beldaran:

jaboody:

nemeankitten:

So I feel like, in light of the recent upd8, people tend to forget how pragmatic Dave is in combat. Like, y’all are acting like this is something new. Case and point, the AutoHarley

Dave knew that Jack would not hurt Jade, however from an objective standpoint, that move could still be considered fighting dirty by all definitions of the phrase. And I think that a lot of people, in favor of viewing him as some poor innocent cinnamon roll, forget that he’s actually REALLY SMART AND QUICK THINKING IN BATTLE, that’s what happens when you live with a guy like Bro. You learn to make split second choices in the heat of the moment. 

Thus, in combat, Dave is willing to make sacrifices and dirty fight as long as he knows it won’t hurt his friends. He makes an active effort to get all of the body, so even if Dirk’s death is somehow heroic, Jane can still resurrect him, assuring Dirk’s safety just like he was assured of Jade’s years ago.

Put this in contrast to Dirk. 

For all his big talk about the Greater Good, and all the other horseshit he pulled in an attempt to improve his friends, when the chips are down he can’t bring himself to do something that drastic. Even when completely assured of Roxy’s resurrection, he could not bring himself to kill her. I completely and utterly believe that if the roles were swapped, and it was Dave in Dirk’s position, Dirk would not be able to make that desperate move.

tl; dr, Dave is able to make huge decisions and pragmatic moves for the greater good, as long as he’s assured that no one will get hurt or killed in the process. On the other hand, Dirk, by all means the most ruthless of the two, wouldn’t be able to pull it off even assured of their safety, despite inadvertantly hurting others in the past with his less extreme decisions.

#I think ppl act like Dirk is super calculating and Dave is super avoidant but like#thats only surface level stuff#if you look at their motivations and whatnot it’s def clear that Dave is V Capable and clever and super good at what he does#and Dirk like…he cares very very deeply about his friends which is actually one of the reasons hes so hard on them sometimes#like he got on Jake not because he wanted to Control Jake but because he wanted Jake to be stronger and reach his potential#it was kind of a screwed up way of doing it but he still like never meant to harm#and once he realized the harm he did he beat himself up about it because he really does care super deeply#Dirk is a complicated and fucked up guy that could lead to a lot of fucked up selves but at his core he means well#and both him and Dave have potential to be incredibly thoughtful and caring and sensitive

I think that what we’re seeing here is the difference between study and lived experience.

Dirk lived on a platform in the middle of the ocean completely alone, only ever fighting robots he himself built and drones sent by HIC, who knew that she needed him to get into the game and so never actually wanted to kill him. He studied things like combat and philosophy academically in isolation, and never had anything to test himself against. So, in the way of teenagers, he assumed and projected the idea he was super awesome, because he felt like he’d done the work to get there.

Dave learned combat from birth in a very, er, practical way. The kind of fighting he was trained to do would make him incredibly quick thinking and force him to notice, consider, and utilize any and all advantages in a fight. His deep love for his friends means that taking their safety into account isn’t even a question, but he’s not above using them in a fight if he knows it’s going to save them. I doubt Dave has ever read a combat strategy or practiced a kata in his life. Instead he had this (dangerous and abusive) hands on training that made him both extremely skilled and capable of on the spot problem solving in battle. Again, in the way of abused teenagers, Dave assumed he super sucked at everything and projected that idea he’d fail because Bro groomed him to believe he was never good enough.

In reality though, Dave is probably actually a much better fighter than Dirk, even if he hates fighting.