[Ryuji may or may not realize just how badly Dave needed to hear that. it's easy to dismiss yourself when the collective universes do the exact same, and make it very clear that you were just a means to an end, that you aren't the one who's going to go on to actually win, to do whatever it is the Dave who isn't him is supposed to. like he's an inkpen that was tossed aside in favor of a better one, because the ink ran dry and there was no fight left in it.]

[but that means exactly jackshit here, doesn't it? this isn't the dream bubbles, there's no army of ghosts to be joining up with to fight the Incredible Hulk, and he hated that idea anyway. even if that were something he was meant to go back and get involved in, it's not like he would know which direction to start flying from here.]

[it's the tiniest of sparks in the pit of misery of what it means to be a time player — or just a player of Sburb in general. the sacrifices that have to be made. that particular end goal isn't his anymore, but ... that doesn't have to mean he's been denied one entirely. right?]

[boy, that sounds. hopelessly hopeful. kind of cheesy to boot. and it'll take a while for him to really believe it in a meaningful capacity. but even if Dave doesn't know what the hell his end goal actually is, it kind of feels like Ryuji has turned him around and at least pointed in the direction he should start walking.]

Yeah. Complete butthead. [does this count as dunking yourself???]

A lot of it was completely shitty, you're right. But it wasn't all terrible. My friends all lived really far away from me, so it was cool to be able to hang out in person. Or at least know that they were somewhere in the same space I was.

Wrote some of my best raps on that meteor, too. [it's The Little Things.]