The next day flew by as Dave awaited his chance to get back home to talk about Fef and Eridan formally joining the team. School wasn't entertaining in the slightest (except maybe getting to mess with stuff in A/V), so getting to work out stuff concerning the computer world was a high point in his day.
Dave took his headphones off his ears and let them rest on his neck as he walked into the dorm, seeing no one but Jake.
"Ello, chap. Waiting on the others?" Jake asked.
"Yeah." Dave answered, closing the door behind him. "What's up?"
"Same as you. Been sitting here for a few minutes. I'm easy, though. Can't be arsed to get up." Jake answered, placing his book aside. "I just wanted to say, you've done a jolly good job leading the team in the computer. It would be hard lines with only the four of us."
Dave nodded in thanks to the compliment. "You four have been friends a while, huh?"
"For most our lives, yes!" Jake replied, smiling as he recalled it all. "It's quite silly, for the most part people like us normally wouldn't get along. I'm a bit gobby at times, Roxy's always on the piss, Jane gets miffed easy, and Dirk… Well, despite all that, we do get along quite well. Though it was simpler before everyone began wanting to snog each other."
Dave tried his hardest not to question Jake's slang. He didn't even want to know what 'on the piss' meant. "You and Dirk, uh…?"
Jake blushed and nodded simply, answering Dave's question.
"Guess Jane isn't real happy with that."
Jake shook his head then, once again answering Dave's question. "You four have it easy. There's blood between each pair, there's no fighting over each other. Often times I just wish we had more lads and lasses in our lives that we could go spend time with outside of the group… but really, it's always just us four. Until now, anyhow."
"Yeah, you guys are a huge help. I don't know what the flipping fuck you're saying half the time, but you're alright." Dave said, bumping Jake's fist. "That romantic shitstorm will probably calm down in a few days."
"I hope you're right." Jake replied. "Oh, look. There are the others!"
Dave turned his head, and was slightly startled by the sound of a new social link being established.
"I am thou.
Thou art I.
The bonds that you forge will become your strength.
You shall receive a blessing when creating Personas of the Tower Arcana."
A card appeared before him, numbered 'XVI' and depicting a tower being struck by lightning and collapsing. The card shimmered and disappeared, leaving Dave to return to reality and greet the others.
"I trust Vriska filled those two in?" Rose asked as she paced in front of her whiteboard. Terezi, Feferi, and Eridan had all gone into the computer world to discern their strengths and weaknesses, and thus were unconscious at the time.
"Yeah, I did." Vriska answered. "Why have they been out for so long?"
"I wondered that before, but I believe I've found a solution to that question. When we enter the world, we leave our physical selves behind, but our consciousness is still functioning in the other world. The other world does not function by our laws of physics, or time. After assessing past instances when we have entered the world, I've come to assume that each time a registered player enters the world, exactly an hour will have passed in the real world despite how long they spent inside."
"And, unregistered players?" John asked.
"They remain inside indefinitely, as evidenced by those put in comas." Rose said. "We can plan our visits accordingly this way. Entering the world at six in the morning and then being ready for school at 7 shouldn't be an issue. This will let us save those imprisoned in the computer and still keep up with our studies."
Dave groaned. It figured that Rose would find some way to weasel more school work on everyone. "I'd prefer late night. Just putting that out there."
"As would I, David." Rose answered with a smirk. 'David' wasn't even his real name, but she occasionally used it as a nickname to mess with him. "I'm just explaining that it's an option and we need not miss classes because of it. After all, we wouldn't want the administration getting suspicious of anything, now would we?"
"Yeah, yeah." Dave replied, sitting back in his chair next to Jade.
Feferi and Eridan jolted awake, followed by Terezi, who slowly rose and stretched. "Got it." she announced.
"Well?" Rose asked.
"Feferi's got lots of status abilities just like her shadow. And she can take a lot of damage, too. Plus she can make like Dirk and support us."
"So a support role, yes." Rose confirmed, making a small note on her whiteboard. "And her elemental strengths?"
"Strong to Ice, weak to Wind." Terezi answered. "Eridan's spellcasting ability is off the charts. A spell name that I haven't heard before popped in my head, too. 'Megido'."
"Interesting name." Rose said, looking up from the chalkboard. Vriska turned her attention from John and looked at Terezi with a confused look. "You mean like Aradia?"
"It might just be a coincidence." Terezi said, shrugging. "Oh, and Eridan's strong against fire and ice, but he's weak to physical attacks. He can stay in back, his weapon is a harpoon gun."
Jade blinked. "And you learned all that from just being in the computer world with them for a little bit?"
Terezi nodded proudly. "Yeah! I'm getting a lot better at scanning things. I guess it comes with experience."
Rose nodded and added Eridan's info to the whiteboard, then wrote it down in one of her many notebooks in case the info on the whiteboard was ever lost. Dave also noticed that Equius and Nepeta were added; Equius was strong against physical attacks and weak to fire, while Nepeta was strong against wind and weak to lightning.
"Good to have you guys on board!" John said, smiling at the others.
"The more people we have around to kick Gamzee's ass, the better." Vriska confirmed with a nod. "We'll have our chance soon."
"There are only so many of us left." Feferi mentioned. "Tavros, Aradia, Kanaya, Sollux and Karkat haven't been taken yet."
"With luck, we'll make 'haven't been taken yet' to 'weren't taken'." Dirk piped up, crossing his arms.
"Yes, I agree." Rose said with a nod. "But we're still working according to Gamzee's actions. Until we can effectively prevent his attacks, the only thing we can do is endeavor to rescue those he takes, to prevent any immediate danger to them."
The others nodded. It wasn't anything they hadn't heard before. Either Gamzee kept on trying after failed attempts, or he was playing the group like a fiddle. Either way, they had no way to know.
Rose tucked the whiteboard away back in a storage closet and sat. "I suppose that's enough for today, now that Feferi and Eridan are acquainted. Thank you for coming, everyone."
The others stood up. Vriska took John's hand, waved goodbye to everyone with a smirk on her face, and left the building, Terezi tailing them. Rose rolled her eyes.
Dave looked to Eridan. "Happy you're in now?"
"Think what you want. It's dangerous and absolutely nonsensical, but I want to stop that idiot Gamzee as much as the next guy." Eridan spat back. "And if I can protect Feferi while doing that, I've got nothing to complain about."
Nodding, Dave shook his hand. "I believe you, man. Just don't go all stalwart bodyguard when the situation doesn't call for it."
"No promises." Eridan replied bluntly.
Dave nodded again. He knew where Eridan was coming from. He wouldn't say it aloud, but everyone knew he would do just about anything to keep Jade out of harm's way. Eridan wasn't so different from him, at least in that respect.
Eridan turned to leave and Dave sat down, hearing the shattering sound of a new social link being formed almost immediately.
"I am thou.
Thou art I.
The bonds that you forge will become your strength.
You shall receive a blessing when creating Personas of the Emperor Arcana."
The card pictured a titular Emperor holding a scepter, and was numbered 'IV'. Dave had seen the card before during Rose's tarot explanations.
The card shimmered and faded, bring Dave back into focus with the real world. Two links in one day was a record for him, at the very least.
Jade came to sit by him after a little while. "Feeling tired?"
"Yeah, a bit.' Dave replied, rubbing his eyes then adjusting his shades back onto his eyes. "But it isn't real late."
"Never hurts to go to bed early. I've been kinda worried about you. Don't push yourself too hard, alright?" Jade requested. The moment she gave Dave the puppy eyes, he knew he had no choice but to agree.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll turn in after a bit." Dave conceded, nodding. "Just in time for me to sleep in class tomorrow."
Jade giggled and kissed his cheek. "Just don't overwork yourself. You're doing a great job."
"I'm just yelling and hitting things with a sword. You could do it too if you had a sword." Dave replied.
"You're just saying that." Jade mused. "Just trust me. We couldn't do this without you! Now, off to bed, mister!"
Dave rolled his eyes and proceeded up the stairs, smiling a bit once he was out of view.
Dave twirled around in his swivel chair in A/V club. The club got a small allowance to purchase software with, and he was impatiently awaiting a new mixing program's installation.
Sollux swiveled around as well when he heard a girl's voice call his name. Dave turned his head and recognized Aradia, who he had seen at the pool.
"I've got those notes you wanted." Aradia mentioned, placing a small notebook on the desk next to Sollux. Dave noted that she smelled like dead things.
"Cool, thanks." Sollux said, picking up the notebook and placing it in his backpack.
"Anytime!" Aradia said, turning to leave but stopping when she saw Dave. "Hi! Dave, right? You were with Vriska and the others the other day."
"Yeah, that was me." Dave confirmed, fighting the urge to pinch his nose.
"Ignore the smell, I'm in taxidermy." Aradia added, blushing out of embarrassment. "It's good you started hanging out with us. I was getting tired of the same group of people, I guess."
"I get that." Dave agreed. "You guys are pretty legit."
"Thanks." Aradia laughed. "But we're just a bunch of weirdos, trust me. Still, it's nice to hear that. We'll have to hang out with you guys more often!"
"Count on it." Dave agreed, shaking her hand. Aradia smiled and waved. "Bye, Dave. Bye, Sollux!"
Dave turned as she left, once again hearing the shattering sound that accompanied social links.
"I am thou.
Thou art I.
The bonds that you forge will become your strength.
You shall receive a blessing when creating Personas of the Death Arcana."
Dave almost raised an eyebrow at the name of the Arcana. Death? That seemed a little morbid for someone who seemed rather happy to be alive. The card materialized and showed a skull against a dull blue background, numbered XIII.
As the card disappeared, Dave still sat a little confused about Aradia's Arcana.
"Dave, you alright?" John asked.
"Yeah, just one of those things." Dave replied, shuddering a bit. John would know what he meant.
"Oh, right." John said, saying nothing more.
Dave and John sat in silence for a while until Dave received a text message from Jade.
"jane and roxy made cookies for everyone :) come get some before they're all gone!"
Dave looked to John, who had received a similar text from Jade. With a mutual nod, they both got up and headed to the dorm for the evening.