STICKS AND BONES INBOX

[charlastan]

"Hi! You've reached Stan Pines' computer phone box thing or whatever. Leave me a message and maybe if I care enough about what you've got to say I'll actually get back to you. I probably don't, but hey! Test your luck! (Followed by obnoxious laughter until the BEEP)"

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[charlastan]

Fine, then I won't.

[Fern did what he needed to do and Stan heard it and doesn't need to do anything, so that's that. But, he doesn't let the conversation die there.]

So, how'd PV take it? Probably a little too well, right?

[poaceae]

He... kinda did it backwards? He came and found me, and said he forgives me...

[ It would probably be more accurate to say that Fern took it kinda badly. He cried like a little baby. He's not going to admit to that, though. ]

And I told him that I saw it in a memory, and he said that's awful for anyone to have to see, even if I'm the one that did it. And he's right! But I'm the one that did it, so I'm the one that should apologize.

[charlastan]

Pfft. Yeah, that sounds like him.

[Stan rolls his eyes. But sheesh, no wonder the kid's taking it so rough. PV beat him to the punch before he could even say anything?]

I mean...he's not wrong. But I was more worried about you and Dipper at the time. Plus I didn't even see that much of it before Dipper, uh. Before we got, y'know...

[Trapped in a small enclosure where he had a whole panic attack. Stan shakes his head.]

Anyway forget that part! Throw it in that vault of yours! Point is, it must've been rough to have it shoved in your face while you were still coming to terms with it. I'm old and I've already been through a lot of weird stuff, so you don't have to worry about whether I can handle myself in some weird memory murder situation.

[poaceae]

[ He does not know. He just sort of stares blankly through that part, before making a face and turning away again. It feels wrong for him to be messed up about watching something he did himself. It feels shameless. But it did mess him up. ]

Well... that's... good, I guess?

[ If Stan's really not upset about it, that's a relief. Feels like a messed up thing to be relieved about, though. ]

All this junk is backwards and upside down. It's like getting un-cursed turned everything all weird. It made more sense when PV didn't like me.

[ozmosis]

[ The Pines house is something of an activity center in the Grove, the family's various acquaintances showing up with various degrees of warning. The odd thing is not that there's an unannounced visitor this afternoon.

The odd thing is that this visitor knocks.

When (or rather, if) Stan comes to the door, Oscar will be there to green him with a small wave and a polite: ]

Excuse me. I'm looking for a Stan Pines...?

[charlastan]

[It's pretty much always going to be something weird if someone's actually knocking, so Stan sighs and gets up and gets it. Might as well rip the band-aid off and see what the hell's going on now.]

Yeah? And who's lookin--

[He starts talking before it registers who's there though, and it actually catches him off guard.]

--Oscar? When did you get here?

[If he's been here for months like Fern was, Stan's going to be so pissed off. Why's he always the last one to know everything??]

[ozmosis]

[ Oscar's not really sure who he's expecting to answer the door, but Stan isn't quite it. He can definitely see a little bit of family resemblance between Stan and Dipper, but Stan looks more like his grandfather than his uncle.

Still, he's not about to be rude! Obviously Stan recognizes him, but Oscar lifts a hand to forestall any further comments, eager to clear up the semi-misunderstanding. ]

Yes, but not the one from Trench.

[ As for how he knows that, and knows Stan, and even knows that it's something he needs to clarify, he holds up the journal. ]

I already met Dipper. He explained some things for me.

[charlastan]

[Stan raises an eyebrow. It makes sense of course, since Fern isn't the one he knows either, and Dipper would have easily been his next concern, but they already ran into each other!]

Sheesh, you're really speeding through this, huh?

[Honestly though, good for him. He's taking it all in a lot more stride than Stan would have expected.]

Alright, so...you already got the "dating in another dimension" talk. So, what's up then?

[ozmosis]

It seems so. Dipper thought it was important to share some things.

[ Despite Oscar's calm demeanor at present, Stan's expectations are not off-base. He didn't get to see the part where Oscar literally ran away from a conversation with Dipper to try to get his head on straight. ]

I did get that talk, but I actually wanted to let you know that Dipper might not be back for a while. He's okay for now, but he's resting in the clinic.

[charlastan]

[Well! That makes the priorities here pretty clear!]

The clinic?! What happened? What'd he do?

[To be fair, something could have just happened to him. But on the other hand, Dipper gets himself into a lot of trouble on purpose without telling anyone about it, so that feels like an equally fair follow-up question.]

this is so late I'm so sorry

[charlastan]

[When Fern turns away, Stan frowns with concern. Then, he chances stepping forward and just...puts a grounding hand on Fern's shoulder.]

Well, yeah. When you do something bad you'd expect everyone to tell you how terrible you are all the time and make sure you never forget how crummy you are for it. And then when you spend half your life getting told that...

[Hm. That feels like admitting he knows a little too much about Fern's life that Fern didn't actually tell him. Reluctantly, he lets go.]

...All I'm saying is it'd confuse anybody in your shoes. Hell, even I still wonder now and then why some people I've done awful stuff to still like me!

/pats u

[poaceae]

[ He assumes Stan is talking about his own life when he talks about getting told how crummy he is, but it still makes his expression darken as he raises his shoulders defensively. ]

...Did you... ever do something, where you couldn't explain it to yourself after?

[charlastan]

[Stan hesitates. But...eh. It's nothing he hasn't said to Fern before. The kid probably shouldn't carry too many of his problems on top of what he's going through, but a little bit might help.]

...Yeah. Yeah, plenty of times. Usually it's 'cause I got all ticked off about something, and then next thing you know I'd broken something I couldn't fix, and nothing I did could ever change that.

[poaceae]

[ It does help. Every odd detail about himself, both past and present, make him feel like he's broken somehow in ways he doesn't understand. It's nice to know that this one thing isn't just him. ]

Yeah... I guess it's kinda like that. That... that helps. Thanks.

[ozmosis]

He's okay for now. He's resting.

[ He'll rush to add that part, first. That's probably the most important thing. ]

He didn't do anything. One of the snakes bit him. I took him and Alcaid to the clinic, and Joshua took care of them after that.

[charlastan]

--Oh. Huh. ...Actually that's kinda weirdly mundane for him.

[Out of all the weird mischief that he gets into, he gets bit by a snake? Still he breathes a sigh of relief.]

Thanks for dragging him to the clinic. Alcaid's prolly watchin' out for him. He's gotta be feeling pretty rotten if he's actually willingly resting though.

[That being said, Stan's slipping on some good snake-proof boots because he's not going to just not go investigate at this point.]

[ozmosis]

Well, their venom has some strange effects.

[ Oscar steps aside, so that Stan won't have to push past him to leave. ]

He started... I don't know if he was hallucinating or just disoriented, but he kept telling me I should try to find his sister.