singloversing | IC INBOX

[If it helps, all of the chaos of the last week and a half has been a pretty decent distraction from everything. At the very least he doesn't seem like he's about to have a panic attack, which is a vast improvement on the last time Dipper saw him.]

Oh, um. Yeah. I...you were still here when the little Jabberwocky lizards attacked, right? [Frankly Wirt isn't one hundred percent sure exactly when Dipper left.] I'll be fine but...one of them kinda got me?

[He can't look Dipper in the face when he says it though. He can practically hear Dipper saying "You got possessed again?" and it's super embarrassing already.]

Yeah? [Dipper glances away, rubbing his arm a little. He didn't get possessed that time. But he sure can't blame Wirt at all. Not that he would have otherwise, but now Dipper's made a deal with Bill Cipher too. And he doesn't even have the excuse of not knowing what he was getting into. Sure, he didn't know Bill would use his body as a meat puppet, but he did know he couldn't trust Bill. At all. And yet he'd made the deal.

And he'd been possessed a few times here too. It just... was the kind of thing that happened sometimes.]

What happened? Did you get unpossessed? I mean, obviously you are now, but....

[Wirt rubs at the back of his neck, privately glad that Dipper doesn't appear to be judging him too hard.]

Yeah. It like, burrowed into my leg? And then I totally blacked out for...a few days, I think? I don't remember any of it, but Beatrice cured me. I could hear her talking about things we'd been through and it...woke me up, I guess? [He shrugs, but he doesn't really have a better description of it.] And I-- I guess that was enough, because I coughed up the lizard after that. Apparently it made me eat a bunch of weird stuff, and Beatrice said I even tried to eat her?

[He sounds unsure, because he doesn't remember, but he trusts her. It would be kind of a weird thing to lie about.]

What is with you eating weird stuff when you're possessed?

[Bill just stabbed him with forks and smashed his arms with doors and fell down the stairs. No... eating things that weren't meant to be eaten.]

I'm glad she managed to, uh, talk you back. I was mostly on the mirror side for that. Then we went home.

Hey, it's not like I did it? I-I don't know why someone's first response to possessing me is "oh hey, let's make him eat gross things". [Wirt was pouting at first, but then he wrinkles his nose as he remembers it.] Ugh, I woke up with a mouth full of ink...and I spent a couple hours coughing up leaves and twigs.

[He shudders though, and tries to stop thinking about it.]

So...is it really true that you don't remember Wonderland whenever you leave? You know, now that you've done it.

[Dipper is okay with not talking about it anymore. He has more questions, but... this is also important.]

Yeah, it was weird. Mostly in that it wasn't weird. I didn't even know I'd been gone til I woke up here again.

Thankfully me and Mabel both remembered everything.

...Wow, that really is kind of weird. But I guess that's good? That you both remembered when you came back, I mean. Beatrice came back once but she didn't even remember going home...and then she came back again and forgot everything? So...it doesn't always happen, I guess.

[Wirt shrugs. It was strange, but it was also a while ago and it's not like anything can be done about it now.]

Um...I'm glad that didn't happen to you guys though. That you both remembered, I mean. [Both because it would be awkward for them otherwise and because they're his friends and it would suck a lot if they totally forgot him.]

Yeah, me too. As much as I liked learning everything about this place the first time around, it would suck to have to start from scratch.

[A beat.]

...did we miss anything while we were gone?

[Though Wirt is... probably the worst person to ask.]

[Predictably, Wirt shrugs.]

I don't think so? It's been kind of...calm after the storm, I guess. I've mostly just been up here trying to take it easy though, doctor's orders. ...But, uh. There was one weird thing? Apparently some people lost all their memories for like, a...week-ish after the whole lizard thing? I-I'd kind of assumed Dr. Myers just didn't remember meeting me before, but apparently she had amnesia.

Some but not all? Just people who got possessed or more than that?

Uh. I'm...not really sure. I mean, I got possessed but I didn't really have amnesia? As soon as I coughed the lizard I was totally myself again right away, but even after the lizards were gone some people didn't remember anything for like...uh. I think it's been about a week?

[His judgement regarding lengths of time has been off for a while now and he definitely doesn't want to think about it.]

They seem to be okay now though. Messages are turning up from people apologizing for not remembering anyone.

[Dipper frowns, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.]

Did the people who don't remember get depossessed the same way you did? ...is depossessed a word?

I guess it is now. And, uh... [He thinks for a minute, but ultimately shrugs.] I dunno. I didn't ask, and none of them said anything, so...

[Of course he didn't ask. Classic Wirt.]

...you're really terrible at this. [Dipper shakes his head.] Why do I ask you things?

Well, I mean-- that's not something you can just ask someone! Possession's super weird, and I don't want to be nosy. I-If they wanted to say something about it, they would have.

[Spoken as someone who's been possessed twice now.]

[Dipper crosses his arms because wow, Wirt sure is talking like Dipper has never been possessed.

Though to be fair, Wirt doesn't know he was possessed by Bill. This is probably a great opening for that discussion.

Or not.]

Figuring out how the Jabberwocky affected us is important enough that being nosy's pretty okay. Besides, maybe they didn't know it might be something they should say.

[Well gosh Dipper, how is he supposed to know if you never tell him? Wirt frowns though.]

Look...alright, maybe I should have asked, but I wasn't exactly thinking about it. I've just been like, trying to rest my leg and heal and stuff. I had, uh. ...Other stuff on my mind. That's all.

[You know what stuff he means.]

....yeah. [He rubs his elbow, frowning a little.] How are you... doing with all of that, by the way?

I'm... [Okay? No, that's not really...true. Hm.] ...processing it, I guess. It's kind of hard to take.

[It's not a great answer, but it's an honest one. He shifts uncomfortably.]

Sorry I ran off on you, by the way. I just...you know. ...Couldn't handle it? [SHRUG?] I-I'm doing better than that, at least.

It's ok, man. [Dipper shrugs his shoulders, crossing his arms and glancing away.] It's a lot to handle. Not sure there's a better way.

[He sort of feels like he still hasn't apologized enough, but he'll take the reassurance anyway and resist the urge to keep going (even though he looks a little like he wants to).]

Yeah...I mean, I guess so. I-I don't really know anyone this has happened to? So...it's not like I have an example to follow or anything. I've mostly just been reading?

There probably are people who can relate. I mean, I'm alive back home, but I have died here. If it helps.

Wait-- what? Seriously?

[That's probably the last thing Wirt was expecting to hear, and he scrambles to put the pieces together. Dipper showed up after Wirt did, but he doesn't remember this at all and he kind of feels like a bad friend for not noticing. You should probably notice when your friends die after all.]

Wh-When did you die? Are y- oh my gosh, no, you're obviously okay now. [WHAT A DUMB QUESTION let him just backpedal out of it.] I-I...what happened?

Oh, I guess I never told you. [Dipper shrugs a shoulder, wrapping an arm around him.] A while ago, now. Back when all those zombies showed up. I got bit. But obviously everyone comes back, so you know. It's fine.

[It's... not fine.]

[There is no way that's fine. Wirt can barely handle the knowledge that he might be dead, so Dipper actually dying must have been ten times worse.]

...O-Oh. Um. [For a second, he really doesn't know what to say. It's really obviously not okay that Dipper died, and Wirt feels horrible.] I'm sorry. I-- I remember that event and I kind of just...I hid, and then when everything went back to normal and no one really said anything about it I just...assumed, I guess. I-I should have like, checked in or something, and actually made sure people I knew were okay.

[How could he have been that spacey and unobservant? How many other people he cares about have died during events while he wasn't paying attention?!]