Editing Dave (section)

== Background ==

Dave's background is the most complex and detailed out of any character in Vs. Dave and Bambi. Much of it originates from the [[Terminal]], while some was confirmed through tweets.

Dave grew up raised by typical American suburban parents.[https://x.com/moldy_gh/status/1645405802079956992] He used to work at a small research facility as a rocket scientist, but while occupying one of the rockets intended to go to space, an accident occurred that cause him to lose his lower legs.[https://youtu.be/Sxu_IkyLCT4?si=Z6NdkozjM4feuEi7&t=346] In older (possibly retconned?) lore, it has also been described as a science experiment.[https://www.youtube.com/live/Xfd5ySUcGHI?si=6g8YvYE9Cm6Eazke&t=633]

Some time later, Dave adopted [[Tristan]] from an orphanage. Either at the same or a different facility, Dave began writing ''logs'' in his lab six years ago when Tristan was 3. These logs were a series of text files describing his research.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L244] His initial 14 logs, 6 of which are deleted and thus unavailable, are numbered in chronological order and all begin their body text with "LOG ''number''". This research was focused on his powers; in his second log, he records having experienced interdimensional dislocation for the first time, curious as to what the Void is and whether he can visit it again.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L246] He proceeds to study this particular power, trying to ascertain a root cause or trigger, while hoping there aren't any long term side effects.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L248] He ran tests on his polygonization as well to figure out its cause, which concerningly "[hurt] a lot", but he hid his pain for Tristan's sake.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L250]

Most alarming is his sixth log, which while being rather vague, alludes to an incident that occurred with his powers and Tristan, who was almost lost in the Void.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L254] His powers, evidently, were not able to be contained in front of Tristan. In the log immediately following it, Dave finally isolates that the root cause of his interdimensional location is a mass amount of stress, suggesting that something stressful must have happened for the incident to occur with Tristan. While not directly stated, it ''could'' have been the accumulation of stress Dave developed due to the painful experiments he was running on himself. He wonders if it is possible to isolate the ability's effect.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L256] All research on the cause of his powers is halted and pivots to working on a new project initially called "the prototype"[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L260], after which Dave stops naming his logs numerically due to them being confusing.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L262] The estimated build time of the prototype, also called the P.R.A.E.M (''Power Removal And Extraction Machine''), is two years[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L264]. He enlisted the help of [[Muko]], but did not tell him what the prototype does.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L233] He's unable to figure it out even from the blueprints, but Muko does manage to convince him to take him, Tristan, and [[Minor Characters#Maldo|Maldo]] to Cici's Pizza for a break[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L237], perhaps implying that Dave is a bit of a workaholic and had a hard time separating himself from his work. It takes longer than expected to complete the project and is finished a month before Tristan's 7th birthday.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L280] While it's unknown how much time passed between the beginning of his research to the incident with Tristan, it can at least be ascertained that the beginning of his research to the completion of the P.R.A.E.M lasted for four years. Clearly, Dave intended to ''remove and extract'' his powers for the purpose of them to no longer harm his son or perhaps anyone else again. 

In an unknown period of this timeline, Dave begins discovering ''artifacts'' containing remnants of the Bambi religion and records their characteristics, noting that they have suspicious relation to [[Bambi]].[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L195][https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L201][https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L203] He notes that the third artifact, a notebook found in the floor of the Void, is written in a [[Terminal#email|cypher]] that he hasn't bothered to decode yet, as he has more important matters. This notebook was ''possibly'' owned by [[Madden]] (per dubious canon)[https://x.com/OfficialMTM101/status/1586261384701960193], but this is not confirmed. It is most likely that this research took place before the incident with Tristan while he was still actively visiting the Void.

The experience of using the P.R.A.E.M is downright horrifying. Dave describes it as "every ounce of [his] being torn to shreds and reconstructed with some parts removed [...and] every fiber in [his] being [begged him] to STOP".[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L266] However, it did work - his powers stopped appearing. With it came strange dreams of "a reflection that is always wrong"; a part that's missing, a chunk out of his soul.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L268] [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NpzvRAwsQCIWQEJgOw07Opt1T2h2HiCg_3_pDc6njho/edit During Tristan's 9th birthday][https://fixupx.com/OfficialMTM101/status/1580418941427458048] (~2 years after using the P.R.A.E.M and close to the current time of the game's events), Dave's powers suddenly activated again and took him to the Void; Tristan, distressed, turned golden and teleported to Dave as well, where the two encountered [[Expunged]] for the first time, the entity that had been appearing in his dreams.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L255] Either during this meeting or some time after it, Expunged requested for Dave to create [[Minor Characters#Blade|Blade]][https://x.com/OfficialMTM101/status/1746230036963950677], an entity that would theoretically result from using the P.R.A.E.M on Tristan; Dave outwardly agreed to this, but in reality, he lied and had no intention of ever putting Tristan through "the torture that is P.R.A.E.M [...] Not now. Not ever."[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/0e5ab3d7e6bc61e3538ab51077c770dc76434278/source/TerminalState.hx#L288] This was written in a log numbered 331, indicating that Dave at some point resumed making numbered logs and ''quite a few'' of them - or skipped to the 300s for an unknown reason, given that only logs 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 13 are deleted in contents, not 15 through 330. This incident worsened Dave's disdain for Expunged. At some point, Expunged discovered that Dave lied and became enraged[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L265]. 

In his final log (336), Dave recounts meeting [[Recurser]] in the void, whom Dave asked for help regarding Expunged despite his uncertainty with whether he can trust Recurser; there weren't any other options.[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L271] This "help" likely means keeping Expunged from disrupting or harming anyone, and is perhaps the reason their power and influence is restricted to the 3D realm [[Terminal#admin|unless granted admin permissions]]. After this happens[https://x.com/OfficialMTM101/status/1578559012357820417], Dave receives a final artifact - [[Terminal#email|an email with image attachments]] written in the same cypher as the last one[https://github.com/BemboLikePizza/VsDave/blob/63bdbb6ee51d73d224d926b3eee8f302168718e7/source/TerminalState.hx#L205], sent by an unknown person to warn him that he may view these to satisfy his own curiosity about Bambi, but digging any further isn't safe.[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Pg8BZmgtZMs-bZSJqYUyN_2w_JZvD7Q9]