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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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[windeity]

[Dave please eat your food, god. But John's giving him a mischievous look as he shrugs a little and grabs a napkin to start folding something.]

What, Christmas wasn't enough to wow you? [And now they're both not eating because they're idiots, that's good.]

[parodeity]

[ no he wants magic now ]

Should I expect to never be wowed again, Egbert? Weak.

[windeity]

Eventually I will have to come up with some new tricks is all. [He's still busy with his origami project.] What happens if I never can wow you ever again?

[parodeity]

When the magic disappears? [ he twirls his pasta. ] Depends what’s left behind in the ashes, doesn’t it? I think there’s more to life than that.

[windeity]

I think so, too. And the thing about ashes is that better things can come from them.

[And speaking of ashes, John glances around before pulling out what looks like a a packet of matches he procured somewhere. The origami's finished and it looks like a paper rose. He lifts his eyebrows and he glances at Dave again before promptly lighting the edge of the rose on fire.

The napkin starts to burn but there's a light breeze over the table to control the flames, ashes beginning to pile up before the napkin completely burns. There's something sticking out of the ashes then. Pick it up?]

[parodeity]

...I cannot believe I set you up for a trick.

[ he’s obviously picking it up ]

[windeity]

This is not my fault. [And of course when he picks up the the object from the ashes it's a red rose bud with a small stem.]

[parodeity]

[ dave twirls that instead of his fork. ]

Okay, I’ll admit it. You must have wowed all your dates every time. [ he kind of wants to ask for another trick, but he doesn’t. ] Somehow I don’t think you ever run out of tricks.

[windeity]

Only the really important ones. [Which is to say this is probably a very very rare occasion, if at all.] I try to keep up to keep things interesting, but I am not always that great at it.

[parodeity]

Flatterer. [ but john gets the smallest flicker of a smile. ] You’re not the only one who can do sleight of hand, you know.

[windeity]

[He'll take that as a victory!!! But he's grinning anyway and giving Dave a pleased look.] Yeah? Are you going to make that pasta disappear?

[Not that he's doing much better.]

[parodeity]

[ he twirls the rose bud again. ]

Beauty and purity. [ and then it seems to just twirl away, dave wiggling his fingers at john before reaching out and managing to make it look as though he pulled the rose bud from his ear. it’s pretty much his only trick. ] That’s what a red rose bud means.

[windeity]

[There's a look that says he knows that because he looked it up, but he's more interested in what Dave's actually doing. He's watching his hands and he blinks in surprise when Dave pulls the oldest trick in the book.

Granted, his response after that is to laugh out of sheer delight.]

He comes with tricks and speaks the language of flowers. What did I do to get so lucky?

[parodeity]

[ he notes the lack of surprise, anyway, and raises his eyebrows. ]

Why, Mr. Egbert. Were you calling me beautiful or making a joke about my virtue?

[windeity]

[He's still mostly giving him a curious look.]

Which do you think it was?

[parodeity]

Neither. [ admittedly. he quirks a dry smile and this time the rose vanishes into his sylladex. ]

[windeity]

Wrong. [There's another light grin but he watches the rose disappear after that.] But nice try.

[parodeity]

[ dave opts to take a bite of pasta to chew and swallow before just...leaving the topic behind, unsure of his footing. ]

What’s your favorite flower, anyway? Did we ever cover that.

[windeity]

[Sorry that he's pretty sure Dave counts as beautiful. But regardless he's pleased that he's eating at all and John picks up his fork to twirl his pasta again.]

We did, but it was a while ago so I'm not surprised that got lost under everything we've talked about. Sunflowers and tulips. ["I like them for different reasons", he'd once said.]

[parodeity]

[ tbqh he figures it’s the virtue joke thing ]

I think I probably wrote it down somewhere. I usually try to keep notes on that one - people’s favorites I mean.

[windeity]

[He'll figure that out later. Instead, he gives Dave another curious look.]

People's favorite flowers, or people's favorites in general? That is a lot of notes to be keeping considering how many people you know.

[parodeity]

Flowers. I used to do it so I could take the list in and look up what they meant and then it became a habit? But I like to try to write down details sometimes. No real system for it so the purpose is maybe defeated but...

[windeity]

I don't know, I think it's kind of cute? [He takes a bite to busy himself for a bit.] Like it's sort of sweet you bother getting details at all.

[parodeity]

I don’t like to forget things about people, I guess. Not when they’re important?

[windeity]

Yeah, I would agree with that. There are some people who are way too important to lose so I like to learn everything about them. [Which they've covered, mostly.] You usually observe people anyway.