You can bend or you can break

[ghostharasser]

Who: Dipper and some cookie house residents
What: Dipper goes to check on Cookie House after going full eldritch on Fern. It sure is a mess.
When: Sometime after people have returned from the garden
Where: Cookie House!
Warnings: Unreality, Dreamscape stuff, Nightmares more TBA


"Man, things sure got rough at home, time to go check on the other place I like to hang out, full of people I like and care about. I bet everything is just fine over there-"

Comments

Where is my peepaw (for TR)

[ghostharasser]

[Well.

Dipper handled the Fern situation in a reasonable and rational manner and certainly didn't let his emotions overwhelm him to the point that he nearly did reprehensible mental damage to someone for killing a person he liked. He certainly isn't still super hungover for exerting his powers in a way he hasn't since he accidentally shoved the whole grove into the dreamscape.

Ugh, his head hurts.

Anyway, the town went to go collect the fallen from the garden a day or two ago, and he hasn't had the chance to leave and check on Pure Vanilla yet. Honestly, after the Fern mess he feels kind of gross. He knows PV wouldn't be happy to know how he exploded, even if he felt justified doing it. He doesn't feel great about keeping it from him either, so he's coming with a box of baked goods to try and tackle explaining to Grandpa he tried to torture someone with nightmares on his behalf. hhhh.

With a deep breath, Dipper pushes open the door.]

Hello?

[purevanillacookie]

Dipper.

[ Not-Peepaw Jumpscare, as Truthless is Right There on the couch, a book open in front of him. He can see the box in Dippers hands and knows it's food. The boy always comes over with food. And where Pure Vanilla might have instantly been up to fetch something in turn for Dipper, Truthless merely places a bookmark where he's at and closes his book. ]

Do you need something?

[ghostharasser]

[O-Oh. Wait. There he is? Dipper startles for a second, because like, obviously that's the voice, and the eyes, and-]

Pure V-

[But then the gears immediately grind to a halt. It takes him no time to start clocking all the things that don't look right. All of his sheep traits have vanished, he looks way more human than he used to. His clothing is wrong, and weirdest of all, his eyes-]

[He's looking at him? But his eyes look ...]

[Dead.]


[Something very visibly drops in the pit of Dipper's stomach once it all adds up. For a moment he looks pale and shell-shocked, but then it's gone quickly, the gears turning. Something cautious and confused, but imploring takes its place.]

I uh, just came by to check on you guys. To check on you.

[purevanillacookie]

[ Dipper is quite intelligent, Truthless knows he won't have to explain things overly much as he did with the others. And indeed, from the look on his face within a moment, he clocks the changes. Perhaps he will understand that the man in front of him isn't Pure Vanilla Cookie.

He tilts his head lightly to one side, then nods lightly in acknowledgement. ]

You have no need to check on me. I am adjusting well. Though I do not believe Dark Cacao Cookie and White Lily Cookie are.

[ It's not just his eyes that are dead. There's no infliction in his voice. It's flat, vaguely deeper from the lack of emotion. And he just... doesn't move. Doesn't move to stand to hug Dipper, to take the box from him, doesn't offer to have him sit.

Just watches him with unnerving eyes. ]

[ghostharasser]

[It's all wrong. What the FUCK is going on here.]

[Dipper goes very tense, like he's standing in a room of snakes. He watches Truthless very carefully, like a puzzle he is trying to crack, and when he speaks it's like he's choosing his words very carefully.]

I'll go check on them later, then.

[There is a lot to address here, and Dipper, for as the horror and dread is threatening to rise up in him, he has a need to understand what he is looking at first, before he loses his fucking shit.]

...You know who I am, but are you actually Pure Vanilla?

[purevanillacookie]

[ And Truthless watches back, his eyes locked on Dippers. The white blue in the middle of them like pupils, breaking up the solid color, but it's an eerie light that doesn't sit well in them.

Silence as Dipper says he'll check on them, Truthless doesn't feel the need to respond to that.

That last bit, however. ]

I knew you would understand. I am not. Pure Vanilla Cookie is dead. I am Truthless Recluse, born in his place.

[ And yet. It's obviously Pure Vanilla. ]

[ghostharasser]

[Yeah, he hates it, thanks. In fact, once he catches that detail, the very first thing that strikes him is possession. Having that suddenly put him on alert is about all that keeps him from otherwise losing it the moment he says Pure Vanilla is dead.]

Truthless Recluse.

[It's said quietly. The implications of that are awful. All of this is terrible, but Dipper is still missing half the puzzle. What does that mean born in his place? Is that some kind of cookie thing? Is it more metaphorical? Or is he actually possessed. Is there some monster in there wearing his skin like a suit? How the fuck did this happen when he woke in the garden?]

[Wait-]

...What did the forest take from you? When you came back?

WHERE IS MY OTHER PEEPAW HELP (for DC)

[ghostharasser]

[Well that sucked.]

[Dipper thinks maybe he might have a panic attack if he doesn't do something super productive right this second, so he goes in search of Dark Cacao. He really needs some answers about what just happened. What happened to PV? Who the FUCK did he just talk to.]

[Where are you Other Peepaw.]

Dark Cacao? Dark Cacao!

[winterfrosting]

[Dipper has been in their home enough to know about Cacao's den in the basement. A private little space for the often antisocial king to recharge himself. He's been using it... a lot, these past days

He looks up from his desk when Dipper calls him, purple eyes cloudy with exhausting and down and arm... maybe that's why the paper in front of him doesn't have any writing on it yet?]

Dipper?

[ghostharasser]

[After Dipper works himself in knots and paces two full circles around the house, he remembers the den. He comes down in a little less of a tizzy than initially and peers in.]

Hey- um.

[This fight with the fallen sun really had some unspeakable collateral, huh? Missing limbs stopped being horrifying to him a long time ago, but that didn't mean he couldn't still grieve for someone else's pain. He's kicking himself a little for being so preoccupied with going nuclear on Fern.]

...What the heck is going on with Pure Vanilla?

[That seems like a fair place to start. Truthless told him his spiel but he'd like to hear it from the person who brought him back from the garden.]

[winterfrosting]

Ah, you met him.

[Cacao's voice is low and sad and lacking his usual steady confidence]

It is... hard to explain.

[ghostharasser]

[DC's state is not even remotely a surprise. Dipper will gently close the door behind him.]

Yeah ...I got the feeling it was pretty complicated, on account of the crazy cryptic answers he gave me about whatever happened.

[He frowns, trying to balance wanting to ask for details with feeling bad about bothering DC right now. After a moment his need to understand wins out.]

...he's acting possessed. Like, not metaphorically because he's so different, I mean honest-to-god there might be something in him driving his body against his will, possessed.

Shits happening in this one (TR again)

[ghostharasser]

[So, there are a couple of ways he can do this. He's talked it over with a few others in the house, given them the precautions in case something terrible happens, and has decided on his course of action. He wants to know what's actually going on in Truthless Recluse's mindscape, to see if he can find some clues about what might have happened to Pure Vanilla. To do that, he's going to have to take a look inside himself.]

[...This is not something he enjoys doing against someone else's will, which is why he did get permission from Dark Cacao first before doing it. The situation seems dire enough that there largely wasn't much protest. This is a fine reason to use his powers, he reasons. Pure Vanilla could be trapped in there, and that's what brought TR to the surface. PV could be actually possessed. They needed answers.]

[After some consideration, he decides the smoothest way to get in would be to wait for nightfall, and to ease into one of TR's dreams while both of them are asleep. Forcing his way in may cause them more harm than good, and he'd like to try and get a look before being immediately noticed if possible.]

[Dark Cacao has his pendant, in the off chance something goes terribly wrong. That settled, he slides into the world of dreams and makes his way over to TR, aiming to slide in like as unnoticed as possible.]

[purevanillacookie]

[ Dipper slips in fine enough. Which, considering who Pure Vanilla (and thus Truthless) is, perhaps shouldn't be as easy as it is.

In fact, it's truly not as easy as he may think it is, as the moment he does he's going to find himself a) a Cookie and b) surrounded. The eyes are endless and stretch on around him in a void that seems a lot like space. He'll know it, as the dream tells him: The Dark Side of the Moon.

And the eyes See Him, focus in on him. Some blink, some glare, some curve upwards as if they're laughing. A voice speaks up... it's not familiar to Dipper in the least. ]

"I must say, this is quite a surprise! A guest, here! Oh, but I haven't set the stage up! How embarrassing! One moment, one moment, stay your intruding little self right there!"

[ Though that voice stops speaking, Dipper can hear another faintly whispering throughout the entire landscape. It sounds like Pure Vanilla, but the words are hard to discern. Dipper can look around if he wants, but walking in any direction will simply be more of the same until suddenly Pure Vanilla is beside him.

No, it's Truthless but as a Cookie. ]

What do you hope to accomplish?

1/2

[ghostharasser]

[Holy shit he's a fucking cookie. Resisting the urge to taste himself for science-]

[ghostharasser]

[Okay, anyway. The Eyes are terrible and as soon as he sees them he goes pretty still, realizing maybe stealth was never going to be in the cards. Ugh, he can't shake how unnerved he feels even as a cookie. He was making plenty of Bill comparisons earlier, but now he worries he might really be on the money here.]

[He logs "Dark Side of the Moon" moon away, thinking he's heard something about that before, something about the magic from Earthbread, when he's suddenly interrupted by the voice.]

[The voice isn't Bill's, and Dipper lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.]

[He does try to look around, but when he realizes the space is strangely looping on him, he waits. Listens. There's voices and then-]

Whoa!

[Holy shit he's RIGHT THERE. Ah, fuck. Well, the jig was up. He puts his little cookie hands on his cookie hips (he has none of these).]

...Answers, really. Look, I'm not here to make a mess- who was that voice just now?

[purevanillacookie]

[ The jig is indeed up, but Truthless doesn't seem to care. He merely blinks at Dipper. Answers. ]

Were my answers not succinct enough?

[ He tilts his head back, staring upwards. Or well. 'Upwards'. Truthfully though it feels like they're standing on something the landscape shifts so who really knows. ]

Knowledge. Deceit. Truth. "And the greatest playwright! You want answers? Oh buddy, do we have them for you!"

[ The landscape shifts, brightens. The floor beneath them shimmers and turns white. A pool of pristine milk, Dippers reflection cast back up at him. And it's Dipper, as he was back home. And it's Dipper, as he is now. And it's Dipper, a monster to his pale blood. Dipper, a copy. Dipper, possessed. Dipper, dead, and dead, and dead-

If Dipper glances over to Truthless' reflection he will see... Pure Vanilla. Pure Vanilla melting with large black eyes opening in him, Pure Vanilla wrapped in blue strings around his wrist and ankles and throat, twined around his eyes until nothing can be seen. Pure Vanilla clutching his head as his form melts and shifts to someone blue, who mimics his pose, pain and anguish on his face until it's Pure Vanilla again.

Truthless stares downwards, silent. ]

"Ask away, Walker, what questions do you have for the lil' ol' Beast of Knowledge?"

[ghostharasser]

Your answers were fine, but there's something else that I needed to see with my own eyes, first. Something you might've had a hard time giving me a straight answer for.

[At least TR isn't mad. He was a little worried he'd be mad. However, now his attention is fully on this shitty Heeheehoohoo man, who while Dipper is sure isn't Bill, sounds enough like him that he could see the two swapping friendship bracelets in evil clown hell.]

[The milk expanding, creating what is essentially a mirror into multiple realities. He watches each reflection with fascination, until they all turn up dead, one after another. Every instance a situation he could recognize. An event he knew he narrowly escaped. He finally tears his eyes away, not wanting to give whoever this is the satisfaction of watching him see his death over and over again. He spots the reflection under Truthless and that affects him more. Watching him suffer from what Dipper is certain is- God the strings are even blue. He grits his teeth and steels himself.]

What is your actual connection to Pure Vanilla? Why are you still here? Didn't you get what you wanted?

[purevanillacookie]

"BORING. Boring questions, Walker! I thought better of you!"

[ It's not Bill that reaches up from the milk below to grab Dipper around the ankle. The Cookie hand is blue, surrounded by the frills of a jester's outfit, and then Dipper is yanked down into the milk. The landscape flips around and he finds himself standing in a tower while a Blue Cookie looms above him, grinning with wickedly sharp teeth painted on it's face. ]

"Didn't our little friend Truthless Recluse answer those for you? We're all together now, one big happy dysfunctional freaky little family. As for my little Vanilly-"

[ A small puppet dangles down in front of Dipper. No, it's actually a small Pure Vanilla, being danced and moved around in the strings as he grimaces. ]

"We both got what we wanted, Walker! He got the Truth he fought for his entire life! And the Knowledge that came with it."

SURPRISE WL THREAD WITH THE STEEL CHAIR-

[ghostharasser]

[Yeah, so, the last like two weeks have been pretty solidly awful with one punch after another, but Dipper is pretty sure no one here feels worse than DC or WL, which is why he is making good on checking up on them.]

[His talk with Truthless was ...unnerving for a lot of reasons, unsurprisingly. He has passed his idea to Dark Cacao, so it also seemed right to maybe ask White Lily what she thought before he did it.]

[He will come gently tap on the door of where ever she might be.]

White Lily...?

[lilyberation]

( she's in the bedroom, taking a moment to breathe. ... it's about all she can do, right now. and then there's a knock.

lily deeply, truly does not want to answer it.

but she does. )

... Dipper...

[ghostharasser]

[Yeah, she looks about like he expected. Fussing after others is probably the only reason he hasn’t run off to go throw rocks through Fern’s window.]

Hey. Um.

[He takes a deep breath.]

I came to see how you were doing. I …just saw him. [“Him”.]

[lilyberation]

I am...

( lily pauses, considering her words. ... and who's asking. )

I am. That is all.

... It's... a terrible, difficult phenomenon. Rebaking, that is.

[ghostharasser]

“Am” is better than “am not”.

[And don’t you argue with him about that so help him.]

“Rebaking”… I hate to bother you right now but …can you tell me more about that? I uh.

[Pause.]

I have a crazy idea and anything you can tell me will probably help.

[lilyberation]

( i'm just copypasting the explanation to aba- )

It can happen two ways- they can be recoated in dough and literally rebaked, a new being taking their life, their knowledge, their soul, everything- the old cookie is gone, and the new one has taken their place. It is nigh impossible for the original cookie to return, or for both to exist... but there is an exception.

The other is... more metaphorical, yet still physical. Something shatters their sense of self so thoroughly, that the cookie they were can no longer be. A death of the self, but the body persists. They change, and so too does their identity.