[ Okay. Stan looks normal (aside from redness around his eyes that Ford sees no reason to acknowledge) and this sounds like it might be a Grove memory. Those are both good signs! It means nothing exceptionally weird is going on. ]
I would assume it's from here, yes. Do you...
[ He waffles, like he so often does with emotional subjects, but not for as long as he might have before. ]
[Ford is the best for that, and Stan nods at the suggestion.]
Yeah. Yeah, downstairs is good. I don't want Dipper overhearing.
[He doesn't elaborate on that, but he'll follow Ford back downstairs and shut the door behind him. This is a sitting down sort of conversation though, so he helps himself to the nearest chair.]
Okay, so. Weird memory. Right.
[He coughs into his fist, equally awkward about the emotional vulnerability here. But there's important things Ford should probably know, even if they somehow ignore how intense everything feels.]
I, uh. I...
[Fuck, this is hard.]
...I remembered the night Shermie's kids died. How the kids wound up with us. I was leaving Heimr's stall and then all of a sudden it's like I was there, reliving the whole thing. [He forces an awkward laugh, to push through.] Must've looked like an idiot to anyone else walking by.
[Maybe, but that's not the point. He's letting himself skirt around the hard part.]
[ Ah, it's one of those sorts of conversations, then. One of those ones where it doesn't matter how mature Dipper is and how much he's been through, it's still not one for him to overhear.
Ford leads Stan back downstairs. Unlike his lab back home there's a little area near the stairs that contains no lab equipment, just a table, some bookshelves, a couch, and a couple chairs. It's not really a sitting room, but is a room that allows for some high quality sitting. Ford claims the couch for himself, then settles in to listen. And...
Oh. Oh, yeah, that explains it. Ford has no memories of Shermie's kids as they existed in the Grove—hell, even back in their home dimension he barely spoke to Shermie at all after leaving for college—but he can't imagine it was easy on Stan. ]
[It's definitely a lot comfier than the old lab - Stan probably teased him for it when they first moved in, about how of course Ford couldn't have left anything comfortable down there where HE was working in the basement. Now though, he just claims a chair near Ford's end of the couch.]
Yeah, it's gotta be. They, uh. They had these red and black blotches all over...it looked real bad and I was talking to some doctor who said they weren't gonna make it. I couldn't even get near 'em without catching it.
[He didn't even hang around long, but the image is seared into his memory now, of the kids' parents sick and suffering. There's regret in there, the knowledge that he must not have been able to say goodbye before they passed.]
You were coming too. I knew I had back up coming but you were gonna be late. Can't remember why. Might've been bad weather or something? So...I was alone with the kids for the night. Ford, they couldn't've been more than three or four. They were so little...
[He glances down at his hands, as though he's still supposed to be holding them even now.]
[ Ah. Well, that certainly sounds like the plague they've all heard of. And really, what else could it have been? The plague sounds like it was at the epicenter of nearly everything that went wrong with the Grove.
It is distressing to hear that he—or at least the person he was before—didn't make it in time. It wouldn't have made a difference, but maybe it would have meant something. At least he already had an idea of how young the kids must have been at the time; the journals he found made it sound like they weren't quite adults when everything went to hell, and they lived in the Grove for at least a decade. Give or take the time weirdness, of course. ]
... That must have been hard to them. It's good that you were there for them.
...Yeah, I guess. I'm sure you got there too though, I prolly just winged it for the night until you turned up.
[He heaves a sigh. But before Ford can say anything about that (even though it's true - he wings a lot of things! They both know it!) Stan takes control of the conversation and shifts the tone to something less dire. He's talked enough about this, and he's sick of feeling things about a life that doesn't even feel like it's completely his own.
And so, he forces up a grin. Showtime!]
Anyway-- I left her up in the kitchen but guess what? [Stan gives him no time to answer.] I got Bona Lisa back! She hasn't aged a day since I left Trench!
[GET IT? GET IT, FORD? BECAUSE SHE'S A SKELETON RAT!]
[ Ah, there it is again. Stan's weird inability to accept that he's done something to help his family. It was the source of one of the very first arguments they had after arriving in Deerington. But Ford is familiar with this by now, he just needs to—
—blink stupidly when Stan abruptly changes the subject to something completely unrelated. ]
That's— huh?
[ He blinks again. ]
... I imagine she wouldn't age? Since she's a skeleton?
Yeah, exactly! Doesn't look a day over "probably immortal".
[See, Ford gets it! Even if he seems more puzzled than Stan was hoping for. It doesn't matter though, because the subject's been successfully changed. Mission accomplished!]
I got her from Ydalir while I was out for some shells, so basically for free! Plus some other stuff from Heimr.
[Some not at all related to upsetting past life memory stuff! For "basically free" as though Stan isn't regularly combing for shells so they have plenty to trade with.]
You oughta see this magic candle I got too--
[You know. Just in case Bona Lisa isn't enough to lure Ford away from this conversation Stan started. He's already thinking about what he can try if that one doesn't work too, back up plans for his back up plans.]
Ford stares at Stan. Once the subject of Bona Lisa passes there's not even a flicker of interest in the magic candle. This... is strange. And not even Stan's baseline level of strange. This is strange for even by Stan's standards.
[Huh. Ford doesn't usually catch on that fast. It actually seems to trip Stan up for a second - he clearly didn't think he was going to get called out on this so directly.]
Pfft. No?
[He has his arms crossed though, and he won't look Ford in the eye when denying it. He doesn't even offer up a good excuse, really - or at all.]
...but, uh. If none of that interests you, I got some rocks from that raffle thing? I dunno if they're the real deal or Ma's bullshit crystals but you prolly would--
[And now he's rummaging in his pocket like he didn't get called out at all. Second time's the charm, right?]
[Stan huffs, as if he's somehow the one who should be offended here. So fucking rude of Ford not to fall for his bullshit.]
There's nothing else to tell, okay?! I said the thing, and that's all there is!
[Obviously!!!]
I mean, what, do you want me to sit here and cry about it? Maybe try and remember the bedtime story I told them, or what flavor cake I let them eat for dinner?! Come on!
[ Ford lets out a sigh that's more of a growl than anything, then surges to his feet. ]
Forget it, Stanley!
[ And then he storms past Stan and towards the basement stairs. He's not so upset that he doesn't realize how storming off might seem, however, so he adds: ]
Thanks for sharing!
[ ... Though he is too upset to realize how sarcastic that sounds ]
[See, this?? This is why he doesn't share! There's no point in it if it's just going to make people pissed off at him, or whatever!]
YOU'RE WELCOME!
[It's absolutely sarcastic on Stan's end, because he can hear how it sounds coming from Ford. He huffs and crosses his arms and........realizes he's still in the basement lab, alone. So with an equally annoyed sigh, he pushes himself up out of the chair and heads upstairs. Hopefully Ford's either taken a walk or is willing to just move on, because that's the only direction to really go in.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
I would assume it's from here, yes. Do you...
[ He waffles, like he so often does with emotional subjects, but not for as long as he might have before. ]
Want to talk about it? Downstairs?
no subject
Yeah. Yeah, downstairs is good. I don't want Dipper overhearing.
[He doesn't elaborate on that, but he'll follow Ford back downstairs and shut the door behind him. This is a sitting down sort of conversation though, so he helps himself to the nearest chair.]
Okay, so. Weird memory. Right.
[He coughs into his fist, equally awkward about the emotional vulnerability here. But there's important things Ford should probably know, even if they somehow ignore how intense everything feels.]
I, uh. I...
[Fuck, this is hard.]
...I remembered the night Shermie's kids died. How the kids wound up with us. I was leaving Heimr's stall and then all of a sudden it's like I was there, reliving the whole thing. [He forces an awkward laugh, to push through.] Must've looked like an idiot to anyone else walking by.
[Maybe, but that's not the point. He's letting himself skirt around the hard part.]
no subject
Ford leads Stan back downstairs. Unlike his lab back home there's a little area near the stairs that contains no lab equipment, just a table, some bookshelves, a couch, and a couple chairs. It's not really a sitting room, but is a room that allows for some high quality sitting. Ford claims the couch for himself, then settles in to listen. And...
Oh. Oh, yeah, that explains it. Ford has no memories of Shermie's kids as they existed in the Grove—hell, even back in their home dimension he barely spoke to Shermie at all after leaving for college—but he can't imagine it was easy on Stan. ]
The plague, I take it...?
no subject
Yeah, it's gotta be. They, uh. They had these red and black blotches all over...it looked real bad and I was talking to some doctor who said they weren't gonna make it. I couldn't even get near 'em without catching it.
[He didn't even hang around long, but the image is seared into his memory now, of the kids' parents sick and suffering. There's regret in there, the knowledge that he must not have been able to say goodbye before they passed.]
You were coming too. I knew I had back up coming but you were gonna be late. Can't remember why. Might've been bad weather or something? So...I was alone with the kids for the night. Ford, they couldn't've been more than three or four. They were so little...
[He glances down at his hands, as though he's still supposed to be holding them even now.]
no subject
It is distressing to hear that he—or at least the person he was before—didn't make it in time. It wouldn't have made a difference, but maybe it would have meant something. At least he already had an idea of how young the kids must have been at the time; the journals he found made it sound like they weren't quite adults when everything went to hell, and they lived in the Grove for at least a decade. Give or take the time weirdness, of course. ]
... That must have been hard to them. It's good that you were there for them.
no subject
[He heaves a sigh. But before Ford can say anything about that (even though it's true - he wings a lot of things! They both know it!) Stan takes control of the conversation and shifts the tone to something less dire. He's talked enough about this, and he's sick of feeling things about a life that doesn't even feel like it's completely his own.
And so, he forces up a grin. Showtime!]
Anyway-- I left her up in the kitchen but guess what? [Stan gives him no time to answer.] I got Bona Lisa back! She hasn't aged a day since I left Trench!
[GET IT? GET IT, FORD? BECAUSE SHE'S A SKELETON RAT!]
no subject
—blink stupidly when Stan abruptly changes the subject to something completely unrelated. ]
That's— huh?
[ He blinks again. ]
... I imagine she wouldn't age? Since she's a skeleton?
no subject
[See, Ford gets it! Even if he seems more puzzled than Stan was hoping for. It doesn't matter though, because the subject's been successfully changed. Mission accomplished!]
I got her from Ydalir while I was out for some shells, so basically for free! Plus some other stuff from Heimr.
[Some not at all related to upsetting past life memory stuff! For "basically free" as though Stan isn't regularly combing for shells so they have plenty to trade with.]
You oughta see this magic candle I got too--
[You know. Just in case Bona Lisa isn't enough to lure Ford away from this conversation Stan started. He's already thinking about what he can try if that one doesn't work too, back up plans for his back up plans.]
no subject
Ford stares at Stan. Once the subject of Bona Lisa passes there's not even a flicker of interest in the magic candle. This... is strange. And not even Stan's baseline level of strange. This is strange for even by Stan's standards.
No, wait. It's not strange. It's deliberate. ]
Stanley. Are you trying to change the subject?
no subject
Pfft. No?
[He has his arms crossed though, and he won't look Ford in the eye when denying it. He doesn't even offer up a good excuse, really - or at all.]
...but, uh. If none of that interests you, I got some rocks from that raffle thing? I dunno if they're the real deal or Ma's bullshit crystals but you prolly would--
[And now he's rummaging in his pocket like he didn't get called out at all. Second time's the charm, right?]
no subject
What do you mean, 'no'?! Yes you are!
[ He throws his own hands in the air. ]
I don't want to see your rocks, Stanley! We were talking about the memory!
no subject
There's nothing else to tell, okay?! I said the thing, and that's all there is!
[Obviously!!!]
I mean, what, do you want me to sit here and cry about it? Maybe try and remember the bedtime story I told them, or what flavor cake I let them eat for dinner?! Come on!
no subject
Forget it, Stanley!
[ And then he storms past Stan and towards the basement stairs. He's not so upset that he doesn't realize how storming off might seem, however, so he adds: ]
Thanks for sharing!
[ ... Though he is too upset to realize how sarcastic that sounds ]
no subject
YOU'RE WELCOME!
[It's absolutely sarcastic on Stan's end, because he can hear how it sounds coming from Ford. He huffs and crosses his arms and........realizes he's still in the basement lab, alone. So with an equally annoyed sigh, he pushes himself up out of the chair and heads upstairs. Hopefully Ford's either taken a walk or is willing to just move on, because that's the only direction to really go in.]