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[potentite]

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May 1

[splinten]

[A scream. It gets Dirk to his feet immediately, and he dashes out into the hall. A scream, and someone's in trouble. He has no weapon but he runs for it, his hands in fists and his whole body honing in on the sound to fight. He isn't going to let a threat go down here. No fucking way.]

[potentite]

[The sound makes his blood run cold. A scream means trouble. Someone, somewhere, is in danger. He doesn't have his guns. He doesn't have jack shit. Could he possibly be helpful to someone like this? He might only succeed in making things worse.

But he'd be an even more worthless coward if he ignored it.

Jake runs, trying to follow the sound. Over here? Should he call after them? Fuck. He rounds a corner in a quick pivot and—]

Ah—!

[Slams right into someone and goes down.]

[splinten]

[Good job kids. Dirk staggers back and gets himself back up and—]

Jake?

[potentite]

[Jake takes a moment longer, pushing himself up onto his elbows as he pouts, wincing, and then he registers Dirk's voice and it's Dirk and fuck.]

...Dirk?

[Wait. Fuck. Someone was screaming. Was it Dirk? Dirk, who has raised his voice maybe three times in his entire life?

Jake's own worthlessness and the circumstances of their arrival here don't catch up to him yet; Only paralyzing fear that something might be wrong grips too hard as he scrambles to his feet to grab Dirk's arms.]

Dirk?! Are you all right? I heard that frightful racket and came running and I—??

[splinten]

[The touch is strange and welcome at the same time. It's amazing to him Jake doesn't feel poisoned just by that contact.]

I heard it too. It's somewhere around here, but it ain't me. Are you—I mean, fuck, duh, you weren't the one screaming if you were running for it, but... you know.

[Is Jake okay?]

[potentite]

[He nods, dismissing it. Dirk doesn't need to worry about him. He shouldn't, in fact. And the fragile barrier that kept his self-loathing away long enough to check on Dirk collapses, crushing him. He pulls away from him and glances down. He fidgets with his hands over his stomach, wishing he had that stupid hoodie back.]

Um...

[Wait. No. Screams? Fuck.]

Ah— If it's not either of us, then someone else is in danger! Um uh, should we...?

[splinten]

[His own anxiety is a reserved mirror, unexpressed except in how he stretches the back of his neck. But they have to focus.]

Yeah. I think it was— [He gestures vaguely down the hall. He thinks it was that way?]

[potentite]

Righto, um—

[Should he go first or wait for Dirk? He can't let this anxiety get in the way of helping someone. If something happens to them and they're too late, it will be all his fault. So he just starts heading that way at a brisk pace, frowning.]

[splinten]

[Does Jake want to go alone? No, he can't let him. Unless Jake wants to. Shit. He follows after after half a second, muttering.]

I don't have the katana. What about you?

[potentite]

[Jake shakes his head.]

I've been stripped cleaned, sorry. Um, I can do fine by some mano-a-mano tussling but...

[He really isn't sure what they're dealing with at the moment.]

[splinten]

You're probably the better of us at hand-to-hand, so at least there's that.

[There's Jake being here, is what he means.]

[potentite]

[The meaning is missed. Jake glances at him, frowning.]

Pure poppycock. Your punches carry a lot more oomph than mine.

[splinten]

I'm pretty sure we always hit even in arm-wrestling matches—

[Another scream, this one right beside them. In... the wall]

[potentite]

[He jumps and spins around, staring at it.]

In the walls? Oh goodness that's spooky. I saw a movie like that once and when they opened the panel, the poor soul was part of the ship. How do we, uh...?

[splinten]

I haven't gotten my hands on any tools so far. Maybe if we look for some weak spot in the design.

[He pauses and looks back at Jake.]

Are we sure we want to? This is horror movie territory.

[potentite]

[As much as the idea of some monster popping out scares him, he nods.]

If someone really is in trouble, we have to do something.

[splinten]

Yeah. Yeah, we do.

[Jake really is one of the best people Dirk knows. He focuses on the wall again, slamming it with his hand.]

Hey. Hey! Anyone hear me?

[potentite]

[When there isn't a response, Jake bites his lip, breathes in and then puts his ear to the wall, trying to listen. After a moment his eyes widen.]

H—Hey, um, fuck—

[He pulls back.] Barely there but I heard someone asking for help. Um, oh cranberries, uh.

[He hops from foot to foot, looking at the wall for weaknesses.]

[splinten]

Shit.

[He's concerned about it being something dangerous, but there's no way Jake's stopping, and Dirk isn't letting him to this alone. He seeks a weakness in the wall, and when he finds and edge, he starts pulling at it.

But when he does, he finds himself growing strangely tired. His movements slow down when the adrenaline should have them doing anything but.]

[potentite]

[Still, Jake notices, because he has spent quite a lot of time in Dirk's presence at this point and it worries him.]

Dirk? Are you all right? [He's probably tired. It makes sense. They just had a long day.] Do you want me to help?

[splinten]

Maybe, I... do not understand why I'm this tired. And that's kind of worrying me.

[Jake feels there's a reason but Dirk isn't so sure. He keeps trying to get at the panelling, but he's tired.]

[potentite]

[That only worries him more.] Just... can you peek in? If you don't see anything, you can stop. Or I can do it instead?

[splinten]

It's cool, I'm— [He pulls the panel free. And it's just metal and wire. Nothing but metal and wire.

Maybe it's the lack of anything there. Or maybe it's something else. Dirk finds himself practically slumping against that emptiness, trying to grip metal to keep upright.]

[potentite]

Dirk!

[Jake moves forward and hesitates only a moment before jerking forward and trying to steady him, one hand on the small of his back, the other on his arm.]

Dirk, what's wrong?

[splinten]

[At least it keeps him upright.] Fuck... Tired as all fuck here.

[And there's nothing even there. He stares at the wall, resisting the exhaustion as best as he can. But it's overwhelming him.]