How far is perma-eaten PPBB Ford willing to go to help his brother?
Would he turn to... Magic? Questionable magic entities, perhaps?
How far would a Perma-Eaten ppbb au Ford go?
I wonder :3
Thinking back on it, Ford couldn't remember where he'd found the summoning circle. There had been so many after all, countless tomes and scrolls he'd gone through, each full of equally useless spells and beings. Being exhausted and sleep deprived hadn't helped either, his mind stressed to the breaking point and desperate for even a hint of what to do, where to go, to help his brother.
It was a simple one, a circle in his living room, seven candles evenly spaced apart, and connected to create a seven pointed star in the middle. The words droned out of his mouth, every syllable heavy. It was the third or fourth one he'd tried today, less out of actual hope for success and more out of lack of anything else to try.
When he was done, the last word dropping out of his mouth like a stone, there was a beat of silence, a tension in the air and then-
A pop, as the center of the circle rippled. Where once there was nothing but his floorboards, now stood a small figure. It stood no higher than his knee, if that, and wore a small green cloak over a brown shirt and shorts. Two eyes glinted in the candle light, and its mismatched pointed ears twitched.
It was a cat. Not just a cat, but what appeared to be a living doll of one. Its two button eyes were sewed on with black thread, and he could see where its ears had been sewn onto its head, one orange, one gray. A thin gray tail tipped with orange flickered back and forth in and out of view, and its mismatched orange and grey feet rocked back and forth as it took in the room.
Ford stared at it, then sighed heavily as he crumpled the piece of paper he'd written down the incantation down on.
A child toy wasn't the strangest thing he'd summoned into his living room, but it was the latest in a long line of disappointments.
"Greetings!" The small cat doll chirped, button eyes wide as it smiled at him, "Did you need something?"
"I did," Ford sighed, rubbing his heavy eyes as he pushed back the growing frustration, "But I doubt you could assist me."
"How rude!" it said, although its playful tone conveyed it wasn't offended, "You won't know until you ask after all! We just met after all, who's to say what I can and can assist with."
"Thats true." Ford muttered, dragging his hand down his face. It was starting to get scruffy, and he scratched at the side of his growing beard as he stared down at the doll.
It wouldn't hurt to ask, and while he severely doubted it could help, even the slightest chance it could was worth the risk.
"Its my brother." He said finally, gesturing to where Stan was silently sitting on the couch. Ford had asked him to sit there after breakfast, and his twin had done so without so much as a grumble, and hadn't done much more than move his head to follow Ford around the room and answer any question thrown his way with the same monotone he'd had since waking up in Fords bed.
"He's- sick. Or injured, I suppose," Ford explained, eyes wandering away from the doll and towards where Stan was blankly staring at the far wall, hands folded over his stomach and face as impassive as it always was these days, "A- a while ago. Something damaged his soul, not enough to kill him, but enough to..."
Ford grimaced. There was no easy way to put what happened to his brother into words. A significant portion of his soul had been devoured, and what was left was just enough to keep him functioning and push him towards keeping himself alive, but with no care for anything else.
Stan didn't like or dislike anything anymore, didn't have foods he wanted or hobbies he enjoyed. He could grasp that he needed money to get goods and services, and stole only because stealing was a habit. He'd tried to get a job several times, and the only reason he didn't was because Ford kept begging him to stay at his house until he figured out how to fix whatever the entity had done to his twin.
It was like having a ghost in his home. His brothers walking, living corpse, alive only because he was breathing. Everything that made Stan himself was gone, chewed up and eaten. All that was left was a shadow, one Ford couldn't help but cling to.
"He can't feel anything," Ford decided to say, wandering next to Stan to set a hand on his head, not getting so much as a glance, "He's alive, and physically healthy, but he can't feel happy, or sad, or- or anything. Emotionally, there's nothing there, and I... I've tried everything."
So many things. So many spells and remedies, medicines and even time. It had been months, and still, no change in the moodstone he was using to monitor Stan's emotions.
No sign of the brother he grew up with.
"Meow, that is something, isn't it." The doll said, drawing Fords attention once more, "Not a pretty picture, is he."
The cat had walked to the edge of the circle and was tilting its head at Stan, eyes unblinking. It made a few humming sounds, then nodded sharply and turned back to Ford.
"Tell you what," it said, a smile curling on its lips, "I can help you with your little problem here, but it'll cost ya."
Ford straightened up, hope shoving away any warrines that might have sprung up at its easy attitude, and his exhaustion fell away as he stepped closer and near shouted, "What, what do you want, anything at all, I'll gladly pay."
"Now hold up," It said, raising a paw and rocking back on its heels, "There is a catch."
The wariness he'd smothered reared its head, and his fingers dug into his palms as he narrowed his eyes and asked, "What catch?"
"Nothing too bad, I promise," it said reassuringly, "There's just a lot of damage, and I'm just a small little guy. Not much I can do all on my own."
"Buuuut~" it pressed its paws together and tilted its head, eyes somehow conveying a innocent look, "What I can do is get a few of my friends, and together we can make it so your brother can feel all those feelings his soul can't make anymore. Just so long as we're not too far away."
"Now while I don't mind hanging around your brother all day for the rest of his life," it continued, "My friends might. Some of them aren't too keen on leaving home, and we're in the middle of a dispute. Hard to get away and help your brother with so much on our plate. So, here's what I can do."
It waved a paw at him, and Ford crouched down so they were more level with each other.
"In exchange for giving your brother emotions, you agree to work for us. That means you, and your brother since we're helping him out, come back with me to my dimension. That's your cost. You give up on your life here and-"
"Done." Ford reached through the circle and shook the dolls hand, letting go and dusting his legs off as it stared at him in shock.
"What, thats it?" it said, as he started cleaning up the living room, "Just like that? You have to work for us, day in and day out. You didn't even ask what the job is."
"That doesn't matter. So long as Stanley is taken care of, I'll do anything." Ford said, before pausing, "Although, if you wouldn't mind, I would like to get my affairs here in order."
"Sure, sure," The cat said, and he jumped at the voice now coming directly next to his ear, and the slight weight on his shoulder, "I'm not really in a rush here, and I gotta let everyone know you're coming. I wasn't expecting you to agree so quickly."
"So long as you keep up your end of the bargain," Ford briskly walked over to Stan and stared down at him, smiling tightly at the blank eyes that greeted him, before looking at the cat still on his shoulder, "Then the details of what I'll be doing don't matter. But keep Stanley out of it, he's been through enough."
"I think that'll be up to him," the cat jumped down onto Stan's head an pat his hair, then whirled back to face Ford, paws on its hips, "By the way, I'm DLA, you're new boss. I'm looking forward to working with you Stanford. You've got one week to get everything sorted, then I'll be back to get you."
He didn't ask how it knew his name, just nodded sharply. Its grin widened, and with another pop and a ripple through the air, it was gone.
Letting out a sigh, Ford sat down next to his brother and grabbed his hand, slotting their fingers together and squeezing. Stan didn't squeeze back, but he did turn his head to stare at Ford.
"Don't worry Stanley," Ford whispered, smiling at his brother, "If it turns out it can't help you, I'll get us back home, and we can try something else."
"Okay." Stan said, gaze drifting back to the wall. His disinterest sent a sharp pain through Fords heart, and he brought Stan's hand up to press against his forehead.
One week. One week to make sure he could come home if this turned out to be another failure. One week to let his hopes fester.
One week until he'd know, one way or another, if he'd ever see his brother smile again.
and thats a wrap! For more context, DLA is the faesona @tinfoil-jones created for me. They look almost exactly like my cat avatar, except they're a doll.
This is part of the Jerk Ford extended universe. DLA is one of the members of the 'jerk ford hate club hate club', a group that hates on the hate club for SUPER LEGIT REASONS (they weren't allowed to join for various reasons). Instead of a tree house club house of Fords, the JCHCHC created a spa across the dirt street, as a front to their flutter's emotion eating activities.
A version of PPBB Ford (this one) who's Stan wasn't able to recover mans the front desk, and has to work customer service hell just so his Stan can feel feelings. The sitch is that DLA and the fae can make Stan feel whatever they want him to feel, as they're actively making him feel things instead of fixing his soul. Ford can't quit, or Stan loses his emotions, and so long as he's a good employee, the main one Stan feels is happiness.
Stan's in charge of house keeping here also, and the Spa is actually Fords house that was given a makeover but still retains its semi-sentient nature and ability to create and move rooms around.
DLA has the ability to 'see' alternate futures/realities, and is also evil. They have a whole backstory I wrote for them.
They run the spa with ARF ( @artistredfox ) and APX ( @incorrigible-bastard whose faesona can be seen here), along with several others who have not posted their faesona and as such I won't tag.
More of the Jerk Universe can be found here for those interested.
