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Dave clenched his jaw, looking back at the parasites. "Hey. The name Soda mean anything to you?"

Nate was... trying to make friends with it? Jesus. He watched him, eyes narrowed, as the stone was dropped into the cage and the parasite... simply ignored it, and looked no more cooperative. "Genius. Great. Yeah, that worked." He looked at Brisa when she made her suggestion, frowning. "You sure?"

Am I the only one who thinks all this is kind of shady as fuck? What the fuck is going on?

Dave glared at the parasites as they failed to respond. Worth a fucking try. "What the fuck is going on in here?" asked a familiar voice, and he turned to see Nate and Rocky. Christ. Wasn't Nate the one who'd been so insistent that they just never be in the same room together again? Well, it...

Dave rounded on the parasites as soon as they reacted. “Yeah, there we go. You fuckers can hear us. Now how about you cooperate and answer some questions, and we might decide you’re sapient enough to count? Spit some fucking spirit acid for yes.”

Dave’s ears perked. He hesitated a moment. "Well, if they haven't got minds, no reason to keep them around. Might as well destroy them, right?" He watched the parasites for reactions out of the corner of his eye.

It's time! Are you ready to hear about all my eleven-year-old self's fake legendaries, in a chapter where Mark sits there reading about them in a book, yet somehow I manage to also stuff in a bunch of separate absolutely wild nonsense? Get hype. Chapter 2: The Book When Mark woke up, the...

Dave started with a jolt as the parasite lunged towards Brisa, even knowing it was safely behind glass. His heart pounded uncomfortably for a few seconds afterwards. Christ. If Chip asserted they weren't sapient, hopefully he'd done his due diligence on that. Was it a completely lost cause to...

Dave took a deep breath, staring at the parasites. "Can they hear us?" Was it a stretch to think they'd understand speech? Well, it'd seemed a stretch with Squiggly too. Real question was, would they play dumb even if they did.

“Yes, we want to see them. Why the fuck else would we be here? Nothing to report?” He figured more people might be showing up, but whatever, not hanging around for them. This’d already waited long enough.

Dave didn't exactly feel great in the morning, but he was able to string a thought together, and that thought was the fucking parasite. He downed a glass of dissolved painkiller, hung around on Brisa's advice pacing until it started to kick in just about enough, and then made his way to the lab...

"Yeah. Thanks." She sounded so relieved. God. Dave sank back into the couch. "Thanks for the coffee," he muttered. "You're good." Mia started saying something to Brisa about fighting, but he was drifting off before he could start to process it properly. <><><><><>

That was true. Dave often conceded points but he didn't often change his mind, not really. But you could talk to him, most of the time. He'd have reasons for things. He wasn't stupid, usually. "If it sometimes works, there is no reason not to try it. Even if it doesn't work it's just some...

Mia frowned intensely as Brisa explained. This didn't sound like any kind of science-based medical intervention. Was just talking to people supposed to fix problems with the brain? But aura manipulation... That wasn't real in their world, but it was on Cibus. Maybe that was how it worked? At...

"I'm... what? I'm not going to fucking therapy." Dave opened his eyes, struggled to push himself upright again. Mia looked at Brisa, frowning. "How does therapy work?"

"You don't have to..." Dave began, but realized it was a lost cause. "I'm... I'm going to check on the parasite at Chip's lab," he mumbled. "Just. Tomorrow. Talk to Flesh about finding the last Soda Substitute. Maybe. I don't... Fuck." His ears swiveled at the sound of the front door opening...

"I'm fine, I just..." Deep breath. Fuck. Why was she running around making him coffee? Twice? Didn't she have shit to do? He was going to tell her she shouldn't, and then didn't. He closed his eyes, took another breath, felt himself melting into the sofa. Okay. Okay. He could use some rest...

Dave shook his head, not exactly in response to anything she said. "He's just... fucking unrecognizable. Just doing whatever the thing tells him, without even realizing that's why. Kept calling it just random whims he had. And he was still... He kept asking me to join him, in changing the world...

"Yeah. At least people appreciate you over here." She'd be happier here, wouldn't she? Like Mia, probably. "Wonder if Diyem could let you stick around. Not like people haven't worldhopped permanently before. All the omen heroes. Your dad. Even Soda." The parasite. Check on the... "Guess the...

Dave gave a long sigh. "Yeah. Of course they would." He paused, looking into the air. "Hey, Starr told me something. She was talking about how... you don't have anything to go back to. Is that... were you considering trying to... just stay? Not go back?"