It's an impossible world

[knightime]

Dave remembers pain.

Well, that's accurate and not. He remembers everything quite well. It plays kind of like a really bad dream. But he also know that's not quite accurate either, because it wasn't a dream. It was real. It's almost amusing how terrible things can be and still be real in this place. When Dave wakes up the first thought is how painful it was.

It's not new though. He's used to those kind of things when it comes to Jason and it comes to this place. But it always goes away. It's never permanent. Just some stupid hell that Jason inflicts on them whenever his month rolls by.

He can't help but let out a nervous laugh. Instead of the sound of his voice he just hears airy breaths and for a second his heart stops. He sits up right and presses his hands to his throat. It's perfectly fine. He can't feel any marks. Nothing that would indicate what happened. He tries to speak. Still nothing.

He tries to scream. It's dead silent. Dave swallows. It's a bad dream. This is just a nightmare. It can't possibly be real. He's just dreaming and he'll wake up and it's some hellbent punishment that he's experienced before. Except he knows he's just fooling himself.

Dave numbly gets back to his feet. He feels humiliated in some way. Slighted. He can't face anyone. He should have been more careful. Can you even be careful in this place? How long can he avoid people before it becomes obvious he's avoiding them. He's already counting the seconds.

Comments

[knightime]

The words are soothing in wondrous ways. He never realized how much he missed hearing people. Missed voices that belonged to other beings. It was dumb to try and live a life of silence. Not when he was always someone who immersed himself in sound.

He finally pulls back and he has it in him to look a little sheepish, shuffling from foot to foot. Maybe he should wait until the other finishes showering.

[turntechtrainer]

He doesn't let go, but he eases his grip a little. "You're already soaked, you might want to just strip and join me." Dave wouldn't care. They're the same guy. Technically. Or whenever it's convenient to call themselves the exact same dude. He lets go entirely to turn around and casts a glance around for the soap. he spots it, stuffs his foot right under it and flips it to his right hand.

Such a handy fucking trick. He loves it so for the lack of needing to put the soap on a damn rope.

[knightime]

Dave struggles a bit to get his clothes off with how heavy they've gotten and how they cling to his body. Still, he gets them off, letting them drop to the floor with a large flopping sound.

He's got some old scars and some fresh injuries that seem to be steadily healing. It's a good and bad sign. It means Dave hasn't died recently. It also means he's been fighting and probably by himself.

[turntechtrainer]

He looks back at him in time to see the fresher injuries and his flat expression so much like Bro's goes subtly flatter. At first he could be mistaken for checking Dave out. It takes only a few seconds for him to twist around and deliver a wet slap to his other self's hip.

Not that he really is one to talk. His back and chest are covered with old scars. Dave has thrown himself into every battle possible. As the experiments went on (one time he was a werewolf and needed put down), so did scars layer over one another. He snorts, and turns back around to keep scrubbing. Don't fight alone, dumbass.

[knightime]

Dave jumps and his face immediately flushes when the other slaps him. Despite the Tower hardening him, there's still the signs that the Tower didn't completely take him away.

He sticks his tongue out at the other and flips him off. You seriously did that. But he won't be fighting alone anymore. He's giving that up for good. He isn't cut out to be alone.

[turntechtrainer]

Dave snorts at him. They're still enough alike he has a good guess what his counterpart just did. "Sorry bro, I don't take random offers." Comebacks like that have served him well over the years growing up in the tower. Usually meant to embarrass other people, but in this case just to point out the obvious.

[knightime]

He rolls his eyes when the other says that. He isn't surprised because that would have been something he would have said. Instead he let's out a breathy laugh and smacks Dave's butt before taking the soap from him.

And if he was arrogant, he would have noted that he's the best random offer he'd get anyways.

[turntechtrainer]

Now it's on. Dave let's out a startled yelp and reaches back to pinch his other self. He's a bit red in the face, a sign that the terrifying master of swords and other sharp objects is still capable of embarrassment. "Wow no! Don't go slapping my ass you dick!"

Arrogant or not, it was the best offer really. No one else to see the crap he didn't want to expose to the world or the tower at large.

[knightime]

He laughs a bit more at that yelp and that face. Hahah, guess who can't make embarrassing yelping noises. Yeah, it's this dude. Ain't that a blessing? No embarrassing fucking noises like yelps and screams. He moves to flick Dave's ear in retaliation to the pinch. He has the biggest shit eating grin on his face.

[turntechtrainer]

No it's terrible. Dave feels the flick and snaps at the finger with his teeth. He barely misses it. "Asshole." He grumbles and aims a half-hearted kick at him. He's grinning a bit too much. Seeing his other self play around makes him feel better about the breakdown he just witnessed. It had probably needed to happen. As much as his own will whenever it finally occurs.

[knightime]

Dave backs up to avoid the kick and outlines a heart with his fingers in the air. This was very much needed. The horsing around. The, just being near someone. Even if they were awkwardly naked in the shower together.

But he hasn't felt this light in awhile. This relaxed and honestly? This happy. So he does what he feels like is right. He leans forward to press his mouth against Dave's cheek. That's fine right? You can kiss your friend on the cheek. Why would it be weird? It's just a form of physical affection and Dave will take what he can get as far as physical affection and expressing it. He'd do it to John and Rose too. Because they're also his friends and deserve it.

[turntechtrainer]

He catches sight of the heart out of the corner of his good eye and flips Dave off. Now the problem with that was he turned his head at the same time. That's not his cheek getting kissed, brah. His eye widens and his brain forgets what the fuck he was thinking about. Bsod, he needs to reboot.

[knightime]

Dave immediately pulls back and, oh shit. That wasn't what he was trying to do. He's more embarrassed for accidentally kissing Dave on the mouth than...the actual action of kissing Dave on the mouth.

UH. He's making a hell of a lot of hand movement. He points to his mouth than to Dave's cheek. Or maybe it's easier if he points to his own cheek as to indicate what he was trying to do. In the end he kind of just looks like he's waving his arms really dumbly and just stops.

Dave kind of motions towards the exit as if indicating if maybe he should leave after a minute of just trying to figure out what to do. This is awkward.

[turntechtrainer]

It takes him a second to respond, between all the waving of arms and the freak out, he's having a hard time figuring out what the hell his buddy is trying to say. Dave reaches out to snag his wrists just seconds before his counterpart stops and halts when he stops.

He shakes his head at him. Then he points to the soap. "Dude just keep washing, it's no biggie. But if you drop the soap, you're retrieving it."

[knightime]

It seems that despite not having a voice, Dave still seemingly has the ability to come off as a chatterbox. Dave probably hasn't even seen how fast and how much he signs when he starts getting carried away. Of course, no one really does since not many would understand him anyways. It would just like a lot of arm flailing anyways.

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly and an apologetic smile. He's long since stopped the poker face. It makes communication even harder if he kept it up.

[turntechtrainer]

"Does it look like it bothered me? Just surprised me." It has been a damn long time and a missing eye since he'd been kissed, accidentally or otherwise. He expected sharp teeth just on instinct. Dave looks at him and shrugs, before ducking his head under the water, letting it run over his face.

"If you're not going to use the soap, man pass it already. Or do a bro a favor and get my back."

[knightime]

Despite the awkward accidental lip lock, Dave starts washing his back off. But he's going to take advantage of touching the other just so he can touch the other more. And he means innocently too. He's craving it, but he isn't going to step over any boundaries just because he really wanted more physical contact.

This was fine enough.

[turntechtrainer]

He doesn't need more evidence to put together that his counterpart is all but starving for contact. He'd been on the meteor for two years and all but burned for it when he was dumped into the land of pokemon. He'd draped and touched his friends every chance he got, even if it was just a brush of shoulders or tucked up together on the couch.

He leans back into the touches with a soft sigh. It does feel nice and he's not about to deny him what he wants. To some degree, he still has a want for it himself. "Need me to do yours?" Giving him the option for more, if he wants it, is now his duty.

[knightime]

He's been craving it for awhile. His contact had been limited in this Tower.Even more limited when he became distant.

He looks up and he's obviously pondering how to answer that. Like there's an actual wrong or right answer or if he answers wrong, it'll fuck something up. He's still overthinking things a bit. He's still in that mindset and it'll take some time to get out of it. He finally nods though.

[turntechtrainer]

He steps away from him, snagging the soap as he lightly presses Dave forward towards the water. There's never a wrong answer with him, because he gets it. He even gets why the mindset exists at all. He lathers up his hands and starts to carefully and slowly work over the smaller back before him.

Dave wants to linger and take as much time as possible with this. It's contact and he really...well he gets it sometimes but it's so limited sometimes he wants to scream. It's enough to keenly miss when he had it all the time. However briefly that time was.

[knightime]

He lets out a content sigh. A passing of breath through his mouth and nothing more. He just relaxes and enjoys the feeling of the water against his skin and Dave's hands on his back. He hasn't been at peace like this in so long, that it was really nice.

Of course he was also really bad at relaxing. Had to keep himself preoccupied. If Dave watches him carefully, he's making hand signs to himself. He's not actually really saying anything in particular. Just going through the motions and making sure he keeps his vocabulary from deteriorating. It also keeps him busy. He didn't like doing nothing.

[turntechtrainer]

He notices the signs. He doesn't understand a word of it, but he resolves to learn. Dave finishes up his other self's back and moves to his sides, leaning on him a little like he had a long time ago when he'd woken up with a missing eye.

He hums some tune he can't remember the name of but his eye is on the movement of the signing hands.

[knightime]

Dave doesn't mind, as usual. He seems fairly content with it in actuality. His hands stop for a moment, his attention on Dave's humming. He can't really place the song name either, but it doesn't matter. He closes his eyes for a moment. Maybe it's unfair of him, he isn't sure. But he wants to hear the other talk all the time. To hear him hum. Anything. Because it means he won't ever forget his own voice. And maybe he can pretend a little.

Not that it's a fantasy he stays in very long. It hurts less moving on. Still, you can't quite let go of it, no matter what you do.

[turntechtrainer]

If hearing him hum, talk, or even sing will give his other self a sense of peace, Dave will do it until his voice gives out for a while. He continues to hum as he passes the bar of soap over skin and makes sure to scrub over healing wounds to ensure they get clean. Infection is the worst thing to have in a wound. The water washes the suds away and he unabashedly soaps up the other's chest, noting the difference in how they're toned.

He's been fighting head on with opponents, going toe to toe on every occasion. He has taken steps away from Bro trained them to be. He crossed over into the territory of being capable of cutting down groups of enemies with only his own skill. He just prefers to let the others join in. The killer instinct brought out in him, exists in them both but the silent one is an assassin, built for stealth and capable of using surprise as well as head on battle.

He moves the soap as high as his neck, and as low as his hips before he offers it to Dave. May be the same dude, but there's a limit to what he'll wash without permission and even then, he has his limits.

[knightime]

He wouldn't want Dave to lose his voice over it. It sucks losing your voice and then he'd have to wait until the other recovers to hear him again. He wonders if that's a bit narcissistic of him, but he doesn't really care.

Dave didn't want to take the chance of going head on. He knew he could hold his own, but it was safer for him to stay in the dark. He didn't want the others have to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't get into danger with no way of notifying when he was in trouble. It was just better this way. But at the very least, he can keep an eye on them and bring assistance when they needed it.

He takes the soap from the other to finish washing himself up. He understands.