oculusriffs | ic contact for reverienet

Entry tags:

game: reverie

ic contact for reverienet

TG: this is going to be fucking stupid isnt it

[want to get in touch with Dave? you can leave a TEXT, VOICE, or VIDEO message — or alternatively, he shouldn't be too hard to track down in person. it's a hunk of junk space house. in space. he's around here somewhere.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[Way to ecumenically insensitive to the multiverse, Dave!!!]

I dunno why you keep insistin' on it bein' Mario, dude, Marco's Party isn't the same without Marco and just sounds weird as Mario

Anyway, yeah

Winking emote (again)

[look, copyright laws aside, sometimes the multiverse is just plain wrong.]

what
no
marcos the one that sounds weird
thats not even a subjective thing its just fact
wait hang on
whats marcos bros name again

also you should winking emote at me one more time

[What are you doing oh god Nintendo PLEASE DON'T SUE US FOR THIS INFRINGEMENT.]

Huh? How do you not know that?

Ruigi

[...]

AND YES THERE'S A DIFFERENCE IN THE PRONUNCIATION DON'T START THAT SHIT WITH ME

Winking emote

[............]

how do you pronounce it then
i wanna hear you say it

[you never know ... Ryuji might get a winking emote in return for his effort.]

[Okay, fine- Ryuji wants to make his point so intently that he records his voice saying the two. One is Ree-you-ji, and one is Ruu-ee-ji, but honestly, the difference in vocal tones is pretty fucking bare minimal. He listens to it once, and then twice, and glares at his smartwatch. What crappy quality, that's CLEARLY THE PROBLEM HERE.

But either way, he hits send.]

See what I mean?

It's completely different.

COMPLETELY.

[Is... it though?]

[Should he ask if he's having a heart attack? That uptick in his chest is pretty noticeable and his eyes wander upward to Dave to make sure that he's alright. And when he sees him doing perfectly fine, he doesn't bring it up; figuring that this is just a part of Dave being nervous or caught up in trying to figure out what the right thing to do here is. He gets that. He has the same problem, but they've been good at navigating it despite the headwinds that have been tossing in both their heads. But, yeah. The stronger those get, the better they seem to be at pulling in and here they are, Dave's hand trailing up and down Ryuji, and Ryuji subtly-but-not-subtle-at-all moving into it.

It kickstarts entire neural networks into overload, little forest fires all along the synapses, and even though that's happening, it's a controlled slash and burn straight to his heart. He's so calmed by it.]

Mn? Yeah.

[There should be more to be said after that really touching exchange, but Ryuji's so content to just be at the moment, that he's not buzzing around with a million words in his head all to come tumbling out within a moment's notice. It catches up to him, though, and it's a rare moment for Ryuji to feel like it's okay to be protected, or looked after. Even better when he hears Dave say that he wants to be there with him, side by side. Which isn't lame at all, actually. It's a really good feeling.]

You're gonna make that poor dude lose his job.

[The bellhop metaphor, right? He reaches across his own chest to find Dave's hand somewhere in mid touch of his own forearm, brushing his fingers against knuckles.]

I mean, if we're pushin' that cart to a vacation hotel room, count me in. Hell, I'll even tell the front desk that one bed's fine 'n all. I don't even care.

[Oh, wait. Ryuji's face burns again. He caught himself thinking about something he might've wanted here and now and intermixed it into their bantering metaphors that dance around each other in ways that keep the both of them safe from layers being peeled back. But pulling away from the comfort zone like flicking icicles off a rooftop, he kind of just... goes for it.]

Hey... Can I stay here tonight? It's... uh. I mean. Y'know. With you, maybe? [It'd be misdirecting if he said it was because he didn't want to sleep in an empty room, since that was a part of it, but honestly, it's less of a lack of dependence on Ryuji's side now and more of a... not wanting to leave Dave after they both just spilled pieces of their hearts out to each other. So he'll be honest about that, too.] You don't gotta say yes just 'cause I'm askin'. I just... uh, I know it might be too soon 'n all, but I really wanna stay with you a bit longer.

[It's his heart rate that's rising now, and shit, it's really, really forward of him. He holds his breath inwardly.]

[Dave had opened the door and let Ryuji in with some expectation that this might turn into a sleepover, at least, but then he goes and adds the "romantic getaway suite" point to this bellhop metaphor they're working with, and suddenly it sort of feels like they could power the entire space station on their heart rates alone.]

[he doesn't say anything at first. and he'd stopped the movement of his hand when Ryuji reached over, but after a minute he starts again, not absently, but not so hyperfocused on it either.]

[he's weighing how comfortable he is with the idea, of just ... designating a comfort zone and then sprinting out way past it anyway, prepared or not. what he does know is that the last thing he wants is to ignore that request, to leave Ryuji alone by himself with thoughts he might not have gotten around to sharing yet — he also knows that he found that his comfort zone expanded to include the last few moments pretty fucking quickly.]

[so ...]

Yeah, it's fine. Do, uh ... do you need anything from your room? I can go get it. [you know, so Ryuji doesn't have to go back in there if he doesn't want to right now. maybe more pillows and shitty space blankets, or hell, Dave can even captchalogue an entire fucking mattress if they wanted.]

[and there's something calming about that, too — about making the offer out loud. like even though neither of them really seem to know what they're doing, there's at least an idea of where to start walking next.]

[... right tap + saving that recording. for later. for non-nefarious reasons. that's probably a thing you can do with these smartwatches.]

uh
yeah i can hear it
sort of
theres a difference in like the first ghost of a syllable
anyway why dont you go with his name on my earth
start callin him luigi

[So the funny part about all of this is that... Ryuji wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Luigi and Ruigi in his native language either way. It's still the principle of the matter, thought... can he desecrate such a noble name? What's to come of the dearly be-hated Waruigi, then?

Also, what. Why are you saving that, Dave.]

I dunno man, why don't I just call the sky green or blood pink?

Because it is what it is and that shit is super important! What if there's nothing left to remember of my earth and it goes down in like history books or something as Luigi instead of Ruigi and then

Nah I honestly don't even care that much

Luigi it is

[Praise be to Nantendo.]

[In a normal kind of sequence of romantic events there's a wide variety of expected outcomes and behaviors beginning with- flirting, a date, maybe a few conversations about getting exclusive, snogging a little bit, steaming up the back window of a car, and then on the far, far end of that is sleeping in the same bed as the person you're seeing. Ryuji and Dave don't really follow that pathway at all, and jump constantly between points like timelines don't really matter at all. Maybe it's the station's particularly good effect of fucking with people, or maybe this still would've gone this way even if they weren't both here. Who knows, but... also, who cares? He went with his gut instinct here, and it wasn't telling him Ryuji, this is a bad idea, and usually that's enough for him to move forward to a point. Or several points.

He doesn't really know, of course he doesn't- he's only ever really seen one relationship in actual practice in his entire life and that mold was so moldy and gross and abhorrently violent that he's constantly left trying to figure out what that's supposed to look like in its healthy shape to begin with. But then again, he knows Dave doesn't either, so when he asks to sleep over long before the steaming up the shit out of the car's back window, yeah, he's sprinting forward far beyond the confines of the track lane that he has set in front of him.

And it would've been completely okay if Dave said that it wasn't alright, that they needed to step back a little bit and slow it down. He doesn't always know how intense he can be, which is something he knows about himself well enough that it's gotten him into trouble plenty of times. But Dave doesn't say no out of all of this, and Ryuji is wordless at the reply. Almost like he didn't expect a green light to begin with.]

Oh, okay, shit.

[Eloquently put, he sits up and out of the grasp he gotten so comfortable in. Wait, asking Dave to go into his room and collecting his stuff for the night? Ryuji wants to be stubborn here and tell him that it's okay! Really, it's okay. He'll have to go back in there eventually anyway, and he can't have an anxiety attack every single time he looks at the place on the wall where the Rise Kujikawa poster used to be. Because that's what it was, right? Anxiety that Ren was gone.

And yet...]

You sure you don't mind? [About, well, everything.] I guess... like, my pillow and blanket would be cool or whatever else you see laying around. And if Lisa's in there, could you make sure she has water? I know I filled up her food bowl earlier and. Stuff. Shit, are you sure you don't want me to do it?

[He unlatches his smartwatch from his wrist, looking down at it before he holds a few more inches away from his own body, toward Dave.] And, like. I don't really ever need much anyway.

[... wait, shit. did he answer wrong? was he supposed to be coy or less agreeable to make the both of them more comfortable? like maybe they should stick to the usual, expected line of dating events and work their way to this point? there’s a moment of panic there, like Dave thinks maybe he’s read the room wrong or something, maybe he should try to back up there.]

[but that doesn’t feel right, either. Ryuji wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t want to stay here, he’s pretty fucking sure of it. and following the “appropriate” steps to date someone, to build up a relationship by the books perfectly ... that sounds an awful lot like playing a game. like living one of those goddamn romance novels. input experience, output corresponding level of boyfriend, right?]

[Dave is so, so sick of games ruling his life.]

It’s fine, dude. I mean, if it is with you. [and he means that for a lot of things, too. he knows Ryuji meant it when he asked, but he can’t help but confirm again, a little bit awkward. maybe a lot awkward.]

[he reaches over and takes the smartwatch.]

It’s ... not a big deal. I mean. Yeah, it is, in about a million different fucking ways, honestly, but. I dunno. Doing shit our own way’s kinda been our thing since day one.

[god, that probably doesn’t make any goddamn sense. but Dave isn’t really talking to his current task of fetching some extra bedding.]

[Oh, shit, he can feel the awkwardness growing by the second, and Ryuji didn't really intend for that to happen. He knows at least, by now, when it's really not a good time to diffuse something with a joke, but those instincts are there, and he holds it back, because it's serious enough not to fuck around with this sort of thing. Because he sure as hell doesn't want to make this out to be some sort of game either. He could never be in a relationship with someone where things were meted out like that anyway.]

Dave, I'm like. Super fine with it. Like more than fine with it, really. I wanna sleep here, with you. It's just. Like. I dunno, old habits? [He feels kind of pathetic for mentioning it to him, like he's always this barreling steamroll of determination and confidence about most of what he wants or does, but then has these moments of self doubt that are pretty crippling. And it's not so much old habits as much as it learned habits, and even though he was the one who asked, he feels really stupidly vulnerable over it.

And what Dave says actually makes a ton of sense to Ryuji.]

I know. It is our thing. And if this is us, then I'm totally okay with it. Like, shit, it's... I mean, it's really exciting and a big deal, and I dunno what the hell I'm doing half the time, but. I just hope I'm doin' it right?

Which... yeah, okay, you said it's fine, but sometimes it's hard to think I really... I dunno. Deserve it. And it's dumb. I know it's dumb. Like, holy shit, Sakamoto, you have an amazing boyfriend who just said he'll go pick your shit up out of your room, and you're worried that you're asking too much already and that you should go grab it yourself.

[He breathes out a sigh, and now he's the one that feels like he's the most awkward thing on the entire station for a moment.]

[it’s not the first time Ryuji’s expressed a sentiment sort of like this. that feeling that you’re getting bigger, and the room around you is getting smaller, and the more like a burden you feel. he understands. it’s part of what makes asking for comfort or reassurances so hard. and at least in Dave’s case, it’s also not really knowing how or having the experience of asking in the first place.]

[so he’s not entirely sure what to do here. he lowers his head for a moment, thinking. it had been easy last time; he had just insisted that everything was cool and nudged at Ryuji until he finally took a nap, which, uh. well, honestly, that course of action would work here, too.]

[but Dave wants him to fall asleep with a better understanding of where he stood than that. he wants Ryuji to understand he can ask for this sort of thing without wondering if he’s asking for too much, because Dave will never try to be anything other than honest in his answers.]

[what’s the thing Dave would want to hear most right now?]

[he doesn’t mean to keep leaving them sitting there in painfully awkward silences. but maybe it’s happened often enough by now that it’s a bit more clear he’s trying to come up with something completely sincere.]

I think I get how you feel. I want to just say you’re wrong, and that you really don’t have to worry about it, but ... would that help? I’m not lying when I say it.

What if I promised to tell you? I mean. If you ever did ask for too much of me. Not that I actually think you would, I just ... I dunno, you deserve to have the freedom to ask knowing you’re gonna get an honest answer.

[That's usually the case for people who think they can take everything on themselves, because they never really know how to take their own needs into account, and if they do, it's usually through some kind of inward march. And that's not really how relationships go, right? There have been tons of times when they've done that exact thing for each other- so many now that it's getting increasingly difficult to say who's saved who more.

He's figuring it out a little; but he's a slow learner. They just got done talking about baggage, and maybe this is some of the stuff he carries along with him, like that explanation of the house he's getting too big for, and in that case, he'd be a turtle and all that dumb shit from his childhood would be the shell he's itching to get out of. Ready, actually, to stop questioning himself and stop feeling like he's always going to be too much for people. Or drag them down.

And, yeah, he's gotten used to the quiet pauses in between conversations they have. He knows Dave is going through an internal process at the moment, and awkward or not, he just watches him until his lips part to start. Patience here has always gone well rewarded, and he doesn't... really have reason to believe otherwise.

It's kind of surprising to hear that he's wrong, and even a little more surprising at how much Ryuji's okay with being wrong to begin with.

If anything, too, Dave's never made a promise to Ryuji that he didn't keep. Told him that their timeline was wrong when he felt it, when they were both close to non-existence. A promise to tell each other if they start messing things up. And now, here, an offer to tell Ryuji if he's ever asking too much from him. His shoulders slump downward, and he nods.

Suddenly, it feels really dumb that he didn't just come here the second he saw Ren's name gone from the terminal at their shared room. And it feels like maybe he was thinking too much about not inconveniencing each other to just be fucking okay with the idea that... yeah, it'd be nice to sleep here. It'd be nice to drape an arm around his boyfriend until he passes out, giving him something to hold onto when anything could just be gone in the blink of an eye.]

Alright. [He bites down on his bottom lip, sucking it inward. Alright.] You haven't lied to me before and I don't, uh. Yeah I don't see you starting now. Promise accepted.

Thanks. I mean, y'know. I'll try to stop worrying too much, too. It helps! It definitely helps.

[Which, pretty much leaves-]

So, yeah. Let's kick this sleepover off. Sorry in advance... if I snore or anything. Or drool really unattractively. Probably better if you do get my pillow anyway, since at least that'll, uh. Be contained to a place only I gotta live with.

[Dave doesn’t quite smile, but he does breathe out, seemingly relieved that he was able to come up with the right thing to say. the right course of action, the right promise that he’ll do his damndest to keep. and he shrugs lightly, pushing himself off the bed. if Ryuji is the type to snore, then there’s a good chance he already heard it adding an extra layer of sound to a mandatory pop music marathon.]

I guess I could let you know if you start aiming to break a sound barrier, too. [speaking of noise citations, Dave should probably warn him that there’s a neighbor who sticks to a pretty strict cackling schedule.]

[.... eh. it probably won’t be an issue or come up at all.]

Hold tight. I’m gonna go grab your stuff.

[that is to say, he’s going to go stare blankly at a finger in a jar for about five minutes, get into an (out loud) argument with himself over whether or not he should captchalogue it, then grab the actual requested items and come back armed with questions. please hold.]

[so you’re saying, if they were having this conversation in Tokyo, none of it would be making any sense?]

[i mean. less sense.]

there you go
luigi and his bro with the kinda weird name marco
so whens the play happening

Dave, I've been doing some research on the human tradition of vacationing, and I found some pretty interesting results.

[About equal sense. 0 x 0 still equals zero.]

Hold on I got an advance copy of the playbill

[As he sends over a picture of him holding up the handwritten invitations that Alucard had made. Lapis Lazuli as "everyone else" still makes him laugh.]

Thou mayest be there or be square

Cool, I'll be, uh. Here.

[To be fair, he'd recognize those screeches that go KE KE KE in the night, but it wouldn't exactly make him any happier to hear them. He's not the type to let the law do its own thing either; a noise citation can only go so far, whereas a threat of a wedgie might get better results. Total vigilante.

Placed on hold with the bedding department, softly mellow music plays in the background as he waits for the next Dave representative to get on the line.

And with Dave gone, he's left to his own devices for a little bit. Nothing that interesting happens aside from Ryuji getting restless enough to re-make Dave's bed. Can take the Japanese kid out of Japan, but can't take... the anal retentiveness of out him, really. And he comes back just in time for Ryuji to finish off folding the top piece of blanket downward.

He shrugs-]

Eh, not my best work, but in my defense, it's been a pretty long effin' day.

what really
alright
lets hear what you got

It’s cool.

[Dave ... has probably never made a bed in his entire life. honestly, he likely does what he did back home, when he comes back with freshly washed bedding: he probably just tosses it all on the bed and burritos. this looks a lot more put together, right ... right up until he adds an extra blanket and pillow to the pile, too. uh. ok. he tries to straighten everything out a bit after they unceremoniously flop out of his Sylladex. he also may have debated bringing over the monkey pajamas, but ultimately, common sense won that argument.]

[and he still has those questions he wants to ask, most of them involving Ryuji’s taste in desk decorations, but. maybe they should get comfortable first? should he make the first move? he bites his lip, thinking it over.]

[.......... yeah. ok. he’s got this. he kicks off his boots and climbs on in. scoots over to the wall so there’s enough space for the both of them. which is kind of a wild thought? not sleeping alone for once.]

[He stares on in horror as his bedding comes flying right out of an inventory system he doesn't really understand, one that could fling out a ouija board by ridiculously shitty algorithms- and all over the hard work that he had just finished. Both hands up towards his chest like, what the hell, dude, but it doesn't need to last longer than a second or two as Dave tries to straighten them out a little.

He can't really be mad, he tried. And as much as he has the urge to try and go over to redo what's been undone, he's also stuck in a weird state of..... oh.... should I get in there first.... Something tells him that Dave should be closer to the wall though. He doesn't know why, but it feels right?

God, they could dance around who takes initiative all day, and thankfully Dave is the one who goes first and resolves all of it in one fell swoop. He sits on the edge of the bed, and takes his own boots off. Another thing that always felt weird- entering someone's room with them still on- but he's grown used to it over time so that it doesn't really matter so much any more.

And he did say that as long as he has a place at Dave's side, he'll return to him; it's kind of corny, yeah, but it's still there at the back of his mind, even as he gets in and under the sheets. He's comfortable with the way this goes- Dave reaching out a metagorical (god...) hand to him to catch up if there's a lag behind and vice versa, and when he's settled in enough and the space between them is diminished, he closes the gap a little more.

He's nervous, a little anxious, and he doesn't know what for, since it's not doing him any good at all right now, but he does muster up enough courage to drape an arm around him slightly above his hip.]

Hey. [A greeting of sorts, as if they've just met up in a new place for the first time.] Gonna wear those to sleep? [He's guessing it's a yes, so it's somewhere in between a tease and a soft way of not bringing a whole lot of attention to the fact that... yeah, he's sort of holding him? And that feels really, really amazing.]

[something like this happens every time Ryuji’s wrapped an arm around him, right back to the very first time he did, when they were listening to music and it absolutely was more of a date than either of them were probably brave enough to admit at the time. but, Dave always finds himself instinctively leaning into it — inching closer in this case — not really realizing he’s doing it until he’s already there. it’s almost like he’s never had someone hold him before, even though he’d maybe always secretly wanted someone to.]

[and he kind of has a moment where he’s trying to figure out what he should be doing. reciprocating? should he stay quiet, maybe try to sleep like they’d set out to do here, or maybe he should start just sending out his aforementioned inquiries. or maybe...]

What? Oh — [or maybe he should ditch the shades so he can sleep. Dave, you big dummy! he’d been so nervous about getting some shuteye that he forgot to complete the basic step two of getting some shuteye. step one was getting in bed in the first place.]

[he pulls the shades off his face and, like magic, they sort of zip away into hammerspace. and, weirdly enough? so does most of the nervousness he was feeling. he already broke the ice and made an idiot of himself ... no reason why he can’t just blaze a trail here and get comfy.]

[so, he does. he slides his arm underneath Ryuji’s, setlling into a sort of half embrace, curling himself up slightly. he still wants to keep talking, just give him a few minutes to get used to this very bold move he just made — he probably won’t fall asleep.]

[He wonders when it's going to come to pass that he won't be slightly weirded out by Dave's ability to make things completely disappear and tucked away into a pocket dimension- like he always forgets that that's a thing. He was ready to offer to take them for him and put the shades on the nightstand, but the easier, and way safer option is to just keep them hidden in his magic invisible backpack. Ryuji smiles when it happens, though- he doesn't think Dave's dumb at all, it's quickly filed under the weird-cute section of the mental cabinet he has saved especially for him.

Which, again, he catches himself thinking that he's cute? This happens so goddamn much, but at least he keeps mum about it this time.

They're so close as it is, and there's a really good chance that Ryuji's not going to be able to fall asleep right now anyway. If they're going to play the game of who stays up later than the other, Ryuji wouldn't actively try to compete, it's just that... there's a lot of feelings here to commit to memory and adjust to. All he knows is that he's wired to be a physical guy, that he conveys his intents and emotions better through things like holding Dave than he can with words or turns of phrases, or bumbling through the same thing with a million "like", "uhm," "uh," and "y'know"s. This is at least something he feels pretty decent at naturally, and when he curls a little bit, Ryuji faces the inevitable question of what to do with his legs, since kneecap on kneecap isn't very comfortable if he curls up too. So he makes another bold move, and moves his injured lower limb forward a little bit, allowing him to tilt slightly on his side more to angle his way into being between Dave's own legs.

There's something unspoken here, too, and Ryuji's too shy to acknowledge it, but he's especially aware of his bad leg being the one he moved forward due to their positioning. It's, weirdly in some way, a gesture of trust, and he looks at Dave to make sure that this is okay, too.]

Man... I never knew two blankets could make this much of a freaking difference. [It's a joke, he's completely aware of how much more warm a bed is with two people in it.]

[he pauses while Ryuji moves, watching, not quite tensing, exactly, but just trying to figure out what he’s doing. and ... oh. it takes him a minute to deduce from this vantage point that that’s his bad leg, and maybe it says something about how far they’ve come at this point, that Dave cares more about making sure he doesn’t hurt it than shuffling through the ways he might feel awkward, or worrying about the things he definitely could say to make this awkward.]

[or suddenly be hit with the thought of how barely even five months ago, being warmly and comfortably ensconced in another guy’s arms was ... not even a ghost of a blip on his radar. and maybe there’s a split second where he wonders if it would have been a blip much earlier, if he had been brave enough to let it.]

[that’s not really here or there, though. Dave (usually) can tell when a timeline is doomed, and when it’s chugging forward in the correct order of events. and since they’ve both lived to try something new and awfully intimate together? still sounds like the right timeline to him.]

[but he finds a sort of half smile at that remark.]

Yeah. Kinda defeats the purpose of the monkey pajamas, though. [Dave, apparently, is just going to ruin every tender moment they have by bringing up those goddamn pajamas.]

[he lowers his head, though, so he doesn’t just straight up yawn in Ryuji’s face.]

Hey ... can I ask you something? About the jar on your desk.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 12 of 19

ic contact for reverienet

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

@nines

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject