monday evening;

[parodeity]

[ so this is like a sword practice session or something but dave doesn't have his sword out. ]

Yo, you been playing Furry Passing at all lately?

[ seems as good a segue as anything... ]

Comments

[parodeity]

[ haha wow yeah he doesn't like that, eyebrows lowering and lips twitching down, but. ]

...Yeah, Allen said to be careful about who I talked to, too. And like...I get the feeling they want us to tell as few people as possible. Shit.

[ his mom is not an alien??????????? but it's not like saying that will make her 100% trustworthy to anyone but dave. ]

He also said he had no idea how to tell who was what, though. Which would have been super helpful.

[chiseler]

[Sorry kiddo, them's the breaks. Trusting people is all well and good but you can't be too careful. Look what happened with Adelina. To his credit Luke at least looks vaguely apologetic.]

That seems to be the default warning. I probably shouldn't have been told at all by anybody. Guess that's why I'm a little surprised you told me first and not Roxy...and I thought you guys were staying in each other's rooms anyway. She slept through it?

[It doesn't matter other than he's just curious. Roxy please don't be an alien. Dave please don't be an alien, gods.] That makes sense too though. Not like we can tell too well on our end. What's being dead gonna change about that?

[parodeity]

Nah, we don't always sleep over? Like. Especially when she wants to talk to me about my nonexistant love life.

[ he accidentally flirted with Yuno in that one trial, remember. ROXY HAS YET TO LET IT GO. ]

But she actually is a p heavy sleeper - at least in comparison to me. I can't sleep through shit. As to telling you, well...I had a deal with Arumat to tell him this kinda thing, can't do that now, and you...

[ how does he word it? ]

...I trust you. Not that I don't trust Mom, but she's not any better at putting pieces together than I am, here.

[chiseler]

[There's a snort.] Yeah, well, I've heard moms are supposed to be embarrassing about this kind of thing. [He wouldn't know??? His mom was too busy yelling about his fate tbh.

But oh look, there goes another piece of Luke's soul shriveling up as he dies inside. This is stupid. This is so bad? Why do you people trust him? It's so much worse because it's Dave and Dave's a kid and Dave's a kid Luke likes and has sort of slated into the category of "must make sure he lives", so hearing that is a whole weird...thing.]

I can't believe you think somebody who sat next to a proximity mine can put pieces together better than you and your mom can. [It's the only thing he can say that isn't an awkward "thank you" or some other weird bullshit. But there's a grin he's not quite aware of. That did it. That absolutely sold him a bit because being alive for an extra two months sure has helped.] But that makes sense. Arumat was a really smart guy. We used to talk and compare notes about the ship and everything that was happening here, too.

[Poor Arumat. He rubs the back of his neck instead.] I'll do my best to help all of us make sense of everything. It's only fair that you guys figure out how to fight back and get out of here.

[parodeity]

Eh. The guy I trust most in the world back home? Would have done the same thing. Dude once strapped a rocket pack to his back and blasted off to fight the endgame boss. At level one. Because an internet troll told him to.

[ his voice is full of affection but goddamnit john egbert why do you do the things you do? ]

And sure thing. If it comes down to a fight, leave it to me...I'm gonna keep an eye on a way to reverse the dead thing, because there's always some kinda bullshit loophole. We just gotta exploit it.

[chiseler]

And now I'm just starting to question your judgment in friends a little bit. [He can't help but snicker anyway.] But then again, guy sounds incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. I'd like to meet somebody like that.

[Please never put in him a situation he has to meet John Egbert, he will probably die all over again.]

If it's a fight, you're not the only one getting in on that. [He nods to Backbiter which has been sorely neglected this whole conversation.] That thing's not just for show. But loopholes...it's what I've been saying since the beginning. [He almost believes it, too.] Let me talk to people and I'll come find you if we're all in agreement. Cool?

[parodeity]

Yep. Talk to you later, bro.

[ dave nods casually. ]

I'm not that hard to find, usually.