Rose Strider ∴ truculentTactician (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
restitchtime) wrote2011-07-22 10:51 pm
restitchtime) wrote2011-07-22 10:51 pm
(no subject)
Rose should have known from the beginning that Dave Harley was nothing but trouble.
Anyone who took the time to continue fighting with her over the sanctity of classical music and why it should or shouldn't be remixed on a hole in the wall music forum was obviously mentally ill. Didn't he have anything better to do than listen to her call him an inflexible asshole every other paragraph?
It seemed that he didn't, because it wasn't long after the forum debacle that Rose received a ping from an unfamiliar Pesterchum handle.
-- totalGent [TG] began pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
He hadn't even said a word yet and Rose already had a sneaking suspicion as to who this was. How the hell did he get a hold of her handle? She made a point of not giving it out unless absolutely necessary.
TG: so i was thinking maybe we could move on to finding a topic we wont kill each other over
TG: although i do respect how willing you are to tear out peoples throats over music
TG: anyway
TG: im dave harley its a pleasure to meet you
TT: How the hell did you get my handle?
TG: ive got my ways but it doesnt really matter how i found it anyway
TG: that wasnt a very ladylike response although i guess i shouldnt be surprised
The hair was beginning to stand up on the back of Rose's neck. That was one more thing she kept off the internet that this Dave had pulled out of nowhere. She was starting to think that the next time she went out for groceries there'd be a zealous classical purist waiting for her in an alley with a switchblade.
Her hands ghosted across the keyboard, heading for the mouse and eventually the block button. There was enough ridiculous shit floating around her life as it was, Rose didn't need to add a psychic stalker to the list. In the time it had taken her to have her contained freakout, however, Dave had written something else.
TG: i hope i havent scared you off with that
TG: id really like to get to know you better
For some reason that made Rose pause. It shouldn't, since that was the exact kind of bullshit that left kids dismembered out on some country road, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to think he was lying. Creepy? Absolutely. But maybe not in the way she'd originally thought.
TT: Rose Strider.
TT: Call me anything remotely resembling a nickname and I'm blocking you.
TG: dont worry about that youll always be rose here
TG: its nice to have a name to put to all that vitriol
And that was how it all began. Looking back, Rose regretted not blocking him.
For a while she didn't realize the horrible mistake she'd made. They settled into a comfortable pattern of mutual harassment, one where her slur of choice for Dave quickly evolved from 'inflexible asshole' to 'creepy douchebag'. They never did find a topic they could agree on; Rose's basic cable package and distaste for sci-fi kept her from appreciating Doctor Who in any way and Dave's preference to harass Rose about her sewing kept him from establishing a safe zone. Anything other than migraines when talking to Dave seemed unnatural, so she was content to keep things as they were.
That is, until her violin went missing.
There were very few items in the apartment that Rose held sacred, simply for the reason that most of her things spent at least seventy percent of any given day soaking up the rays on the pavement below. Her violin was a rare exception to this rule of detachment, and as such she constantly knew exactly where it was. The violin never took a trip out the window. Rose would rather have suffered a rooftop meeting with her bro than allow the precious instrument to be injured like that.
Its sudden disappearance sent her into a blind panic, causing her to completely abandon the internet for the day in favor of upending all the possessions in the apartment. If it was Bro fucking with her again, it had to be somewhere nearby still.
She didn't notice the flashing Pesterchum tab until she returned to her room for another round of flipping things onto the floor. In all the confusion Rose had completely forgotten she'd signed on before starting her rampage.
-- totalGent [TG] began pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
TG: are you busy
TT: I'm kind of in the middle of something. Do me a favor and fuck off for a while?
TG: i wouldnt waste my time if i were you the violin isnt in your apartment
TT: ...excuse me?
TG: rosie i know you can read just fine
TT: For fuck's sake, how many times do I have to say this? It's Rose. R-O-S-E. It's not cute when Lalonde does it, and it's even less so when you do it.
TT: Now where the hell did you put my violin?
TG: me
TG: rosie i think youve forgotten i live on a remote pacific island i cant do anything to your violin even if i wanted to
TG: do you honestly think i took it
TT: At this point I'm willing to believe just about anything. Just bring it back before I figure out a way to smash people's faces in through a computer screen.
TG: i dont think i will just yet
TG: im not quite done with it
TT: Done with it? What the hell are you doing to my violin?
-- totalGent [TG] ceased pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
TT: Goddammit Harley, get back here and give me my fucking violin!
It was a completely stupid idea, but one she just couldn't shake. How the hell did Dave know she was looking for her violin at that moment? Rose had long ago come to terms with the fact that he knew more about her than he had any right to, but this was a new level of privacy invasion. The more she thought about it the more it made her shake with pent-up frustration. He was halfway across the world and still screwing with her, that bastard.
After a few weeks the violin mysteriously reappeared where it had been originally left, as if nothing had ever happened. The only problem with that was that something had very obviously happened.
-- truculentTactician [TT] began pestering totalGent [TG] --
TT: What the fuck did you do to my violin.
TG: its a gift for you
TG: i improved it
TT: Like fuck you did, it's covered in flashing lights and gears!
TG: theyre not gears they dont even look like gears
TG: honestly rosie i think youre overreacting
TT: You pull this shit again and I'll show you overreacting.
TT: And before you ask, that's not a threat. That's a promise.
-- truculentTactician [TT] has ceased pestering totalGent [TG] --
The thefts only got worse after that. It was difficult enough for Rose to keep her things intact with Bro in the house but now she was stealing glances over her shoulder, waiting for a shadowy figure to swoop down and warp off into the sunset with more of her belongings. She didn't even know how Dave was doing this, only that he was and that if she didn't stop him she was going to drive herself insane.
Several months after the assault was launched a viable counterattack finally hatched in her mind. It would be risky, but if it worked it would be well worth the danger to her property. Time to see just how fast Dave Harley really was.
-- truculentTactician [TT] began pestering totalGent [TG] --
TT: Did you get a birthday gift from Jade yet? Mine just came in the mail today.
TG: no no yet its still got a ways to go i imagine
TG: what did she give you
TT: Not baked goods for once, thank God. It's a pair of outrageously shitty shades, and I say this as a girl wearing knockoff anime glasses.
TT: Apparently Ben Stiller wore them in some movie? I guess she couldn't think of anything better to get me.
TG: i dont know that sounds pretty thoughtful
TG: i think youre just being bitter again
TT: Me, bitter? You must be thinking about someone else, I'm just a perpetual ray of fucking sunshine.
TT: Anyway I just wanted to check up on the birthday front. I've got to go, the fridge is empty again and if I don't get groceries I'm starving for the week.
TT: See you, Harley.
TG: goodbye rosie
TT: It's Rose.
-- truculentTactician [TT] ceased pestering totalGent [TG] --
The bait was set. Now all that was left was to wait and see if he'd take it.
Dave Harley warped into Rose Strider's apartment, brushing off the telltale curls of electricity that using his spatial abilities brought. It really wasn't a gentlemanly thing to do, breaking into other people's homes and making off with their belongings, but there was something about Rose that made the action acceptable. Especially when the prize today was a birthday gift.
He wandered into the bedroom that was almost as familiar as his own by this point, sidestepping the mess that was inevitably strewn across the floor. There was only one place that Rose would have room to put anything new, and - yes, he was right. There was the gift, still nestled in the gift wrap it had been mailed with. Brushing aside a few stray scraps of paper Dave picked up the shades, turning them about in his hands as he examined them. Really, they weren't as bad as Rose had made them seem.
Suddenly a blur of movement by the doorway caught his eye. Turning, he was startled to see Rose skid to a stop just inside of her room and then lash out at him. Dave hadn't been expecting her to be home, or to be this fast - before he can even collect his wits enough to warp away her fist has connected with his nose with a sickening crunch.
The pain is as staggering as it is unexpected, but Dave manages to hang onto the shades as he finally warps back to the island. It's not quite the result that Rose was looking for, but she was willing to write the shade off as a loss given the great punch she got in on Dave. What Jade didn't know wouldn't hurt her, after all.
Dave's nose was broken and despite his best efforts never set straight. He stopped playing cat burglar with Rose's things after that, reasoning that he'd paid a steep enough price for what he'd already gotten. There likely would never be anything else in that apartment worth another broken bone.
Besides, the shades were very nice; he made a point of wearing them whenever he could. Secretly he looked forward to the say that he and Rose would meet face to face again, and he could have a good look at her expression when she saw what had become of her birthday gift.
Anyone who took the time to continue fighting with her over the sanctity of classical music and why it should or shouldn't be remixed on a hole in the wall music forum was obviously mentally ill. Didn't he have anything better to do than listen to her call him an inflexible asshole every other paragraph?
It seemed that he didn't, because it wasn't long after the forum debacle that Rose received a ping from an unfamiliar Pesterchum handle.
-- totalGent [TG] began pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
He hadn't even said a word yet and Rose already had a sneaking suspicion as to who this was. How the hell did he get a hold of her handle? She made a point of not giving it out unless absolutely necessary.
TG: so i was thinking maybe we could move on to finding a topic we wont kill each other over
TG: although i do respect how willing you are to tear out peoples throats over music
TG: anyway
TG: im dave harley its a pleasure to meet you
TT: How the hell did you get my handle?
TG: ive got my ways but it doesnt really matter how i found it anyway
TG: that wasnt a very ladylike response although i guess i shouldnt be surprised
The hair was beginning to stand up on the back of Rose's neck. That was one more thing she kept off the internet that this Dave had pulled out of nowhere. She was starting to think that the next time she went out for groceries there'd be a zealous classical purist waiting for her in an alley with a switchblade.
Her hands ghosted across the keyboard, heading for the mouse and eventually the block button. There was enough ridiculous shit floating around her life as it was, Rose didn't need to add a psychic stalker to the list. In the time it had taken her to have her contained freakout, however, Dave had written something else.
TG: i hope i havent scared you off with that
TG: id really like to get to know you better
For some reason that made Rose pause. It shouldn't, since that was the exact kind of bullshit that left kids dismembered out on some country road, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to think he was lying. Creepy? Absolutely. But maybe not in the way she'd originally thought.
TT: Rose Strider.
TT: Call me anything remotely resembling a nickname and I'm blocking you.
TG: dont worry about that youll always be rose here
TG: its nice to have a name to put to all that vitriol
And that was how it all began. Looking back, Rose regretted not blocking him.
For a while she didn't realize the horrible mistake she'd made. They settled into a comfortable pattern of mutual harassment, one where her slur of choice for Dave quickly evolved from 'inflexible asshole' to 'creepy douchebag'. They never did find a topic they could agree on; Rose's basic cable package and distaste for sci-fi kept her from appreciating Doctor Who in any way and Dave's preference to harass Rose about her sewing kept him from establishing a safe zone. Anything other than migraines when talking to Dave seemed unnatural, so she was content to keep things as they were.
That is, until her violin went missing.
There were very few items in the apartment that Rose held sacred, simply for the reason that most of her things spent at least seventy percent of any given day soaking up the rays on the pavement below. Her violin was a rare exception to this rule of detachment, and as such she constantly knew exactly where it was. The violin never took a trip out the window. Rose would rather have suffered a rooftop meeting with her bro than allow the precious instrument to be injured like that.
Its sudden disappearance sent her into a blind panic, causing her to completely abandon the internet for the day in favor of upending all the possessions in the apartment. If it was Bro fucking with her again, it had to be somewhere nearby still.
She didn't notice the flashing Pesterchum tab until she returned to her room for another round of flipping things onto the floor. In all the confusion Rose had completely forgotten she'd signed on before starting her rampage.
-- totalGent [TG] began pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
TG: are you busy
TT: I'm kind of in the middle of something. Do me a favor and fuck off for a while?
TG: i wouldnt waste my time if i were you the violin isnt in your apartment
TT: ...excuse me?
TG: rosie i know you can read just fine
TT: For fuck's sake, how many times do I have to say this? It's Rose. R-O-S-E. It's not cute when Lalonde does it, and it's even less so when you do it.
TT: Now where the hell did you put my violin?
TG: me
TG: rosie i think youve forgotten i live on a remote pacific island i cant do anything to your violin even if i wanted to
TG: do you honestly think i took it
TT: At this point I'm willing to believe just about anything. Just bring it back before I figure out a way to smash people's faces in through a computer screen.
TG: i dont think i will just yet
TG: im not quite done with it
TT: Done with it? What the hell are you doing to my violin?
-- totalGent [TG] ceased pestering truculentTactician [TT] --
TT: Goddammit Harley, get back here and give me my fucking violin!
It was a completely stupid idea, but one she just couldn't shake. How the hell did Dave know she was looking for her violin at that moment? Rose had long ago come to terms with the fact that he knew more about her than he had any right to, but this was a new level of privacy invasion. The more she thought about it the more it made her shake with pent-up frustration. He was halfway across the world and still screwing with her, that bastard.
After a few weeks the violin mysteriously reappeared where it had been originally left, as if nothing had ever happened. The only problem with that was that something had very obviously happened.
-- truculentTactician [TT] began pestering totalGent [TG] --
TT: What the fuck did you do to my violin.
TG: its a gift for you
TG: i improved it
TT: Like fuck you did, it's covered in flashing lights and gears!
TG: theyre not gears they dont even look like gears
TG: honestly rosie i think youre overreacting
TT: You pull this shit again and I'll show you overreacting.
TT: And before you ask, that's not a threat. That's a promise.
-- truculentTactician [TT] has ceased pestering totalGent [TG] --
The thefts only got worse after that. It was difficult enough for Rose to keep her things intact with Bro in the house but now she was stealing glances over her shoulder, waiting for a shadowy figure to swoop down and warp off into the sunset with more of her belongings. She didn't even know how Dave was doing this, only that he was and that if she didn't stop him she was going to drive herself insane.
Several months after the assault was launched a viable counterattack finally hatched in her mind. It would be risky, but if it worked it would be well worth the danger to her property. Time to see just how fast Dave Harley really was.
-- truculentTactician [TT] began pestering totalGent [TG] --
TT: Did you get a birthday gift from Jade yet? Mine just came in the mail today.
TG: no no yet its still got a ways to go i imagine
TG: what did she give you
TT: Not baked goods for once, thank God. It's a pair of outrageously shitty shades, and I say this as a girl wearing knockoff anime glasses.
TT: Apparently Ben Stiller wore them in some movie? I guess she couldn't think of anything better to get me.
TG: i dont know that sounds pretty thoughtful
TG: i think youre just being bitter again
TT: Me, bitter? You must be thinking about someone else, I'm just a perpetual ray of fucking sunshine.
TT: Anyway I just wanted to check up on the birthday front. I've got to go, the fridge is empty again and if I don't get groceries I'm starving for the week.
TT: See you, Harley.
TG: goodbye rosie
TT: It's Rose.
-- truculentTactician [TT] ceased pestering totalGent [TG] --
The bait was set. Now all that was left was to wait and see if he'd take it.
Dave Harley warped into Rose Strider's apartment, brushing off the telltale curls of electricity that using his spatial abilities brought. It really wasn't a gentlemanly thing to do, breaking into other people's homes and making off with their belongings, but there was something about Rose that made the action acceptable. Especially when the prize today was a birthday gift.
He wandered into the bedroom that was almost as familiar as his own by this point, sidestepping the mess that was inevitably strewn across the floor. There was only one place that Rose would have room to put anything new, and - yes, he was right. There was the gift, still nestled in the gift wrap it had been mailed with. Brushing aside a few stray scraps of paper Dave picked up the shades, turning them about in his hands as he examined them. Really, they weren't as bad as Rose had made them seem.
Suddenly a blur of movement by the doorway caught his eye. Turning, he was startled to see Rose skid to a stop just inside of her room and then lash out at him. Dave hadn't been expecting her to be home, or to be this fast - before he can even collect his wits enough to warp away her fist has connected with his nose with a sickening crunch.
The pain is as staggering as it is unexpected, but Dave manages to hang onto the shades as he finally warps back to the island. It's not quite the result that Rose was looking for, but she was willing to write the shade off as a loss given the great punch she got in on Dave. What Jade didn't know wouldn't hurt her, after all.
Dave's nose was broken and despite his best efforts never set straight. He stopped playing cat burglar with Rose's things after that, reasoning that he'd paid a steep enough price for what he'd already gotten. There likely would never be anything else in that apartment worth another broken bone.
Besides, the shades were very nice; he made a point of wearing them whenever he could. Secretly he looked forward to the say that he and Rose would meet face to face again, and he could have a good look at her expression when she saw what had become of her birthday gift.