>John: DODGE!!!!!!!!
With all due haste, John jumps backward to avoid a swift leaping downward stroke that would have cloven him in half vertically, staggering as he loses his balance a little. The monochrome swordswoman lands where he was, and stops herself with precision, transforming the sword's momentum to swing it upward and into a horizontal arc, threatening to bisect him horizontally this time.
He stumbles backward again to avoid the blow, huffing and yelping as they trip the light ferocious, one quick swing after another driving him backward. Getting his balance back, he turns and runs, deciding he is not in a good state to fight her back. After just a few steps, something yanks at his ankle, tripping him so that he falls down onto his chest hard.
She charges him, and John brings up his... hammer? He blocks her with a big warhammer, even though he was holding a sword just a second ago.
As John keeps up his defense, and manages a couple of offensive blows, he slowly realizes there are other details that are off about this situation. The whole place is in shades of monochrome - though much more deeply than the woman taking him to school. Seriously, how can she lift that thing, it's huge, and she is little. He glances around as he backs off and circles her. Even though there's a roaring crowd, no one is visible.
As she brings down her sword in another blow, John does not defend. Instead, he falls over backwards, and passes through the floor and the chain, ghost-style. Vriska's sword cleaves through nothing, sending her staggering forward in surprise.
John appears through the floor. Looks like he'll have to beat her to get her to stop. With the element of surprise available to him, he swishes the sword under her staggering feet, knocking her to the ground. She rolls over, getting back up, but now she is on the defensive.
Mimicking her own leisurely blows from a minute ago, he keeps her off balance by effortlessly swinging the dream-heavy warhammer in sweeping strikes, driving her backward, and now it's her turn to huff and yelp as she tries to regain her balance.
He pulls her legs out from under her again with a well timed low blow, causing her to roll and drop her sword. They share a moment of realization, and both go for it at the same time, ending up in a scuffle on the ground, but John is faster, and has lucidity on his side, so he comes up on top, pinning her.
The darkness starts to dissipate, polygonal chunks of it vanishing with sounds like a bugging computer, leaving the two of them in a quiet, neutral space.
>Roxy: Drag your bro to a totes safe hiding spot.
>Roxy: Remember what Rose said about ghost auras and agitated gods.
Dave steps forward as though to start climbing, and disappears as though sucked in an upward spiral to a single point with a sound like a balloon over-inflating and exploding.
>Dave: Replace broken glasses.
Dave reappears from the abyssal stairs in an alleyway in a part of the city he's more familiar with. It's near the hub, and not actually far from his thrashed apartment. His calendar is cleared now that his apartment has been trashed, and he doesn't have anything else he has to do for the rest of the day. Later tonight, he has an engagement DJing for a rave. He's a quick learner, and has immediately demonstrated a knack for handling the turntable. This will be the second night in a row he does this.
For now, he heads into the street, and slips into a nearby superstore. He heads past the front, picks out a pair of shades identical to his destroyed pair, and fixes his hair in the mirror, pays, and leaves.
>Dave: Reconsider ironic use of shitty swords for future strife.
>Dave: Get mad and smash something, preferably dramatically.
>Vriska: M8ke a new friend