lucybox | whatever

whatever

EPISODE 1: meeting
EPISODE 2: the latvian mob
EPISODE 3: a concussion
EPISODE 4: bench talk
EPISODE 5: break-in

[ what would someone following the number connected to dave strider notice during recon? well.

dave strider, thirteen, gangly and edging on getting taller but way too skinny, angular and bony in a way that says he could stand to eat more food more often. he constantly wears shades. he equally constantly wears long-sleeved shirts and jeans in the houston heat. dave is too careful to ever let that shirt ride up enough to show what's underneath, and he never lets his shades get jostled off his face in public.

the kid has more of an online presence than his brother. he runs a webcomic with an avant garde sense of style and some truly disturbing strips that occasionally seem to correspond with times his number has come up; he sells shit on the site sometimes, t-shirts or book compilations or keychains. the money isn't saved but tends to get spent on groceries. he trolls internet forms at random but does seem to speak regularly to at least three other kids, and has for at least three years. these conversations are all mostly superficial even though the kids are close. the deepest he ever gets in them is with rose lalonde, who lives in new york. sometimes they talk about his dreams.

to each of them he only has positive things to say about his brother, whom he idolizes.

the other half of his computer use seems to go to online school, which dave does all right on. he only occasionally misses deadlines, but more frequently turns shit in ahead of time. he participates haphazardly on the forums as required, but aside from an odd sense of humor and a decent grasp on the subjects, he doesn't say anything worth reading.

following dave in person is harder. he doesn't leave the apartment often except to go to the store, or occasionally the library. he has hung out in the park once or twice but always goes home the second his cellphone buzzes with a text. his interactions with other people are limited; he's polite and casually friendly and charming to the grocery store employees and the librarian, and he doesn't turn people away when they talk to him exactly, but he never discusses anything of note and always excuses himself pretty quickly. dave doesn't like to be touched and doesn't let it happen, never needing to flinch back because he moves faster than that, and doesn't let himself get in the position where someone will try to touch him.

at the store he gets apple juice and bread and peanut butter. or junk food that keeps longer, kept at the back of his closet. nothing he has to refrigerate or heat up. at the library he gets art and film books or photography collections or comics or shit like my teacher is an alien or animorphs or pretty much anything. he doesn't usually check them out to go back home, unless it's a thing for school. when he signs his name on anything it's a careful angular scrawl and he likes to do it in red - dave always keeps a red pen in his pockets. at the park he tends to sit on a bench with good sightlines and sometimes he'll feed birds bits of torn bread and sometimes he'll scroll through shit on his phone (tumblr, random sites, pesterchum) but mostly he just kind of sits there and listens to music.

he downloads a lot of music. sometimes he mixes up new shit and uploads it, sending it to his friends or occasionally just keeping it to himself. dave maintains some social media accounts but is weird about them. there are disjointed quotes or phrases and oddly angled pictures and he seems to treat them like some sort of joke only he gets, but he's almost dedicated to them like he doesn't seem to be to a lot of shit. there's a blog he used to update but doesn't any longer about tony hawk and other things and every glimpse into his mind through his words is unclear and a little off.

a lot of the time he seems to be in the apartment alone. he isn't always, despite appearances, and he knows it. there's a ton of surveillance equipment inside the apartment and dave treats the cameras and recording devices with a casual weariness and wariness. his brother is constantly monitoring both dave and the equipment; fucking with that would probably be a bad idea for anyone paying attention, but it might be possible to jack some of those frequencies, if you're careful.

inside the apartment he mostly stays in his room. when he comes out he's nervous and cautious but nothing ever shows on his face. even in the sanctity of his own room this is true; dave doesn't emote when he can help it and even when he jumps when a trap goes off, his expression doesn't change an iota. when he speaks his voice is low and too-texan, but he doesn't usually unless he's outside of the apartment and has to. there is no point, since his brother seems disinterested in speaking to the kid. he rambles in his interactions with other people online but in person always cuts them short, seemingly uncomfortable with talking for too long.

the one activity that takes up most of his time, however, is training. at any hour of the day or night dave might be called to the roof. bro owns the entire building, and no one has ever called in anything about the striders. if they have, it was taken care of quickly and quietly and nothing ever got to the people who might have done something with it. bro watches everything and this is how things go: dave goes up the stairs with a sword in hand and once he's at the top it starts and then it keeps going until it's over. sometimes it goes on past that. it can take hours on end or only a few minutes, and there isn't any way to predict which it's going to be. eventually dave's left alone and he lies on the roof for a bit until he picks himself up and goes back inside the apartment. he patches himself up quickly and efficiently and doesn't complain at all. the most he has ever done is inform john egbert he got his ass kicked, and john assumed dave was exaggerating like dave always does.

here's another thing to notice: dave strider is used to being watched. he's paranoid about it, trying to read from every tiny clue in his life what will happen next and coming up blank. so when there's an extra pair of eyes he notices after a few hours, and he doesn't like the feeling. he picks himself up off the roof and ignores a broken wrist and too many cuts to count and probably a few cracked ribs in order to lean over the edge of the railing, eyes scanning surrounding buildings with a tense little frown.

it's pointless to tell bro. it might be bro. is he supposed to confront the change or ignore it? it's impossible to tell when bro wants him to roll with something or dig his heels in, and if he can't figure it out quick before the inscrutable time limit runs out, bro will probably be disappointed. and also maybe mad? it's hard to tell if bro ever gets mad or anything else at all, but dave would like to avoid that eventuality and measure up, so...

so.

right.

he can't spot who might be watching him but he didn't expect to. he can never spot bro in the apartment, either. so maybe he needs to change the location? maybe this is counter-surveillance training. it's not the usual so it has to be something else, after all. he's too tired to think it through but that doesn't really matter because there's probably a time limit and he shouldn't be too tired for it so he can't be.

the next day dave will completely disregard his usual daily schedule and leave the apartment. his injuries are taken care of even if he's oddly careful about his wrist, a makeshift brace involving a wrist watch making it casual. dave can always make his walk seem easy and relaxed no matter what he's hiding. he doesn't go to any of his usual locations. instead he goes to the movie theater, wastes precious grocery money on a ticket for a random action movie, and immediately ditches through an emergency exit in the theater once he's zipped in.

he loiters around out of sight to see if he can catch anyone coming out after him.

there are a dozen other little trips and traps like that planned if his simple first-ditch effort doesn't work as he zigzags around the city with absolutely no gameplan, testing the waters to see what comes up. there's no possibility of waiting for probably-bro to explain himself, because bro doesn't do explanations. so. time to figure out the rules as best he can and hope it's what he's supposed to be doing.

the lack of any ominous texts to his phone is either encouraging or terrifying. dave can't be fucked to figure out which it is, exactly. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Dirk shoves one of the cookies in his mouth. He goes up to the counter and grabs some stuff: panini goes into a container and the cookies in another one. Both are handed to Dave.]

Nothin' actually murderous here, so no need to risk being identified again. Let's go back to your first lead and see what he's up to. You can take those home if you want.

[ there's a crack in dave's forced cool as he reacts for all intents and purposes like dirk just handed him a live bomb. when was the last time anyone ever just handed him food? the sandwich was one thing but jesus dirk has spent more on shit for dave in the past hour or two than anyone else has spent in the past month, probably. he so did not earn this.

making a scene about being handed food in a cafe with a latvian monster would probably be ill advised, though. dave...refrains from doing more than flinching. ]

Right. After you?

[Oh. That wasn't a good reaction.]

Sorry.

[He'll. Put the food in his own pockets and escort Dave out of here safely then?]

[ that's

ok honestly that's even weirder. dirk gets a stare from behind dave's aviators but he does trail after the strangest adult he's ever met without argument. dirk did it with the phone, too, didn't he? he adjusted based on dave's reactions in a non-negative way.

dave has absolutely no idea what to do with this. ]

Thanks. For lunch.

[ grinding that out is probably what he? should do? ]

No problem. Thanks for helpin' me out on this number.

[He really doesn't want Dave to feel indebted, and he thinks it's good for Dave to know so far he has been a productive member of the team.]

Is the author still doing meetings or should we be tracking him down elsewhere?

[ it's the right thing to say. as long as he feels like he's contributing or earning his right to...exist, or whatever, dave will relax a little on freaking out about what the price tag on dirk being nice is.

he consults his phone. ]

Uh, panel with some other people over that way. They're takin' questions and talking about the reboot.

Try not to get us kicked out.

[If Dave asks questions they will get kicked?? Dave is such an ass. Dirk is... fond of that though. Anyway they can go sit in the panel? It's probably boring but it's good to keep an eye on the dude. Dirk is still getting the same intuition that something is up here, like he's holding something back. So maybe this is their perp.]

I won't ask shit unless you want me to stir the pot again.

[ excuse you! he will mostly slouch into a seat next to dirk and eyeball the guy in question, still unsure of why he'd flagged the guy as weird to dirk when asked earlier. maybe bro has made him a little too paranoid with training?

after a second he transfers his gaze to dirk, watching him out of the corner of his eye. ]

[Dirk's doing his melting-into-the-crowd thing again, but since Dave is really paying attention, he'll probably notice a few things most people won't. First, that Dirk's relaxed stance here is very careful: he let Dave pick their seats (knowing Dave would want a back to the wall and clear lines of sight and not disagreeing) but he himself has a posture where he can get on his feet fast. His gun is fairly well hidden in the line of his clothing but it's also very easy to reach. Not that he's likely to need it: Dirk's muscles are wiry and contained, not unlike Dave's. Everything about him indicates he could win a fight.

His expression hints that he's ready for one, too. Dirk's eyes move over the crowd, thorough, noticing any reactions worth noticing, but most of his focus is on their mark-adjacent. There's a slight movement to his head, when an unusual noise pops up, like he's reorienting on it, assessing it, and dismissing it. He's using his sense of the space around him to keep a protective eye on Dave.

As a heated argument occurs, Dirk leans, slightly, towards Dave, and murmurs,] We'll go up after and apologize for your behavior. I'll plant a bug on him then.

[ dave wonders briefly how the hell dirk actually got his gun through security and makes a note to watch him more carefully the next time they go through any security check. there's a few mental comparisons to bro, but dirk is...calmer.

calmer in a more chill way, at least. a less dangerous way. he shifts when dirk leans in, but nods. ]

Look annoyed, then.

[ because there's no way dave can play off his prior behavior as apologizing because he wanted to - at least not as believably as he can pull off immediately sliding into a sulky, put-upon and reluctant teenager being made to apologize by his apparent guardian. he can do petulant even if it isn't a thing he frequently feels in actuality. ]

Wouldn't expect to look anything else.

[Yeah Dave is definitely going to play the sulking teenager, Dirk can't imagine anything else working. So he does wait, through to the end, and then brings Dave up and in response to the annoyed expression, he says that there's something they'd like to say. Then he turns to Dave, and while the attention is turned he drops one bug on the guy's coat pocket. He also starts quietly cloning his phone. English can draw on that as needed.]

[ dave does his best reluctant teen impression and the guy gets smug when it's clear his naysayer does not Want to apologize but is anyway. dave only shoots dirk a few "am i really doing this" woebegone looks when he's certain dirk isn't doing anything other than looking innocuous and stern.

this is absolutely enough to cover the cost of the grilled cheese, dave decides, because he kinda wants to kick smug mcdouche in the shin but does not. ]

[Time to clear out, Dave. As they walk away:]

I really, really hope I get to beat him up and let Crocker arrest him.

You should break his nose. I feel that would improve the universe by ten million degrees.

[ ALSO, IT WOULD MAKE HIS SMUG FACE? MORE APPEALING? by being broken ]

I'll do my very best. Where do you want to hide from Crocker? She'll be here in maybe two minutes.

Do you even need to ask? You'll find me when you're done, presumably.

[ because he'll just go look at other booths and try to find something for john while trying to keep dirk in sight so 1) he can see who crocker is and 2) he can see how dirk interacts with people he's presumably friends with.

HE PROBABLY WON'T GET KIDNAPPED OR ANYTHING IT'S FINE ]

Please don't get killed while I'm promising to a cop that I won't get you killed.

[There's a pause as he touches his earpiece.]

Hi, Jane. Good to hear from you too. [...] I'm in the Dealer's Room.

[he hangs up and glances at Dave.] One minute.

Relax, I'll stay in heavily populated areas and if someone grabs me I'll make a fuss.

[ maybe. like, he wouldn't if, you know, other people were threatened. but the sulky teenager rolling eyes thing happens as he ghosts over to a booth to start browsing. what manga did john say he was into again...? ]

[So Jane shows up, and while Dirk is keeping Dave in his line of sight to the best of his ability, he has to focus on her. And the way she is whisper-shouting at him. It turns out that with people Dirk is friends with......

Dirk is not actually that much more expression? Like, there's a clear fondness there, and he does show some signs of emotion: a slight defensive set as he settles in to getting lectured, and then a warmth as he smoothes things over, but he is still 1) very ready to get into a fight, just not with her, and 2) not an emotive person. Notably, however, he shifts his posture, so that despite his height he's more on her level while she talks to him. He also does this with Dave; he does not do this when he's dealing with annoying comic book writer guy.

And then Jane shoves a bag into his hand? Dirk opens it up and eats one. It's a cookie. She gave him a bag of baked goods. This is followed by a nudge (he makes an ironic grip of his shoulder in physical pain) and, shaking her head, she leaves him and the room.

Dirk will go find Dave again if Dave doesn't find him first.]

[ dave doesn't seek him out, letting dirk do his creepy pinpointing thing. though a scan of the area and some investigation will lead to finding dave purchasing a third keychain at a table, this one of some random manga character john egbert presumably likes. he has no plans to get himself anything, but his duties towards his friends have been discharged.

he wonders how his own stance and expressions change when he's talking to rose and jade and john. dave isn't sure if he wants to know the answer or not, though.

whenever dirk finds him, he'll stop browsing the wares of whatever table he's at and slant his gaze sideways. ]

So what now? What'd she go off to do?

She's going to tail a few mob guys I gave her the location of. If our number isn't the perpetrator, we still need him and his people locked up so they can't come after you and me. So she's off to try to get some evidence admissible in court.

And also, Crocker really likes arresting criminals.

Has she been a number?

[ if she finds arresting mob guys Fun, this seems like a strong possibility? ]

Yes. Back when she was tryin' to arrest me, in fact. [Why does she DO this to him. why does EVERYONE do this to him]

Do you have any friends who weren't, y'know, numbers? [ dirk do you have a Type ]

English's number hasn't ever come up.

Neither has Evie's. [the dog]

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