WEEK ONE: WEDNESDAY, THE POOL

[parodeity]

[ so. assuming dirk is still keeping to the schedule, he will find dave skipped dinner tonight but does show up at the poolside around eight, his hands in his pockets and looking...

even more neutral than ever? or. kind of scattered. it's hard to read him still, probably, but he mostly looks about two seconds from jumping the fuck off of something tall.

his first question is: ]

If I ask you to lie to everyone for me, will you. English included.

[ hey what's up how are you today dirk ]

Comments

[splinten]

Yes.

[Dirk agreed to it too readily but he saw the look on Dave's face and he'd agree to whatever he had to to make that not be a thing. Jake can handle a lie if he knows it's the difference between life and death.]

[parodeity]

[ that was too readily but also: dave doesn't have another plan in place so this kinda is It. ]

Ok. I need you to get into a fight with me.

[ laughs ]

Possibly with more than bruises? I dunno if it would work best to get you kinda beat up too.

[ why the fuck does he feel that's necessary. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk swallows, staring at Dave because holy shit. He isn't saying no, though.

He doesn't know the reasons he should say no.]

If I come back bruised, Jake's gonna ask questions. Other people will too.

[parodeity]

That's why I need you to be willin' to lie. I can't think of another way that ain't really weird to explain 'em. People're gonna ask and I don't have...a good answer, and this would be. An answer?

[ ......................

them being? and an answer to. what. yeah no he just trails off there looking intensely uncomfortable. ]

[splinten]

[He stares at Dave for a moment, realizing what this means.]

Dave, what the fuck happened.

[parodeity]

[ yeah okay he takes his hands out of his pockets (carefully) and grimaces as he holds them up. his left index finger and right pinky finger are pretty obviously Broken and kind of bruised and bloody. ]

So, stage a fight?

[ he needs................someone.............to take credit for this shit....... ]

I considered just dropping shit on my hands but I couldn't think of a convincin' way to do that.

[ @ dave you could have avoided this ]

[splinten]

[His voice flattens, but it isn't all anger.]

What happened?

[parodeity]

[ well, like. ]

Russian roulette?

[ so whatever the fuck he was warning dirk about monday, he apparently went through with, and acquired. two broken fingers. ]

[splinten]

Dave. [His voice is quiet and low again, that line he gets when he's trying to get something important apart and is worried it will never gel.] I'm gonna help you cover this up. I just want to know what I'm helpin' with.

[He holds his hand out, though. He wants to see the injuries properly. He may or may not be able to get an idea of how they were gotten idk? you know what Dirk tends to know etc]

[parodeity]

[ he hesitates, but does hold out his hands for examination. ]

I touched a thing I should not have touched?

[ it doesn't look like they were defensive wounds or anything; he's going to have to fuck them up a little bit more to pull that off, and fully intends to do so. it looks more like his hands got caught in some kind of snapping trap, somehow? but...more than once. like - ]

...A few times?

[ oh my god. ]

[splinten]

[Hm, yeah, it does. He's being careful with his hand.]

Are you going to tell me what that thing was?

[He's trying to think of what's off-limits. The burned buildings shouldn't do this. Maybe? Locked rooms, hunting lodges, whatever's past the barrier... He had the idea before Dirk showed him the Dark Room so probably not that?]

[parodeity]

I was tryin' to take away a murder option, but failed miserably.

[ whatever that means. ]

I think we're gonna have to smash 'em a little more. [ JESUS OKAY WE'RE JUST GOING STRAIGHT BACK TO THAT he sounds pretty clinical about it though. for the record, he still seems freaked the fuck out for some reason. ]

[splinten]

[Yeah that's. Terrifying, frankly? And he looks at Dave with some deep concern.]

No, we're not. I brought back medical supplies for our use. If we set and wrap these, no one will have to know exactly how bad your fingers are. We can say you broke them explorin' with me. Maybe I was climbing on a bookshelf at the lodge to see about the ceilin', I fucked up my steppin' and when you caught the bookshelf you smashed up your hand a bit. Or I was trying to get under the fountain in the gardens and knocking it over smashed your hand up, or a grocery shelf, or you just twisted and fell while we tried to climb up that one unmarked building and landed badly on your hand.

Any of those would work as long as we make sure we make the area it supposedly happened look the way it should. Hell, we can even get the supplies from the medical center while we're out stagin' the scene. We do not need to get you any more hurt.

[parodeity]

[ which part is terrifying, the being freaked out or the being clinical because he is kind of super leaning hard on the neutral-calm shit and has not yet said goodbye to it. whatever the hell he did kind of forced him to retreat into that particular brand of survival mode for the time being. like. he is freaked out? he is totally freaked out. but he seems dead set on ignoring it and pretending he's 100% fine. ]

We have to go do it now, though, because my roommates are actually probably gonna notice this shit. They're not unobservant, unfortunately.

[ apparently the alternatives to "so can we have a fight or something" are acceptable though because he won't argue that part. step one is still "find a way to hide this". ]

It just has to cover both hands gettin' hurt.

[ since.......................it's the left index finger and the right pinky why the fuck did he manage to hurt both hands this is ridiculous ]

[splinten]

[Oh goddammit.]

Any other injuries we're going to have to account for here?

[He has let Dave have his hand back but he's already walking to Dave. This time, he's walking... protectively? close to Dave? There's a way he's moving that implies he's ready to step in front of Dave and move him out of danger if anything happens.]

[parodeity]

No, the only other shit I have is that bruise.

[ ON HIS ARM. STILL. that dirk didn't know about, but uh whatever. he will...let dirk select whatever scene they're staging here because honestly, he might not be thinking straight, and dave's at least self-aware enough to know that.

it's week one and the 14yo strider broke two fingers what will he do next week ]

[splinten]

What bruise?

[Dirk doesn't know?? about this bruise??

Anyway Dirk starts heading to the locked building first to scope it out and see if they can find a set-up that will account for both injuries. At least it's a pinky and an index finger, since those are more likely to break than, say, a ring finger.]

[parodeity]

[ oh okay dirk didn't realize. about the bruise.

... ]

...Nothing...? [ if dirk glares at him or anything though: ] The one on my arm.

[splinten]

[The locked building also at the far side so they can start checking out the exteriors of other buildings. Now that he is looking at them, injuries from outside the Burned Building might be easier to insist. They're stupid enough to want to get in, and the crumbling bricks leave a lot of space for excusing injuries. That still means they'll have to cover up the kinds of scrapes you'd get from that kind of fall but they can do wraps for that. Unless Dave decides he wants to go for verisimilitude.

Then maybe the bookshelves would be best? Actually, you know what: he'll check that out first, and his course changes to head that way instead. Falling books would account for the weirdness of the bruises and Dirk would not insist on extra damage. As long as the bookshelves can be knocked down, they should be able to do that

He did give him a 'come on Dave' look so he gets the elaboration and he's. Still. ???] From the same thing that got your fingers?

[parodeity]

[ dave just kind of follows along in the same direction, still kind of distant and strange but settling the further they get from the motel. ]

From when I scared you.

[ he hand't flinched back then to give warning. but then, he doesn't seem to be really reacting to the pain broken fingers are presumably causing him either, so. ]

[splinten]

[Ok now Dirk stops in his tracks and his eyes are wide behind his shades.] Holy shit. I am so sorry. Can I see it?

[parodeity]

Uh, it's fine. [ he has never gotten an apology for that kind of thing before and seems taken aback, but will after a second just. hold out his arm? he guesses? like usual dave's in long sleeves.

rolling it up will pretty much show the bruise - a day or so old now - and probably a few of the "various scars" that are clearly sword-inflicted, but w/e. ]

[splinten]

[He frowns a little at the various scars but the bruise bothers him more.] I'm sorry, Dave. [The voice is monotonous, but compared to Bro's lack of emotion the contrition is practically on loudspeaker.] I should've been more careful.

[He starts walking again, but yeah he seems even more protective now the way he's moving near Dave.]

[parodeity]

It's fine, I didn't mind. [ or really note it until he took off his shirt later that night, but. he trails along.

still freaked, but for once it doesn't seem to be directly caused by dirk, since it was, like, a state of being he was in from the start. he does still kinda seem like he'd willingly jump off a cliff about now but maybe a little less the further into town they get. ]

[splinten]

Still. It wasn't okay.

[Dirk isn't bothering him about the jumpiness yet; the decrease in the jittery willingness to jump off a cliff is a rewarding in itself.]