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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]

The first unthinkin' reaction is usually the more genuine one.

[ than the correction, he means. ]

[windeity]

[Just a flat look.]

I had planned on it before you showed up because I needed to find someone.

[parodeity]

Okay, well...you found me. [ he swallows, and carefully lets go of john's hand. ] ...So please don't go.

[windeity]

[Dave lets go of his hand and he doesn't immediately touch the ground again. He floats, unsure of where to go because there's another person here. Usually when this happens he searches forever.

"I needed to find someone." It could have been anyone and he would have been satisfied.

Very slowly he touches down to the ground and sort of keeps going until he sits with his back to the wall of the window.]

...so hey, why the fuck can I fly in my dreams but I can't fly in real life yet? [That's good, John, play it off.]

[parodeity]

[ dave breathes out, slow. there’s a sort of desperate relief john didn’t disappear. ] It’s a dream. So maybe it’s because you remember you can and forget you can’t.

[windeity]

Yeah. Maybe! That would make sense. [It's reaching optimism and he's doing his best to seem upbeat. He doesn't quite look Dave in the eye as he hears another collision in the distance.]

...not as exciting as yours, I know. [Thank fuck. Let's not fight more puppets, thank you. There's another flicker again though. 13. 16. 18.]

[parodeity]

[ ...he reaches out again at eighteen, trying to be some kind of anchor. ]

Can I ask?

[windeity]

[He doesn't stop him, but he's still not entirely listening and distracted.]

About? [So yes.]

[parodeity]

You said it was a place where you could watch everything. People coming home.

[ or people not? ]

[windeity]

Yeah. [...yeah, about that.] I could see the driveway from my bedroom window, too, but this was easier because I could see the street. So for a long time I sat up here whenever I could waiting and watching the road.

[parodeity]

I’m sorry.

[ that this worlds version of dad left. that he remembers being so fucking jealous of john having a dad who would have done anything for him, and that isn’t so true now. that john will remember his dad dying, someday. ]

[windeity]

[There's another sort of laugh.]

I shouldn't be dreaming about this shit. It's been years. I know how this goes usually. Either I'm in the treehouse and the walls close in, I climb down the ladder and walk to where the sidewalk ends and there's a wall, or I finally spot a car that looks like his, lean out the window too far and fall.

[An eyeroll.] I broke my arm doing that. Nanna said I was lucky it wasn't my head. So anyway...yeah. It's a stupid dream and I never get where I need to go.

[parodeity]

I don’t think dreams ever stop when they’re about shit that cut you to the core.

[ it’s wry and quiet and too honest and maybe he should say something soothing about how you get over things, but he remembers bro and can’t rven begin to voice the lie. you learn to move anyway, maybe. ]

We can’t fight this kind of thing. So...let’s pick a new place to go.

[windeity]

[He thinks about correcting him, but why lie? So instead he stares ahead and huffs under his breath.]

The subconscious is fucking weird, dude.

[But.] Where would you want to go if you had a choice?

[parodeity]

[ god, what a question. ]

The dorm. [ wry and sarcastic and completely honest. ] But close your eyes and think of fireflies instead.

[windeity]

[He raises his eyebrows a little and finally looks at him.]

Fireflies? Why?

[parodeity]

If we have to go somewhere, that place ain’t the worst. Trust me - I’ll walk you through picturing it. Or do you remember enough?

[windeity]

[...???]

My planet? [Yes, thank you for joining the conversation, John.] I only remember a little of it. Including the time it was on fire.

[parodeity]

Maybe don’t think about that part. Just...when it was calmer. Wind and shade and fireflies. Not the universe crumbling. Try?

[ maybe john will flicker less if he can talk them into being anywhere else. ]

[windeity]

No, that part was fine. [Uh.] I did the windy thing and it was like a huge tornado and blew everything out. That was how I learned that I could.

[He remembered that only a few days ago. He never bothered telling Dave that.]

[parodeity]

Hm. [ before he entered the game himself or after? it doesn’t matter. ] Okay, flyboy, think about the part after the fire, then. Let’s go somewhere a little more...something. Can we?

[windeity]

Yeah. [He's still not entirely connected to what's going on, but he at least recognizes that Dave's there. Maybe Dave's a dream again. It wouldn't be the first time and he's not sure.

But he shuts his eyes and leans his head back.]

...when were you on my planet anyway? [He doesn't even remember the name yet.]

[parodeity]

The when varies. It’s how the game worked: you’ve been on everyone else’s, too. Your first gate should have taken you to the land of eye searing colors.

[ lolar. ]

Just picture your planet for me. Dark and cool. Those weird blue mushrooms. Whatever dopey consorts you got saddled with. Fireflies in the sky. The breeze.

[windeity]

[He doesn't respond, but there's another flicker-glitch bouncing between 16 and 18 which might be a little hard to tell.]

What was it called anyway? You had the land of heat and clockwork but mine was what? Land of Fireflies and 'Shrooms?

[parodeity]

[ a heartbeat of silence. then: ]

Take us to the Land of Wind and Shade, John.