subnautica ic inbox 3.0;

[parodeity]

TELEPATHY | TEXT | VOICE | VIDEO | ACTION

GO HERE FOR NEW THREADS PLEASE

Comments

[splinten]

[Dirk waits the literal hour and then gets the shove.

He responds by holding on tighter.]

So much for Southern manners. [rude af]

[parodeity]

Go eat somethin'.

[ it's been too long since dirk has by dave's internal clock. ]

[splinten]

Come with?

[He won't demand Dave eat but he doesn't want to leave him alone.]

[parodeity]

Yeah, ok.

[ so, like, let him go so he can roll out of bed, dirk. ]

[splinten]

[...No he won't do that.]

[parodeity]

[ ok dave will cheat. suddenly!!! he is not in dirk's arms but is standing in the middle of the room.

he literally just froze dirk so he could squirm out and climb over him. also he like detours towards the closet but then changes his mind and decides he's staying in pajamas today f u c k it and so goes to the stairs instead. ]

[splinten]

What the fuck!

[He throws himself out of bed and he

literally jumps to try to land on Dave and get a piggyback out of Dave? What the hell Dirk.]

[parodeity]

Can't go anywhere if you won't let go.

[ he sidesteps??????? and slides into a position that's easier to strife in, although it's not a bad sort of defensive, exactly. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk lands on his feet, and obviously doesn't strife. Seeing that posture assumed does make him feel bad but he tries to keep it off his expression. Dave doesn't need to feel worse.]

Obviously, you can.

[parodeity]

Ok. I'll handicap. Catch me if you think you can.

[ his weight shifts with the dare. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk's head tilts.]

I have no issues with being the slowest Strider in the tower.

[He is just going to walk downstairs.]

[parodeity]

[ yeah, okay. give dave like three minutes before he follows with a blank expression, hands in his pockets. he'll just sit at the kitchen table and let dirk do whatever he's gonna do. ]

[splinten]

[Three minutes is a long time. Dirk can only assume it's proportionate to what kind of mistake he made. He starts making a simple breakfast, enough for two. It's the kind that would be easy to digest for someone who tends to have trouble eating when he hates himself.

So Dave, mostly, but Dirk sometimes.]

You said you thought he wanted you to be more competitive.

[parodeity]

Probably? [ it's a vague guess and sometimes he's sure about it and sometimes he isn't. trying to read bro's motives even with years of perspective is still an impossible task. ] I wasn't whatever I was supposed to be, that's really all I can say.

[splinten]

[It's stupid. Dirk spends a ridiculous amount of time trying to understand Dave in turn.]

The idea of you acting competitively towards me after your last words of the night being a declaration that you need to change for me—[Well. He breaks off.] Did you really want to race?

[parodeity]

[ do dirk a favor and don't let him ever compare trying to understand dave to trying to understand bro or he will bsod and then dirk will bsod and then where will they be???

dave's eyes flicks up from the table, which was fascinating. ]

I don't know. Maybe? I want to - [ vague shrugging motion. ] I just wanted to fuck around.

[ it wasn't a serious offer but it wasn't...not serious? it was a request to do something stupid and not think. he wasn't that concerned with the outcome. ]

[splinten]

[no let's just burn everything down]

Do you want to build that DDR machine?

[parodeity]

[ they're halfway there, dave's just sitting there thinking how much he hates himself for like. not even being able to play-fight with his brother??? so?????? ]

Sure. [ he has zero interest in the ddr machine now but his objections are...equally zero, so why not. ] Didn't have plans today anyway.

[splinten]

[God. Dirk breathes. He puts the food on the table. He sits down across from Dave.]

Are we in a spiral of blaming ourselves for each other's self-blame right now?

[parodeity]

...Probably? If our history is anythin' to go by.

[ however, dirk is wrong and dave is right about who is to blame, obviously,,, ]

It's obviously not anyone else's fault. Hey, if we want to have a really good time we can argue about who was at fault for like, the dinosaurs. And whatever.

[splinten]

Me, obviously. [Re: dinosaurs, and also everything. He frowns.]

We could try to figure out how to make it stop.

[parodeity]

Workin' on it. [ terse and without inflection. he meant exactly what he said the other night. ]

[splinten]

[It won't work. He stops himself from coming out with that from tearing down another choice. From walling Dave in more.]

What's your way of workin' on it?

[parodeity]

Learnin' different. [ although he's not sure that even matters? but he can't make any choice right now so he may as well just learn to cut off caring so he can. ] I know what's right so it ain't gonna be that hard to mesh with it.

[splinten]

Could we... Would you be willing to talk with me about tryin' another way to work on it?

[This one will only make Dirk hate himself more. He can't say that though. Dave always wants him to say how he feels but right now he is sure the best thing he can do is stay calm and try to follow along.]