WEEK ONE: SUNDAY, POST GROUP MEETING

[parodeity]

[ well, after That Meeting was over, dave would have hooked a hand on dirk's arm, said "a'ight, come with me" and dragged him off to an area where they can maybe be alone and have enough room for...whatever...the hell he dragged dirk off for.

dirk gets a measured look before dave crosses his arms - dropping dirk's - and says: ]

Ground rules for comin' with me into dangerous shit: you guard the rear, I'm on point. Solid?

[ before dirk can answer, he adds: ]

You're less familiar with weapons that ain't the damn katana. I'm more familiar with 'em. So, point's me. [ he's tense and hesitant when he continues with: ] ...And you guard my back. [ he's usually more than a little wary about having dirk at his back, so this is. probably progress? ]

Comments

[splinten]

Like what?

[parodeity]

Just...who you are as a person. Not a bad person, but...your levers and how you tick. It's functionally incompatible with me relyin' on you.

[splinten]

[A pause.]

Because you think I'll tick in the other direction.

[parodeity]

Maybe that's part of it, but I don't think you're... [ he does the struggling for words again thing, shrugs, and gives it up. ] ...like I've said. Like I said a few times, I mean, just - you didn't make this decision, like...from a logical standpoint rather than an entirely different place. You can't really trust shit people decide to do when it's based off of...the heat of the moment. That changes.

[splinten]

Loyalty to you is more logical, dude. I didn't think that needed explaining. And the heat of the moment shows a lot of what a person values.

[parodeity]

Yeah, it does. [ this is said mostly with a frown, though. ] But only in any given moment. The only thing I've learned in the past year besides, like, how to build can town homes? The choices and decisions you make in an instant aren't always even the shit you actually wanna do. And when you actually think about things, or...whatever, sometimes the entire world shifts.

[splinten]

[Quietly.] I was making that choice slowly, over the whole time we've known each other. And I don't—[He breaks off.] You said you won't even talk to me in the afterlife. I can't betray you.

[parodeity]

You can. There's like a thousand million dead daves floatin' around the afterlife. And they ain't gonna uphold my decisions. Includin' probably the one most contemporaneous to you.

[splinten]

I didn't make a deal with them.

[parodeity]

Most of 'em wouldn't make you. The vast majority of dead daves are thirteen. They'd listen to whatever you wanted.

[splinten]

[Ow.]

...They wouldn't deserve that position. You don't.

[parodeity]

A year ago, I would've happily done it. [ or maybe not happily. maybe that part would have been forced. but all the same. ] You're just a year too late.

[splinten]

I don't see it that way. [He reaches out to Dave again, and this time, he takes his hand.] Our time's mismatched, but... I wouldn't want to take advantage of what he did. It isn't the kind of relationship I'd want to build with you.

[parodeity]

[ he'll have to pry dave's fingers open. he was letting them dig in enough to break skin. ] I don't know if we can build anythin' either of us would want, here.

[splinten]

[Dirk frowns, looking at that palm.] Dave. Shit. [You broke skin???]

[parodeity]

[ he Really didn't want to reach out? do not check the other palm. ] It's not a big deal.

[splinten]

Yeah, it is. The other hand's like this too? [Fuck.] I'm sorry, Dave.

[parodeity]

No. [ YES IT IS??????? ] It's not like you did it.

[splinten]

[he's pretty sure it is] It happened because of me.

[Gently, he releases Dave's hand.]

You can tell me to stop when I'm hurting you.

[parodeity]

It wasn't 'cause of you. You didn't touch me.

[ it was, clearly, because of dave. ]

[splinten]

So this would've happened if I hadn't done... whatever. [He's not sure.] Offered my pulse?

[parodeity]

Yes. It's a habit. [ ??????????????? he lies about this with a completely straight face and even tone. it was 100% because he wanted to reach out too much and wasn't allowing himself to do so. ]

[splinten]

[Dave is a really good liar and Dirk should, in theory, believe him. Except he doesn't. Is it Dirk's self-loathing that wins out? Maybe. Or maybe he is just got a sense of bullshit.]

Yeah, you are one hell of a good liar but I'm not buyin' this one. Shit.

[parodeity]

[ the fact dave keeps choosing to flawlessly lie about the most blatantly false bullshit to dirk probably does not help his credibility, does it. ]

My nervous habits are not your fault??? [ CONTINUES LYING, ANYWAY, ]

[splinten]

[Not really.]

We can argue that one in a roundabout way.