sticksandbones | Right as everyone gets back from hanging out with the Goddesses

OF COURSE THE MOON'S HAUNTED. EVERYTHING WAS TOO NICE FOR TOO LONG SO OF COURSE THE MOON'S GOTTA BE HAUNTED NOW.

[He is probably literally boarding up windows and spare doors as they speak, between messages. It wouldn't be the first time and probably won't be the last.]

ANYWAY YOU KNOW THE RULES, "DON'T SACRIFICE ANYTHING YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT."

We really got lured into a false sense of security the past few months. Like even that spooky town we got trapped in wasn't all that bad comparatively! Figured the other shoe would drop eventually.

[Stan is boarding up the windows, Dipper is salting a big circle around the house, normal Pines stuff.]

Yeah, yeah, I know! No limbs or life-sustaining implements. I'm seventeen, Grunkle Stan, this isn't my first sacrifice to the gods.

YEAH THIS FEELS MORE LIKE OCTOBER RAN LATE. SPOOKY TOWN COULD'VE BEEN WORSE AND WE SHOULD'VE GUESSED THAT WHILE WE WERE OFF DOING POTTERY WITH GODDESSES SOMETHING WAS SCREWING WITH THE MOON.

[Sure, they had to fight off a monster version of Stan's beast form, but it's fine! Everyone lived (except the double)!]

YEAH YEAH I KNOW YOU'RE ALL GROWN UP NOW BUT IT'S GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH AGE, KID - YOU KNOW I'D BE SAYING IT TO FORD TOO.

[These are House Rules not Parenting Rules, you see.]

Yeah no kidding. This might be me being paranoid, but the longer tonight goes on the worse the feeling I get about it is.

Yeah I know i-

[And then it cuts off and Stan hears a very alarmed shout from outside.]

GRUNKLE STAN!?

[Well, something was bound to happen sooner or later. No time for jokes though. Stan drops his netbook like a hot potato and is at the nearest door in a heartbeat with his cane. With a flick of his wrist, it becomes a shotgun - just in case.]

What happened? Dipper?? DIPPER!

[If he doesn't immediately see the kid, he'll listen for an answer and follow.]

[He's not far, he's right against the side of the house. looks like he was planning to put up a ward using his blood.]

[Only the moon is out, and his blood isn't glowing the way it should. Dipper stares at it with wide eyes.]

O-Over here!

[Rather than the bright pearlescent white of his usual paleblood, Dipper's blood is glowing a dimmer, sicklier rust color.]

[Stan rounds the corner with his weapon raised, but lowers it when he sees Dipper isn't being attacked by anything he lowers it and rushes over. Admittedly, it takes a second for it to click what's wrong - they bleed all the time, so that's not anything new. He wouldn't call Stan just for that, not like that anyway.

But then it snaps into place. It's nighttime. It's nighttime and it's barely glowing at all, even though he's out in direct moonlight.]

What the--? What happened?!

[He's got a dozen questions lined up in his head, but Dipper should probably fill him in first. That being said, he's definitely glancing over Dipper in case anything else is immediately wrong - they're not exactly human anymore, so whatever this is probably isn't good for him.]

I don't know!

[He looks down at the blood with a shocking amount of horror, but what's also strange is the way it oozes down his hand. It's thick, viscus and tacky. It's sickly and wrong and the longer Dipper looks at it, the more he feels something under his skin.]

[Heat, like a fever.]

I was just ...just going to use some for this spell, but then it came out like this.

[Wait, he'll cut open another spot and see if it happens there. Stan you might want to stop him as he pulls out his bloodletting knife-]

Woah, hold up--

[Yes, this is all strange and probably terrible, but the answer here isn't gonna be losing more blood. He doesn't take the knife from Dipper, but he grabs his wrist and holds it tight to keep him from doing any more slicing.]

It's blood; it's not gonna be different in another cut. You're just gonna hurt yourself.

[He holds Dipper there, but hopefully the kid won't struggle too long or try to fight him on it.]

The spell can wait until we figure out what's going on with you.

[That's good because he really was just kind of panicking, so he stops there and doesn't fight Stan. He just stands there a moment.]

[Disoriented, vision suddenly swimming- Oh. Oh he feels terrible all of a sudden, like something poisonous just seeped into his blood the moment he made that cut. Stan will start to feel it the longer that pause drags on.]

[That Dipper is swaying a little like he might tip over, and that his skin is hot to the touch.]

I-

[And then the migraine slams into him, right against his right eye, and Dipper doubles over to scream.]

[Stan reaches to steady him, but it's too little too late. He knows how much Dipper can handle these days, so if this is knocking Dipper off his feet and making him scream in pain it's got to be serious - more serious than whatever the hell is up with the moon.

There's no time to really sit and puzzle this out though, so Stan makes a couple of quick decisions and desperately hopes they're the right ones.]

Alright, inside. C'mon.

[He shifts the Red Herring back to its cane form and sticks it under his arm so he can support Dipper, and try and get him to the door as quickly as he can. If Dipper can't walk even with assistance, Stan will carry him. Dipper's getting older now and that's harder to do as easily, but the door isn't far and Dipper's pretty clearly getting worse.]

[To his benefit, Dipper does try to walk. Even if the horrible pounding behind his eye is making him see stars, and the fever coursing through him suddenly makes him shaky and woozy, he still tries to suck it up and walk in the direction Stan is tugging him.]

[But before they reach the porch he abruptly collapses as he feels that pain suddenly crescendo. As a stinging needle of pain bores its way through the back of his eye and claws its way out. Hands reach up to desperately cup his eye as if that will somehow alleviate the pain, but before Dipper lets out one more heart wrenching wail, blood pours from between his fingers, splattering all over the ground.]

[Even Stan feels his stomach drop at the sound of blood spilling, and he isn't usually that squeamish. It's some combination of the blood being unnatural for them and the deja vu of seeing blood gush from Dipper's eye that makes him nauseous, but it doesn't matter now. He has to get Dipper inside. It's the safest place for more reasons than he can count.]

Sorry, kiddo. This is gonna hurt but you can rest when we get inside; I promise. I-I've got you, just hang in there--

[With that, he carefully (and with more effort than he'd like to admit) scoops up Dipper. He didn't care if he got Dipper's blood on him back in Deerington and he sure as hell doesn't care now. It doesn't matter, as long as he can get Dipper safely inside, away from the creepy new moon.]

[Yeah, sorry Stan. The Pines genetics have been kicking in for a few years now and he's not the tiny little twelve-year-old he used to be.]

[At least he doesn't fight or anything. He's really in too much pain to do that, and instead once he's done screaming, Stan will hear the way he breathes loudly, shakily, in a rhythmic way almost as he tries to manage the pain. It's bad, it's just like when he lost his eye and he remembered how much that hurt. Remembers how bad the phantom pain of it would get sometimes.]

[He's prepared for it this time, but that doesn't make it any less terrible.]

[He keeps himself together pretty well, otherwise. Doesn't move much, doesn't actually put pressure on his eye, just has his hands up there to uselessly catch all the blood that just gushed out. Does everything he can to try not to blink.]

I-I fine....I'm fine, i-it's fine-

[If he says it enough time, he won't start to freak out. It's fine, he's had worse, this is nothing, this is just the start-]

[It's not even a little fine, but Stan doesn't correct him yet. To a degree he's running on automatic, doing what he thinks is needed as fast as possible.

Dipper is carefully deposited in the nearest available chair and given a clean rag to catch the blood. This gives him enough time to grab their first aid kit and pull up a chair of his own.]

Just keep holding that there, you're doing great. --you want ice? I can wrap ice in it.

[In the meantime he takes Dipper's arm, the one that was cut earlier. It's the lesser of the two wounds, obviously, but he's looking it over to see if his blood's still weird now that they're out of direct moonlight. Is it still gluey and glowing, is it returning to normal--? It's easier to figure all of that out without staring Dipper directly in the eye socket.]

[Dipper is remarkably lucid this time at least. This wasn't the result of going insane and he's much older, so even though it clearly hurts and Dipper's hands are shaking a little, he's keeping it together enough to clean himself up and stay focused.]

[He hands over his other arm for Stan to look at, and while normally it should show fresher blood as normal blood and the moon-touched blood is separate, something that had been key in sorting out his murder, this time it seems like its not the case. That disgusting rust-colored blood has seeped all the way into his bloodstream, which probably explains why he suddenly succumbed to some kind of fever.]

[After a moment, Dipper answers Stan's question.]

Water- Grunkle Ford ...last time, he rinsed it out with water. There's no glass in it this time but just in case there is something.

[It can't hurt to get all the nasty blood out, at any rate.]

[Weirdly, Dipper pushing through enough to try and tell him what to do like he's not the one with the big eye wound is kind of reassuring. It means he's awake and thinking clear enough that he isn't about to pass out or anything. Great!]

Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there. The whole "not being human anymore" thing adds a couple extra steps.

[For instance, their first aid kit has gotten some interesting additions - vials and other tools for collecting spilled blood. He never remembers how much Ford usually grabs, but for now he snaps on a pair of gloves and goes for one small vial awkwardly guided into the tube with the dull side of a butter knife. He can't help wrinkling his nose though.]

Ugh, it's like engine oil...

[...Oh, shit, he said that out loud didn't he? Quick, pivot pivot pivot--]

...quality engine oil! Because you're gonna be fine!

[And now is when he gets up, tosses the butterknife in the sink, and fills up a bowl with water.]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dipper is not even phased by this. Blood samples WOULD be smart to get at a time like this and he'd be mad at himself for not doing it himself after all was said and done.]

Dude, if you're putting something with that consistency in your car then I can only assume the reason it ran for forty years was through black magic and a curse.

[Stan, he knows his blood is nasty, he's the one who say it first.]

Edited 2026-01-02 03:35 (UTC)

Right as everyone gets back from hanging out with the Goddesses

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cw: blood and eye stuff haha

Re: cw: blood and eye stuff haha

cw: full on eyegore

cw: full on eyegore

cw: full on eyegore

cw: full on eyegore

cw: full on eyegore

cw: full on eyegore + bloodharvesting sorry gang.

cw: full on eyegore + bloodharvesting sorry gang.