Call! Me! Animal! | CLOSED

[charlastan]

Who: Stan Pines [charalastan/stanowar], his Lost One pals Rick [wriggedywrecked] and Frisk [determinedest], and those jerks who keep trying to KIDNAP HIM - Ford [mviw], Fiddleford [mcgucket], Wendy [canofwhoopass], Dipper [krmvgivv], and Mabel [powerofmabel] - if I've forgotten anybody gimme a shout and I'll add you in!
Where: Neverland
When: October 21st - 25th
Rating: PG-13/R for violent, violent children
Summary: Stan has been a Lost One for almost as long as he can remember, ever since his Dad kicked him to the curb and his brother just watched it happen. It's been almost fifty years, and now after all this time, Ford's finally decided to go looking for his brother? Well, Stan's not going - not without a fight.
The Story:

[OOC: Everything's going in top levels for this log! I just put everyone involved in planning in the header, so if you're listed in the "Who" and you don't see something here that pertains to you, feel free to use this post as a place to start up your own stuff!]

Comments

FIRST ENCOUNTER (Stan, Ford, and eventually Rick)

[stanowar]

[Someone's been calling Stan's name. A voice he doesn't recognize. An older voice.

Stan keeps to the shadows, hiding stealthily behind trees and bushes, making no more noise than a stray squirrel. He holds his bow tight and moves slowly. Carefully. When he finally sees who's been looking for him though, he nearly drops his weapon.

Dad is his first thought but no, that's not right. The stature is there, but...it's not him. His father was an intimidating man and never easily impressed. Your father, the shadows whisper in his mind, would never look for you.

There is only one other option, though it is one that seems equally impossible to Stan. But the mess of grey hair, the face - it really has been fifty years, huh? Time goes fast when you aren't aging. But it's his hands that tie the knot in Stan's stomach. Six fingers. Sixer.

It can't be real. It has to be a trap, or an illusion. It wouldn't be the first time Stan has seen his brother in these woods, though he's never been able to imagine him so...old.

A look is all Stan needs to get an idea of where Ford is headed. He moves with more urgency through the jungle and ducks down into a nearby bush and waits with his bow drawn and ready, watching his brother's every move.

And when Ford ventures too close, an arrow will fly by his head within an inch of his face - a clear warning shot.]

[mviw]

STANLEY!

[Shouting someone's name is a great way to be spotted by unwanted people, but there's only one alternative to Stan being incapacitated to the point that he can't reach his communicator: He's a Lost One. To be honest, he wouldn't be all that shocked if that was the case.

Ford did watch as their father threw Stan onto the street. And he did nothing to stop it.

Decades of surviving in unknown universes have sharpened Ford's senses. He has the feeling someone's watching him, and judging by the rustling in the dense foliage, his instincts are correct.

He jumps when an arrow whizzes past his head, and his hand is firmly on his gun, which he draws from the holster at his hip.

It's kids, Stanford. You aren't going to shoot kids. Just intimidate them.]

It's not very nice to shoot arrows at someone. Who's there? I know you've been tracking me for a while, now. You may as well show yourself.

[stanowar]

[Stan isn't scared of his stupid gun. That thing might not even kill him unless he hits somewhere lethal, but if Ford is so much as scratched by one of his arrows he'll be down for the count. Knowing he's got the better weapon makes it easy to be brave. Plus, if Ford's an illusion then that gun isn't even real anyway.

There's a rustling from the bushes, and Stan rises up, bow still drawn with another arrow ready to go, pointed right at Ford's heart.

He doesn't look much like the happy kid in Ford's photographs anymore. He's dressed in dark brown and forest green from head to toe as perfect camouflage, but he's ragged around the edges and his face is half-obscured by a hood, but he still doesn't look a day over twelve.]

Hey! You're the one who was trackin' me first! What do you want? What are you doing here?!

[mviw]

[... Stanley. Ford's eyes widen, and against his better judgment, he slowly, deliberately places the gun back in its holster. A sharp, emotional pain tugs at Ford's chest when he sees where the arrow is being aimed. He ignores it. This is Stan after all.

Because he isn't stupid, he makes no other moves except he holds his hands up as if to say he means no harm.]

I wasn't tracking you. I was looking for you!

[Ford isn't certain Stan can remember him, so he has to say it.] You can put the bow down, Knucklehead. It's just me. I came to find you! You weren't answering your phone, so I thought you might be hurt.

... Why didn't you come out sooner?

[stanowar]

[Stan definitely does not put the bow down. There's nothing at all about what Ford's said that sounds trustworthy or convincing.]

Nice try, but we're in the middle of a jungle, moron. There aren't any phones out here.

[He hasn't been in the world he came from since 1965, long before any sort of mobile phones were around.]

Plus, you've gotta be joking. There's no way you were seriously worried about me. If you really were, then you would've come here decades ago!

[He's glaring hard. The more he thinks about it, the more his blood starts to boil. Why is he here? Why now?]

[mviw]

[Ford tries hard not to roll his eyes, but Stan's last remark actually receives a fall in Ford's expression.

Of course he doesn't remember. Of course he thinks he's been here God knows how long.

Carefully, Ford reaches inside his coat for the phone he carries and switches it on.] I have a phone. See?

Stanley, you haven't been here for decades. It's just another event--it's Wonderland messing with us. We're not in Neverland. You're not twelve. Just... try to remember.

[stanowar]

[Stan tenses when Ford reaches into his coat, but he doesn't fire, even when he sees the glint of metal or plastic or whatever-the-heck that is.]

I'm not stupid, Ford! I still know what phones look like, and they sure don't look like that! Where's the cord, huh? You actually expect me to fall for that?

[Geez, it's like Ford isn't even trying. Everything he's saying sounds like nonsense, and Stan frowns.]

Don't tell me where I've been and where I haven't been! What would you know? It's not like you ever bothered lookin' before now! What, did you finally start feelin' bad after fifty years, or did you just take a wrong turn lookin' for whatever that Wonderland place is? Hmph. Bet sayin' you've been lookin' for your brother sounds a lot better than admitting you got lost.

[That's the only way Stan can rationalize any of this stuff Ford's saying. It's like Ford's the one who forgot everything, and it makes all those old wounds sting.]

[mviw]

[Ford's attempt at a smile fades the more Stan lectures. His first inclination is to lecture him back, and unfortunately, he does exactly this.]

First of all, was I EVER able to get one past you? NO! [He tucks his phone away.] Second, are you really going to shoot me with that? Really? [Ford lets out a very cynical laugh.]

We also didn't spend fifty years apart--it was more like forty. Dad didn't kick you out when you were twelve, we saw each other at his funeral, and later on when you pushed me into the portal I built. I wandered the multiverse for thirty years and came back home.

[He shrugs.]

The only Lost one is you. Now put that bow down already.

[stanowar]

[For a second, Stan pulls the bow like he's totally going to shoot, just because Ford taunted him about it.]

I know I wasn't twelve. I was too old when I heard the flute, so Neverland made me a kid again. I was seventeen.

[...but, he only retains one part of that, but it's such a huge blow that he actually does lower his bow. His voice is quiet and his eyes are wide, though the rest of his face isn't sure what to do with that information.]

...Dad's dead?

[Despite being worlds away, it's hard to shake the feeling that his father is invincible, and that he would always be a looming, unimpressed threat far off in another universe.]

I. I guess he would be by now, huh.

[mviw]

[He flinches back, but thankfully, Stan lowers his bow. Ford could almost feel sorry for him upon hearing their father died.]

... He died in the 70s. It was a heart attack.

[Stan's explanation has this making a little more sense, but this situation is absolutely nowhere near solved. Ford shifts his weight from one foot to the other and dares to look away only briefly.]

We saw each other at the funeral, and then later in Gravity Falls, Oregon. We were in our thirties, Stan. Don't you remember?

[stanowar]

...oh.

[That's all he can say about Dad's death. Just a tiny little sound escapes him and if he lets anything else out he's going to shatter apart, even after all this time.

He shakes his head though. It's not sinking in and he still looks more wary of Ford than anything else. Without his bow, he looks much more like a frightened kid lost in the forest.]

No, 'cause I've been here this whole time! What are you talking about?! I've never even been to Oregon!

[mviw]

[He's rapidly losing patience, but he knows if he yells at Stan he might get a bow in the face again and according to Henry, that arrow is laced with the deadly Dreamshade.]

Alright, you know I'm not lying to you, so here-- [Ford digs up a photo of himself and Stan as children. It's well worn and very old.]

If I didn't want anything to do with you, why would I carry this?

[Ford is going out on a limb here. Under normal circumstances, he's never told Stan about that photo.]

[stanowar]

I don't know that, 'cause you're not makin' any sense! You're just saying all this weird stuff and I--!

[His voice catches when he sees that photograph though. He...he remembers that. He remembers fixing up the Stan O'War, Ma taking the picture ("Is she dead too?" The Dark briefly whispers.)...he's so much more pink and tan from the sun in that picture than he is now. He lives outside, but it's so dark in Neverland all the time that he might as well have been living in a closet for fifty years.

It has to be a trick. It's got to be. The smart thing to do is to hold onto his weapon and maybe even fire it at Ford for trying to mess with him, but that's not what he wants to do.

Go. Move closer. One look won't hurt you. You wanna see it closer, don't you?

He stops resisting. As if in a trance, he lets the bow slip right out of his grip and staggers out of the bush, slowly moving closer. Close enough to touch it. It's real, and Stan is in awe.

...But, his eyebrows knit in sincere confusion. He's trying to answer Ford's question, but nothing is coming to him. By all accounts, it doesn't add up.]

I. ...I guess it would make it easier for you to look for me, if you knew I was here? You can't really ask around for someone who looks like you when I'm still a kid and you're not...

[That's the only practical reason he can imagine, and practical reasons are the only reasons Ford would have. He's not sentimental. He wouldn't miss him or worry about him. If he's here now, he must have a reason to look for him, but he can't even begin to imagine what that reason could be.]

...Why now? You had almost fifty years to look for me, so why come here now?! You keep sayin' you were worried about me but...if you were really worried you would've come sooner.

[He keeps purposefully ignoring the other parts because Ford is wrong and he won't be tricked. He's only ever lived in New Jersey and Neverland. He never knew their Dad died. He's never been anywhere else.]

[mviw]

... I kept it because I...

[He stops. This is stupid. Just let him go. If he doesn't want anything to do with you, why bother? He isn't worth the effort.

He's my brother. It's an event. It'll be over soon. You could spend the entire duration relaxing in the shade of a palm tree watching the ocean. But if he dies-- He'll come back.

Ford shakes his head.]

... I kept it because... [He's not going to believe you. You know that.]

--Forget it. You're not going to believe me no matter what I tell you. That's fine. [He doesn't sound fine at all.]

[stanowar]

[No, he doesn't, and Stan...doesn't know what to do with that. He doesn't know how to feel about Ford, or the fact that he's suddenly in Neverland, but...he's right. It really doesn't feel like he's lying to him, even if he sounds crazy.

He frowns a little, mulling it over. Ford's probably right that he wouldn't believe him, but...he does feel kind of bad about that and he does't know why. Enough that even after all this time, his first impulse is still to try and make it easier on Ford, even though he prrobably shouldn't.]

...Just. Tell me why you're here, alright? Why you're really here.

[No tricks. No games. No arrows or guns. Just...talk to him.]

[mviw]

... Stanley, I know you think you've been here almost fifty years. From my perspective, you haven't. I know it must sound totally insane, but would you please just hear me out?

After Dad kicked you out, I was still angry with you, but I didn't think it was actually permanent. Not until months went by and he kept threatening that if I didn't find a good school to earn the house those millions, I'd either have to land a good job straight out of school or I'd end up on the street like you--I realized it was real. And I was still angry, for a long time.

[He sighs. He shouldn't have to tell Stan all of this, but... here they are.] I found another school and got out of that house as fast as I could, and I pretended I wasn't upset about what happened... but I was. I got tough, I boxed and ran until my knuckles bled and my legs gave out. The only person I had to look out for me was me.

... Long story short, after a series of mistakes, I called you up to a town called Gravity Falls in Oregon where I'd built a house to do research. We had a fight, and... you accidentally pushed me into the multidimensional portal I'd built. [He's quick to add:] You didn't mean to, Stan. I know you didn't. And then I spent thirty years wandering the multiverse trying to get revenge on the creature that had used me to build that portal. That whole time, you were trying to get me back.

When I finally came back home, we... we fought again. It was rough, at first, but... then we wound up in a place called Wonderland. You know, the story about Alice falling down the rabbithole? Except Wonderland wasn't a good place at all. I think it draws other worlds to it so the people living there experience strange events.

[He gestures lightly at Stan.] That's where all this comes in. The last event, we all thought we were wizards attending a wizarding school in Scotland. Wonderland messed with our heads and changed our whole lives, and we didn't know anything different. That's what's happening here, except I remember and you don't. In a few days, the event will be over and you'll be a grey old man, like me.

[Ford's shoulders fall a little.] ... I'm looking for you because even if it's not permanent, I don't want you to get hurt. We made our mistakes, Stanley, both of us, but you're still my brother.

You always will be. [ :( ]

[stanowar]

[None of this sounds familiar. When he said that to Ford he was expecting a different story - the real story. But Stan's also always prided himself in being able to spot a liar and...he's pretty sure Ford actually believes whatever he's trying to sell him.

But...that doesn't make it true. Stan fights hallucinations all the time. He likes to think he knows by now what's real and what's not. He can pick out when voices are't really his own and even ignore them when he wants to. So, it finally occurs to him that oh, that's that this is. It's not real. Ford is hearing things, and too inexperienced to tune them out.

It actually makes him feel kind of sorry for his brother.]

Pfft. Are you kiddin'? I live here, Ford. I know these woods like the back of my hand, and I've been here for years without gettin' hurt too bad. You oughta just worry about yourself. Neverland doesn't like adults, and you're obviously not used to the Shadows here if you're tellin' me stories like that.

[Weirdly, he feels a little better knowing that Ford is just hallucinating. He's not pretending he cares because he wants Stan to think he really does, he's just out of it or something.]

You really need to go though, before this place messes you all up.

[mviw]

[A part of him hoped that story might ring a few bells, but instead, Stan just looks at him with... ... it's not pity, but he's clearly not taking Ford seriously. Ford has to bite his tongue or he'll snap at his brother, and he ends up looking a little petulant.]

... I'm not going to just leave you. Your niece and nephew are here--Dipper, and Mabel--they're 12, and twins! They're Shermie's grandkids, and they love you. Besides, I'll be fine here. I'm no stranger to weird things whispering in my ear, or survival in unknown places. Just come with me. Talk to the kids. We're not going to hurt you.

[He's petulant, but sincere.]

[stanowar]

[Stan actually makes a face at the mention of Shermie having grandkids. Shermie's a baby and in Stan's head it's hard to imagine him as old enough to have his own kids, let alone grandkids.

He shakes his head though, slowly. He doesn't know these people, and he doesn't even know if these kids are real or if Ford will just unknowingly lead him into danger.

Or worse - what if they are real and they try and make him leave Neverland?]

No. No way. You're gonna try and make me leave! I'm not goin' and you can't make me!

[He reaches behind him and-- and palms at empty air.

Crap. His bow and arrows are still in the bushes and he's entirely unarmed.]

[mviw]

... ! [Ford raises his hands again. This is getting even more frustrating.] I'm not trying to make you do anything! I know your weapons are laced with Dreamshade anyway and I know what that poison does.

You don't actually want to kill me. Do you?

[He looks at Stan expectantly.]

[stanowar]

[He doesn't. He doesn't, but you can't ask people questions like that in Neverland. He stares, wide-eyed and terrified of a point just past Ford, of something Ford can't hear, of voices trying to create a temptation that wasn't there before.

He takes a hurried step backwards, and clamps his hands over his ears.]

...No. No, shut up! Stop it!

[It is't clear who or what he's muttering to at first, but suddenly he whips his head up and shouts at Ford.]

Go away! Leave me alone; I'm not goin' with you!

[And with that, he turns and runs off into the forest. He's so desperate to leave that he doesn't grab his bow out of the bushes first.]

[mviw]

[Ford is taken aback by Stan's reaction. It hits so close to home, and he briefly flashes back to thirty years ago when whispers and voices followed him like a plague.]

--Stanley!!

[He doesn't hesitate to leap after him. Although Stan knows the jungle better, Ford's legs are far longer.]

[stanowar]

[Stan runs as fast as his legs will carry him, deliberately picking trickier paths, but it's no use. Ford's fast, and every time Stan dares to look behind him it feels like he's even closer.

He doesn't have weapons, but...he has one thing. Periodically while he runs, Stan howls up to the trees like a wolf cub, as loud as he can.

Any Lost One within earshot will come running, but Stan knows there's one Lost One who knows his distress call better than anyone.]

[wriggedywrecked]

[Rick's nearby, because he tries to always stay relatively close to Stan. He's been hunting a rabbit for the better part of an hour, utilizing mad stealth skills to track it through the underbrush. It's hard, because he's not all that good at being focused.]

[He's managed to get within stabbing distance of the rabbit and is about to bring his spear down when he hears Stan's distress call.]

[The rabbit bolts, and Rick springs to his feet, whipping his head toward the sound. In the next instant, he's running, leaping over bushes and saplings and fallen logs like a deer. He throws his head back and howls back as he runs. I'm coming.]

[It isn't long before he spots Stan, dashing through the thicket.]

[There's someone just behind him. A huge someone. An adult.]

[Rick sees red for a moment. An adult is trying to catch his best friend.]

[He rushes forward, snatching a rock off the ground without even slowing. He pauses only to wind back and fling the rock directly toward the adult's head.]

[He's charging forward before the rock can even hit, whether it does or not.]

[mviw]

[There's a split second of Ford not knowing what is going on, but then he understands. Stan is calling for someone, and whoever it is is calling back.

Ford skids to a halt when, lo and behold, a very small Rick Sanchez flings something at him. The rock hits Ford's head with a clang and there really isn't enough what the fuck in the multiverse for Ford to express exactly what he's feeling at that moment.

That wild child has a spear and Ford aims to avoid it, leaping forward in the brush.]

STANLEY! I'm not trying to HURT you! I just want to talk!!