heartsplintered | Second Splinter ♡ Text|Action ♡ Backdate▶Dec01

[To anyone so inclined to come looking for him, Dirk's been out of the house most of the day just wandering, climbing shit, hanging out in trees, exploring. He's had Diva with him most of the day as well, and is currently sitting out on the lawn of Casa de Eglonde with him, leaning against the Ponyta's side because he's either an idiot or entirely dead set on getting frostbite, since he left his louder-than-a-traffic-cone jacket inside. His Wingull, as per usual, is perched in his hair, still wearing his silly little scarf. He stays there for a long handful of minutes before he pulls out his gear.]

I don't guess either of the pertinent birthday kids are here today, are they?
Well shit.
Happy Birthday to them anyway. Jake would have fuckin' loved it here.

[He fidgets for a while, and then presses a few keys to filter some messages.]

[Private to Kirigiri Kyouko]

Yo. Sorry to bug you, but while you're around, you got a minute?

[Private to Dave Strider]

I think we need a hot chocolate date or something. Or I at least need to be taught this culinary masterpiece so I can make some for my frozen-ass self.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

freshprints

I don't think I'm really allowed to claim you're bothering me when I'm the one already taking advantage of your hospitality.

From:

heartsplintered

Dude you got blown here by a freak tornado and we're letting you crash here, you're still completely allowed to be fussed by some dude you barely know requesting to use you as a sounding board because he's got too much shit going on in his head.
Which is pretty much entirely what I'm bugging you for.
Because you're really easy to talk to and I'm not really a talkative kind of person but I feel like talking is proably something I should be doing right now.
Uh.

From:

freshprints

[...really...easy...to talk to...

...

wat.

HAS SHE JUST BEEN HANGING OUT AROUND NAEGI-KUN TOO MUCH OR...]

I'm not busy at the moment.

[Which in Kirigiri terms is presumably a "go ahead".]

From:

heartsplintered

[Honestly it's probably because she's not easy to talk to that he finds her approachable. Because he's not a big talker, either. So he knows she won't pressure him about it, or talk over him, or any other number of fears one could encounter with someone who likes to talk.]

[Dirk makes sense, really.]

Great.
Is it weird to ask if you want to go walk around or something, I can't sit still and talk so typing is gonna get pretty fucking obnoxious after the third time I smack my gear off the desk talking with my hands.

From:

freshprints

[Sadly, that actually does make a lot of sense. FRANDSHIP.]

If that's what you want.

You left your coat inside. Do you want me to bring it with me when I come out?

From:

heartsplintered

Dicks, I did, didn't I.
Uh. Sure.

From:

freshprints

I'll be there in five minutes.

[And she will, complete with obnoxious orange coat.]

From:

heartsplintered

[He feels sort of stupendously dumb, so when she gets out to him he's sprawled partially on Diva's back with his glasses resting on the horse's haunches, hands over his face and grumbling in idle frustration.]

From:

freshprints

[And here she is, not particularly dressed for the weather herself, given that she's still rocking her purple jacket, boots, and skirt, but hey. She got picked up by a tornado and beggars can't be choosers.]

You should put this on.

[She says, offering it up without preamble.]

From:

heartsplintered

[He moves his hands and looks at her for a minute, frowning.]

And we should get you one, yeesh. Your legs are gonna freeze off.

[He sits up to take the jacket, putting it on and scooting over.]

At least come sit, Diva's pretty warm. What with the whole fire pony business.

[The Ponyta knickers softly, huffing and settling his head back down in the grass.]

From:

freshprints

[Ah. All right, then; she settles in without complaint, pulling her legs up a little closer for added warmth, because now that he's actually pointed it out...YEAH, IT'S COLD.]

A classmate of mine inherited one of these early on in our stay here. We rode it from Cherrygrove to Violet.

[...]

Be careful riding her; the flames of their manes grow longer the faster they go. My classmate burned his face from it.

From:

heartsplintered

[He barks an abrupt laugh at that, patting Diva's flank and claiming his glasses to replace them on his face.]

There's a card game and a couple of video games and stuff where I'm from about these guys, and I like horses. I know a bit about him.

[A beat of silence.] You gonna be all right there? We could probably go find you a coat someplace, I mean. If nothing else, moving will be warmer than sitting.

From:

freshprints

Him.

[Well, that's what she gets for making name assumptions. Brief mental note, check mark the box, life goes on.]

Are you fussing over me because you're trying to put off bringing up whatever it is you wanted to talk about?

From:

heartsplintered

[A gentle shrug.]

Yeah, the-- I didn't name him. I mean, I did? But when I was here last time, apparently. Not sure what past me was thinking, but his name is Diva by Blood. I guess that's something to the effect of a race horse name. I just call him Diva.

[He makes a quiet little sound in the back of his throat and looks away.]

It's not even anything specific, I just didn't want to even try talking to anybody else I know. 'Cause anybody else I know is my brother or his friends and they're great but they all sort of know what I'm talking about and I guess the unbiased party thing has some major benefits right now. Or maybe I just don't want to talk to anybody that knows Jake.

[A beat of silence.]

Unless you knew Jake, in which case I'll literally go buy a gun to shoot myself in the foot with it.

From:

freshprints

I don't remember anyone named Jake. I'm assuming that's a friend of yours.

[She doesn't really look at him, or at least she doesn't turn her head to do it, but she's kind of scoping him out of the corner of her eye because that's kind of a weird place to go with this.]

A close friend, presumably.

From:

heartsplintered

One of my only. [He makes a face at himself for how that got phrased.] And close is an understatement.

It's his birthday.

From:

freshprints

[Eh, it's not that weird, it's not like she has that many, either.

...Not that she really remembers many people's birthdays in the first place, but.]

You miss him, and you're lonely.

From:

heartsplintered

[Why did he think talking to the Deduction Princess was a good idea.]

I didn't say that.

[He hunches his shoulders, frowning.]

But, yeah. Sort of. It's-- okay Jake is really complicated. [There's a huge part of their friendship he neglected to mention.]

From:

freshprints

And you want to talk to me because I don't know Jake, so I can't bring in any preconceived notions about him, you, or the complicated relationship.

[Which is fine, it's not like she's saying it judgmentally or anything. Just an observation from someone who doesn't always feelings that well.]

...

Is it a romantic relationship?

From:

heartsplintered

[He pushes his glasses up onto the crown of his head and drops his face into his hands for a moment, defeated.]

Am I that obvious.

From:

freshprints

It's the natural conclusion.

[She at least has the decency to tip her eyes down to her bare knees, sparing him the implicit scrutiny of being looked at for the time being.]

You can talk about him if you want.

[A semi-awkward beat passes, and then.]

If it's the way it sounds, there's someone like that for me, too.

From:

heartsplintered

[He groans softly and pulls his own knees up to his chest, setting his head on them and turning sideways to look at her, leaving his glasses in his hair for the moment.]

We broke up. I broke up with him, to be specific. The approximation of less than an hour before I showed up here, whilst we were under the influence of some crazy psycho-candy from an alien.

From:

freshprints

[...Okay, so maybe it's not like her circumstances. On the other hand, she threw the object of her affections under a bus and nearly got him killed, so...]

And you're regretting it?