[Tex/Action]
Jun. 17th, 2013 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clockworkhero[Dave had been slowly, carefully adjusting to life in Ruby City. It really wasn't any different from life before SBURB (not yet, anyway): Bro had him on a semi-strict training regime, one that was only slightly less extreme than the training he'd been going through before the game had ever happened. The biggest adjustment for Dave was the fact that he was now suddenly living with a motley collection of folks who were all related to him, in one way or another.
Tonight was the first night he'd really had an evening to himself, and as he'd quickly discovered, it wasn't hard to procure alcohol in the city.
So he tucks himself up on the roof of House #12 shortly after sunset, and begins fiddling with his communicator, shooting a message to his sister. He wasn't necessarily expecting her to come hang out with him, but he definitely needed someone to talk to.]
hey
you busy or something because itd be nice to have your ear for a minute
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Date: 2013-06-17 11:58 pm (UTC)This is a momentous occasion that must be handled with the utmost care.]
Would you prefer a metaphorical ear or a physical one?
I'm not exactly busy.
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Date: 2013-06-18 12:09 am (UTC)physical is a thing i could handle i mean
youre gonna have to wiggle your skinny sisterly self up on this roof
im comfy now and i aint gettin down
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Date: 2013-06-18 12:36 am (UTC)I will ascend shortly.
[And she does, landing fairly daintily on the edge of the roof and walking towards him. She blinks and tilts her head at the sight of the alcohol, but she's done roof drinking before and she can do it again. She's just surprised she's being invited up here while the alcohol is around.]
Now, I know you're not intending to torment a poor girl by refusing to share.
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Date: 2013-06-18 12:45 am (UTC)Fuck it. This whole damn place is ridiculous enough without me tryin' to stop you from drinkin'. I should know better.
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Date: 2013-06-18 12:59 am (UTC)Truthfully, I wish you had stopped me when I first alchemized alcohol. But I suppose if that had happened we would all be stuck in a doomed timeline; occasional drunk fuckups are more than a fair price to pay to be an alpha.
[She doesn't mean to try and blame him, because god knows if it's anyone's fault it's her own. It's just... now that she's had to confront Mom with the alcoholism, she kind of wishes it never happened. But now it's too late to stop.]
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Date: 2013-06-18 01:07 am (UTC)Don't think I haven't spent months kicking myself for not tackling you down and breaking all the bottles, sis. I'm the king of the land of what-if and regrets, man. The Knight of Fuckups and whoopses.
[He takes another swallow before offering her the bottle again. He thinks about telling her how easy it would be to quit - how they could do it together, side by side, brother and sister against the terrifying beast that is alcoholism.
But now's not the time to have that conversation, so he offers her the bottle again.]
If you say so. I guess. I dunno. I'm still not completely sure we aren't doomed just by being here.
[Dave leans back on his hands, staring up at the sky, shades still firmly in place, despite the encroaching shadows of the night.]
Maybe this is hell. Maybe we're just dead. It'd explain why Bro's here.
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Date: 2013-06-18 01:43 am (UTC)[Sibling alcoholism? Man, she's been there, done that. It's called a doomed timeline and it isn't pretty. But even then, Dave didn't need the drink like Rose did. If Rose really thought that Dave was going to end up in a situation in any way similar to her own, she'd be tackling his ass right at this moment.
But the Striders are not the alcoholics in the family, so she's not particularly worried.
She takes the bottle, drinks, passes, settling into a rhythm.]
Mm, I think there's a distinct lack of horrorterrors here for it to be the afterlife. And it's rather hard to kill us, as you know and have probably lamented on occasion.
But even if we were dead, I'd be more likely to equate Ruby City to heaven than to hell.
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Date: 2013-06-18 02:27 am (UTC)Probably.]
Heaven. [He snorts.] 'Heaven' put one of my closest friends here all by hs fucking lonesome for four months, and now the Karkat I'm talking with is a weird shakey shadow of the troll-dude I palled around with for three years on the hunk of space-rock we had to call home for just as long, and I don't know how the fuck I'm supposed to fix it.
[His fingers catch the bottle when she passes it back to him, and he tips it back, actually chugging it for a second. When it's nearly empty, he offers it back to her.]
Heaven, and Bro's here, and he knows that he died, and I'm supposed to go back to acting like nothing's wrong, like I didn't --
[Dave goes quiet, and he sighs, sprawling on the roof, hands behind his head. He tugs his sunglasses off, folding them and setting them on his chest.]
I've got plenty of shit to kick myself about without blaming myself for your drinking.
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Date: 2013-06-18 02:53 am (UTC)Admittedly, she has not spent much time talking to Karkat here; Rose has been too caught up in Casa de Strilonde and its inner dramas.]
Do you think that's your responsibility? To fix people? To fix things?
However it is that Karkat has changed, first of all, it is not your fault. You haven't been present here, and that is through no fault of your own. You and he both know that were you able to be here, you would have been. You can't repair him in the sense that he'll be the troll you remember; all you can do is attempt to help him be better than he is now. People cannot regress. They can only move forward, in positive directions or negative ones.
As for Bro...
[Pass, take back, drink, pass.]
Well. As unsettling and guilt-inspiring as it is to have our guardians returned to us so suddenly post-mortem, are you really going to impart to me you're not elated to see him alive again? That this isn't what you've yearned for for the past several years? My dear Strider, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. Not everyone gets a chance to see one's long-dead parental figure again years after the fact, and admit to them everything for which one had previously never had the chance, nor the gumption. As hard as that sort of confession might be.
[Rose is still kind of working on it with Mom.]
I say Heaven because of its potential. I say Heaven because here, there is no Lord English, no new session, no Jack Noir, no bearing the fate of existence itself on our shoulders. I say Heaven because here, all we have to worry about is an occasional unpleasant event and our own interpersonal problems, and how to spend as much time as we possibly can with people we care for. I say Heaven because here is the closest thing to a happy ending people in our situation are likely to get.
[It appears as if the alcohol is getting to her more than she realizes.]
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Date: 2013-06-19 03:38 am (UTC)[He falls silent when she speaks, listening, and by the time she's done, he's sitting up again, red eyes fixed on her. When she's done with her long tirade, he reaches to take the bottle from her, taking another swallow.]
Rose. You're drunk.
[He laughs, because it's easier than believing her, easier than listening to her.]
You're probably right, though, aren't you? In the game, everyone's dead and dying. You're a drunk, and Bro and your Mom are gone, and Jade's all nutsoid. Here, we've got Bro. And Mom. And DS is his own, and you and I can be drunks without it fucking killing anyone. It's nice. I think. Maybe.
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Date: 2013-06-19 08:33 pm (UTC)[Rose is briefly assaulted with a mild headache and wishes, not ofr the first time, that Kanaya were here. She would know how to handle this kind of thing so much more successfully. Rose's treatment is best with psychological disorders and homoerotic subtext... not broken people.]
Me? Drunk? What a despicable insinuation.
[She's still holding onto the vocabulary, but it's getting clear that she has to put effort into pronouncing each syllable.]
That's strange. Usually my depressing statements are made while sober. That's kind of the whole point of intoxication. Still, yes, that was the point I's trying to make.
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Date: 2013-06-19 08:43 pm (UTC)[He dips his head, resting his forehead on his knees, which he's got tucked against his chest, arms lazily looped around them.]
Whatever. 'm just...glad you're here. I guess.
[Now, he's thinking about Karkat again, and how - as far as he knows - his friend has none of his bros in the city. How the only person Dirk's got is Jane. How John's not here. Or Kanaya.]
Shit would be a lot fucking worse if you weren't.
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Date: 2013-06-19 11:36 pm (UTC)Fortunately Rose is just inebriated enough to forgo this protest in favor of happy wastedness. Her last few fits of such have been disturbingly melancholy.]
Thank you. And on that same note, I'm grateful that you've arrived, too. While it's been wonderful spending time with Davesprite, it's not the same. As I'm sure both of you can attest.
Though this is the second time this month I've gotten intox... gotten drunk with a Dave Strider. If I'm not careful it's going to become a habit.
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Date: 2013-06-20 08:24 pm (UTC)[He shoots her the briefest of frowns. Honestly, Dave sincerely hopes that Rose hasn't been comparing DS to him. It's a mistake he's seen made way too much - and it's one of the reasons he gave the sprite his pendant. He didn't want DS to be thought of as 'just another doomed Dave', because he wasn't.]
Well, I won't let it become a habit. Hard to have an addiction if your drug cuts you off, right? [The smile is just as brief as the frown had been, and a little bit wistful.] We can find better shit to do than get drunk.
[The empty bottle is captchalogued, and he lets one arm dangle, fingers brushing the rooftop.]
Though I gotta admit, this buzzy feeling is pretty nice.
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Date: 2013-06-20 08:57 pm (UTC)[She was stuck in a doomed timeline with Davesprite for months; she of all people should know that they're different.
As the bottle is emptied and captchalogued, she frowns.]
Nice, yes. Being fully trashed is even better. [But she's going to shrug and accept that tonight is not a night for that.]
I've lately begun to see why you Striders enjoy roofs so much.
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Date: 2013-06-24 08:01 am (UTC)[Now he's idly drawing designs with his fingers, tracing wavy shapes on the rough rooftop.]
Yeah? What's the Lalonde theory on that?
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Date: 2013-06-24 06:57 pm (UTC)[She hums a little and taps her finger on her knees.]
There's solitude and a view; what more could you want?
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Date: 2013-06-26 05:07 pm (UTC)And no. That's not an invitation to pick me up and fly around with me.
[He shrugs. Dave's gotten wistful in his buzz.]
Someone to share it with, I guess. Which is what you're here for, right, dear sister? [The smile he flashes at her is brief.] So thanks for that.