[... He really has no response to that. Fuck, he has no response to any of it, even if he's at least realized or at least fucking hopes that a full on hug will work better than a hand, please say this is working? It is, right? Shooshing hadn't, and Dave's too curled up for him to try anything resembling an effective pap, but hugs are good, too, right? God, he's so fucking useless, if he can't pacify his moirail over something like this, then what good is he?]

Dave—Dave, I get it, that was—you deserved better, that guy was an asshole, but you're away from him now, right? Right?

[He hugs him tighter, buries his face against Dave's shoulder and wills him calmer. Calm. Calm, goddammit, please don't be upset.]

It's fucked up. It's—it's really fucked up, if you think our system was, was better than yours, I told you about Vriska, she—her lusus would have eaten her if she didn't feed her other trolls, you know? A-and Feferi's lusus, she needed other lusii to survive, it was this whole bullshit thing, don't even ask me how it worked.

[He doesn't try to make Dave uncurl, doesn't try to do much of anything. Just. Please don't cry.]

I was lucky, I—I complained about him a lot, but my lusus was—he didn't compare to yours at all.

[Crabdad had protected him. He'd felt safe with him. Dave hadn't had that at all, had he?]