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[mothmansplaining]

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"Stanford Pines. Leave a message."

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[mothmansplaining]

And when you do, you want to postpone my death. Stop me from dying of old age.

[Just collecting the facts here.]

[tetractys]

I COULD BE LIKE YOU AND QUIBBLE ON SEMANTICS, BUT YEAH, THAT'S THE GIST.

ONE QUIBBLE, ACTUALLY! I'M NOT GOING TO KEEP YOU ALIVE AND TOO OLD TO MOVE AROUND. THERE'LL BE A QUALITY OF LIFE CLAUSE IN THERE.

[mothmansplaining]

[Man. This is...a lot to take in. They're going from "on a break while Bill figures out if he actually cares or not" to "I want to make you functionally immortal because I don't want to lose you."

Ford's been braced for the former, and he's having a hard time changing gears.]

I don't know, Bill. This is really sudden. The last time we talked, you still weren't sure if you ever really cared about me. Now you want me to travel the cosmos with you past the end of my natural lifespan?

Did I miss something??

[tetractys]

MAYBE.

I DECIDED ON A BREAK BECAUSE I WANTED TO TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I WANTED TO WITH MY LIFE BESIDES HANG OUT WITH YOU, BUT

I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT.

YOU'VE GOT YOUR FAMILY, BUT BESIDES THE PEOPLE WE MET HERE ALL I HAVE IS YOU.

[mothmansplaining]

You really don't know what you want to do?

No universe-free-from-natural-laws? No climbing into higher and higher dimensions?

[tetractys]

WHAT'S THE POINT

[mothmansplaining]

It was freedom, wasn't it?

[tetractys]

WAS IT? I HAVE NO IDEA.

[mothmansplaining]

You wanted to be free. Someplace that no one could tell you what to do. Not even gravity!

You really don't want that anymore?

[tetractys]

YEAH, AND NONE OF IT WAS EVEN REAL.

IF I TRY THAT AGAIN, SOMEONE'S JUST GOING TO GET KILLED.

[mothmansplaining]

[Holy shit. Every time they have a conversation like this, it feels so surreal.

Bill's really not okay, and while Ford is glad that that means the multiverse is safe, he doesn't just care about the multiverse.]

Bill...

The multiverse is a big place.
There's got to be something out there that makes you happy.

[tetractys]

SURE, PROBABLY.

LOOK, LET'S NOT GET INTO IT.

[mothmansplaining]

Right. So...you wanted to ask me if I wanted to be immortal with you, once your powers come back, is that right?

[tetractys]

YEAH.

[mothmansplaining]

I don't know, Bill. Are you sure it's a good idea? I wouldn't mind having a bit more time, of course! But immortality...

I know there are a few people here with that kind of lifespan, and they seem to be managing all right, but I can't even imagine what it would be like.

[tetractys]

IT'S NICE! YOU GET TO SEE A LOT OF STUFF. KEEP LEARNING, KEEP IMPROVING WHAT YOU KNOW...

SOMETIMES ONCE YOU HIT THE MILLION YEAR MARK IT GETS WEIRD. BUT EXISTING IS BETTER THAN NOT EXISTING!

[mothmansplaining]

[Man. This is big. It's a lot. He's not sure about the human brain and its capacity to hold that many memories. What if he runs out of space? What if he starts to forget? And there's his family to think about, and that's one big unknown.]

I still think it's too soon to make a decision. After all, it can't be done yet anyway! There are a lot of things I'd like to discuss beforehand, once I know more about what the future's really going to look like.

But I might be interested in exploring the possibility of existing a while longer.

[tetractys]

EVEN IF IT'S NOT WITH ME, I WANT TO LET YOU HAVE THE THIRTY YEARS WITH YOUR FAMILY YOU SHOULD HAVE HAD.

I GUESS JUST THINK ABOUT IT.

[mothmansplaining]

[....now that is a tempting offer. If nothing else...

He'll have to do a thorough check for strings, of course. But thirty more years with Stan, Dipper, and Mabel...]

I will.