sticksandbones | EVENT & TDM 012

EVENT & TDM 012

IT'S GONNA BE MAY

WAKE UP

You open your eyes, and with a jolt, find yourself within the clearing of a miniscule town surrounded by trees and thick, black fog. Despite the ominous backdrop, nature seems to be thriving — it’s a pleasantly chill spring day, as far as anyone can tell, and everything is vibrant and blooming… even some of the animals. At some point, a friendly old dog with red fur approaches, carrying a basket in his jaws. Inside are blackberries and apples other fruits. Did he find this himself? Or did someone give them to him to bring to new arrivals? Regardless, he very clearly hopes that you’ll share.

A giant golden brown turtle sits by a tent, napping in the sunlight. Two statues sit in the courtyard by an old well — a haloed woman marked as the Goddess of the Sun, Beiwe, and a gentle woman looking adoringly at her counterpart, marked as the Goddess of the Moon, Ourania. If you pay your respects, the air feels gentle and warm in the day, and like a fresh cool breeze at night.

As you explore more, perhaps the bloomed animals will approach — a mossy squirrel, or a frog who happens to also be a lilypad. It’s charming, almost. Whimsical and kind.

Shame that the wall of fog looms ever on, watching. Waiting.

SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID

cw: hallucinations, compulsions, near-death experiences

For a while, spring seems gentle, almost. Peaceful. The previous month may have been full of jokes, but things are actually safe. Of course, that can’t last forever. Every night, a purple, shimmering mist floods the town. It does not breach the doors and windows, even if left open, but looking at it is… enticing.

Should you give in, the mist is cool and gentle, swaying around you like smoke. The longer you stay in, the more your eyes feel blissfully heavy. Soon, you find yourself surrounded by loved ones, in a place that brings you joy — a childhood home, a vacation spot, some place warm and safe and dear to your heart. Everyone is playing and having so much fun. Join them! Join them!

Of course, by the time you do jump into the fun, you’ll find yourself awakened with a start, just about to fall into danger. Perhaps you climbed a tree and were about to leap to the ground from too high up. Or maybe you stuck your head in the river and your lungs were about to empty. Regardless, the happy dream shatters with imminent danger, and perhaps you’d better hope that someone else is nearby to help you. … Especially since with each night you give in, the more enticing the mist is the next night.

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

At some point, the mist is forcibly dissipated and instead the moon shines brightly, almost like a spotlight. Investigation will reveal an absurdly large capybara that seems more like a vehicle than an animal, even with the jasmine flowers hanging off of it, siting down with the ‘door’ accessible to anyone willing to climb in.

“Come with me, and I will bring you to a night of festivities.” is all that it says when asked. And it knows that you will — you’re all curious as kittens, after all. Once the last person takes a fuzzy seat within the capybara, it slowly stands up and begins walking through the woods, and for the first time, everything seems peaceful. Normal, even. Why, there’s not even a monster or misshapen, grabby tree! Just a moonlit forest, and fireflies in the distance.

Eventually it brings you to a small but beautiful cabin, crouching down to let everyone out again. Outside is a layer of marble surrounded by pillars decorated with sheer fabrics and an abundance of lilies and calendula, jasmine and marigolds, hydrangeas and gladiolus. A buffet table has also been spread out, and within the cabin are changing rooms with a multitude of ornate gowns and suits, alongside sitting rooms and other potential necessities — though you get the feeling that you should still be on your best behavior here.

Gentle music plays from an unknown source. The capybara is resting, until it’s time to leave come sunrise. For one night, everything is at peace. You may as well enjoy it, and dance to your heart’s content.

SPARK NOTES

CLICK TO EXPAND!

WAKE UP

Welcome to Aldric's Grove! The fog wall is a little creepy, but worry not: A dog has brought you a snack, and the plant-bearing wildlife are pretty friendly. If you've been here for a while, no worry: You, too, are getting a basket of treats from the dog.

SHINING, SHIMMERING, SPLENDID

A purple mist fills the Grove at night, and stepping into it makes you experience a euphoric dream... shortly before you wake up because you nearly walked into death. Be careful, because the mists are addicting, and you may not have an easy time avoiding their temptation the following nights.

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

For one night, the mists clear up and peace settles over the forest. A giant capybara gleefully takes everyone to the site of a grand dance, where the clothing and food are all free, and the music swells with joy. Dance your hearts out until dawn breaks, and then the capybara will take you back home.

OOC

Happy May! This is a reminder that TDMs are game canon. Enjoy your dreams, enjoy your prom night, enjoy the capybara. OOC Plotting Lives Here if you'd like to plot anything out!

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[Please, she's ABOVE the cookie time cops! ~~because she runs them~~]

Correct! My universe has its interesting moments, certainly, though not half as interesting as what I'm discovering here.

[Timekeeper laces her fingers - hey, fingers are great actually, she's not upset about her new form at all - and rests her chin on them, smile widening as she listens and considers this first tidbit.]

Is that so? You are correct, that would have to be powerful magic indeed. I've not heard of any quite like that, before - although, I am hardly a mage, merely a chronokinetic. [Says one of the most terrifyingly powerful cookies probably ever, but shhh, Dipper doesn't need to know that.] I can say that I've not noticed any timeline discrepancies that may indicate the souls of some cookies do not belong, though I don't believe that's something we normally look for to begin with. Hmmm! Individual timelines scattering to the dimensional winds would certainly begin to explain the tangled knots time is in here!

[Note to self: if she manages to return to the TBD before whatever is going on here is resolved, ask Time Registry to comb some very specific records...

Timekeeper straightens, her eye practically glimmering with intrigue, and gestures at Dipper.]

And what about these several dimensions and timelines of yours? What does that knot look like? I must know!

Hey, chronokinetic sounds pretty cool, like. I've met time-travelers before, but they were normal people with time machines. Well. Kind of. I guess I don't actually know what Time Baby is supposed to be. Hm. I wonder if that's what his deal was...

[Right, anyway. This is actually a super interesting conversation and Timekeeper Cookie has yet to rip out deer teeth so he is tentatively dropping his guard JUST a little.]

Well, I think the biggest thing I'm going to point out is that I exist completely outside my original timeline. My being, or soul or whatever, is split off from what was supposed to be my "correct" timeline. There's still a "me" living that life, and I went through a door to a different world entirely to be something else.

Oho, I too was a normal cookie with a time machine, once! It depends on your level of experience, I suppose.

[Or your level of spending too much time IN time and getting irrevocably changed by it. Same thing! But really, Dipper is only confirming that he's from a timeline not even on the Time Balance Department's radar, here. How intriguing! Should they expand their scope when Timekeeper returns, perhaps? Is their current tech even capable of picking up universes beyond their cluster of cookie-centric timelines? Questions that she asks herself and then immediately forgets as Dipper opens his mouth and says yet ANOTHER fascinating thing.]

Now, that is rare indeed! A splintered timeline affecting only an individual, on the level of the soul, if I am understanding you correctly? Would I be correct to theorize that something or someone did that deliberately? Accidents are rarely so precise, and it would be a miracle indeed for one to leave your original timeline unscathed!

[She's swooping back and forth a little on those scissors now, pacing in a way, and clasps her hands to her face in delight. Welp, she has a favorite person here already, sorry forever Dipper. Still, the fact that he's describing something that even she might struggle to pull off... suddenly, perhaps she doesn't mind if she's stuck in this grove for a while!]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Running in and out of timelines, which is already kind of a wonky reality situation, probably has wild effects on a person at a temporal level.

[So, yeah, checks out to him. He already knows that by virtue of his own travels, he's far from the same person he was in that old timeline. It would be inaccurate to call himself human, at any rate.]

Yeah! [No, he is getting kind of into this conversation. He has missed theorizing with certain other nerds about stuff like this.] Okay, so bare with me for a second- [He opens his journal and pulls out his pen. Time to make a diagram.]

So, I started out as, let's call me Dipper Classic at this point. [Dipper draws a little dipper, he looks kind of like a cookie, but he has a hat and a little puffy vest.] So Dipper Classic had a piece of his soul, or essence, or whatever grabbed out of him. [He draws a little puzzle piece in Dipper Classic and then draws an arrow to show the puzzle piece leaving DC.] That piece was pulled into a place called The Dream.

The Dream was a functioning Nightmare Realm created by a girl named Julia Sodder who was the holder of some crazy reality altering abilities that she really couldn't control. So, they tried to contain her, poorly, and the result was her pulling all kinds of people from other worlds into this pocket dimension that acted on metaphysical dream logic. Assume that everyone in this realm had no true physical form, but the dream's reality made it appear so.

[Pause.]

Are you with me so far? Is this too crazy?

Precisely! Hmm, not many realize that right away! You are quite sharp, or already quite experienced yourself! Perhaps both.

[Timekeeper floats around next to him to watch Dipper's drawings with rapt attention. It does not escape her that the simplified Dipper drawing looks a bit like a cookie - he would make a good cookie, she thinks.]

Soul and dream magic are not my specialties, but yes, that is a straightforward enough explanation. This girl must have been very powerful indeed! So, a piece of you was dislodged from your original existence. That you are here now, and quite real so far as I can see, means at some point you became more than just that splintered shade, I would assume?

[Timekeeper would not have thought before that not knowing all the answers right off, that having to guess at what someone's timeline held and listen to them tell it as a story instead of going and observing it herself, would ever be this much fun. But now, it is so new compared to everything she was doing before, and exciting! Perhaps that will change if she figures out how to handle the mangled time in this place, but for now, it's a thrill. Is Dipper telling the truth? Is he telling her the whole story? She does not know for certain! Nor whether she will ever find out! Yet, it is a fascinating tale, and ever more information for her to consider.]

It's probably a little of both. I have both time traveled and dimension hopped a lot over the past few years.

[Yes, okay, when she tells him she's following, he'll keep going. He knows he tends to get pretty carried away when he talks like this, and sometimes the stuff he says really startles people! It's nice that TK doesn't seem even remotely phased by all this.]

[He draws again, drawing another Dipper, but this one is different, he has no hat, one of his eyes is an outline, and he's a bit bigger than the Dipper Classic cookie shape.]

Yeah, she was incredibly powerful ...and really tragic. That part's a long story. And also-- let me be transparent here, this is all theory on my end. We never got any kind of concrete answer about what was really going on, this is just what I think happened, and I thiiink I'm probably pretty close? Who knows!-- So, me, we'll call me Sleeper Dipper. Sleeper Dipper spends time in this weird reality where things are both real and not for about a year or so. He becomes different in a lot of ways. He starts to diverge from Dipper Classic.

[Pause.]

...I'm about to use a weird cookie analogy, which I did the last time I explained this, I hope this isn't offensive- anyway, when given the opportunity to return to Dipper Classic, Sleeper Dipper just didn't fit in the mold anymore. The cookie cutter was too small, so instead Sleeper Dipper was brought before a door.

That is fine, theory is the path to truth, after all! It takes an inquisitive mind indeed to theorize so deeply.

[That's a compliment, in Timekeeper-ese. She can't help but laugh a little as Dipper awkwardly explains the cookie metaphor.]

Do not worry about it! So, a door...?

[It sounds like a compliment, and so being encouraged in a way he is nostalgic of, he keeps going.]

As the nightmare realm started to completely break down, with Sodder no longer able to sustain it, some interloping higher power give everyone in the realm a collection of eggs to look after. Some were tied to certain people, but everyone got one that was meant to to represent themselves. We could break it, take care of it, or leave it alone, but we all had a choice.

When the dream finally fell apart, we were given the choice to simply fade away into nothing or walk through the door. I think ...making some choice with the egg is what gave us agency to stop being an offshoot and become a full blown entity of our own. After we walked through the door...

I can only describe it as a soft-reincarnation? We all crawled out of the ocean, centuries later as squids. Once we hit the shore we could all return to our normal forms but ...we found that the world had changed drastically and that's where we came to settle. In Trench.

Squids!

[Congratulations Dipper, you've gotten a genuine cackle of glee from the time demigod cryptid.]

Now that is a timeline I must certainly watch unfold someday! Strange and mysterious enough that even I cannot say I've seen its like before! This higher power of yours knows how to entertain!

[There's an odd quality in her laughter, a barely audible background static like the ticking of thousands of clocks or the steady flow of sand in hundreds of hourglasses. But she calms just as quickly as she'd burst into it, grinning back at Dipper once more.]

Fitting too, to find yourself in a place called "Trench" after spending a bit of time in the ocean's abyss. Was it as dreary as the name implies?

That guy was called the Moss King and he's actually a huge jerk, but he's not the only one that acts as a higher power in Trench. They're called Pthumerians, and they were all kind of ...eldritch demi-gods.

[Oh god, that sound, though. It reminds him of his uncle's shitty ex-boyfriend's house for a hot second. That stupid green house was packed to the brim with clocks. It is kind of a surprising thing to observe, though, and he definitely gets the sense that this person, this cookie, might be on par with the Pthumerians, herself.]

[Anyway, that doesn't take away from the conversation or anything. He seems pleased by her glee.]

Oh yeah, It was like, H.P. Lovecraft threw up on a confused mix of several Industrial Revolution eras. It was obsessed with blood, had a terrible monster problem, and had a climate so abhorrent to growing anything that we basically survived off mushrooms. It was home, though.

I see! I wonder if his powers are more comparable to certain Cookies, or to a Witch?

[Timekeeper Cookie is thinking along the same lines, it seems. She's also likewise pleased that Dipper appears to be enjoying their conversation - most cookies she's talked to just become frustrated, scared, confused, or annoyed, so it's a refreshing change.]

It seems humans and cookies share the ability to make a home of anywhere! It's something I quite like about them. Blood is what humans have in place of jam, correct?

Interesting question! I'd have to know what Witches are like in your dimension, since the definition tends to vary across worlds. My boyfriend's home world has a Witch that is impossible to kill and has been raising horrible emotion-sensitive monsters to ravage the world for centuries. Or, my home world has a witch who lives in a cave and steals peoples hands and keeps them as pets. That's the scale we're working with here.

[Man, it's fun to just ramble off some of the most off the wall shit and not be worried about sounding crazy for once. He wonders what this says about him.]

Y...Yes, probably. You guys have jam instead of blood? Is it like- [Looooooong pause.] Edible? Does it taste like fruit?

Oho, you know...

[Timekeeper glances about them as if to check and make sure no one else is nearby, then leans in conspiratorially]

Do not tell the other cookies this, but there are many different kinds of Witches in our world, too! Or there were, once. Most only know that they created us Cookies... which is true. Suffice to say, many Cookies see them as gods. Quite funny, isn't it?

[Dipper is a bit lucky to be talking to one of the VERY few cookies who actually knows a thing or two about humans and Witches... because she watches the timelines of her world like it's her own personal Netflix channel.

Also no she's not going to elaborate if the Witches of her world are more on the "horrible world ravaging monster" or "weird old lady with questionable magical hobbies" end of the scale.

She will, however, lean back again and hum in amusement at Dipper's question.]

Certainly, though some Cookies might find it more edible than others! There is a Vampire Cookie, in fact. Most Cookies have strawberry jam, though there are exceptions now and then.

[He leans in and ...oh man, did he just get some forbidden cookie lore? Awesome. It does physically pain him to know he can't tell anyone, though. Such is his heavy burden. He will make sure to write that bit in his journal in invisible ink.]

More like super interesting. If that's the case, The Pthumerians are more like witches. They have a lot of different kinds of powers and take different forms, but some of them are considered "Patrons" of specific concepts and are regarded like mini-deities. For example, Mariana was my patron, and she was the patron of the unknown, chaos, and the ocean. Moss King was the patron of gambling so that should give you an idea of his deal.

Anyway, it's hard to say what their true natures were, but the people of Trench regarded them as gods and that sort of intent has it's own influence, you know? I imagine it's the same for the witches. Whether or not they know they get regarded as such probably doesn't mean anything to them, but their influence on those that do becomes it's own thing.

[TK you keep letting him talk and now he will never shut up about some of the most deranged metaphysical shit.]

Interesting. Sleepers have a couple different blood types, and you might be interested to know that my uncle's bloodtype notoriously tastes like blackberries. I wonder how similar a blackberry jam would be to darkblood.

[Here's an additional secret: she doesn't actually care if he tells anyone or not. This is just her way of seeing what kind of secret keeper he is! Also no keep going about the deranged metaphysical shit this is ~~funny~~ fascinating.]

Compared to some Witches, those affinities are certainly clear-cut! You are quite wise on these things, yet young for a human, aren't you? Hehe. Perhaps you should ask the other cookies about Witches, sometime.

[Timekeeper is betting Dipper hasn't heard a few things about them that she's not about to spill - because it'd be funnier coming from others, and also more entertaining to watch.]

That, I do not know! Perhaps if you ever meet Blackberry Cookie you can find out? She is surprisingly tolerant of the morbid, after all! Now, you've left me curious about your own blood...

Haha, is it gonna freak ‘em out?

[Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Maybe it will sit in his back pocket for a while.]

Anyway, I might be young, but I have seen an enormous amount of nonsense. Calling me human is also a little iffy, too. Not when the normal humans in Trench used to form cults around Sleepers. [Speaking oh which, Dipper reaches into his pocket and pulls out what looks like a very ornate pocket knife. He flips it open and without flinching cuts into his finger. The moment the blood is in view of the moon, it shifts into a bright glowing white. The smell is also …sort of like warm milk? Very strange.]

Sure thing. Mine’s called Paleblood, it glows in the dark and can induce hallucinations if you get too close.

Edited 2024-06-30 00:44 (UTC)

Maybe! Maybe not! Maybe they have something more interesting to say than I do!

[That's fine by her. A bit of time is nothing when it comes to an entertaining payoff!

Also wow he sure just did that didn't he. Unfortunately, Timekeeper is not the type to see this and ask if someone's okay. "A little fucked up" is kind of her baseline, so, you know. That's normal! She does lean towards the glowing bead of blood on Dipper's finger, despite JUST being told what it does - not too close, but still.]

Oh! I suppose if a Cookie's jam began doing that, you would struggle to still call them a Cookie as well. And there have certainly been, and are, and will be cookies who straddle that line!

[Smells like milk? She's literally a baked good, that doesn't clock as weird, she hardly even notices it. Look, she doesn't know what human blood normally smells like ok, she might guess cherry or something if she saw it first.]

Speaking of that... what do you think of the other Cookies here?

[Yes, he sees now. That is a loaded topic for sure. Fine, he will keep that in his back pocket for now. He raises an eyebrow but he sees someone being mischievous for The Bit for what it is.]

[Yeah, anyway, welcome to being from Trench. One simply needs to access blood all the time, so why wouldn't Dipper, who studies blood magic regularly, not keep an instrument on his person for exactly that reason? And because wasting blood is pretty taboo there, once Timekeeper gets a good look, Dipper wipes that blood on the flat of his blade. With a practiced hand, he pulls out a small vile to collect it.] Humanity, or I guess, Cookity, can be pretty relative in the grand scheme of things. Especially once you start crossing worlds.

[He often wonders what that version of him might think if he ever met him. That one that's still in Piedmont, living out his normal life.]

The others? I've met most of them, I think, and they all seem pretty cool. Why? Is there a specific one you're curious about?

Oho, not particularly. If they are a Cookie, I likely already know most everything about them. Unless, of course, they happen to have been through strange timelines beyond my notice, not unlike you!

[Her smile widens, and she taps a finger to her chin.]

But what a non-Cookie thinks of us, that is far more interesting!

Oh! You want an outside perspective, got it.

[Hmmmm. He thinks a little.

We're gonna fuck the timeline a little here because I guess technically this should happen before he meets most of them but that's a boring answer.]

There is a lot about your world I find interesting. It sounds like there's a lot of magic and mystery present there, and the people from it, every one I've met, have been really interesting for different reasons. It's definitely a place I'd like to visit sometime. The different kinds of magic alone would make that trip.

I do feel kind of bad about them all dealing with humanoid bodies suddenly. I think one of them straight up told me he'd never had fingers before. Crazy. I think I'm still getting to know everyone so I can't get you anything more detailed than that. Just know that I am keeping a close eye on everyone for my own notes.

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EVENT & TDM 012

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