maskormenacelogs | what a star trek we've been on

Entry tags:

what a star trek we've been on

WHO: Mabel + Science Grunk
WHERE: Heropa 18
WHEN: Early June
WHAT: Sharing secrets, as you do
WARNINGS: nah

[The Pines family, in general, is doing pretty darn good in Mabel’s opinion. The Stans hugged! Dipper’s coming back to California with her! Waddles is safe and sound and Soos is totally gonna marry Melody, probably. Everything that has happened to them when they went back had resolved itself in a much less traumatic and horrible way than even Mabel has assumed possible.

Except… well. There’s still some details not everyone’s aware of, some secrets still being kept. Mabel doesn’t feel as bad as she did about how the rift had even gotten into Bill’s stupid geometric hands— it’s not her fault! She knows it’s not her fault. Bull said it wasn’t her fault, and he’d even warned her and Dipper about the big demon hole in the sky and how to prevent the destruction of the whole world. But Bull wasn’t there. Bull hadn’t been turned into a hunk of gold for a couple of days.

Which brings her to Ford’s bedroom/makeshift laboratory door. Mabel stares at it for a few seconds (is this really a good idea? should she have come prepared with a peace offering?) before knocking tentatively.]

Grunkle Ford? Are you in there?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The knock startles Ford less than it would have even a month ago. More sleep, more energy, less time spent in a constant state of worry or on the need to be constantly vigilant. They won, and a thirty-year weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And with Bill finally gone from this dimension, it's a victory he can finally start to let himself have. It's over, which means whatever he's working on can wait. He sets his tools down, but before he can call out in question, he hears Mabel's voice where he'd expected Dipper's. It's not like her to knock, and especially not so quietly. But a lot's happened, and just as much has changed. So he shrugs it off, projecting his voice loud enough for her to hear it through the closed door.]

Just making a few modifications to WADDLES 6's chassis. [A pause, while he briefly evaluates the state of the work scattered across his desk. Nothing that would discharge unexpectedly. Probably, anyway.] It should be safe to come in.

[For a second she forgets why she's coming to visit and shoves the door open with her normal energy and enthusiasm. That's as close to an all-clear as it gets around Ford's magical mystery lab, and he's doing cool stuff with her robot pig. She hops over to his workbench to look over the pieces of the chassis. Hands kept safely behind her back, of course.]

Really?! How's it going, does it have transformer powers?!

[WADDLES 6 waits patiently at the edge, and there's a metallic "oink" in Mabel's direction as she leans forward. A few outer components have been removed and disassembled, but nothing large enough to necessitate powering any main systems. It's hard to tell what, if anything, he's actually changing.]

Transforming? [It's more thoughtful than anything, one hand scratching at his chin as he looks at the schematics, then over at the robot itself.] No, but it could. Might need to build that one from the ground up, though. You had something in mind?

[She delicately pats the little metal head and making a little hm!! noise.]

Maybe something like a motorcycle! Or a scooter. Usually they turn into cars and stuff but I think WADDLES is way too small for that. Or like, what if he could turn into a small giant robot--

[Like the ShackBot, is what she's going to say, but that reminds her of her original mission. Now is not the time to get involved in planning out the next excellent invention. Mabel stops mid-sentence, tugging on her hair nervously.]

But, uhm, that's not what I wanted to talk about?

[The first suggestion is all it takes for Ford to start quick, rough sketches on a nearby piece of paper -- not much more than a few hasty lines and even hastier notes, vague shapes to elaborate on later when he has time to really think about how to make them work. But when Mabel pauses, so does he, lifting his head to look at her as his pencil hovers somewhere in the middle of the word "articulated."]

No? [Another pause, while he taps the pencil twice on the paper.] Do you need another pressure setting on that punch we've been working on?

[It would be so easy to veer off into another subject-- because yes, in fact, she would love a new pressure setting on the punch because how cool would it be to watch it punch steel into fun spirals and flowers? But if she puts this off it's just going to get harder and harder and before she knows it she'll be keeping secrets and descending into true bad persondom.]

No, it's not that. Iiit's about... you know, what happened at home? [Deep breath!!] You know-- when I took Dippers's backpack on accident and then Bill got the rift?

[Ford's expression falters just briefly, a second or two of uneasiness that vanishes as quickly as it came. Of course he knows, just like he's gone over every way he could have changed things again and again -- if they'd only sealed it sooner, or put it somewhere safer, or any of the thousands of other things he could have done to prevent something so avoidable. But he hadn't been fast enough, or careful enough, and the result...

He takes a deep breath, then sets the pencil down. The result was catastrophic, but they won. They're here, they're whole, and that's enough. Ford turns in his chair to face her, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. The smile that accompanies the gesture is a little tired, but no less genuine.]

The rift was in a dangerous state long before it reached your hands. I'd hoped to stabilize it sooner, but... [He shakes his head as he trails off -- it's over. They're fine.] What happened was unfortunate, but it wasn't your fault.

[In the time it takes Ford to think on his mistakes and put his pencil down, Mabel's internally worked herself up into a small panic. He's already mad-- no, worse, he's disappointed. That's what it means when adults do that thing where they pause and have to calm down before they talk.

When he puts a hand on her shoulder and get's it wrong, though, that's just awful. That's even worse than disappointed. The guilt's too much, and there are tears welling up in her eyes. ]

But it was! It was my fault, 'cause I'm the one who gave it to him!

[The words make him freeze, fingers going slack against Mabel's shoulder as the full meaning of it sinks in. He'd never considered that it could have been voluntary, assumed that the things Bill chose to gloat about were all there was to know. And like so much else about Bill, Ford was wrong. Bill had tricked her, and the entire reason he could was that Ford had asked Dipper to keep the rift a secret.

His expression settles back into something a little more weary, and Ford lets his hand slide off her shoulder. Instead, he folds his hands in his lap, one hidden behind the other. There's a careful silence, and he weighs his words carefully. The guilt carried here shouldn't be hers.]

... No. I thought keeping the rift secret was the only way to keep it safe. I should have told you.

[Mabel fidgets with the edge of her sweater, twisting and untwisting it while she watches Ford's reaction. It's not exactly what she was hoping for-- she's not sure what she was hoping for, honestly, but it wasn't this. She was worried he would be mad! And it's great that he's not! But instead of feeling relief she just feels even guiltier. Grunkle Ford shouldn't be the one feeling bad right now.

She shakes her head forcefully. Keeping secrets from your family is wrong, sure, but he had a good reason.]

I knew it was yours even if I didn't know what it really was! He said it was something from your lab and I shouldn't have just given it away. I just-- he looked liked this time guy and he said he could make it so that I could keep summer going as long as I wanted.

You're not the first person to be tricked by Bill, Mabel. It's how he works. What he's good at.

[The tone itself is gentle, but there's a stern undercurrent to the words -- the need to make her understand the truth of it. It's not a conversation he'd expected to have with Mabel, too focused on Dipper's experience not unlike his own. Too confident he'd be able to stop things before they moved further. Now, it's hard not to think of how much could have been prevented if he'd just spoken sooner. More plainly. Ford doesn't quite give her a smile, but it's not a frown, either -- an attempt at something more reassuring, for himself as much as for her.]

We can't take that back. But we made sure we'd be the last. You did more than your part with that.

Yeah....

[It's not that she isn't convinced by what he says. Everything Ford says is true, especially that part about making sure Bill didn't get anyone else. Hadn't she used her grappling hook effectively? Hadn't she knit everyone in their rescue party awesome and cozy sweaters, thus improving morale probably 1000%? But there's still some nagging guilt, and if Ford won't say I told you so then Mabel is going to have to do it for him.]

There just wouldn't have been anything to stop if I hadn't just trusted this guy I didn't even really know for no reason. So you were right about that part and I wish I could've remembered that you told me that.

[Her words twist like a knife, and Ford has to take a second to rein his own emotions in -- square his shoulders, keep the frown from creeping into his expression. The sigh he heaves is a weary one, and he reaches out to squeeze her arm a second time.]

You could say the same for me.

[That just earns him a look that's pure grade-a confusion.]

But you don't trust anybody.

[All the locks on their door and the security system are proof of that!!]

[Ford averts his eyes uncomfortably, hand still against her arm. It's a hard point to argue. Things are different, changing -- the kids, his brother -- but it's slow. Still difficult, after so long. The pause stretches on a little too long, and he clears his throat in an attempt to dispel the awkward tension.]

I did. More than I should have.

[A moment of hesitation, and he finally lets his arm drop.]

Bill wasn't always my enemy. Once, I considered him a friend. Together... [He trails off, before thinking better of whatever he was going to say.] This was my fault, Mabel. Not yours.

He was your friend!?

[The confusion only grows. They couldn't have been friends, how could they have been friends-- it feels like that moment when they found Stan's box of memorabilia. It goes against everything she knows about Ford.

Except it doesn't, really. Mabel thinks about it for a second. Hadn't she thought Bill was a friend when he was just a guy on the internet who also appreciated Air Bud? Hadn't Dipper believed him even when they knew he was bad news? And Ford hadn't had his brother around, and he had to have been crazy lonely, and sometimes you make poor choices when you're adrift without your twin brother.

Mabel grabs his hand and tugs it gentle, to get his attention.]

...okay but if it's not my fault then it's not yours either.

[He looks down at her hand in his, fingers curling in toward hers. Things are always easier when you're younger. Sometimes, he misses that. The ability to see things as only good or bad, black or white.]

I wish it were that simple. Bill's presence, his foothold in our world... I gave him that. I was foolish. Ambitious. Too blind to see him for what he was. [He hesitates. No, that's not right.] I didn't want to.

[Ford squeezes her fingers, and while his voice is quiet, it's calm. As reassuring as he can make it. He knows what he did. He knows he can't undo it. But it's his weight to bear, not hers.]

You gave him the rift in a moment of weakness. I put everything in place to create it. Even when I was warned not to.

But you didn't mean to give it to him. Nobody warned you how evil he was!

[Grunkle Ford loves him some weirdness, sure, but nothing's going to convince Mabel that he would've gone along with any part of setting up Weirdmageddon if he knew what it meant.]

Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean it's your fault your fault, you know? Like-- when I was little I had these scratch 'n sniff stickers. And I ate them, even though the package and also my mom warned me not to. But they were really vague about what would happen and really the only way to know whether you can trust someone or whether you can eat something is to follow your instincts! Sometimes it doesn't work out and you have to go to the hospital or the world ends for a week. But in the end you didn't cause it! That was the stickers, or the jerk shaped like the triangle.

[The comparison got away from her, and she recognizes that. Mabel decides to salvage the conversation the only way she knows how-- slipping her hand out of his so that she can give him a proper hug.]

It's not your fault either. It was Bill's, and we both just got used.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

what a star trek we've been on

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject