They come and they go, and they come and they go

[knightime]

Characters: [OU]Dave Strider and Open to anyone
Setting: Floor 48, Floor 25; Room 2-01(Closed to Jade Strider)
Format: Either
Summary: He's not involved with the Halloween stuff, but he's got some stuff on his plate anyways. It's gotten much quieter with more of his friends disappearing.
Warnings: Language mostly


Floor 48
Dave is doing his routine visit to the Graveyard. He leaves flowers at the graves of those he knew. It's just something he does now, since he can't speak to them anymore. It ensures that he won't forget them. People from his universe that have come and went. Those from other universes that he got attached to.

As he browses through the rows of tombstones, he stops when he sees two familiar names sitting next to each other. He stands in front of those two tombstones for a very long time. They've been around so long that he didn't think they'd leave. He should have considered it happening when Bro left. He finally drops some flowers on John's and Rose's graves before continuing through the rows and maybe just hoping a bit that he doesn't see new, familiar names on the rest of them. When he sees that Feferi has also joined the rows of tombstones, he feels a slight pang. She'd been through so much like him and she's gone now too. She's been here probably around the same amount of time as him. It's honestly kind of painful to see that she's gone now.

He's been here so long that he should have guessed this would have happened. He still kind of hoped it wouldn't happen again. He knew better.

Floor 25
He doesn't really return to his room after the Graveyard. Instead, he heads to the meadow floor to lie in the flowers. He was here earlier to grab the flowers, but he finds himself returning to it. It's peaceful here and he closes his eyes, trying to not think too much.

Dave is getting pretty tired of everyone eventually disappearing from this place.

Floor 14
He's got headphones plugged in. He has music on pretty high that it drowns out everything around him. He isn't too much in a good mood to try and converse with others it seems. He bobs his head a bit to the music, getting lost in it. It's just one of those days where you don't want to really deal with anything right now.

Room 2-01
He's been dragging his feet to check. He didn't see her name on any of the tombstones, but he was still scared. He didn't want to arrive and see that her name was no longer listed. He's relieved when he arrives and her name hasn't been taken off yet. Relieved, because she's not gone.

He finally knocks on the door. "Jade? You there?" He tries to keep his voice steady. Calm. He didn't want to seem like something was wrong.

Comments

Floor 25

[turntechtrainer]

They're gone. Dave went looking and found nothing. Just some new names in the graveyard. After that he'd wandered the floors. When he found monsters he laid waste to them with little remorse or feeling. He has to keep going.

If he doesn't move on, he'll analyze how fucked up his life really is. That's not something he has the liberty to do.

When Dave enters the meadow, he'll find his alternate standing in the middle of the meadow with Lady B. She has her head on his shoulder and his hands are limp at his sides. She sees him first, nickering softly at the sight of him and pulling away from her silent trainer to come check on him.

To her, they're both hers. Dave is Dave no matter the size. Or how weary they look.

[knightime]

Dave has had plenty of time to think about his life here. It's best not to think about it sometimes. Most of the time even.

Honestly. Dave looks a little shocked seeing the other at first. Like...he wasn't actually expecting the other Dave to be around anymore. It was just kind of assumed that if both John and Rose left at the same time, his Pokemon counterpart must have left with them. He isn't sure if he's relieved or not to see him though. Maybe a mix of both.

He lightly pats Lady B's nose, but she can probably tell he's worn out. That he's not quite okay. That he isn't sure whether to take the attention or push it away, because he wants it, but he doesn't want to want it at the same time.

[turntechtrainer]

Yes, she can tell how worn out the smaller Dave is and silently stays where she is, neither turning away in his hour of need, nor pushing what he might not want upon him. Out of the corner of her eye she sees her trainer raise his head to the sky, the wind pulling at his clothes and sees it come back down.

Dave turns slowly, still silent. What's there to say that his counterpart hasn't heard before?

Nothing.

So he just stands there with his hands at his sides, his sword strapped to his back. He could babble. He could comment on the things he'd thought would never be but that's all just a waste of air on something they both know.

"Yo."

[knightime]

He lets his hand drop from her face. He doesn't actually know what to say right now. Those two were from where he came from. He must have traveled a lot with both of them. It must suck. Well, it always suck when they leave, but it must especially suck.

"Sup." What can he say? They stuck around longer than previous iterations? That maybe they'll come back? He knows the latter pretty much never happens. He's seen it happen maybe a handful of times, but never with the people he cared about.

"I...you're still here." It sounds almost like a question. Like he's still trying to take in that Dave was still here. "Wasn't really expecting that I guess."

[turntechtrainer]

"Looks that way." John and Rose had survived through four other versions of him rolling through the land of pokemon. Survived the hells of recent days, now they're gone. He has to keep walking on, with his hands in his proverbial pockets. Last left to get shit done. Two Daves.

God the world is fucked.

"..." He starts to speak then just shut his mouth. No. He has no idea what to do. All at once it hits him that they're gone, like a punch in the stomach. He sits down, playing it off as nothing more than deciding not to stand.

But the reality of the situation has sunk in hard and fast. "When people left in poke world you get saddled with their critters."

[knightime]

"Nothing gets left here. It's like they were never here to begin with. I guess everything gets tossed or something, I don't know." It's just all gone as quickly as it arrived. "The graveyard was an added addition. We didn't even have that luxury before, so I guess it's nice that it's around." He spends a good amount of time on the floor.

Dave scrubs at his face. His eyes burn, but he keeps his voice steady. "It's probably better that they aren't here anymore. Joh-" He stops and glances around him. "I mean, getting tailed by units is kind of nerve wracking the best of time." God, most of the time, he doesn't even do anything suspicious. It's fucking ridiculous.

"I wish those two weren't the only people that left though," Dave admits. Feferi's personality was honestly kind of refreshing. It helped out a bit.

[turntechtrainer]

He doesn't want to talk about this anymore than he wanted to talk to Terezi about Bro. His eyes sting and he's having a major case of the sads but he can't even voice it. He never knew how and he doesn't now. "Figured as much." Wow, he is a man of so many words today.

He sighs as Lady B stays where she is, watching for the moment when they'd need her. Loyal gal.

"So including us. Who's left." His voice comes out a little flatter than he'd wanted it too. But then other him knows how he feels so, not really a point in hiding it. Even though he still will hide.

[knightime]

"Uh," he replies back initially as he thinks on it. "John and Jade? I mean there are other people in the Tower too, if you want me to include that. Chidori is around, I'm pretty sure. I..." There's so many names going through his head. So many of them no longer present in the Tower.

He rubs at his face again. He tries not to be so obvious with his sniffling. He can't cry. This isn't the first time. He's used to this. He can handle this.

He's not fooling anyone. Not even himself. This hit a lot harder than he had expected it too. He wasn't this upset when Bro left. But...at the time they were still around. Now they aren't. Still. He tries not to cry.

Floor 48

[icebutnice]

Simon's trek through the tower, exploring his new home, had eventually led him to the graveyard. He had been going over the rows, checking each name for someone familiar, and giving a small prayer for each one that wasn't.

And then he saw Dave. For lack of a better term, he froze. Not saying anything, Simon just stood back and observed, not sure of what to say.

[knightime]

Dave spots him. He's not extremely hard to miss. He turns his head towards Simon, sunglasses obscuring his eyes. "Wouldn't exactly say meeting at a graveyard to be the best hang out spot," Dave replies. For the most part, he sounds kind of listless. It hasn't completely hit that these people are gone from his life.

"You looking for someone specific listed on one of these tombstones?"

[icebutnice]

Yeah, Simon has heard that sound before. He had sounded exactly the same when it all started...

"Oh, just... seeing if anyone I know is here." he sighs. "Better to know now rather than later."

[knightime]

"So you're new here?" Well, that sucks. "You can find names here, but there's always an offchance that they'll show up here again. They usually don't recall ever being here, but I've seen a few of the same people come here more than once. It makes looking for them here a little pointless if they can just come back. There's nothing in these graves anyways."

Someone had checked before if he recalls.

[icebutnice]

"So they come back from the dead then. Sort of." Simon found that pretty believable actually after everything he had witnessed. Though, not dying was a pretty big surprise. "Well, as long as they don't come back as janked up zombies, that's fine I guess."

The silence was broken when Simon asked the obvious question.

"Why are you here then? If that's okay to ask."

[knightime]

"When we die here, they just remove our souls and put us in new bodies. So, not janked up zombies. But hey, they can probably make zombies out of us if they want. They kind of do whatever they want here. It's kind of obnoxious."

It can get really, really aggravating too.

"The tombstones here are people that disappear from the Tower. Their stuff gets removed and they're no longer listed in the room they were occupying. I have some friends that are here." He doesn't think he has to mention that they haven't came back.

[icebutnice]

"They huh? Sounds like 'they' are pretty messed up."

Simon looks down at the tombstones that were in front of Dave. He lets out a small sigh. "I'm sorry. Really. I know what it's like to lose people."

[knightime]

"The administrators here. There's a few of them that take turns watching us. Some of them are nicer than others, but that isn't really saying much."

He shrugs. "This isn't the first time they've came and gone. You just get tired reexplaining stuff though, I guess."

Floor 48

[longwinded]

It isn't like he needed any confirmation. He knew they were gone. Both of them. This would be the second time he strolled up there to look at their graves. Besides Dave, his double and Rose were the two that he had been through the most with. He had run to taller Dave's room just to make sure he was still there earlier.

They're dropping like flies. One by one they're leaving.

He's about to head back out when he spots Dave.

"Feferi too?" It was an idle comment. He's just as shocked to see her go even they hadn't spoken alot.

[knightime]

"Yeah." Dave's voice is detached. He doesn't want to really come to terms with these turn of events. "She's been here so long. Didn't think she'd get booted out too. I guess that's dumb though. Anyone can, no matter how long they've been here."

He drops one of the flowers he picked from the meadow on the tombstone. "She probably be better off not here. It was probably hell to try and be optimistic here."

Dave sure as hell doesn't really have anything to look forward too.

[longwinded]

Neither does John. He doesn't want to believe his friends are disappearing one by one. He doesn't really know what he would do if either of the Daves disappeared right now. John thinks it would probably tear him up just as bad as seeing Rose and his double gone.

"A lot of them are probably better off not here. You can't hope someone stays here. That is just asking for them to suffer."

This is just a heavy weight on his chest. What does he even do. What CAN he even doa t this point.

[knightime]

"Because living an eternity on a wasteland by themselves is so much better," Dave replies bitterly. He doesn't really mean to snap, but the latter isn't all that much better. "Damned if we're stuck here and damned if we're stuck there. Which would you prefer?" It's an honest question. Which existence is really better?

[longwinded]

"At that point you kind of just have to ask yourself what is the better alternative. Do you want to live forever in the wasteland or try to make it here." Neither existence is really better or worse. One is away from everyone, and one could possibly be watching your friends suffer.

"I made sure you and the other Dave were still here. Ha." He snorts. "I thought everyone was just...gone."

[knightime]

"Yeah, except we know there's an ending here. We know there's a certain amount of time left for us in this place. You don't really know how long an eternity is by yourself." It sounds really fucking depressing though. He doesn't want the latter.

"Yeah, well. This makes the third John and the second Rose that's gone through here. Wish you guys would stick around, y'know? It gets a little tiring to retell everything. Morbid story time with Dave Strider is starting to get stale and pouring my heart out like a teenage girl over and over again loses its charm after awhile."

[longwinded]

John wants to be optimistic and say something like, 'oh they will come back' , but it seems pointless. Their time here is up, and the rest of them have to endure what this tower has left for them. It really is fucking depressing. John doesn't know what to say, he hopes John and Rose are together.

"I'm not going to leave." He makes that firm. He plans on staying here as long as this place would keep him alive. He won't go down without a fight. "We're in this for the long haul."

[knightime]

It wouldn't be a very good thing to say to Dave, who knows better than to believe that.

"You don't have a choice whether you leave or not. I'm pretty sure all of us are thinking or saying that, but it's out of our hands." He sighs, looking down at his feet. "Doesn't matter though. People still keep pouring in here and getting booted out. We'll probably see others appear at some point."

this took such a long time to get to i am so so so sorry

[reddeadvirtuoso]

It takes a moment for there to be any kind of response; but eventually there's the sound of soft footsteps in the room. The door is very carefully cracked open, skeptically at first, before Jade reacts with surprise and opens it a little bit more at the sight of Dave.

"Uh... 'sup?"