No one's gonna fix me when I'm broke

[knightime]

Characters: Dave Strider, Shadow!Dave, and everyone else who wants to play
Setting: Some hallway on Floor 1
Format: Either
Summary: Dave finally catches on that the other Dave wandering around isn't an alternate timeline Dave, but his shadow. He confronts it in all the wrong ways. Cue boss fight.
Warnings: Obligatory shadows warning. Probably death. Probably nothing nice.

[It took a little hopping around, but Dave finally found where his shadow was. He was fairly pissed, considering they probably had spoken to plenty of his friends or acquaintances by now. He gripped the sword in his hand tightly. Just gotta kill it right? Then this could all go away.]

Man, what the fuck is your problem?

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Dave leaps at his shadow, sword at the ready, but fighting yourself proves to be difficult when they're just as fast and strong as you are.]

You sure as hell know. It would be nice if you didn't blather about inane bullshit.

But it isn't inane. You were too scared to talk about it, remember?

Oh hell no. Nothing you said was true. It's all a load of shit. You're a load of shit.

[There's some loud crashing and if you have the misfortune of being on the first floor of the dorm level, you might be seeing a lot more than you really want to see.

The figure was still the same size as Dave. But it was now surrounded by burning corpses, too damaged for anyone to identify. The shadow itself had peeling skin everywhere and a large gaping hole where the heart would be located. Floating over the hole are clock hands, slowly ticking off the seconds like an actual clock would. You probably don't have much time to stare though. You better either run or do something about it.

There's another crashing sound as Dave is sent into the nearest wall.]

Comments

[restitchtime]

Glad we can actually do something about this particular bullshit, then. Wouldn't want to exhaust your delicate sensibilities.

[with the addition of a couple more helping hand the corpses start falling more rapidly, even with the Shadow's interference. there's maybe three left after ten minutes of body shredding.]

[knightime]

[Of course it would be the last one they would get to. It's probably the tallest corpse that was hanging. Why they didn't grab that one first, is probably hindsight.

But his shadow seems to go even more berserk the more corpses they take down.] Oh, this is cool. He keeps trying to shoot more crap at me. [Which hurts.]

[restitchtime]

[one of the time clones pauses in dodging the onslaught as they try and get within striking range of the remaining corpses, looking over her shoulder to call out to Dave]

Can you keep up with it or do you need somebody to help keep your ass safe?

[knightime]

I'm cool.

[He just thinks he's done with fucking with shit for the next week or something.] You got a job to do and I'm doing mi-[Going to quickly throw himself out of the way. Those things are getting faster and larger. Holy shit.] It would be convenient if this were shit I could do. I feel like I got shafted in powers.

[restitchtime]

Don't. Unless you're really aching to become your own worst damn liability, in which case please feel free to writhe in fucking envy all you want.

[seriously, who would want to have their alpha self basically open to any attack conceivable while pulling time clones? it's a recipe for disaster if it's not managed right.

said time clones hit the last bodies with a thud, the sound of flesh being shredded soon floating through the air as they get to work]

[knightime]

It's basically become an unspoken rule not to be jealous about time powers in general.

[For the first time, the shadow's smile drops as he hears the thud of the last body. And for obvious reason too. The shadow starts summoning more clockhands to shoot at the clones trying to rip apart the body and send them at them.] Incoming. [Dave swipes across, using his sword to block some of them, but he can't get all of them, with so many.]

[restitchtime]

On it.

[how many clones does it take to rip open a body? just one. the extraneous clones all turn to meet the incoming storm of projectiles, blocking them with their seam rippers and their bodies if necessary. they're ultimately expendable, and getting this over and done with is priority.]

[knightime]

[Dave, in the meantime, was back to distracting his Shadow. He swung his sword at it, only to be blocked by a large clock hand used as a blade. Well, of course it would know how to use a sword. Duh, it's him. But at least it was being thoroughly distracted.]

[restitchtime]

[damn right it was. finally, with the tortured sound of ripping flesh, the Rose clone digs out the heart. she stares at it for a moment almost contemplatively before getting this spectacle over with, driving a ripper into it and twisting it cruelly.

she hopes it hurts like a bitch.]

[knightime]

[His Shadow makes a loud screeching sound. It wasn't human sounding at all. Dave backed up quickly, wincing a bit at the sound. Oh yeah, that definitely had to hurt.

His shadow starts burning up at an alarmingly quick rate, along with all the bodies that were attached to him.

It isn't long before the only thing left is scattered ashes.]

[restitchtime]

[the Rose clone curses lowly at the sudden inferno around her, skipping back to where the alpha is slumped. she nudges her lightly to bring her out of the stupor; she straightens up and they both watch the fire flicker.

Rose looks around warily, biting on the inside of her cheek unconsciously]

Is that it..?

[knightime]

[Dave lets his sword clatter to the ground, also kind of just slumping to the ground. He shouldn't let his guard down so quickly, but honestly, there wasn't anything to be guarded about.]

Holy shit, I'm going to piss if it isn't.

[He wearily picks himself and his sword back up incase though.]

[restitchtime]

[she waits tensely for a few moments, eyes flicking around the hallway behind her glasses. when nothing jumps out at them in a pinwheel of fire and damnation she allows her shoulders to slump minutely.]

Good thing it's probably not, then; I've only got skirts to give you and somehow I don't think you'd look as good in them as me.

[she tilts her head a little, raising her eyebrow as she looks at Dave. hey. they did it.]

[knightime]

[He looks back at her. They both look like shit, but let's just ignore that detail because this thing is gone.]

Skirts aren't really my thing anyways. Not really a fan of feeling the breeze between my legs. [He kind of leans his weight on his sword.] ...Thanks.

[restitchtime]

Aw, too bad. You're really missing out. [she chuckles a little. there's a part of her that kind of wants to pull Dave into a hug, some physical affirmation that they really did it and these cuts and bruises meant something, but even now she can't bring herself to be that vulnerable.

so instead her hand just twitches idly once at her side as she rolls her eyes behind the shades]

Nothing to thank me for. Somebody had to level the playing field and it didn't look like anyone else was going to step up to the plate.

[knightime]

[Dave isn't going to seek it either. He just assumes he should have been able to handle this in the first time. Gotta be independent or whatever.] I think I'll live.

I still appreciate it though. [He would have died. More than once.]

[restitchtime]

If you say so. [she smirks. lay the lacquer of that facade on thick, give them both a way to step back from this] Try not to let it happen again though, all right? You're pretty much hitting the bottom of the fucking barrel when I have to step in for anything but cheap verbal potshots.

[knightime]

If it happens again, I'm just going to quit. Get all that paperwork done and get my ass out of this shit. Find a new job being a bagger at a grocery store or something.

[restitchtime]

Like they'd let you handle other people's groceries. Do you even have the fucking qualifications for anything but intern at a torture tower?

[knightime]

I think I got plenty of qualifications.

[He glances back at the spot where the shadow was last at.] Maybe I'm just overqualified to be at a grocery store.

[restitchtime]

Maybe. Fuck if I know how to measure anything accurately. [she sighs a little more deeply than she'd intended]

We should probably book it before the fucking thing decides to come back. I wouldn't put that kind of shit past this place, you know?

[knightime]

Yeah. I think I'm done for the day. Tomorrow morning is gonna hurt like a motherfucker.

[He glances back at where the Shadow was last.] I'll see you around.

[restitchtime]

You better.

[she raises a hand in farewell, moseying off with the practiced nonchalance of someone trying very hard not to think about unpleasant things. after Dave's left she circles back to the site of the battle, hanging around for maybe half an hour before finally departing for good.

hey, if it did come back someone was going to have to deal with it. might as well give Dave a break.]