Conflict between Jade and Davesprite.
Something that will last. It's an argument.
It doesn't start out as anything significant. Jade enters the room
Davesprite's in and starts talking about (something). Eventually he
says something that she really disagrees with, so she calls it into
question. He responds defensively. Being a COOL GUY and majority Dave
Strider (who has all those experiences with his bro), he isn't
emotionally affected by her questioning what he said. This frustrates
Jade: can't he see he said something bad?
It escalates from there. Jade pushes how what he said was wrong.
Davesprite stays defensive. Eventually, he gives up, and admits he
might not have said the best thing possible. It's not obvious to Jade
whether he actually means that, or is just trying to get it over
with. In fact, he does, to some degree, but he doesn't think he said
anything so significant to warrant Jade's outburst. He expresses that
to her, but Jade takes it, perhaps rightfully, as minimizing his
fault and turning the situation onto her.
In the moment, Jade is frustrated. She's outwardly confident on her
viewpoint, but internally she's squashing arguments her own mind is
raising against her. She feels she's being rational about that - she
can't afford doubt when she's supposed to be really certain in what
she's arguing, right?
There's no real resolution here. Davesprite explicitly calls off the
argument; he's tired of the conflict. She realizes neither of them
are getting anywhere. He leaves her. She slumps onto the couch after
he's left. Jade reflects, her own steam dissipating a little. Was
Davesprite right? She did make a big deal out of one thing he said -
perhaps more than was necessary. Yes, what she said was wrong, but
could she have just calmly told him that? Did she blow it way out of
proportion? Her thoughts here echo the things Davesprite said closely;
she's seriously considering what he said. She wonders if he didn't do
the same for her. Most of all, though, she's frustrated with herself.
She feels she let the argument get out of hand, and she blames herself
for cutting off the ordinary conversation she'd originally meant to
have, and - key point here - for Davesprite leaving her. She got in
the way of him just enjoying the day or doing whatever he was in the
middle of, with a discussion that boiled into a fruitless argument,
and he ended up leaving her alone.
During all this, John is in the adjacent kitchen, cooking. He's stuck
out of their argument entirely, not really knowing what to think or
how to make himself of any use within it. When Davesprite leaves,
he's heading into the kitchen. Jade hears him kaplomp into a chair in
the dining room, just outside her view. After a moment, John glances
toward him and says he's cooking rice for supper. Davesprite doesn't
respond, and John turns back to focus on his cooking. Jade sees this
all, John's voice catching her attention. She doesn't respond to it.
She can't stand to talk to anyone right now. She wonders if the way
she grew up has fated her to never be capable of actually talking to
anyone, about stuff that seriously matters to her anyway; to never
truly have any friends in the real world.
> ---
The last supper.
John prepared it - some kind of vegetable and one of those boxed
rice mini-kits (not Betty Crocker) that happened to be kept in the
ship kitchen before they arrived. (He probably has similar stuff in
his own house, but in this fic he hasn't yet been to LOWAS.)
It's pretty tense. Jade is still thoroughly distraught, if a bit
tired - upset and frustrated at herself but not with the same energy
she had just after the argument. Davesprite isn't really saying much
of anything. They've all gathered to have supper together. Jade has
trouble just looking at him, let alone reading his eternally neutral
Strider-brand expression. John still isn't really sure how much he
should be partaking in whatever's going on between the other two.
He's tentatively trying to lighten the mood, or at least to get
either of them to talk, preferably to each other, even if he doesn't
really know whether that's a good idea or not.
Jade's still down, but she puts in the effort to talk. She
complements John's cooking, but it comes out weaker than she'd
intended, or at least she thinks so. But John smiles, and thanks her.
He remarks he's really gotten boxed food down to an art over the
years. (In all honesty, he has: he put his own spices and tweaks to
the recipe in. Not dramatic adjustments, but enough to give it a
certain Egbert flair.)
Now that Jade's made the first move, Davesprite ventures to say
something too. Even if he doesn't understand why, he sees Jade is
upset, and there is some semblance of guilt in him there. He doesn't
want to make things worse. In actuality, he adds only a comment in
agreement with Jade: "It's good." John thanks him.
Partially sub-consciously recognizing that Davesprite is another real
person who's actually there, Jade looks up from her food, toward him.
She's trying to understand what's going on inside his mind. He's got
the usual neutral face, though held perhaps a little more still than
normal. His wings are tucked in, and he's a bit hunched down. His
sunglasses make it impossible to tell where he's actually looking,
but his head is tilted down - more toward the center of the table
than his plate of food. (Do sprites eat? Yes, sprites eat, if at
least just for enjoyment.) Jade sees he's feeling some kind of guilt,
or at least being more careful with what he does and says than
normal. This mostly worsens things for her, though. Instead of
appreciating that he's trying, and that friendships are difficult and
complex but that there's hope that things might improve between them,
Jade finds her guilt renewed: she made things difficult, she got in
the way, she made this supper tense, she upset Davesprite.
Just at the moment Jade is reenveloped in that, Davesprite turns his
gaze toward her. He dares something he thinks might help - he
twitches a smile ever so slightly. Jade almost immediately realizes
she's been staring at him and abruptly looks away, back to her food.
What is he saying? Jade has no idea how to read the gesture. Urgh!
She wishes people would just speak what they're trying to get
across. Frustrated at everything, she shoves a particularly large
spoon of rice clean into her mouth.
John stifles a laugh. Jade notices and glares at him - but realizes
that.. really isn't called for, and consciously relaxes herself. She
supposes the sight of her stuffing her slightly canine mouth with
rice would be a bit of a funny sight, and she knows John isn't trying
to be mean or anything. She smiles a little, and takes a gentle, much
smaller - dare she think "petite" - spoon of rice. She's tilted her
head right toward her spoon as she raises it, but her eyes are angled
straight at John, searching for a reaction. And there it is: John
actually does a little laugh now and is grinning, not held back.
Slightly startling Jade, Davesprite quietly clears his throat, just
loud enough to grab her and John's attention. He raises his eyebrows
just over the rims of his shades. John glances towards Jade, but she
hasn't even thought to consciously be upset at Davesprite, not at
that moment. He looks to Davesprite, who has lifted a dainty rice-
spoon, a little clumped ball at its end, and presently has the spoon
flipped upside down, contents suspended thanks to the majyyks of
sticky rice. He melodramatically, slow-motion puts his lips closed
against the spoon, eyebrows still raised, and pulls out the spoon,
totally rice-free. Jade actually does a little snort-giggle. John
smiles wide; she catches him, entirely friendly, rolling his eyes.
John sighs, relieved. He says something dorky/Egbert-brand - he's
really glad he has the both of them here on the journey, and as
friends in general too. Davesprite nods. He says he shares the
sentiment. Jade looks at the both of them, and smiles: "Me too."