Walking by the Clock

[Dave Strider]

It was days that Dave spent laying in the pile of bodies and dirt, recovering from the battle of Darkshire. Well, they lost. Not that he cared which side won really, just that he didn't get to finish his rap battle with Gamzee. The armies had rushed in, throwing off their sick beats and interrupting them until they found themselves buried, or at least Dave did. He should probably refrain from insulting the crowd from now on. He rubbed hid head as he took a look at his shattered shades, taking a moment to grumble. One day he will rap against Gamzee again, and they will finish their battle. But for now, he guessed he could chill out and go back to the Nexus, figure out where to go from there.

Dave took some time to fix his shades and clean up his gear before heading off into the nothingness again, passing through the fog and dead trees with his hands in his pockets, clearly not giving a shit. He found a few zombies but he kinda just, walked past them, ignoring them entirely. He wasn's sure if he had completed his mission or not, after all, he doesn't really have any kills from that fight. But hey, at least he survived, unlike most of his team. He really didn't know any of them, so it didn't matter much. One thing was for sure, he wasn't coming back to this shitty place.

It wasn't long before he was out into the white nothingness that was the Nexus stretching and yawning like he just got out of bed. That is until some pain seared through his back for a moment. Ouch, must've taken a harder hit than he thought. He coughed once as if trying to break the awkward silence he made for himself as he began his stroll to the fountain, whistling a tune that likely belonged to some obscure band made in the 2000s. In the distance, he could see some pink and blue, standing out horribly against the white of the Nexus. AS they got closer he could see the ripped jeans and the colorful hoodie and shoes.

"Yo, random person who came bak from a tie-dye convention, the hell you doing?"

She was silent for a moment. "None of your damn business."

"What are you gonna do, throw some color on me? Throw some red it might match my outfit."

"Ha. Ha. Funny, get out of my way punk, go find your mom or something."

"I would make a dead mom joke but even though its true it would be pretty lame. You sound like you woke up on the wrong side of your bed of nails and are all pissy about having more than one asshole now. "

"The fuck is that supposed to mean."

"It means you're an asshole? It's pretty straightforward."

"Whatever kid."

"Watchu listening to?"

"Nothing. Fuck off."

"Probably something stupid."

"Fuck. Off."

The angsty chick stomped away towards Coruscant, leaving Dave with a smile. Geez was she pissed for no reason. He decided he might as well try to covert someone to the sick beats.

Boots and cats and boots and cats.

After a little warm up Dave began to beatbox like a motherfucker, making some sick sounds and spreading it like a fucking plague. Pisss Mcbitchfaceended up turning around. 

"Hmmph. Not bad."

"You know these beats are ill yo."

She rolled her eyes. "So what, are you a rapper or something. Did you name yourself after a brand of candy?"

"Who the fuck names themself after a candy, my rhymes are sick not sweet. Fucking disease yo. Follow my Omnicloud."

The mundane nature of it al was underwhelming, but Dave actually enjoyed it. Contrary to what he would brag abut to John and Rose all the time, he actually didn't get to interact too much with other people besides them, Jade, and Bro. Bro was so damn overwhelming though. Always testing him. Soon after, the chick took off, just like Dave's rep would soon enough. Just where to get to next...

[Dave Strider]

An eternity passed as Dave seemed to lose track of where he was. Eventually, he found himself lying in the fountain, unsure of what was happening around him. So many faces passed by, a blur along time, so quickly.

Finally feeling the splashing of the water that had long ago enveloped his entire body, Dave sat up suddenly, gasping for air. It took a moment of him heavily breathing to realize he wasn’t drowning in the first place, or maybe just didn't need air.

“What the fuck.”

PBBBLLT

The puppet ass on his wrist was shitting away underwater. Apparently, people were trying to get a hold of him for a while, but everything just seemed, distant. He quickly scanned the dataverse. Two years. What the fuck indeed. It was a lot to take in, and apparently, there was even more to come. Dave processed it all pretty quickly. He needed to get in on some action and make sure he wasn’t constantly getting left out in the dust. Maybe the Blades were still together, if not, he would find something else to do.

With his soaked pajamas, Dave stepped out of the fountain, standing awkwardly as he allowed the water to drip off of him. There was no sun here, no heat to dry him off. He instead just stood there, uncaring of what anything or anyone thought of him while he looked through the data on his glasses.

Dante’s Abyss.

The death tournament that was well-known verse-wide.

Sure why not.

Dave felt a little dead than usual, which made sense being that he seemed to have just come back from yet another death. It was all numbing, really, he just wanted to have something to do, yet every time he tries he just finds himself here. It was like a curse.

“Are you interested in signing up for the tournament of a lifetime!? Right over here you’ll find the papers to sign your life away and become either the champion of the abyss or maybe just a few minutes of brutal entertainment!”

Dave had been so focused on reorienting himself he didn’t even see the booth on the other side of the fountain. There were a few others that had gathered around, passersby and travelers but none seemed to have the key quality needed to sign up for it.

“Sorry, ma’am primes only. We cannot condone the murder of secondaries in this lease.”
“The event will be starting soon you will have to wait to see it on the broadcast.”

“No, we do not take bribes.”

“Yo.”

“Sir, please wait in line before you attempt to sign up, and allow me to remind you that-”

“Yeah, I get it, I’m prime so let me scribble on your clipboards already. Been a while since I had fun in art class.”

“Oh, yes sir, I did not realize. Here sign all of these papers here and then we will direct you to our teleporter to be sent to the facility.” The man handed him a large stack of forms. A few seconds later Dave handed them back, a large red signature spread across the whole of them when fanned out the right way.

“That’s not how you… well, this will work, please step over here.” They directed him inside the booth to a platform full of wires and metal, coaxing him inside.

“Cool. Lemme know when it’s ready.”

“Now.”

“Shit.”

ZZZZZZZZMMMMMM