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...

that sounds like an american thing

anyway are you in the lab right now i found something i want you to see

I am. Come by whenever.

on my way

[It takes him almost ten minutes, but he comes shuffling in with a messenger bag over his shoulder. He's forgone the mask, since it didn't seem to do any good anyway, but he's still somewhat congested.]

Hey.

[Just going to venture over and check on what Dirk's doing this time. What project is it now?]

[Today's project is VINES and INSTAGRAM. He has two screens up instead of working off his shades (the shades are fine for coding but this is faster if he's multitasking) and is putting it all together with care and attention.

There are like way too many orange skins piled up on a plate next to him. Someone should probably eat things other than oranges?

He will not. You can't make him.

He glances over at Hinata.]

Hey. What's up?

Hey.

[He seems a little more subdued than usual, but he still smiles upon making eye contact. Or well. Shade-to-eye contact. He can't help but smile when he's around his friends.

...That's a lot of orange slices though, dude. It's a little alarming when there's no other food nearby? Hajime glances briefly at the screens before grabbing a chair and dragging it over to sit by him.]

I'm sure you've noticed that weird gatcha machine in the showers, but... I pulled something out I think you might like. It's not much, but...

[He digs through his bag and pulls something out, offering it to Dirk. It's the 2.5D Headphones.]

They provide whatever "2.5-dimensional sound quality" is, and are apparently "hella psychopop."

[That's the kind of weird ironic stuff you're into, right? He honestly doesn't really get it.]

Edited 2016-08-19 06:59 (UTC)

Thanks, dude.

[Dirk takes the headphones in hand. He turns them over a couple times. Plugs them into a sound player and listens to about five seconds of music.

He stops the music and takes the headphones off, and Hinata is rewarded with an incredibly rare gift: Dirk Strider's smile.]

"Hella psychopop" definitely describes it.

[These things are hilarious.]

[Don't you dare smile at him, mister, do not make him doki.

Too late. Hajime's own smile brightens in response, and he sets his bag down on the floor. He'd almost forgotten how much he enjoyed making people smile from the dumb gifts he found.]

I'm glad you like it.

[Please keep smiling, it's a good look.]

So what are you working on now...? Is this another app?

[He's trying to learn, bless him.]

[Unfortunately for the pure bean, the Strider smile is an oft-fleeting thing and it's gone a moment later. Only the suggestion of it reminds, here or there. It's the ghost smile.]

Two. One for pictures, the other for short videos. Instagram and Vines, if you're familiar.

[He has plans for another pet game but that will come later because it operates in a very different way.]

Not really, no...

[Instagram and Vine both became popular sometime after the nebulous year Dangan Ronpa takes place, so they're new to him. He doesn't really give the screens more than a passing glance, though, instead looking back to Dirk. His own smile has faded too, though it's more likely his will reappear than Dirk's.]

Hey, Dirk... how many projects have you worked on in the last few days...?

[Jetskis. Apps. Report Card Mode. Cameras. URSULA's servers. Rin's planner.]

Maybe five or six. I'm getting enough sleep, dude. Don't worry.

['Enough,' here, means that he's functional on the amount of sleep he's getting.]

Right....

[It's pretty obvious from his tone that he doesn't quite buy that. Instead, though, he glances toward the orange rinds and raises an eyebrow.]

How long ago did you last eat something that wasn't oranges?

[He thinks about it. Last family meal was a day ago. So...]

Probably fifteen hours.

[Look. We know he won't die of scurvy. What more do you want?]

Don't worry about it. I lived off of Doritos and orange soda growing up.

...I'm not even going to bother explaining all the ways in which that's wrong. Come on.

[Hajime pushes himself to his feet and scoops up the plate of orange rinds. This can come too.]

Come eat with me?

[It's worded as an order, but the tone implies that it really is a request. As much as he'd like to, he won't force the other boy to do something he doesn't want to do.

He will hold out his hand though as if to help Dirk out of his chair. Come on, dude, don't leave him hanging.]

[Dirk could have fought him. He's working on something. He wants to get it done. He's not hungry. It's fine, he's fine. But Hinata holds his hand out. Dirk has been doing that a lot lately himself and been left with no response.

He doesn't have the heart not to take what's offered.]

Can you do an orange marinade?

[But don't think you're getting out of letting this child have his oranges one way or another. He may have let Hinata pull him to his feet but he is still getting his oranges.]

[Hajime's lips curve into a small, relieved smile when Dirk takes his hand, tugging lightly to pull him to his feet before letting go and starting to head toward the kitchen.]

...Yeah, I actually think I can. I've been trying to read up on cooking techniques, so... I can't promise it'll be the best meal you've ever had, but I do know how to cook fish.

[That's one skill he actually had before arriving here, since, well, Japanese.]

Not like we have too many options, but what do you like? And don't say oranges and Doritos, I know that one already.

[He readily follows Hinata along. His hands are comfortably in his pocket, and his shades firmly in place, but he's definitely not failing to take up Hinata's offer.]

Sand Shark meat is fine.

[It's also probably the freshest things they have. It is always easy to go out and get more Sand Sharks for dinner.]

Okay. Sand Shark with an orange marmalade, and I'll try to grill some vegetables, too.

[Sounds like a tall order for a normal kid. Don't think he's forgotten about those shades and Dirk's ability to work on projects with them, but he's not commenting on them for now. One step at a time.]

I think there should be enough rice on the farm that it'll be okay if we use some from the kitchen... do you know how to cook it?

Edited 2016-08-19 23:45 (UTC)

No idea.

[Houston was not the best place for rice even before it drowned.]

[...It almost feels like a victory, knowing how to do something that Dirk doesn't. And then he feels a little bad about that.]

I can teach you, if you want. I'm used to using a rice cooker, but it's not too hard to cook it in a pot.

[It's a project, and yet, different from what he's done before, if Hajime's reading the situation right. Maybe it'll help, maybe not. But it's something different, something new for the other teen. Hopefully that helps him relax a little.]

Sure. It seems cool. Is it the right strain of rice here for how you like it?

[HE REMEMBERS READiNG ABOUT DIFFERENT KINDS OF RICE? He read a weird comic once about people arguing about what rice should be like. It made no sense to him. Teach him everything, Hinata.]

Mm, it's alright. Short-grain rice is what we usually eat back home... it's sticky, so it's easy to eat with chopsticks. And you use short-grain rice to make mochi, which... you've probably never had either, right?

[By now, he's in the kitchen, moving through the fridge with practiced ease to find the Sand Shark fillets and some of the carrots and broccoli from the farm.]

If we're still here for New Year's... I wonder if it'd be possible to pound mochi.

[Dirk gives Hinata about a foot of space, so he can observe without getting in his way.]

'No' to having had mochi before. I don't know what it is.

[At the very least, Hinata has grabbed all of Dirk's attention and focused it on these interesting lessons in Stuff He Doesn't Know.]

Edited (clARITY) 2016-08-20 00:58 (UTC)

It's a dessert. It's basically rice flour, sugar, and water I think, with different fillings or flavorings.

[Talking about home is nice, but so is keeping Dirk's attention. He passes him the vegetables.]

Could you chop those up for me? --Not with your sword, with a knife.

[Trying... to head that off before the other can flashstep.]

But rice is easy. It's usually around two cups of water to one cup of rice. Put them both in the pot at the same time, set it to boil, then cover it and let it steam for... a couple minutes. If you can set the rice going, it makes it easier to focus on your other food at the same time. Make sense?

[A beat. He was definitely going to use his sword. Good save, Hinata. Dirk instead selects a knife and starts properly chopping the vegetables up, even though it takes 500 years. Weirdo.]

Like testing a section of your program in the background while you work on other areas.

[He thinks?]

[Dirk why are you like this.]

Uh... yeah, like that. It's something you don't have to watch closely, and even if it starts to burn, you'll be able to smell it before anything gets totally ruined. Let's not get to that point, though.

[Since getting more rice isn't as easy as just walking to the convenience store.

But even if he knows he's mostly doing all this to try to help Dirk out, he has to admit, it's calming for him, too. Making something simple with ingredients that are similar enough to those he could find at home makes him a little homesick. Or, well, more homesick than usual.]

...You're not working on a program right now, are you?

[Dude. The shades. While he's finishing up the rice, he can't help but glance toward him and raise an eyebrow.]

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it's like a proper fte now

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