5. Video

[starry_forehead]

[Hey it's the not so social mystery twin and...um. Well he looks ....really sad.]

Hey, it's Dipper. I know Mabel has a lot of friends here so I thought I should make a post. ...If you don't know already. Mabel's...Mabel's gone.

Again.

....I've got one of her pokemon with me and I tried for like hours to get her on the gear so I think she's really gone.

[There's a Minior floating around Dipper, next to his normal Phantump.]

I don't really know anything more then that. I really wish this place-....

-anyway, If you need me, I'm probably going to be ...I don't know I'll think of something. Maybe I wrote off going off by myself to explore, too quickly....

Um...yeah. That's all.

[And he'll shut the gear off. Feel free to reply, he's just....not good at this.]

Comments

NO!! ILLEGAL

[meteorman]

[Oof.]

Who comes and who goes here has nothing to do with merit, Dipper. It's all random chance. That she's gone and you're still here doesn't mean anything about you.

PINES FAMILY INSECURITIES

[starry_forehead]

We don't know that for sure though. I mean we don't even know how people come and go from this world. It could be one of the legendary pokemon just ....picking people.

[He's not totally convinced but the thought won't leave his mind and well. It's Dipper.]

[meteorman]

[This family is all you'd need to write an entire book on feelings of inadequacy.]

If that were true it wouldn't have swapped Stanley out for me. He was flourishing here. Do you know he used to paint eggs with glitter and sell them at increased rates as 'guaranteed shiny'?

[This is text but the fondness can probably come through in typed words all the same.]

[starry_forehead]

[You so very much could. Also that bit makes Dipper laugh a bit, even sadly.]

That sounds like something he would do.

....you're probably right. I just. I don't know. Maybe I just want a reason even if that reason isn't logical.

This place is really cool but I hate that we know so little about how people come and go. It's not fair.

[Nothing is fair about this]

[meteorman]

Random chance never is. I think after thirty years of being tossed around the universe like a pinball I stopped trying to find an explanation. Things happen or they don't. Ultimately that's all existence is: a series of things happening, or not.

Unfortunately I've found that I'm often the only one who finds that comforting.

[starry_forehead]

I don't know. If it's random it means that there's not an evil jerk or anything playing with us like puppets.

I think I'd rather have random than that.

[meteorman]

Yes. Yes, that's a good way to look at it.

[He was thinking more along the lines of how up his own ass he was first about being Chosen by his 'Muse' and then about being the lone wolf hero who'd be The One to bring Bill down. He's kind of grateful Dipper either didn't pick up on that or tactfully didn't mention it.]

I know I advocated the forest, but you really should go with Jean and Bertolt. They're good kids.

[He can call them kids because he is old as dirt.]

[starry_forehead]

[It helps a lot that Dipper is not in the best frame of mind to draw parallels at the moment.]

I think I will. They've been really nice to me since I got here and I think they're right about it being better in the long run.

You're not going to go get lost in a forest are you?

[He is however aware enough to know that the Pines family as a whole is really bad at this.]

[meteorman]

It's tempting.

But no, I don't think I will.

[The Pines family is really bad at this. It's taken Ford years to unlearn all the bad habits he drilled into his own head, even putting genuine effort toward doing so. This, here, is progress. He knows that really it wouldn't make him feel any better. It would just be time to stew on his own about it, to nurse the hurt until the edge faded away, and that's not healthy coping.]

I have some options when it comes to people I can call up for a distraction. I'll see if any of them are free.

[And now he's said it to someone else so he has to do it, because this child will keep him accountable. That's family baby!!!!]

[starry_forehead]

Good, because then I'd just get lost in the woods too, looking for you.

[There's also that.]

[meteorman]

[Bold of you to assume he'd get lost.]

No, no. If you needed me you wouldn't need to look for me.

[Ford is bad at reading cues. Like, monumentally bad. But if you tell him directly that you need him, he'll be there.]

[starry_forehead]

Yeah. I might have anyway though.

[What is communication and is it easier then setting out to find someone by yourself, in the woods? Yes? Well we're already out here so.../dear Pines family, please stop being so stubborn.]

But I'll remember to use the gear if I need to find you.