[ 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}
no subject
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—?
no subject
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.
no subject
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?
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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. ]
no subject
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.
no subject
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, ]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
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. ]