I don't like walking around this old and empty house

[ghostharasser]

Who: The Pines Family + Friends.
What: A Semi-closed catchall for the month of September.
When: Throughout the month of September.
Where: The Bone Fortress + around town.

Content Warnings: PTSD, Hallucinations, Eye Gore, Referenced Insanity. More to be added as they become relevant.


Top-levels below

Comments

[ghostharasser]

"Awful," He replies on instinct. He yawns and stares balefully at their dusty, defunct Señor Coffee. He wonders idly if he could jam the plug into a lunar orb and it would work.

Not that it matters because they still don't have coffee.

Anyway.

"But, better. I slept three times longer than I usually do, so I'm a little disoriented." He looks up at his uncle, glancing at his journal. His curiosity piques. "What are you up to?"

[cryptograms]

Ford doesn't have the social savvy to put to words why, but it actually strikes him as a good thing that Dipper responds to quickly in the negative. If he's feeling well enough to grouse, he's definitely doing better than he was before.

And he's definitely doing better if he takes such immediate notice of the journal. He gives Dipper a smile and slides himself into one of the kitchen chairs.

"That's actually why I came up here. I've been doing some research into out altered blood and thought you might be interested in what I've found so far."

[ghostharasser]

Dipper's mood switches immediately. He still looks groggy, but now he's super interested in whatever Ford's found, especially after last night. He will abandon the coffee maker and sit in the chair across for him.

"Definitely! What did you find out?"

[cryptograms]

Excellent. Ford has no doubt that Dipper would normally be all over this, but with the harrowing week they've had a rejection would be concerning, but unsurprising.

"Nothing definitive, but a few things that are intriguing."

He flips his journal - a new one, just for Trench - open to a page labeled BLOOD in block capitals. There are the Ford typical doodles and notes scribbled down. There are five sets of doodles and notes, and once Ford has turned the journal so Dipper can read he taps on the one that's an ice cube next to a ball of fire.

"I'm sure you've already heard that there seem to be certain quirks or abilities associated with out altered blood. Stanley is cold to the touch, now, and his blood freezes when I extract it - but earlier we learned he has the ability to create and control fire as well."

Ford nearly ran from the room when they learned it, but they did in fact learn it!

[ghostharasser]

Oh, look. It is so nice to see Ford on his usual, familiar bullshit. Making a new journal had been something Dipper had been excited to do, the moment they got settled in Trench. Putting the big 2 on the cover had been a moment of bittersweet triumph, realizing he was closing the chapter on the Dream the moment he’d shelve volume 1.

Anyway, that is neither here nor there, not when there is proper theorizing to do.

“Right! I made a post a few days ago to try and collect some data, and it looks like that blood has strong elemental properties. Someone reported lightning as an ability and someone else pointed out that all of the current affinities were elements that could cause some kind of burn, which I thought was interesting.”

This is good, theorizing like this. It has not occurred to Dipper just what implications Stan with fire might have, yet. He’s just woke up, after all.

[cryptograms]

The implications are lost on Dipper for the moment, and Ford certainly isn't going to point them out. They can just brush right over that and get back to the matter at hand, especially because he's pleased (though not surprised) that Dipper has also caught onto the burn association.

"Precisely. Given the degree of influence Deerington seems to have had on Trench - or vice versa, as it may be - I believe that sort of categorical association may exist for all of the blood types. You remember that the Dog Keeper had strong associations with both fire and snow as well, correct?"

[ghostharasser]

It’s fine, everything is fine in Casa de Pines.

Oh, ho, Dipper lights up when Ford mentions the dog keeper, and while he hadn’t considered that initially, he does see the correlations now that Ford’s brought it up.

“Oh man, you’re right. That’s just like-“ And Dipper has to pause for a moment as he reaches for his journal and realizes it’s actually upstairs. He pouts, empty handed and shakes his head.

“Paleblood and Cynthia-slash-Moon-Presence. I think the two are extremely related.”

[cryptograms]

Ford sees Dipper reach for something that isn't there and knows exactly what just happened, since he'd done the same plenty of times himself before he started adding pockets specifically for his journals to his coats. He reaches into one of his other pockets and withdraws a small spiral flip notebook, then slides it across the table to Dipper. It's not his journal, but at least now he can take notes.

"Given its reaction to moonlight I don't think it could be anything else - assuming there's a connection to the original guardians at all, of course."

Because there very well may not be, though that's not a theory Ford wants to let go of just yet.

"But if there is a connection then it opens up some interesting possibilities. I suspect my blood type would be associated with the Mayor, or possibly Mother Superior, and the unchanged blood may be associated with Julia. I'm not sure about Mabel's however."

[ghostharasser]

Oh, awesome. Ford has his back. He takes the notebook with a grin and starts jotting down stuff. Quick, messy notes are all they are, but it'll help him remember to add it to his journal later, since he's still pretty tired and groggy and doesn't think he can trust his memory just yet.

Especially considering what just happened.

"I could see yours being linked to the Mayor, yeah. He had a kind of ...nebulous thing going with his weird, Lovecraftian nature. It seems fitting. As for Mabel..."

He frowns.

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't see a clear association, at least not yet. I feel like we know the least about hers so far, you know?"