recollé ic inbox 2.0;

[parodeity]

DAVE STRIDER

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

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

GO HERE FOR NEW THREADS!!!!!!! This one loads slow for me.

Comments

[splinten]

Because I haven't given up.

[So he had to still ask.]

And you can't trust it won't go away.

[parodeity]

Some of it also just ain't viable.

[splinten]

That might be true.

[And he's sorry for that. His thumb presses into a sharp edge of his shades as he thinks.]

We don't have to decide now. We can do somethin' mindless to try to clear our heads. Or we can not, and make our decisions now, and then do the rest of the day.

[parodeity]

Don't do that.

[splinten]

[As before, he stops everything he's doing and looks at Dave.] Do what?

[parodeity]

You're gonna cut yourself, genius.

[splinten]

[LITERALLY PAUSES FOR A MOMENT IN CONFUSION BECAUSE HE THINKS IT'S A METAPHOR AND THEN]

Oh you meant literally.

[HE TAKES HIS THUMB OFF HIS SHADES. HE IS AN IDIOT.]

Sorry, didn't intend to.

[parodeity]

It's fine. I hate your blood. [ said conversationally. ] What do you want to do?

[splinten]

On a broader level, not make you miserable every time we interact. It's why I offered to do something else before we decide on anything. The reverse concern is that not dealing with it immediately will overshadow everything.

[parodeity]

I...don't know. I can ignore pretty much whatever if I throw myself into an activity.

[splinten]

My suggestion was the sand castle or my horse mural.

[parodeity]

Who have you done your squares with so far.

[splinten]

[Dirk shows Dave his card (he hasn't raced Aki yet and most of the in-progress ones would probably be blacked out at this point, plus the hanging out with a stranger one)]

I managed to get rid of the memory-with-a-stranger one by telling a dude about another stupid and meaningless moment regarding gettin' flustered by English that wasn't worth bringing up. I've been keepin' the sandcastle and the horse mural for you.

[parodeity]

Oh.

[ well then. dave doesn't pull out his own phone. he decides he has no commentary on any of the squares or anything dirk said, and defaults to: ]

Whatever you wanna do works for me.

[splinten]

[He frowns.] What's that for.

[parodeity]

What's what for? [ blankly. ]

[splinten]

You gave a flat 'oh' and then did the thing where you surrender all directive power over the situation.

[parodeity]

Couldn't think of anythin' else to say. And I frequently try to surrender all direction power over a lot of situations.

[splinten]

I know. But you asked who, presumably for a reason. And then had nothin' to say.

[parodeity]

You told me who. I have zero commentary to share.

[splinten]

Why did you ask?

[parodeity]

I wanted to know how you got rid of the memory squares.

[splinten]

I obviously got the Retrospec one with you. The one I got rid of with a stranger was someone who randomly dialled me up for their card. I told them about a stupid almost-kiss thing I had with English, the kind of thing that's happened so often I don't bother to bring up all of them. [He has told Dave about plenty of them, in anguish, but this one was so blase he didn't bother.] What about you?

[parodeity]

Oh. [ FOR LACK OF A BETTER THING TO SAY. he's already on record as not enjoying not being the person dirk goes to for things, but refuses to clarify why he's blanking out on dirk. ] Shared somethin' that wasn't mine with a lady in the park and shared somethin' that was mine with a dude who has a twin sister.

[splinten]

[He frowns, because that's exactly why he picked that memory: so it wouldn't be upsetting Dave.] I chose that because it was a particular incident that hadn't come up between us, but I always tell you everything essential about my situation. It wasn't confiding in him or anything, and I didn't give him a name or time. It was just... a random thing.

I'm sorry. I thought it worked to meet the requirements without... [He gestures.] I'm sorry.