parodeity | subnautica ic inbox 3.0;

I'm allowed to accept what I want. I can't make the decision to do it without you agreement, but I can accept it as the one I want to do.

[so suck it]

How can that be the one you wanna do?

[ GODDAMNIT DIRK ]

[Dirk makes a decision. He puts his ugly, black heart on the table for Dave to see.]

Because I want you to put me first.

[

that is not where he expected this argument to go and it feels like a trick. accordingly, dave's tone is wary. ]

You what.

We've talked about how I get petty and jealous. [It has come up. Dirk has felt ashamed and self-hating every time, but it has come up.] I want to be important to you. I want you to rely on me most, prioritize me. Consider me irreplaceable. I want you to choose me over other people. I'm not proud of it, but it's what I am. So it's what I'm asking for.

[ like yes they have talked about that and every time dave comes out baffled because he doesn't really think dirk monopolizes his time at all? ]

You're makin' it about you to get me to agree to a thing that you think is about me. Don't think I don't know what you're doin'.

[ like it's obviously gonna work exactly as well as dave asking dirk to please show up for court did but he feels the need to protest this manipulation? ]

[Dirk pulls back out of the koala hug enough that he can put a finger on Dave's forehead. It somehow lodges his protest.]

I'm pointin' out to you that things you think are all about you are, maybe, not actually all about you. That maybe they're never all about you, and maybe I have desires and choices I want to make in this relationship too. I'm tellin' you that surprise: there are things I want here too, and if you can't own up to yours then I guess I'll have to make mine clear.

For fuck's sake, Dave. You aren't the only person here who really wants security with his brother.

I know that. [ ... ] The first part.

[ the part about it not being all about him. dave tries to know that? he just.

it's just, like. ]

It's... [ his voice is too quiet, but dirk's close enough to catch it. ] I can't really. It's really hard to believe. That you want me to care about you like that. I know it shouldn't be.

[ dirk says it often enough. but still.

you think im an important part of your life

shit, maybe it should be "you want to be an important part of mine?" because holy shit that never gets any less jarring. ]

That you want to be a part of my life to any extent. Let alone that.

Yeah, I know.

[He goes back into the koala hug, keeping Dave held close. He closes his eyes.]

I told you, bro. I'm willin' to keep workin' on this with you to make it easier and easier to believe.

[ ... ]

Were you at least doin' the thing I said a little bit.

[ dave, why does it matter ]

The part that was correct was that I was tellin' you in aid of persuadin' you. The part that was wrong was the idea that it was about you and not me, or the idea that I haven't been trying to say exactly what I spelled out just there, in different ways, throughout this entire conversation.

[Over and over and over. The only thing that has really shifted is the way Dirk is saying it: what he has been trying to say has always been the same. You're important. I love you. I need this.]

You managed to colossally miss what I was sayin' about about not tellin' anyone about the Warpers. An increasingly direct manner was needed if you were ever going to actually hear what I've been tryin' to say.

But you were tryin' to persuade me.

[ look. he just had to know it was a tactic, honest or not, because it felt like one and he had to prod it accordingly. ]

Your accent has been gettin' worse this entire talk.

[ that's unrelated to anything else. ]

Persuade, sure, but it isn't—manipulative. [He thinks? No. He can't doubt it.] It's manipulative only if telling the truth about how we feel it is manipulative. And we agreed it isn't, so unless you want to retract on that.

I have been tryin' to get you to listen. [Beat.] Trying. Now you're criticizing how I'm saying things. [Leave him alone??]

Edited 2017-02-22 22:36 (UTC)

Wait, wait, wait. Do you do our accent worse when you're tryin' to get me to pay attention to you?

[ and now he just sounds amused. he completely ditched the first topic - he doesn't think it's manipulative so much as it's a fair move in a fight? - because this is suddenly more important. ]

No. [Wait. Does he?] ...I don't know.

[Maybe? It just. Happens sometimes?]

That isn't important. I just do it sometimes.

[wait he gets it]

I meant that the point of what I've said is to get you to actually hear what I've been saying, not that my accent is for that.

[ this is completely the most important thing in the universe suddenly because it's hilarious ]

No, you do it a lot of the times. When we start talkin' and things are gettin' tense or you're arguin' a point you start slippin' up even though you start all not droppin' letters and shit. It ain't a one-time thing or even a sometimes thing.

[ at least dirk isn't saying "ain't" yet. regularly. ]

But it's not slippin' like I slip 'cause that's not the natural slippage, is it? So it's a thing you do at least subconsciously on purpose.

No? [Probably not? Shit.] I don't know. I've never given any attention to it. [wait. Wait, HEY.] You said before that I drop the accent when I'm upset. [So??? He doesn't do this???]

Yeah but you're not upset upset right now, you're tryin' to get my attention upset, that's two different varieties of upset.

[ now dave's actually just

laughing

which he hasn't done straight up in a few days but of course it's AT dirk rather than, like, with him ]

[It is Dirk's turn to put a pillow on Dave. This time he just straight-up pulls back to drop it on Dave's head.]

[ even laughing he can still block it about as easily as dirk blocked his own pillow attack attempt? so? ]

Do you do it with other people or just me??

I don't know! It—[THERE IS A MICROSECOND PAUSE]—isn't as if anyone else has ever commented on something as stupid and pointless as this.

[ dave grins. it's the genuine one. ]

You were gonna say ain't.

[FUCK YOU?]

Do you agree to the proposal or not?

Were you gonna say ain't or not?

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that icon is getting so much mileage

it really speaks to him right now

dave looks so annoyed it speaks to him as well

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2/2

COPY PASTES THIS OVER

sometimes the keywords are special

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