"Aah!"

Roxy Lalonde was flipping her shit right now.

In front of her lay two of her closest friends. They were asleep, on the dark cathedral of Derse, as it was being destroyed by weird stringy red stuff.

Well, one of them was asleep. Dirk was breathing, his eyes (presumably) closed, but Roxy was pretty sure he was going to wake up soon. Jane, however, appeared to have a hole going directly through her stomach.

FUCK fuck fuck fuck fkuc fuck fuck. Roxy's thoughts were racing at a mile a minute. FUCK! "Aah, umm, uh..." Kiss her! You have to kiss her you have to-

"Gah!" Roxy forced herself to lean down and scoop up her friends in her arms. She was suddenly overcome with a flood of emotions, momentarily blocking out her panic.

She was touching

Another human being.

Roxy marveled at how it felt. Just holding her hands to her friend's back, she could feel the density and soft skin, underneath her clothes. It felt, unsurprisingly, like her own flesh- but this was so bizarre. Jane seemed warmer than Roxy, and she could feel it, just by touching her. Another human being.

Touch later! Kiss first! Roxy shook her head and looked to her best friend's lips. Hehe, that last thought didn't sound- LATER, Roxy!

Roxy continued staring at Jane's bloody mouth. All of a sudden, she didn't feel so close to her friend anymore. The blood was... revolting. She had seen the carapaces eat cats, sure, but this was person blood. And Roxy had to put her mouth to it.

She contorted her face, trying to summon the courage to press her lips to the red ooze. She leaned in, a little further, closer to her friend's face.

Her humorous anecdotes and pairings didn't seem so funny anymore.

She forced herself to stop and take a breath, inhaling deeply. Roxy did her best imitation of puckered lips, leaning in a bit further, a bit further, trying her best not to vomit or cry or break down come on you idiot just kiss her she's your fr-

*DOOF*

Roxy was unceremoniously kicked off of Jane's carcass by a blunt, rubbery object. Groaning, she picked herself up off of the floor, and turned towards her attacker.

Dirk was there, kneeling down into Jane's face. Oh, wow...

She had seen all of her friends before. Who in their right mind didn't have a webcam? Although she had to admit, webcams didn't pick up on this much detail. His hair whipped in the wind of the red stringy stuff, and his skin was beautifully shaded, shimmering on the light. Roxy made an immediate connection in her head- seeing someone in real life compared to seeing someone on video, well, there was as much a difference between Callie's paintings and the kind cherub's brothers'.

Dirk kissed Jane. Hardly a large affair. He kissed her, she didn't kiss back. It was over quickly. Dirk abruptly stood up and wrapped an arm around Roxy, pulling her towards his rocketboard.

Oh, WoOoOowW...

Dirk was practically hugging her as he swept Roxy onto the flame colored board. Roxy had never had much physical contact with the carapaces, and her earlier experience with Jane was something new.

This was something amazing.

Dirk was holding her protectively. A comfortable pressure, across her back. It only lasted a few moments, but Roxy was dizzy with glee at the simple physical contact. She made a mental note to hug each and every one of my friends a million times as soon as we're calmed down.

And as soon as I see the alluring Calliope, I'll hug her into next week.

The rapidly flew through the... air? ...space? Heading towards a ring of meteors. Roxy held Dirk's waist tightly, marveling at even the slightest movement he made. It was similar to when she held Jane's body, but Dirk moved, he had a pulse. He was much warmer, that's for certain. Roxy thought her hands would burn just from holding him too long.

They raced through the air space and Roxy was dimly aware that they entered an odd temple. She was suddenly surrounded by darkness, only the jet light from the rocketboard casting shadows against the ancient walls.

Then, just for what seemed like a moment, the darkness was far more absolute. Roxy was filled with an indescribable feeling, neither good or bad. Before she could ponder it any further, however, she was within the temple again.

Scratch that, a temple. This one was different, as it rested upon an island in the middle of an ocean.

Dirk steered the board in a large curve, before re-entering the temple again. The vast blue expanse and smell of salt gave Roxy a twinge of nostalgia, but just for a moment. Far more interesting things happened after that.

Dirk piloted his craft into a circular hole, located dead in the middle of the temple. Roxy briefly spied three shapes on the bottom, one purple, and two yellow.

Is... Is that...?

As quickly as the thought crossed her mind, she was face-to-face with a living version of the corpse she had attempted to kiss. Jane had a very amusing look on her face, like she had no idea what was going on, but was still blindly continuing forward, anyway. Dirk unceremoniously swept her onboard as well, and raced into the sky again.

Jane yelped. "Aa-yipe!" Roxy's face broke into a sickeningly wide grin as she heard the noise. Another beautiful experience, dumbed down by a computer connection. Her thoughts on the adorable sound were quickly replaced, however, by another round of tactile wonderment.

Jane was holding on to Roxy for dear life, her legs flailing out behind them. And Roxy, much to her own disbelief, had instinctively put a hand on her friend's back, holding her in close.

The soft pressure at her side as Jane gripped her was wonderful, just as it had been when Dirk had swept Roxy off of her feet. She delighted in every second of it, but her greatest excitement was what she herself was doing.

The hand upon Jane's back was doing two jobs. First, it held her in place, so she didn't have to hang on to the speedy vehicle all by herself, and second, it was a reassuring presence for the gold-clad baking heiress. Roxy delighted in the feeling, of what was undoubtedly a friendly hug. Applying such a pressure to her friend felt completely natural, and was something she had been sorely missing her whole life. Instinctively, she knew just how much pressure she should apply, and just where to hold her friend. This was a glorious substitute to hugging her cat as she fell asleep at night.

Which she happened to do more than she cared to admit. And often fell asleep crying. Ah, well. She briefly wondered if Dirk was enjoying these simple pleasures, denied to them for so long, as much as she was.

Dirk "Get-Shit-Done" Strider, that's me. Dirk thought, barely registering his two female friends, who clung to his rocketboard for dear life. I swear, sometimes I feel like I'm herding cats.

Roxy felt a harsh ocean spray in her face, and was jarringly brought back to reality. Dirk had dipped into the warm ocean- It's warm? That is so odd- And filled a bucket with the salty seawater. Before she could think again, the flying trio found themselves high in the air, hurtling towards the temple once again. Oddly, the flying didn't seem to bother or excite the tipsy young girl as she would expect it too. Yes, it was fun, but seemed familiar.

Probably from all of those flying dreams. She often dreamt about flying.

Dirk swiveled the rocketboard and slowed their speed as they approached another section of the temple, that was next to a (violently) erupting volcano. The board clacked to the ground, and Roxy and Jane stumbled off of it, leaning on one another to hold themselves up.

Dirk strode towards a young lad, looking spiffy in a pair of beige shorts, who was lying on the ground, unconscious. Jane tightened her grip on Roxy's shoulder, looking up. She began to speak. "Is that-"

Roxy didn't let her finish, sweeping her into a massive bear hug. She hugged as tight as she could, marveling in the culmination of familial human contact, an experience she was so new too, yet so lacking.

After a split second of shock, Jane hugged her back, squeezing almost as tightly. After several moments like that, Roxy let out a small sniffle, which she hoped had gone unnoticed.

Jane was not so naïve. She pulled out of the hug and looked Roxy in the eye, wearing a warm smile. "Roxy," she spoke softly, raising a hand to wipe a single tear from her friend's face. "why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad." Roxy stifled out, battling back a massive swell of emotion. "I'm... I'm happy. So, so happy, Jane, you have no idea." She bit back a small laugh, mixed with a sob, and briefly hugged her friend again.

Jane put a hand on the crying girls shoulder. "Come, on, then, Ro-Lal!" She broke into a toothy grin. "Wipe your eyes a bit, we've got gentlemen to impress!"

Still smiling, Roxy gave a gentle nod, and allowed Jane to lead her to their friends, squeezing Jane's hand. "And gentlemen to hug, Jane. Please don't forget the hugging." Jane laughed, clapping Roxy on the back.

It's good to be with friends.