cradle

[ entering dave's cradle will drop everyone in the middle of really really normal suburbia. it's a town in washington. texas is great and all, but it's linked to bro in dave's mind, and bro doesn't exist here. instead there's rose and her mom, john and his dad, jade and her (not dead) grandpa. he's not dave strider because in a perfect world he's not part of any of bro's legacy. he's dave lalonde because rose is the only family member he knows he adores without reserve. he can't remember roxy here, after all.

more specifically than "suburbia" though, you'll get dropped into high school. which dave is attending. if you spot him in the halls, he's most likely hanging out with rose, john, and jade. there's a very easy and real friendship between the four of them, and that isn't even a thing his cradle has to fake: it's always been there, but he's been cut off from any part of it ever since he got into this murder game thing. when he speaks to any of the three it's with a small smile usually, and the easy rapport involves teasing one another and generally acting like they've been doing this their whole lives.

also, he's not actually wearing shades. like, at all. so enjoy his red eyes for however long that lasts.

and someone wanted lunch to be a thing in highschool so dave's definitely going to snag a table with rose and wait for john and jade to get their lunches. dave's lunch seems to be pb&j and two apple juice boxes. rose is chatting with him about her last period (english) and he's only vaguely paying attention as he taps out a beat on the table with one of his apple juice straws. ]