estoria | wish we could turn back time to the good old days [ CLOSED ]

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wish we could turn back time to the good old days [ CLOSED ]

Who: Dipper & various hospital visitors, fellow jungle boogiers, and probably some sailor senshi
When: IC 4/7 and onwards
Where: The hospital, maybe other various locations
What: After his fun jungle adventure sends him to the hospital, Dipper has visitors to see him, apologies to make, and a new place to crash for a few days.
Rating/Warning: Mentions of death and gore

[ It's only after two and a half days of solid sleep in the hospital that Dipper finally wakes up, a throbbing haze lingering on his mind as the heavy memory of why he was here settles upon him. In the jungle, he'd been the last one lured by the hallucinations in the trees to a monster lying in wait. He'd been the first to fall in the ensuing fight. And it wasn't even the monster that got him. Wasn't that ironic?

Everything had fallen apart because of him, and of the injured, he was the only one who wasn't hurt by the monster. Go figure.

It takes Dipper several hours and an essential conversation with Yu before he's really ready to see anyone else. He's exhausted, mentally and physically, but he sets aside the gnawing desire for more sleep in favor of what he knows he has to do. He has to apologize, and for those visitors who weren't on the ill-fated jungle expedition, he needs to be okay. Or try to be, anyway. No one else needs to worry about him. No one else needs these circumstances to weigh on their mind. He created this, so he'd take on as much of it as he can.

Visitors will find him with his right arm in a sling, bandages just peeking out of the collar of his hospital gown. His trademark hat sits next to him on the nightstand, and beneath it lies the journal. Reflexively, he wants to tuck it away and hide its knowledge, but what was the point? What good was it doing him here? When he'd needed it most, it had been completely useless. So he leaves it set aside.

After a few days in the hospital, Dipper is finally dispatched. Before he goes anywhere else, however, he pulls out his CereVice. To the members of expedition team he hadn't seen at the hospital - Dipper couldn't blame them at all for not coming to see him - he sends our a short message that for all its simplicity takes him several minutes to send. ]

I need to talk to you in person.

[ And that's it. ]

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[ Of course she's going to visit. Luckily, her boyfriend's got some pretty handy healing powers, so after some attention and plenty of rest to recuperate, Yang's making her appearance at the hospital. Her arm's all healed, and enough sleep and food has helped with the bloodloss issue-- so honestly, she looks better than most people might have expected at this juncture. ]

Hey, you.

[ Let's start off simply. ]

[ Yang certainly is looking better than Dipper was expecting. He'd been a little...preoccupied when she'd gotten hurt, so he didn't know the specifics on her injury - just that it had happened, and that it was, once again, thanks in no small part to him. After seeing the state of Yu, he would have expected Yang to be in similar disrepair.

So relief floods him when he sees her in one piece and looking fit as a fiddle. It's a better start than some of these meetings had had. ]

...Hey. Uh - you're looking well. [ A beat. ] But how are you?

A lot less ouch, that's for sure. But I've been wondering how you were.

[ Maybe she should have brought Naoki, let him work his healing magic here... she still remembers Dipper going down, Yu desperately trying to shield him. ]

[ Yep, there's the question of the day. How was he?

He's had to answer it often enough by now, to his other friends and nurses alike. It didn't get any easier with succession. Honesty, he had decided, was at least the best way to go. He owed that to her. He owed that to all of them. ]

...Not great. I mean, my arm's not bad, but... [ His gaze falls. ] It's been a long couple of days.

[ Understatement of the century. ]

... Yeah. [ She knows how she'd felt. She can only imagine how Dipper's feeling about the whole affair. ] But, you know... you've probably already been told that you're not allowed to blame yourself for stuff, right? We're glad you're okay.

[ As okay as he can be in this situation, anyway. ]

[ She's already jumped ahead to trying to lift the blame from him before he's even had a chance to apologize. That's backwards from how he expected this conversation to go, and it leaves him temporarily at a loss for words.

How could she be so quick to forgive him? She almost got killed because of him. She should be furious. ]

...But no one would even be in this mess if it weren't for me.

... We took a bunch of people, half of them with breathing problems, and we threw ourselves into a jungle filled with monsters. I'm pretty sure we would've run into that thing anyway.

Honestly, I should've expected that to happen, but there's really no point in kicking ourselves about the past anyway. It's not going to change a thing.

[ That's the same argument Yu had used on Dipper, and for someone who over-analyzes things to death, it's compelling. But there's no way they could be sure they would have run into that monster without him being an idiot. ]

But it might change everything about where we go from here. [ And where he would go from here, specifically. What was he going to do now? He'd failed. He couldn't do what he'd set out to do. He'd tried his hardest, and it wasn't good enough.

He's in a game of superhumans and monsters, and he's not good enough for it. ]

... Yeah, you're right. [ Something's got to change, or running back into the jungle is just going to lead to problems again.

Yang regards him thoughtfully now, and then brings a hand to her chin. ]

You know... unlocking your aura might be a good first step.

[ The bitter regret on his his features shifts into soft surprise, and there's an undeniable glint of curiosity in his eyes. ]

...Really? You're still willing to teach me how to do it? Even after...all of this?

Did I ever tell you about the time I went running after a clue and I almost got myself and my sister killed?

[ Well, she doubts it. She doesn't talk about it that often. ]

[ Slowly, he shakes his head. Thaaaat doesn't sound too unlike something he's done before, too. ]

I got so fixated on one thing that I had to chase after it, and because I took Ruby with me, and we were just little kids-- well, you know, we were pretty much easy pickings for the monsters. If my uncle hadn't shown up to save us, neither of us would be here today.

No one really blamed me for it... but I felt bad enough as it was.

[ She pauses, tugging lightly at her scarf. ]

When something bad happens, Dipper, it's not like you have to pretend like it didn't. But what's most important is what happens next. I wanted to get stronger. And I learned not to just forget everything else around me, just because of one thing.

In your case... if you want to learn how to use your soul to protect yourself, that's your call. It takes a lot of training, though.

[ Yeah, that's definitely a feeling he can relate to. She's been in this kind of situation before, and he sees her point. Wallowing in self pity wouldn't do him any good. Trying to be stronger so something like this didn't happen again would.

His eyes fall for a moment on his arm in its sling, then to the journal sitting on the side table. It couldn't protect him out there. It couldn't even help him.

Yu had told him he wasn't ready. Dipper hadn't wanted to acknowledge that at the time, but...he really hadn't been. But, he could change that, starting now.

He glances back up at Yang. ]

I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes.

[ Yang nods, approving-- and reaches out a hand to rest her gloved palm on his cheek. Sorry for the lack of warning, buddy. ]

Close your eyes.

[ He's a little taken aback by her sudden touch, but he complies, closing his eyes. ]

Okay.

[ There's a pause, before Yang also closes her eyes and begins to murmur something that sounds a little too formal for it to be her own words. It doesn't take long, though, and when she draws her hand back-- ]

You can open your eyes now.

[ He should be glowing a faint color of your choosing, a glow that will fade rather quickly. Yang herself looks a little tired, but nothing too alarming. ]

[ He resists the urge to interrupt and ask what she's saying, instead staying silent until she draws back and tells him to open his eyes. When he does so, he notices a faint blue glow around him, and though it's fading fast, he gasps aloud. ]

Was that it? My...my aura?

Yep. Like I said, it's going to take a ton of work to get you used to actually using it, but that can wait. Your injuries might heal a little faster, too.

[ There's a hint of an excited grin on his face. ]

I could definitely go for some faster-healing injuries. What did you just do, exactly?

Unlocked your aura-- uh, in pretty simple terms, I made it so you can use your soul to protect yourself. When you're all healed up, I'll take you into ViViD to start working on it.

That's great! I'll let you know as soon as I'm better. [ And then, after a pause: ]

...Thank you, Yang. You didn't have to do this for me, and...I won't let you down again.

You didn't let me down. But I'd be happier if I didn't have to visit you in a hospital again anytime soon.

I think both of us can agree on that one, actually.

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wish we could turn back time to the good old days [ CLOSED ]

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