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[parodeity]

DAVE STRIDER

consider this your warning about stairs. itll just keep happening bro. im telling you man

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[parodeity]

Things that're pointless to be unhappy about, mostly.

[splinten]

I have a lot of those.

[He looks at Dave, trying to find the way to put it that makes sense.]

It's okay. We're just... fucked up now, beyond the level that we used to be. I think, though, that you're also one of the people who's best able to unfuck my head. You make me want to keep tryin', at least.

[parodeity]

[ dave's expression goes flatly neutral in an instant, covering something else.

he nods. ]

...Okay.

[splinten]

[He's quiet.]

...What is it?

[parodeity]

Somethin' stupid. What about you?

[splinten]

What about me?

[parodeity]

Your feelings. I don't know. You always try to just talk about mine.

[splinten]

[Ah.]

Sorry. That's a hypocrisy on my part, but I'll try to correct it. [So.] What do you want to know my feelings about? I'll be honest about them.

[parodeity]

...Whatever. This, the city, the universe.

[ he's not sure where to start. ]

[splinten]

Startin' with the easiest, then. I distrust the city now. I can't rely on things to stay constant or work the way they're supposed to. I'm always waitin' for the other shoe to drop, for a twist that will pull the whole thing out from under my feet. It's... fucked up when I have my sense of people's souls. It's like walking around knowing that most souls are just less.

['Window dressing.' Dave put into a phrase the thing that Dirk feels, on a visceral level, wherever he goes.]

[parodeity]

Are you happier without it.

[splinten]

[He's quiet for a moment.]

I don't know. It isn't a reminder on a physical level, but I feel lacking without it. [A pause] And it's comforting to have a sense of your soul. It makes me feel at ease.

[parodeity]

So you just listen for our souls all the time? Like, all of us. [ well the house is that way but dave gestures towards whereabouts it is. ]

[splinten]

Not all of you, and not all the time. I'm not as good at finding others as I am at finding yours, and... [He pauses.] Sometimes when we were kids, you'd come up to me after a nightmare and I'd be still awake, and I'd tell you it was because I couldn't stop thinking. But once you were with me, I basically fell straight to sleep.

Lately I've been looking for your soul when I feel like that. I can't track you down, but I can sense that you're out there, and it helps. It has to be yours, not just because Rose's soul is wrong, but because... [This is stupid. He rubs the back of his hand against his mouth.] I always figured losing me forever would hurt you more than it would hurt Roxy. So you're always reason enough to stick it out.

[parodeity]

Because I've always been transparent as fuck in unfortunate ways.

[ he doesn't say: i miss that about the nightmares, or that he slept better in those days, or that he hasn't slept at all since monday and it's exhausting in its own way. ]

It's a sucky power, isn't it?

[splinten]

It isn't unfortunate to me. It's saved my life.

[Because he has wanted to die, and he has chosen to live because of Dave.]

It isn't as versatile as time senses. Like I said, though, there's comfort in it. I want it back. I miss feeling the pulse of your life right beside me.

[parodeity]

Then yeah. It'd kill me.

[ but: ]

That's not what I meant, although if you didn't reach the cynic's take yet, that's actually an improvement and don't let me deter you.

[splinten]

The cynic's take about how my powers work?

[parodeity]

Yeah. ...But I'm not sure you want to hear it, actually.

[splinten]

I'm curious, and not sufficiently smart enough to resist askin'.

[parodeity]

It might make you more anxious. Still wanna know?

[splinten]

[A couple of thoughts flit through his head.]

Yeah, still want to know.

[parodeity]

You'd feel us disappear if we ever went back down to window dressin', or if we died.

[ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

[splinten]

[Ah, that.]

Yeah, I thought about that. On the flipside, that's another reason it's a comfort. When I reach out and get a sense of your soul, I know you're still here, and that you still are... real, in that specific way.

[parodeity]

I miss it.