Chapter Text
"I just needed someone to hold, when the bottle was empty and the nights grew cold..."
"In my hour of darkness, in my time of need, you were my angel of mercy and helped me to believe..."
TT: Yes, you are most definitely a cake ninja, Crocker.
GG: And that’s…sugoi?
TT: You make your sensei proud.
TT: My kawaii purincessu.
TT: My kawaii hime.
GG: Aww! Great! :B
TT: I’m getting pretty damn hungry with all this discussion about confectionary treats.
TT: I think I’m going to go make myself some ramen.
GG: Oh, okay, go ahead! How does it taste? I can’t say that I have ever tried ramen before.
TT: Hmm…really?
TT: Well, come down to see me, and we can share some fucking cheap ass noodles.
GG: How do you expect me to do that!?
TT: Get the hell out of your confinement space, for one, Janey girl.
TT: Right now. It’s like your living in prison.
It was the dawning of another evening, the skyline peeking into Jane’s bedroom window; her blue eyes reflected off the glowing monitor, tapping fingers falling into a lasting silence against the keyboard as the words ‘get the hell out of your house’ stood out from the remainder. Their impact almost echoed throughout the empty household. Easier said than accomplished, wasn’t it?
This was the fifth time Dirk had suggested coming down to visit. Their conversations would start out typically, talking about the day and ending with the Texan checking up on Lil Sebastian and promising to be her mentor and watching over her, like a good fucking friend should. Although he mentioned before how serious he was when he said these words, she laughed with delight anyways.
Pressing her hand to the monitor, she remembered that she did always wonder what the blonde on the other side of the glass was like in person, but she wasn’t certain as to whether his suggestion was an effective one or not.
But then again, he was right.
GG: Leave my house? But I can’t do that!
TT: Yes, you can. Is your dad or little bro around?
Taking a quick glance out her windowpane, she continued:
GG: Well, the car isn’t in the driveway. Either Dad has yet to make it home or he is washing it in the backyard. John’s in his room right now watching Ghostbusters.
TT: Good. I would be cautious, though. Gather your necessities and climb out your window.
Now she was positive that his ideas were entirely off the wall! Yes, Dirk Strider was well known for his ninja-esque maneuvers on the rooftops in Houston, she would give him credit for that; but to tell a 16 year-old girl to climb out her window, without permission to even leave the house, and saddle her way down to Houston, Texas to share a meal of beefy, 99 cent noodles with a teenage boy? How preposterous that sounded!
GG: Out my window!?
TT: Sure, why not?
GG: Because! It’s the window!?
TT: Well, you DO have a tree right outside it, correct?
GG: Of course! Should I climb down it?
TT: Affirmative. Hustle down your tree and make a run for it to the bus stop.
GG: But…I’m not G.I. Jane, Dirk!
TT: Never said you had to be, girlie. Nice movie reference, by the way. My bro would be proud.
TT: He is going to like you.
Frowning for a moment, she turned to the window once more. How she longed to feel freedom after so long, to run outside without boundaries, in Texas…with Dirk. It was sure to be warmer than up in Washington. There was also no dad to hold her back down there. Even better.
GG: Well, I cannot believe I am saying this, but…alright.
TT: Really?
GG: Yes.
TT: You are doing this.
GG: Yes.
TT: You are making this happen?
GG: Yes!
TT: Cool.
timaeusTestified [TT] ceased bothering gutsyGumshoe [GG]
Jane tapped her fingers nervously on her desk, taking a look around her room. If she were to leave, she would be back soon. Just going down for a visit and nothing more, so why was she already feeling homesick? Guilt was the top suspect for certain. Leaving her Dad, making him and John worry; she wasn’t fond of getting them upset due to her. As she stood from her desk, she agreed to write her father a message to make sure he knew she was alright.
Plucking a notebook from her bookshelf, a pen laced within the wire binding, she flopped down on her bed, opening to the first blank page and pulling the top of the pen off with her teeth.
Dad,
I know this is sudden of me. I would tell you in person if I knew for fact you wouldn’t put bars on my window, but I’m going on a road trip to Texas to visit my friend, Dirk. I hope you understand. I’m 16 now, and I want to get out into the world and see it in person. What better place to start than with someone I trust! I will return within the next week or so. I would never leave home and not come back. I love both you and John dearly.
I assume there will be punishment when I return. Don’t be too harsh on me, Dad. :B At least I left a letter.
Love, your daughter,
Jane
P.S. Tell John where I am. I don’t want him to freak out!
Rereading the letter over in her head, she nodded, “Great! Now, putting this in the mailbox would be the best thing to do! Dad always checks the mail after washing his car!” Opening the window, her notebook in hand, she looked warily at the tree outside. Oh, how she loathed the idea of climbing down its branches; she couldn’t even climb UP a tree.
In the branches, a flash of white crawled around, soft mewling calling out to Jane. “God Cat, go away!” Jane quietly scolded, waving at him with her notebook, “I’m going to attempt an escape plan, and I don’t need to fool with your shenanigans!” Stepping to her Baking Chest and opening it, she decided on which of her items to take as God Cat climbed onto her windowsill, lapping at his paw and purring as Jane sorted through her possessions.
Filling a small knapsack with her Tiaratop, her Junior Battermaster's spoon/forkkind, and several other doodads she probably wouldn’t need (fake moustaches in particular), she moved back over to her bed, smiling warmly at the two rabbits nestled atop her bed sheets. “And what would an adventure be without you two? And Lil Sebastian, wherever he is…probably downstairs.” Grabbing up the heirloom bunnies, cradling them in her arms, she quietly opened her door, peeking around before calling out in a quiet shout, “Lil Sebastian!!!”
Poking his head around the corner of the stairway, the cyberbunny looked at her, the orange shades glinting in the hallway light. “C’mon!” Jane called, motioning for him to come to her. Obediently, he darted up the stairway and to her room, jumping and latching to her shoulder, climbing around onto her back and clinging on.
“Okay…” She stepped back over to the windowsill, God Cat brushing up against her arm as she stared at the tree. “God Cat, get out of here!” She smacked him on the rear with her notebook, making him mewl again and hop out onto another branch, swaying his tail and lapping at his snowy coloured fur as if to taunt her.
“Yeah, brag!” She frowned, placing her foot out the windowsill and placing it on a sturdy branch. “Oh jeesh…” Jane trembled as she crawled out her window, gripping onto the windowsill and trying her hardest not to look down. “Dirk comes up with some crazy ideas...this is going to kill me!” She took a deep breath, resting her other foot on the tree branch before shoving off her window, and to her relief, she now stood safely in the tree, gripping hold of the thicker branches to keep steady. “How in the world am I going to get from up here…to down there?” She finally glanced down, cringing as she gripped onto the branches tighter. “One baby step at a time, Jane.”
Jane shifted her foot down on the nearest branch beneath her. “Okay, I think I have it!” Giving a sigh of relief too soon as she planted her other foot on the same branch, the wood gave an ominous crack beneath her. Her eyes shot wide open, and she held on for dear life as the branch snapped, tumbling to the grass below. Trying to make as little noise as she could, she clutched hold of the upper, stronger branches, trying to keep her feet propped against the trunk with little traction. She looked upward, God Cat staring down at her and hopping onto the branch she held in her grasp. “God Cat! I told you to go away!”
G-Cat, not a very good listener anyways, hopped down onto her head, nestling up in her wavy black locks and blurring in a flash of green…
-------------------
“Fuck. That was stupid of me.”
Tweaking on the nose of a plush rump puppet, Dirk reclined on his mattress in silence. With his head of bright, blonde hair propped back on his pillows, he wondered if Jane made it alright. He felt like shit for pressuring the girl into leaving her home, especially out the window at that, for he knew how accident prone she was. The request was quite selfish, after all.
Yes, five times. He had hoped it would take him shorter to coax her, but the fact that she FINALLY agreed was good enough. After all, she was the closest in distance of their friends...closest relationship wise, too. But actually talking her into crawling out her window? Shame on him. He didn't deserve her there.
After a long silence, the ping of his Pesterchum made him sit up in a hurry. Darting over to his computer chair, he pulled up the screen, reading over the single message that came through:
gutsyGumshoe [GG] began bothering timaeusTestified [TT] at 5:47
GG: Um, Di? I don’t know if you can drive or not, but... I need someone to pick me up. :B