[...Oh. Pokey's telling him something here that goes against everything he's believed his entire life.
Emotions don't make you weak, Dave. Ignoring them does. Acknowledging them makes you strong.
He isn't sure how to respond to that, and he focuses on trying to wrap his mind around it. If he shows his emotions, everyone will know how pitiful and pathetic he really is, right? The reason any of his friends put up with him is because he tries to seem cool and disaffected. That's the Dave Strider that they befriended - the "coolkid." What would they think if they knew what he was really like? Would they still like him?
And... what would his bro think? The one who gave him the shades, showed him the strut, taught him the primary rules of cool?
The chief rule of cool is downplaying your emotions. He's known and lived by this his whole life. To be told now, suddenly, that doing so makes him weak... that he should be letting his emotions show...
Ordinarily, he'd scoff. He'd laugh it off. He'd derisively think to himself that this person just doesn't get it.
But he doesn't do any of that here, because the person saying it is Pokey, and there aren't many people whose opinions he values more. For a moment, he's at a complete loss for words.
His fingers are shaking when he types up a reply. Regardless of what Pokey's just told him, discussing his emotions always makes him feel not just weak but terrifyingly vulnerable.]
yeah ok thats really the only thing i could ask of you
[That Pokey tries. That Pokey is willing to listen. It doesn't matter that Pokey might sometimes not know the best solution to the problem, or understand what Dave is going through. Dave thinks it's enough that Pokey is a friend who will listen and who will not think less of him after what he's heard.]
im not really good at this type of thing but i think im gonna start trying too so if theres ever a time you feel like youve got a lot on your chest i just wanna let you know id always be up for lending an ear even if i wont have any sage advice or maybe anything worth remembering at all youve always had my back even when im beating myself up being fifty different kinds of embarrassed at how bad i just fucked a thing up so i wanna have yours too
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2015-11-11 05:36 am (UTC)Emotions don't make you weak, Dave. Ignoring them does. Acknowledging them makes you strong.
He isn't sure how to respond to that, and he focuses on trying to wrap his mind around it. If he shows his emotions, everyone will know how pitiful and pathetic he really is, right? The reason any of his friends put up with him is because he tries to seem cool and disaffected. That's the Dave Strider that they befriended - the "coolkid." What would they think if they knew what he was really like? Would they still like him?
And... what would his bro think? The one who gave him the shades, showed him the strut, taught him the primary rules of cool?
The chief rule of cool is downplaying your emotions. He's known and lived by this his whole life. To be told now, suddenly, that doing so makes him weak... that he should be letting his emotions show...
Ordinarily, he'd scoff. He'd laugh it off. He'd derisively think to himself that this person just doesn't get it.
But he doesn't do any of that here, because the person saying it is Pokey, and there aren't many people whose opinions he values more. For a moment, he's at a complete loss for words.
His fingers are shaking when he types up a reply. Regardless of what Pokey's just told him, discussing his emotions always makes him feel not just weak but terrifyingly vulnerable.]
yeah
ok
thats really the only thing i could ask of you
[That Pokey tries. That Pokey is willing to listen. It doesn't matter that Pokey might sometimes not know the best solution to the problem, or understand what Dave is going through. Dave thinks it's enough that Pokey is a friend who will listen and who will not think less of him after what he's heard.]
im not really good at this type of thing
but i think
im gonna start trying too
so if theres ever a time you feel like youve got a lot on your chest
i just wanna let you know id always be up for lending an ear
even if i wont have any sage advice or maybe anything worth remembering at all
youve always had my back
even when im beating myself up being fifty different kinds of embarrassed at how bad i just fucked a thing up
so
i wanna have yours too