Kinda sucks being two corners of a square that ought to be complete, huh. [ but there's something warm in his voice, because yeah. the girls and john make him better. ]
I keep saying we will see them soon and I keep hoping that's true. I miss them. [The hike goes onward.] I will take being mostly complete if I can't be fully complete though.
I carry your heart with me. [ it's said abrupt and low and quiet and dave's looking at the sky with his hands in his pockets as he walks. ] I carry it in my heart. I am never without it; anywhere I go you go, my dear, and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling. I fear no fate for you are my fate, my sweet. I want no world for beautiful you are my world, my true. And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you.
[ it's a poem, obviously. the soft cadence of recitation. ]
Here is the deepest secret nobody knows. Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide. And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart. I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart.
[ it makes him think of rose. of late night talks and discussing literature sometimes just because she liked it and trading raps and poems inbetween her teasing. it reminds him of jade and john. of all four of them, and the way they are in everything he does. he feels sometimes like they should say things for the girls, like someone needs to be rose and jade because without them it's a little askew.
but mostly it's just the first thing to come to mind and it feels okay to say it. ]
Doesn't mean it don't hurt, though. [ and that line was all strider. ]
[He doesn't say anything as Dave recites this from memory. It reminds him of Rose first and then of Jade, a sun that always sings. A bond with three people, the root of the root. In a way, even if he doesn't quite get what the poem itself means he gets that it's them and it's their friendship and even being apart, the girls are still, technically, with them.
The top of the mountain is coming into view by the time Dave finishes but John's still moving fairly slowly.]
...I think in a way that is how you know you really care about somebody. When it hurts like that. [He tilts his head and considers.] I don't think I've ever heard you actually latch onto poetry before. Usually there's a beat behind it.
You can rap any poem by Cummings. [ dave's lips curve upwards a little. ] Rose likes him for how he lays out the words. I like him for the beat that for sure exists.
And Jade and I probably have no idea who Cummings is. Well, maybe Jade does, but I did not really remember that was a person until just now. [He takes a few steps up to the top, the bed coming into view but he doesn't draw attention to it yet.] Rap another one for me sometime because now I am curious.
I'm not sure waking up from a nightmare is really something that stupid, but sure. [He follows him, staring at the stone slab for a moment before he settles somewhere in the middle of it.]
...sometimes I wonder how I would have gone godtier if Vriska didn't trick me into it. Or if I would have at all.
Maybe. [Still not convinced tbh. He knows he would have failed a lot in the early parts of the game without people guiding him.] And I know. It's not so bad here...I usually sleep okay. But I do not mind being woken up.
I'll only agree to that if you do? [ why is he this way... ] I know you probably don't want to hear it, but you've always kind of been like - the good version of a hero, to me.
You ain't perfect, lord knows, but you like - [ he tries to think how to explain it. ] I know it wasn't like effortless. You sunk as much pain into things as the rest of us. But you always seemed to - I don't know, you were always you. No matter what was going on around you. You were - are - a dick sometimes but you've always been a good guy. You've always helped people out in between fuckin' around. You've always seemed so strong to me.
[ dave shrugs. ]
I know you're not infallible. I know you're fucked up about the game and your dad. I know you never wanted to be the leader. I know sometimes you're weak. But that hasn't changed the part where you're strong and decent and everything I figure a real hero oughtta be.
[He doesn't argue. He settles for listening, trying to understand what Dave's saying and how it applies to him. In a way, sure, maybe it makes sense.
Is he really that strong? Maybe. But the game was always about making sure they all got out of there and to the new universe. He slowly tips backwards onto his back, sprawled on the bed and staring up at the sky.]
β¦I am pretty sure you and I see the best in each other and the worst parts of ourselves. [It's a casual way of saying he's not sure he can fully agree, but he won't tell Dave he's wrong.] You're the one who always keeps going and protected all of us. So what does that make you?
[ the answer comes easily before dave flops onto his side with a sigh, angled so he can watch john. ]
It ain't like I don't see your worst, you know. It just...qualifies as stuff that isn't so bad. It's your worst. I mean, it's yours. That makes it different.
Because you're my best friend and my favorite person and I like your flaws even when they piss me off. You wouldn't be you if you were just some cookie cutter perfect dude. You'd be a real life Ken doll. What the fuck would I do with a real life Ken doll?
[ ... ]
Besides like immediately tossing it into lava because no.
What a waste of a Ken doll. But fair point. Thanks for not throwing me into lava. [He turns his head to grin a little.] Sometimes your flaws piss me off, too. But we're getting used to them and it makes the whole thing seem way more...I don't know, real? Like the screen's really gone.
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[ it's a poem, obviously. the soft cadence of recitation. ]
Here is the deepest secret nobody knows. Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide. And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart. I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart.
[ it makes him think of rose. of late night talks and discussing literature sometimes just because she liked it and trading raps and poems inbetween her teasing. it reminds him of jade and john. of all four of them, and the way they are in everything he does. he feels sometimes like they should say things for the girls, like someone needs to be rose and jade because without them it's a little askew.
but mostly it's just the first thing to come to mind and it feels okay to say it. ]
Doesn't mean it don't hurt, though. [ and that line was all strider. ]
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The top of the mountain is coming into view by the time Dave finishes but John's still moving fairly slowly.]
...I think in a way that is how you know you really care about somebody. When it hurts like that. [He tilts his head and considers.] I don't think I've ever heard you actually latch onto poetry before. Usually there's a beat behind it.
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[ he can nearly see the bed. ]
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Because it feels sort of stupid to bother you every other night?
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...sometimes I wonder how I would have gone godtier if Vriska didn't trick me into it. Or if I would have at all.
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[ dave shrugs. ]
I know you're not infallible. I know you're fucked up about the game and your dad. I know you never wanted to be the leader. I know sometimes you're weak. But that hasn't changed the part where you're strong and decent and everything I figure a real hero oughtta be.
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Is he really that strong? Maybe. But the game was always about making sure they all got out of there and to the new universe. He slowly tips backwards onto his back, sprawled on the bed and staring up at the sky.]
β¦I am pretty sure you and I see the best in each other and the worst parts of ourselves. [It's a casual way of saying he's not sure he can fully agree, but he won't tell Dave he's wrong.] You're the one who always keeps going and protected all of us. So what does that make you?
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[ the answer comes easily before dave flops onto his side with a sigh, angled so he can watch john. ]
It ain't like I don't see your worst, you know. It just...qualifies as stuff that isn't so bad. It's your worst. I mean, it's yours. That makes it different.
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[ ... ]
Besides like immediately tossing it into lava because no.
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