[ dave's seen you smile before, dirk. a lot. but all right. he breathes out, slow. ]

It was a bad day, but it was just a memory, until it wasn't. Because when it happened, you weren't there, and I was younger. At first, I was younger. You just watched for a while as we went at it before you asked me: Are you dead or dreaming, Dave?

[ the question bubbling up through a million different voices and faces at a million different times throughout his dreams ever since he'd realized it was always a question that mattered.

sometimes, he answers wrong. ]

And I couldn't remember.