sticksandbones | You can bend or you can break

[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?

Edited 2025-01-31 01:02 (UTC)

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?

[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.

[ 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. ]

[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?

[ 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. ]

[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?

Edited 2025-01-31 04:05 (UTC)

It took-

[ A pause. It took. Period. Shadow Milks voice in his head, mocking him about losing his heart. Ah, no, not his head. Pure Vanilla's. He's silent as he thinks about this. Did it take, or did it awaken. Did it swap their places.

No. ]

No. It gave. Memories. Of Pure Vanilla Cookies fall upon being confronted with the cruel Truth. The Bright Lies he wrapped himself in, blinded himself with. And Pure Vanilla died, his heart lost to the Truth he truly never wanted to see. Now I am here.

[That pause is interesting, Dipper thinks, but he's not sure why yet. He notes it, and listens to his answer.]

[This doesn't sound like what usually happens when people come back from the garden. Something isn't right, but he doesn't know enough about it figure out why that is. Why would the garden give something when it has always taken something away. Is there precedence for this? Or did ...or was the Forest's price more ambiguous than they realized.]

So ...what is that then? What kind of "Truth" could do that to him?

That his - our - life was a lie. The machinations of the Beast of Knowledge.

[ He folds his hands into his lap, crossing his ankles together. The gesture is so very Pure Vanilla. Truthless will switch to the I here. Pure Vanilla is dead, after all. He was him, but it's his life now. As much of it as it is. ]

From the very moment I was born, my life was like dough shaped by Shadow Milk Cookie. My steps followed his as he lead me through life, showed me the path he had gone, showed me that in the end, we were two hearts beating as one. Pure Vanilla Cookie sank into the abyss of it, of Knowledge, and was consumed by it. I arose in his place. Beholden to Truth, to Knowledge, that I was merely the puppet he used to get what he needed.

["the Beast of Knowledge." While this the first time he's heard this name, he won't lie, beast of knowledge sounds exactly like what some old text would refer to Bill. That does not bode well.]

[But all of that is ...huge, actually. If ...Truthless Recluse is telling him the truth, then being puppetted his whole life for someone else's ends? That could break anyone, he thinks. It had nearly broken their family. All of this is starting to hit home in a way Dipper really doesn't like. More than that, whatever is actually going on, one thing seems very clear to Dipper. Pure Vanilla went through something that hurt him terribly, and that is what makes Dipper's heart sink.]

[That angry voice in his head comes back and insists if Fern hadn't killed him, this wouldn't have happened, but he bites it down before it can stick. He doesn't have time to get angry right now.]

[He realizes he's been quiet a little too long.]

You know, I've been called a puppet before.

Edited 2025-01-31 05:08 (UTC)

[ The silence doesn't bother Truthless. He lets Dipper sort through his own thoughts for however long it takes him, studying the other himself. Dipper is stressed, that much is obvious, and more than just from this moment here. Pure Vanilla Cookie would try to find out if he needed to talk, would offer to listen.

Truthless did say he would try.

Before he can offer it, however, Dipper is speaking and Truthless blinks gently. ]

Called it. Were you?

[ Was Dipper danced upon blue strings, every motion not his own, every desire someone elses. Every major achievement in his life Orchestrated so his path would align, so he would See what Shadow Milk wanted/needed him to see. Does he understand TruthlesS? ]

[Maybe not exactly, but you would be surprised to see how much of that actually hits home.]

Yeah. By a monster who desperately wanted into our dimension. Chaos god, dream demon, the Beast with One Eye. He would wait to find someone desperate and unsuspecting, appear like some muse of knowledge and enlightenment in their weakest moment, and then do everything in his power to trick them into building the portal into our dimension.

He had it out for our family, and used me in a similar way. Backed me into a corner and gave me the illusion of choice in making a deal with him, but he'd manipulated it from the start. Then he stole my body and used it to try and destroy everything I loved and cared about.

[ Truthless listens as Dipper explains his experience. So similar, in their different ways. Used by something to get what they want. Dipper possessed while Truthless was marionetted. Lead to believe his actions were his own, when everything was just a Lie. Even the creature sounds similar. It would not surprise him if it were a manifestation of Shadow Milk - or visa versa. Didn't Pure Vanilla feel the worlds were all connected, after all?

Dipper understands and doesn't. Their Truths align and don't. ]

I'm sorry.

[ And he is, in his own way. Understands what Dipper must have felt, to watch his own hands try and bring down his won world. And yet, Dipper was only a puppet for a mere moment.

For two thousand years, Pure Vanilla Cookie - Truthless - has been one. His life was never his own. ]

You are free now.

[No, Dipper knows that his experience, as awful as it was, won't measure up to the shear length of time that Pure Vanilla must have felt helpless in the hands of a monster that sounds on par with Bill. Even Ford, who was strung along much, much longer than he had been, doesn't know that length of time truly. All the same, Dipper just wanted him to know that he hadn't been alone.]

[He gets it.]

[To his words, Dipper lets a breath go, and then his expression is something wry.]

Not really. Of all the blood types in Trench, of all the ways blood magic can manifest, somehow something thought it would be funny to give me his powers. Every time I use them, I hear his laugh in the back of my mind. Even though he isn't here, his fingerprints are all over my actions, waiting to see if I end up just like him in the end.

[He looks down at the box of treats and walks over, setting them down on the table next to him.]

It's not the same as your situation, I'm not trying to say that, but. I just thought you should know, that on some level I do get it.

[ "Waiting to see if I end up just like him in the end."

"In the end, you will become... me! And it's gonna feel good!"

"Whose power?"

He looks up from where his eyes had dropped as Shadow Milks words had flooded back. Not that they ever truly were gone. Sympathy, laughter, mockery. Pure Vanilla had been safe here, breaking the Soul Jam to give the power away.

And the forest took it away. Made him face Shadow Milk once more. Let him fall. ]

You understand. My powers were never my own. They were always His. And in the end, I became Him.

[ He studies Dipper again, eyes searching the boys. There's almost something there in them. The memory of a feeling, the hint of emotion. It's hard to tell what it is, however, Truthless doesn't even know himself. ]

You will not become Him. You do not hide yourself behind lies and you understand the dangers you tread with each use of your powers. They may mimic His, but you have not lost the Truth you cling to. You are, and always be, you.

[ He's trying. Trying to reassure Dipper, as he tried to reassure A.B.A. At least Dipper is a far more emotionally intelligent person who wont sulk and kick a fuss.

Trying to be Pure Vanilla Cookie. ]

[Dipper sees it, however brief. Holds onto it like a life line, because it's the first time since they've talked that he's truly seen a speck of hope that Pure Vanilla might still be in there.]

[Though the words are spoken the way they are, with his deathly dead pan, toneless voice, they are still strangely sincere in their own way. He is trying, and he has no reason to do this, but he's doing it anyway. It's enough.]

And I don't think you're as lost as you think you are.

[With the treat box on the table, he moves towards the doorway into the rest of the house.]

Tell "him" I haven't given up on him. I'm gonna go check on the others now.

[ Truthless doesn't respond to either of those, his eyes on Dipper as he heads out to the rest of the house. It reminds him of Gingerbrave and his friends. The defiance in the face that Pure Vanilla was lost.

What makes you so sure that Cookie still existed, he had asked them.

Because we believe in him, they had replied.

And in the end he had told them it was time to say Goodbye and raised his magic against them. To prove to them Pure Vanilla no longer existed. There's the desire to do the same here, to show Dipper so he understood like he was sure the other had.

Instead he merely hums in acknowledgement and lifts his book back up to open it back up. ]

You can bend or you can break

Where is my peepaw (for TR)

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