely pan-fucked.”
He falls silent.
“Let us do something to help you, at least.” Jade. “I mean- I’m so glad you’re doing this. Both of you. Finding us all, getting us all together; it’s the best thing you could do for us. But we can help, too! We’re not useless.”
As you think. You know that’s what goes unsaid.
But you don’t view them as useless, right? They’re equal, aren’t they?
No. You’ve never really thought that. Seeing past your own arrogance was never one of your strong points.
Your gaze drops to the floor. No, you think. I won’t show that I’m upset by this.
You give a small smile to Jade. You decide that you will concede defeat. They’re your friends- sometimes, everyone has to bend or everything will break.
“Yeah. You’re right. Never been more so. Self-absorbed, much?” When nobody even smiles, you continue. “Thanks. I needed a slap in the face like that.”
Kanaya’s fingers brush yours. “Do you wish to go now?” She’s feeling bad too. You’re not the only one under fire here.
Jade grins. You’re slightly unnerved by how Dave hasn’t really talked to you much- in that conversation, he didn’t even say a word.
“C’mon, then. Let’s haul ass, get out of here. No point waiting around, right?” There you go. Dave is still at the doorframe, just not leaning against it anymore. His hands are in his pockets.
Jade nods. You get a proper hold on Kanaya’s hand. If she’s going to be there for you, you bloody well will be there for her.
Karkat stands, stretches. “Let’s get a fucking move on, then.” He reaches upwards, and Jade leaps to her feet too. Dave walks up, and finally you stand. You gently pull Kanaya up, giving a soft smile. You can see she tries to smile back.
You know she doesn’t exactly have as thick a skull as you; you know that she likes to keep people where she can see them. She wants to protect people who don’t need protecting.
You get a better hold on her hand as she stands. The coolness of her blood gives you a chill, for the first time ever.
You give Jade a small nod, and she leads you out of the house.
You’ve been wandering through the hills for quite a while. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight- Jade must have known this place so, so well to reconstruct it so perfectly.
Soon, though, there’s a white patch. And another, and another. They build up so fast that you’re pretty sure the memory is shifting, changing. You don’t know whose memory the next will belong to.
The floor becomes flat, although still carpeted with grass. It stretches out in every direction, endless. The sky is white.
Nobody has really spoke. Dave and Jade have been talking a little, and Karkat had attempted to strike up a conversation with Kanaya. He was only answered in monosyllables, so he’d eventually given up.
You look up at Kanaya. She’s frowning down, at the ground.
“Hey,” you say. She looks at you, expression tired.
“Hey.”
“They’re right, you know. We’re not their parents.”
She sighs, and your heart plummets a little further. “I know. But I can’t not worry, even though there’s a high likelihood that there’s nothing in this bubble that can hurt them.”
You give her hand a small squeeze. “And that’s okay, Kanaya. It means you care. We just need to know when to back off.”
She looks back at the ground. “I know I need to learn, but it’s hard, Rose.”
You give a slight shrug, glance at the others. They seem to not have noticed your whispers to Kanaya. “That’s the point. To risk sounding cheesy, the hardest things to learn are often the most important.”
Kanaya chuckles, quietly. “Some cheese you are. You’re quite right, though.”
And you notice, she stands a little taller, walks with more confidence. You’re delighted that you could help, even just a bit.
Jade stops suddenly. “We’re not getting anywhere.”
You give a small laugh. “Observant.” It sounded far more bitingly sarcastic than you wanted, and you wince. “Sorry. But the only way we got around was by teleporting.”
Jade turns, curiosity sparked. “How?”
“Space, I think,” Kanaya says. Attention immediately on her, she goes slightly green, but continues: “Keep a place in mind, join hands, and after a few tries, we were there. Perhaps you will be more successful than I, as you are a Witch.”
Jade shrugs. “If it worked for you, I don’t see why it would fail us. C’mon, guys.” She holds out her hands, and Karkat and Dave take them. Dave holds his hand out for yours, a slight smile on his face. You know he’s forgiven you, even if he wasn’t there for most of it.
Kanaya holds Karkats hand, and Jade shuts her eyes. “Any particular place?”
“Anywhere but here,” Karkat mumbles, and Jade snorts.
And just like that, you’re off.
You glance over at Kanaya, whose eyes are wide. You forget that this is her first time not doing the actual teleporting.
The place you land in is unfamiliar. It’s a large white house, two stories and a balcony that you can just about see.
It looks too normal for a dreambubble. Dave lets go, and so does Kanaya.
Dave walks forward, up to the door. It’s just a regular door. He raises his fist, knocks twice on the wood.
It gives a hollow sound. You wait.
A minute or two passes, then you hear the mechanisms in the door shift. The handle twists, and you’re staring into an unfamiliar face.
“Hello,” the person says. Her voice is quite high-pitched, and she pushes up her red glasses. You notice she’s wearing a red apron, spotted with flour. “Who are you?”
Dave shrugs. “We’ve been around.”
She looks puzzled. “Doesn’t really answer my question… Oh well. Come in- you guys look friendly enough.” She leaves the door, turning into the house. “Jake! Come on, we have visitors!”
Jade’s dog ears are pricked instantly. “Jake?”
The girl turns, surprised, and nods. “He’s my friend. We ended up around here, and here was my old house, so we thought we might stay here.”
She looks over at you, white eyes unnerving behind glasses. “I was baking. Why don’t you sit down awhile? It’ll be ready in a bit; maybe you want some?”
Jade smiles. “We’d love some…” she trails off, not knowing how to thank her.
The girl laughs. “Jane. Jane Crocker.” And with that, she disappears through a door, presumably the kitchen door.
You collectively decide to sit on the sofas. Funny that, as soon as you leave Jade’s home, you find some more couches to flop around on. It makes you laugh a little.
Footsteps. You look up, see a boy hurtling down the stairs. He reaches the bottom, surveys you. “Hello, er, friends? Where’s Janey got to?”
“Went through to the kitchen,” you reply. He gives you a nod, and starts to head in that direction.
Jade stands. “Wait, you’re Jake?”
He turns, faces her, frowning slightly. “Yes, I am. And you would be?”
She flushes a little. “I’m Jade.” She bounces a little on the balls of her feet. “Remember me, Grandpa?”
His frown disappears, and he shoves his glasses up his nose, unable to take his gaze off her. “Grandma?” His voice is all quiet.
Jade grins. “I’ve missed you,” she says, before stepping forwards, giving him a hug. He’s startled for a moment, before he hugs her back with twice the intensity.
When they break apart he looks around, for the second time. “Are these chaps your friends, then?”
Jade looks around too. “Best friends.” She goes around, naming you all. You smile as you are introduced.
Jake rounds on her, seemingly full of questions. “Do you know what happened to Pointy-Horns and that rude male troll? How did you get here?” His face falters for a moment. “Your eyes are white- you're dead, like us?” It wasn't phrased as a question, but the way he said it made you think it was one.
Jade nods. “Yeah. Rose thinks we died at the same time- memories of deaths seem to line up with this.”
Jake’s eyes glaze over. “Well, I can see that. I just remember being stuck through with a sword, then I turned up here, Jane not far behind.”
You see Dave push up his glasses. As much as he doesn’t want tells, he certainly does have them.
You think for a moment. “Why don’t we get Jane back in here before we decide to talk about anything too heavy, alright?” Heads turn towards you, then nod in agreement.
Jake nods, tearing his eyes away from your group, before going into the kitchen to fetch Jane. You shift downwards, sinking into the soft couch cushions.
Soon enough, Jane re-enters, sans apron. She seems to have already been filled in, as she has a serious look on her face, as if she is ready to solve a mystery. (You suppose she is).
“Let’s get down to it, then.”