[It's remarkable, how hearing that news makes him feel. It's kind of like being slapped. Not because Falco had omitted something important, but because Dipper had known this to be true all on his own and still acting alone, despite knowing better. That they've come to basically confess the same thing.]

[While it's frustrating and makes him want to climb under a rock, it does also somehow validate how dodgy the entire thing had been from the start. Dipper knew corruption had been eating away at him, now that he can look back on it. He hadn't considered the same could be true for Falco.]

[He takes a deep breath, gently running a hand through his hair.]

I should have known better. I... Tackling such a complicated, dangerous ritual-- I never should have tried to do it alone.

[He drops his hand, so he can reach and pick up his journal, which was laying near his feet on the bed. He gingerly slips it open.]

My uncle has decades more experience than I do, and I didn't breathe a word of this to him. I usually tell him everything. I don't know what got into me, Falco. I've been looking at these notes from right before we did it, and they're crazy.

[He shakes his head, pausing on a random page to rest his hands. They're stiff and ache, and he's trying not to make a show of that to the other boy.]

I wasn't in my right mind.