Man-D √ post 008 [fiction]
Title: Time and Safe Spaces
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters: Dave Strider, Jade Harley
Rating: PG.
Notes: Oh man. THIS IS MY FIRST HOMESTUCK FIC please you guys, don't kill me. I write a horrible Dave. Also, this takes place in the medium at an undisclosed point in time. Some parts of this are delving a bit into my headcanon for Jade's powers, such as the parts talking about reorganizing space to suit her needs. Also, this is my first fic in awhile, so sorry for the horrible writing.
Summary: He makes time better while she stays behind, humming and strumming her friends into safety.
----
He traveled farther and farther into the future, pulling it together with his timetables and a cool flick of his wrists, the movements coming easily to him by now. It was like clockwork, with the pun intended. There was nothing left to do for the recent future to run smoother than he had already left it. Looking back, it was like motherfucking honey, sweet and smooth all the way. In a sense, Dave was proud of his work; it was like looking at something he had created, and knowing it would help people.
Though sometimes, the return trips weren’t quite so smooth. More than once, an alternate timeline went wrong, and more than once he returned to the present, hands dripping in blood that was so similar to his own. He always came back to the same present, the same cold place that he had left. It hadn’t taken him long to reach Jade’s world, after all. They weren’t that far apart.
“Dave!” Jade would call to him, running swiftly through the snow to catch him in her arms. No matter how battered and torn he seemed, no matter how much blood he got on her shirt, Jade would always embrace him. She missed him when he was gone, though it was only minutes, sometimes seconds. Jade always worried, he knew. When she thought he wasn’t looking, Dave would watch her play her fears away on her newly alchemized bass, causing the snow to fall faster and the ice to crack on the lakes surrounding her house. She sang as she played, a melody different from the one the bass was making. Dave asked her about it once, and Jade merely smiled. She told him that it was official Witch of Space business, something she felt was right but couldn’t really explain. Jade had walked away too quickly for him to ask her any more about it, not that he imagined she would answer his questions. She could be evasive, when she felt like it.
“Jade?”
It was late at night, and the two of them lay side by side, each unable to sleep. Jade had turned her shattered Atrium into a bedroom of sorts, since her own bedroom was long gone. She was humming again, Dave noticed, so softly that in any other situation he wouldn’t have been able to notice. The humming crescendoed and then grew soft as she decided whether or not to answer him.
“Yes?” Her voice was light, and the humming stopped, briefly. She sat up to get a better look at him. Dave sat up as well, feeling the seconds of silence hum by as he figured out how to seem smooth and nonchalant about this whole situation.
“What are you singing? I mean, you’re always doing it, like a songbird or something.” Jade looked away, out through the open spaces in the walls to the snow below. Dave felt more time slip by, precious time that could have been used for something, dealt with -- he forced himself to stop thinking about it. What was important here was Jade, who had been silent for days now. Well, days in the sense of sleeping and waking.
“I don’t know. Whatever comes into my head, I guess. I just...sing for you guys, and for Bec, and for everyone to be happy...it doesn’t make a lot of sense!” The snow had stopped; it always stopped when Jade wanted it to. Dave never understood how she did it, or how she managed to make it seem effortless. Years of practice, he supposed, like with his music. Or perhaps a natural intuition for the idea of space.
“But what’s it doing? You can’t say that it doesn’t mean anything.” She turned back to look at him, and Dave swore that he could see sadness in her eyes before she looked down at her hands.
“I’m singing to make everyone safe, of course. I know it’s kind of silly, and it doesn’t really work, since it only makes the space around me safe, but...it’s the best I can do.” A tear fell, and Dave reached out with all the nonchalant manner that he could to wipe it away.
“You’re always running around time, and you’re so important, and I just want to help. Dave, you come back and I know you’ve seen yourself die, and I sing to make that not happen! I don’t want you to die.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she wrapped her arms around him, as if hugging him could make him stop disappearing into the channels of time. Dave tentatively gave her a hug as well, feeling her sniffle into his shirt.
“Hey. Don’t cry. I’ll make everything right, so you don’t have to sing any more about this. You can sing showtunes or whatever the hell you listen to.” Dave couldn’t help but smile as he heard the muffled sounds of her laughter through his shirt’s collar. He ran a hand over her hair, trying to be comforting and cool at the same time. And probably failing miserably, but he was beyond caring.
As Dave was busy patching up the holes in time, Jade was paving a safe space for him to travel through and return to. If Jade could work as hard as she did to make people happy and safe, then so could he. It was the least he owed her anyway.
And so, although he knew she would worry, Dave kept going farther in the future, farther out to where time cracked and things stopped existing. Jade kept humming, as always, and waited for him to return. She always waited for him to return, always humming, always smiling.
The space he returned to was always safe.
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters: Dave Strider, Jade Harley
Rating: PG.
Notes: Oh man. THIS IS MY FIRST HOMESTUCK FIC please you guys, don't kill me. I write a horrible Dave. Also, this takes place in the medium at an undisclosed point in time. Some parts of this are delving a bit into my headcanon for Jade's powers, such as the parts talking about reorganizing space to suit her needs. Also, this is my first fic in awhile, so sorry for the horrible writing.
Summary: He makes time better while she stays behind, humming and strumming her friends into safety.
----
He traveled farther and farther into the future, pulling it together with his timetables and a cool flick of his wrists, the movements coming easily to him by now. It was like clockwork, with the pun intended. There was nothing left to do for the recent future to run smoother than he had already left it. Looking back, it was like motherfucking honey, sweet and smooth all the way. In a sense, Dave was proud of his work; it was like looking at something he had created, and knowing it would help people.
Though sometimes, the return trips weren’t quite so smooth. More than once, an alternate timeline went wrong, and more than once he returned to the present, hands dripping in blood that was so similar to his own. He always came back to the same present, the same cold place that he had left. It hadn’t taken him long to reach Jade’s world, after all. They weren’t that far apart.
“Dave!” Jade would call to him, running swiftly through the snow to catch him in her arms. No matter how battered and torn he seemed, no matter how much blood he got on her shirt, Jade would always embrace him. She missed him when he was gone, though it was only minutes, sometimes seconds. Jade always worried, he knew. When she thought he wasn’t looking, Dave would watch her play her fears away on her newly alchemized bass, causing the snow to fall faster and the ice to crack on the lakes surrounding her house. She sang as she played, a melody different from the one the bass was making. Dave asked her about it once, and Jade merely smiled. She told him that it was official Witch of Space business, something she felt was right but couldn’t really explain. Jade had walked away too quickly for him to ask her any more about it, not that he imagined she would answer his questions. She could be evasive, when she felt like it.
“Jade?”
It was late at night, and the two of them lay side by side, each unable to sleep. Jade had turned her shattered Atrium into a bedroom of sorts, since her own bedroom was long gone. She was humming again, Dave noticed, so softly that in any other situation he wouldn’t have been able to notice. The humming crescendoed and then grew soft as she decided whether or not to answer him.
“Yes?” Her voice was light, and the humming stopped, briefly. She sat up to get a better look at him. Dave sat up as well, feeling the seconds of silence hum by as he figured out how to seem smooth and nonchalant about this whole situation.
“What are you singing? I mean, you’re always doing it, like a songbird or something.” Jade looked away, out through the open spaces in the walls to the snow below. Dave felt more time slip by, precious time that could have been used for something, dealt with -- he forced himself to stop thinking about it. What was important here was Jade, who had been silent for days now. Well, days in the sense of sleeping and waking.
“I don’t know. Whatever comes into my head, I guess. I just...sing for you guys, and for Bec, and for everyone to be happy...it doesn’t make a lot of sense!” The snow had stopped; it always stopped when Jade wanted it to. Dave never understood how she did it, or how she managed to make it seem effortless. Years of practice, he supposed, like with his music. Or perhaps a natural intuition for the idea of space.
“But what’s it doing? You can’t say that it doesn’t mean anything.” She turned back to look at him, and Dave swore that he could see sadness in her eyes before she looked down at her hands.
“I’m singing to make everyone safe, of course. I know it’s kind of silly, and it doesn’t really work, since it only makes the space around me safe, but...it’s the best I can do.” A tear fell, and Dave reached out with all the nonchalant manner that he could to wipe it away.
“You’re always running around time, and you’re so important, and I just want to help. Dave, you come back and I know you’ve seen yourself die, and I sing to make that not happen! I don’t want you to die.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she wrapped her arms around him, as if hugging him could make him stop disappearing into the channels of time. Dave tentatively gave her a hug as well, feeling her sniffle into his shirt.
“Hey. Don’t cry. I’ll make everything right, so you don’t have to sing any more about this. You can sing showtunes or whatever the hell you listen to.” Dave couldn’t help but smile as he heard the muffled sounds of her laughter through his shirt’s collar. He ran a hand over her hair, trying to be comforting and cool at the same time. And probably failing miserably, but he was beyond caring.
As Dave was busy patching up the holes in time, Jade was paving a safe space for him to travel through and return to. If Jade could work as hard as she did to make people happy and safe, then so could he. It was the least he owed her anyway.
And so, although he knew she would worry, Dave kept going farther in the future, farther out to where time cracked and things stopped existing. Jade kept humming, as always, and waited for him to return. She always waited for him to return, always humming, always smiling.
The space he returned to was always safe.