[Dave's not all that great at sticking with one topic either, honestly, and even though he's supposed to be circling back to his hand in creating the Green Sun, he just. zeroes right in on Ryuji's story instead.]

[and it is a hell of an origin story. maybe he wasn't there to see it for himself, but there's absolutely something admirable in finding the guts to stand up to a piece of shit who'd already won once before, and was probably on track to win again. it's probably silly to mention how much Dave can relate to that, because they relate to each other on pretty much everything, honestly, but there it is. he and Ryuji just wear all those similar traits and experiences differently.]

[he ... isn't really sure how to express that, exactly, so he goes for asking his own questions, instead. because, he's realizing there's a lot he doesn't know about the sort of shit Ryuji faced back home, too, even if he never expected to have to face it here. maybe it doesn't hurt to sort it all out with each other, just in case something else like that happens again.]

[which, god. nobody aboard this space station deserves Homestuck mechanics.]

And you ... fought him. Uh. Stole his heart. Dunno if those two concepts are really interchangeable or not. You said it was in a palace, right?