Dale wasn’t sure what to expect as he nervously waited in the front hall, bag containing the memory gun heavy across his lap. He half expected a time traveller, or Doctor Who or something - and he was sitting on a chaise lounge eyeing the glowing circuit-lines on the wall, they almost seemed familiar somehow…
Then the owner of the house arrived, and Dale immediately felt his gut sinking. Fiddleford was so.. geez, so nice. He seemed kindly, if a little on the side of goofy hayseed, and was so welcoming that Dale started to feel guilty, knowing what he was going to have to say. The young man stood up and tried to steel himself, putting his bag back over his shoulder - he wore the typical outfit of the area, though was that an Edgy on Purpose hoody with a stitched heart hanging off him along with his flannels and jeans?
He followed Fiddleford, glancing now and then at the mansion, and as they reached the grand lobby, Dale smiled, slightly painfully.
“I’m really sorry about this; I would have liked to do this differently.” He shook his head at the offer of water and approached one of the hay bales, setting himself on it and pulling his bag back into his lap.
He unzipped his bag and drew out the memory gun, handling it like he expected it to go off randomly; he was careful to keep it pointed away from both himself and Fiddleford.
“My name is Dale, and I came to you because I was told you invented this. I was told this by a Stanford Pines from another world.” He lifted his hands, and the dreadful device, toward McGucket. “I’m really, really hoping you know how to stop it, or can create something that will block out its effects.”
Fiddleford could see how the smile didn’t reach the young man’s eyes, and his heart went out to him.
“Don’t ya go apologizin’ for needin’ help,” he said, trying to sound as gentle as he could. Years of screaming himself hoarse, tobacco chewing, and the harsh chemicals of the moonshine he drank gave his voice an almost terrifying quality. He gave a nod of his head when Dale rejected his offer for water and waited patiently as the young man unzipped his bag.
For a moment, there was a blank, slightly puzzled look on Fiddleford’s face when Dale pulled out the gun-shaped device. He listened to Dale’s explanation carefully, the confusion in his face deepening.
“Hm, so, this is our first time meetin’, then?” He gingerly accepted the device from Dale. “A Stanford from another world? He’s sure I was the one who invented this and not the Fiddleford from his world?”
Fiddleford’s brow furrowed, and he carefully inspected the device, scratching at his head from underneath his hat and adjusting his spectacles. “Hm, I don’t recall buildin’ somethin’ like this. Looks like some kinda ray gun.”
He messed with the dial on the side, noting the letters showing up on the screen. “Hm, interesting that ya can utilize an input here. Display screen for confirmation of the input. I’m guessing that’s for precision. Targetin’ something or other.”
He turned the gun over in his hand carefully. “Fascinatin’. Looks like it’s got a port here and a frequency tuner. So, it can probably be used to amplify the gun’s effects on a massive scale.” Fiddleford reached into his pocket pulling out a custom multi-tool and fiddling with the device. “But what does it do?” he murmured.
He seemed thoroughly absorbed in his study of the object, almost seeming to forget Dale was even there. “Hm, there’s my initials just inside there. Y’know, this all does seem kinda familiar. A storage unit? Electricity. Loop circuit-” He prodded at the device. “Ah, yep. Doesn’t seem like it was designed to be lethal. Probably don’t even hurt hardly. Yeah, I’d say it’s probably used to manipulate electrical signals in the body. Kinda hard to narrow it down from there. Maybe it’s for nerve pain, seizure control or induction though I can’t imagine any me would do a somethin’ like that, or given the storage unit, it might be possible you could just zap away someone’s mem-”
Recognition flickered in his eyes along with a flurry of emotions: terror and regret chief among them. It seemed he had even stopped breathing for a moment.
That’s right. This was the reason he still had so many memory lapses in the first place. Of course. How could he forget? Well, he knew how. He was holding it. It was right there.
But Mabel had destroyed it, hadn’t she? But no, it was right there. Intact.
“Oh no.” His hands started to tremble, and he handed the device back to Dale carefully because he was sure he would drop it otherwise. He half-turned away from Dale and put his hand through his sparse hair under his hat, tugging at it. Yet, he couldn’t fully keep his gaze off the memory-erasing gun.
“W-where did ya get this? I thought - I -” He wondered how many of these he had built. How many? He couldn’t remember. He wish he knew. He wish he could remember, but he didn’t know.
He shook his head. “I- I did invent it. Years ago. It’s one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made... ”
He forcefully pulled his hand out of his hair to tug at the edges of his hat. “Ya gotta tell me what ya know about this. If someone’s gotten a hold of one of these- Ooooh, I never should’ve invented it in the first place!”