[open] you always fold just before you're found out

[redotiertwo]

Who: Davesprite and you!
When: September 21st-22nd
Where: The vicinity of Neith's temple, generally around the Far Shore
What: Davesprite has just remembered Some Shit, specifically that he's a timeline duplicate and all the terribleness that comes with that. Existential crisis time?
Warnings: Self-hate and depression stuff are the main ones, will add any others as they become relevant.


[A: September 21st, abandoned temples and around the Far Shore]

[Waking up to new information that he'd really like to think is a dream (or nightmare) but definitely isn't doesn't get any more fun on repeat, Davesprite's finding. He's had to cut himself off from the question of how exactly he went from human to what he is now a few times in the last few months, so he should be grateful for remembering. But then, he didn't realise exactly how bad remembering was going to make it.

A few poor sword trees stand scattered around the area, probably pilfered from either somewhere on the Near Shore or one of the training grounds. The sword Davesprite has in his hand isn't the one he held in his memories, doesn't have that power - he no longer has that power over time he once did - but somehow, it's calming to reach for what he has left. Something unpleasant still stirs in his gut at having to raise his blade, but it's not the same as what he gets in an actual fight.

One moment, he's standing across the field from the targets, but within the space of a blink, he crosses most of the gap. In another, he's upon them, moving in bursts of speed so concentrated he can't be seen for the moment he makes them, merely seeming to appear briefly to slash at the trees before vanishing again and popping up somewhere else. Only loose orange feathers and deep cuts on the trees mark the path he's taken, and once he's gone through and given each of them a beating hard enough that some are barely even standing anymore, he flashsteps back to the middle of the clearing and sheathes his sword back through himself.

And then he bends under a flush of sweating and lightheadedness, looking like he's about to pass out right there. His past self made it look so easy in that vision, but time is beyond his control now.]

--

[B: September 22nd, Neith's Temple surrounds]

[The sound of electronic music is audible well out into the pathways and land around Neith's temple in the Western District. It's not the raucous interruption of a half-practiced garage band, though - the music is smooth and well-mixed, snatches of violin playing through soft and enigmatic backing. It feels like the right instrument to use here, and he's not sure why, but he doesn't question it as his talons play over his turntables and soundboard, then keyboard and fader, crafting and blending tracks like it's something he was born to do. There are a lot of ways to deal with the memory of what seemed to be everyone important to you in your timeline having died, having to advise someone through their impending cessation of existence and another out of what would have been their death if you hadn't taken yourself back in time to talk him out of it the way it didn't happen the first time. Davesprite, for once, is choosing not to wallow in it. Whatever he is, whatever the nature of his existence might be that another of his selves stands as the "original" and not himself, he owes it to those people to make something out of his survival. He doesn't remember if he did so in his world or not, but considering how he constantly feels about himself, he's going to bet it wasn't the case.

The music becomes more and more eclectic in mood every time it plays, bright and yet sorrowful in parts, and Davesprite seems completely absorbed in it. It's only when he either spots someone coming close enough for him to see or hears a particularly loud interruption that he snaps the speakers off again, feathers standing up a little and giving away his surprise along with the preoccupied flicking of his ghostly tail.]

Shit, hi, sorry, still a work in progress and I'm not taking requests right now, maybe call back later.

Comments

[erogappa]

[ His ongoing pursuit of a better god/shinki situation than the one he had with Sharak has apparently led him here. To a disco in a casino. Heaven is weird, goddamn.

And even more weird, the dj is a very familiar orange bird boy. He freezes when Davesprite turns off the music, raising his hands in polite surrender. ]

My bad. Didn’t mean to intrude. [ He’s not leaving, though. ] Did you write that?

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite still seems a little on his guard, but he settles a bit with the knowledge that it's at least someone he knows.] Yeah. I don't usually do public performances, but I write a hell of a lot of music in my spare time.

[Why he's doing it outside today is a subject he'd rather not broach, but for the moment he'll just keep right on with music as a hobby rather than as a coping mechanism.]

[erogappa]

[ It's most of someone he knows, anyway. When Gojyo turns, it'll become obvious that his right sleeve is empty from the elbow down.

With his remaining hand, Gojyo gestures at the decks. ]

And that's all in the computer, huh? You played the drums and, and all the rest of those instruments then recorded them and now you're putting it all together?

[ He doesn't know a damn thing about making electronic music, and it's blindingly obvious. But last time he saw bird boy, the kid was depressed as hell. If making music like this is something that cheers him up, then Gojyo can pretend to be interested for a bit! ]

That's pretty cool.

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite's attention is drawn pretty quickly to that noticeable lack of an arm, though for the moment, he doesn't remark on it. It sounds like Gojyo only has a tenuous grasp of how electronic music works, but it's a lot better than people telling him it's not real music, so Davesprite will take it.]

Yeah, kinda, sometimes the instruments are prerecorded too and you thread those together first, then put something else together out of all those separate bits. You have to do a shitload of layering and mixing, though, otherwise it sounds like shit just like any other amateur music.

[After he's done explaining that, though, his manner becomes a little more serious. Or possibly just deadpan.] Can't help but notice you're fronting a really disarming personality today.

[Gojyo has seemed to him pretty difficult to offend in the past, so Davesprite's going to cross his fingers that that holds true.]

[erogappa]

[ Gojyo got about half of that. There's instruments, and they get put together, and if you do it wrong it sounds like shit. Right? Cool.

Slightly less cool is the arm joke, but it's amazing how a regular supply of really good painkillers has improved his arm-based mood. He holds his stump out and wiggles it so the empty sleeve flops around. ]

So much for learnin' guitar, huh?

A

[yasei]

[ Obi doesn't intend to come across someone who's practicing....something...what is he practicing? A god practicing teleportation? He's never seen a single one get tired from it though. But using it for a fight is really useful, in his opinion. But it looks different from teleportation, too..

He sits quiet in a tree watching for a while, until the stranger reappears in the clearing. ]

How are you doing that, Mister?

[redotiertwo]

[Davesprite wasn't expecting to be getting watched either, but he supposes it probably would look kind of weird to an onlooker. Getting one more good cleansing breath in, he straightens up to try and make himself look at least reasonably respectable.]

Couldn't tell you the details because I don't know shit myself. [Davesprite scans the trees until he spots the source of the voice, then spreads his arms in a somewhat apologetic, but still somehow deadpan motion.] That's the deal with shinki having powers they don't remember the source of.

[yasei]

[ He just looks weary and like he's closing in on keeling over, to Obi. ]

I almost thought for sure it was god powers gone awry. [ Nah, but he thought it might have been a possibility. ] Isn't it dangerous, so have powers you don't know anything about?

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, no, not teleport spamming. [Davesprite can see how the mistake would be made, though, even if it seems more obvious to him that it's not the case here.] Kind of, but I've met a shitload of people with the same problem, so. Can't be that dangerous if none of us have gone for a second round on the whole "being dead" thing yet.

[yasei]

Not what? [ This concept of spamming is unfamiliar to him. But he can get the meaning of what he's saying without knowing what the word means. ] There are that many people with strange powers here? That's amazing. But it's not anything that's caused a second death then.

A

[saiyanhybrid]

That's pretty good there.

[Hope you don't mind a demi-Saiyan peering down at you from where he's sitting on Nimbus.]

[redotiertwo]

[Don't mind Davesprite trying to recover himself from looking like he's about to fall over from exhaustion. Everything is fine and he's definitely not using his tail to prop himself up slightly.]

I've seen better, but I guess I've seen worse too. Nice cloud.

[saiyanhybrid]

Thanks.

[Patting Nimbus, Gohan jumps down from the cloud and lands on the ground a few paces away from Davesprite.]

It was still pretty good. You shouldn't put yourself down like that.

[redotiertwo]

When you just remembered yourself doing better back in the day before you were driving kids off the lawn with your cane, it makes it kind of the obvious thing to do. Like I said, I've still seen worse.

[So he's not putting himself down as much as he could be, which is...something. In Davesprite's case, quite a bit more than it looks.]

[saiyanhybrid]

[He...won't ask.

Just nods.]

Is this your first time using it?

B

[hellskitchen]

[ Rin just happens to be walking around. He's not usually the type to like being stuck indoors, so he often walks around the far shore for fresh air. That's when he hears Davesprite's music, although he has no idea that the sprite is the source of it. He follows the sounds to what looks to be near a temple.

Rin comes across the other totally immersed in his mix. Though Rin's not really skilled enough to conceal his presence from the other shinki. He clumsily trips on something clearly bringing the bird man out of his reverie.]

Call back later? I'm right here! Though sorry for scaring ya, I was just around, and I heard that music. Did you mix that on your own? It's pretty good!

[redotiertwo]

You can still say showing up to someone's house is calling, dude, look it up. [Not really the point of that remark, but hey, he's an incredible pedant when he wants to be.] And yeah, I did. The turntable shit showed up in my room a few months back and I've been fucking around with it and expanding it ever since.

[Some of it still doesn't sound right to him, but he figures that's just a part of the process. He can't argue the fact that his motions and habits with the equipment are anything short of intimately familiar.]

[hellskitchen]

Who uses that slang, man? [ It's like Davesprite is pulling this shit out of his ass,half the time. He will look it up...if he remembers! Though he probably won't.

He focuses on the turntables, and it looks like pretty sick equipment. And it just appeared in his room? That's really cool. Obviously, Davesprite had some time to tinker with it, and figure out what works. It's possible he might have some knowledge of how to use it,too. Either way, he's able to make some nice music from it.]

If I ever throw a party, I know who to ask to be the DJ. But you say, it's not finished?

[It already sounds pretty good, Rin's curious of what the finished project might sound like.]

[redotiertwo]

Enough people for me to pull it out, and that's all that matters. [Clearly the only important thing about demographics is how much Davesprite knows about them so he can cling to them as an example.

At the mention of DJing for a party, Davesprite spreads his hands in a somewhat welcoming motion.] Bring it on, dude, I've done one before. I might charge if it's like. Hours long sets or something, though. But yeah, haven't finished mixing yet, it's still kinda thin. Not satisfied with it.

[It doesn't quite sound like it's living up to the feelings he's trying to put into it yet.]

[hellskitchen]

Oh,you've done a party before? That's really cool, man.

[Rin doesn't know much about parties, but paying Davesprite for his services, seems reasonable to him. It's not like he's planning anything right now, but he reserves this information for later.]

How much do people normally charge for that sort of thing?

[ Did money work in the sames ways they do in the Near Shore? Rin isn't really sure. Everything he's ever received from here has been free. So he's not really sure how to pay the orange shinki at all.

As for Davesprite's unfinished work, Rin's not much of an expert to help the other shinki out. Personally it sounds fine to him, but he's not the artist here. He's probably tone deaf too.]

Then I gotta hear it when you're really happy with. Is this the only piece you're workin' on? Or do you have something else in the works too?

B

[pure_radiantics]

[Kairi has been trying to give Davesprite space just because she thought that's what he'd been accusing her of before, that she only went to talk to him when she wanted something. So today, she was just walking by his room because she had somewhere to go and this was the fastest way to get there in the temple.

She actually feels bad that she interrupted him.]

Oh! No, sorry, I was just passing by. I didn't mean to bother you...

[She's still looking for a good nickname so it just kind of trails off as she tries to figure out anything she could do to make up for disturbing him.]

[redotiertwo]

[At least Davesprite eases down a bit when he sees that it's Kairi - he was kind of worried he was going to get amped up enough with his emotions to alert Hajime, and it's always kind of awkward explaining things he's remembered to her. This isn't exactly a good one, either, whereas remembering Jade had its ups and downs.]

It's not that big a deal, I'm just still kinda working out the kinks in the completely not weird sense. Or maybe the weird sense, I don't know.

[He did date Jade, after all, he can't really pretend there's no potential weird sense when it comes to her.]

[pure_radiantics]

[Kinks... weird sense... Nope she can't really put that to any concept she's aware of. Even if Forrest liking her feet qualifies, she doesn't think it's that weird either especially for lack of anything to compare it to. In the end, she lets it go. The "I don't know" part makes the most sense to her.]

I was worried that maybe something was wrong with your electronics if it shut off that quickly. Are you sure you don't need any help...? Uhm, D-S?

[She scratches her neck.]

Sorry I know I said I'd come up with a good nickname and I haven't. I only ever called the other shinki at my temple "brother" before.

[And she looks a little frustrated to confess that.]

[redotiertwo]

I turned it off. Or I turned the speakers off, at least. The electronics are fine.

[As far as he knows, since he's pretty sure just one rough instance of switching off his speakers isn't going to kill them. On the note of nicknames, though, he shrugs.]

Yeah, I'm not that bothered unless it's something grossly uncool, but fuck, don't start calling me brother, that just sounds kinda creepy.

[She might still be testing nicknames, but Davesprite's just going to make absolutely sure she doesn't try the latter suggestion on him.]

[pure_radiantics]

[She gasps, hands going to her mouth.]

Creepy?

[She has no intention of using it on him now, but she's worried about calling someone like Raichi 'brother' in front of him now too.]

Wh-why does that sound creepy? I mean, is that... anyone?

[That's probably not the best way to ask her question but she's still very stunned.]