[OPEN] "These shallow waters never met what I needed. I'm letting go; a deeper dive."

[mviw]

Who: Ford (mviw) & YOU! | Closed prompts for Fiddleford, Wendy & the kids, tiny!Rick and Frisk, and Bill Cipher
Where: Around Neverland
When: Through the Neverland event + the Aftermath
Rating: PG-13/R for violence, swearing, limb amputation
Summary: Ford tries to protect his best friend, his nephew and niece, his friend's daughter, and his brother. It goes horribly awry. (You could say the casualties are about half his armies.)

(This log is corresponding to the events in THIS log.)

The Story:
[ooc: Prompts are written! Have at it.]

Comments

(CLOSED TO THE PINESES) A KIDNAPPING: THE PREQUEL

[mviw]

[After this.

Ford is back on the edge of the jungle and he sends a message out to the rest of the Pines family (Fiddleford included).]

Stan is a Lost One. We need to get him back with us and back to his senses before he gets himself hurt.

Who's with me?

- Ford

ayyy

[canofwhoopass]

he's what???
oh my god stan

yeah i'm so in
what's the plan or do we not have one

[mviw]

It's dangerous-- VERY dangerous, but it might be our only shot.

Think you could safely infiltrate their ranks? I'm beyond looking any younger than age 40.

[mcgucket]

[He's not sure how much help he can be, since he doesn't know Ford's brother nearly as well as the Pines do, but...]

Do you have any ideas regarding how to get him back?

[krmvgivv]

You can count on me, Grunkle Ford.

(CLOSED TO RICK, FRISK) CAN'T AFFORD THIS RICKSY BUSINESS

[mviw]

[After this happens-- the kids decide to retaliate for a kidnapped Stan by kidnapping Ford.

Ford is probably guarding the edge of the jungle, and their best chance will be late at night, when it's dark and he's tired.]

[wriggedywrecked]

[Rick is one of the noisiest of the Lost Ones, always rowdy, always laughing or yelling. Just generally loud. He only goes quiet when something is very wrong.]

[He is quiet now.]

[They took family. They took his brother. The only one he's ever had. The friend he's had here the longest. They are going to pay.]

[He's stealing through the woods, utterly silent. He's been at this for...he doesn't know how long. A very long time, years and years of surviving on this stupid island, of creeping through the forest, of being silent when he needs to be. He can't let the smallest noise give him away. He can see their camp up ahead. The adults. Horrible people. They'll pay. They'll pay for taking the most important person from him.]

[Frisk is with him, because he trusts Frisk. Sure, they might be a weird pacifist, but they're an amazing fighter, downright vicious at times. Not as vicious as Rick, but no one is. They're very useful in a fight. There are very few people Rick would trust to watch his back at a time like this, and Frisk is one of them.]

[He gestures to Frisk to move forward, still not making a sound. That big, old adult is right there, standing guard only a few yards away. The one who claimed to be Stan's brother. What a joke. He's the one. He's the one who's going to pay first.]

[He'll never see them coming.]

(CLOSED TO BILL) GOING UNDER

[mviw]

[After this, when Stan has a moment of mercy and allows Ford to leave.

With just a stump left for his right arm and a makeshift tourniquet keeping him from bleeding to death, Ford is stumbling through the jungle alone, in the dark.

Whispers reach their fingers into his mind tempting him to stop, and when he does, he begins to lose consciousness. They egg him on to make a deal--something unthinkable.

He is in pain.]

[ghflskhu_ph]

[There were times when dipping into the Dreamscape was akin to dunking ones head underwater and slipping to the colorful world underneath; a seamless descent replacing the water's change in pressure with the weight of ones fatigue. For Stanford, the trip to this dream would feel a lot heavier and off balance, more than likely spilling him onto the pristine floor of a swanky hotel lobby, rather than depositing him upright.

That tended to happen when one was still in agony beyond their conscious comprehension.]

♫ "-HAAAAAND, TOUCHING HAAAAAAND, TOUCHING MEEE, TOUCHING Y--"♫

[A slamming of piano keys and lightly offkey singing would greet the scientist, as Bill cuts off with faux surprise. The potted plants around the instrument sit impassively with swapped color palettes, their green stems and tan palm fronds leeching some of the normalcy out of the picture. On closer inspection their peachier color made them kind of look like literal palms. Sporting six fingers.

Behind the piano, the walls are coated with a slow moving, loud pattern of blacks and reds- frenzied, confusing; no doubt echoing the trauma Stanford's brain must be experiencing.]

"WELL, LOOK WHO DECIDED TO DROP ON IN! TRY NOT TO MUCK UP THE FLOORS, HUH! I'M GETTING THEM WAXED."

[A couple candles in the corner have fallen over, spilling a minute bit of wax on the tiles.]

"BIT BANGED UP THERE, AINCHA, FORDSY? I THINK SOMEONE could USE a HAND!"

[The triangle smugly glances to Stanford's dream self. Just how aware was the man of his current predicament...?]

(CLOSED TO FIDDLEFORD & BILL) THE BEACH: A SEQUEL

[mviw]

[A deal is a deal, even with a dirty dealer. It would also be highly inconvenient if a meatsack were to die in the middle of possession.]

[mcgucket]

[Somehow, perhaps thanks to Stanford arming him with something to protect himself with earlier, or because any wild children he's run into thought the other adult was too nervous to be a major threat, he's managed to keep himself in one piece out here. After Stanford's kidnapping however, it hasn't exactly been easy taking care of things on his own. Not once it started becoming darker and the world around him had started whispering, or when he hears what sounds like screaming somewhere in the distance and he thinks Tate.

As such, somewhere on the beach of this strange island is where Stanford (and company) will find Fiddleford if they're looking for him: it's where he's found himself pacing when the whispering got to be too much to sit still. Just when he thinks the noises are coming from one direction, they suddenly sound from the other and its not doing his anxiety any favors. Not unless something else decides to show up for his attention to focus on here.]

(CLOSED TO ALPHYS, FIDDLEFORD & MIKAN) A MESSAGE

[mviw]

[About 24 hours after the event ends, Ford sends Alphys and Fiddleford a very tired voice message.]

... Hello. Alphys... Fiddleford. I'm sorry to ask this of you both, but... [His breath is ragged.] ... and Mikan, too.

During the event, I had to sever my right arm. Fiddleford, you already know what happened, but... at any rate, I... [Just keep breathing.] ... Mikan, may I please have your help in tending to the stump? I'm very sorry. I don't even know if you've ever treated a wound like this, but I don't know anyone else and I... actually trust you.

... Alphys, Fiddleford... you're the best engineers in the multiverse. Please. I think I might lose it if I didn't have use of both my arms. I understand this is asking a lot, but would you be able to build me a new one? You're both highly talented and... I trust you too.

Thank you. The three of you. I'll be in my room. You know where it is. The door's open.

[The transmission ends there. He can be answered or you can just bust into his room; whatever.]

[1/?? a couple lmao]

[sciencelizard]

WHAT

[naughty_nurse]

[internally :

AHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHH]

I'll be there right away don't move I'll get there as soon as I can!

[But there's no time for external screaming! She's got to grab the right supplies and run!]

OK SEPARATE STARTER FOR ALPHYS AND FIDDS FOR ARMS

[sciencelizard]

[She's taken measurements, notes, and stopped having an (active) heart attack about Ford's god damn lack of arm, she left a note to pass on to Ford to tell Fiddleford to meet her at her personal workspace on the second floor, room 18. She'd invite him down to the basement lab, but she knows he's new and doesn't want him to be overwhelmed. Besides, she's got everything they need here, and she's set to tidying up the piles of scrap metal and clearing off the main work table, in anticipation for his arrival.]

(CLOSED TO STAN) I'M SORRY

[mviw]

[Closer to just a few hours after the event at most, Stan will receive a call from Ford.]

... Stanley... I'm in my room. We should... talk.

[charlastan]

[Stan doesn't reply at first. Nothing he can think to say would do it justice over the phone.

Maybe it's not as bad as he fears. Maybe Ford losing his arm was just another trick of Wonderland. He's probably fine he definitely lived after Stan let him go and he sure as hell didn't almost die again. Right?

But Ford sounds so tired. He sounds like he's still hurt and Stan's stomach twists. It's enough to make Stan summon up his nerve briefly, enough to return the call.]

I'm comin' over.

[That's all he says before he hangs up, and before he can talk himself out of it he marches right out his door and down the hall to Ford's room. Ford's going to be fine.

No, he's not going to have an arm and it's all Stan's fault.

He knocks and then immediately tries the door, in fit of impatience.]

(OPEN) VISITATION HOURS

[mviw]

[If anyone wants to message Ford, or come visit him to see how he's doing, you're welcome to here! He will either be in his room, or sitting outside it at a chess table looking pale and exhausted--also with one less arm.

At least he's ambidextrous.]

[mettatonvevo]

[He'd heard about Ford's... "accident" when he passed Alphys in the hall and she had yelled something about Ford needing a new arm. It was hard to understand her overall, and she had been running so fast that there had been no time to stop her and ask for more details. He'd been able to put two and two together pretty quickly, however, having caught sight of some of the blueprints in her hands as she had scurried away.

So he gives them all a bit of time before going out to the gardens and plucking flowers for a bouquet. He arranges them carefully in a tasteful vase happily provided by Wonderland. The pink Azalea is the center piece, while the white Heather, Yarrow and Gladiolus make up the backing. The red Poppy, orange Peony and yellow Black Susan add splashes of color to liven it up, keeping it from becoming a sterile flat color palette. He ties it with a single white bow and heads over to Ford's room.

He's never actually visited him here before; their interactions have been mostly over their phones other than the blind date he set Ford and Alphys on, though that was a very short time of interaction. But all the same, he wants to see Ford and make sure he's alive, at the very least.

He knocks on the door and waits, holding the vase of flowers in one hand.]

Ford? Are you in there? It's me, Mettaton. I wanted to come see how you were doing.

AYYYY

[canofwhoopass]

[Everybody's back, like nothing even happened. There's no dirt on her clothes, no blood under her nails, just the pristine white of the hall. It's just... over, like that, like it began. Everyone's just trying to move on.

But she can't. This is only her second Wonderland event, and the second time now that Wonderland tried to mess with people's minds. Got her once, though not so much this time. She thought she could coast through. Be okay, and she was, but...

There's someone she has to see. Rather, someone she has to talk to, before the guilt chokes her alive.

She spends about 10 minutes pacing quietly outside of his room before she finally knocks, quiet.]

NOT HERE

[wriggedywrecked]

[Slid under Ford's door two days after the event when no one is looking:]

[uncaging]

[When she hadn't found him in the lab, Elizabeth had become a little worried. Luckily she doesn't even have to knock on his door - when she approaches his room she sees him sat at the chess table, and she approaches to join him, waving excitedly. She doesn't even notice his arm at first as she seats herself and rearranges her skirts; it's only when she reaches forward to push a pawn into battle that just how bad off he looks hits her.]

Dr Pines, what-- what happened?

[brainleak]

[River doesn't really know to look for him -- maybe she would if she could read him better than she does, which is to say at all, but maybe she does feel something more than nothing because the exhaustion in her bones and the pounding in her pulse is telling her she should just lie in her bed for a few days and ignore the rest of the world.

But here she is, wandering as she sometimes does, following the whispers of the walls and holding a hand to her head to ease the pain in her temple.

She glances at Ford and thinks nothing of it, but something registers belatedly in her mind and she looks again, eyes widening.

She creeps up to him, tiptoeing in her combat boots, like she's trying to sneak up on him, but really she's just worried about... scaring him?? It doesn't make sense when you explain it, so she won't.]

Ford, [she says at length,] why is a portion of you missing?

sometime before canon update hell...

[powerofmabel]

[since she and Dipper were caught in a net for most of the last event, Mabel's only really hearing about what happened from secondhand sources, and she wouldn't dare rush to Grunkle Ford's bedside without first making him a gift, so when she finally arrives, it's with glitter glue stuck in her hair and a harried expression, a large handmade card clutched in her hand.]

Grunkle Ford! [she pants] I woulda got here sooner, but I had to make a card, and I don't think the glue's dried yet, so I've probably lost a few macaronis in the hallway, but I'm here now and... [and she thrusts the glittery macaroni and paste card which displays a drawing of Ford proudly displaying a new arm made of glittery macaroni noodles (though it seems to have lost one or two, as she predicted, in the shuffle). a tiny note by the macaroni arm says "mega macaroni arm for PUNCHING- only weakness?? BOILING WATER." Above that in larger glitter pen letters is written, "SORRY YOU LOST AN ARM TO A BUNCH OF WILDERNESS CHILDREN :("]

(OPEN) VISITATION HOURS

[ghflskhu_ph]

[After the last of his visitors has come and gone and Ford is winding down for the evening, he'll feel it: the familiar sensation of not quite being alone.

Perhaps it was due to the recent connection they shared, or maybe after all this time Ford has just come to expect it; whatever the reason, Bill's presence weighs heavily in the enclosed space, had been, in fact, for the better part of the day.

Silent and unseen, yet ever so much there, the dream demon watches Ford from the shadows; the ambient light crackle of static on the researcher's communicator the only indicator of something being amiss.]