( sirens pull shadow event post )
Daaaaaave.
He's yet to realize what's going on, but he knows it's inordinately dark tonight - and cold, colder than the cold he's slowly come to recognize as normal around here. It's like someone's sucked all the warmth out of the atmosphere somehow. And it's not just the weather, it's everything. It feels like there's no such thing as warmth and comfort, like there never will be again. And he doesn't understand that feeling, doesn't know why he feels it so suddenly and doesn't know why it came on so suddenly. Ever since he stepped out into the Darkness to do his dirty work. Track down and eliminate some hellbeasts and get home in time for a shitty microwave dinner. Just like the good ol' days, only now it's a lot more real and there's no TV screen and wireless controller between him and the action. The baseball diamond, where it all began. There's a light out there in the distance so he heads that way, it'll be a good place to stop and get his bearings. Double check the beastie he's supposed to be hunting tonight.
And that's when he sees it. Not "him," not "them," not a person. An "it." He thinks it's another resident of the port at first, maybe someone else who's working. Or maybe they're lost. He's not the conversational sort and he doesn't make a beeline for the figure standing alone under the milky lamplight, they just so happen to have the same destination. Why bother them, anyway, he's got work to do. But then as he gets closer he realizes with a jolt in the back of his mind that this figure standing out here alone in the dark is watching him. It's standing still and watching him, staring intently without even blinking. As he gets closer he realizes it's someone his own age, about the same height and build. Another kid. As he gets closer he realizes... it's himself that he's looking at. Only there's something wrong with it. For one thing, the posture is all wrong. The way it's standing, the way it's inclining its head. The outfit is wrong. The expression on its face is wrong. As he gets closer he realizes it's not wearing the mandatory sunglasses-it's purposely wearing them up on its forehead. He might have been able to suspect that it's simply an alternate version of himself, a timeline gone astray somehow or maybe one that's just arrived from the Medium the same way he himself had not that long ago, but there's something too off about it for that to be correct. He doesn't know what it is about this thing but it stops him in his tracks.
Its eyes are yellow. Bright fucking yellow and unfeeling and its expression is listless and bored even as it continues to follow and search Dave with its gaze and he gets the sneaking suspicion that it can see into him somehow. Like it can tell what he's thinking, like it can smell his feelings and see his own eyes right through those sunglasses. Watching. Waiting. And when Dave doesn't come any closer the face changes. It denotes a sort of childlike quality that he doesn't recognize, can't remember ever having, and although he's seen himself in other incarnations, moving in action, plenty of times before, there's something that really strikes him about this. His eyebrows raise while the figure under the lamp's furrow, lips drawing into what could easily be called a pout. Like it's been denied something it was hoping for. Like a disappointed child. "What's the matter, Daaaaave?" The voice sounds eerie and wrong and it sends a chill up his spine, the tone and inflection and the fact that it, too, sounds childish and unreal and yet there's something to it, something taunting, something... threatening. "Don't you want to come any closer?" And then it takes a sudden twist, like life pouring into it, aggression and amusement and a rough impudence like an elementary school bully on the playground. "You're not scaaaaared, are you? Chicken! Bawk bawk!" And it starts flapping its arms like a chicken, for what he guesses is definitely not ironic purposes.
In short, this is fucked up. It starts laughing at him-outright laughing without holding back at all. He's not sure he's ever made such a sound in his entire laugh and it along with the weird, shadowy cadence to its voice just sounds creepy and wrong. It makes his hair stand on end, goosebumps prickle on his skin. He finds himself frowning at the mockery, but it's not that he's being taunted, it's how. It's by what. This cheap, fake image of himself that's clearly trying to get his goat by acting like such a jackass. By wearing that ridiculous heart shirt. By revealing its eyes, which are almost demonic in nature and yet still just as lively and expressive as his own are, though there's not a chance in hell he'd ever admit to having expressive eyes. The laughter goes on for a long moment and even from this distance he can feel the aggression, the spite, the hatred pouring off the figure standing under the murky light. Even if he's not showing them, he can sense it-it's feeding off his reactions. Relishing in the indignation it's raising in him. He tries to stiffen up and hold it back. After all, this is just a stupid joke, right? It's just another Port monster that can imitate someone's appearance. You see it in the movies all the time. His expression goes flat again and he relaxes his shoulders. The laughter dies down just a little. "Are you done?"
The figure pauses and then it bites its lip and giggles, straight up giggles, shoulders jumping and head shaking. Then it looks him straight in the eye and there's menace, something downright vicious in its expression even while it's snickering like a petulant child in the face of a scolding. "No way, man. We're just getting started, you and me! Ha ha ha!" More laughter. Does this thing ever stop? Seeing this kind of asinine behavior on something that looks so much like him is incredibly unnerving. It's just a fake, just a monster trying to get your goat for ironic purposes, he reminds himself. It's not real. "But I am real! I am the true self," it says suddenly, and he feels a surge of alarm. It knows what he's thinking. "Your better half! And I came out to play with you. Just you, Dave. This is going to be soooo much goddamn fun!" And it throws back its head and howls with shrieking laughter while the chills roll down his spine.
This shit's more real than Kraft mayo, Daaaaave.
THE COVERAGE: C.F.H.S.
C: Cool Factor (and the lack thereof)
The first thing Shadow Dave is going to tear down is the notion Dave carries both outwardly and inwardly of being "cool," as instructed and developed in theory by his bro and opinions of others. Henceforth known as "Cool Factor" (CF), it is both a means of finding a groove to fit in where he will be approved of and also a means of coping, of dealing with his feelings around others and by himself. An as-needed facade. And of course there's "irony" to explain away everything else. But of course Shadow Dave knows better. And he'll make a point of ripping that one in half in every possible way.
Outwardly, Shadow Dave will be disposing of the crucial ingredient in the coolkid wardrobe: his sunglasses. They'll start off on top of his head but Shadow Dave will later drive the point home by throwing them on the ground and stepping on them in an unironic temperamental tantrum. He's also going to be highly animated visually, using a lot of hand gestures to accentuate his speech and also using very telling facial expressions. Big smiles and laughter for the "happy," full-on pouting for the "sad," teeth grinding and a twitchy eye for the "angry." Pretty much the whole works as far as not hiding one's feelings go.
And as far as the inner stuff goes, Shadow Dave's behavior will be distinctly uncool in that he will be very communicative about his thoughts and feelings (and Dave's too, of course, that boy can't hide anything from his Shadow), also incredibly childish and demanding in nature. He'll be prone to rapid and occasionally unexplainable moodswings and may even seem a little... off his rocker from time to time. Definitely nothing cool and collected here, although this is less of an inability and more of a purposeful attempt at getting Dave's earth goat for unironic purposes.
Dissolving Dave's CF will be like taking away his security blanket of sorts and that'll leave him way more susceptible to everything else his Shadow has up his sleeve. That, and facing himself (or something that looks and sounds mostly like himself) makes it a whole lot harder to fake, particularly when that other self can read his mind and keeps calling him out on it.
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F: Feelings (the ones he has a lot of)
They say that downplaying one's feelings is the Quintessential Rule of Cool. This is a standard that Dave adheres to strongly, and having had the "cool" barrier broken down, there won't be a lot to stand in-between him and falling down all those feels he's got locked up in there. The most notable one will be anger and outrage, because it definitely won't take him long to get sick of his Shadow's bullshit. His temper might become such that he'll try to attack his Shadow, even to no avail, which will in turn lead to more taunting, which will provoke Dave even further.
And then comes the rest. Shadow Dave will touch on Dave's insecurity and inferiority complexes the most (the latter detailed further below), calling him out on being helpless and in need of guidance, that he doesn't know who he even is, actually, and that when it comes down to it he's just a lost child. There'll be plenty of prodding at the open wound that is Dave's sadness over losing Bro and how dependent he actually is on him, as well as on his friends and that on his own he's nothing, useless.
There won't be a lot of happy feels coming into play here. Shadow Dave may deem it appropriate to tease Dave about how deeply he truly cares for the people that are close to him - Terezi, the other kids, Bro - but for the most part he'll be playing that up to be a weakness and nothing else. Because if you're sooooo cooooool, how come it's still so obvious how you feel about your little friends, Daaaaave?
Another thing Shadow Dave will be bringing up will be Dave's fear. Fear of his own death and of not being accepted and how it's held him back, and also fear of losing anyone else. From there he'll go into the next bullet point, having successfully knocked Dave down another peg.
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H: Heroism (aka the hero that never was)
You know you're not a hero, Dave, but you still want to be anyway, don't you! But you can't save anybody. Everyone ends up dead and it's all because of you and there's nothing you can do about it.
This one will be short, but it'll come in from the direction of Dave's inability to protect anyone or to get anything right and will lead in the direction of Dave's inferiority toward the people he thinks are heroes rather than himself. Shadow Dave will bring up his supposed competition with both Bro and John and make Dave out to be the obvious loser in both cases.
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S: Shadows (the ones he's been living in)
And lastly, Shadow Dave will drive the nail in the coffin by pointing out how Dave will never be as good as the others, never as strong or as capable and definitely not as cool. That even with Bro dead he's still never going to be at the top of the irony echeladder and isn't that a shame to let your poor bropops down like that? You're pathetic, Dave. And let's talk about how you're too much of a coward to reach god tier like John, so you'll always be second place to him on that one, too. John's going to save the world and you're just going along for the ride because there's nothing else you can do.
And to think you'd be able to break out of this lousy lame shell if only you weren't such a chicken shit! Ha ha ha! But that's okay, Daaaave. You and me, we can be hopeless together. We don't need anyone else, and that's why we push people away. Just lay back and rest that weary little head of yours and let me take care of everything. I can do better than you. Your friends will love me and they'll never even notice you're gone! Because after all, Dave.
I am you.
Cue the magic words and a boss fight.
FINAL BOSS
When Dave finally snaps and starts vehemently rejecting his Shadow, it'll transform into, appropriately, a very crow-looking motherfucker. The picture below pretty much sums it up, only the facial features will be more distorted and blurry and sort of... faded, denoting Dave's uncertain self-image. Also appropriately, the Shadow will have a familiar looking shitty ninja sword through the stomach, reminiscent of both Bro's murder and of Davesprite (failed cases, more or less) which it will be able to remove and attack with at will. Shadow Dave will be fire-based and weak to ice. It will also have a high speed stat, fairly high attack, but very low defense. It will be able to timefreeze opponents for a limited span and, of course, will be able to flashstep everywhere just like any Strider can. Its voice will distort heavily and be difficult to make out but will be very shrill, like a crow screech, and most of what it'll be doing during the fight is laughing.
Sayonara, coolkid.