parodeity | subnautica ic inbox 2.0;

[ he actually has to think about this for a few minutes? and well. childhood of having to hoard food and a following time period of never quite seeming to buy that food is there for him to eat. ]

Oh. Huh.

[ "bro is gay" "maybe dave has ptsd" "not eating might have actual negative effects???" ]

Well, anyway, we went through a second portal because we weren't sure I didn't fuck up tracking them the first time. I lost the timestop when we went through, couldn't focus.

[what idiots]

That is not super surprising.

[The loss of focus. Also Dave has crackers in his sylladex Dave gave him, but Dirk also brings out a pre-sliced apple? That he just had there in his sylladex all night for this moment? He is the manlusus, it's him.]

Given the size of them, we could keep them out of the tower if we adjusted the Magister's tank to be a series of sections just too small for them to get into. Areas stacked together with connecting sections so they've got plenty of volume and ways to play around, but none of it is big enough for the jackass aliens.

[ it's a very good idea actually but he still isn't entirely comfortable having someone else messing around with any part of the layout of the tower. so dave goes quiet and still, but there's another factor here: the magister. if those things start being less than creepy or even if they just keep being creepy, he has to prioritize the safety and comfort of the fishchild and co over any feelings dave himself might have. ]

All right. [ he drops dirk's hand to take the apple in automatic "i am being handed a thing to eat" mode. apples are easier than crackers, kind of. ] How long will that take?

[At least he is eating the apples.]

A couple days, maybe? Depends on how confident you are from when we built the tank the first time.

[Joke's on Dave, Dirk was assuming Dave would be doing it himself?]

[ DIRK, YOU SAID "WE" ]

Not enough, you're suggestin' an entirely new layout.

[ he would if it weren't a potential safety issue for Someone Not Him? ]

['We' as in 'our team'?]

Not if I set up the plans for you?

[You know, guaranteeing that Dave is still actually the one doing it.]

You're not helpin'?

[ okay well. he can. work with that probably he just needs to loop out enough labor to make it go fast. a few days in that scenario would be underselling it. same thing he did for the tower, basically. ]

I guess that would be faster.

Do you want me to?

[He can, and he doesn't have any objections. He has, however, been operating on the assumption that Dave wants Dirk out of his tower ASAP.]

I don't know.

[ it is a fair assumption, since dave wants dirk gone because he wants dirk to stay and he doesn't want to want dirk to stay. none of that makes actual sense so sharing it feels stupid, and also selfish, and also stupid. ]

It's faster all around if I just handle it in house, so that's probably safest for the Magister.

[ the less real time it takes to convert things, the less he has to worry about Whatever happening. ]

If that's your call, sure. You can ask me to check out the work at any time to be sure it's stable?

[Minimal suffering for Dave with maximum security is what he's hoping for here? He is Trying.]

Yeah, that'd be best.

[ he is halfway through the apple. ]

I'll do that whenever you get plans. Um. Sorry for wasting almost seven hours of your day?

[ he already apologized for that but ]

Nah. It was nice.

[laying in the dark and silence losing all feeling in his hand was nice? yes]

Plans'll just take about thirty minutes.

[ and then "a couple days" to finish WELL IT WAS NICE BEING ~~WELL~~ BETTER RESTED WHILE IT LASTED ]

A'ight. Uh, what are you doing after that?

[That always feels like a trick question when Dave asks it.]

Nothing in particular?

Oh, okay. [ it wasn't a trick. he has zero plans of asking for another nap until and unless he completely breaks down over the lack of sleep again. HOPEFULLY, SOMEONE WILL FIX THE ALIENS BEFORE THAT HAPPENS, MAYBE. ]

When do you need me to timestop something?

My preference would be never. Homura doesn't get sick from these things, so I'd rather not hurt you unnecessarily.

[So he will ask for her help.]

I'll just follow if you do. I can always track her down immediately.

[ why this ]

I don't really like the thought of y'all bein' around weird timewarps without me at least in the vicinity.

[Dirk. Frowns! He doesn't approve of this at all.]

We're not gonna go through the warps. The goal is to see about disrupting the warping system. Frankly, I can probably pull it off on a lucky flashstep.

If you're not goin' through it'll hurt me no worse bein' there than it would leavin' me behind.

[ GOING THROUGH THE PORTALS WAS PERHAPS NOT HIS FINEST CHOICE ]

Proximity doesn't help you.

[This is a dumb argument they're now having. Dave better be eating his apple during it.]

Proximity doesn't actually matter as long as I'm not right up against the portal. When we got that close, Homura could feel it, too. I'd bet money you could if you were near enough.

[ he is kind of eating his apple, kind of being distracted. ]

Otherwise, it all feels the same anyway. It's just...

[ ??? how to describe it.

well, they have telepathy. ]

I can probably hook you in for the next warp.

Sure.

[Why did Dirk readily agree to let Dave project discomfort/pain at him? Because he's an idiot.]

Will you eat and sleep immediately after?

All right.

[ though nothing immediately happens because the schedule of the warpers is Catlike in that they seem to be doing whatever the fuck with no pattern he can discern. hopefully dave will not be stupid enough to just flip a switch on dirk the second it happens to him except HE IS GOING TO BE EXACTLY THAT BRAND OF STUPID IN A SECOND OR TWO, SORRY BRO ]

I'll eat whatever you want after. [ he cannot promise anything about his sleeping schedule at this juncture, okay. ]

[This is how Dirk dies.]

Lay down for a bit? Just resting.

[He is just Worried and it's so obvious in ever slight, barely readable line on his face]

I'll try.

[ so, there's that.

then dave tenses in a way that's hard to spot if you're not actually touching dave, and throws open a mental floodgate for a second to share what he's thinking. or rather, what he's feeling happen. the feeling of going through the portals was disorienting and time felt simply wrong, heavy and tangled up and wonky and being worked by someone not him or homura, who was allowed and whose stops never felt unnatural so much as different. the feeling of the portals popping up into the existence of his aspect, which is usually a smooth flow save for the occasional stutter when homura does whatever, was a somewhat lessened version of the portal trip.

the trip probably wouldn't bother dirk or jake or anyone else half so much as it had dave. the problem here is mostly that he spends all of his time these days completely open to the flow of time; he'd been aggravated the little amount of time he hadn't been able to feel the flow or automatically know when he was, and he'd had dirk distract him at that time.

this time, a distraction probably wouldn't help. there's the twist of disorientation and nausea in the pit of his stomach, a splinter of pain behind his eyes, a heavy feeling in his limbs, and the gut-deep vehement feeling that something is wrong overlaying everything else because someone's messing with the flow he's used to defending and utilizing without interference. and now he knows the cause, so he feels offended and kind of betrayed by the thing that is supposed to be his.

there's a snap back to normalcy and dave's disoriented nausea and rebuilding headache stays for a second before he reorients with the flow of seconds and milliseconds and even smaller intervals around him that feel like relief and comfort and safety, remembering when he is and readjusting with a sort of aggravated resignation and probably giving a weird split-second and small window view into time as a concept for dave, and then he cuts the feed as he remembers it. ]

Mom said something about apples shaped like dicks.

[ he forces himself to eat another apple slice. he is nearly done. that seemed like relevant info for dirk to have??? beyond a faint grimace of irritation, there's no other physical sign of what he just shoved at dirk. ]

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