First beat

[toocoolforthis]

Well, I can't say I've ever been this late to school before.
Unfortunately, I can't claim to be awesome enough to have played hooky for half a year.
Maybe next year.
In the meantime, I'm back.
I'm sure you're all either completely ecstatic or completely disgusted, so please, contain your looks of horror and/or joy.
A simple "Sup, Dirk" will suffice.

Comments

[strideallknight]

[Dirk and everyone else will never fucking know how happy Dave is to see his second oldest bro back. Nobody.]

sup dirk
howd it go

[toocoolforthis]

Sup, Dave.
Mission accomplished, knowledge acquired.
I return filled to the brim with scholarly vigor.
Et cetera, et cetera.
I might even be glad to be back at school.

[strideallknight]

i wouldnt be surprised if you just set an example for ravenclaws to follow
hell knows its hard enough getting a good portion to put the book down and socialize or do any of the things necessary to continue living
good to see youre back by the way
it got way too damn quiet without you around

[toocoolforthis]

You know me.
I'm a model student that Ravenclaws can only hope to imitate.
Though, technically, using the journal for socializing doesn't count as putting a book down.
I find it hard to believe you couldn't entertain yourself with me gone, dude.

[strideallknight]

i count it like a phone or laptop
dude
i can entertain myself just fine
it just gets quiet when there arent two obnoxious older brothers being way too damn alike for their own good ganging up on me

[toocoolforthis]

What, he didn't pick up my slack?
I am disappoint.

[strideallknight]

please bro tried that for your first year
it didnt work then and it didnt work now
hell never pick up the two man job of trolling dave strider

[toocoolforthis]

And here I thought this family would be able to manage without me.
That teaches me to think I could make a vacation.
Trolling should never be abandoned.

[strideallknight]

itll be a sad day when this family can operate without three striders
apparently therell be no more vacations for you dude

[toocoolforthis]

I'd better resign myself to my fate of keeping an eye on the both of you.
Hang around and be a TA after I graduate.
Follow you through where your life leads you, just to routinely mess up your hair.
Drop smuppets on you at significant moments in your life.

[strideallknight]

my hair is always messed up whatre you talking about
its stylish that way
fucking
no
i swear if you do that to me at the worst possible moment with my non existent so i will have to hurt you
and do something similar to you and yours

[toocoolforthis]

I'm sure I could mess it up to the point of being unstylish.
Dying it gray, for example.
Who said it'd be with your SO? I might just do it at your graduation.
Not that it's a bad idea.
Though who says I'm even going to have one for you to retaliate with?

[strideallknight]

i doubt it
gray
why
ive rocked white briefly before so i dont see how gray would be all that different
who says im even going to have one to begin with
bro might be disappointed on getting any grandkids from us

[toocoolforthis]

Because I'm sure I could manage to make it look the appropriate amount of old.
And of the two I could try it on, you're the one less likely to have a midlife crisis and try to strangle me for it.
And he'll just have to deal.
Or put all of his hopes in Rose, who even knows.

[strideallknight]

[Okay, Dave's response is a little late because holy fucking shit that mental image is much too hilarious.]

i think we should do that to him anyway
he needs a premature midlife crisis
all hope is on rose then

btw i have something i need to tell you
like this is pretty fucking urgent
where can i meet you and when

[toocoolforthis]

[Bro can totally see this, but Dirk doesn't care.]

Hell yes.
He's telling me that he's gotten rusty since I left.
I won't stand for it.

Oh yeah?
I'm free right now, my luggage is up in my dorm already.
The Great Hall should work.

[strideallknight]

thems fighting words
tell me how that goes

ok can we meet up somewhere private
family business that needs sorting out

[toocoolforthis]

But of course.
If you don't see the results for yourself, anyway.

Sure thing.
[And that seems like a call to filter this, so Dirk casts the spell.]

Our best bet might be to grab an empty classroom.

[strideallknight]

[Dave does the same, with no small amount of relief. The less who know about it, the better, if only for Bro's sake.]

charms classroom should be empty for an hour or so
plenty of time for us to talk
meet you there

[And he's off to go to the classroom.]

[toocoolforthis]

Got it.

[And Dirk is on his way, too. It's been a while, but after years in school it's not going to take him long to get to the classroom, especially since he's making his way there with purpose. Whatever it is Dave wants to talk about, it seems pretty serious.]

[strideallknight]

[And serious it is. Dirk can probably tell when he sees Dave that he's nervous. He just doesn't know how Dirk will handle this, considering protectiveness runs in the family pretty damn strongly.

So, when his brother gets there, he nods, casual as he possibly can.]

Yo. I was worried you'd change into a zombie and I wouldn't recognize you.

[toocoolforthis]

If I was a zombie, I wouldn't have been writing in the journal.

[Dave's nervousness is almost contagious, but since he's trying to keep it casual, Dirk continues in that vein, crossing his arms and leaning casually against one of the empty desks.]

So what's this urgent thing you need to tell me?

[strideallknight]

[Dave pauses for a little while, gathering his thoughts and choosing his words carefully.]

So...Bro and I? Got into a strife. Normal stuff, right? But we were on the Astronomy Tower and...things happened.

[He really doesn't want to paint Bro in a bad light, so give him a second or two.]

I almost fell off the tower 'cause he shoved me or something like that. It was my own damn fault for putting myself in that position to begin with. I don't think he realized how close to the edge I was, and frankly neither did I until it was almost too late to say "whoops."

[toocoolforthis]

[It's a good thing he doesn't try to paint Bro in a bad light, because although his time away has let Dirk get over his irritation with Bro about certain things, Dave holding a grudge over this would certainly be enough to make Dirk hold one as well.

Instead, he stays very still as he thinks it over. When he speaks, his voice is soft, and each word is spoken carefully.]

It doesn't sound like him to not be aware of distance like that. This was a normal strife?

[strideallknight]

[At the very least, Dave knows Dirk well enough to understand this fact. Grudges are taken to the grave most of the time.

Okay, well, this can be either somewhat good or very very bad. He's hoping for the former.]

Yeah. Normal thing. Or it sorta was. That was around when his brother died, so....