recollé ic inbox 4.0;

[parodeity]

DAVE STRIDER

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

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

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[windeity]

Alright then, what's on your list? I think you do plausibility way better than me.

[parodeity]

I really don't think I do. [ or he does, but he finds the plausible implausible. or there's just implausibilities that he can't do anything about:

talk to dirk and roxy again and have them remember. jade coming back, and some stupid fourway friend date. stupid cliched holiday bullshit he doesn't bother thinking about beyond "that'd be neat" and which he never has done. going home, but he isn't certain where he means by that these days. ]

Can I say ballroom dance competition even though I don't like competition all that much?

[windeity]

You could, but I might judge you a tiny bit. [No he won't.] ...to be honest they do seem sort of neat. A huge ballroom and all of the fancy dresses and suits, a live orchestra and a bunch of people moving in sync under a fuckton of chandeliers. It sounds kind of cool to see.

[parodeity]

I like watchin' them sometimes. [ like. on television. ] However, I also like watching documentaries and shit, so ymmv. But like - I don't know, that's the most easily achievable bullshit on the list.

[windeity]

Challenge accepted then. [There's a grin but who knows if he's serious. He eyes the camera before eyeing their hands for a moment.

...part of him wants to ask Dave what they're doing, but he's afraid asking will break whatever it is. So instead, he settles for wrapping his fingers around Dave's to keep his hand warm and pulling him along.]

Documentaries are okay if they are not the boring kind, so I can give you, like, half-credit.

[parodeity]

[ dave's grip tightens in return and at least his hand is slowly warming up? the one being held anyway the other one is fucked. ]

I actually missed this. [ for once, he clarifies immediately: ] I used to do these bullshit video interviews all the time. At one point I did them so much Rose banned me from even holdin' a camera around her? That was like, back when I got my first video camera, though.

[windeity]

And how long ago was that? [Somehow this does not surprise him in the slightest.]

[parodeity]

My first camera? I was ten. So, almost eight years ago. I mean, video camera. I got a like, picture camera earlier. I used to handle the family one sometimes before I got my own, but it was, I dunno, cool? To have my own. So I admittedly went overboard using it for all kinds of bullshit. I broke a bone actually, while I was like - I fell out of a tree, and I was up in it trying to like, get a good angle on things?

[windeity]

[He can't help it when he laughs in surprise.] Is there a reason we're both stupid enough to fall out of trees and break things trying to get a better view? [Dave trying to get a better angle. John trying to see if his dad was coming home. He doesn't bring up the circumstances but he turns them so they aren't about to skate into a wall.]

...I've never had my own piano. The one at home was Dad's and he just let me use it all the time. So I think I get it. When he first gave me permission to play whenever I wanted I spent hours playing the stupid thing.

[parodeity]

I mean, when I broke my bone I wasn't that old - that was with my like, actual camera, not the video camera. My first picture camera. I wanted a shot of this bird's nest - I scared the absolute fuck out of Dirk, he was supposed to be watchin' us at the time. And I didn't have the balance I have now back then, so...

[ a shrug. ]

We should get one.

[windeity]

Okay so you are smarter than me. [It's sort of a neat story to hear since it's telling of who Dave is as a person and actually it's pretty funny thinking of a small Dave trying to take pictures of birds.

...what is with Dave and birds???

But there's an agreement hum even while he's not sure what Dave's talking about.]

What, a bird? I think Mewpac would flip out.

[parodeity]

A piano, dumbass. [ but he kind of laughs. ] No reason to bring Mewpac dinner on wings? We'd all get sad.

[windeity]

You don't think she'd like her dinner to-go? [That was a bad joke, John. But he looks a little perplexed by the idea of a piano.] Your mom's a piano teacher, dude. You know how expensive they are. And anyway I think we would have a hard time fitting it in the dorm. I have a keyboard for now. It works. Ever since I got it back from the shop it works perfectly fine.

[Not fine enough since he keeps fucking off to work on Dave's birthday present but you know.]

[parodeity]

Change your mind again? [ about moving somewhere after the dorm thing, he means. he doesn't answer the piano expense thing for the moment, just raising an eyebrow and trying to determine where the hell john's at again. ]

[windeity]

[A headtilt.] Of course not. It's still something I really want. I guess I did not think about a piano in that picture. That's all.

[parodeity]

Why not? I play, too, you know. [ not that he would really take up much time on a hypothetical piano. but. ] Someone I knew used to have a savings fund for a trip to another country.

[windeity]

I know you do. [But he leaves that thread behind.] What does that have to do with the piano?

[parodeity]

Pianos are expensive. [ he's saying it slowly, like he's speaking to a child...john, speed the fuck up? ] So, why not just save up for one together?

[ it's not like dave has any fucking plan with what to do with any of the funds he gets from his jobs. ]

You keep tellin' me you plan to stick around to some hazy someday, so what's the problem?

[windeity]

[Fuck off, metatext, he's having a hard time. Still, he stops skating at that point, hand tugging Dave back gently as he settles for just giving him another one of those weird looks that can't quite be deciphered.

Eventually though he speaks up.]

I plan to stick around as long as you want me to, yes. Whenever that may be. So...I guess there is no problem with that?

[parodeity]

[ dave tips the camera to the side. it's not like this uncovers his face that much more - the shades are still on - but it's some kind of gesture, maybe. no one ever likes to be talked to through a lens, in his experience.

well. emil hadn't minded much, or mafuyu. ]

You say "whenever", but it's not like I have a history of wanting people not to stick around? The goal was always "go somewhere with everyone else", you know.

[windeity]

[A shrug.]

If you wanted to go somewhere else, we could. I still have no idea what I am really doing with my life but I like a lot of the things I have now. I would like to keep those.

[parodeity]

I don't care where I am. [ well. ] Admittedly I like warmer climates, but like. It's never been about where I end up so much as who with. You and the girls have always been the endgame. I...forgot for a while, I guess. But I'm me.

[ it's a confused way of saying his goals are what they were back then because he. thinks of that life first, these days. ]

[windeity]

[And it's for reasons like that that John knows he's making the right decision to keep his mouth shut. It's not...attraction, or anything like it. It's an intense sort of affection, something bred from being best friends over several timelines and lifetimes and Dave's always put everything in reference to the four of them and when he takes a moment to think about it, John knows that's correct.

That was the goal back then. That was the point of the new universe. The four of them being together.

This, whatever it is, would throw off that dynamic and it's not something he can afford. Being affectionate with your best friends is perfectly normal. It's comforting. In a weird way, hearing him say that actually makes his chest ache a little but he ignores it because at the same time it feels right.

The four of them were the endgame. It's why he went back in time to fix everything. It's why he did everything that he could to be with them.

Somewhere in all of that his grip on Dave's hand grows a little tighter.]

You are my favorite version of you. [He remembers a few versions of Dave, but this one at least has the same experiences and ideas and a lot of the same memories.] Maybe we are supposed to travel again, go to where Jade is. Maybe that is what we are missing. But I think we can still get there someday.

[parodeity]

[ dave's tiny smile flickers away like it was never there and he stares, uncertain, wanting to argue about a simple statement like he always does. he's supposed to be trying, or something, but it's still impossible to believe and difficult to swallow that he could be anyone's favorite version of himself when they've known others.

or even when they haven't.

it'd be bullshit to say for now or you've always been one of my favorite people, but i'm not sure you knew it then or know it now or a million other things, so dave doesn't say those and tries to find a balance in how he answers. ]

I'll try to believe you on that. [ it's what he can do now. ] ...And wherever the fuck you want to go, I'll follow. So...

[ hm. ]

Even if some of your list is stupid and implausible, I guess just go for it? As long as you're happy I don't really care about the details.

[ he readjusts the camera and simply avoids talking about anything by changing topics. ]

Favorite book?

[windeity]

[Given he was looking at Dave, it's not hard to notice it slip away but he doesn't know how to address it. Dave's confirmation that he'll at least try is something he can live with. It's not the perfect answer, but so what? It's something they can work on together.]

...I do, but okay. [Care about details. John's happiness isn't the only thing that matters and it's, again, why he keeps some things to himself even as he begins to skate again, weaving through a few other skaters and the snow while Dave films.]

Anything by Neil Gaiman. I have not read everything he's ever written or anything, but most of the stuff he's had a part in I've liked a lot. [John read stuff over the summer.] And it's...Jurassic Park for you. And fantasy stuff that isn't modern.