dave strider (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oculusriffs) wrote2018-11-11 07:18 pm
oculusriffs) wrote2018-11-11 07:18 pm
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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.]
like... 11/14? what is time
Between recovering from the jellyfish jizz he had to drink yesterday, a Peter Pan themed middle finger shoved right in his face, and Bender going on a bender with him, Ryuji's just exhausted himself beyond belief. You know what sounds really good right now? Dave sounds really good right now.
He's too much of a punk to head over to the hospital to get his hand checked out, but it's pretty busted from the healthily unhealthy punch he gave to the cooking robot. Straight up declined his fantasy credit card and everything, refusing to take any compliments or tips to the chef (stop being such a piece of shit and flooding the cafe, you metallic piece of crap!), and Ryuji is just... so hurt.
Like, yeah, the hand is kind of stinging and has a cute little cut on it, but the emotional pain of promised ramen, real, live, actual ramen being taken away from him is a deeper bruise than anything else.
Is he home? He wants a shoulder to cry on. Don't mind the leotard, he's gotten used to it by now. Kinda feels nice and breezy down there, actually, but that's NOT THE POINT.]
Yo! [He wraps on the door with his dominant hand, which, okay that's straight up stupid, but Ryuji doesn't learn.] Ack! Shit.
Crap, that stings like hell.
man i have no idea what time is
[he still found the time to decorate his side of the shared quarters. there's a familiar jar on his desk, and a familiar, though now torn, fishing net tacked to the wall. it's a badge of both shame and of triumph. on his bed, there's a familiar unspeakably shitty weapon and a ... suit?]
[anyway, you know how when you're so used to the absurd, no particular moment of absurdity manages to surprise you anymore?]
[this is not one of those moments. when Dave opens the door, he actually seems a bit taken aback by the complete disaster of a boyfriend standing in front of him.]
Dude, what — [hang on, let him just ...]
— what the hell happened to your hand?
it's astounding. time is..............fleeting
Mmmn... hm, how to approach this.]
Oh, y'know. Six hour jerk off sesh on the moon reaaaally does a number on your wrist.
[Jesus fucking christ.]
I kinda got into a fight with a pair of robot arms. And lost. I lost real bad, Dave.
[If he's supposed to be taken seriously, maybe he should worry about the piece or two of ramen lodged straight into his hair that he couldn't even tell was there from its camouflaged state.]
I was... I was so close. [Oh god, he's getting emotional, why is he getting emotional?] I almost had it. The real deal. Ramen. Like. Real, actual, delicious goddamn ramen. And then that thing was like "you know what? You know what, Ryuji? You ain't deserve this good shit. Go back to sufferin'."
Oh, uh. Bein' rude as shit. Sorry, how was your day?
oh ... shit
[it's been almost four years at this point. you'd think he'd stop wishing he had a bottle. or that he'd forget what it tastes like.]
[and somehow, it seems even crueler to hang things they've both been missing over their heads just to snatch it away and completely ruin it, than to simply live with machines that never offer decent ramen and apple juice to begin with. Dave understands. it's why he breathes a small sigh, empathetic, before reaching forward to grab Ryuji's (uninjured) wrist, pulling him inside the room.]
Not nearly that bad. Lemme look at it.
[he'll just be leading Ryuji to the bed to sit, regardless of whether he actually wants anybody examining his busted knuckles to begin with.]
no subject
And he definitely doesn't want to be fussed over, but they've been through this before, where Ryuji tries his damnedest to not let on anything's wrong with him because Dave would end up just getting worried over it. Like when the virus first hit and his veins were going all grimdark or some shit like that. So maybe it's a little bit of growth when he doesn't protest against Dave wanting to take a closer look at it, or maybe it's just because he knows it's pointless. Maybe it's both, who knows. If Dave showed up at his room with a busted wrist, he'd probably feel the same way.]
Yooo... I'm a modest guy, dude, you can't just drag someone into your room like this!
[Bullshit.
But these beds are so comfortable compared to the flat sheet rock back at space mountain. A moment of getting his shit together, though, as he watches Dave from his newly seated position.]
Think it'll heal, doc?
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[there’s no bite to that remark, pretty much like how there almost never is. if anything, Ryuji being gross just lends itself to a certain familiarity, like wrapping up in a blanket from home the first night in a completely new house. or summer camp. it helps hide any uneasiness he’s been feeling about this whole thing, exponentially more comfortable as this place is. it quells his thoughts of their supposed new task at hand. the way nobody really seems to remember what actually happened.]
[Dave sits on the bed next to him. he pauses. plucks a stray noodle out of Ryuji’s hair. he makes a gentle grab for Ryuji’s (injured) wrist so he can get a better look at it.]
I’ve seen worse. You sure you’re all right? [he’s not talking about the hand. or even the ramen, for that matter.]
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[He's definitely a walking contradicktion, yep.
But it definitely is surreal in a way that's neither particularly great or particularly bad. Celebrating the fact that they've made it out is just a bittersweet reminder that there were people that were ultimately left behind. Don't get him wrong, being here, still with Dave... it was. It was the best thing he could've hoped for? Is telling him that disrespectful to the memory of everyone else, even if that's how he feels?
That's a lot to unpack all at once, but having repressed bullshit running around doesn't do anyone a lot of good, especially when they were both trying to make efforts in not shrouding everything behind thick layers or jokes. He trusts his injury over to Dave to take a look at, and he knows what he's really asking, underneath it.]
You're here.
[Just two words, really, but there's a lot of weight behind them. Just one affirmation of an obvious fact, but it says a good deal about what's on Ryuji's mind. You're here, that's what matters to him, right now. He doesn't want to imagine a world where Dave's not. You're here, and, a lot of other people aren't. That's fucking rough to swallow down. You're here, and, even though a lot of shit doesn't really make a ton of sense, Ryuji knows he has Dave to ask him if everything's okay. And subsequently, being okay with everything not being totally okay.
You're here, and you kept your promise.]
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[Dave's six months removed from the fact that everybody he personally knew and cared about back home, with the exception of John, had met some sort of violent end — and, well, right now, he's stuck wondering if John was able to use whatever bizarre powers he'd blustered himself into to escape what finally took their universe. it's easier not to think about it.]
[to that end, that immense sense of loss didn't really hit him until much later — maybe around the time Dirk disappeared from the station, and he realized that everything about his timeline really was gone. and maybe it didn't actually hit him. it's more like it manifested as a shadow so desperate not to lose everything again that it was willing to resort to violence.]
[they were going to address that. it'd be hypocritical of him to let it slide now. but the only thing he's getting out of this particular thought process right now is that the same sense of loss he felt is probably really going to hit Ryuji later on, maybe when he isn't expecting it. and he's terrified that he, another discarded Dave plucked out of the bargain bin, another Dave who wasn't good enough to make it to the alpha timeline, but charged with saving the universes anyway, won't be good enough to help him through it.]
[that's not to say he won't try, though. he gently closes Ryuji's injured hand into a fist, trying to get a sense of mobility. he doesn't really think there's much that can be done for it; he'll just have to tough it out.]
[he doesn't let go, though, even after reaching that conclusion.]
Leotard and all. Where'd you even get that?
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[The flexibility there doesn't really feel quite right, sore and bruised as he was already. He might've put a little too much into that punch to begin with, and although some rest is probably all he needs, he wishes he were the type of person who could, with a straight face, say he got the injury doing something way less fucking stupid. Oh, you know, there were these Shadow-Grimm things just attacking left and right and it was like WHOOSH and POW and then the next thing he knows...
He's sitting on Dave's bed with his hand carefully being taken a look at. And it's not like he doesn't feel the survivor's guilt creeping its way in, it's just, yeah- exactly that. His outlets for expressing that are still pretty underdeveloped. He's the type of guy who'll spend hours at a tree in the Quad to carve the names of his friends into it with a half broken wrist instead of talking it out. He's also the type of guy to probably wind up crying on Dave's shoulder about missing ramen because a robot decided to give him a giant middle finger, when he's really thinking about how much he misses his mom.
But at the opposite end of that, he wound up coming to Dave instead of being alone. It was such a long day as it was, and as it really came to a close, he thought of how much he just wanted to see him. Ridiculously skin tight green yoga pants or not.
Which, giving it a second glance, yeah, it's kind of stupid.]
Oh. Yeah, these. Test of Initiation, I guess. It was this weird remix of Peter Pan meets the Metaverse or something. [A brief pause, as he wonders whether or not it's worth it to question the fact that in some way he thought of this getup as a form of rebelliousness. But instead of that, he'll examine Dave for anything out of the ordinary. No scratches, right?]
How'd... how'd yours go?
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You remember that skateboard I had? Made us use it as a bridge to cross this canyon of lava while some asshole pit monster from the other guy's world was right there.
[he just had to traverse a piece of shit Unreal Air. which reminds him of something, as he reaches up again, removing one last trace of the Noodle Incident from Ryuji's hair. Dave's kind of completely worn out from the flurry of activity so far, and he's just running on the assumption that Ryuji might be, too — this is probably the most exertion either of them have managed in a while, since their previous space setting didn't really lend itself to the usual, casual RPG activities, aside from the gym. and it's not like either of them were hanging out in the Metaverse leveling up on Shadows, for ... reasons that are kind of his fault.]
[it's why, when he does let go of Ryuji's hand, he moves to drape an arm around him instead, not that keen on cutting off the contact. and Ryuji's free to lean on him if he wants, physically or emotionally spent or not.]
Still don't really get what the hell was accomplished there, but. Hey — can I ask you something?
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[There was that one quest to fetch the component materials for creating a glove worthy of grappling onto the shittiest so------ weapon in existence. That was sort of RPG-ish. And maybe Ryuji had fallen out of practice in training his combat skills over time; all of today felt like one grueling slog into that first palace. Joker saying that they could keep going, despite the internal reserves of both physical and magical energy just... nearly wiped out. Ryuji had never been so determined to do something while running on not-even-gas-fumes at the time.
He's so, so easily calmed by these sorts of affections. Interlocking fingers, or an arm around his shoulder, or just the opportunity to let Ryuji hold onto him as he falls asleep. Every single time it happens, it could be like he's swimming in a turbulent sea of bullshit, and then suddenly the waters go perfectly still; could see straight down to the bottom of the sand, feel the way it just melds below his feet. Nice, simple, and unencumbered by whatever stress of the day has reeked havoc. The first time they had fallen asleep, Ryuji had put his worse off leg between Dave's, and it was forwardly or outwardly done with any intent to make a big deal out of it, but it had shown how much he trusted him. Tonight, it's just resting his busted up wrist against the top of his leg. Like it's okay. How could it not be okay? All of his own weaknesses don't feel like that's what they are when he opens himself up to his boyfriend.
Ryuji leans on him, then, head nestled and comfortable up against him, even though it doesn't provide the greatest opportunity to see his face. Huh. It's a good point to be made, though. Why bother intently pulling people out of their doomed worlds if they weren't going to pass an initiation to join up in a weird multiverse cult? The test seems kind of dumb when you think about it that way.]
Yeah. 'Course. You even gotta ask?
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It was. And, it's two questions, actually. [he runs his fingers up Ryuji's arm, a tried-and-true gesture in his arsenal, as best as he figures.]
One, did you get to keep your music? And two, I guess ... Don't go anywhere, all right?
[.....]
I mean that, literally, definitely. But also, just...
[it's not that he's struggling to find the words, he's just worried that saying, "I don't think I'm good enough, but when you're hurting over this, I'll be there for you. Don't try to face it alone," is just going to make it worse, or tear fresh wounds just a little bit wider. and whether or not it'll be effective, he tries to soften his meaning a little.]
I guess ... I'm trying to say that it doesn't matter how comically tiny or dollhouse-sized the room gets, if you're sitting in there, I want to be, too. I don't want you to think I'm gonna look at all the furniture that's about as tall as an ant's dick and decide I don't want to be there with you.
I know we've talked about that kinda stuff before; I guess the change in scenery just made me wanna say it again.
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But the question about the music goes unanswered in the wake of what Dave says after that, and even though it's absolutely his fault for not answering, his attention is pulled into a direction completely elsewhere.
There's a frown that's sprouting across his face that doesn't denote unhappiness as much as seriousness. For a moment, his tongue is struck dumb, because what do you say to something like that?
It's one thing to do something really courageous and dumb, put yourself in the line of fire to protect, or to keep someone safe from whatever was about to collide into them. It was another to hold a person's insecurities in their hand, remember that they're always there, no matter how much or how little is actually said about it, and still continue keeping watch over them. He had made Dave promise not to leave him behind, and here they were, Dave reminding him that he still wouldn't. Telling him that no matter how much he feels like he already takes up too much space, that there should still be room for him to be next to him.
And no one in his life had ever done that for him before Dave.]
Hey.
[Unusually quiet for Ryuji, as he's trying to string together what he wants to say. He goes back to their conversation, some months ago, where they were sharing music together and they talked about Ponyo, and how one day he'd take Dave to some record shops back in Tokyo. How much Dave deserved to be happy even though he let on that he had fucked everything up, only to be absolutely confirmed by that feeling later on in the Metaverse.
God, how Ryuji didn't just spill himself right then and there, shoulder to shoulder, is still a giant mystery.]
Remember how I told you about that movie I saw when I was a kid? With the girl who's a magic fish? She has a house that's, like, the biggest in the world. Can go anywhere she wants, it's never too big for her. But after she meets Sosuke, no house in the world is really the right size unless he's in it.
I guess, like. I feel that way too. Mansion or little cardboard box. If you're not there... then... I don't wanna be either. Just won't... feel like home.
[Ryuji takes a moment to bury his face more into Dave. Saying something like that, albeit incredibly sincere, is still enough to fluster him, even months into dating him.]
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[it's not all that important, just more of a buildup question to the one he had really wanted to ask.]
[in any case, there are a lot of words the two of them have come up with for each other the past half a year. cute. dork. Mufasa. Lois. Clark.]
[safe.]
[but home is a new one — veering off into uncharted territory like the planet they'd lived over for six months, and a single syllable is like a jolt straight to his heart, sending it skipping wildly around his ribcage. up until ... nearly this very moment, until the Director had pulled him to yet another universe where he technically didn't really belong, Dave had always wrestled with a thought in the back of his mind, reminding him that he had no say in where his own road was winding. that there'd come a moment where he'd have to admit that he'd already reached the end of his story, and that he had no say in when exactly he'd have to return to that final page. wander through the dream bubbles for the rest of eternity, searching for an escape, but never finding one, still looking long after the Earth that belongs to Ryuji had already been ground to dust.]
[okay, but that's not what's actually happened here.]
[it wasn't exactly his doing, but he's already somehow gone and defied the back cover snapping over him, to continue the storybook imagery. kept on walking when there weren't even any pages left to write on. leaped across two universes like it was nothing, as if that were his destiny, and not the death he'd been unfairly saddled with.]
[if it can happen twice in a row, if other people can manage it, then there's no reason why he can't figure out how to do it, too, when they fix whatever this Hunger's done to the other universes. there's no reason why he can't slam a giant middle finger on the page that says "The End," toss the entire book in the fire and choose to be home for a guy he's pretty sure he loves, even if he's not brave enough to admit it, instead.]
[Dave twists slightly, so he can better draw Ryuji into both his arms, wrap him up in a new resolve he's just gone and found, to go alongside the promises he's already trying so hard to keep. wherever Ryuji goes? he'll do everything and then some to make sure he's able to follow.]
Yeah, I get you. [sorry if he's squeezing too hard, that's apparently something that just happens when one makes a silent promise without actually articulating it. without going through the motions of the sort of oath a paladin would make to someone else, without the magic that comes alongside it. but maybe Dave will figure how those work later when he actually reads his pamphlet.]
If we do wind up in a cardboard box, though ... I get a say in what goes on the walls, right? I'm thinkin' fish nets.
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Fuck fate. Fuck anyone who tells either of them that they can't carve out their own path through things like they've always done. Glaciers can melt and form new valleys, rivers, mountains, Poseidon's Asshole, whatever- changing everything around them in their wake, and so can they. And if it just so happens to land on the tails end of the coin, and really all they have left is a tiny cardboard box in the middle of nowhere, Ryuji would still be happy with being squeezed like he is right now.
(Although, maybe with a little bit less pressure.)
But from Ryuji's perspective, all he sees is himself pouring out an earnest response, one from deep inside him that he couldn't not say, and Dave is turning and pulling him in closer. One of the infinite number of things he can count on is always have a running conversation with him that jumps backwards and forwards, like the pathways of thoughts that got frozen in time and picked up later to be finished. It worked well for someone as scattered, yet forward, as Ryuji, and someone that was often trapped up inside his own head, letting things swirl around until they eventually became blurted out. Maybe it was just one of those things of dating a time player, or maybe it was just them being them. Who knows- but either way, doesn't really matter.
Because, you're here, and Ryuji has never felt more at home than when they have moments like these, where he doesn't want to imagine a world without the person he's already given his heart over to for safekeeping. And at times, he might not be the most level-headed person or best decision maker out there, but his gut constantly tells him that not only is it the right thing, it's pretty much the only thing he wants to do. Love Dave, or something like that.]
Urgh... dude, what're you.
[Private promises are being made, he should be a little more reverent of the momentous occasion. Okay, this is his life now. He's just going to be pancaked in affection. Ryuji could get used to this.]
You sure 'bout that? How the hell are you gonna be able to leave out the front do---oh. Hah, yeah, okay. We don't gotta leave our box. It'll be sweet as hell.
[Yeah, you can definitely decorate, Dave.]
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Yeah. I mean, I kinda like the idea of a nautical theme, now that I'm thinking about it. [there is a torn net already pinned to the wall, after all.]
[and there's suddenly a lot of new things to be thinking about — places to start looking if he's going to keep this promise he just silently made. Dave isn't willing to leave universe hopping to fate a third time, largely because the whole point is to kick the whole concept of fate to the curb, and also because ... well, he doesn't really want being left behind to be an option at all. and if he's going to do this right, then he's probably got a lot of work ahead of him.]
[he'll worry about that tomorrow, though. for now, there's probably something to be said about the way he's sort of refusing to let go, even if he does shift, grip slackening slightly so he can properly rest his head on Ryuji's shoulder, forehead just brushing lightly against his neck. that's not really so much the position one should assume when trying to be emotionally comforting to someone who accidentally destroyed ramen, but it is a state of being that felt completely natural to slip into. and maybe that's a comfort in itself — like maybe the way they are right now is one of the many ways he sees Ryuji as home, too.]
Hey ... are you tired? M'really tired. [that's not a hint to leave at all. if anything, Dave seems to have already settled in for the night, right where he is.]
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...Provided they don't get woken up by a en edgelord looking to create a palace of cardboard for his hamnagerie.
Ryuji tries to wiggle his uninjured hand back to freedom, so that he can do two things: get them in a horizontal position where they can resume octopus'ing the hell out of each other, and make it smooth enough that it doesn't cause a ton of disturbance to this otherwise nice kind of thing they have going. So he'll do that; he'll do the thing, and try not to stab his boyfriend with his collarbone in the process.]
Yeah. [He didn't really need to confirm anything here, but he figures Dave wouldn't mind hearing it. He tries dragging Dave's pillow under his head, and notices almost immediately that it doesn't smell like him yet. One of the downsides of starting over, he guesses.]
Got a feeling... you're gonna be in my dreams again tonight.
[It's not a big revelation, but many of them had Dave in them as it was. And when they're situated with him still up against his shoulder, he shifts a bit so that for a while, until he's too tired to do so, he can idly rake his fingers through his hair. It might not be an immediate sleep, he still has a few things on his mind and it's impossible to calm down completely until those competing things stop vying for his attention, but for the time being, he can lay there and just feel how nice it is to have the weight of someone else on him.]
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[speaking of right now, there's a lot happening that, even by themselves, would probably be plenty enough to reduce Dave to a sleepy stupor. the fact that he's there for him to rest on to begin with. the idle combing of his hair. the light and steady rhythm of breathing. judging by the sudden quiet, that was pretty much a triple critical hit to his HP bar of consciousness.]
[right up until he does that thing where you jolt awake after dozing off sudden and hard, then catch a mild second wind. Dave reaches up and pulls off his shades, because he's apparently a dummy who just keeps accidentally falling asleep in them. it's a goofy habit that's persisted since the days of taking a gentle ball of yarn to the cranium.]
Again, huh? What other stuff you dream about? [that seems like a weird question on the surface. but then, the concept of dreaming normally is kind of weird to Dave — something he took six months to get used to. and as he asks, he draws his arm back around Ryuji, shades held casually between his fingers.]
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Yeah, he's a bit of a dummy, but that's his dummy, who up until pretty recently had a sylladex to stash his shades in when he needed to protect them as he slept. Ryuji can't see his eyes from this angle, not with the way he's lazily smiling into his hair, but he's always adored their tint whenever he sees them.
And, in the attempt to not be a horrible boyfriend and accidentally crush those shades that his best bro had given him, Ryuji will stop for a moment and try to reach out to them and get them over on the nightstand instead. Barring any resistance from Dave, of course- otherwise he won't push and just add a layer of really dumb bullshit to the world of regular people dreaming to the mix.]
Have this recurring one where I'm inside a me-sized hamster ball and Goodbye Kitty is chasin' me around Tokyo, but he's, like... I dunno, 15 feet tall and breathes out these massive lookin' tunas like fire breath.
[Yeah, that's dumb. But the other dreams he has all run the gamut from boring to kind of really shitty. He doesn't know if he's slept with Dave during the ones where he relives his leg getting broken, but it does come up every now and again. Dreams being dreams, though, there's always something off about the entire thing. Like instead of being at school, it'll happen in a shopping mall. Or on the subway and no one cares as it happens. That sort of stuff.]
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[he's not really thinking about that though. pretty much every single alert brain cell is currently devoted to trying to imagine Ryuji roll around Tokyo like some sort of Dark Deva of Destruction, while some sort of giant angry Tuna Lisa is in hot pursuit. he might not be able to see Dave's eyes, but maybe Ryuji can spot the way his brows furrow in concentration over this apparently very important mental image.]
Y'know, I don't normally knock people for weird dream shit, but ... that's really fuckin' weird, dude.
[that piece said, he shifts a little, rolling his shoulder. Ryuji's liable to put him right back to sleep the longer he continues with the light head scratch.]
I had dreams like that up until I was 13. Then it was dream selves and dream bubbles and dumb shit like that for three years ... it kinda took a while to adjust to dreaming normally again.
— As normal as dreams about bein' a giant hamster can get, anyway.
fuckin tuna lisa.
[He's entirely offended by the "fuckin' weird" part of that, but he's also a really bad actor and can't keep a straight face to save his life. Not to mention the way his chest vibrates upward as he tries to eat down a laugh that's getting caught at the back of his throat. Kind of hard to miss that when he's practically giving Dave an earthquake from it.
Ryuji also regrets that a little bit, seeing as how Dave looks pretty comfy over there, and it's not like he actively wants to keep him awake just after coming out and saying that he was tired. They've had a good number of conversations about the absolute shit-tier crap that Dave went through after his life got all video gamed and quest gated and god gated, a whole lot of gates and hoops to jump through, but he's racking his head at trying to remember anything about being dream gated. Bubbles, other selves...]
Dream bubbles? Dude, you lost me.
[And, as if his concentration had to be split between touching Dave's head or talking to him, his hand stops moving. He's kind of curious about what he's dreamed about ever since then, too. He'll just throw the second question out anyway and let him take whichever one, or both, that he wants to pick up.]
I just told you a deep ass part about my soul, so you're gonna have to fess up next.
its my best work yet
[it’s not like he has room to judge on weird dreams. if the initiation test is any indicator, if the way his contribution to the landscape was a really dumb giant skateboard, then his own subconscious also apparently favors the oversized recreational gear. ... which just makes him wonder if they actually make human sized hamster exercise balls for people to roll around in.]
[..... hm.]
[anyway, he’s also only capable of focusing on one thing at a time, though, so he goes for the question that’s easiest to answer.]
Yeah, dream bubbles are just these literal bubbles floating out in space. You can use one to visit other people’s dream bubbles while you’re sleeping.
Mostly, though, they’re just like. A dead Sburb player repository. Or an afterlife, if you want a less stupid way of putting it. Most of the ones we passed through were full of ghosts.
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Dead players, huh... Sorry, man. That musta been rough.
[It makes him somewhat uncomfortable to think about, though. The idea of something happening to Dave has crossed his mind so many times since being on the station and having to deal with a constant, real threat that the next thing that happened to them could have been the last... the idea of of this not happening right now- Dave being nuzzled up in his arms- it's pretty unacceptable.]
Just... fallin' asleep and bein' able to talk to people you'd never see otherwise. I guess it's better that you're dealin' with regular weird dreams instead, or somethin'.
[His hand eventually lowers so that it's just resting against his back, keeping him nice and secure against him.]
Gotta wonder, though, if that's really how it goes down. Everyone believes in different shit about the afterlife. Us Japanese people... it's either Shinto or Buddhist. You die and your spirit goes down into some sorta underground cave and gets recycled into all the other spirits, or you get stuck being born again to get a second round to do it better than the last. Eh, I don't really put a lotta stock in either.
But shit, if I was reborn and that was actually how it happens, all I know is that I hope I'd get to see you again.
[Ryuji...]
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[the second wind is starting to wear off, and Ryuji keeping him both steady and nice and warm is only hastening it, like a dust devil lazily unswirling itself, settling down to rest. whatever anxieties he had about this new base or this new quest earlier don't matter a single lick right now. all that matters is that he's on the very strong side of relaxed, and that's all thanks to the way he's being held by his boyfriend right now.]
Personally, though? Most religions sound like bullshit to me. Doesn't discount the idea there's a place everybody, not just Sburb players, goes to after you die, though. I mean ... leap frogging across entire universes is already a completely provable thing, despite basically nothing about it bein' logical. Who's to say that even an afterlife itself can't be some extension of that?
[...........]
I dunno. That probably doesn't make much sense. I do know, though, that you just said some really sappy shit back there, and now I've gotta do something about it.
[Dave can't really reach Ryuji's mouth from this vantage point, though, so he just goes for a kiss against his jawline instead. it's the perfect punishment. but it's also a reflection of the sentiment — the idea that leaping through realities just to see each other again is both a desire and achievable.]
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The thought that's swirling up in Ryuji's mind is just continually sappy, though, and he's being punished for it. Wherever the door at the end of this entire journey leads, he wants to be the one holding the hand out this time. Go and make a place where they can be- whether it's Tokyo, or Houston, or some magical place where people wear JRPG costumes every day. Doesn't really matter, as long as he's there.
But he doesn't really get the chance to say that when he's being so deeply assaulted with jaw kisses. And Ryuji's pretty weak to those too.]
Ahh... oh noooo... what am I gonna do....
[That's the weakest resistance ever and softly sarcastic. But the way he holds Dave is in place might give a better idea of some of that silly, worried sentimentality. With a wide smile against the top of Dave's head, he takes in the way his hair smells- huh, is that apple?- and settles in for the night in the best way he could think possible; with Dave.]