route_1065 | Step one: You say, 'We need to talk.'

Who: Dave Strider

callbacks, Jade Harley

eclectictype, mingle threads with Dipper Pines

in4apounding possible
Where: Ruins of Alph
When: December 19th, 2015
Summary: Reunited at last, Dave and Jade have a much-needed feelings jam. Because Unown-infested ruins are obviously the place for that.
Rating: PG-13, kids talking about death within
Log:

[The actual reunion went off fine--hugs were had, greetings shared around, heights compared (very important)--but now Dave's nervous. He picked the Ruins as the place to talk because they're private, especially this time of year when not too many people are spelunking, and because he likes them. He figured Jade might think they're cool, too, and the statues and carvings are something to look at when the conversation gets hard. In a way, it's like being back at the Frog Temple. Almost homey.

But no amount of familiarity is going to make this discussion any more comfortable. Dave sighs, glances down the corridor where he's letting his Murkrow hop around as a deterrent to the Psychic Pokémon who live here, and looks back at Jade in the lantern light, hands in his pockets.]

Okay. So, I guess I should just. Start talking?

[Or maybe they could just, you know, not, and go back to pretending everything is and has always been one hundred percent totally okay. Dave would be fine with that plan of action.]

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[If you've never heard a boy scream at almost a soprano, well, you'll hear it now, Penny. Of course that is going to reverberate all over the cave.

Of course you're going to have an angry sheep bleating at you, and a terrified fire weasel going full blast with the fire on its back.]

D-Don't do that!

[Wait till this boy's heart stops pounding out of his chest.]

[And of course this sets off a chain reaction involving a short shriek on Penny's part, and a now-terrified Vulpix jumping up her back to burrow frantically into the scarf around her neck.]

SORRY! Sorry! Sorry!

[One paranormal investigator and one professional monster-hunter, ladies and gentlemen.]

I'm sorry! Are you all right?!

[Deep breaths, Dipper. Deep breaths.

Okay, now he can think with the echo finally dying down.]

F-Fine.

[Time to make sure everything was alright, like his journal, and more importantly, his pants. Okay. No unusual wetness. Great.]

How are girls so sneaky? Never mind. You were asking about the Unnown having different abilities depending on their shape?

I wasn't trying to sneak! Sorry!

[Comes from combat training, in her case.]

Yes! If they're all different shapes, it would make sense for their powers to be different, wouldn't it?

[Is- is that how things work here? Appearance does seem to be kind of an indicator of ability, at least a little. Not that she'd know what kind of power an 'S' would have, though.]

[He waves off the apology, not trying to be rude, but there's other matters at hand.]

I don't know... If they're all the same Pokémon, just with different shapes, it'd make more sense if they were the same in every aspect except shape. They might just be letters come to life, the letters of a language that used to be spoken and written in this place before modern civilization.

[Of course this is just a theory.]

...can that happen? Letters just coming to life?

[That seems not true.]

... After everything I've seen back home, I have no doubt that it might happen.

[Gravity Falls. Seriously. One eyed triangle dream demon is proof of that.]

What kind of things? Can I ask that?

[Her version of 'normal' involves the possibility of monster attacks from things a lot less cute than Pokémon, she doesn't have the best baseline for 'weird'.]

I suppose it's not MUCH stranger than music from nowhere.

You name it! Gnomes, Manotaurs, Multi-Bear, ghosts, triangle shaped one eyed dream demons.

[The music.]

So you haven't found speakers either?

No, but I haven't wanted to actually take anything apart, either.

[It would basically be a guessing game, since the music seems to have a pretty constant volume no matter where you are.]

...How is a 'multi-bear' different than just a regular sleuth of bears?

You don't have to take them apart. Just prove they are there!

[Prepare to be enlightened.]

Not multiple bears. One bear made of multiple bears. Multi-Bear!

[Penny takes a second to imagine a bear made of more bears.]

...That sounds absurdly scary and downright dangerous.

No, he's actually really nice.

[They share a taste in music!]

Oh, it's a he, not an it! That's good.

[Re-assessing that mental image. It's now significantly less Grimm-like, approximately 80% more Teddiursa.]

...really strange, but good. What were you doing that you met a bear made of bears, just exploring like this?

[What does gender have to do with a-.... no, he'd want to know if it was a he/she/it too.]

.....

[Small voice. Please don't judge.]

Try to kill him.

[She was thinking more 'sentient being capable of being nice vs. mindless killing machine', but using the right form of address is important too.]

You were going to kill it?

...Dipper, you don't have the kind of training you need for that kind of thing, do you? That's really dangerous!

[Priorities.]

I was trying to prove I was a man.

[There's a huge story behind that.]

Is that something you need to prove? I would've thought it was more just something you were.

[What is metaphor.]

...you didn't, did you? Kill him. You said he turned out to be nice.

Uhm... no, not really.

[He's not going into explaining it.]

Of course I didn't! Why would I kill someone nice?

I didn't think you would, but you said you were trying, so-!

[She was literally built to kill things, it's not an unreasonable assumption.]

And- it might've been an accident. But I'm glad you didn't! People shouldn't have to fight like that unless they want to protect people.

Yeah, I know that now.

[He's done plenty of protecting of his sister and various friends.]

...did you want to be a Huntsman, or some kind of fighter? Was that an option in your world?

No, not really. I just wanna explore all of the mysteries in the world.

[Huntsman?]

That's great too! And it sounds like your world has a lot to explore.

[Let her tell you about ~~Homestuck~~ RWBY, Dipper.]

Of course it does! Caves, castles, tombs, temples, and a lot more. I'd be dead before I found everything!

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