Work Text:
ROSE: So tell me your feelings about it.
DIRK: You know damn well I can't just do that.
ROSE: Try, then.
DIRK: .
ROSE: How hard could it possibly be?
DIRK: ...
DIRK: I can't say I've ever considered it.
DIRK: Imagine it, being bound to me for the rest of your life.
ROSE: I can't, and won't, for many reasons.
DIRK: You asked for my feelings on the matter and I gave them to you.
ROSE: I know.
DIRK: It's... the same vibe as not really liking being called "gay".
DIRK: Like...
DIRK: "I'm married."
DIRK: "What's a marriage?"
DIRK: You get what I mean, yeah?
DIRK: It's the signifier equivalent of load-bearing drywall.
DIRK: Shit is built on top of this idea that maybe was always fake to begin with.
ROSE: Drywall is one of the more real things we've discussed, to be fair.
ROSE: I can go and make some drywall right now, if I wanted to.
DIRK: Do it.
ROSE: I'm not hungry.
DIRK: Your loss.
DIRK: But that's not my point.
DIRK: My point is it's fragile and not meant to be load-bearing.
DIRK: You try and build a dynamic society on top of marriages, who fucking knows how well that'll stay up.
DIRK: Like, what even is a marriage?
ROSE: It's a recognized pairing of people.
DIRK: How's that different from a ship?
ROSE: The people involved have consented to the relationship, that's different from a shipping pair, it's externalized.
DIRK: How's it different from dating?
ROSE: There's a level of permanence and commitment to it.
DIRK: Is that a good thing?
ROSE: It can be.
ROSE: These are a lot of questions.
ROSE: Do you want answers to all of them?
DIRK: Fucking obviously.
ROSE: If you insist then, we can follow that train of thought.
ROSE: It's a good thing to those involved.
DIRK: Forever?
ROSE: Maybe, maybe not.
ROSE: Could you always account for every change in a person, throughout their life?
DIRK: Suppose not.
DIRK: How would you celebrate it?
ROSE: A nice ceremony, and a reception where we can all celebrate.
ROSE: Dave would be the rabbi.
DIRK: Is he ordained?
ROSE: Does it matter?
DIRK: Guess not.
ROSE: I want to celebrate our victory, in both a cosmic way, and a romantic way.
DIRK: ...
DIRK: I'm not against that.
DIRK: I'm still hesitant to introduce marriage to carapaces.
DIRK: Do we want to carry through all that meaning, on top of that?
DIRK: Again, it's like "I'm gay" like...
DIRK: I can identify myself as fitting within the concept of gayness.
DIRK: Like, I can say "I'm gay" and it won't conflict with the definition of the word that exists in my head.
DIRK: I was also raised in the middle of the fucking ocean.
DIRK: Never had a "gay community" or whatever.
DIRK: The cultural institution of homosexuality to me is old tapings of RENT and the most miserable of fujoshi-aimed manga.
DIRK: And I can call myself gay, that's what the concept is for, but... I don't fuckin' know about this one, dog.
DIRK: Is it for me?
DIRK: Like, I want it to be, but as fucked up and complex as the relationship between a signifier and its signified can be...
DIRK: A signifier without a signified is pretty fuckin' worthless.
ROSE: ...
ROSE: Are you yearning right now?
DIRK: I'm just saying, if I'm not out here kissing dudes, can I call myself gay?
ROSE: I mean, obviously.
ROSE: It sounds to me like you're yearning.
ROSE: Are you fucking longing, perhaps forming an intricate ritual that allows you to touch the skin of other men?
DIRK: This is exactly what the fuck I'm talking about.
DIRK: We know about the work of Barbara Kruger, but... do our carapaces?
DIRK: Do we *want* our carapaces to know about that?
DIRK: And again, if I'm the signified for the signifier, what does that signifier communicate about me?
ROSE: I don't know about this one, I think you could explain a lot of what's up with me with "I'm a lesbian."
DIRK: That's a very tell, don't show approach to identity.
ROSE: All conveyence is a mixture of telling and showing, it's not a catch-all.
ROSE: This is all one hell of a tangent, I didn't come here for a dialogue on semiotics, you know.
DIRK: Indulge this one a bit more.
ROSE: Of course I'm going to, I'm a Light player.
DIRK: Exactly the shit I'm saying.
DIRK: Can you reasonably expect a person without the context necessary to understand the nuances of saying that?
DIRK: Can I say "I'm gay" and reasonably expect someone to get every angle of that?
DIRK: Or can I just smash my lips up against another, willing dude's and have them get it?
DIRK: Does it matter if I say whether I'm gay or not, if I can just show it?
DIRK: Does my admiration for Rainbow Dash have anything to do with it?
DIRK: Could someone understand I'm gay based on my favorite pony?
DIRK: ...
DIRK: Would a citizen of Earth-C have the cultural context for Rainbow Dash?
ROSE: I hope so.
ROSE: I hope Rainbow Dash outlives all of us.
ROSE: Like the statues of a fallen civilization, we struggle to piece together what their lives may have been.
ROSE: This one, this one was really full of weirdo gay people.
ROSE: Their classical object of worship was a dyke horse.
DIRK: Sounds like a kick-ass society to me.
DIRK: You know what I mean, though.
DIRK: Does it only matter if I say outright, "I am a homosexual."?
ROSE: I don't think so.
ROSE: You know how readers feel about gay subtext.
ROSE: They adore that shit.
ROSE: I can count on one hand the number of things a nice, hearty gay subtext didn't improve.
DIRK: Also, it's not even subtext, then.
DIRK: It's not a dream sequence, filled with loaded, though oblique imagery.
DIRK: It's not a web of symbols and meaning so fuckin' intricately woven that no literal read of an event could possibly be satisfying.
DIRK: It's not a goddamn spider's web of narrative.
DIRK: I'm just kissing a dude.
DIRK: It's text.
ROSE: Maybe that wouldn't be enough to have someone understand you're gay.
ROSE: Identifying with lesbianism as a concept does come easier to me than an applicable label, whatever that may be, does to you, though maybe that's a weird confluence of familial impressions.
ROSE: After all, there's no shortage of pride merch lining Roxy's iteration of our shared domicile.
ROSE: Not to spend time dwelling on the minutia of identity, I'd like to get back to the topic at hand...
ROSE: I'm sure you've gathered my reason for asking.
DIRK: More or less.
DIRK: Why come to me about it, then?
ROSE: It's a wedding.
ROSE: If there's any time to dig up a tradition, it's now, I suppose.
ROSE: And as mangled and unrecognizeable as it may be, canonically speaking, you are my father.
DIRK: ...
ROSE: It's just as weird to say as it is for you to hear.
DIRK: If that's the way you want to spin it...
DIRK: Is she going to ask for my blessing, too?
DIRK: As mangled and unrecognizeable as it may be, canonically speaking, you are my daughter.
ROSE: ...
ROSE: Oh dear.
DIRK: I'll keep that one on the back pocket.
DIRK: Do you have a plan?
ROSE: You should know by now that I don't.
ROSE: I'm looking for the right moment.
ROSE: I've flown by the hem of my skirts before, I'm certain that planning too much would be some sort of critical failure on my end.
ROSE: Even as we become the gods ourselves, "make a plan and God laughs" holds true.
DIRK: Okay, what do you think the right moment would be?
ROSE: ...
ROSE: I'll know it when I see it.
ROSE: When things settle down, of course.
ROSE: It'll be nice and... comparatively peaceful.
DIRK: What do you think you'll see?
ROSE: I'm not sure...
DIRK: Maybe things won't be as peaceful as you'd expect.
ROSE: That's quite an ominous statement, would you like to clarify that one for me?
DIRK: ...
DIRK: I don't have more to say than just that... there are things left undone.
ROSE: Surely you aren't torn up about Vriska's assumed death too.
DIRK: Hardly. I didn't know her for shit.
DIRK: As far as I'm concerned, she's a casualty at best.
DIRK: Sad for Terezi, but in an abstract way.
DIRK: It'd be sad if I cared about someone in that way, and he died.
DIRK: But it's not like I knew her.
ROSE: An understandable position.
DIRK: You mentioned her. Perhaps it's weighing on you?
ROSE: Also hardly.
ROSE: Not that I don't care for her... it's hard not to after spending 3 years with her.
ROSE: But it's more complex than that.
ROSE: We'll leave it at that.
DIRK: An understandable position.
ROSE: We keep digressing.
ROSE: What did you mean by "things left undone"?
DIRK: I'm going to keep it real.
DIRK: So real, it's a little bit uncomfortable.
DIRK: Hyperreal.
DIRK:
DIRK: ...
DIRK: It's just a feeling.
DIRK: I'm pulling on the threads, and coming to no concrete conclusions other than a vague sense of anxiety and a non-committal hand wave.
ROSE: Helpful.
ROSE: Is it homophobia?
DIRK: What.
ROSE: Are you afraid of lesbians being in love?
DIRK: No I don't-
ROSE: Why are you so afraid of women loving women, Dirk?
DIRK: ...
ROSE: Yes, I'm fucking with you.
DIRK: Okay, thank fuck.
ROSE: Did you really think I would accuse you of that?
DIRK: ... No.
ROSE: Ehehe.
ROSE: I'd like to have a ring made, also...
DIRK: Why not alchemize one?
ROSE: It's... different.
DIRK: How so?
ROSE: It's... different, knowing something came from a real person.
ROSE: I suppose most things came from people, but I don't think about such things often... or at least I try not to.
ROSE: It's a rabbit hole that's truly inescapable.
ROSE: You understand my sentiment, yes?
DIRK: I get you well enough, yeah.
ROSE: I expected as much.
DIRK: Send me your schematics, I'll get some rough ones made if you want.
ROSE: Thank you.
ROSE: I'll be seeing you, then.
DIRK: Peace.