004 ↯ audio

[feathery]

Who: Davesprite and whoever.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Indoors, moonside.
When: Now sounds good.

[Someone is done to death with masks and getting accosted by randos on the street. Thus, Davesprite has taken refuge indoors, since that's as good as it gets short of returning to the ships. He'd normally opt for text, but he honestly just wants to talk for a while. Even if his voice is equal parts bored and sullen.]

Sportball ambushes on the street are great and all, [it probably isn't possible for him to sound more sarcastic] but I got to ponder the selection happening in this contaminated stain on the face of space. Like, sure, there are "strategy games" [yes, those are actual, audible air quotes], but where my real battles at. You know, the wordplay variety, where you drop a witticism to a sick beat and slant it to rhyme. Twist that shit into ill verse and cause some deadly delirium not even the most decorated doctor could cure. Dude could be veteran to World War Disease and still find himself stymied by this nasty flow that makes even the gutsiest guerilla fold. Ain't a medic around who can mend my rap battle burns.

[A beat.]

So, yeah, maybe I'm only pissed about moon pollution central 'cause all these hostile idiots keep hailing me out of the blue and yet: not a single fuckin' rap battle. [This is definitely not the only reason he's pissed about moon pollution central, but priorities.] What's a guy got to do, besides deck himself out in a shitty respirator and biohazard costume. A live performance? God, this is stupid.

Comments

[frigidaire]

I didn't eat any. I ate a mind-controlling supernatural fly once, though. Sort of. That was fucking gross.

[ He frowns, shaking his head and even subconsciously rubs at his throat. ]

A dude back home had to dig them out of our throats. Ugh.

[feathery]

[Davesprite flinches and almost misses the button for the lift, before he awkwardly turns around and pockets his hands.]

That's...pretty gross.

[A beat.]

A mind-controlling fly. Seriously? [Why do all of his friends keep getting mind-controlled? Shit.]

[frigidaire]

Yeah, it was... it was pretty weird. Pretty sure I almost killed a few people.

[ But isn't that every story of his? 'I almost died' or 'I almost killed someone'. Isaac's life is complicated. ]

Sometimes I think I want to go back, and sometimes I don't. Because of things like that.

[feathery]

Yeah. Well, there's a big difference between almost killing someone and actually doing it.

[Like there's a big difference between almost dying and actually dying.

...What a conversation to have while waiting for an elevator.]

But I get that. I wouldn't go back to Asgard, if I had a choice.

[frigidaire]

Well yeah. You know, dead and not dead. That's a difference.

[ Captain Obvious is just gonna repeat what his best friend just told him. Isaac means well, but his head is a little frazzled still, even now. ]

Yeah? I don't know much about it, other than what you've told me, but it seems like a pretty weird place.

[feathery]

It wasn't that bad. Jade liked it.

[Davesprite just hated it by the end, that's all. Personal bias.]

Seemed like you got along pretty well there, too. [Uh.] Mostly.

[frigidaire]

I didn't -- oh, right. That other me or whatever.

[ God, this is fucking weird. ]

I still don't get that. Like, okay so I was kidnapped onto a space ship here, but if I was there too, I should remember it. It was still me. You didn't wipe my memory in some weird evil plot or something did you?

[feathery]

Fuck off.

[It's definitely a little less joking and a little more defensive—unhappy, really—than it should be. But he gets his knee-jerk reaction under control, just a couple seconds too late.

He lets out a huff of a sigh through his nose and looks away, crossing his arms.]

I don't know how it works, dude. I'm not supposed to remember a bunch of gods put me through the Norse mythology wringer, either.

[frigidaire]

[ Whether it's meant to be harsh or not, Isaac doesn't entirely take notice outside of the usual banter they put on. He shrugs it off.

The huff, however, does not go unnoticed. Isaac gives him a confused look. ]

Yeah, well, you do. And whatever, we're friends here now, too, so it doesn't matter if I don't remember that stuff.

[ Maybe, but it is still pretty weird that Davesprite knew him before. That it could have been another version of him altogether. ]

[feathery]

[Oh, look, there's the elevator.

Davesprite doesn't say anything for a moment, just pushes the button for a new floor, and the silence lasts almost long enough to seem like he's dropped the subject.]

It still bugs you, right. [It's a little sudden, enough to nearly seem off topic.] Even if you say it doesn't matter, Asgard sums up to like. Months that didn't happen for you, whether because you forgot or it's all horseshit from your future. [In which case, Isaac forgets everything he knows now and there's no real solace in that, but whatever.] Or maybe it straight up never happened to you and never will.

[Davesprite himself doesn't know how to bridge the fact that everything he's lived in the last couple years isn't going to make any fucking difference to who he is or is supposed to be, in the end. It's just a foregone conclusion he forgets, or he's a doomed offshoot of a doomed offshoot. That's the reality of it.

A part of him thinks being a doomed offshoot would be better. At least he's used to that. At least he still gets to exist.]

Like. That's kind of fucked up, isn't it.

[frigidaire]

Wait, what? Does what bug me?

[ He steps up onto the elevator, punches a button for where they need to go. Isaac kind of stares at Davesprite as his friend talks, trying to catch up with his thoughts. ]

I guess it is, yeah. I mean if you knew me there, I should remember it. I guess that means I'll just forget all of this whenever I get sent back home. Did you just come from Asgard to here?

[ Isaac hadn't put much thought into any of this, just chalked it up to weird space things, but what if he really did forget? He knew Davesprite before and now just can't remember, no matter how hard he tries. ]

I don't want to forget some of this stuff.

[feathery]

Well, Atroma is pretty low on shits to give about anything we want. They do just enough to keep us complacent and sometimes I wonder... [He trails off, vaguely flapping a hand.] Never mind.

[He rubs the bridge of his nose, looks down at the floor, and leans against one of the elevator rails.]

But I guess so. I'd say I don't remember anything else, but that obviously means fuck all. But no one here has met...uh. Me. This specific iteration of me, as far as I know, and we've got like a dozen different interdimensional hubs in representation. And I'm kind of memorable looking.

[He tugs the edge of a wing in sour emphasis.]

[frigidaire]

Yeah, I guess, but that's weird. So no one knows you from there?

[ Big words will confuse him, Davesprite, tread lightly. ] So there could be another 'me' walking around then? I guess it makes sense but that's pretty freaking weird. To know there are a bunch of mes walking around, ones you have met before.

[ He shakes his head a little bit, frowning as the elevator signals their arrival. He steps out and starts down the corridor. ] So it's either stay here forever and remember my best friend, or go back and forget any of this even happened. That's really messed up. I don't like it.

[feathery]

Best friend?

[It's absent, half distracted by a sign, but it straight up doesn't occur to Davesprite that Isaac might just mean the feathery asshole trailing along next to him.]

I mean it's possible y'all were the same guy.

[The way he pronounces "y'all" makes it sound like he might actually be from Texas. It also makes it sound like he's talking about more than two Isaacs...which he is, because Davesprite sure did get to see Isaac bicker with himself like Karkat when there was a surprise influx of noobs in Asgard. Seriously, there were four versions of Dave around: Davesprite, real Dave, a fourteen-year-old version, and one old enough to be his granddad.]

We just always got told we would forget. To preserve the sanctity of the alpha timeline or something, I guess.

[Davesprite, almost no one in Drift has any idea what the fuck that means.]

[frigidaire]

Yeah, dude, unless you want to be called something else. Pretty sure that'd be weird, though.

[ He shrugs though, not liking the idea that he likely did forget Davesprite and so much more down in Asgard. It's too much like home, when he'd been put under by some magic or whatever it was that had gotten hold of so many of them. He doesn't like being without control, without memory of what he's done. ]

Well, looks like I forgot, and you didn't. Pretty weird. [ He's not sure why it makes him uncomfortable, honestly, why it strikes a nerve, but it does. ] Alpha timeline? Are you short circuiting again or something? Did your bird brain take over and say something weird.

[feathery]

Oh.

[Davesprite looks a little surprised; while he has no compunctions about calling Isaac his best friend, he doesn't exactly expect reciprocity. It's just kind of a thing that happens when your only long-term surviving friendship is with your ex-girlfriend.]

Uh, no, that's cool. And I wouldn't worry about it if you don't know what it is. It's just time travel bullshit. I don't think it even holds outside of the frogiverse I'm from.

[Which is fucking unfair, but that's about par for the course in his life. So. Whatever, he guesses.]

[frigidaire]

Is it seriously called a frogiverse?

[ He has no clue how Davesprite's weird video game, time-traveling land works. It seems complicated, and it doesn't seem pleasant, from the way Davesprite talks about it. ]

Still seems pretty important, though. Alpha timelines. Did you get that out of a sci-fi movie or something? [ He's only half joking, really. Isaac isn't sure how to deal with the things he knows he won't understand. It's hard enough imagining another completely separate version of himself. ]

So you're saying there could be multiple yours and mes just kind of wandering around in different places, though? Like the me in Asgard wasn't the me that's here now or something. I mean that's easy enough I guess but how does time and all of that work when you have more than one winged, rapping, shades wearing dude around? Seems like one is more enough, but. [ A shrug. ]

[feathery]

The universe is a frog, so I might as well make it official.

[He shrugs back and gives up on the motion halfway through.

Christ, Isaac—this Isaac? does he distinguish between them? should he distinguish between them?—doesn't know about real Dave.

He stops.]

I'm not supposed to have wings, dude.

[frigidaire]

What do you mean? Are they fake or something?

[ He's so used to the wings at this point, that imagining Davesprite without them is almost impossible. ]

I mean that's been a great prank.

[feathery]

Uh. Well, you know all that talk about there being multiple versions of us floating around.

[It's weird. Davesprite feels guilty, like he got caught in a lie, and it comes across in the way he doesn't quite look at Isaac.]

The way it works where I'm from—I'm one of the multiples. An offshoot of the real guy.

[He lifts his shoulders and drops them, a little helplessly.]

Real Dave just looks like a normal guy.

[frigidaire]

So there's a guy that's just Dave, like. Normal, random dude kind of Dave?

[ Isaac does not look impressed to say the least. Maybe he should, though -- Davesprite isn't even the real thing, is basically what his friend is saying, right? ]

I don't know, the wings are pretty cool. [ He shrugs, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. ] So, whatever, you're a realer Dave than that guy. I don't even know him and I already know he's probably boring.

[feathery]

So what you're really saying is you think I'm boring. Thanks.

[It's a weak attempt at a joke; his mock offense isn't living up to the hype right now. But he's silent for a moment, before he starts walking again, too antsy to hold still.]

He's literally me, Isaac. Only better.

[He jams his hands into his pockets, trying to figure out how to explain it.]

I dunno if the concept exists in other realities. It probably does if there really are an infinite number of universes out there like physicists wanna say. In fact, there's probably one where we're some kid's shitty science fair project and he's positing this exact hypothesis to a panel of judges as we speak.

[This is not explaining it. If he's honest, he's not sure Isaac cares. Why should Isaac care? It's not like John did.]

But no matter how many different timelines are, where I'm from there's only one real timeline. The alpha timeline. And that's not my timeline because I let it get fucked up. Ok?

[frigidaire]

Yeah well, we're not back where you're from, we're on a dumb show in space, so as far as I know, you're the real one. And if that other guy shows up, you're still probably gonna be the real one.

[ Sure, it makes sense, somehow. Isaac doesn't like the way his friend his talking about himself though -- and it's mostly because Isaac has felt like that before. How many times did he think he fucked everything up when he was the one locked in a freezer? How many times did he look at his grades, his achievements, his life and think all of it was his fault? ]

If something was gonna get messed up in your timeline or whatever, though, it was probably gonna happen anyway. Stuff like that always happens that way. [ He shrugs, following his friend, though he doesn't keep pace, just remains a few steps behind. ] So whatever, you're my friend and I don't know that other guy. So you're like, the realest one. If that even matters. I don't think that does.

[feathery]

It always matters.

[It's bitter and there's real hurt in it, buried deep down. So deep it's hard to tell who it's even aimed towards, but it isn't Isaac.]

My best friend died, ok, dude. He straight up told me he was about to somersault assbackwards off the safety train into some fucked up shit and I didn't believe him because I was too busy freaking out over a fucking puppet.

[He's just. Pacing now. They're at the end of the hall, a tiny empty alcove, and Davesprite isn't ready to open the door.]

I was supposed to stop him and I didn't. And because he died, he couldn't help Jade when she needed it. So. She died, too. And you can go ahead and say it was supposed to happen, but it fucking sucks when the inevitable decides to pull a fast one on you and then demand you clean up the mess.

[frigidaire]

[ When they reach the end of the hall, Isaac leans back against the wall, folding his arms across his chest. Isaac doesn't entirely understand -- he's not sure that he can, but he can tell Davesprite is hurt, distressed, something, and wants to listen closely. ]

Shit.

[ What does he say to that? He understands losing a friend, thinking that you fucked it all up, that there was more that could be done, but this? This is different. ] Well, whether it was meant to happen or not, it still sucks, dude. That's messed up. But it wasn't your fault -- it's not like you knew that was gonna happen. [ If he had known Allison was going to die, would he have acted differently? Would he have stayed at her side instead of trusting her to her arrows? Likely not. ]

I'm not gonna tell you that you can't carry that shit, because I know it happens, but. You can't exactly take all the blame. People mess up all the time.