week 2, monday

[ninjay]

[ when it's 10 pm and jake still hasn't returned to their room, jay starts to get... concerned. it's not really like him to be out this late, or at least jay is pretty sure he would have told him? jake's pretty polite when it comes to things like that.

so, jay sets off to do a very quick search around the premises for his missing roommate. he can't be as thorough as he would like, with the threat of curfew looming, but he hits all of the locations that are accessible and comes up empty handed.

when he finally heads back to his room, a little past 11, he spots dirk outside his door. that is... concerning? or maybe dirk was with jake, and he just dropped jake off at the room or?? something?? WHATEVER THE CASE jay hurries over. ]

Were you with Jake?

Comments

[splinten]

[Dirk walks in after him. He stops at the doorway, though, his whole body stiffening, because Jake definitely isn't there. So where is Jake?]

One of us should stay here while the other searches the motel. If he isn't here... [Then there's the entire city, but it's so easy to lose track there.] He said he wanted to adventuring. He said he might do the locked building but I don't know if he could get in.

[ninjay]

Oh.

[ he frowns, not really... liking the sound of that. ]

I actually just went around looking for him and didn't see him anywhere. We could do another check, but... it's getting close to curfew, we'd only really have time for a very fast one.

[splinten]

[Yeah Dirk's super not moving and he also isn't answering? If Jay looks he will find that in fact, Dirk is having a hard time breathing.

Haha that's fun.]

[ninjay]

[ he remembers jake telling him to look after dirk if anything happens to him. jay assumed that dirk's reaction would be extreme, but he didn't think it would be

this kind of extreme. ]

Dirk. Breathe.

[splinten]

[Nice effort, Jay! Sadly, Dirk is definitely not having a great reaction indeed. Fear washes over him and drags him under, and he slams a hand out (hard, he'll have bruised it) against the doorframe to use it as a brace. His chest is tight and he can hear the blood in his ears. His lungs are not taking in air.

Jake is gone. Jake is gone. He isn't here, he's gone, and if he is dead he's gone and if he's out past curfew he'll probably be dead too, he's gone. He's gone, Dirk lost him. Dirk lost Jake.

He lost Jake.

Like the crash of water the regrets flood his lungs and tell him all the ways he could have stopped this, analysing every damn mistake he made. His grip on the door slips, and he does too, like he might just collapse.]

[ninjay]

[ watching someone sink into despair isn't new to jay. it's something he's felt, that agonizing loss and heartache. but dirk is still almost a stranger to him, so seeing this happen feels somewhat... voyeuristic, in a way.

jay doesn't grab dirk to prevent him from falling, but he does at least take a step closer just in case it happens. ]

Snap out of it.

[ jay he's having a panic attack don't be rude ]

[splinten]

[That is too close to a kid having a panic attack who doesn't even fully know where he is, Jay! It's pure reflex that has Dirk sweeping out an arm to knock Jay away from him, and that's transparent in the way he doesn't really look at Jay when he strikes. At least he's ramrod straight now.]

Hey. Could you please just leave me alone.

[ninjay]

[ well, it's definitely a good thing that jay's own reflects are especially good because he manages to back out of the way from that.

he glares at dirk for a few seconds from his new position, before sighing and walking back towards him. ]

Fine. Can you get out of the way of the door? I'm going to look for Jake and I don't have that much time left to do so.

[splinten]

Yeah. [He does move out of the way and just... heads towards the city. He'll look for Jake there.]

[ninjay]

[ before dirk gets too far from him, though, jay is going to call out, ]

He told me to make sure you don't do anything stupid, so get back here before midnight.

[splinten]

[There's a pause and he glances back.] Yeah. Cool.

[But he has to go look at the city to at least try to find Jake.]

[ninjay]

[ he nods his head, and goes to inspect the motel again. ]