Dipper's Guide to the Unexplained #1 [Video]

[pinetreehimself]

[The image is blurry at first, nothing but a mess of dark shapes that could be fingers scrambling to adjust the camera. Finally it comes into focus, and it's a closeup of an eye with fingers obscuring the shot like a triangular peephole. With this obligatory reference complete, the subject takes a few steps back. Observe a thirteen year old boy, with a lumberjack hat, shorts, vest and a nervous, yet determined expression. Poking out of his pocket is the customary greetings pamphlet offered to imPort newcomers.]

Hello...everyone. M-My name is Dipper Pines, I'm new here in t...in world, really, heh... Just got settled into my new place, with...some grown man I don't even know yet, b-but it's cool, y'know. It seems nice here. Never been to Florida before. Now I get to come here in a parallel world, with superpowers. Pretty amazing. Almost makes up for the fact that I've been snatched away from my family and friends right when I was about to finally go home and I was really thinking I'd finally be done with weirdness this summer and...

[Tired sigh]

But that's...not anybody's fault, really. I've been reading that pamphlet they gave out- very considerate, thank you parallel government. It was saying how the 'Porter's got a mind of its own, maybe even literally, and at any given moment I could get sent back and it'll be like I wasn't even gone. So that's good to know, means my sister won't get worried where I've been and that fine without me. Well, not without me, but- anyway, I'm here now, I've got superhuman powers, I've got little glowing writing on my arm, so I guess it's time to make the most of it.

I checked the feed in this network thing just now. Got a bit of brief chatter about some kind of monsters here? Saw a stuffed doll, looked kind of like a Nightmare Realm entity? I've been involved with the supernatural this summer, like really involved. Did a bit of reading up on it too. Don't have my notes on me, which sucks because they could really prove useful, but here we are now. I'll try and wrack my brain for anything that might help, maybe test out my new abilities a little. I know I've only just got here, but if there's anything I could do to help, anything at all...I'd be happy to give it. Thank you.

Comments

text;

[threeisapattern]

what's this nightmare realm you mentioned?

Re: text;

[pinetreehimself]

It's this grim, dark, decaying alternate dimension, although it could just be the "seething intergalactic foam" BETWEEN dimensions. Point is, it's full of all kinds of demons, monsters, interdimensional criminals and junk. Pretty sure there's something with eighty-seven-or-eight different faces in there, so if a shapeless pink blob with a hundred eyes is gonna live anywhere, it's gonna be there.

That said, I can't pretend to be an expert on the multiverse, and I don't know if the Nightmare Realm extends to wherever this universe is. All I know is my friends and I spent the tail end of the summer trying to keep those things out of our own reality, so I hope to heck I don't have to tangle with them yet again.

video;

[pullsheavendown]

Yeah? What's your ability?

Video [1/2]

[pinetreehimself]

Ah! Well, I'm glad you asked. Behold, the power of the miiind!

[Excited by the prospect of an audience, Dipper presses two fingers to the sides of his head and concentrates, HARD. For a moment or two, it just looks like a whole lot of straining for a whole lot of nothin'. But then, something strange starts to happen. Bit by bit, almost like a balloon pumping up, his hat begins to rise higher, and higher, and higher. On the ground, pens and papers start to lift into the air, and soon Dipper's jacket and even Dipper himself start to defy gravity...]

Video [2/2]

[pinetreehimself]

[Up and up goes the top of his head, exposing great pulsing veins, until at last the colossal cranium reaches its peak. There Dipper floats, a boy with a head almost as big as his torso, with all manner of little items drifting spookily through the air all around him. Finally, he turns his attention back to the camera and gives a bit of a strained smile.]

Pretty cool, right? Still need to work on it, but right now I can move myself and a few other things around when I'm like this.

1/2

[pullsheavendown]

[Well, uh, that's...uh...that is definitely a power.]

[pullsheavendown]

Oh....that's cool? Moving stuff around without having to carry it. Sounds pretty convenient.

Why's your head get so big?

Video

[perfectlyhuman]

[ There's a lot to pick from this message, hard to figure out where to even start. ]

Hey, what's the Nightmare Realm?

Re: Video

[pinetreehimself]

Basically, picture this broken down alternate dimension that looks like the inside of a lava lamp and smells like burnt hair.

[Uh, Dipper? Might not want to tell Adam Young to picture something-]

Then fill it up with all kinds of demons, monsters, and downright weird things that want nothing more than to wreak havoc on other universes. THAT'S what my family had to deal with this summer. The leader of the demon pack wanted to break into our dimension and make it his personal nightmare playground. Succeeded, too, but we managed to beat him and send his henchmaniacs packing.

Re: Video

[perfectlyhuman]

[ Dipper, honey, no.

But, for what it's worth, Adam's gotten better at keeping that in check. Mostly. Hopefully he won't dream about it and create a portal to a pocket nightmare dimension in the bathroom for some poor sod to fall into.

But, at Dipper's answer, he just kind of...blinks. ]

That sounds rough.

[ He considers, for a moment. He could just not say anything. He could leave well enough alone, but ]

I found out I was meant to end the world. So two gangs could fight it out and see which of them would win. Didn't do it, though.

[ Well, kinda started it, then fixed it.

Summers when you're young, eh? ]

video;

[bifroster]

[Oh, good, someone who wasn't used to having powers before coming here too! She is curious about how he could be deeply involved in the supernatural. But anything can happen out there, right?]

Sorry you don't have your notes. I don't have mine either, so I've been starting over from scratch.

What are your new abilities?

Re: video;

[pinetreehimself]

Uh, well, basically I can blow up my brain to about three times its size, and that lets me move things about with my mind. I'd demonstrate, but I just showed it off to somebody else, and it, uh...really takes it out of me.

[Look closely and you can still see the sweat drops on his face.]

video;

[bifroster]

Yeah, I'd hold off until tomorrow to do anything more. I overexerted myself recently and I do not recommend migraines.

Maybe you should sit down too?

[VIDEO]

[patchricide]

[You know, when he says he's done with the weirdness this summer, she can't help but point out...]

You'll be done with the summer, at least. It's autumn in this reality!

But unfortunately, we've had quite a lot of strange happenings during this past summer, as well. I'm not sure how much of it qualifies as supernatural... unless, of course, you count the extradimensional origins?

Re: [VIDEO]

[pinetreehimself]

[Ordinarily, Dipper would love to get involved in chatter about extra dimensional origins, and especially to learn more about this nice elf like lady that's just appeared. However, that first sentence started him down...kind of a bad direction of thought. He tries to keep a smile up, but it doesn't last long.]

...I was, uh...actually done with summer back on my world too. Last day of August, had a birthday bash, said my goodbyes to some real good friends, then my sister and I hopped on a bus from Oregon to California. I'd just drifted off, thought I'd wake up to find myself home again, see my mom and dad again...now it's just me here, not even my sister with me...

...[sniffle] Sorry, you don't need to know about any of that. You were just trying to make conversation, that's all.

[VIDEO]

[patchricide]

No, it's quite all right. Believe me, I understand! This situation is... highly unnerving, to say the least, and sometimes more than we give it credit for.

[And missing your home, and your parents? She can deeply sympathize. But perhaps that's why she can easily think of what she wants to say, with a soft voice and a lilt of a British accent (because why wouldn't alien-elves be British?):]

But you know, it's actually just coincidence that summer is ending in both worlds. The timelines in these dimensions are not connected. It may be that you'll be here for a long time... but whenever you return, it will be exactly when you left, without a single moment missed.

Until then... this place can become a second home, if you would like it to be.

video;

[golisolation]

[Guzma could address any of that, but instead...]

Kid, nobody ever tell ya you talk too damn much?

Re: video;

[pinetreehimself]

Wh- Hey! I'm just trying to make a proper introduction here. What's wrong with providing useful details when you're entering a community- heck, I'm entering a whole parallel WORLD right now!

[Besides, if you thought this Pines Twin was chatty, better hope you don't meet the other one.]

[golisolation]

If a proper introduction is puttin' people to sleep, then you hit the mark, huh?

[There's giving information, sure, but then there's...this. Honestly, if Guzma saw Mabel, he'd take one look, and go the other direction. At least Dipper is a slightly tolerable sort of chatty. Mabel is something else entirely.]

All you need to know is this place is wack, and it don't get much better. Simple as that. Not much a punk kid like you can do to change it.

[#Helpful]

Video

[devilishly_handsome]

Stuffed doll? I must have missed that. What's a 'nightmare realm entity'?

Re: Video

[pinetreehimself]

Preeeetty much what it says on the tin. I mean, I don't know if they all come FROM the Nightmare Realm or if they all just got imprisoned there from other dimensions, but that place is full of really freaky looking demons and monsters.

[Speaking of freaky looking- well, more interesting looking than anything -Dipper can't help but notice those ears and horns, not to mention the chin.]

Say, uh, you wouldn't happen to be from planet Altea, would you?

Video

[devilishly_handsome]

Oh! I might know what you're talking about. Where I'm from we just call it the Abyss.

[At least, when he mentions 'demons' Anton assumes that's what he's talking about.]

And no, I'm from a planet called Golarion.

[VIDEO]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

If you’re interested in notes, I’ve been more or less chronicling most of my findings and experiences in my journals since I got here.

I think I’m on volume...fifteen? ...Sixteen?

Point is, I take a lot of notes, so if you want to copy anything relevant for your own, I don’t mind sharing, kiddo.

Re: [VIDEO]

[pinetreehimself]

Wh- REALLY?! Wow, that's amazing, thank you so much!

Sixteen volumes... To think, I just spent the summer at a a small town full of every cryptid you could imagine, and the biggest researcher there got only got about three journals out of that. They were pretty big journals, though. And I guess you've got a whole world to document- a superhero world, no less!

Re: [VIDEO]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Three journals over a summer? That's pretty intense. Speaking of cryptids, we got an infestation of those a couple of months back.

In fact, some of the bad guys we fight were fusing them. Ever fight a Krackaconda?

It's like...wait here.

[Darin loves this kid's energy already, so he's going to reach into a pouch on his belt and pull out his current journal, flip to a page, and show Dipper a Kracken, but each tentacle is a giant anaconda head, like a hydra.]

Sucker was nasty too. Each one of those tentacle snake heads spit jet black venom.