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[parodeity]

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[parodeity]

[ it's 3am and his communicator is buzzing who the fuck is texting him at 3am? rose basically never does this late, nor does jade, and john was settled in and should be asleep so - oh it's dirk. ]

why the fuck are you awake
go to sleep

[ says the other strider,,, who also is not asleep,,, ]

[splinten]

You aren't asleep.
When will you let me come home?

[parodeity]

when have i ever slept through a communicator message
id have to turn off both sound & vibration you know as well as i do both things snap you right awake
unless youre like
anyone else
and at a normal people hour like one usually does after sleepovers?
dont ditch your sleepover weirdly early just to circumvent a ban
shades off sleep on

[ granted he wasn't asleep but he COULD HAVE BEEN. ]

[splinten]

You know I know you weren't sleeping.
6AM?

[parodeity]

i was so sleeping
dreaming relaxing death dreams
i said a normal person hour not an us hour
i guess thats marginally better than the hours we normally keep
8am
eat breakfast before you come back or something
but i may be busy some of today

[splinten]

Why. And with what.

[parodeity]

i need to talk to rose for trip planning
the sooner we leave the smaller temporal distance i have to move us around
candy holiday after all
probably need to check in with john again
make sure he hasnt done anything monumentally stupid
fucking komaeda was talking to him
and love john though i do he definitely allowed tz to deadend timeline him at least once
just because he goes along with whatever stupid plan people have
at least that should be easyish
hes misguided enough to trust me after all

[splinten]

That isn't misguided.
Are you not going to be home today?

[parodeity]

its a little bit misguided
ill be home later
but if rose agrees well probably leave asap so we can flip back
so then ill be home in 2 weeks
which will essentially be later tonight
or later tomorrow
depending on how easy it is to extricate her from any other plans she might have
which i think are mostly a psychiatrists office

[splinten]

See me before you go.

[a brief pause]

Please.

[parodeity]

why before

[splinten]

Because I can't give you a goodbye hug and wish you a safe trip after you come back.

[parodeity]

you dont always give me either of those things

[ admittedly because he simply does not always update dirk on his time travel shenanigans now that he's more or less decided the possibility of ever having dirk involved in them again is Zero, but. ]

ill be around this evening before i go i guess
or if i dont leave until tomorrow
really depends on rose
though shes remarkably willing to ditch whatever and let me drag her off to see aliens so
i figure probably well leave sometime tonight
she was always the more adventurous one out of the two of us

[splinten]

You don't always tell me when you're going to do things.
Ok, thanks.

[And if Dave doesn't show up Dirk will just. Have to lure him out with a shitpost.]

[parodeity]

i dont do it alone generally so dont worry
i still havent not taken rose with me
and shes not sick of spending weeks with me as of yet
ill burn that bridge down whenever i come to it

[ he'll. eventually show up probably. he didn't really give a solid timeframe on when "this evening" he'd be around home. but he won't take rose and bolt without adhering to the request he drop by, probably. ]

go to sleep bro

[splinten]

I love you.

[another pause]

If you decide you do, in fact, need me, I'll be there instantly. Just ask.

Ok, goodnight.

[parodeity]

i love you too
but ive got this
seriously dont sweat it and just relax
im completely fine

[splinten]

[Ugh. He really hates being lied to. Call it out or don't call it out?

Breathe first. Count down. Then reply.]

Your time was up, so I have every right to call that out as the lie it is.
See you in a couple hours.

[parodeity]

[ he could argue he is completely fine but that will just keep dirk up forever. not that dave is sure dirk will even go the fuck to sleep, but. ]

im handling shit
nothings going down i cant take on without you
so please try to enjoy yourself or something for a bit longer
everything will keep or settle its not a big deal
later

[ "a couple hours" i mean he will show up back at the tower like around 10pm if left to his own devices SO THAT'S UP TO DIRK HOW LONG HE'LL WAIT. there will have been evidence he at least ate oatmeal (...well, part of a bowl of oatmeal) in the morning sometime and the animals all got fed, but otherwise there's pretty much not going to be much of an indication as to where dave went. which was to rose and john at different points, but also he was doing other things too. ]

[splinten]

[DIRK WILL. Actually wait the whole day. He knows Dave is hiding things from him but he can only do so much when he's being shut out. He just decides to spend most of the day working at his desk in their bedroom and listening to music.]

[parodeity]

It's the warpers.

[ there's no warning. dave's not there and then he is with only the flicker-displacement of flashstep, and only dirk's soul sense will help to catch on if dirk was even paying attention, as dave leans one hand on dirk's desk. he seems to actually kind of need the support for the time being. dave doesn't look his best, pale and drawn and sick to his stomach, and his shades are firmly in place. there's probably very little chance he bothered to sleep or eat beyond whatever the fuck he did at breakfast.

also: what the fuck is he talking about. ]

[splinten]

[Dave moves fast and Dirk responds quickly—stands up, grabs Dave. Steadies him.]

They attacked you?

[It is the first explanation he can come up with and he's looking Dave over, looking for any hint of injury. He is going to be dragging Dave to bed in about three seconds if not stopped.]

[parodeity]

What, no.

[ he's fine, really. or, well, there aren't any injuries. nothing not self-inflicted, since he has a stupid warper-induced headache again without any shadow of a doubt. and has otherwise just kind of run himself into the ground all day. longer than a day, actually, but whatever.

dave tugs away before he decides that was a stupid idea and he just stays there, still leaning against the desk. ]

I backtracked. Then I double-checked my work.

[ he'd maybe considered doing it vaguely at least once or twice before, but then john was back and didn't remember anything and dave had been upset enough to not second-guess himself. ]

Wanted to know how the fuck John got here.

[splinten]

[Dirk tries to ignore that Dave pulling away from him hurts.]

Okay. So Warpers bring us here. That fits your earlier theory.

How many hours since you last ate or slept?

[parodeity]

[ it sucks that he can never honestly say "i don't know" to questions of time. ]

A while. I don't want to eat anything right now. [ it's less petulant and more resigned. sleep - he probably should, but he's not about to just yet.

shit, no, he hated the vague answers he kept getting about when, so - ]

Breakfast this morning. [ still too vague. he forces his way through specifics without waiting to be asked. ] Twenty-seven hours and change. Sleep's nearer thirty-two. I've gone way longer with way less without issue, that's not important right now.

[ so he's only at around half a day extra, maybe, given dirk talked to him at three am nineteen hours ago. ]

I tried to eat lunch? [ that's not the same thing as actually eating lunch, but dave feels belatedly guilty for failing. it just wasn't worth it. ]