[Yuiko waits there at the top of the steps. Once Falco comes close to the porch she flits her way over to him, floating around his head curiously and ominously. Then she gives off an echoing laugh, something almost-human but not quite and floats up the steps towards the door. Better keep up!]
[If Falco is sensitive to the supernatural at all, either naturally or because of his blood, he might pick up on the house just being super haunted. He will not come into contact with anything as he walks the halls, but there's minimum of six ghostly presences haunting the place at any given time, including his floating purple guide.]
[He might also pick up on the house having wards placed on it. They're not enough for Falco to feel repelled by them, but they are certainly there.]
[As for the house itself, it's old and worn. It looks dilapidated but in a strangely cozy way. The house is very well lived in, with decor ranging from rustic to eccentric. Nautical artifacts, bone sculptures, magic trinkets, glitter covered antler wreaths...? Those are everywhere right now. There is also an imposing family portrait, overlooking the upstairs. It's eyes kind of follow you, but that might be your imagination. Maybe.]
[If Falco isn't sent running out of the place yet, then he will be lead upstairs to a bedroom. In the room are two beds, and the room is neatly divided in half. Once side probably belongs to a girl who is responsible for all the glitter in the house. The other is definitely Dipper's half of the room, if all the magic ritual supplies, books, journals and such is enough to go by.]
[He is also sitting up in bed, and will give Falco a tired, but friendly, wave.]
[ was it the possession resonance? ah, yes, he can feel it. like sound waves bouncing off walls and coming back to him, from a haunted child to a haunted home— the prickling behind his neck at every turn as he followed the mismagius was chilling and stirring. it was strange. he can tell the wards were there, because the silence hissed quietly within him when they were in range. the thing was quelled and slumbering now— no need for a racket it didn’t have energy for.
(also, the portrait? the steps down and back up the stairs at least two times to make sure it wasn’t just his imagination that the eyes— oh, never mind!)
finally, the tension lifts. the glitter comes in full force and the room seems lively and occupied. occupied indeed by the elder boy that makes his chest freeze and push his heart to his throat. oh, dipper. falco doesn’t know what to do in turn or what he should be feeling. relief, remorse, of course— but, perhaps first comes first: the exhale he lets out was the only signal of him having held his breath, stepping over cautiously and with his head low, but eyes up. ]
Dipper . . .
[ this time, they could reach each other. this time, there wasn’t a whirl between them and a demon breaching reality. his blanket covered lap receives a tentative hover of the boy’s hand, as if trying to make sure this was all as real as he wanted it to be.
agh, his eyes are already blinking and shimmering up a storm. he smiles with a slight quirk too, just to match, but he’s not sure for how long he could keep it. ]
[Sorry this house is a nightmare if you're not prepared for it. There was a reason Dipper kept them on the porch the first time they met. He didn't know what the demon possessing him might do once they crossed the threshold. Man, what a quirky family, huh!]
[Yuiko watches them for a moment before she floats to the other side of Dipper. She is protective, but she seems to have deemed Falco at least acceptable to be in the room. She's watching, though!]
[Meanwhile, Dipper is looking Falco over with some measure of concern, once he's in the room proper. Trying to see if he's showing any concerning signs from their incident. If he's got new scars, or if anything looks off. Dipper himself, at least at first glance, only has one new scar, just under his bad eye. It's not until he lifts a hand to pat the bed for Falco to sit that he might catch something more.]
[He got burned pretty badly in the blast, it's a miracle it's not worse than it is, but Dipper's hands are somewhat discolored, patchy and pale. He's wearing long sleeves, so he's probably hiding more.]
I'm- I'll manage. It's um... not the first time I've died.
[What a weird feather to have in his cap.]
What about you? How's um. [He almost doesn't want to say it out loud. Then, softly and with a great deal of fear:]
[ it doesn’t make it lesser, thinks falco of dipper’s number of deaths. it didn’t make this one okay, or easier to wave off. he digresses with the thought, but doesn’t verbalize it.
on the topic of injuries! falco doesn’t scar. he can’t scar, physiologically speaking, so there’s nothing to see on his skin; no old scratches, no new holes filled, no dents or oddly articulated joints. he’s— pristine, actually, and it may be entirely weird that he is, but trench in itself was a pocket of collected oddities. dipper’s, on the other hand, doesn’t go unnoticed. falco’s gaze has fallen to his hands, knows fairly well what a burn victim looks like.
it feels horrid, to think he was the one who left that mark.
air drifts heavily out of falco’s nose at the question, and he begins to shake his head— dipping the crown downwards to simplify removing the scarf he’s keeping around his neck. when he speaks, it’s soft, melancholy but genuine: ]
You did the best you could’ve. You dropped everything . . . To help me. You don’t know how much I treasure that.
[ but he feels that he should show him rather than hide it— the truth was at the very least an obligation when dipper dropped everything to help him. what he exposes is the brand on his nape, previously marked with a double, back to back purple S. it’s still there, but . . . it’s different. it seems that veins of the same ugly color coming from the edges of the mark have rooted further down into flesh, and disappear the deeper it goes. ]
I’m— feeling strange, though. [ it comes with death, he’s been told, but he’s looking to follow sincerity. there’s something off about him. and fuck yeah, he’s haunted now. ] It’s deeper, but it’s quiet. And . . . That’s not your fault. There’s something I didn’t tell you.
[ and it had been there, the source of most of falco’s guilt and uncertainty as to why he didn’t. panic? pre-possession? he wasn’t so quick to switch the blame away from him. it was too much like fleeing from responsibility for himself. it didn’t feel right until he spoke it over and felt convinced of otherwise. ]
[It certainly doesn’t make it lesser, but it’s in Dipper’s nature to try and brush things off when he doesn’t want someone to worry about him. Doesn’t want Falco to feel any worse about this than he might already, not when Dipper feels at fault for so much.]
[To his words, Dipper doesn’t quite let himself feel relieved. That wasn’t a complete “Yes”, though it wasn’t a “No”, either. And while he is relieved that Falco isn’t angry with him, he feels weirdly hallow about it, too. Surely he should be angry with him, right?]
[Those thoughts fall silent so he can focus on what’s being shown to him. He knits his brow in thought- until they fly up at the mark and it’s change. He doesn’t need Falco’s explanation to surmise that something’s escalated. Guilt hits him again, because that does seem to imply he made things worse, but he waits.]
…It looks like we both have a lot to explain.
[May as well come clean, too, honestly.]
I made some …incredibly stupid choices in how I handled things and you should know about it. I- [One thing at a time.]
[ falco was too much with his politeness, and had it not been for dipper’s own recognition, he’d let him keep speaking. this little jump behind his ribs, from his heart, makes him realize his nervousness, but with a nod and a soft confirmation, ]
Okay.
[ he starts to look down, and his lips start to pull harshly, frowning, culpable as much as he was ashamed. ]
You should never perform an exorcism against it alone. Not— not that you shouldn’t have. [ he wants to make clear; it wasn’t a scolding. it was a fact his erratic state had purposely omitted, stuck under the strings of a puppet, but either way— it should have been mentioned earlier, when he was still stable. ] The priests at South Sister said so, after the first time it resisted. I knew that. It was a rule.
[ falco occasionally looks up, but the attention is divided with his fidgeting fingers. that, and his eyes are reddening; he has to keep blinking to soothe the burn it brings to his nose. ]
I don’t know why . . . I didn’t tell you, and that, I— I forced your hand to try anyway.
[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.]
[ their guilt is strangely mutual. falco listens and while he’s surprised that dipper had so much of a possibly strong backup that didn’t get used, he’s . . . not mad at him in the slightest. no, no no no, how could he? if he wasn’t the main cause, they both at least shared in it. a brief glance down to his book of open notes is cast, but they linger on the poor boy’s discolored hands. that was another thing. ]
The restraints . . . Those weren’t enough, either. I shouldn’t have even allowed it done that way. [ he should’ve given dipper a full rundown of what he was and what he could do, but it was all too much of a domino effect and the illusion of hardly enough time to get it done was painfully panicking. ] That was my ability, it just— used it. I knew it could. What happened to you . . . Happened to someone else, once.
[ it was one immense reason why seeing these burns hurt so much. they were individually different circumstances, but they were similar, too. he didn’t see dipper afterwards, but he could smell him. scent the crisp, arduous smell of charred flesh and heat. he had no memory of the first time he turned, but he could only imagine how it went. sometimes, the imagination is worse.
on top of that, he doesn’t even want to think how he’d be if he were suffering stages of corruption, though, all the way up to beasthood. then that thing would run wild. falco wets his lips, steadies his voice, but it’s already wobbly and cracking. ]
We both weren’t thinking straight— and I know it won’t change things now, but . . . I’m sorry, Dipper. [ now it’s apparent: he’s crying. softly, but pained and overwhelmed with empathy. ] I’m sorry you and your family went through this.
[ there was a second bed in the room. his uncle. the picture on the wall. they must’ve felt something when dipper died. but, speaking of that (and the fact that it’s awkward, crying for too long when both were in need of soothing), ]
What do you remember—?
Edited (adding some things i forgot!) 2022-01-02 18:14 (UTC)
[So, it really had been the both of them, then. Both of them had managed to sabotage the entire ordeal from the start without either of them realizing it. Now they could both look back on the mess and see where they went wrong. No ...Dipper isn't mad, either. Not at Falco.
He's still mad at himself, but more than anything he's frustrated by how helpless they both had been. There had to have been something they could have done to prevent all this. He can't accept that they both were doomed all along.
It all goes back to corruption, for Dipper, at least. If he'd caught onto that sooner, maybe-]
Not- Not very much.
[And that's the truth. His last memory is telling Mabel to run, and the unimaginable pain of regaining consciousness with the level of burns he had, only to lose himself to the Beasthood transformation. Everything after that is flashes. Dipper bites his lip and reaches forward. The Empathy is getting to him, too, and the tightness in his chest is almost too much.]
And...you're right. It won't change things now. So- [He realizes maybe he should try a different angle. Because if Falco is anything like how Dipper feels right now "It's Okay" isn't near enough to put him at ease.]
[If Falco will let him, he'll draw him into a hug, because he sees him crying over there, and Dipper is, much like his family, very tactile.]
I forgive you. We've both learned terrible lessons today, so let's move forward.
[ give and ye shall receive double. dipper would realize only after just how much a hug is not only appreciated but desperately in need of giving in turn when falco, once he realizes what it is, pulls dipper in the same way he is and squeezes his back tightly. there’s meaning to it! a hug that buffers the little squeak of an okay against the other boy’s shoulder. oh, they’ve learned something that would never be so easily forgotten. the worst of ways to learn, but also the fastest and less prone to happen a second time. ]
Thank you.
[ a grateful squeeze as well as a giving one, falco barely feels ready yet before a thought pops to mind, one that had earlier grazed his thoughts, relevant, but hadn’t felt in place to ask— ]
You— you have a sibling, [ once he begins to pull back, his eyes guide toward the adjacent bed in the room. it wasn’t just the bed— it had been the portrait. mabel looked so much like dipper. ] right?
[They both probably needed this, honestly. When Dipper pulls away, he already feels a lot better than before. Relieved, maybe. He wasn't sure what Falco would make of that confession, and while the guilt is still there, and probably always will be there, there's some of the weight gone. Dipper will find a way to make things up to him properly, once he's better.]
Hm?
[Oh, maybe he didn't actually tell Falco about Mabel. Yeesh, he really was out of it, then. He nods, gesturing to one of the many glitter crusted winter mourning projects laying around the room.]
Yeah, I have a twin sister. Her name's Mabel and if there's glitter stuck to you right now, it's her fault.
[ oh, yes is the air lighter in here and around them. a permanent fix, it would never be, but it was a necessary one to put their greater anxieties to ease. the rest, they can work on only over time. falco looks about in search of whatever it is this "glitter" stuff is all about. to be frank, he's never seen it. under his hanging feet was an object though, perhaps something that had accidentally fallen. bending until his belly touched his knees, falco reached and pulled right back up with an antler that— he wasn't sure if it was complete, but it was sparkling. one look once he switched hands, there it was! his palm was speckled.
he doesn't know why, exactly, but he has a feeling gabi would like this sort of thing. it's flashy, twinkles like a thousand little stars, and, look at that— falco gets to experience how hard it is to get the flakes off once it's touched upon skin. as an ode to that, falco fishes for something in his pocket, placing the piece of ornament stuck to antler by his side and on the bed to pull out . . . a small, stuffed little bear charm that more than likely isn't his. he just wants to wipe his hands and lap with it to gather the glitter it could, making it— yes, very gabi. he smiles warmly at the thought, and that dipper was in the company of a sister.
how can he not notice the fondness under that little prickle! not only that, but they share the same room in a house this large. ]
Guess I should thank her . . . After I talk to her. It looks like you guys are close.
[It is extremely endearing watching a kid from the the year 800-something discover glitter for the first time. He realizes perhaps, glitter was not an actual threat to him like it would be to everyone else. Dipper does not interrupt him while he covers the little charm.]
Yeah, we are. I'd do just about anything for her.
[One might expect siblings to be less open about things like caring, but the truth is, Dipper and Mabel were extremely close, and there was no getting around that. Sure they made each other crazy sometimes, as siblings will, but the twins would frankly kill for one another.]
Except, I dunno, let her give me a makeover again. Bleh.
[Surely this won't come back to haunt him later. Anyway, Dipper reaches to pick up the antlers, to move it somewhere else, when suddenly the world around them shifts. All that's heard from Dipper before it all spins and blurs is a resigned, put out-]
Oh come on.
[let me know if you have a Winter Mourning preference or if you want me to set up something fun and surprise you. ovo]
[ falco had been smiling and now smiling even warmer to himself at dipper’s single bantering— only people with siblings would get that, like he’d nag colt’s head off about drinking liquor because he was a damn lightweight and was an embarrassment while drunk (and contrary to popular belief, falco would kindly talk smack about him. kindly).
the room’s walls spin and distort so rapidly that falco jolts and clings to the bed— but we’re those leaving, too? dipper, he couldn’t lose sight or hold on dipper— ]
Dipper—?!
SORRY I WAS INDECISIVE HOW I WANTED TO SET THIS ONE UP.
[The world bursts into color. A dusky sky, with warm reds and purples. The scent of pines, the cries of birds, and then one loud thunderous crash.]
[Falco will find himself on a cliff overlooking a large gorge. Beneath the rocky drop is a bridge of train tracks and one very large, mechanical giant. In a booming, accented voice it speaks.]
Ha! Hahaha! You still think you're some kind of hero!?
[The giant flings something towards Falco. A person, a familiar one, judging by the scream as he crashes into the ground near him, rolling until he slams his head into the back of a rock. He's younger and dressed different, but it's definitely Dipper. He sits up rubbing his head, blood spills down his face.]
[ why, oh why? is it always giants. the scenery of the sky can be painted as beautiful, if falco had the time to gift his attention to it properly. the smell of nature is crisp, but the danger is eminent. he braces himself by a sturdy rock as many steps away from the edge as possible, but then— in the violent flaps of wind from his high they stand, something is thrown at him.
falco’s heart drops when he realizes it has limbs. ]
Dipper! [ there’s no time to ask where they were or what was happening— falco had to make sure, foremost, that dipper wouldn’t fall from the cliff or sustain worse. ] Can you stand—?!
[ falco helps briskly in the process by supporting dippers midsection to give his legs a second to spring. if need be, he’d pick him up from the arms, shoulders and run— he’d done so much already with adults, as heavy as they were and with help; another that was closer to his age was more than doable. ]
[Dipper wobbles a little, but he's very quickly on his feet again with Falco's help. Dipper looks up to make eye contact with Falco, confusion and panic crossing his features. Like he's desperately trying to reconcile the fact that he knows this kid, and yet the current scenario should make that impossible.]
I- ...Falco?
[The severity of the situation halts that from going much longer. A voice rings out from the giant, young and scared.]
Dipper! Help me!!
[In the giant's hand is the very young girl from the family portrait. The giant laughs, raving on about making her his queen as it stomps away from the cliff.]
Mabel!
[Panicked, Dipper looks around, eyes welling up as he tries to think of something, anything to stop Gideon. His voice wavers as he talks, betraying how close he is to losing it, watching that monster walk away with his sister.]
What can I do? What can I do? I can't- He's won and I can't do anything.
[ this is quickly becoming a situation that allows less and less thinking time— falco’s heart is already racing at the cry for help, a metal giant doesn’t panic him so much, but . . . ]
The Armour—?! [ spiked with a massive dunk of doubt, he couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were seeing in being a titan he recognized, but— there was no time for that. that was dipper’s sister in its hand. ] Okay—[ he’s calm enough; breathe in, ] Okay! No he hasn’t! We need to think fast, ah—
[ he grabs dipper by the shoulders and tries his best, a resolute solution in his voice that isn’t a lie: ]
We can still do something! You can!
[ he just needs to get out of here, give himself room, ]
[Having Falco be the one to take him by the shoulders and give him such enouragement. It startles him for a moment, just enough, for Dipper to start thinking again. To get his gears shifting. Falco believed he could do it, and now Mabel was in mortal peril if he didn't do something now]
[Dipper passes a glance to the giant and then back to Falco. Something changes in his eyes. He's made a decision. He narrows his eyes this time in determination and nods.]
Okay. Okay.
[Dipper grips Falco's shoulder tightly in return before he pulls away from the other boy. He starts to step away from the cliff, towards the treeline, almost like he's leaving.]
[Before he gets too far, he turns and start to run. With a yell, Dipper hurls himself of the cliff. The noise is enough to get the Giant to pause and turn its head just in time for Dipper to go crashing through the glass windows that made up it's eyes.]
I think I can— [ right, okay, right, dipper’s got it, he’s just walking to think. nothing possibly could’ve prepared falco for what he was going to do, and by the time he realizes the footsteps behind him are incoming and too fast— falco shrieks after him, his arm out to grab a collar, a sleeve, anything— ]
Dipper—!!
[ his voice cracks as he jumps for the other boy, and this time he couldn’t actually think as he did. he simply lunged with, the same way he leaped for gabi boarding the air ship. he couldn’t grab a thing on dipper, missed his jacket by a hair— the wind roared past him and he didn’t break through the glass with him, but struck the side of the machine’s face with an ugly thunk.
if he’s managed to grab something, a frame or a bolt, it’s a quick second grab that means life and death for him. he’s still alive, breathing, conscious, harmed— but that’s all he needs. he needs to find where dipper went, if he survived that, where mabel was— and to brace himself for shifting. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ty ty
[If Falco is sensitive to the supernatural at all, either naturally or because of his blood, he might pick up on the house just being super haunted. He will not come into contact with anything as he walks the halls, but there's minimum of six ghostly presences haunting the place at any given time, including his floating purple guide.]
[He might also pick up on the house having wards placed on it. They're not enough for Falco to feel repelled by them, but they are certainly there.]
[As for the house itself, it's old and worn. It looks dilapidated but in a strangely cozy way. The house is very well lived in, with decor ranging from rustic to eccentric. Nautical artifacts, bone sculptures, magic trinkets, glitter covered antler wreaths...? Those are everywhere right now. There is also an imposing family portrait, overlooking the upstairs. It's eyes kind of follow you, but that might be your imagination. Maybe.]
[If Falco isn't sent running out of the place yet, then he will be lead upstairs to a bedroom. In the room are two beds, and the room is neatly divided in half. Once side probably belongs to a girl who is responsible for all the glitter in the house. The other is definitely Dipper's half of the room, if all the magic ritual supplies, books, journals and such is enough to go by.]
[He is also sitting up in bed, and will give Falco a tired, but friendly, wave.]
Hey man.
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(also, the portrait? the steps down and back up the stairs at least two times to make sure it wasn’t just his imagination that the eyes— oh, never mind!)
finally, the tension lifts. the glitter comes in full force and the room seems lively and occupied. occupied indeed by the elder boy that makes his chest freeze and push his heart to his throat. oh, dipper. falco doesn’t know what to do in turn or what he should be feeling. relief, remorse, of course— but, perhaps first comes first: the exhale he lets out was the only signal of him having held his breath, stepping over cautiously and with his head low, but eyes up. ]
Dipper . . .
[ this time, they could reach each other. this time, there wasn’t a whirl between them and a demon breaching reality. his blanket covered lap receives a tentative hover of the boy’s hand, as if trying to make sure this was all as real as he wanted it to be.
agh, his eyes are already blinking and shimmering up a storm. he smiles with a slight quirk too, just to match, but he’s not sure for how long he could keep it. ]
How’re you feeling—?
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[Yuiko watches them for a moment before she floats to the other side of Dipper. She is protective, but she seems to have deemed Falco at least acceptable to be in the room. She's watching, though!]
[Meanwhile, Dipper is looking Falco over with some measure of concern, once he's in the room proper. Trying to see if he's showing any concerning signs from their incident. If he's got new scars, or if anything looks off. Dipper himself, at least at first glance, only has one new scar, just under his bad eye. It's not until he lifts a hand to pat the bed for Falco to sit that he might catch something more.]
[He got burned pretty badly in the blast, it's a miracle it's not worse than it is, but Dipper's hands are somewhat discolored, patchy and pale. He's wearing long sleeves, so he's probably hiding more.]
I'm- I'll manage. It's um... not the first time I've died.
[What a weird feather to have in his cap.]
What about you? How's um. [He almost doesn't want to say it out loud. Then, softly and with a great deal of fear:]
...Did I make it worse?
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on the topic of injuries! falco doesn’t scar. he can’t scar, physiologically speaking, so there’s nothing to see on his skin; no old scratches, no new holes filled, no dents or oddly articulated joints. he’s— pristine, actually, and it may be entirely weird that he is, but trench in itself was a pocket of collected oddities. dipper’s, on the other hand, doesn’t go unnoticed. falco’s gaze has fallen to his hands, knows fairly well what a burn victim looks like.
it feels horrid, to think he was the one who left that mark.
air drifts heavily out of falco’s nose at the question, and he begins to shake his head— dipping the crown downwards to simplify removing the scarf he’s keeping around his neck. when he speaks, it’s soft, melancholy but genuine: ]
You did the best you could’ve. You dropped everything . . . To help me. You don’t know how much I treasure that.
[ but he feels that he should show him rather than hide it— the truth was at the very least an obligation when dipper dropped everything to help him. what he exposes is the brand on his nape, previously marked with a double, back to back purple S. it’s still there, but . . . it’s different. it seems that veins of the same ugly color coming from the edges of the mark have rooted further down into flesh, and disappear the deeper it goes. ]
I’m— feeling strange, though. [ it comes with death, he’s been told, but he’s looking to follow sincerity. there’s something off about him. and fuck yeah, he’s haunted now. ] It’s deeper, but it’s quiet. And . . . That’s not your fault. There’s something I didn’t tell you.
[ and it had been there, the source of most of falco’s guilt and uncertainty as to why he didn’t. panic? pre-possession? he wasn’t so quick to switch the blame away from him. it was too much like fleeing from responsibility for himself. it didn’t feel right until he spoke it over and felt convinced of otherwise. ]
There’s so much . . . I didn’t tell you.
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[To his words, Dipper doesn’t quite let himself feel relieved. That wasn’t a complete “Yes”, though it wasn’t a “No”, either. And while he is relieved that Falco isn’t angry with him, he feels weirdly hallow about it, too. Surely he should be angry with him, right?]
[Those thoughts fall silent so he can focus on what’s being shown to him. He knits his brow in thought- until they fly up at the mark and it’s change. He doesn’t need Falco’s explanation to surmise that something’s escalated. Guilt hits him again, because that does seem to imply he made things worse, but he waits.]
…It looks like we both have a lot to explain.
[May as well come clean, too, honestly.]
I made some …incredibly stupid choices in how I handled things and you should know about it. I- [One thing at a time.]
Sorry, you first.
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Okay.
[ he starts to look down, and his lips start to pull harshly, frowning, culpable as much as he was ashamed. ]
You should never perform an exorcism against it alone. Not— not that you shouldn’t have. [ he wants to make clear; it wasn’t a scolding. it was a fact his erratic state had purposely omitted, stuck under the strings of a puppet, but either way— it should have been mentioned earlier, when he was still stable. ] The priests at South Sister said so, after the first time it resisted. I knew that. It was a rule.
[ falco occasionally looks up, but the attention is divided with his fidgeting fingers. that, and his eyes are reddening; he has to keep blinking to soothe the burn it brings to his nose. ]
I don’t know why . . . I didn’t tell you, and that, I— I forced your hand to try anyway.
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[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.
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The restraints . . . Those weren’t enough, either. I shouldn’t have even allowed it done that way. [ he should’ve given dipper a full rundown of what he was and what he could do, but it was all too much of a domino effect and the illusion of hardly enough time to get it done was painfully panicking. ] That was my ability, it just— used it. I knew it could. What happened to you . . . Happened to someone else, once.
[ it was one immense reason why seeing these burns hurt so much. they were individually different circumstances, but they were similar, too. he didn’t see dipper afterwards, but he could smell him. scent the crisp, arduous smell of charred flesh and heat. he had no memory of the first time he turned, but he could only imagine how it went. sometimes, the imagination is worse.
on top of that, he doesn’t even want to think how he’d be if he were suffering stages of corruption, though, all the way up to beasthood. then that thing would run wild. falco wets his lips, steadies his voice, but it’s already wobbly and cracking. ]
We both weren’t thinking straight— and I know it won’t change things now, but . . . I’m sorry, Dipper. [ now it’s apparent: he’s crying. softly, but pained and overwhelmed with empathy. ] I’m sorry you and your family went through this.
[ there was a second bed in the room. his uncle. the picture on the wall. they must’ve felt something when dipper died. but, speaking of that (and the fact that it’s awkward, crying for too long when both were in need of soothing), ]
What do you remember—?
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He's still mad at himself, but more than anything he's frustrated by how helpless they both had been. There had to have been something they could have done to prevent all this. He can't accept that they both were doomed all along.
It all goes back to corruption, for Dipper, at least. If he'd caught onto that sooner, maybe-]
Not- Not very much.
[And that's the truth. His last memory is telling Mabel to run, and the unimaginable pain of regaining consciousness with the level of burns he had, only to lose himself to the Beasthood transformation. Everything after that is flashes. Dipper bites his lip and reaches forward. The Empathy is getting to him, too, and the tightness in his chest is almost too much.]
And...you're right. It won't change things now. So- [He realizes maybe he should try a different angle. Because if Falco is anything like how Dipper feels right now "It's Okay" isn't near enough to put him at ease.]
[If Falco will let him, he'll draw him into a hug, because he sees him crying over there, and Dipper is, much like his family, very tactile.]
I forgive you. We've both learned terrible lessons today, so let's move forward.
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Thank you.
[ a grateful squeeze as well as a giving one, falco barely feels ready yet before a thought pops to mind, one that had earlier grazed his thoughts, relevant, but hadn’t felt in place to ask— ]
You— you have a sibling, [ once he begins to pull back, his eyes guide toward the adjacent bed in the room. it wasn’t just the bed— it had been the portrait. mabel looked so much like dipper. ] right?
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Hm?
[Oh, maybe he didn't actually tell Falco about Mabel. Yeesh, he really was out of it, then. He nods, gesturing to one of the many glitter crusted winter mourning projects laying around the room.]
Yeah, I have a twin sister. Her name's Mabel and if there's glitter stuck to you right now, it's her fault.
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he doesn't know why, exactly, but he has a feeling gabi would like this sort of thing. it's flashy, twinkles like a thousand little stars, and, look at that— falco gets to experience how hard it is to get the flakes off once it's touched upon skin. as an ode to that, falco fishes for something in his pocket, placing the piece of ornament stuck to antler by his side and on the bed to pull out . . . a small, stuffed little bear charm that more than likely isn't his. he just wants to wipe his hands and lap with it to gather the glitter it could, making it— yes, very gabi. he smiles warmly at the thought, and that dipper was in the company of a sister.
how can he not notice the fondness under that little prickle! not only that, but they share the same room in a house this large. ]
Guess I should thank her . . . After I talk to her. It looks like you guys are close.
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Yeah, we are. I'd do just about anything for her.
[One might expect siblings to be less open about things like caring, but the truth is, Dipper and Mabel were extremely close, and there was no getting around that. Sure they made each other crazy sometimes, as siblings will, but the twins would frankly kill for one another.]
Except, I dunno, let her give me a makeover again. Bleh.
[Surely this won't come back to haunt him later. Anyway, Dipper reaches to pick up the antlers, to move it somewhere else, when suddenly the world around them shifts. All that's heard from Dipper before it all spins and blurs is a resigned, put out-]
Oh come on.
[let me know if you have a Winter Mourning preference or if you want me to set up something fun and surprise you. ovo]
(anton ego voice) surprise me 👌 👀
the room’s walls spin and distort so rapidly that falco jolts and clings to the bed— but we’re those leaving, too? dipper, he couldn’t lose sight or hold on dipper— ]
Dipper—?!
SORRY I WAS INDECISIVE HOW I WANTED TO SET THIS ONE UP.
[The world bursts into color. A dusky sky, with warm reds and purples. The scent of pines, the cries of birds, and then one loud thunderous crash.]
[Falco will find himself on a cliff overlooking a large gorge. Beneath the rocky drop is a bridge of train tracks and one very large, mechanical giant. In a booming, accented voice it speaks.]
Ha! Hahaha! You still think you're some kind of hero!?
[The giant flings something towards Falco. A person, a familiar one, judging by the scream as he crashes into the ground near him, rolling until he slams his head into the back of a rock. He's younger and dressed different, but it's definitely Dipper. He sits up rubbing his head, blood spills down his face.]
no apologies only gold 🤩
falco’s heart drops when he realizes it has limbs. ]
Dipper! [ there’s no time to ask where they were or what was happening— falco had to make sure, foremost, that dipper wouldn’t fall from the cliff or sustain worse. ] Can you stand—?!
[ falco helps briskly in the process by supporting dippers midsection to give his legs a second to spring. if need be, he’d pick him up from the arms, shoulders and run— he’d done so much already with adults, as heavy as they were and with help; another that was closer to his age was more than doable. ]
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I- ...Falco?
[The severity of the situation halts that from going much longer. A voice rings out from the giant, young and scared.]
Dipper! Help me!!
[In the giant's hand is the very young girl from the family portrait. The giant laughs, raving on about making her his queen as it stomps away from the cliff.]
Mabel!
[Panicked, Dipper looks around, eyes welling up as he tries to think of something, anything to stop Gideon. His voice wavers as he talks, betraying how close he is to losing it, watching that monster walk away with his sister.]
What can I do? What can I do? I can't- He's won and I can't do anything.
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The Armour—?! [ spiked with a massive dunk of doubt, he couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were seeing in being a titan he recognized, but— there was no time for that. that was dipper’s sister in its hand. ] Okay—[ he’s calm enough; breathe in, ] Okay! No he hasn’t! We need to think fast, ah—
[ he grabs dipper by the shoulders and tries his best, a resolute solution in his voice that isn’t a lie: ]
We can still do something! You can!
[ he just needs to get out of here, give himself room, ]
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[Dipper passes a glance to the giant and then back to Falco. Something changes in his eyes. He's made a decision. He narrows his eyes this time in determination and nods.]
Okay. Okay.
[Dipper grips Falco's shoulder tightly in return before he pulls away from the other boy. He starts to step away from the cliff, towards the treeline, almost like he's leaving.]
[Before he gets too far, he turns and start to run. With a yell, Dipper hurls himself of the cliff. The noise is enough to get the Giant to pause and turn its head just in time for Dipper to go crashing through the glass windows that made up it's eyes.]
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Dipper—!!
[ his voice cracks as he jumps for the other boy, and this time he couldn’t actually think as he did. he simply lunged with, the same way he leaped for gabi boarding the air ship. he couldn’t grab a thing on dipper, missed his jacket by a hair— the wind roared past him and he didn’t break through the glass with him, but struck the side of the machine’s face with an ugly thunk.
if he’s managed to grab something, a frame or a bolt, it’s a quick second grab that means life and death for him. he’s still alive, breathing, conscious, harmed— but that’s all he needs. he needs to find where dipper went, if he survived that, where mabel was— and to brace himself for shifting. ]