subnautica ic inbox 4.0;

[parodeity]

TELEPATHY | TEXT | VOICE | VIDEO | ACTION

Comments

[parodeity]

Yeah.

[ his eyes track the kitten, who flops over on his back doing an accidental tumble backwards in an attempt to get the feather. before dirk can freak, the kitten gets back up and pounces again. kittens are pretty resilient in pursuit of feathers. ]

Why d'you ask? [ he looks away from the unfortunately named macklemeow, eyebrows raising. ]

[splinten]

Oh thank fuck he's okay.

[....Dirk recovers himself after this, a rather blatant moment of cat-related panic. He clears his throat.]

Why I asked is I wasn't sure, after I said it, that the Aurora thing didn't bother you maybe. I know there was that thing with Karkat and wanderin' off on his own. I wanted to check whether or not there was a similar concern here.

[parodeity]

They overbalance themselves a lot. Cats, I mean. Even the adult ones. [ he's spent. a fair amount of time with cats since they got cloned to hell and back. he hangs out with rose regularly.

it isn't what dirk asked. ]

I don't know? I don't think so. I know you can handle yourself. [ though the auror, where reapers have been known to hang out, is a questionable place to do it. ] I'm glad it's not the option you take anymore?

[ the last part wasn't asked for and didn't technically have to be offered, but it's one of dave's hit-and-miss drive-by attempts at honesty. ]

[splinten]

Yeah. Yeah, of course. It's a mental sleight of hand or somethin'. I know that they're incredibly durable and have a wicked sense of balance, so there's no need to worry about it. Except my brain keeps tellin' me that I'm responsible for this particular cat and have to do everythin' to ensure no harm comes to him and maybe the usual cat barriers to harm will somehow fail him and I have to stop that.

[Dirk: a terrible parent in one lifetime, now a person paranoid about cat well-being. It probably doesn't help that this cat is Dave's.

The question, though.]

Yeah. I'm glad I don't too. [A pause.] I never fought Reapers, and I always flew in and out. [He does want Dave to know he didn't take risks.]

[parodeity]

[ he stretches out the leg he isn't hugging/leaning against to nudge dirk's ankle. with his foot. it is an unspoken chill, dude. ]

He's fine. Look at 'im go. If you wanna swap to laser pointer let me know.

[ the cat will get played with either way and probably will not protest a different toy too much. ]

I know you didn't fight them. [ or he was pretty sure dirk didn't, given how the whole dream fighting reapers fiasco went. ] It's just an uneasy thought, is maybe how you'd put it? Or I don't know how you'd put it but that's how I'd put it.

[ the way in which distance is required, for both of them. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk pushes his ankle back? Don't call on him to chill. He's always chill. Chill as ice cream.]

I definitely want to try the laser pointer.

[Because that's fun for everyone, always

Clarifying:] That I went to the Aurora?

[parodeity]

[ chill as ice cream in the worst summer heat in australia, maybe. dave corrects dirk: ]

That you had to go at all. [ he pulls the laser pointer from his sylladex (helpfully provided by rose, who got it made by ursula presumably, so it's. purple) out. ] Feather thing away or he'll get confused.

[ and he'll just do the laser pointer when dirk complies, which mostly seems to be spinning it around lazily and trying to get macklemeow to run in circles because it's funny. ]

[splinten]

[Okay this is funny. This is deeply hilarious.

Wait.]

Why?

[this isn't a question about feathers]

[parodeity]

[ he moves the red dot to dirk's foot so macklemeow pounces on said foot, in full kitten viciousness. ]

It makes me sad, I think? [ the idea of it, or the way they are, or - ] Or it just feels like a sad concept. Not pathetic-sad, just sad-sad. Sort of melancholic-sad.

[splinten]

[That is adorable. Dirk wiggles his toes.]

Because it means I'm a dysfunctional human being who, after years of total physical isolation that should make me grateful for the company, still manages to be an asshole and need distance from totally decent people?

[parodeity]

What.

[ he forgets for a second to keep the laser pointer button down. luckily, wiggling toes are as good a target as a red dot so the cat doesn't notice dave's lapse. ]

No? Why the fuck would you put it like that. [ god ] That isn't even what I meant, not really.

[splinten]

That seems kinda sad to me. [At least his toes wiggle.] What did you mean?

[parodeity]

Well. Let's flip it the other way around. [ he tosses the laser pointer at dirk's head, secure in the knowledge dirk will simply catch it. ] What would it make you feel like to think of me goin' off on my own to sit alone every so often without a word to you? Not a guilt trip, just...it's that kind of sad, I guess. In addition to a generalized sadness that either of us feels the need to do that to keep functionin'. It's not like it's the least normal thing in the world, it's just.

[ all he is coming up with here is "sad" or synonyms thereof, help. ]

[splinten]

[An automatic catch; Dirk points the laser pointer at the ground, and then leads Macklemeow to tackle Dave's shirt.

Dave sitting alone. Doesn't Dave do that? Time loops and other tricks. His farm in some ways. He often seems to find spaces to be alone, even when those spaces are time. Is it sad? It is melancholic, he can certainly see that.]

Do you feel peaceful when you're alone?

[parodeity]

[ it forces dave to let go of his knee and flop back on the ground. or that's what he chooses to do, at least. ]

Do you? [ a question for a question. ]

[splinten]

[Okay, then Dirk will just direct the laser pointer across Dave's torso at various points for cat-pouncing.]

Sort of. It's a little lonely, but it is necessary sometimes for filtering out the static. Being here does the same job so that isn't as much of an issue.

[parodeity]

[ he stretches his arms out above his head mostly to avoid macklemeow getting tangled up in them. ]

If it helped, I'm glad? Which it did obviously or you wouldn't keep doin' it.

[splinten]

That is a super faulty assumption about me and things I'm likely to repeat.

[parodeity]

Fair point, but you know what I meant in this case, and it wasn't wrong?? You said it helped with the static.

[splinten]

You didn't tell me if it feels peaceful for you.

[parodeity]

I don't know. Sometimes. Not when it's like that, usually.

[splinten]

How does it feel?

[parodeity]

[ it's a decent question. his left hand moves to scratch macklemeow behind the ears. ]

Like...desperately tryin' to remember how to breathe, I guess.

[splinten]

Do you remember when you do it?

[parodeity]

Again: sometimes. I'm not sayin' it's not a thing we don't have to do, just - [ it's sad and lonely and a weird thought. and sometimes there are better ways, and neither of them knows how to take them, and that's a little melancholic, too. ] You know.