Interlude: Riding The Waves

**Interlude: Riding The Waves** is the Season 3 premiere of Being a DIK. It was released on March 4, 2022.

Intended to be a shorter "mini episode" bridging the game development period between the end of Episode 8 and beginning of Episode 9, the story follows Zoey, the Main Character's ex-girlfriend, as she attempts to start a new life in San Diego. The bulk of the action takes place during the six months between her breakup with the MC and his enrollment at Burgmeister & Royce.

Interlude differs from previous episodes in that it features Zoey as the protagonist instead of the MC (who appears as a secondary character). The player can, to some extent, shape Zoey's character with choices in a similar way to the MC's in prior episodes.

## Characters

* Zoey
* MC
* Alison
* Doris
* Floyd
* Emma
* Bret
* Jonah
* Jenna
* Sage
* Neil

## Summary

Zoey follows behind MC who is riding his bike on her skate board.

When they arrive at Zoey's house, Zoey learns that her grandmother Doris mixed up her medications and was found unconscious in her home. Alison leaves MC and Zoey to see her Doris in the hospital. While she is gone, Zoey leans on MC's shoulder while he plays guitar.

MC and Zoey discuss life and plans for the future. MC invites her to his house for dinner since Zoey still has not heard back from Alison. When Zoey goes to the kitchen for a post-coital beer, Alison returns with the news that Doris has passed away.

MC attends the funeral with Zoey and Alison. Zoey goes through the grieving process by reminiscing on fond memories with Doris.

Zoey drops out of high school to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional surfer with money received from Doris's estate.

Zoey arrives at her accommodations in San Diego hopeful to find freedom that she didn't have in her life at home. She keeps in touch with MC through text message and attends surfing lessons. There she meets Emma and they discuss her tattoos. Emma takes Zoey under her wing and gets her a part-time job at the tattoo studio that she works at as a receptionist. Eventually, she proves valuable as an artist/tattoo designer so her workload is increased and she grows closer to the other artists at the studio.

Zoey finds that her skateboarding skills do not translate to surf skills very readily and she grows increasingly frustrated at her lack of progress.

Zoey gets her first tattoo from the studio's owner, Bret and they grow close as friends.

Eventually she does get better at surfing but guiltily admits to herself that she prefers her skateboard.

Zoey takes the advice of Emma and starts to phase MC out of her routine. She starts texting him back less and less.

Zoey ends up taking online classes to finish her high school curriculum.

Emma asks Zoey to take sexy pictures of her at the beach, which she does then dares her to take a handful herself. Zoey complies but asks that Emma delete them immediately after looking at them. Emma distracts Zoey by asking about the new work on her tattoo sleeve. She then convinces Zoey to let her pierce her nipples. Brett walks in on Emma piercing Zoey, is very awkward, and immediately walks out. Due to the response, Emma accuses Zoey of having had sex with Bret. Zoey denies it due to the age gap and that he is her boss. Emma ends up posting one of the nudes she took of Zoey at the beach with accusations of her having sex with Bret on Rooster. Zoey gets the pictures removed.

After the drama with Emma, Zoey decides that surfing and the beach are not who she really is and decides to return home.

## Trivia

* The episode featured newly updated pictures and music in the end credits. The song is "Power of Suggestion" by Ferrari Tzar, replacing "We Can't Slow Down" By Origami Pigeon which had previously played over Episodes 1-8.
* Zoey and the MC are the only regular characters to appear on screen in this episode. Sage's voice is heard off screen and Neil rings the MC's phone in the final scene.

## Technical Information

* Development of Interlude took 105 days (3 months, 13 days).
* The episode contained 2.6 GB of content.
* 794 renders, 36 animations, 2 gallery scenes, 2 2D-art pieces, 2 2D-art animations, 19 songs, 18 sound effects.