Writing prompt for you!!!!! Dirkjane absolutely kicking ass at an escape room as a date. Bonus points if it's NOT platonic but I love them as friends too so if you don't wanna do that nbd. Thanks!!!!!! ^_^
Teambuilding. A word that should not be nearly as foreboding as it was. The shivers that went down his spine at the mere mention of teams and the building thereof, should not exist. He should be stoic, adaptable, able to move in whatever direction called for to execute the best possible result. And he could-- as an independent actor.
Dirk Strider historically did not play nice with others. Which was, as an employee, not exactly an attractive trait.
So that was why, despite having the best uptime, the most tickets resolved, scoring higher than every single person on knowledge and execution, he was at an escape room to do some teambuilding.
It was a chore and a half, but if he didn't do it, he was definitely fired. Bro told him he wasn't bailing him out again, no more bills covered until he got another job if he was just going to Be a Jackass until he got cut. Time to learn from his mistakes. Make friends, Bro said, make an effort, you might be surprised.
"Dirk, could you help me find the book that has a heart in the title? It's the solution to this puzzle, I think." His coworker said, her red cateye glasses framed blue eyes, but she didn't actually look at him.
He glanced at her nametag for a refresher-- his sunglasses kept him in the clear, she'd never know he forgot. Or never bothered to learn in the first place.
"How do you know that's what you need," He tucked his thumbs in his pockets, affecting a semi-bored slouch.
Jane grabbed a stack of books and started scanning them, her eyes flicking back and forth, discarding the incorrect books onto the floor in a neat stack. "The painting has a man pointing at the anatomical chart, the chart had labels for everything except the heart. The doctor's journal mentions being inspired by romantic endeavors. I figure there has to be a heart book, and there's probably a number on it for the safe, maybe the number of pages or on the cover."
Dirk blinked, he'd been standing awkwardly, not really sure where to go or how to proceed with the puzzles, the whole thing was just so fucking stupid. It was an insult to his intelligence, and yet, there Jane was, blazing through and already gearing up to unlock mysterious Doctor Frankenstein safes.
"Cool." He picked up another stack and started looking them over. The Magnificent Scepter, Another Turn Towards Rosewood, Castilla Drive. "This guy sure liked pulp fiction, no wonder he liked experimenting on people."
Jane let out a little titter, and he had to fight down a smirk. It was nice when someone other than his Bro got his jokes, but he didn't read into it. After another minute, and a whole lot of beat up old paperbacks, Jane let out a triumphant "Aha!" and lifted up Be Still My Beating Heart.
"Good job." That was good coworker shit, right? Saying praise when someone did something right?
She ignored him, opening the book and paging through for a moment, then turning it over and shaking it out, as if trying to dislodge--
A small metal key tinked onto the floor, and the both of them instantly crouched to pick it up. He was faster, pinching it off the bloody painted tiles and turning it over, examining it for some clue as to its purpose.
"It's probably for a locked drawer at his davenport." Which Dirk took issue with.
"There's no couch in here."
Jane tittered again, and gave him a little smile. "No, not a divan, like a writing desk. He has an antique one over here. C'mon, I bet between the two of us we can beat the record."
Eyes wide behind his shades, Dirk followed without any further questions. These places had records? Oh, they were smashing that shit for sure.
Turned out Jane Crocker was a helluva sleuth, in the end they finished only a couple minutes behind the top spot. Obviously, that wouldn't do, so they exchanged information to return the next Saturday. Maybe grab a bite after, to celebrate getting the top spot.
Consider that team fucking built. Suck it, human resources.
