so age shenanigans "lucy what do you use your musebox for" nonsense threads and holiday cards

[parodeity]

[ one day dave strider wakes up and the tower isn't familiar or comfortable. it's place he's never been with weird trappings of familiarity. there are things that are clearly his or that he...thinks are his? turntables unfamiliar to him in specific except they're his exact set up. clothes in the closet a little too big for his frame, but the pajamas he'd been wearing are just black pants an a loose t-shirt so those are fine. there's stickers on the top of the bunk bed frame, the bed he woke up in, and some are sbahj. there are pictures pinned places he's mostly ignoring because they're too odd, and it's...

not his bedroom. it's not his apartment. after looking out a window, dave's pretty sure it's maybe not his planet.

which, okay. sburb has only just become a thing and already dave is pretty sure bullshit is par for the course. but a little more warning would have been nice? or any warning at all. the workbench in the room he woke up in is weird and a little unsettling and so dave goes...down the stairs because he hears stuff down there and smells.

food?

that is a weird thing to smell in the morning. what the fuck. he'll kind of peer around the corner with as much caution as he can muster, figuring he doesn't see his own corpse so either this doesn't go sideways at all or it just hasn't yet and - ]

Bro. [ deadpan neutral surprise, because, yeah. that's...no, he's younger, but still. hm. reluctantly, dave stops peering around the corner and drifts further into the room, regarding the kitchen being used as a kitchen with well but not perfectly hidden dismay and concern. ]

Comments

[splinten]

[Wow. How to phrase this.]

There are—things that I've had to take a long time learning. About how you grew up, with your Bro. Me. Things that you'd think I'd get instantly since, you know, me and that dude should be the same dude, but things that didn't make sense. You explained a lot of them to me, like how he kept swords in the fridge and that kind of crap. That hasn't been the problem as much, although you are a champion of omitting information on that front even now. On the other side of it, Rose has kinda... helped me not tear myself apart in self-loathin' at all the ways I manage to fuck up being a good brother to you. Like when I wanted to burn Lil Cal and she helped talk you into a state where you could have a conversation with me about it, and didn't throw me on my ass for being a stupid piece of shit.

[Oh. Wait. Fuck. THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BAD EXAMPLE uh he has the look of someone hoping he did not super fuck up]

[parodeity]

[ THERE IS...there is a lot in there. what the fuck burn little cal? theres just too much to respond to and - ]

...What information do you think I'm omittin'?

[ - and we are choosing that. good job, dave. ]

[splinten]

[Good job Dave the one that leaves him blank.]

I... don't know? Usually I don't, and then it comes up and it's like, 'Well yeah, should've realized that ages ago fucko' at myself.

[parodeity]

...Like at what?

[ DAVE WHY DO YOU EVEN WANT TO KNOW ]

[splinten]

[Dave stop. Yet Dirk keeps trying to answer.]

Like that your Bro put you under constant surveillance.

[parodeity]

That's a thing you wouldn't wanna do?

[splinten]

I don't do it at all. You don't want it, so the drones don't record things here and neither do I.

[parodeity]

But do you want to.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE OTHER THREAD

[splinten]

Not particularly? It's mostly a habit I don't mind giving up.

[parodeity]

Then why was it a habit to start with?

[ like...HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND... ]

[splinten]

[Well.]

I trained myself with robots that I set to surprise attack me. After they did I'd review the footage to figure things out. Then eventually, I developed an AI and I fed him all the information so he could learn. Not to get into the psychology about it, but mostly it was another way for me to analyse myself.

[parodeity]

[ he continues to not understand. um. ]

That sounds... [ neurotic? ] Lonely.

[splinten]

[Neurotic is correct!]

It was lonely. Like, I tried to pretend I was cool with it, but I'm pretty sure I'm permanently dysfunctional after that shit and can at best hope to limp along in an aping of normal humanity.

[He has just accepted that.]