WEEK ZERO: FRIDAY, 10PM, THE POOL

[parodeity]

[ should dirk choose to take dave up on the haphazard offer, he'll find the fourteen-year-old knight of time sitting crosslegged by the pool shed, his back leaning up against it. he has a monogrammed innsmouth motel paper pad and a red pen he got somewhere and is doodling to keep himself from freaking the fuck out. just shitty comics and random asides. he's kind of hunched over it, but.

dave also apparently found a wristwatch somewhere, though it looks like it's from the 1950s, so that's new.

he will pause in his mindless doodling when he hears anyone, eyes flicking up (he has not taken the shades off), and speaks in a much more measured manner than he ended the last conversation: ]

Sup. [ like he didn't snap at dirk or spend the rest of the day dreading a thing he legitimately offered. no big deal. ]

Comments

[splinten]

[holy shit he can't

THIS DAY HAS BEEN TOO MUCH AND DAVE IS CLACKING DENTURES WHICH WERE IN HIS POCKETS JUST BECAUSE HE

he bursts into laughter because what the fuck]

[parodeity]

[













what ]

[splinten]

[It's just a Bro-shaped person, who took his shades off by Dave's request, laughing loudly and clearly at something Dave did. What's weird about that?]

[parodeity]

[ LITERALLY ALL OF THAT so he's just gonna stare shellshocked as dirk laughs. ]

[splinten]

[When he stops laughing enough to see Dave staring at him he totally stops laughing, a flush actually making it to his face.

Yeah he has nothing he's just going to stare awkwardly and embarrassed. It's fine.]

[parodeity]

[ like. it's mostly pure disbelief that dirk found anything he did funny. although was that laughing at him??? or...well he wasn't laughing so it wasn't with him, but.

uh. ]

...But anyway I have pens if you want....me to draw the thing...

[ he stares at the dentures in his hand and tbh he grabbed them because he found them funny, but so far until this moment no one else had either.

he still sounds mostly stunned ]

[splinten]

[Dirk, elegantly, rubs the back of his neck.] If you. Want to? That's okay. If you don't want to that's cool.

[a pause and then suddenly]

You recognized what my tattoo was.

[parodeity]

[ he goes over to retrieve the paper pad, and uncaps the new pen. ]

Yeah? I quoted the comic at you earlier, too, but you just freaked out.

[ "the dead dave pile doesn't stop from getting taller"

"the sports pile doesn't stop from getting taller"

same diff. some of the scattered pages have what looks like some sbahj scribbles, too, though dave didn't bother to collect them all as he starts trying to sketch in what he remembers. ]

[splinten]

I didn't freak out.

[He did a little freak out.]

So you did it as a comic. [A pause.] My Bro did it as movies. If there were comics he didn't leave them for me.

Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson were the leads.

[parodeity]

Webcomic. I sold some shirts and book formats of it. Made a flash once but never did...anythin' like that.

[ HE...STILL HASN'T DECIDED HOW HE FEELS ABOUT DIRK but dave has managed to even out and tune out his feelings like he sometimes does to focus on the here and now. the feelings that were distracting, anyway; he's still There, but.

this has not stopped being surreal or jarring. doodling sort of helps. ]

Who was Geromy?

[splinten]

[Dirk isn't sure what to do at this point, so he's just. Going to sit there and watch and answer questions and try to talk less than in a panic.]

Donald Glover. After his assassination, my Bro stopped including Geromy in the films.

[parodeity]

...After his what.

[splinten]

[Oh right. Dave wouldn't know.]

The Condesce had him assassinated for his role in the films. The franchise was highly subversive and did a lot to undermine and critique her power and influence. Obviously, it failed in the end, but she was ruthless against her opponents. It's an interesting chapter in history in terms of the media wars, but of course it ends with the deaths of all the leading figures in the rebellion.

[parodeity]

Oh. All right, then.

[ THAT MAY AS WELL BE A THING, DAVE SUPPOSES?

anyway he hands over this after ripping it off the pad, although it is in. dave-level art style. ]

[splinten]

[Oh. This is. Hm.

On one level, he can get the joke. On the other level...

Dirk isn't laughing, and he doesn't even twitch in a smile. Dentures are way funnier, apparently.]

What kinds of notes did he leave?

[parodeity]

Bro roof now, bring Cal, variations thereof.

[ A SHRUG. ]

Anyway, we didn't overlap a lot humor wise, I guess.

[splinten]

That sounds more like he was tryin' to terrorize you.

[Maybe it's too blunt but even with the familiarity of that phrasing (he remembers hearing it from undyingUmbrage and that is a little baffling especially because of the stupid "I want to play a game" lines he always pulled) he just has to say it. That wasn't comedy. It was just being an ass.]

It doesn't look like it was super to my tastes. [He thinks he could find the comic funny. He knows he couldn't find it funny to have that be the only means of interacting with a kid in his care.]

[parodeity]

Eh. [ a shrug. ] It was trainin'. I'm not sure if it was entirely a test or entirely a joke or somewhere inbetween.

[ and really, what does it matter at this point.

(it still matters.) ]

[splinten]

[He isn't sure what to say. He doesn't know how far he should go or how far he shouldn't. It feels dangerous and Dirk knows he isn't good at the most basic interactions.

Eventually, he settles on,]

I liked the dentures better.

[parodeity]

No one else did so far.

[ not that they saw the comic, he means, but. ]

[splinten]

They're missin' out on a great joke.

[parodeity]

Pretty much most people don't fully get my sense of humor, so I'm kind of used to it.

[ ... ]

I don't even know how we got here conversationally at this point.

[splinten]

We were talkin' about how he did or didn't spend time with you.

[He's getting better at using the pronoun Dave corrected to but it still isn't something certain for him.]

[parodeity]

I meant, this isn't even what I intended to...discuss.

[ he says, like he had any fucking game plan at all, ]

[splinten]

What... did you intend to discuss?

[Dirk's got that wide-eyed look of being unsure and taking to Dave's lead.

Maybe Dirk will remember to be the older brother again soon but he's really in Dave's hands here.]