parodeity | WEEK ONE: SUNDAY, POST GROUP MEETING

[ nope one offer per transaction ]

It'd get tended to. I always see to my own shit. My fingers were like the sole exception in my entire damn life and that was a trade. [ dave will get fancier then as soon as dirk seems like he can keep up. ]

[He can in fact keep up with that too, although you know, unfamiliarity with it still leaves him behind in skill etc. He does have a bit of a reach advantage but he's also being careful.]

I didn't mind doing it. [A beat as he realizes that Dave probably needs more than a nervous understatement.] I liked doing it. It's... nice, getting to help.

[ less of a reach advantage than bro, which is nice? dave waits to get dumped on his ass or something but doesn't let up or cap himself once dirk starts to get the hang of things. he does eventually stop adding new things, siding into a familiar if not entirely welcome rhythm of strife.

he doesn't falter when dirk speaks, but his eyes flick up for a beat even without a loss of focus to do a quick facial expression scan. ]

People keep offerin' that. [ which is weird and mostly new ] But really, I'm fine. I've handled worse than a few scratches.

[He does not get dumped on his ass! Sure, Dirk is still holding back, but once he gets into the rhythm of it it's only holding back to the extent of, you know, not actually fighting to kill or seriously maim someone. His speed and strength are exactly what he's showing here.]

I know you have. I mean, I have too, and I patched it all up myself my whole life. That experience of self-reliance, and knowledge of your own, doesn't actually negate my desire to offer you my help. It's... a nice feeling. Not an experience that happened in my apartment.

[ okay but not holding back sounds fake? ]

Are you gonna take this seriously at any point? [ @ DIRK: WHERE IS THE POINT WHERE YOU OVERPOWER ME ] And which side of the experience are you even referrin' to?

[He's kinda annoyed at this accusation though??]

I am takin' this seriously. I'm not going to attempt to murder you or maim you for practice, dude. That you can handle it does not make me any more eager to stab a scalpel at your jugular.

The side where there's you there.

I shouldn't be able to. [ ignoring the other part because it makes no damn sense. it's been a year and he's not the thirteen year old kid anymore, but he's the fourteen year old kid; he's still the pragmatic asshole of a fighter bro raised, but even if he could take out everything else without skipping a beat, there shouldn't be any way he can hold his own against bro, of any variety. ] You don't have to murder or maim me to disable me.

I am fighting to disarm you in earnest. [He is not faking that, dammit!]

Yeah right. [ okay, well. dave wasn't, not entirely. but he sure will start to try disarm dirk now, pressing harder. because...that's...a great idea look

he has to prove dirk can kick his ass i'm not sure why but that sounds like a good plan to him? ]

[Yeah so Dirk puts up a good fight and he does have the reach advantage, but he is straight-up not as ruthless and good at this crap as Dave (STILL A LITTLE TOO RECKLESS TBH) so eventually Dave successfully knocks the scalpel out of his hand.]

Dammit.

[ please hold while dave stares at dirk, the scalpel, and his own damn hand and weapon in complete and utter blank shock. dave.exe has crashed? ]

[Dirk goes for his weapon again before he sees the staring. And.

Oh.]

...You're disappointed.

Sorry.

[

no sorry still no reply he opens his mouth to say words but then he just keeps staring because what the fuck just happened. he...disarmed bro? he disarmed bro. that wasn't a thrown match, he literally just -

wtf??????????????????????????

it looks less like disappointment and more like a complete and total shutdown of processing at all. what. how? what. ]

[That means Dave is just shocked to the point of being overwhelmed at how bad Dirk is??? Obviously.

He'll just stand here silently with his scalpel waiting for Dave to decide he's done with him and call him useless.]

[ okay cool they stand there like idiots for a few more minutes as dave keeps going to talk then going "?!?!?!" and not talking until he pulls it together enough to talk.

haha jk it's more like ten minutes as his entire life was just. flipped. ]

I beat you? [ disbelief and uncertainty like he's not. sure. it just occurred. ]

[Okay, ten minutes is a long enough time for Dirk to start cycling and realize, slowly, that this isn't about him being a disappointment. Or it is, but not about a martial disappointment, exactly. It has begun to occur to him that maybe, in fact, this is about a dude who has no idea how to raise a child also having no idea how to teach that child combat in a way that leaves him with any self-esteem intact. Isn't that what he did to Jake, after all?

Well crap.]

Yeah. Uh... you're a better combatant than me, Dave. That's the impression I got from this Strife.

But you're...you. [ untouchable. ] It took an unbeatable boss to do it?

[ and eventually it'd take two of those to take out dave, fighting to protect a corpse. ]

...To...?

[He doesn't. Understand.]

I'm not, like, a champion of martial prowess. I tried, and I think I'm pretty decent with a katana, but I'm definitely not the best there is.

[Quietly.]

That was always you.

To take you - him - down. I've never won. Not once.

[ thirteen years and - ]

Never even a scratch.

[Right. Well. Okay. Dirk takes his bruised ego, and he sets it aside. It isn't important.]

In my honest opinion, you're a better combatant than I am. I don't know if you'd be better than him at this point, I don't know how I match up to him or anythin'. But I can tell that you're better than me.

We can go a few more rounds, if you want. That should make your advantage pretty clear.

No. [ dave blinks, refocuses. ] This was about trainin' you, not provin' shit about what I can do.

[ because he was raised by bro and dave is like him in some ways, but not in this: he doesn't find any real enjoyment in proving a thing over and over again. he's not sure how to feel about the knowledge he can beat dirk, but that isn't the focus here, and can't be. ]

Run through one more time so I can be sure you got the blocks and strikes down, but not for...this.

Alright.

[Dirk actually is more bolder this time, now that he's sure Dave can disarm him. But Dave could still easily beat him, and will if he chooses to end it with a disarming. He has caught up pretty well otherwise.]

[ he does not end it with disarming or beating dirk? he just says: ] That's enough.

[ and draws back, making sure dirk does indeed stop. ] Good work. You learn fast?

[Dirk stops when he is told, because he isn't fucking Bro up for just attacking kids.] Usually, yeah. [He doesn't add 'you know if you think that was fast.' He likes the praise though? It feels stupid to love it from someone two years younger, but it's still Dave.] I've always enjoyed learnin' new things.

[ ok can't relate re: combat though he always makes himself so: ] I like learnin' new...artsy stuff. Or like...scholastic shit, when I get the time. I like math?

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