IC Voicemail Vatheon

[shippingmath]

This is Dirk Strider's SFC. It seems I'm not available right now, so leave a message. I'll get back to you. In the meantime, try to contain your disappointment over my absence.

Comments

[symmetrophile]

[Good, because Kid has his foot just inside the door almost the moment Dirk answers it, as if he anticipated having it shut in his face. Sturdy shoes that meet this reaper's high standards for quality are good for more than walking.

Even so, his stance is almost casual, hands in his pockets, posture straight and precise as usual, eyes still a dull, tarnished shade.]

You--

[One hand leaves his pocket to point upward, as he continues:]

--have been much too quiet. Are you quite finished navel-gazing about your past transgressions? It's no way for someone of your station to act.

[shippingmath]

Someone of my station, he says. I'm not sure if you're aware, but I have no station.

["Prince" is just a title that doesn't really mean anything, after all. He's certainly not the heir to anything the way Kid is.

But it doesn't matter, because Kid isn't better than him.]

And here I'd thought you'd look forward to the day I shut my mouth and left you alone. Or has sitting around like an invalid finally gotten old?

[symmetrophile]

If you wish to remain willfully ignorant, I suppose that is your prerogative.

[Because of course that's what it is. Because failing to acknowledge sufficiently one's ascended nature is like implying Kid doesn't have a peer. UNACCEPTABLE.]

I'd say 'You're welcome', but all that hard work went to waste, and the bubble...

[He flicks a hand across his fringe, dismissing the subject.]

I'm not here to discuss that. I came to see if you'd finally ceased being insufferably callous. Seeing as you haven't ended up completely alone, I should assume this is the case.

[shippingmath]

[Dirk just rolls his eyes behind his shades and doesn't comment. It doesn't matter whether he acknowledges his God Tier or not, that doesn't change him ffrom just being himself.]

I'm so sorry I worried you.

[Sarcastic to the max.]

It's been weeks since that curse ended. You've had plenty of time to determine that, you realize.

[symmetrophile]

[Worried him? Kid must recognize the comment for what it is, because there's a little too much smirk lurking in the corner of his mouth as he replies, magnanimously:]

I'll forgive you, this once.

[He sobers, however, at the next, and rests his hand on the edge of the open door.]

I'm quite aware. Which leads me to wonder, in this curse where all lost something only to gain another, what exactly was it you gained at such a staggering price?

[shippingmath]

Nothing worth bragging about. [Come on, Kid, you saw him wearing that hat. He even stole yours. Connect your dots! This is the kid who just wears a shirt with a picture of a hat on it, after all.

Dirk's mouth thins when Kid puts his hand on the door's edge, and while he doesn't shove it away, he does square his shoulders in a way that makes it more difficult for Kid to potentially get past him into the house.]

It may surprise you to consider this, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't something so huge I lost.

[symmetrophile]

[He didn't intend on forcing his way into the residence, only to prevent him from shutting the door in his face. But now that he detects Dirk's desire to block his entry, unintended or not, Kid now wants to test that resistance. The reaper's lean body occupies the open space, gaunt silhouette framed by the partially open door.]

Oh? You have very lenient friends, Strider.

[What do you mean? Of course your friends are a bigger deal than the threat of the destruction of a universe. His gold eyes flick a glance past Dirk, over his shoulder.]

I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Shall I check?

[shippingmath]

I'm sure you know them well enough to make judgements.

[If there's one thing Dirk doesn't like, it's when people get into his space uninvited. But this is Kid, and therefore he can't move back to get more space, because he would just move in on it like a bloodhound. So he just shrugs and does nothing to keep Kid from moving closer.]

You won't find anything if you do. I was working, not that you give a solitary fuck about that.

[symmetrophile]

[Seeing as Kid hasn't the strength to push past Dirk even if he wanted to, he will have to indulge his curiosity another day.

Furthermore, he couldn't just deposit himself further into the house with his powers so diminished, so, another time.]

You're right, for once. Good to see you're back to your insufferable self, Strider.

[He'll have to intrude on his privacy later.]

Until next time.