Strider Brand Peanut Gallery

JANE: Maybe something went wrong? Surely there has to be something here.

Or, maybe she’s just approaching it the wrong way. The human mind is abstract, right? Will they even be able to traverse a tangible reality? They’re standing, which means there’s a ground beneath them, and that feels pretty tangible…

Jane takes a tentative step forward, then another, and then-

(Bump)

-immediately hits her face on something invisible.

JANE: Um… ROXY: huh? do you see something? JANE: Not so much “see” as “ran straight into.” I think there’s some kind of boundary here.

She starts to feel across the wall, trying to map out where it ends, when she hears a shhk from above. The two look up to see that a rectangular hole has appeared in the white nothingness, and peeking out of that hole is (what is unmistakably) a security camera. A small red dot blinks to indicate that it’s active.

: State your business.

The disembodied voice simultaneously seems to come from above, yet nowhere at all. Still, it sounds unmistakably like Dirk.

JANE: Oh! We’re here to, ah- : Nah, just messing with you. I obviously know why you’re here.

With no warning at all, the nothingness around them distorts, and an actual moderately-sized room starts forming around them. It only takes a second for everything to settle; she quickly takes in the tiled, almost sanitized room that she and Roxy now stand in. Facing them is Dirk, who is lounging in a chair that looks far too stiff and clinical to actually be comfortable. Identical chairs line the perimeter, the only gap being in front of an unmarked door.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Jane is reminded of how it felt waiting with her father at the doctor’s office.

ROXY: sooo ROXY: you gonna give us the grand tour? : Oh, this is as far as you’ll be going. ROXY: huh ROXY: you mean we can help fix whatevers going on with your powers from here?

Dirk’s mouth turns ever so slightly upward. You’re so unused to him smiling that the sight sets you on edge.

: It seems you’re mistaken. : As I’m sure you’ve come to understand, Dirk is quite experienced at compartmentalizing his psyche. I am a part of Dirk, but my existence is only a small sliver of his overall person.

He gestures to the door with his thumb.

: The rest of him, including the parts that reluctantly agreed to this whole operation, is locked behind that door. : And frankly, everyone back there is a complete lunatic. It’s a goddamn nightmare. : Personally, I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to stay here, where everything is quiet, and orderly, and nobody will get hurt.