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[parodeity]

TELEPATHY | TEXT | VOICE | VIDEO | ACTION

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[splinten]

Why?

[I don't need you. It still stings.]

[parodeity]

To distract you.

[ shove them off balance, don't let them see the shit that might matter. ]

[splinten]

Hm. That's a solid strategy. Shitty thing to do, but a good strategy.

[It worked well enough. Dave said the words that hurt most and Dirk flinched away. It probably worked every other time but Dirk isn't interested in going over the list of hurts.]

Do you think I'd be better off if I hated you?

[parodeity]

Can't use it now.

[ not if dirk knows about it. this time he decides not to dodge the question he doesn't want to answer. ]

Yes.

[splinten]

[One down. He does not know if he is cutting away something important or opening up what needs to be open to heal. He hopes, he really hopes, that he's drawing a sickness out.]

Because you're like you're Bro?

[parodeity]

Yes.

[ among other things, but clearly giving out answers is hard enough without adding details to the mix. ]

[splinten]

[It comes together. Of course Dirk doesn't think he should have Dave. Of course Dirk thinks he is nothing like his Bro. But it does make sense.

He doesn't let go of Dave. He doesn't draw back.]

There's a certain level of irony in me finally getting past that feeling only for you to take it on in full force. Indescribably subpar irony.

You aren't a bad person, Dave.

[parodeity]

[ arguing the point is probably not helpful. instead: ]

You don't worry about being like him any longer?

[ that's good, at least. ]

[splinten]

Not as much or as often. I remember what we talked about and what you showed me to help.

[But he knows what point Dave isn't arguing, and that's what gets to him most. It isn't fair. All that damage, some other version of him didn't know or care.]

You were a little baby on a meteor put in the hands of someone who had no place raising a child. You were a kid.

[parodeity]

I haven't been a kid in a really long time.

[ maybe not even then? he's not sure. ]

Who I am now is on me.

[splinten]

I don't disagree. Who you are now, who you've chosen to be, is a person doing his best to be good, in spite of all the things his Bro did to him. Someone who would do whatever he could to protect others, who cares about weird aliens of every variety and goes out of his way to protect them just because. Someone who prevented me from killing Warpers because he didn't think it was right, someone I respect and am proud to call my brother.

Jesus, Dave. Fuckin' up doesn't make you evil. You're just human like me.

[parodeity]

We apparently need the warpers, so you're for sure not gonna kill them, right?

[ that's not the fucking point here, but ]

Can we talk about something - not this. Something concrete. I don't care what.

[ ask him a question tell him a truth, just not something about morality. ]

[splinten]

I wasn't going to kill them from the second you asked me not to. [Pause] Until you said we could, but then you decided we shouldn't again.

[Therefore, no Warper murder.]

Hotaru said the planet was dumb for not thinking I was a nice person.

[This is the first thing that comes to mind when they're already discussing warpers. So there. That's a thing.]

[parodeity]

Well, yeah. You're too nice.

[ obviously????? ]

Good on the kid for not being a dummy.

[ .....................he can't use the word "dumbass" in regards to hotaru, even if he is saying she is Not That. ]

[splinten]

[Dave.]

I'm not nice. I was willing to kill the Warpers for being maybe a threat. I will accept that I am not necessarily a bad dude, but I am not a nice one.

[parodeity]

No, you are. You don't have to be kind to everything to be a nice guy.

[ he will argue this? ]

You do plenty of shit for people you don't have to do, just because you think they might like it or whatever. Or just because.

[splinten]

That would hold if I actually cared, instead of being... mostly not caring on a personal level, and therefore not against helping.

[He'd, like, make himself help Komaeda even. Probably. Because it's the right thing to do he guesses.]

[parodeity]

You care more than you think you do. If you didn't actually care, you wouldn't help.

[ apathy on a positive level is still caring? ]

[splinten]

No, dude. I just don't dislike them. It's the decent thing to do, and also the only reasonable thing when you're in a community which is dependent on a certain level of cooperation.

[parodeity]

You don't have to do the decent thing, though. That means you're nice. Because you do the decent thing. I bet you'd do it even if it pissed you off to have to.

[splinten]

Good isn't nice, and nice isn't good. Good is doing what's right, while nice is being gentle and considerate and thoughtful, and you do not have to do both of them. I try to be good, but I do not care if I'm not nice.

[parodeity]

You're nice anyway. You're usually considerate of people.

[ i mean skewed bias because > compared to bro, but ]

Sometimes you're an asshole, but like, you're a nice guy.

[splinten]

[Dirk makes the noise of a monotonous dying person and shoves his face into the nearest pillow-like object, which is once again Dave's shoulder.]

I'm not.

[parodeity]

Prove it. Which you can't do, 'cause I'm right and you're wrong. You're nice. You troll people but you don't fuck with their issues on purpose generally. You worry about how they're gonna react to things you do or say, or if they react badly you change what you're doin'. You're a nice guy.

[ suck it ]

[splinten]

[WAIT A SECOND his head comes out of the pillow]

I'll give you the first one, because again, that's being a decent human being. I try to put in some effort on that. What do you mean I care how people react to things?