Dylan sat on the couch in the Vantas living room, laid back and relaxed. He had been "appointed", as his girlfriend had called it, to watch over Britney. To make sure she didn't make a scene while the other ladies were gone for a while. Terezi had gone along with her daughter, and Karkat (or "Mister V" as he liked to call him) had slunk off to argue with Sollux, so it was just him and the weird girl.
Dylan would make a piss-poor Strider if he let that make him feel visibly uneasy though, so he just laid back and chilled. Britney pulled out a handheld gaming system from her handbag and sat down beside Dylan. She tapped down on the various buttons making rather loud and annoying tapping noises, she bit her lip as she struggled to beat the level.
"Bee", Dylan called out, "you gotta keep to the rhythm. It'll make things easier."
"Keep the r-r-rhythym?" She mumbled, "T-thats too hard! J-j-just button m-mash!"
"I'm not kidding, Bee. Hand it over, I'll show ya."
Britney begrudgingly handed over the handheld. Dylan restarted the level, listened to the soundtrack for a few measures and started attacking and dodging to the beat. It looked much easier that way, and at about a quarter of the way in, he paused and gave the system back, tapping his foot to the beat as the slightly muted soundtrack continued.
"...S-show off.." Britney blushed slightly from embarassment, being showed up by a fella who hadn't even played the game before. She got back to it and proceeded to get through the level. "...imp-p-pressive though."
Dylan was nodding his head and tapping his fingers all the way through, and smirked at the girl. "I haven't, indeed. But tell me, have you ever gotten into a fight or something?"
"Well...like a r-r-real one..or?"
Dylan shrugged. "Doesn't really matter if it was real. What I'm tryin' to say is, when you fight or do some other intensive thing, you hear this... music in your head, right?"
"No...." She admitted, "Do you?"
"Most of us do, and I'll bet you have your own song just as well. Probably never gotten into a proper strife before, or just didn't listen."
"Maybe...b-both or e-e-either..."
"There's a trick that my dad learned from his bro, y'know... and I learned it from him, in turn. It may help you to discover your motif."
"M-motif?" Britney raised an eyebrow.
"That's what the Game used to call 'em, I don't care much about the exact terminology. Wanna give it a try?"
Dylan smirked again. Britney considered it, she closed the handheld and stood up, proceeding to nod to him.
"S-s-sure."
"Okay", Dylan started. "Close your eyes, mind your breathing, and imagine the most powerful opponent you can."
Britney closed her eyes and kept her breathing steady, little by little she tried to envision a fiersome foe. The only truly 'fierce' being that came to her mind was Shula, which wasn't fierce as much as it was rough. She bit her lip and tried to focus. Dylan, on the other hand, had no problem doing it while remaining seated, and conjured up the image of the Sovereign Slayer, as described by his parents.
"Imagine you're on a plateau of sorts, just your opponent and you. He, or maybe she is about to fight you, all out, and waits for you to make the first move."
Britney nodded and gave it a go, her imagination pictured her and Shula across from each other, poised and ready to clash.
"Listen to nothing but my voice", Dylan whispered, "and imagine the tension is building fast... it'll be less than a few seconds before you clash!"
Britney tried to, but she couldn't quite hear any music as much she simply felt herself beginning grow lightheaded and slightly nervous. Her forehead was getting sweaty, this was definitely not something she had been expecting to do today.
"Imagine it's like a movie, or a video game. They have music in scenes like these, but don't think of any specific movie or video game. Just imagine, in those seconds, just the drums slowly building..."
Britney felt her heart beat, beating rather fast. Perhaps this is the percussion? She could feel herself breathing. Her breath felt hot against her hand and she could almost feel Shula's fist promptly heading toward her. A twitch and shiver had gone down her spine. Dylan's hand reflexively clenched, as if pulling a blade from his side. Britney yelped and stepped back, almost tripping. In an instant, Dylan was behind her, holding out his arms to prevent an accident.
"Relax, it's all in your mind."
"It felt...k-k-kind of r-real...I was sc-scared..." She grumbled.
"That's what you get when you go that deep. I suggest you try again while seated."
"Oh...o-okay.." Britney sat down and took a deep breath, as Dylan plopped back where he sat earlier.
"Back to the plateau, your opponent where he or she started. Imagine the drums building..."
Britney's heart began to beat quickly. Dylan picked up on it and smiled. She moved her hands up from her sides, she looked ready to bop someone on the nose.
Dylan suddenly threw his hands up in the air and shouted, at a low pitch, "STRIFE!"
Britney opened her eyes and fell onto her back, flabbergasted at what had just happened. "O-oh god what?"
"What?"
"That sc-scared me! D-don't do that!"
"...my bad. But did you get a drumbeat, at least?"
"Y-yeah.."
"Let's hear it."
"Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump." Britney repeated this beat, it seemed more like just a regular heart beat. Still, Dylan improvised a simple melody on top.
"Thats good, right?" Britney inquired.
"That depends", Dylan asked between measures as he continued to whistle that melody. "Does this sound right to you?"
"Y-yeah...I th-think so,"
"I'm gonna stop in four measures, you pick up from there."
"Oh uhm...o-okay..."
As Dylan whistled those last measures, he held up four fingers to count down. He suddenly cut off at four. Britney clumsily tried to keep the beat going, her attempt was humorous but overall simply a wreck. She had no skill at all when it came to this.
Dylan took his other hand from his pocket and revealed a small recording device.
"Let's go outside for a bit", he announced.
"Oh..a-alright..."
As they walked out to the parking lot, Dylan fiddled with the recorder, listening and adjusting until he had a good loop going.
"I want you to listen to the music and pretend to fight. Let the music guide your movements, like with that video game."
Britney readied herself, getting into a stance as she took a deep breath. "O-okay...ready."
Dylan turned up the volume and pressed play. Britney rushed at Dylan, she was ready to punch or tackle. Not sure which to do.
"Woah, not me!" Dylan exclaimed in surprise as he backflipped onto the Ragesnake's hood.
"Wha..? Oh s-s-sorry.."
"Well, okay, it's cool. I just didn't expect it", Dylan explained as he jumped back off and assumed the trademarked Standard Strider Strife Stance.
"Come at me, then."
"O-okay.." Britney lunged at Dylan again, who dodged nimbly about a quarter second later.
"Remember, follow the music."
"R-right!" She tried to follow a peculiar beat, taking swings at Dylan left and right. Dylan tried to match the beat and dodge, barely getting grazed as the peculiarity became apparant. Britney grumbled a bit to herself, she could tell she was doing poorly at best.
"Its t-too hard!" She complained.
"Don't be silly, you grazed me there", Dylan argued back. "More importantly, does it feel right to move like that?"
"Not e-exactly..."
"Then don't fight -me-, just move."
"Oh..but I th-thought..."
"Move", Dylan persisted, suddenly back on the truck's hood.
"Al-alright." Britney focused solely on movement rather than actually attacking. Her movement seemed more fluid, a better poise and focus.
"Now try some offensives, to the music."
Britney then swung out a slurry of punches when the beat began to feel heavy enough, or fierce enough. They were strong and well-placed.
Dylan nodded in approval, though hard to see through the soft bopping to the beat, and he reached for the recording device to slowly turn down the volume. She however, did not notice the dimming of the music at all and continued her movements, much to Dylan's approval. After watching her some more, he jumped back off and stepped in front of Britney, head still bopping, but at a slowly increasing speed.
"Defenses now. Heads up."
"H-huh?"
Almost immediately, Dylan threw a punch at Britney's face, intentionally swerving to the right. She ducked down, trying to avoid being hit, completely forgetting the fray motif. Dylan hopped back, head bopping to his own tune, and waited for an offensive movement. Britney stood back up and wiped off her pants, getting her attention back to Dylan. She lunged forth with a hearty kick to the beat, followed up by a few punches, which Dylan dodged by virtue of a faster motif alone. She stumbled forward as she mixed up her footing, grabbing onto Dylan's shirt and pulling him down with her. Dylan threw down his hands to break his fall, confused by the sudden grab.
"S-s-sorry!" Britney mumbled, face in the grass and embarassed.
"It's okay. You did pretty well, on the whole. Did you even notice I turned off the recording?"
"You d-did? I h-had n-n-no idea..."
Dylan smirked an honest smirk. "Guess it was close enough, then."
"It's not easy to follow my own track and yours, but it didn't seem to flow quite right."
Dylan chuckled. "And that's why you kept getting owned in that game."
"Oh sh-shut up!" Britney pouted.
"You'd be surprised how many games become a lot easier when you have strifing experience, though."
"Whatever." Britney rolled her eyes and came to notice where her hand had been.
"What's with the face?"
"L-l-look..."
Dylan glanced down. What he saw didn't faze him too much, considering the usual nature of his relationship, but he did wonder...
"When'd that happen?"
"I guess w-w-when we f-fell..."
"I guess so... when're you gonna let go, though? I mean, who am I to argue when a girl holds onto my junk just like that, shit happens all the time when you're a Strider, but to be honest it's getting a little... painful?"
Britney pulled her a hand away and covered her face. "Sorry..sorry I d-d-didn't m-mean to! H-honest!"
Dylan chuckled as he got back up. "Sure you didn't", he joked, and held out a hand to help Britney up. "Suuure you didn't..."
"But I d-didn't!" She blushed and grumbled at Dylan,as she took his hand and stood up.
"Relax, Bee. I'm just trollin' ya. Let's go watch some children's TV shows or something."