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.


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[cryptograms]

Ford thoughts were filled with blood and glass and hideous red moonlight streaming through the windows - and then all of those things are here, along with familiar and equally hideous laughter floating through the air. Ford is slower to react than Stan or Mabel; when Stan starts forward all Ford can do is let his hand slip from his shoulder.

Mabel words are reassuring, but it's Stan's that actually snap Ford out of it. Right, that's right, Bill isn't here, just like he wasn't in October, and even if he can't prove that Stan wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. But just as Stan's words work where Mabel's don't, the opposite is also true: Stan's reassurances start him on the right path, but it's Mabel's that make the path easier to navigate.

"Mabel's right, Dipper." Mentally he calls for Castor, telling her to seek out Alcaid and bring him upstairs, and he feels more than hears her launch herself from her perch above his desk and tear off through the house. "Even if Bill is back we've dealt with him before - and you're the one who found out that the deal we made with him isn't binding us anymore, remember?"

[ghostharasser]

Mabel's right.

Everything screeches to a halt as those words finally breech through. They land where everything else had been lost in the torrents of thoughts and memories. Mabel wasn't apart of this mess. He searches through the chaos to reconcile this, but he comes up short. She's not supposed to be here.

But she is. Finally, everything starts to catch up with him. He gasps like he suddenly remembered how to breathe. Like he broke the surface of very deep water. None of this could be happening because it'd already happened, that's right. Stan was right. They already came out of this once, a long time ago. Bill was gone and Mabel was here. None of this could be real.

The images start to ease, flickering less often, and Dipper finally looks lucid enough to really see his sister for the first time. Legs start to shift, start to move in the way she's urging him.

"Mabel?"

He still feels everything with such an intensity that he thinks he might burst, but at least he's aware.

[sparklehorror]

Relief clears up Mabel's frown and she keeps tugging at him, gently.

"Yeah! I'm right here, brobro. Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here, okay?"

A pause. Then, because siblings are siblings, and because Dipper cares so strongly about understanding the truth of things that he was the only person who was able to see through her mindscape even when it tried to give him what he wanted, and Mabel can think of one thing that will really confirm that she herself is something true in this moment:

"You dork."

[charlastan]

As soon as Dipper starts to become more lucid, Stan feels the tension immediately release. He can't help chuckling when Mabel calls him a dork, but in an affectionate, relieved sort of way.

"Alright, everybody out of the stupid cursed bedroom," he says, with the finality of a grown-up, even though it's basically what's already happening anyway. It just feels like the thing he should be doing.

Similarly, he gives both of them a nudge - but it's oddly light and gentle for him, as though he doesn't actually want to push Dipper too hard.

[cryptograms]

It's a little tenuous, but it looks like it's working. Ford's not quite ready to let himself feel anything resembling hope, but it's encouraging all the same. Stan stands inside the room and carefully ushers them forward, so Ford stays on the threshold and offers his hands out. He's not sure if Dipper actually needs that much help, or if Mabel even needs the extra assistance at all, but it's better than stepping into that room and risking that whatever's going on will get worse.

At least more help is on the way. A moment last Castor swoops through the door, Alcaid in tow - though it's a bit more like Castor is literally dragging Alcaid, and once they're both through the door she releases him and sends him tumbling right at Dipper.

... Well, he supposes he didn't clarify how she should bring him, so he can't do anything but offer her a silent thanks as she swoops back around to alight on his shoulder.

[ghostharasser]

Between Mabel's affectionate name calling, Stan's nudge, and Ford's offered hands, more of the room's tension seems to edge away. Dipper reaches out just in time for Castor to come flying in, which is good because it means Dipper actually catches Alcaid before they hit the floor.

Alcaid burbles something startled and distressed before Dipper holds the omen close, and then moves them to his shoulder. He'll take one of Ford's outstretched hands and make his way out of the room entirely, finally.

Crossing the threshold gets a heavy sigh of relief out of Dipper. A giant bulk of the emotional pressure does not follow him out of there, and he already feels like he's coming back after being emotionally overloaded. There's a tiredness that clings to his bones that feels not unlike a hangover. Alcaid is more responsive now, too, and climbs onto his head.

Dipper regards the room with deep apprehension.

"I forgot October," He says, after a moment. "I opened this room and it all came back."

[sparklehorror]

Dipper follows them. The tension eases, and her brother offers up a coherent explanation of things all on his own. With that, the moment Mabel needed to be really brave for has passed, and what's left as that fades away is the fear that was resting underneath. The tears that had been pricking at her eyes suddenly spill over, and she reels a little. What just happened was very big, and this close to it still, she has no idea where to even begin in processing it.

She squeezes her brother's hands tight for a moment, and then finally releases them in favor of throwing her arms around his neck, sobbing.

[charlastan]

The word "forgot" carries a lot of weight in this family, and over their heads, Stan sends a concerned look Ford's way. They all forgot a lot, but...that was such a big thing for all of them. It's been a looming threat in the back of Stan's mind since they washed ashore.

But, they can't do much about that right now. He gives Dipper and Mabel a beat to have their crying hug by themselves, and then tugs the two of them close for a group hug, and gestures Ford over.

"You got it back now though," he says. "I mean, you probably didn't want it, but you got it back."

Stan knows exactly how that is, which isn't a thing most people can say.

[cryptograms]

'Forgot' does, indeed, carry a lot of uncomfortable weight for this family. And for Dipper to just forget something like last October? Yeah, he glances at Stan just as Stan glances at him, the concern in Stan's expression mirrored in his own.

But it'll have to wait. Making sure Dipper and Mabel are holding it together as well as can be expected is more important for the moment. Stan initiates the group hug and Ford doesn't hesitate to join this time. He doesn't have the same words of reassurance Stan does, but he's at least got something.

"And now we know what to look for in the future."