deernet | un: trienemybest; video

[The video feed opens in Varian's creepy basement lab where health and safety regulations go to die. The boy himself isn't looking that great, his skin has a grey-ish tinge to it and he looks more exhausted than usual. But that's fine, he's fine. He turns the camera around to take in some sapphires on his workbench. Some are soaking in various chemical substances, some are under a microscope, some are in various steampunk-y machines: it's clear some testing has been going on. ]

So, Flynn was kind enough to give me some of the crystals that grew on his corpse during...whatever weird new thing death is here. [He doesn't sound as excited about this as his usual projects and anyone who knows about his deeply unfortunate past will know why.] I have experience in creepy, magical death rocks -no...no I'm not going to elaborate on that- so I decided to study them. They seem to be crystalising the actual cells of the body- so not just a separate coating. I also found traces of warmblood within the crystals themselves, which I think is what Flynn is? A-anyway, it seems they're working on a cellular level, like they're what jumpstarts the reversal of the cell degeneration after death- so- so it's possible they're what reverses then entire process.

Anyway, moral of the story is, they're probably super important in resurrecting people so maybe don't mess with the process when it's happening? Of course, without having any other samples to compare this to, it's all conjecture right now.

[A beat, he turns the camera back to himself, grimacing.]

Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. Please don't take that as encouragement to get yourselves killed in the name of science.

[Another beat, then he waves a hand airily.]

Thaaaaaat said, this is October, so statistically, there's a high chance that a not-insignificant portion of the population will be dead by the end of the month. So...if you wanna donate your death crystals for science then, that would be less...morally grey. Probably? Probably.

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[Trench is only marginally better than Deerington- in that they have more space and there' no Townies who hate them nor a collapsing dream around them. The river debacle has soured Varian to the place more than a little, though. ]

Yeah, exactly! In Deerington we'd just...disappear into the dream again, I guess? But we're not dreaming now, it's got to be a lot harder to put us back together again.

[He'll move to flick through his notes, hastily scribbled as he'd worked.]

Reversal! It was like it put the brakes on the whole decay process and then spun it backwards. It's fascinating. I'd wonder what it looks like in action, but I also...categorically never want to see it happen in action.

[You know. Because of all the trauma.]

That's what I'm wondering. Maybe there's more than one being in control now? People have been talking about patrons- plural. Maybe it's the work of a lot of beings, altogether? Or maybe it is just us- we're definitely not the same as we used to be, after all.

[Yeah, Dipper is very aware of that trauma now, and he does not push that at all. Dipper frowns a little as he thinks this over. This has some ...fascinating but concerning implications. Dipper is pulling the dots together.]

[The look on his face is a little bewildered after a moment.]

It being the work of the Pthumerians is a possibility, but I don't put a lot of stock in morally grey demigods being on the same page as each other to make something like this happen simultaneously. It would make more sense for it to be the work of one, instead of the work of a bunch.

[Varian is free to disagree, he is just shoving all his thoughts into words now.]

And with it working on such a cellular level, something about it doesn't scream divine intervention, you know? It sounds like ...like maybe we don't fully die. Something in us stops before it goes too far and slams down the reverse card.

[He taps his fingers on his notes, somewhat anxiously.]

So we're functionally immortal, and we have powers now. Varian, what are we?

[He appreciates you so much, Dipper. You're the best. ]

...Hmm, you have a point. That was an issue back before Julia came about, wasn't it? Heck, before Cynthia. They needed to get stronger by joining with humans. That suggests they might not have been as powerful as they like to think- or at least not that great at functioning together? I don't know. We know so little about them.

[There's a brief moment of confusion. ]

What- what's a reverse card? [What's UNO??] And I guess we are- I don't know what we are anymore. Not what we used to be at least. Squid-people?

You're right, there really is very little we know about them. Before it felt like they were kind of ...periphery? At least, to me. I feel like when my family got to Deerington, we missed a lot of their meddling aside from Mother Superior.

Here, it looks like they are very much around us.

[Varian being startled by his Uno reference also startles Dipper mid-panic. This is good, probably.]

I-it just seems. I don't know. I saw changes coming, right? Because we left the dream, I knew something would change. I just didn't think it would be to this extent.

Agreed. We knew they were there and that they were big players in the world, but they definitely didn't... meddle to the level they seem to be doing here. Mother Superior notwithstanding. Ugh, glad she's gone.

[Ha ha. HA HA. He's in for a surprise.

And good, that-that looks like this derailed something. That's...probably good. ]

Oh yeah, I figured changes were happening. I definitely didn't guess being a squid person now and I definitely didn't see the weird powers showing up. But I don't know if anyone saw that one coming.

No seriously, what's a reverse card? Is it some kind of magic?

un: trienemybest; video

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