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Dave snapped awake from where he'd dozed off on the sofa in an awkward position. He'd been trying to look up information on Substitutes, last he remembered, maybe had a couple too many beers in the process. Fuck. He shifted his aching body to be more comfortable. Didn't help the headache...

Dave is pretty unsettled by this but clings to the fact he didn't in the end. He adamantly assures Soda, again, that the one really at fault here is whatever bastard tailored his memories to whatever would make him want to do this at almost any cost, whose face he really cannot wait to kick in.

Dave returns to the holding cells the next day with more food and beer to talk to the Soda substitute again. He tries to mostly avoid the subject of the plan or Soda's memories this time; instead he gripes about people being idiots, asks about more of what the God Squad has been up to and Soda's...

Soda didn't look remotely fine. Dave exhaled slowly. "Yeah. See you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the food." He nudged the extra beers through the slot as well. Soda could probably use some right about now. Fuck. Tomorrow he'd just go for chitchat. <><><><><>

Also, reviews I submitted during round 9: https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/official-actions.382/post-22924 https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/official-actions.382/post-24378 https://forums.thousandroads.net/index.php?threads/official-actions.382/post-25192 (a...

Beta-read three chapters of Spiteful Murkrow's Context Switch (third to be published).

Dave stared at him, his chest tightening. "Look, no, fuck that. You're a victim in all this. The whole plan's got someone else pulling the strings, using you to achieve their own ends. You're a guy who goes around rescuing Cola and liberating Hells and adopting their screaming nightmare demons...

Huh. And Jesus. Realizing basic things about your life had just fucking vanished on you when you weren't thinking about them couldn't be fun. Automatically he thought of his great-grandmother developing Alzheimer's over the years before she'd died back when he was a kid, the fucking look on her...

"Fair, I guess." He couldn't help but wonder if his broken memory came into it too. But Soda had probably had enough of being interrogated on that. "You remember how old you were back on your planet, with Adne, before the lockout?"

"Well, yeah. It just sounded like..." Whatever. He didn't get the sense this was actually important, from how Soda was talking about it. Just another random dickhead god. "Eh, never mind." He took another bite of his burger. "How long has it been since you picked up Flesh? Actually, what's the...

"Hmmm." Dave narrowed his eyes at him. "You just said the sick fuck behind all that was dispatched the same way as a Dark Matter, and might end up as a better person. That's awfully specific for somebody whose identity you're not clear on. Is this another memory gap?"

Jesus. "Was that another Arceus?"

Dave tilted his head, grabbing another mozzarella stick. "You said before that you liberated him from a Hell dimension, that he was being held captive as some kind of terrorizing demon. Was that just, captive as in stuck in that dimension?"

Dave's ears perked. Interesting. If Soda's brain had been wiped of most anything about Arceus... That could mean Arceus being an asshole was something implanted in him altogether to cover up some more complex reality, like what Maple had said, or that Arceus was indeed an asshole, but someone...

Shit. He hadn't meant for that to get weird and emotional. He looked away. "What about Arceus? What was he like day to day, when you were working under him?" At least it'd told them something. Soda's relationship with her checked out, probably. No way was that stuff fake or doctored memories...

The description tugged at the corner of Dave's mouth. "Sounds like my last relationship." (Wasn't quite a goddamn relationship, was it, but whatever; no fucking way was he explaining to Soda that she'd been married to someone else.) "Just cared so fucking much about everything. Impossibly kind...

Dave nodded slowly. "Right. I'll take care with it. Thanks." He had another bite of his food, watching Soda. "Can you tell me more about her, and your world's Arceus? What you do remember?"

"Huh. He can do that through Spirit's Edge without being there, but only if you come with?" He supposed that could make sense if some form of... spiritual proximity was involved? What the fuck were Cibus physics. Dave exhaled through his nose. If he was going to do this, he'd probably want to...

Dave nodded slowly. That was probably a good idea. See if they could find out what was actually going on with Soda Prime. Even no answer would be information. "What if you came along? Might be even easier for him to listen to himself. If Substitutes can do that, anyway."

"You actually think he's just setting up? My bets are on something went very wrong." Dave looked away, finishing the mozzarella stick. "You think he'd show up at Spirit's Edge if we asked Buffet? Place where you can talk to spirits from anywhere, even other worlds?"