Upward Movement
==JOHN: SEARCH.
It's a mildly windy afternoon in Paris, and you're going around, trying to stick as many flyers as you can against walls and poles. They all have Jane's face on them, and the photo you chose is one of her smiling. You wonder in the back of your mind if you'll ever be able to see that smile again. Your eyes are red from crying, your posture lacking, and you can't help but think of how pathetic a father you've been. You know Jane would never love a man like you, especially not like this.
Dave is back home, still very angry about you and your attitude towards your daughter, but he is writing a blog post nonetheless. In the meantime, Jade is trying to keep the house in order, as both of your kids are now gone from the house, and you and Dave are too busy to keep anything in order.
As you walk down the rows of houses, an overwhelming surge of paranoia hits you. Jane could be in any one of these houses, absolutely any of them, or maybe none at all. Maybe she's lying dead somewhere in a ditch or shivering and cold-
You break down in the middle of the sidewalk, unable to choke back the sobs as the wind blows the photos of your daughter's smiling face all over the concrete.
==JOHN: BE THE GUY THAT ISN'T QUITE AS SAD.
Your name is Tavros Nitram, and you'll be damned. He's back.
"That was, uh, a great performance. The one, uh, two nights ago, I mean." You smile as you feel your cheeks heat up a bit.
"...Thanks, I guess. It wasn't that great." He shrugs, eyes looking more at the sweets than you. Karkat's eyes scan the cookies as you attempt to make conversation, ranging from how the weather was to how the violinist career was going, until you remembered.
"Just wait here a sec!" You smile excitedly as you wheel into the back, Karkat seemingly annoyed with your sudden disappearance. You grab the stack of mail that came in this morning, and look for an envelope, specifically one from a ticket vendor. You pull the purple letter out easily, and wheel back to the front, smiling.
"I, uh, I got these because I thought your violin playing sounded really...good! So I thought I'd wanna hear more, and I got these...and I was wondering if you wanted to go?" You pull out two tickets from the purple envelope, smiling nervously as you show them to him. The tickets are black with a colored treble clef on the bottom portion, colored in gradients of cyan, pink, and yellow. Karkat's eyes widen, his pupils dilating.
"...That's...That's her...the...the dealie...the DEALIE! THE MOTHERFUCKING DEALIE!" He's grasping for the tickets, which you pull away just in time to avoid having them ripped in half. "You've gotta let me go with you, please, please, motherfucking please!" His enthusiasm is through the roof, and you begin to think this will go better than expected.
"...I'd really like you to come with me, actually-so we'll meet here, then? A couple hours before the show?" You smile, and Karkat nods, his mouth still agape from the shock. Suddenly, as if he remembered something, his cheeks turn a bit red and he points to the cookies.
"Two sugar cookies...Please." He hands over the cash before you even finish bagging them, and over the crinkle of the plastic, you can hear him talking to himself in an excited tone.
"...I'm gonna fucking see the Land of Light and Rain concert I'M GONNA FUCKING SEE IT." He punches the air, obviously pleased with the world and all of its inhabitants. You smile as you hand him his cookies and change, and as he walks out the door, you swear he's almost skipping.
...But something still feels really weird about all of this. Something you can't put your finger on. Actually, you can. You just don't want to.
==TAVROS: BE THE HISTORIAN.
You name is Aradia Megido, and as you step inside of the Strider-Egbert household, you swear you can feel the tension. It has been reported to you that Jade has to take care of everything here because her friends have lost their child. The air of the place feels incredibly strange and tense...
Suddenly, a peeved-looking man in baggy clothes comes to greet you from one of the rooms.
"You're Jade's friend, right? HEY, HARLEY!" He calls out loudly, startling you. Jade comes out of another door, her hair messy and her clothes equally as relaxed as the angry man's.
"You don't have to shout, Dave, I'm right here!" She huffs, straightening her hair before greeting you. "Hi there, Aradia-I'm sorry we couldn't meet up at my house. It's a bit of a crisis right now."
"Of course, of course, I understand. I'll keep an eye out for her as well." You nod, fully understanding the situation and trying to express your sympathies. Tired from walking, you help yourself to a seat, and following your example, Dave and Jade do as well.
"So how has it been? Your research and all." Jade asks. You blush a bit, averting your eyes.
"A group of researchers asked me to come out to Germany to help them determine what some artifacts they found would be used for." You shake your head. "But I managed to work it out, so we can video chat. Can't really leave the country."
"...Why not?" Jade tilts her head, curious. "Isn't that what your job is about?"
"...It costs a lot to get out of the country, you know." You blush a bit, eyes going to Dave now, but as soon as you see his angry expression, you look downwards.
"...Makes sense. Took forever for me and John to get here." He adjusts the sleeveless shirt he's wearing, trying to fix his hair. You can tell he hasn't gotten much sleep or been able to take care of himself. This whole missing child thing must be very time consuming.
"Does your research not earn you enough-" Jade clasped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was rude." Her cheeks grew red as you chuckled.
"No, no, it's quite alright. Despite my expertise, my...lack of funds doesn't let me earn more money by going out of the country. Since I can't get out of the country, it's harder to earn money..." You smile, laughing a little.
"Alright, enough about research, it's hard enough to stay awake as it is." Dave walks around the corner into the kitchen, grabbing a batch of cold brownies from the fridge. He sets them down in-between the three of you. He grabs one, biting into it rather angrily, before pausing to chew.
"...Hm." Jade makes an odd noise, looking at the brownies with a slight bit of confusion and longing. She grabs one and tastes it, and her silent confusion only intensifies.
Ah, what the hell. You pick up a brownie too, enjoying the friendly silence for as long as it lasted, before Dave suddenly spoke up.
"Alright, who wants to talk rap instead."
==ARADIA: BE THE FASHION DESIGNER.
Your name is Kanaya Maryam, and at the moment, you are in the hospital.
Perhaps you should rephrase that.
Your name is Kanaya Maryam and your are in the hospital because on certain days when you feel especially charitable and friendly, you close up shop and come to volunteer. Most of your day includes wheeling old folk around, telling stories to children, and generally comforting the terminally ill. It makes you feel good after a long day, knowing that you helped someone.
Today, it just so happens that you are wheeling one of the aforementioned old folk, a regular visitor to the hospital. Thankfully, you are wheeling her out, not around.
"The doctor said that if you feel any pain in your abdominal region again, then you should call right away."
"Yes, yes, of course." The elderly woman smiles. "I won't hesitate." For someone who just underwent surgery for a hernia, she is entirely too joyful. You wheel her out the door, where a small, black car awaits her, an angry looking driver behind the wheel. "Thank you, Kanaya." She smiles as she stands, and you give her the cane she always carries around, a serpent design curling around the pole.
"Anytime, Calliope." You smile as you walk to the car with her. She opens the door, and before she gets in, you tap her shoulder lightly. "Might you be able to do me a favor? I know you have only recently recovered, so it is not necessary."
"Oh, no, no," She shakes her head, smiling. "Anything for you."
"...Could you please call Feferi tonight? I believe she may want to talk to you." You say this with a nervous expression, causing her eyes to widen.
"Oh dear." She whispers, before getting in the car. "I'll be sure to. Goodbye, Kanaya, and thank you again." The car pulls away before she can even finish, and you barely catch the last words. You wave goodbye as she disappears, before grabbing the wheelchair she came out on and going back inside.
==KANAYA: BE THE SCIENTIST
Your name is Jade Harley, and the pan of brownies in front of you is nearly empty. Apparently, everyone was hungry to the point where they all managed to finish an entire pan of confectionaries.
This is going straight to your collective thighs, you just know it.
As soon as you begin contemplating the sheer amount of weight you're going to gain from eating excessive amounts of brownies, the door opens to reveal a certain mister Dirk Strider.
"Yo." He comments, walking in the door, as if it was no big deal that he had been gone for a few days. Which, of course, you know it certainly wasn't. Dirk would be the person to disappear for days at a time. You can only pray it isn't more than that.
"Ah, fancy seeing you again." Aradia comments, turning her head to look at the boy. "It's been only a few days since we last met, so it's alright if you don't remember me." You tense up a bit, trying to mentally will Aradia to look at you.
"Yeah, I remember you, no worries. You were cool." You mentally wipe the sweat from your brow, keeping a nice, calm expression on the outside. Of course Dirk would know how to handle these things.
"I do remember quite a bit of you as well. How are you and Jake?" She smiles, and you visibly clench your fists the tiniest bit-unclenching them right after. You've been friends with Dave long enough that you know he could have caught that.
"...Weird that you'd pair us together like that, but last I checked, we're both doing fine." Dave's eyes widen as he keeps talking. You fear he's catching on.
"Just thought I'd inquire. Young love is quite the interesting topic."
The room goes silent, Aradia just smiling.
"..." Her face falls as she realizes she must have done something wrong, and oh, how she has. You bite your lip as Dave begins to speak.
"...Dirk, what's this 'young love' shit with Jake...?" Dave raps his fingers irritably on the coffee table. You feel both you and Dirk know it's futile to try and hide it anymore.
"...It's nothing, Dad-"
"Don't you fucking tell me it's nothing. What the fuck have you been doing with that little shit?!" He stands up, pushing the table out of the way, the brownie pan falling off. You yelp a little as it happens, slightly enraged at the way he referred to your son.
"I'm telling you, we haven't done anything." You could see that Dirk was trying to hide his emotions-which you're sure are fear and desperation. A silence ensues for a moment, before Dave speaks again.
"...I'm not having a gay son." He growls, looking down at Dirk with his flaming red eyes. You want to whine, as you feel responsible for this...
"...What if you have to accept having one?" Dirk says in rebellion-challenging Dave's ideas, and you can't help but look as Dave suddenly grabs his shirt collar, lifting him up, before-
Wham, Dirk is across the room, sliding down the wall, coughing from the wind that was knocked out of him.
"I told you, I FUCKING WON'T." You can't look anymore, but all you can hear, even when you cover your ears and cry, is fist hitting stomach, body hitting wall, glass hitting floor... it isn't until you hear her that you look up.
"Stop it! Stop it, this is pointless!" Aradia cries out, trying to hold Dave back as Dirk, beaten and bloodied, tries to crawl away.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Dave tries to shove Aradia back, but through your blurred vision, you can see she holds firm, and even takes a moment to slap him across the face, making his sunglasses fall to the floor.
"You leave this boy alone, or so help me!" Her voice is shaky, but her body is unmoving, a solid stone barrier between Dave and his child. Another silence ensures before Dave straightens up, trembling from the anger.
"Fuck this." He whispers, and storms off to his room, shutting the door and locking it as loud as he could. Aradia immediately turns to tend to the injured boy, who, despite the beatings, was not crying like you were.
Slowly, you get up and walk to the bathroom, looking for bandages and disinfectant, and maybe a solution.
After all, everyone could use a little healing right now.