rakuen | The water line begins to rise

Entry tags:

The water line begins to rise

Characters: Dave Strider and everyone ever
Format: Any/Whatever
This log is: Open
Location: Mostly Pool; But eventually Black 2-A
Summary: Despite being told otherwise, Dave still goes to work. He ends up buying memory charms and heads over to the pool to try and swim a little. Swimming at this time of year is stupid. Dave thinks this is incredibly stupid.
Warnings: Sad attempts at swimming, stupid Striders, feelings everywhere, language, and whatever labels you can attach to a Strider, maybe mentions of death

The best way to keep his mind off things? Ignore it completely. It was such a useless tactic. Something that would backfire on him eventually, if it hasn't already. It's becoming more obvious that sleeping is becoming harder for him to get. And with that small memory charm tucked with his other ones, he was beginning to wonder if he should just yank it off and leave it off somewhere. At the same time, this memory was something that belonged to another Dave. A memory he didn't seem to even own. It scared him and confused him. On one side, it couldn't be that he had forgotten it. His Sis was alive and well. She was a message away on his PDA. On the other, he felt like something was amiss. Whenever he thought about it, it hurt. In many ways. Well, mostly in the form of a headache. But his heart ached too. It left him slightly panicked. Even if Bro wasn't who he grew up with, it was still a version of Sis. A version that died. And it freaked him out. It just added on to whatever else plagued his mind.

He got up early (did he even sleep? he can't remember) and headed to work. Things were always slow and mostly mundane. He liked it that way. Just letting whatever music played in the shop to distract him for those few hours. While he was weary, it was nice. He stopped by the shop. Recette wasn't there, but the mayor instead. Weird. He left with two memory charms. He wasn't sure who would get the second one yet, but he knew where one of them was going.

Of course, instead of giving it to said person, he ended up redressing and headed to the pool. The lake was still somewhere he refused to approach. Of course he's still scared. Even if he denies it otherwise.

He threw the towel to the side and stood at the shallow end of the pool. He just stared blankly. Dave must have looked so awkward. Skinny and pale and covered in freckles. His trunks, a bright red that contrasted strongly with his skin. He finally put a foot into the water and almost wanted to go back to the dorm. Holy shit it is balls fucking cold. Who the hell actually enjoys this bullcrap??! He grit his teeth and finally settled into the water. He could at least tread water to some extent. Actual swimming? Not so much. Oh, dog paddling. If you could call his sad excuse of paddling as that. Most of the problem?

Dave didn't want to dip his head into the water quite yet. That feeling of suffocation still lingered in his mind and he was still trying to ease himself into it. Treading water is really fucking hard to do when you're shivering your ass off. God, he's already considering getting out again. Why is it so goddamn cold? Isn't spring supposed to be warm or something? Dave never ventured too far from the shallower side, but he was getting better. Even if it was slower than he hoped.

If you hadn't caught him at the pool, you'll probably catch him heading back to his dorm, shivering under his towel and smelling strongly of pool water. A hot shower and maybe he can get to sleep tonight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dave makes his way over to the edge. Ugh. Maybe he'll decide to bring ASL club back sooner. They were right about always relying on his PDA for communication. He kind of just splashes some water towards Dirk, trying to get his attention before motioning for the other to come over.

God, what was he even doing.

As he's climbing out, he notices Dave splashing. Huh, that's... like the last thing he was expecting. Dirk stares, and the sick ink on his shoulder stares with him. He drops back town into the water and makes his way over to where Dave is.

"Judging by your little splashing duckling routine, you wanted my attention? What is it?"

Dave gently grabs Dirk's hand and uses his index finger to trace letters into Dirk's palm.

'Yeah. Wanted to ask how you learned to swim.'

Okay. That was a bust. He meant to ask if the other could help, but he kind of chickened out at the last moment. But...well trying to learn about the other wasn't so bad, right?

That's.

Weird.

Besides that time carrying a bundled-up Dave back down from the roof, and the fights he's been in, Dirk hasn't really touched anyone since he's arrived. Which means he hasn't touched anyone before. Period. Robots don't count. The feeling is alien and it sends a chill down his spine. He almost jerks his hand away, but partway through the first word he realizes what Dave is doing.

What kind of a question... He cocks an eyebrow quizzically.

"I taught myself," he replies simply. "I live in probably the same high-rise you say you lived in." As if that should be answer enough. It should, right?

Dave freezes up a little. Shit. Should he had not grabbed the other? Was that a bad thing? This was a terrible idea. He knew it was. Fuck. Fuck.

Oh he answered. That means he can keep doing this right? While Dave has had a lot more human contact than Dirk. It was usually in the form of strifing, not this. He was still getting used to this to some extent.

'Other than public pools? There wasn't really any large bodies of water around the apartment. I don't know what you're implying you know. Not everyone really cared to learn how to swim in Houston.' That strikes him as odd. Dirk made it sound like swimming should have been something he should have known how to do. But given the area, swimming was probably a leisure more so than anything else...

Still weird. Still so weird. He tries to keep his cool, but a hint of how uncomfortable he is makes its way onto his face.

He mouths the words as Dave traces them to help himself keep track, and that cocked eyebrow shoots up so high it's just about left Dirk's face. "Okay, Dave, one of us is missing a pretty huge memory here, and I am pretty sure it's not me. The area surrounding the apartment is nothing but one large body of water."

Because it's not like he remembers that other people just don't live in his time. So when else would they live?

Woah, hold the fucking phone. He is damn sure the entire city is smack dab somewhere in Texas. Away from water.

'Uh. Okay, that's basically bullshit. Before meteors decided to get too rough with Texas, I was surrounded by other buildings. Houston is pretty much in a sea of buildings and concrete and land. I don't know why you're surrounded by water, but I am positively sure I was not surrounded by water before I entered the session. Maybe shit is different, but I basically would not suck at swimming as much as I do if I was surrounded by water 24/7.'

Ugh. Shit. Well, now he knows that he isn't really a swimmer. It was kind of obvious, so whatever. He pauses before adding on.

'I can stop. I feel like this is basically as uncomfortable as having something shoved up your ass. Or you're just making faces at me for the hell of it.'

Oh boy. More words. If there is one thing Dirk is loving here it is all these words Dave is spewing at him. Words words words. He focuses on just deciphering them to keep from freaking the fuck out. Because a Strider -- whatever that means, he's the only fucking one from his world -- doesn't freak out.

"This is such bullshit. We were doing so well with all of these coincidences up until now. Where did we go wrong?"

At what Dave has to say next, he sighs and covers his face with his free hand. Facepalm. "No, whatever, it's fine. You can't talk, I can't read minds. It's not your fault I was a fucking shut-in until I wound up here." Dave had gone and spilled his secret about not being able to swim, as obvious as it already was, so Dirk feels it's only right to reciprocate. Plus he feels he should offer up some excuse for suddenly spazzing out like a moron.

'One of us is forgetting something. I have no fucking clue what it would be, but apparently it's something. Guess we'll have to go stock up on some memory charms. Well lucky for you, there's one in our room waiting for you.'

Oh hey. He somehow threw that in smoothly. Yep. That isn't worth questioning. Just tossing that out there.

'If it helps any, me talking is standard issue.' He's not self conscious. Nope. He's fine being mute. No problems whatsoever with it. 'Don't think any of us are really social. Kind of horsed around on the internet a lot.' And his relationship with Sis was strained at best. They weren't exactly social and it didn't help that Sis tended to not be around a lot at times. He was kind of just used to staying on the computer. Didn't really care about making friends with kids who saw him with a disability.

"Wait, there is?" Dave had gotten him a memory charm? That surprises him. He's sure Dave is uncomfortable around him. "Thanks. When I've got the dough I'll return the favor."

Hah. It figures that that's another connection between their two sessions. At least some of the players being complete social failures who never get out and only socialize online. Although Dave at least has a sister, so that's odd... But he's not going to push the subject. "Yeah, the whole apartment being surrounded by an ocean thing? I'm basically the only human being for hundreds of miles."

And there's that foggy feeling in his head. Instinctively, he wants to say Roxy is the closest person to him in terms of physical distance. But are there really no humans living anywhere closer than New York?

'Yeah. Looks like you're popular. Don't worry about it. I just had money and I don't do that much with it anyways.' He doesn't really care if the other does or not. He didn't buy it so Dirk felt obligated to return the favor or anything. He just knows it's annoying to not have your memories. Speaking of which. Seven weeks and he's only gotten one back. Eh... He isn't forgetting anything important anyways. Probably. Right?

'Ocean thing? You mean water? You're surrounded by water?' Seeing as Dirk tends to speak a little more intelligently than ocean thing, he's suspecting what one of the memories Dirk can't recall. Wow, this place sure does like taking water related memories. Wow.

"You're speaking a foreign language, Dave. That or your hand's started shaking, which I absolutely cannot blame you for. Should've known no one could handle skin-to-skin contact with Dirk Strider."

Because he didn't use the word water earlier in this conversation and he didn't take it totally in stride when Dave did also. That didn't happen.

Dave can't help but grin a little. 'Oh my god, dude. It made you forget a word. This place basically just went at a dictionary and used white out and selected a word at random. Let's replace dictionary with your brain though, and there we go. You seriously can't say what this is can you? What fills up this pool.' Sorry man. It's kind of funny of how useless and ridiculous a memory like that can be, yet be so annoying at the same time.

"Uh." Wow, it's kind of embarrassing how ridiculous this is. Letting out a deep breath, Dirk just sort of sinks a bit lower into the liquid surrounding them, whatever it's called. Of all the words Rakuen could have picked. Seriously? "Yeah, no, it's a mystery. I mean, I could call it dihydrogen monoxide but who does that except four-hundred-year-old smug assholes trying to prove a point in Congress?"

'I spent a good while calling jade and john that guy with the buckteeth or the girl with the glasses. This place basically takes some really important shit or some really stupid as fuck things that just makes your life difficult. Be glad you didn't forget you can't breath water.' Poor, poor Lemina...

Dave was shivering slightly. Augh. It's getting cold in here.

"Breathe what?" Dirk's mouth quirks to one side in confusion.

He's shivering a bit too, from the cold as well as Dave's weird hand-spelling shit. "Look, I'm gonna go. Maybe that memory charm you said you got will clear some of this stuff up, or at least tell me what all this weird aquatic stuff is."

He pulls his hand away from Dave's, and it suddenly feels naked. Well, it is naked, since shorts are all he's wearing, but that isn't the point. Once he'd gotten over how strange the sensation was, it had actually felt kind of pleasant. He probably needs to practice not being a failure at this, come to think of it. If the entirety of his human contact consists of dragging Roxy's drunk sleepwalking ass back to bed -- not a very intimate thing, really; he's never actually touched her skin and wow fuck it's so creepy to actually be thinking in those terms -- how is he going to maintain his composure when he finally deals with the whole Jake issue?

'Shit. This is stupid. The liquid we're sitting in.' Wow that sounds really dumb too.

Dave let's him pull away, and he honestly kind of wants to follow the other. Partly, because he still had some questions and he was curious to see what Dirk might remember. But it wouldn't be cool or ironic to do that. Being a puppy following the other around is as uncool as a Strider can get.

But it's also fucking cold in this water.

Maybe he'll wait until Dirk leaves before getting out himself. He lets his hand fall back to holding onto the edge of the pool instead. Well, it wasn't so bad at least. He'll have to ask Dirk about the tattoo another time or something...

Yeah, come to think of it he is pretty glad he remembers he can't breathe... whatever this stuff is. He feels sorry for whatever poor asshole got saddled with that bit of amnesia.

Dirk hauls himself up out of the pool and looks back down at Dave. He'll be fine if he realizes he can't swim; kid's not dumb enough to go into the deep end for shits and giggles, right? "See you later. I'll let you know if I solve the mystery of the irreconcilable Houstons."

And he turns to go.

Dave nods lightly and even waves a little. Once the other leaves, he'll pull himself out of the pool and dry off. God damn, he didn't really do so much swimming as freezing his ass off.

He's sure Dirk will tell him whatever he remembered, anyways. No need to go make yourself look uncool in the process.

After showering, drying off, and getting dressed, Dirk walks maybe a little too briskly back toward their dorm. The cool air is even chillier when his hair is wet and he doesn't need it to dry all weirdly.

The room's empty when he gets inside, which he's okay with. He locates the memory charm Dave left for him pretty quickly on the table beside his bed; okay, that leaves no question as to whose it is. But he hesitates before he picks it up. This could be something major. It could entirely shake the foundations of his world as he knows it.

Or it could just be the name of that one liquid. Either way.

After taking a deep breath, Dirk picks the memory charm up and fastens the thin silver band around his wrist. And then... Shit.

Holy shit.

No wonder Dave didn't know Texas was flooded. It isn't, for him.

It makes sense. There are other people here from the past. It completely explains everything. Dave isn't some alternate universe whatever. He's Dirk's ancestor, albeit at a young age.

...or an alternate universe version of his ancestor but either way.

He stands there, dumbfounded, for several long moments before turning and barreling back out of the room. He's definitely going back to the pool and yeah, he's lost his cool. His eyes are wide behind his glasses and anyone looking at him right now could read him like an open book.

Dave was no longer at the pool. He left awhile ago and even showered on the first floor. He basically hijacked the shower there since Dirk apparently takes the longest fucking showers. He is not waiting that long for your ass to get done, holy shit. Who takes that long in the shower? He wasn't going to freeze his ass off waiting for you to finish.

Of course, that also gave him time to head to the library to pick up some books. While, he would never tell anyone, he did actually practice signing by himself. It at least made sure he wouldn't grow rusty from not using it. Now with John gone, he had no choice but to just sign to himself if he wanted to stay at least decent at it.

...Wow that was a depressing thought.

Dave was heading back to the dorm though, book tucked underneath his arm. It was a little chilly out, and his damp hair wasn't really helping in making things any less cold.

Still, he took his time, his movements slightly sluggish.

Okay, so maybe Dirk takes the longest fucking showers in the world. Can you blame a guy for liking to be clean? No. You can't. So it's no wonder that he runs into Dave pretty much right outside the Black dorm building. Almost literally, in fact. He just barely stops short of actually bumping into him.

Yeah. That's him. That face, those shades -- aren't the same, of course they're not, he's only thirteen. He's Dave Strider. It's him.

Dirk is just staring, and probably making Dave a little uneasy. Finally, he just spits out one word.

"Bro?"

Dave stops and just stands there blankly for a minute or two. Uhh...

Okay, when he expected Dirk to come tell him about something, he didn't think the other was going to almost charge at him like this. This is kind of weird, if only because he is now completely and utterly confused.

He finally fished his PDA out of his pocket.

what the fuck did you remember???

The worst part is, he isn't refuting the fact that Dirk called him Bro. Because in some alternate universe, he had a Bro and not a Sis. It was very likely that...

Aww hell naw. He is not going to even let this line of thought get the time of day until he knows what the fuck is going on back in the session.

i mean
...
wait
just
what???

"Shit." Dirk draws back and reaches up to rub at his forehead with one hand. What is he doing? Deep breaths, deep breaths... aaaand he's calm. At least on the exterior. On the inside, Hurricane Dirk is still raging fierce with winds reaching hundreds of miles an hour, but at least he looks cool on the outside again.

He can't embarrass himself in front of Bro. He can't fall to pieces and make the coolest guy ever to live think he's a fumbling moron.

He pulls out his PDA to read what Dave is typing. And then, because he doesn't trust his voice to stay level, he types his response back.

I rushed out here like a fucking imbecile in the heat of the moment, but come to think of it I'm not sure what's safe to tell you.
The threads of causality lie in check and one wrong move could completely unravel the masterfully-knit time sweater adorning our reality.
The year is 2424 for me. What about you?

That should be safe to say, at least until he knows what Dave's answer is.

Considering Dave is pretty sure that Dirk thinks he's kind of a pansy thirteen year-old, it's hard to really think about the other as a fumbling moron. He's still trying to seem cooler to Dirk. He's failing miserably at that, though.

Dave wonders why Dirk switched to text, but doesn't comment on it.

so youre in the future???
its like 2009 for us
i mean when we started playing sburb beta

It made sense. Kind of. The difference in times. Houston could very well be covered in water then. But that didn't really explain everything. Did that mean they'd eventually win? Dirk couldn't be some direct descendent or anything. He wasn't going to dwell on it though. Until he actually knows what becomes of his own session, he couldn't really say anything about Dirk's session.

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pretend he didn't use the word water a few tags up goddamn

LMFAO OH RIGHT YOU DID USE IT...huh. WELP /pays attention

I RELY ON YOU TO KEEP ME FROM BEING STUPID. YOU'VE FAILED ME.

YOU ARE RELYING ON AN IDIOT. THIS WAS BOUND TO FAIL

If only we hadn't gone all night without sleeping...

#Good life decisions #nope

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