#it was a reminder that no matter how far apart dipper and mabel will always be togther | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

portalford · 3 years

Text

I Can Picture You So Easily

AO3

It hits Stan at the stupidest times.

Well. That makes it sounds like Stan just forgets, when really it never quite goes away — sometimes it’s just more.

Like now.

He’s looking in the mirror — he found it tucked way, way back in a closet (and he’s gonna skip right over that because when he got here the mirror in the bathroom was broken, cracked until you couldn’t see a thing and why was Ford—nope) — and he’s trying out a new look for Mr. Mystery.

Gotta keep it fresh, right? Accessorize?

Glasses aren’t accessories, unfortunately. He can’t go without them anymore.

(Really, he needed them years ago, but he was too stubborn to admit it, or too broke, or whatever, but he’s literally tripping over his own feet now. Needs must).

Ford wouldn’t be caught dead in this getup. No sense of fashion. So that’s fine.

The glasses—

(Ford started wearing glasses when he was six. Stan had laughed himself silly when they went to the drugstore and tried on the biggest, most obnoxious frames they could find. Ma had scolded, but she’d been too distracted checking price tags to do more than scold.

In the end, they went with some cheap horn-rimmed frames that Stan wouldn’t be caught dead in even now. Old-man glasses, at six. But that was Ford all over).

—they bring some stuff up. The twin thing sucks, sometimes.

(Looking in a mirror and seeing the changes, the lines in his face, the grey in his hair — does Ford have crow’s feet now? Is his hair going silver? It was always unmanageable — is it thinning like Stan’s is now, or is it still thick and flyaway, like it was when Ford was sixteen? Did he even live long enough to get lines in his face and aches in his joints, or is he forever twenty-eight, dead somewhere in the universe?)

Time to stop thinking.

Notice the differences.

Stan’s ears and nose are bigger than Ford’s, always have been. He’s heavier and his shoulders are broader.

(Has Ford gotten bulkier, fighting to survive? Or is still he halfway to gaunt, like the last time Stan saw him?)

Definitely time to stop thinking.

Stan flashes a smile, and yeah, that’s all him. Cheerful, magnetic, and a hundred percent fake.

Time to work the crowds.

*****

There’s an ad for the nice ink pens Ford saved up to buy when he was fourteen.

Stan turns it off.

*****

Mabel finds a picture, once.

“Grunkle Stan!” Her eyes are all lit up as she shows him the torn photograph. “I found this under a floorboard in the attic!”

If Stan ever had any doubts about his poker face, he can lay them to rest now. It’s all on the ropes and his expression is perfectly level, maybe even a little curious.

Mabel is still talking. “I didn’t know there were pictures of you before you were all old! Do you have any others?”

Oh.

Stan still forgets sometimes, even after everything, that most people can’t tell him and Ford apart.

He knows better.

The young man in the photograph is unmistakably Ford, taken while he was living in Gravity Falls. He’s got his head bent over that journal of his, but the photographer managed to catch the eager light in his eye, the edge of his smile.

Stan wonders who that photographer was, all those years ago.

A tug at his shirt reminds him he’s not alone, and he definitely can’t get messed up about this picture of his secret twin brother.

Mabel’s face has fallen a bit. “Grunkle Stan? Are you okay?”

Stan gives himself two more seconds to look at the picture — Ford just looks so happy; Stan can’t even remember the last time Ford looked like that, even before it all fell apart — and turns to Mabel.

“Yeah,” he says. He smiles and ruffles her hair. “Pretty good picture, huh?”

*****

The name is the worst.

Stan never thought identity theft could involve so little fun.

Usually he can get away with just “Stan Pines,” and that’s fine. That’s his name. That’s who he’s supposed to be.

Sometimes, though, that’s not enough for whoever’s asking.

“What did you say your name was again?”

He smiles. Lays it on thick. “Stanford Pines.”

“Could you sign here?”

He does. His blocky, uneven handwriting looks even worse than usual where he’s expecting to see neat, flowing script, the way Stanford Pines is supposed to be written.

“This is Stanford Pines,” someone will say. “Mr. Mystery.”

Stan smiles some more. Yes, Stanford Pines is certainly that.

Gideon is the worst. Stanford this and Stanford that and Stan’s never wanted to punch a child so much in his life.

“Stanford Pines!”

He smiles, and he lies.

*****

Dipper halfway drives him nuts sometimes.

It’s not like the kid’s a mini-Ford — he reminds Stan enough of himself, sometimes, though Stan’s not sure that’s great either — but he’s got the brains and the stubbornness and the love of weird nonsense, for sure.

He’s also got that obsessive edge, the drive that sent Ford right off the metaphorical cliff.

Usually Mabel tags along on the weirdness hunts — they make a day of it. They go out, just the two of them, and come back laughing and joking and shoving at each other.

That’s enough of a painful reminder, but sometimes Stan will catch Mabel sitting by herself, coloring or crafting with a little less energy than usual, and he’ll realize that Dipper’s buried himself in monster theory again.

He tries to keep the kid busy with chores and hustle, but it’s a losing battle.

It was the first time, too.

*****

There’s this old song that Ford used to love when they were younger.

It’s got no words, and Stan used to make fun of it — what's the point of a song with no words? But Ford insisted it had Meaning, capital M.

It comes on the radio now and then.

Depending on how masochistic Stan is feeling that day, he might let it play.

He still wonders what Ford heard in this song, and if Ford would hear it now.

*****

He realizes, one day near the end, that he’s been Stanford longer than he’s been Stanley.

What’s the point, really? What does a name matter if it’s so easy for someone else to take your place?

(Did Ford matter so little, in the grand scheme of things, that not one person could recognize him in a place he lived for six years?

Does Stan, in a place he’s lived for almost thirty?)

If he could just stop catching Ford in his reflection now and then, that’d be great.

*****

It’s not any better once Ford gets back (once Stan brings Ford back, the ungrateful bastard).

“Stanford!”

Stan’s got a smile on his face before he even turns around, and what’s wrong with him that he’s halfway made this lie into a Pavlovian response? Someone calls him Stanford, he smiles and lies.

(Stanford — the real Stanford — is in the basement right now. He doesn’t even exist, as far as anyone else is concerned. Stan is Stanford, Stanley is dead, and Ford is a nonentity.

What a life this is).

*****

“So how was it?”

Stan grunts. “How was what?”

Ford rolls his neck, wincing a little as he works out the unavoidable crick from hunching over a drawing for twenty minutes. “Being me.”

Stan shrugs. “Wasn’t hard. We’re basically the same person, y’know.”

Ford snorts. A long time (a lifetime) ago that comment might have gotten him worked up, but he’s steadier now, softer around the edges. “Very funny. I saw your lease renewal. You didn’t even change your handwriting, for heaven’s sake.”

“Ford, I rolled up to town, said I was you, and started a tourist trap. You had a total personality transplant and nobody noticed.” Stan grimaces. That sounded really bad.

Ford’s expression has gone rueful and a little sad at the edges, but he doesn’t seem like he’s about launch into full-blown self-recrimination, so that’s fine. “Yes, well. That’s what happens when you isolate yourself for six years and your only friend erases his mind to cope with the mistakes you made.”

And that’s Ford trying to shoulder all the blame again, but Stan keeps his mouth shut. They’re both too comfortable to argue right now. “Being honest — for once — it kinda sucked.” Ford’s looking at him, open and encouraging, so Stan keeps going. “Everyone thought I was you, and it—I wasn’t. I didn’t want to be.” Stan shrugs. “I wanted you you.”

Ford smiles, and it’s a little more worn than Stan remembers, but it’s real, and it’s him. “I understand. I met a few parallel versions of you on my travels, and they were you, but — they weren’t really you.” Ford closes his journal (his new one) and sets it aside, tipping his head back over his chair. More playfully, he adds, “I wouldn’t want to be you either, Stanley.”

Stan laughs. “Yeah? Couldn’t handle the salesmanship?”

“Have more self-respect than to wear any part of your wardrobe.”

“Says the man who wears sweaters in the summer.”

Ford lifts his head and smiles, and this time it’s almost exactly how Stan remembers — quick and a little crooked. “Fair enough.” Ford stretches, rolls his neck again. “For what it’s worth, Stanley, I am glad to be back.” A wry look. “Even if it’s going to take ages to sort out the criminal record you gave me.”

Stan slouches deeper into the couch. Any further and he’s going to slide off, but that’s a risk he’ll take. “Yeah, yeah. Talk to me when you’re legally dead.”

“You did that.”

“And?”

“I legally don’t exist.”

“I was trying to learn theoretical physics at the time, Stanford; cut a man some slack.”

Ford laughs, quiet. “Did I ever thank you for that?”

Stan cracks an eye open. He didn’t realize he closed them. “What, learnin’ physics? Because I’m pretty sure that’s some of the stuff that’s not coming back.”

Ford rolls his eyes. “For saving me.”

“Hm.” Ford’s thanked him several times, but lately it’s been less Ford kicking himself and more Ford cautiously trying to engage in the old back-and-forth they used to have, and Stan can get behind that one. “I dunno. Might have to say it again.”

“You’re burning through my gratitude very quickly,” Ford says mildly, “but all right. Thank you for saving me. You knucklehead.”

Stan never got called that when he was Ford. He thinks he’s missed it, at least the way Ford says it — like it means something completely different.

“Uh-huh.” Stan’s eyes are closed again. He figures he’ll just leave them closed. “Missed you too, nerd.”

And maybe there’s something to be said for being your own person.

It feels pretty good.

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #stanley pines #stanford pines #back on the angst with a happy ending train #feat. a side of introspection and melodrama!#i love it here

120 notes · View notes

fallen-gravity · 4 years

Text

Fightin’ Back Chapter 3

Chapter Notes: Final stretch, boys! This is the last chapter that takes place in season one before we get into the heavier themes of season two. Boyz Crazy this time, and probably the only emotional hurt/comfort chapter of the entire fic.

So, uh, this has actually been up on AO3 for a few days already, but it completely slipped my mind to post the tumblr link until now. My bad 😂

AO3

The car is uncomfortably quiet as Stan pulls away from Lookout Point. Dipper’s leaning against the passenger side door, staring into the mirror like if he stares at Wendy long enough she’ll notice and chase after them to apologize to him for snapping at him. Stan taps at the steering wheel rhythmically, just to get some sort of noise to break the tension in the air, and Dipper sighs.

It’s sad, really. The kid had been so excited to split Wendy and Robbie up before they left that he tried to insist on driving the golf cart up there himself. But he had no idea where Lookout Point even was, and Stan was sure someone was finally going to notice that the golf karts were stolen from the Northwest Golf Course, so he offered to drive him there in the car instead. And even then, the kid had been so excited he was bouncing in his seat the entire drive over. Stan’s sure he would’ve neglected the seatbelt altogether if he hadn’t reached over and clicked it into place for him. He was going on and on and on about code deceptions and the supernatural and how Robbie must’ve gotten the CD at some evil black market, or maybe he really did burn the CD himself and he’s secretly a vampire demon or something, and how that reminds him that he should “try mixing some salt into his spray bottle of holy water the next time he’s out demon hunting”, but now that everything’s over and done with and Wendy bitterly insisted she’d rather walk home than be with any of them right now, Dipper’s looking more like a sick puppy limping home with his tail tucked between his legs.

“Ah, don’t think too much into it, kid” Stan says, and Dipper finally breaks free from his mirror trance to spare him a defeated look in his eyes. “The breakup’s still fresh. I bet by this time tomorrow she’ll be all over you, swooning over how you saved her from that horrible monster”.

Dipper doesn’t respond, just raises an eyebrow at him and goes right back into staring out the window. Least they’re too far away for him to still be staring at Wendy out the rear view mirror.

“I mean it!” Stan barks a laugh. “Never got to finish that story I was telling you earlier. So after Carla ran off with that hippie, I stuck around to see how things were going with her. I was sure there was something about him that he wasn’t telling her.” He pounds at his chest with one of his fists. “And I was right! Turns out the dude’s guitar was, uh, cursed. So one day while he was sleeping I broke into his apartment and smashed the thing to pieces. After he had nothing left to show for himself, Carla came running back to me. Even drove the guy’s van into the ravine just so he couldn’t bother us again”

There’s a hint of a smile on Dipper’s face. “I don’t think I’d sink low enough to break the law, Grunkle Stan.” He pulls himself away from the window. “Plus I thought you said she hated you for doing that"

Stan taps at his head. “You gotta work on your listening skills, Dips. I said he hated me for doing that”

Dipper rolls his eyes at him, the most Dipper thing he’s done since getting back in the car to head home.

“Look, my point is, you gotta learn to look at things more positively. Maybe she wants nothing to do with you now, but tomorrow? You never know”.

Dipper flinches at the idea, but this time when he sighs it sounds more like he’s trying to calm his own nerves than like he’s trying not to cry.

Stan pulls the car up to the back of the shack and unlocks the door. He steps out, and just as he’s about to head into the house he turns heel to talk to Dipper before the kid has time to run past him up to his bedroom to mope. “How’s about we sit in the living room with a couple a’ Pitt Colas and watch a movie to forget about the whole ordeal? Your choice”

Dipper mumbles something about movie night to himself, but only responds to Stan’s offer with a shrug. “I’m not in the mood. You can go in without me. I’ll come in when I’m ready”

Yeah, okay, Stan’s not buying that for a minute. He knows by now that when Dipper starts moping, the kid isn’t gonna move for hours. It’ll be two in the morning before he decides to come in, and even later if he accidentally falls asleep.

No mention that there’s child protection laws against leaving kids in locked cars.

…and that car-eating tree monster Stan’s sure he’s read about in that first Journal.

Screw it.

Stan gets back in the car, but Dipper doesn’t so much as blink when Stan closes the door behind him. Stan’s willing to believe that it’s because Dipper assumed he went inside, and whoa, okay, whoever put the idea in the kid’s head that he’s not worth the time of day is gonna need to start answering questions fast.

He turns the keys to start the ignition, and Dipper nearly jumps out of his skin when his door clicks locked on him. “Grunkle Stan?” he asks, once he realizes the car is pulling away again. “Where are you taking me?”

“Y’got cotton in your ears? I told you before, kid, I’m taking you bowling”

“Right now? I thought you were just saying that to make me feel better”.

“I was!” Stan flashes a grin. “But I never specified that you had a choice in the matter, now did I?”

Dipper opens his mouth to argue, but before he can get so much as a word out, Stan speeds out of the driveway so quickly that Dipper’s head whacks against the headrest of his seat.

~~~~~~~

Friday nights are usually the busiest day of the week for the bowling alley, but when you know exactly the right kind of people and have just the right amount of bribe money in your pocket, you can waltz in and get any lane you want as fast as you want.

Dipper, despite all of this, doesn’t seem as thrilled about the idea of bowling as Stan is.

“Aw, c’mon, kid” Stan gently nudges him with his elbow. “I’m letting you go first! Everyone knows the person who gets to bowl first is the person you need to beat. It’s a privilege, if you ask me”

“I dunno, Grunkle Stan” he fiddles with the laces of his sneakers. “I appreciate the gesture, and all, but...I’m just not feeling up for it tonight”

Stan raises an eyebrow. “Not up for beating me at something you know you can hold over me the rest of the summer?” He scooches closer to Dipper on the bench. “Now I know something’s really wrong. This still about Wendy?”

He winces at the mention of her name like he’d just been slapped in the face, and Stan sighs.

“Look, Dips…” he pauses, trying to figure out to work around making this sound like the most awkward conversation he’s ever had with...anyone, let alone his own nephew. “Who needs women, am I right?” He raises the can of soda he’d bought from the snack bar in a toast, but Dipper only rubs at his arm awkwardly.

There’s gotta be something that’ll get Dipper to understand how many times Stan’s found himself in the exact same situation.

Well, okay, Stan knows exactly what’ll get him to understand, but if he goes around telling so much as Mabel, the kid’s dead to him.

He sighs. “Kiddo, if you repeat what I’m about to tell you, you’re dead. Not just to me, I’m talkin’ dead dead. Got it?”

That seems to be enough to catch his attention. “O-of course” he repeats, like Stan’s about to tell him the secrets to unlocking the universe. It almost makes Stan wish that his story were more interesting.

“Truth is, that story I told you about Carla ain’t exactly how it actually went”

Dipper blinks. “I…know. You told me that earlier”

“No, I mean…” Stan pinches the bridge of his nose. “I mean, none of it was true. Obviously nobody rocketed off into the sky on a rainbow, or anything, but...Carla and I hadn’t even been dating anymore”

“What?” Dipper’s voice squeaks, and Stan chuckles.

“Well, we had been dating, y’see? But she’d just broken up with me a few days ago when I decided to stop over to the Juke Joint to see if she’d wanted to talk about changing her mind” he raises his hands in defense. “I only went in to talk. Scout’s honor, or...whatever it is your sister says.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, I get in there, and that hippy really is playing his transcendental music up on this tiny stage they had there”.

He takes a hard swig of his soda like it was a shot glass. “But Carla was up there with him, y’see? She was singing to some...weird folksy song that I’d never heard of before. Didn’t even sound like she was singing in English.” He leans back on the bench, resting his hands at the back of his head as he turns his gaze to Dipper. “That’s how I knew I lost her for good. So instead of causing a scene like some kinda....jerk”, he catches himself, “I ran out into the parking lot and hotwired her new boyfriend’s van and hightailed it outta there”.

The gaze that Dipper gives him is sympathetic, but he’s also covering his hand over his mouth like he’s trying not to giggle.

“See? What’d I tell ya?” Stan flashes a grin. “You don’t need girls to show you a good time” he raises his drink towards the television screen above their bowling lane, still flashing with Dipper’s name. “You can always have a great time with your Grunkle Stan! No chance of eventual heartbreak with me”

“I know, I know…” Dipper stands to play his turn, and pretends the weight of the bowling ball doesn’t tip him over as he chucks it down the lane. The ball careens off to the side at the last second, barely even scraping the surface of the pins. “But I don’t think that’s entirely what’s bothering me” His second throw knocks down all but two pins, leaving him with a seven-ten split. The screen switches to flashing Stan’s name, and Dipper turns to him as he returns to his seat.

Now we’re getting somewhere. Stan stands, pretending to appear dismissive in case it’s something Dipper doesn’t want to admit with all eyes on him. “You tellin’ me I just told you my biggest secret for nothing?”

Dipper blushes. “N-no! That’s not what I meant”. He sighs, looking down at his hands. “I mean, Wendy’s really one of the first people to really...accept me into her friend group.” This time he’s the one waving a defensive hand in the air. “Not that I’m saying I’ve never had friends before,” he squeaks, “...but they’ve felt…forced? Since Mabel and I were in a lot of the same friend circles, it just...always felt like they liked her better than me and only let me tag along because they knew I was related to her, or something”

Wow, okay, that hits way closer to home than Stan was expecting it to. He opens his mouth to comment, but it turns out that he’s not talking.

“But in comes Wendy, and y-yeah! Maybe some of it has to do with...other things” his face is turning pink, and he’s trying to hide in his vest. “But she’s so cool to me, and it doesn’t feel at all like she’s just using me to get to Mabel. Her friends like to make babysitting jokes whenever we tag along with them, but with Wendy it feels like she really wants us to be there” He sighs, and slumps against his seat. “What if she hates me? Or never talks to me again? Or she quits working at the Mystery Shack because she doesn’t want to be around me, or-or she does keep hanging around, but it’s just like everyone at school, and she’s only there for Mabel, but she’s too cool to cause a scene and tell me to leave, and-”

“Breathe, kid” Stan’s at his side in an instant, gripping firmly onto Dipper’s arm to help him back onto his chair before he falls to the floor. “You’re gonna give yourself a panic attack.” He loosens his grip on Dipper’s arm once the color starts returning to his face. “Tell me, you really think Wendy’s the kinda person to kick you to the curb like that?”

Dipper doesn’t respond right away, but he’s taking deep breaths, which is a good sign. “No, I guess not…” he physically turns his body towards Stan to look at him, probably to prevent another dizzying spell. “But she looked so angry at me, and she grouped me together with Robbie, and she’s probably never talking to him again, I’m just….so worried I’m gonna lose the coolest friend I’ll probably ever have”.

Stan shrugs. “Trust me, bud, you do not have to worry about that. Teenagers are just like that. Y’get angry, you need to blow off steam for a few hours, but come tomorrow you’re over it like it never happened”. Stan finally goes to take his turn, lobbing the ball down the lane like it weighs little more than a penny. It slips into the gutter, but at the last second it careens back up and knocks all the pins over. He grins, pumping his arms in the air, and turns his gaze back towards Dipper. “You should’ve seen me when I was her age! I’d break a window, I’d punch a jerk in the face, and then I’d be over it”

“Grunkle Stan, you’re still like that”

“Exactly!” he boasts. “And you don’t see me holding grudges against people who don’t deserve it, do ya? You know you meant well, Dipper, and I’m sure it won’t take long for her to realize that too.”

Dipper’s playing with the edge of his vest. “I guess so”.

“There, see?” Stan gently nudges him as he sits down beside him again. “Problem solved”. He says, but backtracks a little when he remembers what Dipper had said about his anxieties around making friends. “And if you ever need any of my advice on how to talk to girls without using any creepy mind-altering CDs, I’m your guy” he flashes Dipper a thumbs up, and it makes him smile.

“Thanks, Grunkle Stan. I’ll keep that in mind”.

#gravity falls #my writing #team brawn #stan pines #dipper pines

22 notes · View notes

dontyoudarejudgemesworld · 4 years

Text

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far: Chapter Five: Meet the Family

Alrighty peeps we’re getting into it now. The chapters from here on out wont be so time skippy as we settle into the meat of the story. This is set in late July some time after The Love God but before the Northwest Mansion Mystery. As usual it is poster here on AO3 if you prefer. Likes and feed back always appreciated.

And with that I will scream yet another chapter into the endless sea that is the internet. Enjoy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Four: Meet the Family

Over the next year and a half Billie became a fairly regular fixture at the Shack. It was almost maddening the way she called to check in with Stan every few days, her mother’s death seeming to spur her on. Stan swore she was suddenly channeling Shermie in her determination to keep in touch, though, when he’d brought up the idea of introducing her to him and the rest of the family, she still protested. As far as he could figure she worried that she was too rough for them to accept, a ridiculous notion in his opinion. For starters she was a successful private investigator who was completely self made, and while he would bet hard cash that some of the people she worked for weren’t above bar that didn’t lessen her success. She was also smart as a whip, and clever as hell, everyone in town seemed to like her and she was undoubtedly kind hearted. Sure, he might be a bit bias in his opinion of her but she was still objectively a great person to have around who would give you the shirt off her back if she thought you needed it.

Then again he could understand the way she felt. It was easy to see the same kind of quiet self loathing in her that he had. That little voice that whispered that you would never be good enough for anyone and weren’t worth knowing. He saw it flash in her eyes every time he praised her or brought up the rest of the family who were admittedly far more ‘normal’. And while he hated that she thought that of herself and wanted to shake her until she realized she was being stupid he didn’t press the issue. He realized that she all but panicked whenever he even mentioned Shermie and the rest and had noticed that when the twins were brought up at all she looked like she wanted to run for the hills. In fact, he had noticed that when she was helping out around the Shack that anytime she had to directly interact with children beyond a single question she looked like she wanted to run for the hills. So he dropped it figuring she’d come around eventually, and avoided mentioning them at all.

And if he was honest with himself, he kind of liked having her all to himself. Granted, he had to keep up the act that he was her uncle, but the affection that she gave him was something he hadnt realized he needed. She didn’t expect anything from him; he didn’t have to pretend to be a genius or look at him like he’d thrown his whole life away like Shermie did. She liked him for him and seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. The admiration she expressed at his ever expanding collection of oddities was voiced almost as often as Soos’, and she constantly seemed to eavesdrop on his tours caught up in his showmanship. It was nice to feel like some one really cared about him that was family. And somewhere deep down inside he was afraid if she met the rest of the family she would start seeing him as the screw up they did.

So they kept on, Billie showing up every few months for a visit. Their relationship wasn’t an openly affectionate one, instead both acting more like they tolerated each other. Much of the time was spent bickering over little things or making stupid bets over anything and everything they could. Yet, the affection they had was there, Billie cooking for them even as she loudly complained that his kitchen wasn’t suited for making a bowl of cereal or Stan calling her a moron for riding that damned bike around with busted tail light because she’d lead the cops right to him only to claim he had no idea how it got fixed by the next morning. It was a bit unconventional, but it seemed to work well for both of them. Not to mention the entertainment it added to Soos and Wendy’s life when they were constantly trying to one up the other.

And so time rolled on until one Tuesday in July Billie trudged up the road her bag slung across her back and a large box in her arms. Glancing around seeing the parking lot empty aside from Soos’ truck and Stan’s car she figured that the sticky heat that hung in the air had chased everyone into whatever cooler shelter they could find. Hopping up the steps she easily caught the handle and pushed the door open with her hip.

“Hey Stan I brought you a gold mine. I managed to get my hands on a two headed fish and a six legged chicken. I figure you can stick them together and…,” she yelled before skidding to a halt. In front of her a little girl with thick brown hair and a neon green sweater with a yellow heart stood braces gleaming as she grinned up at her,

“Hi! Do you have a two tailed rat too?” the child asked eagerly. "Uhhhhh… no?” Billie said, her eyes darting around the room for the old man before returning to the preteen who was bouncing eagerly on her heels, “Why? Do you need one?” she asked, unable to come up with anything else to say.

“No, I just thought it would be neat,” the girl told her cheerfully.

“Oh, okay, cool,” Billie said, staring at her like she had two heads, “STAN THERE’S A STRAY CHILD IN THE LIVING ROOM!” she yelled causing the girl to laugh and shake her head.

“I’m not a stay child, I’m Mabel. Stan’s my great uncle,” she told the older woman causing Billie’s eyes to widen significantly, “Who are you?”

“Uhhhhh Billie,” she replied after a second taking a step back. This wasn’t ideal, while she had not recognized her by sight, she was well aware of Mabel and her brother Mason. They were two of the five family members she’d been avoiding meeting. Feeling a light sweat break out on her body, she resisted the urge to bolt back out the door.

“Oh hey dude,” Soos said as he walked in from the gift shop raising a hand and letting out a laugh. Beside him was a boy who looked eerily similar to the girl beaming up at her who’s face pulled into a suspicious look. Mason, he had his great uncle’s nose, and his eyes; sharp and shrewd.

“Hey Soos,” she said automatically grateful for the presence of another adult at least, “Stan around?”

“Yeah, he’s in the store room. Didn’t know you were coming,” he told her and she rolled her shoulders in an uncomfortable shrug.

“Yeah, well, my bike needs a total overhaul so I dropped it off at the garage this morning,” she explained.

“Cool you can totally help me and Dipper find what whatever is stealing the extra snacks out of the store room while you’re here,” the big man laughed.

“Wait, who are you?” Mason demanded, staring at her.

“Oh dude, you don’t know her?” Soos asked, looking down at him, “She’s Billie. Her Dad is a friend of Stan’s and she stays here when she’s between jobs, man. She’s a private investigator an’ like super cool,” he chuckled and Billie couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips. Soos was such a sweetheart she couldn’t help but like him.

“Whoa, you’re a real PI?” Mason said, staring up at her, his suspicion disappearing to be replaced by quiet excitement.

“Like ducktective!?” Mable chimed in and Billie couldn’t help but pull a face.

“The duck is a hack,” she said automatically, the statement one she had said a million times to Stan, “He doesn’t 90% of his investigation is based on conjecture and assumed facts. Plus, he’s closer to the ground so he can find stuff way too easily.”

“That’s what I said,” Dipper said eagerly, “So you…,”

“What the heck is all the commotion out here? I can hear… Billie!” Stan interrupted himself as he walked his eyes widening as he spotted her, “What are you doing here?!”

“My bike needs an overhaul so I figured I’d drop in since Bats said he’s gonna have to rip it apart,” she told him raising her brows, “You didn’t say you had company though, so I’ll just head over to the Twin,” she said showing the box into his arms and turning, “Nice meeting you guys”

“Wait,” Stan said, glancing down at the kids, before looking back at his daughter who looked like she was ready to run screaming from the house, “I mean you could stay here. We found an extra room,” he told her quickly causing her to cock a brow, her face falling into a skeptical look.

“You found a room?” she asked, “Stan… how on earth did you have a room you didn’t know about? You built the house,” she reminded him and he hesitated before scoffing.

“I’m old. Old people forget things,” he said matter a factly causing her to roll her eyes.

“You forgot a whole room?” she demanded, crossing her arms and resting all her weight on one hip.

“Yeah, and the wax museum,” Maple provided cheerfully causing Billie’s mouth to fall open slightly.

“You have a wax museum?” she demanded.

“Had, we had to melt them all because they were alive cause of a curse and decapitated Wax Stan,” Mabel chirped causing the older woman’s eye brows to shoot up in disbelief, “Well, Larry King’s head is still running around. We can’t get him out of the vents.”

“Well… glad to see the weirdness has cranked up to a 12. Guess the gnomes were too mundane,” she muttered and Dipper stared at her.

“Wait, you know about the gnomes?!” he demanded and she shrugged uncomfortably as both the kids’ stared up at her. Shifting nervously she rolled her shoulders again pulled at he hem of her shirt.

“Don’t everyone? I mean the dam…darn things ‘re everywhere, I always ‘ave ta chase them out of my sattle bags,” she replied casually before catching Stan staring at her like she was spilling state secrets, “What? Are we pretendin’ this place isn’t totally insane? Oh, my bad. Gnomes aren’t real and there sure as he…heck ain’t little campfires that run 'round or a weird thing that stalks you but you can’t never catch cause it’s always behind you,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Whoa, you have to stay,” Dipper said eagerly, “No one believes me about that stuff.”

“Yeah! And you can help me even out the guy vibe around here,” Mabel said happily and Billie hesitated glancing at Stan who shrugged. Widening her eyes she cocked her head at him in an effort for some help, while the kids seemed nice the thought of getting to know them freaked her out. She was just getting okay with the idea of Stan in her life, and honestly children in general freaked her out. Kids were one of those things she avoided like the plague because she didn’t want to be the reason that one of them turned out… like her.

“Your call, kid,” Stan rumbled unhelpfully, causing Billie to let out a sigh. Looking down at the kids who stared up at her eagerly and then back at Stan who’s stoic scowl slipped for a moment his eyes widening and pleading slightly she found her excuses running dry. She had a feeling that the Twin was full up, she had passed it on the way in and saw the parking lot full. Undoubtedly exhausted travelers had stopped in an effort to escape the heat and stuffy cars. And while she was sure she could head to the next town over she didn’t want to, her bike was in the shop down town and she didn’t want to have to ride the damned bus back and forth.

“Okay, I guess a few days wouldn’t hurt,” she sighed causing Mabel to let out a delighted squeal and longing forward to wrap her arms around her in a delighted hug causing Billie to grow up her hands in surprised alarm. Hugging wasn’t something she was a big fan of in general, it was one of those things that evoked…feelings. Looking over at Stan she hunched her shoulders and shook her head; she didn’t want to just shove the kid away but at the same time she didn’t know what else to do.

“Great! What are your feelings on glitter?” the girl demanded pulling away much to Billie’s relief though the sudden question threw her.

“It was created by Satan and should be banned from every place of existence,” Billie replied flatly taking a hesitant step back in case the girl lunged at her again.

“Hmmmm, make up?” Mabel said disapprovingly.

“Expensive an’ pointless.”

“Scrapbooking?”

“Evidence trail so no.”

“Boy bands?”

“Ummmm, nonthreatenin’?”

“Pigs?”

“Adorable, but also delicious.”

“Sweaters? Specifically knitted ones?”

“Cozy an’ underrrated.”

“Mmmmmm, we have some work to do, but you have potential,” Mabel declared squinting up at her as she rubbed her chin. Billie gave a tense smile and let out an uncomfortable laugh. Potential for what, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Mabel stop doing…,” Stan barked gesturing at her, “….that. You okay kid?” he asked raising a brow at Dipper who stood staring opened mouth at Billie, “Yur sweatier then normal.”

“Yeah,” Dipper said his voice cracking, “Soos, Mabel I need to talk to you about…stuff,” he stammered as he backed towards the door, “So you know…we should go…talk….about stuff…outside,” he added causing Billie to raise a brow as they watched him awkwardly back out the door slamming into the door frame as he went. Soos chuckled as he followed him, Mabel running after him as she declared him a dork. Watching them go Billie shook her head before glancing at Stan.

“What in the Sam Hill, Stanford?” she demanded her head whipping over to glare at him, “Yuh couldn’t'ave mentioned yuh had them here? I talked to yuh two days ago an’ mentioned I’d be comin’ through.”

“It’s been a weird summer,” he replied with a shrug, “Come on it won’t be so bad. Besides this way you can get a feel for 'em before you introduce 'urself to the rest of 'em. If you can survive Mabel and get Dipper you can handle the rest of them no problem. Now what is this crap?” he asked shaking the box she’d handed him.

“A two 'eaded fish and six legged chicken. Real ones, not like the half asses crap yuh usually put out,” she told him a hint of annoyance lingering in her words.

“Yeah well we’ll see about that,” he scoffed

~*~

“What is your deal?” Mabel asked as she watched her twin pace back and forth babbling excitedly as he paged through the journal,

“Dude, you’re freakin’ out,” Soos told him and the boy stopped his eyes wide with excitement as he stared at them like they’d missed something.

“Didn’t you see her hand” he asked his voice high with excitement.

“What?” Mabel asked her face twisting in confusion.

“Her hand. Her left hand has six fingers,” he insisted only to receive raised brows from his sister and a head cock from Soos causing him to let out an exasperated sigh, “She had six fingers guys!”

“Bro you’re loosing me here,” Mabel told him shaking her head.

“Yeah, I mean it’s kind of weird but…,” Soos told him and he rolled his eyes as he snapped the journal closed holding the battered leather cover up to them.

“Her left hand has six fingers,” he repeated slowly, a sense of satisfaction washing over him as they caught up to him.

“No way,” Mabel said her voice airy with awe.

“Dude,” Soos droned staring at the golden emblem on the front, “Dude!”

“I know!” Dipper said his voice almost shouting as he flipped the book around to start at it, “I mean I assumed the author was a guy but…that can’t be just a coincidence. I mean she knows about the gnomes and she said something about the Hide Behind I think,” he said as he flipped through the journal. “All summer we’ve been looking for the author in town but what if they hid the book because they were leaving town?” he mused his words all but running together.

“But Dipper that book is like a hundred years old, and she’s like twenty,” Mabel said pumping the breaks as usual. Pausing Dipper’s brows scrunched together in thought. That was true, and it said that the author had been studying the place for six year after traveling around. And while she could have started the journal when she was a kid it seemed like the author wrote like an adult.

“Wait, what if she’s like the author’s daughter,” Soos said causing them to look at him, “I mean she just showed up a few years ago. Like one day she was just there, but she comes to town like all the time. And she’s always going out in the forest. Maybe she’s looking for him too dude,” he suggested and Dipper once again wondered at Soos strange brand of insight.

“So what? You gonna ask her?” Mabel demanded and Dipper’s mouth twisted in contemplation.

“Mmmmm, maybe we should see if we can find anything out first. You’re good at getting people to tell you things.”

“It’s one of my talents,” Mabel said proudly.

“Right, so you find out what you can about her. She has to have something to do with the journals,” he said sternly, “We’re on the edge of finding out something big I just know it.”

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #au gravity falls #stan pines #billie pine #the apple doesnt fall far #AO3 #gf #dipper pines #mabel pines #pines family #pines family bonding #illegitimate pines #Mystery Shack #still suck at hashtags

3 notes · View notes

pokesception · 5 years

Photo

Whelp, started playing pokemon sword. Have complained quite a bit here about dexit & related issues, and honestly I would have skipped at least the initial versions of these games entirely, or at least held off on purchasing them until we could see just how egregious pokemon home will be. But my brother got shield, and my problems with sword and shield are not so severe that I’m going to refuse to play a game with family.

Thoughts so far? Setting dexit entirely aside it’s... another pokemon game, for better and worse. Largely for the better. The new monsters, at least those I’ve encountered so far, are fun and good. Music is nice. Tone is bright and cheerful. I love my team, and my protagonist. It’s been nice.

As expected going to a more powerful console, it looks better, but it’s not a huge jump from the 3ds games, not least because lot of the visuals of this game are ported over directly from those games, and the stuff that is new has been made so as to not clash aesthetically with the older stuff. If you’ve seen mods of usum that display the games at higher res and without the black outlines, it’s very much like that. Closer to that even than to the let’s go games in ways that I find difficult to articulate. In and of itself that’s not a complaint, really, the game looks plenty good enough for a pokemon tame. It’s just not a major leap forward in presentation like the leap from gen 5 to gen 6 was.

Gameplay is mostly what you might expect. Tall grass battles are an interesting mix of pokemon you can see on the field and engage or avoid as you wish and random battles that appear in the grass. The random fights appear as a rustling in the grass that again can be pursued or avoided, you just can’t tell what they’ll be before you bump into them. Finding rarer pokemon in a route is often a matter of sneaking or dashing between the new pokemon to get to the random fight, then crossing your fingers and hoping for the pokemon you want. I’m not sure if there’s deeper levels to it, like chaining or whatever. At the surface level it’s engaging enough.

The new pokemon are great so far. There’s a bunch early on that you won’t have seen if you avoided leaks, and that was really excited. I went into gen 7 knowing every new pokemon and with a particular desired team all worked out in advance. This time around I’ve avoided spoilers, and gamefreaks official previews have kept a lot more hidden, so it’s been really fun to meet a lot of cool new faces early on.

The game does let you skip some early tutorials, but still frustrates to no end by stopping you every three seconds for another unnecessary explanation or detour, so it’s still pokemon in that unfortunate regard. Routes are, if anything, more linear than ever before, at least early on, with the exception of an early expedition through the wild area which... I’ll talk about later.

Experience share is always on and cannot be turned off. It scales shared xp based on the level of the pokemon, with lower level pokemon getting a higher portion, but not by enough so it’s still a pain to keep everything in the same level range, and you’ll still probably be wildly over leveled from very early on with nary a challenge to be seen even if you try to avoid grinding.

You can access the box from anywhere, which can be used to help overcome both the maintaining-a-level-range and over leveling problems of the experience share, but it’s a hassle to do, and wouldn’t be necessary if you could just toggle off shared exp in the options menu. And on another level it makes the game even easier, since attrition is much less of a problem when you can swap in fresh pokemon whenever you feel like.

The online functionality is... kind of bad. Maybe it’s just my internet, but being online in the wild area causes all sorts of slowdown. Worse, there’s no equivalent to the pss functionality from gen 6. No way to just see which of your switch friends are online and directly offer to trade or battle with them. No instead you have to contact them *outside of the game* to share a 4 digit password, and then hope that nobody else happens to be using the same password as you when you try to connect with each other. Raid battles are neat, but infuriatingly use the same password hassle. You can’t just have easy friend-only raids from within the game itself.

It’s marginally better then gen 7′s festival plaza, but it remains miles and miles behind gen 6′s pss system that was simple and intuitive, and just centuries ahead of anything that came before or after.

Apart from raid battles, the wild area is... interesting? Not all that different from having just a really big route with subareas of various level ranges. Not bad, but not as big a departure as I had made it out to be in my head. An idea with some potential that future games might expand into something great but that, knowing this series, will just be dropped after a single generation instead. I’m still pretty early in the game, so my opinion on it might change after returning to it later.

The biggest frustration of the wild area, and something that brings it down tremendously, is that while you can encounter, and with some effort defeat, pokemon there, you cannot catch them at all if they’re above an arbitrary level range set by your number of gym badges. This runs so completely counter to everything almost good about the wild area that I basically swore the whole thing off until I get to the end of the game, and frankly they might as well have just made it a post game area at that rate.

It’s extra frustrating because the problem of a player getting access to a pokemon too strong for the game too early on is one that the pokemon games already solved infinitely more elegantly all the way back in gen 1! Just make pokemon that you acquire at too high a level uncontrollable, exactly like traded pokemon, so you can catch that over leveled onyx or whatever, but can’t use it until you’ve progressed far enough in the game for it not to be over leveled anymore. How hard is that? And who cares if a player gets an over powered pokemon early and steam rolls the game? If that’s how the player wants to play, why is it a problem? It’s not like the main game is challenging to begin with, thanks to always on exp share its almost impossible not to have over leveled pokemon anyway, what does it matter if it’s because you caught them that way or because they just outleveled the game curve? A better exp scaling system would fix all those problems anyway.

Pokemon games not only failing to progress and solve problems that return game after game, but also repeatedly forgetting solutions that the series has already implemented is the longest running and most frustrating and most justified complaint to level at the entire series. Of course, in the past pokemon as a series always had one core feature that none of the other - often more innovative - monster hunting games that sprang up in its shadow could replicate. Backwards compatibility, the ability to maintain your collection in full going forward from generation to generation in a chain unbroken since gen 3 on game boy advance. And that’s where dexit puts a sour note on the whole business.

The last several pokemon generations have failed to significantly improve on the core gameplay of a nearly two decade old franchise, but for many that has been largely forgiven because each new generation could easily be viewed not as stand alone games but rather as major expansions to the same existing game. Dexit breaks from that, and forces the new games to be viewed as stand alone games and... well they aren’t pad at all. They’re still cute. I’m having fun so far. Sword and Shield is no Anthem, no Fallout 76, no singular disaster to turn an otherwise largely positive track record on its head, and the extreme negativity directed against the game has been way overstated, even probably by myself. In particular any vitriol directed at the devs is almost certainly unwarranted, the problems that have been growing in the pokemon series generation after generation almost certainly come down to corporate decisionmaking way above the heads of anyone who actually *worked* on the game.

Still, now that gamefreak’s pattern of cutting progressively more and more corners has reached the point of cutting actual pokemon, it’s shouldn’t be surprising that a lot of people who had been giving all those issues a pass suddenly aren’t anymore.

And while pokemon sword and shield isn’t a bad game, it’s hard to compare it to something like oras or usum and say it’s worth 50% more up front cost AND an added monthly subscription to access features like GTS that used to be just part of the game to begin with.

The dex cuts would have been more forgivable if the games had been a major leap forward, whether in graphics or gameplay. Monster Hunter World, for instance, had /dramatically/ less content in terms of sheer quantity than the games that came right before it, but it also completely overhauled the visuals, heavily revised and updated the core gameplay, and completely changed how the area maps worked.

Alternatively, I think all the people currently complaining about models and trees and balance would have been fine with ‘just another pokemon game’ if it had maintained the backwards compatibility, just as they’ve been alright with ‘just another pokemon game’ for game after game after game until now. Imagine if gamefreak had announced sword and shield as the last main line games to maintain all previous pokemon instead of the first games not to. Then at least everybody’s personal faves would have had the chance to see play on a home system, and sword and shield could advertise themselves as the biggest pokemon games ever and actually mean it, and players would have time to adjust to what was coming.

I’m reminded of a scene from the Gravity Falls Halloween episode in season one. Mabel & Dipper had always trick or treated together, but this year dipper decided to ditch mabel to try and go to a teen party, arguing that they were getting too old for trick or treating. To which Mabel says something along the lines of “I knew some Halloween would be our last, but I didn’t realize it had already happened.”

And that’s the feeling I have with pokemon right now, the wet blanket draped over all the bright colors and fun new characters and monsters in sword and shield. I knew eventually pokemon games wouldn’t be able to keep supporting all the pokemon, I knew eventually my collection would be left behind. But I didn’t think it had already happened. And to find out that gen 7 of all games was the last ‘complete’ pokemon? That’s just kind of sad to realize. And while I am on balance enjoying sword and shield, it’s a realization that keeps coming back uninvited to sour the experience.

#pokemon #swsh #non spoiler thoughts #mixed feelings #still early in the game #time yet to win me over or drive me away #some dexit griping #Only two gyms in yet #still avoiding spoilers myself #still miss pss #honestly so far that's an even bigger complaint then dexit #though that's likely to change once I get to postgame #or subsequent playthroughs

3 notes · View notes

nautiscarader · 5 years

Text

Wendip Week day 4 - I always kinda knew

(Ao3), T, some implications at the end

- I always kinda knew. - What?! Dipper looked at his sister with a mixture of shock and anger, which, as expected, did nothing to the young woman sitting across the table, who was still busy putting copious amount of jelly on her birthday toast. - Buh...Buh... Why haven't you told me sooner? - Dipper asked in frustration, still unsure ih he has properly woken up. - Eh, it would make things funnier to watch.

She took a bite of her breakfast.

- I can jusht shee the coghs in youhr bhrain shlowly turning... And as Dipper's head fell down and his face met the empty plate, the worst possible feeling has sunken into his soul: Mabel was right. - So... when?

He asked desperately and drank cup of coffee, its bitterness mixing with both the overwhelming joy he was feeling, as well as the foreboding and ominous knowledge that in a moment he's gonna receive a full tell-off and that Mabel was gonna enjoy every second of it.

- Actually - Mabel interjected, taking her phone from the pocket of her sweater. - I think I have a date of this momentous occasion! She quickly browsed through the list of her messages, and a solid minute later, she proudly presented the message to her, from an unlikely source: Tambry.

hey, mabel, your brother got hot over winter wtf?

should have seen wendy when she saw him lol

Dipper groaned, but promptly sat upright when spotted the date of the message.

- July fifteenth?! - he gasped - That's... that's two months ago! Are you telling me I could have been dating Wendy whole two months? - That's right, brother! Mabel spoke in a sing-song voice, jumpd to the living room and pulled a string underneath the ceiling Dipper thought was a leftover garland from their party.

- And this is why you're gonna get subjected to... "All the moments of this Summer where you could have realised that Wendy was in love in you but you did nothing! She continued to read the letters pasted to the red curtain that fell behind her. Some of them were written with a glittery pen.

- I couldn't fit all the letters, it was too much of a hassle do it for someone like you, anyway. A faint giggling reached Dipper's ear from his left. Wendy snickered, opening her mouth for the first time since Mabel's revelation.

- What? - she asked when Dipper looked at her with accusatory look in his eyes - It's pretty cool she did something like that. - What, to humiliate me? - Oh come on, Dipper - Wendy cupped his face and gave him a kiss. The third kiss of his life so far.

No matter how bummed he was feeling knowing he could have spent this summer with Wendy as his girlfriend, the feeling of her lips on his filled him with warmth that electrified him, sending sparks to every corner of his seventeen-years old body.

- Come on, dude, it's gonna be like watching a bad movie. - Yeah, I suppose so. Dipper smiled, and the walked to the living room, where Mabel has already plugged her phone to the archaic TV. He sat as comfortably as he could, and shyly sat next to Wendy. After a while she sighed, and grabbed his arm to coil it around her neck.

The screen flickered, as the modern signal had to cram itself through several adapters, but the room was soon filled with sound and colours, as Mabel's video showed a familiar scene from a few weeks ago.

- This is gonna be amazing...! - Mabel's face filled the screen, as she turned the phone around - Dipper! Come to us! We've got ice cream! Dipper watched as his five-weeks younger self walks to the table occupied by Wendy, Mabel, and her two friends.

- What flavour? - Strawberry - Candy replied quickly - Oh gosh! I just remembered we had an important appointment! - Mabel suddenly spoke in a would-be dramatic voice, enunciating each word - What a shame we have to leave you guys, with the ice cream that was already paid for! For a moment, the screen became a blur as Mabel, Candy and Grenda rushed away to watch the two from a hidden place around the corner. A moment later, the camera zoomed, filling the screen with Dipper and Wendy sitting silently at the table.

- So... - Dipper said - Watched anything interesting lately? - Er, no, I don't think so - Wendy replied, trying to hide her blush - But you know, we... could watch something, maybe? - I thought we went through all the old VHS of your dad? - Yeah... - she fixed her hair nervously - I was thinking more like a cinema, you know. Like, a proper movie. - Oh, yeah, sure. - he replied quickly - I bet others would like to go too. We can take Soos and see the new Manbat movie! - And there we go! Mabel's voice rang in Dipper's ears, as she suddenly stopped the video.

- Not only you failed to notice the humongous blush on Wendy's face as she was left with you....

Mabel used a laser pointer to circle Wendy's face.

- But you also proposed to bring other people on a movie date! That's a purple card, Dipper. - There are no purple cards in soccer, Mabel. - Well, there should be for people like you! She blew a raspberry at him, which again prompted a laughter from Wendy.

- Come on, Mabel, I was as clueless there as he was. - Maybe, but feast your eyes on this! She tapped her phone and the video changed to another familiar image. Dipper instantly recognised the beige walls, covered in red writing, obscured by the shadows. Until this day they weren't sure if it was the aliens, or first natives of this land, who have build this temple, but they surely won't be coming back there soon.

- Come on, quickly! - Mabel's voice rang from the TV - It's gonna collapse! The silhouettes of Soos and Melody filled the screen, and they had to wait a while until they could see themselves. Wendy was walking up the collapsing corridor, helping limping Dipper to move at all. At some point she cursed, and much to Dipper's surprise, she simply took him into his arms and ran way faster than either of them could expect.

- Come on, Mabel! She nagged her, and for a moment the image became blurry, the audio glitched, and the next image that was clear was from the outside, showing the collapsed cave and the dust setting in. But Mabel was quick to move her phone to Dipper, still aching in Wendy's arms.

- It's gonna be alright, Dip, it's twisted, not broken... - Wendy cooed over Dipper, patting gently his head. - Wendy... you... you saved my life. - Come on, man, you'd do the same for us - Wendy shrugged, never taking eyes from him, a beaming smile dawning on her face. - You... you were amazing back there... Though Mabel was shaking, the camera remained perfectly still, showing Dipper's face inches from Wendy's. Tired from the adventure, Dipper closed his eyes, and Wendy followed, shortening the distance even more. Her hand slid to his cheeks, and their noses almost touched, when a sudden rubble made them come back to reality, foiling their moment of intimacy.

- There! - Mabel interrupted again - You guys were this close to a smooch! - Oh... - Dipper's eyes opened wide. - You... er, you wanted to... me... there? Wendy blushed and shied away.

- Well, you know, the occasion seemed kinda, you know... - One and a half inch! - Mabel suddenly exclaimed. Mabel took a measuring tape, put it on the screen and then shoved in front of their faces.

- Can you imagine how frustrated we were? - Don't exaggerate Mabel... - I'm not! She resumed the video and quickly turned to Soos and Melody, both staring at the scene with mouths wide open in anticipation. The next moment, when Wendy and Dipper moved apart, their faces became filled with disappointment, Melody shook her fist behind their backs and then used her hands to mimic the two kissing, cursing silently under her breath.

- And for the cup of grace, I present to you... - It's not pronounced that way - Dipper grumbled. - Shush, brother. As I was saying, the final proof is... Dipper didn't even have to watch it to know what adventure was going to be next. The ominous noise from the speakers reminded him of the fear of the tornado that rushed through the southern outskirts of their city, uprooting trees from the forest. He knew Mabel was recording the whole operation, as Ford was trying to capture the tornado in a box to study it further. Dipper opened his eyes, knowing what he'll see. The three of them were holding Mabel's hands, as she was the only one with a line, secured to the less secure ladder on top of a shack outside of town. The camera moved from side to side, while the two flew in the wind like flags, torn by the violent element around them.

- Wendy! - Dipper spoke - I don't know if I'm gonna come out of this alive! - What? - Wendy shouted - Can't hear you! - I just wanted to say... - he looked at the camera mounted to his sister's sweater - ...that I love you, Wendy. I have never stopped. - Dipper, I can't hear you, but Dipper, I wish I spoke to you sooner! - the lumberjane shouted over the wind - What? - I think I got a major crush on you this summer! Like, maybe more than a major one... - ...and you're smart, and funny, and brave... - Dipper continued. - ...dude, you're such a funny guy to have around... - ...and I think we could have two kids, I suppose, and a house with a garden, of course, a dog, maybe... - ...and it's gonna be such a bummer when you'll leave... - OH COME ON! Mabel from the TV screamed, and letting a deafening cry, she pulled both her Dipper and Wendy down the ladder, one step at a time, while the camera showed the eye of the tornado sucking the air above them. When the force of gravity took over, though, the three tumbled on the roof of the house, and Mabel was positively screaming at them.

- I'm so gonna make an exaggerated clip compilation of you guys, you are the worst. But I'm also glad you are alive.

She pulled them into a hug, making sure to press Wendy and Dipper's cheeks together.

- It's so sad! - Mabel sniffed - It's like a Greek tragedy, he can't her her, she can't hear him... - Why did you even film that part? - Cos you know, if someone found the phone, they'd know you were in love, and, I don't know, they'd make a shared grave or something? - That's... uh, sweet, I guess - Wendy raised her brow - And kinda pessimistic. Mabel blew her nose, and unapologetically pulled the cable from the TV screen.

- Well, that concludes my presentation. Conclusion? You are both dum-dums, and as a result, perfect for each other. I mean, Wendy, you are freaking cool, but... put you next to him, and this year you just...

Mabel dragged her finger in a circular motion next to her head. - Still, I'm glad you have finally found each other. Again. - she rolled her eyes. - Well, thanks Mabel - Wendy smiled - Just don't film us anymore, okay? - I won't I won't. But I am gonna upload this on-line. - Mabel! - Dipper jumped from the sofa, but was promptly stopped by Wendy. Her arms not only got hold of him, but turned him around, so his lips could meet hers in a fourth, fifth, and sixth kiss they have exchanged so far, all tasting like yesterday's cherry birthday cake, and a little bit like maple syrup Wendy had for breakfast. - Let her go, she probably wants to spend time with Paz. - Wendy spoke, when she had to take a breath. - Okay, just for you. - Dipper smiled. - It's just, Wendy... I'm sorry for not telling you sooner... - Hey, dude, I'm guilty as well. I guess I now know how you felt when you were twelve. The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

- Okay, from now on, we just tell things straight to ourselves, deal? - Deal, dude.

And before Dipper could react, she threw herself onto him, lay her head on his shoulder, and whispered her idea into his ear, as directly as she could, so there could be no misunderstandings whatsoever. For a moment, it left Dipper frozen, until she straightened her back and looked into his widened eyes.

- Now? Shouldn't we keep... you know, kissing? - We're gonna kiss a lot during it. - Wendy smirked and wiggled her brow. - T-True, I guess...

Dipper spoke in a tiny voice, and let Wendy lead him into seventh, eight and ninth kiss, knowing fully well they might go into triple digits by the time he'll leave Gravity falls tomorrow morning.

#wendip #wendipweek #wendip week #wendy x dipper #dipperxwendy #gravity falls #dipper pines #wendy corduroy #I always kinda knew #nautiscaraderfics

10 notes · View notes

raphaelsplinter · 5 years

Text

|| Get to know RAPHAEL SPLINTER who’s TWENTY-TWO years old and a SENIOR in college majoring in LAW. He is from NEW YORK and is often times mistaken for ARON PIPER while others say he reminds them of RAPH from TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. ||

heyo all, my name is pepper, and after spending way too long getting distracted and watching jenna marble videos sdjksdjk Here I Am to introduce my grumpy problem child, raph ! a bit about me i guess, i’m a pinterest addict and a big fergie fan, i can only wink with both eyes (still counts tho right?) and i love b99, the good place, and umbrella academy. alright down bellow will be a bit about My Boi and some wcs i have for him ! please * youtuber vc * sMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON if you’d like to plot and i will come running okay? okay

tl;dr for those who don’t want to go through this whole thing, he’s the raph you loved and knew from tmnt except he’s bifurious, been to juvie, and had a period of his life where he was a vigilante.

to start before i forget here is his pinterest board ! blood tw though !

Raph has always used his fists to solve his problems. Violence was as natural to him as breathing, something he’d been turning to since before he can remember, and truly never really learnt how to stop. From punching kids who bugged him on the playground to picking fights with jerks who looked at him funny, Raphael was, and likely always will be, a bit aggressive. Quick to anger and even quicker to throw a punch because of it.

It was his adopted father who decided to help him channel this anger into something constructive. At first Raph thought it was stupid. After all, he already knew how to punch somebody, he didn’t need to know how to do it with gloves on. But at his father’s patient insistence, Raphael tried it, and unexpectedly (at least to Raphael) it helped. Yes, Raph was still eternally in a bad mood, but now when it all got too much and his anger felt like a noose around his neck, he had something to turn to rather than the first person who ticked him off.

But it wasn’t long until Raph didn’t just have boxing to turn to. Not just karate and taekwondo either, no, somehow Raph accidentally stumbled into an even more unexpected outlet. You see, Raph’s sense of justice was almost as strong as his anger, and that was maybe the one thing he and his family all shared, the one thing they all had in common, even his father. None of them could just sit back and allow someone else to get hurt, and it was that sense of justice that led Raph into some light pseudo vigilantism. It wasn’t anything big or, hell, organised. Honestly, the way it started was with Raph hearing something suspicious in an alley, going in guns-- or rather fists-- blazing and taking care of it himself rather than calling the police. But the thing was, it became a pattern. It became a choice. It got to the point where Raph would go out at night and roam the streets, waiting to see if anything was going down, waiting to step in. And it was New York, after all, it was the cesspool of the earth, something was always going down. Almost every night through most of his teenage years Raph would come home with bloodied knuckles and bruises, hurting like hell and having to hide it all from his family but… he felt good. He felt lighter. Doing what he was doing then, it felt better than just punching someone to punch somebody. It felt like he was actually helping people, like he was using his anger that only ever seemed to hurt people to actually do something good for once. For a while Raph thought that he was truly doing what he was supposed to be doing. That he had found his calling (although he would die before saying that out loud. Too damn cheesy).

Until of course, predictably, everything went downhill. Using his anger as a tool seemed like a great idea, and it would have been, if he knew how to control it. How to wield it like his dual daggers or his fists. But he didn’t. And because of that he slipped up, let his anger get the better of him, let it overflow one night and went too far. It didn’t matter than Raphael was stepping in between the guy and the girl he was harassing. It didn’t even matter that the girl defended him. The police didn’t care. He nearly put the guy in a coma, and he was pressing charges, and those charges landed Raph in the slammer for a whole year.

Luckily Raph was spared being charged an adult by the fact that he was seventeen at the time. While he did get a record, and lost a year of his life to the incident, it all really could have been much worse. He was able to see his family every once and a while when he had visitation. And he was able to continue school from in there. Juvie, as horrible as it was, was almost like the wake up call he needed. It was the push he needed to realize that he couldn’t let his anger control him. He needs to learn to control it.

So he’s learning. Slowly and grudgingly through mandated anger management. In all honesty, he hates it, and he slips up all the time, but he keeps going to his appointments. He keeps coming back, and he figures that must count for something.

Getting into university with a record wasn’t exactly easy, even with Raphael’s grades. Yeah, Raph was no Leo or Don but there’s not much else to do in juvie but workout and study, so that’s what Raph did. Found out he was actually pretty decent in school when he actually put the effort in and had no other options. Not that most universities or colleges even cared. Raphael had stubbornly convinced himself that he didn’t even want to go (after all, he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to do with his life, whether that be opening his own boxing ring or becoming a personal trainer, so he might not even need university in the first place) ( and because being angry was so much easier than being disappointed) until he got the offer from Corona. And yeah he thought it was stupid, and kind of shady, but... he didn’t really have any other options, and his brothers were going too. So he figured why not.

Raph decided to study law because again, why tf not. He minored in italian language and literature because-- well you get the drill. Honestly, if you were to ask Raphael about his major he would simply shrug, grumble, or give you the finger, but after being on the wrong side of the law for so long he wants to know it. In all honesty, Raph doesn’t trust cops or a lot of law enforcement, he thinks a lot of them are incompetent and stupid, and if he has his way, he’s going to be apart of changing that and maybe show these morons how it should be done.

HEADCANNONS

I have a headcannon that Raph took up italian when bored out of his mind in juvie, actually didn’t find it that hard, and he’s just been continuing to learn it and find it pretty damn easy here in Corona. I will say though, Raph isn’t the best student. He isn’t the best with authority figures who aren’t his father (the single and only authority figure he respects) so he tends to be rude in lecture, and ditch a lot, but he aces all his assignments so the professors can’t complain.

Raph is a smoker (both weed and cigarettes) and he doesn’t really care what anyone has to say about it. He figures they’re his lungs to ruin.

Raph has a sleeve at tattoos down his right arm, and an earring in his left ear.

Tends to work out/spar while he’s stressed.

Is a kind of impulsive and aggressive drunk, but also very loose and warm too if that makes sense, he can go from happy to angry at the drop of a hat.

He’s very protective of his youngest brother Mike, and that protectiveness can sometimes extend to other people younger than him. He doesn’t care for the most part, but Raph will always stick up or look out for the little guy, even if he does so grumpily.

The biggest potty mouth in the world omg, like it was hard for me not to curse while writing this while in his head space. He needs a swear jar.

Has some abandonment issues and identity issues due to the whole adoption thing but yk it’s chill he’s trying to chill dkjdfjk

THICK new york accent love this for him

WANTED CONNECTIONS ; literally almost forgot to put these oof sorry y’all i’m a fool

friends ; raph is hella antisocial so i’d say there’s maybe two spots for these but i would love for him to have some people he actually like Semi likes to be around yk that would be cool (4/4) vanellope, merida, shego, dipper !

annoyance ; someone who bugs him. this is pretty self explanatory but this could be like a big brother/younger sibling kind of situation or it could just be someone who gets on his Last Nerve mabel !

someone he looks out for ; someone raph is protective of! this could be because he thinks of them as a younger sibling, or because he just feels the need to watch out for them and he doesn’t know why. we can plot this out ! rosetta & daphne ! (2/?)

an ex ; raph despite his moody ass, does tend to date even if it’s kind of rare. this could be someone who dated raph for whatever amount of time and maybe it well or maybe it went horribly.

a past hookup ; self explanatory i think but raph has more hookups than actual relationships so if anyone is interested this is open to f / m / or nb! (1/?) angelica !

a fwb ; again self explanatory and open to all genders ! shego !

a soft spot ; someone who raph has a soft spot for for reasons that can be plotted. this grump is just a little less grumpy around them for reasons idek yet i just figure this could be fun. (2/2) rapunzel & boo !

a sparring partner ; someone who raph turns to when he physically wants to fight. friends with benefits except the benefit is fighting lmao flynn & vanellope !

enemies ; someone who raph hates, and it’s mutual, or maybe it’s one sided ! slightly !

stoner buddy ; coraline !

i think that’s it for now but i’m always willing to brainstorm tbh hit your girl up !

#r.s. | intro.#finally finished this woop

7 notes · View notes

minijenn · 6 years

Note

GB!Steven:"This is all my fault," after Stonemason is unmasked as Dipper.

“This is all my fault”

Steven’s long sigh almost came out as a sob, though all thesame, it still served to stir up the steam coming from the undrunk mug of hotchocolate he was loosely gripping. The young Gem was enshrouded in a cocoon of blanketsthanks to Pearl as he sat upright and alone, staring absently at the remainderof his bed in front of him, refusing to so much as even think about glancing downat the other vacant one stacked below his. A bed that, he silently, painfullyreminded himself, would likely remain vacant for quite some time, unless somesort of miracle happened soon. Which of course, was only a matter of wishfulthinking at best.

As caught up in his own remorse and grief as he was, Stevendidn’t even notice as someone climbed up onto his bunk, lightly taking a seatnear the foot of the bed and keeping in a state of silence for quite some time.If anything, the young Gem simply buried his face deeper into his blankets, notwanting to meet whatever expression of heartache and anguish Lapis was morethan likely wearing. He was admittedly quite surprised, however, when, of allthings, the blue Gem suddenly starting laughing.

Unable to deny his curiosity, Steven looked up, his eyeswide as he looked to Lapis, who had a hand pressed against her head as shechuckled almost hysterically. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, her grinlarge and manic and even unsettling to an extent, yet tainted with obviouspain. Pain that Steven understood well; after all, they were both missingsomething so incredibly important. Something they weren’t sure they’d everreally get back.

“Um… Lapis?” the young Gem finally spoke up, hesitantly andfretfully as the blue Gem kept laughing. “Why are you… er… a-are you ok?”

Lapis belted out another heavy chuckle at this, sobs accompanyingjust about every gale of laughter, though somehow, words still sprinkledthemselves in the spaces between. “H-he… h-e’s alive…” she chortled, throwing her head back as a sound of sharp sorrowescaped her. “A-all this time… I-I… I though she had… that she… would have… t-thathe was… d-dead and y-yet he’s… alive a-and here on Earth a-and… a-and…” Theblue Gem’s laughter finally broke down into a wail of absolute agony, herslipping sanity over the matter of her missing son clearly tearing her apart. “Andhe’s still gone!”

The most Steven could do as Lapis seemed to crumble to piecesbefore him was watch with silent, tearful empathy, his grief mirroring hers inso many ways. The young Gem shuddered at the thought that, in whatever minor,indirect way, he was in fact the one responsible for her grief, for Mabel’sgrief, for the Gems’ grief, for Dipper’s grief,for even his own grief.

And with the weight of so much grief on his shoulders, itwas only a matter of time before he fell under the pressure of it all.

“L-Lapis, I…” Steven hesitated, having no idea what to say tothe Gem who had lost someone she cared so deeply for. In truth there was somuch he wanted to say to her, whichwas why he decided to start with the very first thing that popped into hishead. “T-this is all my fault!”

Lapis stilled abruptly at this, her sobs silencing as shelooked to the young Gem with wide eyes of surprise. “W-what?”

“W-what happened to Dipper….” Steven swallowed a sob back,burrowing himself deeper into his mass of blankets as he averted the blue Gem’sgaze. “What Yellow Diamond did to him… s-she only hurt him like that because ofme! She t-tortured him, and cut hisarm off, and turned him i-into… into what he is now because I let him and Mabel go to Homeworld withme! Because I wasn’t quick enough tosave him! Because I didn’t protecthim like I promised you I would! A-and now he’s… he’s not… I don’t think we’llbe able to…” The young Gem trailed off miserably, burying his face in his blanketsas he sobbed uncontrollably over his beloved brother’s dark fate, a fate thatseemed as though there was no way to pull him out of. A fate that Steven knewhe deserved far more than Dipper ever did.

However, once again, Lapis surprised Steven by quickly, almostforcibly pulling him over to her, wrapping her arms around him so tightly hecould barely breathe as she held onto his securely, desperately sobbing for amoment before she whispered to him intentfully. “Steven, listen to me. None of this is your fault. You did theabsolute best you could to protect him. You always have. If anyone’s to blamehere, its me. Keeping Dipper safe,keeping both of you safe, is my job, not yours.” Lapis pulled back atthis, placing a hand against her young ward’s face to wipe some of his still pressingtears away as she offered him a small, pained smile. “You and Dipper have grownup so fast. Too fast. You can’timagine how much I wish I could go back to the days when you were both smalland innocent and free. But… I can’t…we can only move forward now… even if… even if everything looks absolutelyawful right now…”

“B-but… how can we do that?” Steven snuffled morosely. “Dipper…h-he… he’s-”

“I know,” Lapis shook her head, tears still streaming downher cheeks. “But maybe he won’t be forever. After all, we thought we’d neversee him again, but here he is. All we need to do is bring him back for real this time. And if there’s anyonewho’s great at bringing one of my boys home, then it usually my other boy.”

At this, the blue Gem’s smile took on a hint of warmth asshe affectionately ruffled Steven’s hair, eliciting a brief grin from the youngGem himself. From then on, a sad, but hopeful silence lingered between them forquite some time as Steven lay his head on Lapis’ lap, both of them listening tothe ongoing rain outside and wondering if, perhaps in some distant, faded partof a certain assassin’s mind, Dipper might be doing the exact same thing.

(Hm… ya know… I honestly really haven’t written a lot of bonding stuff between Steven and Lapis? Hence why as soon as I got this prompt I was like “Oh fuck yes this seems like an angsty lil Steven and Lapis moment, hence this brief bundle of sloppily written angst lol)

#jen writes #universe falls #drabble prompts #gem bros #steven #lapis

13 notes · View notes

endae · 7 years

Text

|rescind, reset|

[AO3]

“Life is precious” isn’t a proverb. It’s a learned lesson. Mabel & the Pines family, post-Weirdmageddon. Canon Divergent AU, based on the premise that Mabel temporarily lost her life in the climax of the finale.

(It’s a hurt/comfort with a happy ending, but there are mentions/implications of temporary death throughout this fic. The whole family is alive, but please read with caution.)

The sun still rises after Weirdmageddon.

It still sets too, but for the moment, Mabel’s only trying to focus on the infancy of things. After all that’s happened — the close calls, the closer calls — she wants nothing more than breath and sound. Feeling and sight.

Comfort comes in the most ordinary of things. It’s the thought of how the grass could grow under its glorious rays that brings the most peace, dismissing how easily it could wither in its heat, too. It’s how the flowers bloomed in the mornings, not how they closed their petals at night. Their beginnings, not their ends.

It’s all life. It’s all as beautiful as it was when she left it, and that’s perhaps the most mercy the world has chosen to show her.

There are still parts of her trying to convince her it was all just a bad dream.

The summer breeze sweeps through their part of the forest, a wave of gracious warmth that flows across her skin and through her hair. It’s been a while since she’s felt goosebumps, but and the more symptoms of her existence, the better. Triggering any kind of bodily response meant that she was alive, even if she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.

If there were ever a test to her optimism, it was now, when there’s simultaneously so much to be thankful for, yet not enough to be convinced of it.

Her fingers curl a little tighter around the glass sitting her lap — Mabel Juice, naturally. With how spacey it’s all been leaving her, she’s resorted to anything grounding enough to keep her planted in the present. A viable choice, given how much the concoction distracted her.

Because this happened. It did.

And she’d always heard those proverbs of loving life — treasuring today without being promised tomorrow. In children’s books and parental disposition, it’s a lesson best told through ink and word. It stayed shallow that way, the thoughts that made you think but weren’t supposed to hurt you.

This one...hurt.

A grimace comes over her, then a chill. Throwing back the remainder of the glass, Mabel washes down the thought with sugar, glitter, and a fleeting wish to put it all out of mind.

Tomorrow wasn’t promised as much as it was bartered.

~.~.~

Mabel remembers the darkness more than she does the light.

For what feels like a timeless lull, she’s floating — drifting in a vacuum, too similar to those few desolate seconds suspended in front of the portal. It’s the same airless realm, void of color, void of life. The only difference this time is the vague inkling that wallowing in this one is doing more harm than help.

She remembers the snap of Bill’s fingers more than she does the silence following it.

Her body is weightless when she tries to feel around for it. Like an astral projection of some dream within a dream, her body doesn’t feel like her own. It’s too light. As if someone’s scooped out all her insides and replaced them with question marks, her very being is buoyant and hollow, if only to remind her of the colossal gaps in her memories. Even the heaviest of her worries don’t feel like enough to anchor her back to reality.

Because there are gaps. That much is certain.

They’d been trapped. She remembers that much.

Heart pounding. Nearly suffocating beneath Bill’s grasp. Suspended too far in the air, but enough that closing the distance between them and the floor seemed like the lesser of two evils. The last wisp of thought to pass her mind is of terror, blood rushing to fill it at the sight of two symbols flickering back and forth in his eye.

Barely breathing, barely keeping it together.

Then nothing.

Because surely she’d blacked out from the adrenaline rush that Bill’s game of roulette had instilled in the both of them.

Surely so had Dipper.

It’s in the same heartbeat that she thinks of her brother that she’s calling out for him in the darkness. Futile, Mabel feels around for a hand that isn’t there, trembling fingers slipping through the air.

But then…what had happened? Where were they?

…Were they okay?

Did they win?

She doesn’t know. And some apprehensive part of her thinks maybe she’s better off not knowing.

But before she’s even conceiving the possibilities, she’s torn from them, a spark illuminating in the distance. Mabel perks her head up — or maybe down, or left, whichever way in this prison. But it doesn’t matter.

There’s sound and movement beyond her void. Some semblance of closure to give pause to her thoughts. There’s color...sensation...

Light…

~.~.~

When she breathes her first breath again, it’s more than just the air of the forest — it’s tears and regret.

It’s someone else’s sobs.

As if she’d been plucked her from one reality and hurled into this one, the feelings that return to her come feeling like one giant thud. Mabel’s far too dizzy for someone lying so still, disorientation tricking her, for an honest second, into thinking it’s the world spinning and not her head.

Her eyes are heavy when she tries to open them.

But the sounds of misery are enough to throw a lifeline into the darkness.

Through iron lids, the first thing to greet her is the sun on her skin. Underneath her, she feels the newborn greenery, more blades of grass poking out to brush against her face. They’re as ticklish as she remembers them being, a tap into warm nostalgia to help guide her back.

When the light filters through her, it isn’t a peaceful wakening as much as it is a desperate coming to. The sinking feeling in her chest is paradoxically the very thing trying to raise her up — prodding her, as if to say ‘wake up, you need to wake up. Now.’

It isn’t the ambience of the forest that brings her around as much as it is the anguished noises muddled within it. Because she knows those voice cracks anywhere.

They’re Dipper’s.

And the fragments of consciousness start to return a little faster at the sound of them, when she realizes.

There’s always a flurry of thoughts that rush her. They have all summer — he’s never known, but they have to, when he’s put himself in danger every other day: Is he hurt? Is he hurt badly? The nagging worry that something’s wrong is what finally beckons her to the waking world, taking in her surroundings as they find their way to her.

She flexes each finger as the feelings return to them, nails scraping into the earth.

(why is she so weak?)

When she opens her eyes for real, her vision is still swimming, but she can make out everything. There are trees again, towering and lush with green. She hears the birds perched within them, the breezes, a creek running somewhere deeper in the forest. It’s all as untouched as it was at the start of summer, when they’d came exploring through it armed with backpacks and journals and youthful invincibility.

The way it should be, like their lives were never in danger.

Like hell on earth never happened.

‘What…?’

The next sensations to return are two blooming within her, opposites of the other. The first is a cold inkling that not all is as it should be. The second is a warm, quivering weight pressing her deeper into the ground. It alleviates the chill, briefly.

She has a horrible hunch she already knows who it is.

Paralyzed where she lies, she shelves the root cause of why for a time that isn’t this one. Fighting through it, Mabel raises her head just enough — and true to instinct, it’s a bush of red-crusted brown slumped against her middle that’s keeping her down, twitching with every ragged breath he drew.

She’s paralyzed, but she’s feeling.

When it isn’t the chill and the weight, it’s the arm snaked around the top of her. Face down, Dipper has a fistful of her sweater bunched in one hand, and it takes until now to realize that he’s been murmuring — to her, to the trees, to whoever’ll listen. She isn’t sure. But it’s nothing coherent, only a mess of babbles and hiccups and…

And she can’t remember the last time — if ever — that he’s cried this hard in his life.

‘...Why is he crying…?’

Was there something wrong with their grunkles?

Mabel reaches up to grab for something — his head, a shoulder, but her frail state limits her to reaching only as far as his vest’s bottom edge. Her voice almost doesn’t sound like her own when she speaks it, a haunted sounding whisper just soft enough to break his silence.

“Dip…per…?”

The world collects itself a little more, and a little more.

He freezes. Time stills.

She can’t tell if it’s her brain still trying to catch up with her, or if he really is drawing himself back that slowly.

When Dipper’s face comes into view, her body immediately swells with something different — relief, however tattered, but relief nonetheless. Sitting here as he was, it’s the indisputable proof that her brother’s alive, that Bill hasn’t taken him.

That they won.

And it’s comforting, for a moment.

But then Dipper takes one look into hers before he falls apart all over again.

It happens in a blur. One second, they’re looking at each other, in the next, he’s lunging at her. Blessed blue and beautiful, the sky greets her when he lifts her up to hug close against his chest. More and more proof that the world’s been saved, that he’s here, that she’s here, that this isn’t a dream.

And when she leans into it, she can feel it. His heart. It’s still racing for reasons she’s not sure of yet, but the mantras he leaves in the crown of her head clue her into his hysteria.

It isn’t ‘Grunkle Stan’ is this, ‘Grunkle Ford’ is that.

It’s only a good sign until she makes out ‘You’re okay you’re okay you’reokayMabelyou’reokay—’

‘What’s wrong? Dipper what happened? Why are you crying? Where’s everyone, why are we here, are we safe?’ She wants to say it all, but nothing’s working as it should. Like she’s only just woken up for the first time in years, her head feels stuffed full of cotton, her tongue a dead weight in her mouth, numb as the rest of her.

Something’s being kept in the dark, if it isn’t her. Why are they in the forest, why can’t she remember, why won’t he say anything, why is she so weak—

His breathless follow-up of ‘you’re back’ is what sends the shock waves coursing through her system.

The way he says it, over and over, like he’s trying to convince himself.

Something in her starts to crack.

When it does, the memories break free with it. She falls back in time to the moment before everything cut to black, but nothing comes linear. Storming the Fearamid. The game of cat and mouse. Forming the Zodiac, abandoning it, a taunt, a cage, a red burning light.

The flash of the shooting star in Bill’s eye connects the dots too perfectly. Just before, the echo of a threat dripping with pure evil, pure insanity—

“I think I’m gonna kill one of ‘em now, just for the heck of it—!”

And it hits her, like the universe has had a vengeance saved solely for her.

It hits her hard.

‘No…’

The gravity of what’s just happened hits her. Crushes her. He’s breathing too fast and she can’t breathe at all, the dawning of the reality she’s just woken up to starting to set in.

She’s warm and alive cradled in her brother’s arms, but she can’t overcome the numbing truth that she doesn’t feel as whole as she used to.

‘No, no…’

Nothing is right. Nothing is real.

Except everything is real, and it really, really shouldn’t be.

And she’s finally forced to believe it: his desperate, manic whispers of how she’s alive.

Because there are pieces of her that died with Bill.

~.~.~

If she knew what heartbreak was before, nothing could have ever prepared her for the sight of Stan’s blank expression as he stared at her, unrecognizing.

Dipper doesn’t say it, but something is indeed wrong with their grunkles — the first being that Ford isn’t Ford at all, it’s Stan, swallowed whole by the tan coat and boots that have been thrusted on to him. It’s Ford who’s adorned the guise of Mr. Mystery, his reasons as to why as bewildering as the expression he’s wearing right now.

Dipper doesn’t say it, because for some reason he knows something she doesn’t. Ford and him exchange an unsettling look that she can’t comprehend, before they both turn to Stan.

He blinks at all of them.

And for a heartbeat, she’s fooled into thinking that even Stan might know more than she does, but he can’t. Not with how he looked at them all now, like some lost child in a world suddenly too big for him. ‘Maybe he’s hiding something,’ she thinks, but it’s a thought she downs just as quickly, the way he stares at her as if she held the answers to questions she should know.

The panic flares a little more.

And more and more, when they drag her clawing arms away from Stan.

“He can’t be gone!”

It’s the first coherent string to come from her daze, and it comes sounding as disbelieving as the rest of her. Because for some sick, twisted reason, Ford says that Stan’s gone, that something’s happened that's stolen her uncle and his memories.

She doesn’t have the time to dwell on her own identity crisis when Stan’s was on the brink of extinction.

Even with the house in shambles, it doesn’t stop her from flying through the living room to her scrapbook. Mabel plants herself next to him on the armchair, driven by pure outright refusal to believe this was anything beyond what she could fix. It couldn’t be. Nothing was.

She shows him sketches. Pictures. She recites him pages upon pages from her scrapbook, fervently retelling their summer until her voice is hoarse. It’s a good thing, maybe — it’s teaching her how to breathe again.

With every picture comes its story, saving brevity for a time less dire. She runs her mouth like her life depends on it. It’s feeding him answers and feeding her time, the distraction so dearly needed to pull them both out of their own heads for a while.

This had to get through to him. It had to.

When Stan laughs and points at the photos, he mumbles his own vague recollections, and it’s working. He pieces the days together with ease the more she talks about them, and it has her pulse racing with hope this time.

A good thing, she knows for a fact — it’s teaching her heart how to beat again.

When the sun retires over the hillside, Stan closes the scrapbook with a yawn. They end the day with names and faces he didn’t know about hours ago, and the urge to cry this time is with exhausted disbelief instead of agonizing doubt.

Once the door to Stan’s room closes, the relief is temporary. Because she knows there’s another storm she needs to weather, and she can feel it brewing right behind her. Courageous as she thinks she’ll ever be, she turns to face it.

Dipper’s expression is one she reads so easily, it’s like he’s not even trying to hide it.

He doesn’t need to ask for her to answer him.

Gently, as if doing so any other way could provoke him, Mabel rests her hands over her heart. Her smile, however fragile, feels like her own, for a moment.

“I’m okay. Everything’s fine.”

His demeanor isn’t, though.

“Mabel, you’re not fine, you just—!”

“—fainted! I fainted!” she cuts him off, surrendering her arms to keep him at bay. It’s not a sentence she needs to hear him finish, scrambling for her own makeshift reasons. “It was just— that bubble, I swear. It takes a lot out of you making a fantasy land, who would’ve guessed? Take my word for it.”

Where Dipper’s face is brimming with too many conflicting emotions, it’s Ford’s expression that’s…something else she can’t read entirely. But his tone tells her more than enough.

Before her twin has a chance at another rebuttal, Ford bypasses him to drop to his knee in front of her, both hands firm on her shoulders.

“Mabel, I need you to be honest with me…” he pleads, shaking her gently. If she listens hard enough, it sounds like his voice is shaking too. The question is simple enough, and it should be, but the way he says it frames it as something existential: “Are you okay?”

She brings her own hands on top of his, fighting the urge to pry them off. On any other day she’d be happy to be the center of attention, but this was too much too soon. “Grunkle Ford, I’m fine. Promise!”

It sounds even less convincing the second time. There’s an unspoken, knee-jerk quip of ‘Oooh, maybe I’m a ghost’ to break the tension, but she’s not about to fuel their paranoia any more than she already has her own.

Breaking gazes, Ford’s eyes leave hers to study the rest of her. Visibly dazed, he moves to take her face in both his hands, her cheeks and neck, and then some. He starts counting under his breath, very plausibly the number of cuts marring her skin.

“Okay, you got me. So maybe I’ve got a few bumps and bruises,” she says. She can’t tell if he’s even listening, but doesn’t stop. “But— that’s nothing a few band aids can’t fix!”

Or, as much as she might hate it, a hospital. She’d make that sacrifice. Because seriously, she was fine. This was fine. Just as they had before, Dipper and Ford exchange a look she doesn’t completely know the context behind, but buries the lingering nerves beneath a smile that could fool anyone.

She really was fine.

She was fine.

~.~.~

Dipper’s never been the type for tight hugs, but Mabel has a feeling that’s not the case anymore.

It’s only a thought that strikes her when she passes him in the hallway, halted by his sudden weight thrown onto hers.

Now more than ever, he’ll wrap his arms as tightly as he can around her, like he’s never going to see her again. It’s not exactly a possibility anymore, but this summer has taught them more than just to believe the unbelievable.

Bill has instilled a lot of fear in him that it had ever been a possibility to begin with.

Every grab of her hand, every means to protect her, to have a single snap of a finger amount it all to nothing.

He hugs her with everything he’s got.

In the beginning, she thinks she feels something. Because there’s always been something — a nova of warmth and safety, the innocent reminders that they were never alone so long as they had each other. When it isn’t, it’s some smaller tinge of light that passes through them in the quiet, sensitive moments, rare as they are.

Everything since has just been…an empty touch.

They start off suffocating — achy, but not to the point of her definition of ‘bone-crushing.’ Not as tight as hers have been, but tight enough to matter. They don’t hurt.

No, it’s hers that hurt the most: the loosest, saddest reciprocations that she’s ever given in her life.

The fact that she can’t understand why.

His attempts taper as the days pass, like he’s lost the will to try. The first time she feels him grab her with a little less fervor, something sinks in her chest before she realizes that there had been something hard there to begin with.

Soon, he stops giving them entirely.

He disappears into the forest from dawn until dusk, his cap pulled over his eyes. Dipper keeps his eyes glued to the doorways and handles, slipping through the house without so much as a word. He doesn’t tell anyone where he’s gone and why he’s gone there.

The closest she gets to an explanation is the glimpse she steals on the one occasion that he walks by their mirror. He’s chosen only today to face his reflection.

It puts knots in her stomach, what she sees.

Slouched shoulders. Bruises. Bags. Eyes that have seen too much and slept too little, the ones she hasn’t met for what’s felt like days. She wonders how a face could look so sunken and swollen at the same time.

Before she gathers too much, he turns to leave with his cap drawn down over his eyes again.

And maybe it’s the way he leaves their room, like a ghost across the floor without a single creak from the floorboards. It’s the skin two shades too light that spark a new fear altogether. Bill may have only used her as a bargaining chip, but…

Maybe she’s not the only one who’s died here.

[Read the rest here on AO3!]

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #gf fanfiction #mabel pines #dipper pines #stan pines #ford pines #mystery twins #ford and mabel #stan and mabel #pines family #9k #cw: death mention #hurt/comfort #canon divergent au #angst

214 notes · View notes

zonerobotnik · 7 years

Text

Left Out (GF One-shot)

The Mystery Shack was abuzz with noise. It was August 31st, 2017, and Dipper and Mabel Pines were 18 years old! Their friends had all been invited, and merriment was everywhere. Who could not be happy on a day like this? Wait, let's amend that second statement. Some of their friends had been invited. Unless, of course, they didn't count him as a “friend” and more as a “tolerable acquaintance”. Why was he at all surprised? Every year, from 2012 to now, it had been the same. The Pines held a party, and everyone was invited. Everyone but Gideon Gleeful, it seemed.

He didn't know why he bothered every year to bring a present. He didn't know why he bothered talking to them in town. It was clear he wasn't wanted. He was 15 now, not that anyone cared, and it had been five years of this. Maybe he should just stop. This would be the last time. It was for the best. He shouldn't keep clinging on to false hope that he might actually matter to someone anymore. The town hated him, all he had were his prison buddies. Even his parents only seemed to tolerate him. No more self-pity. No more hope. He was done. He slipped around to the other side of the yard to avoid the party, since the only time he tried to join it there had been awkward looks until he finally just left, and set a wrapped box on the doorstep. This would be the last present he left here. He had no idea what had happened to his presents the previous years, maybe they weren't even opened as soon as they saw his name, but he was done caring. “Hold on, Mabel, I gotta go the bathroom and your pig's in the way of that door.” He heard Dipper say. He was heading Gideon's way, he realized, and quickly backed away from the present to hide in the treeline. “Well, hurry back!” Mabel called after him. Dipper chuckled and walked over to the door to open it, but paused when he noticed the wrapped box on the doorstep. “What the...?” He frowned and knelt down, picking it up and checking the tag. “Oh. ...What'd you leave this year?” He looked around before pulling the ribbon loose and unwrapping the package. “Oh...Oh, Gideon...” Gideon tensed a bit as Dipper carefully picked up the hand-carved and painted wooden figures of Dipper and Mabel. Days of work put into what would probably end up in the fireplace, Gideon thought bitterly. “Man...these are beautiful.” Dipper said softly, looking them over. “I...why would he just leave these and go?” Was Dipper kidding? Did he not remember the birthday party of 2013? Gideon scoffed, glancing to the side. Why was he even sticking around? He should just go. “Is he still around here?” Dipper put the figures back in the box and closed it, picking the box up as he stood. “Gideon? Are you here?” Don't answer that. Just don't. He was probably going to just shove them back into Gideon's arms and say he was stupid for making them in the first place. Maybe say he was awfully presumptive to think he was ever their friend. Tears came to his eyes unbidden and he wiped at them furiously. Never mind that he had given himself up to Bill Cipher for them. Never mind that he had lost the ability to peacefully dream. Clearly his stupid actions before then was so irredeemable that he could never be considered a friend. God, why did he even still live in this town? He might as well just run away. Another year and he'd be old enough to drive off and get an apartment somewhere. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts he hadn't noticed Dipper walking up to him and jolted when he felt a hand on his wrist. “Hey...why are you hiding over here, huh?” Dipper asked. “...I don't belong.” Gideon said quietly, glancing away. Dipper sighed and gently pulled him out of the treeline. “Who said that?” “Everyone.” Gideon gave a small shrug. “Gideon, you're welcome at the party, you know.” Dipper smiled. Gideon shook his head. “No, I'm not. The one time I went, everyone felt awkward about me being there and stared at me until I left.” “That...” Dipper looked unsure of how to defend that. “...Okay, but that was years ago. Maybe now--” “Even now, I can't even go to the park without getting strange looks.” Gideon said bitterly. “Just...just go back to your party. You can throw those in the fire if you want to.” “Why would I do that?” Dipper asked. “Why would you keep them?” Gideon retorted. “Because I like them.” Dipper said firmly. “Look...maybe you're just imagining all the looks or maybe they're real. I don't know. But, I know that I want you to come and join us. At least for a bit.” Gideon shook his head.. “No.” “Then sit inside with me and have some cake. At least be here.” Dipper coaxed him. Gideon sighed. “Why do you care? I'm just a blemish in your perfect little family portrait. Just a reminder of a bad memory.” “So is Great Uncle Ford, but he's not a blemish.” Dipper pointed out. “He was never your enemy. He's always been a hero, and I'm just a screw-up. I'm just a love-struck idiot that went too far and ended up in prison and now everyone wants to avoid me.” Gideon tried to pull his hand free, but Dipper held on. “Dipper, let go.” “No. For the past five years, you've been left with the impression that no one likes you. I think it's time we remedy that.” Dipper said firmly. “How?” Gideon asked. “Well, to start with...” Dipper handed him the box and then wrapped an arm around his shoulders as he pulled out his cell-phone. “Smile!” Gideon gave a nervous smile as Dipper took a picture of them together, and then Dipper took the box back and handed him the phone. Gideon looked at the picture, confused. Dipper wanted to be in a picture with them? And he was...happy about it? He handed it back, bewildered. “Come on, let's go in. I gotta piss and you're not leaving.” Dipper grabbed his hand and led him to the door, opening it to go inside. Gideon let him lead him along, wondering if maybe this was some bizarre dream. “Uhm...can I ask a question?” “Yeah?” Dipper looked at him. “...Why did I not get invited?” Gideon glanced at the party outside. Dipper frowned. “I dunno. I'll talk to Mabel about it, maybe it was a mistake.” “A mistake made every year.” Gideon pointed out. “Okay, I'm talking to her. I know I put your name on the list.” Dipper grumbled and pointed to a chair. “Sit. Wait. I'll be right back.” He finally let go of him and went into the bathroom. Dipper had put his name on the list? Gideon wasn't sure if it was true or if he was just saying that to make him feel better. Gideon quietly sat down and looked at the box of figurines, sighing softly. This was going all weird. He just wanted to leave it and go, why did he decide to stay and see what Dipper's reaction to it was? So stupid. He heard someone else coming in and gasped, ducking under the table. He didn't want to be asked when he was doing there. He recognized the boots as Stanford (the older one) and he stopped and seemed to be examining the figurines curiously. “Dipper?” Stanford asked. “Where did you get these figurines from?” “Ah.” Dipper came out of the bathroom. “Those are from Gideon.” “Gideon? The little boy?” Stanford asked. “He's 15 now, Great Uncle Ford.” Dipper chuckled and then looked around. “Hey, where'd he go?” “Is he really? I didn't notice.” Stanford admitted. “Well, he is. Aw, man, did he leave?” Dipper looked out the window. “I told him to stay here...” “I didn't see anyone leaving as I entered.” Stanford offered helpfully. “Hm...” Dipper knelt down and finally saw Gideon hiding. “There you are. Come on, out of there. You've been hiding long enough.” He offered Gideon a hand. Gideon sighed and took his hand, letting him pull him out of there. “I should really just go. No need to start a fight with your sister on your birthday over me.” “We're not gonna fight.” Dipper assured him, then walked over and nudged Waddles. “Hey, pig, move it.” “Don't call him 'pig'.” Mabel laughed. “Just climb over him or use the other door.” “Or you can make him move.” Dipper raised an eyebrow. Stanford walked over and knelt next to the pig, starting to tickle him. Waddles squirmed and squealed before moving out of the way. “There. Should've done that earlier.” He looked at Dipper. “Good.” Dipper nodded and looked at Gideon. “Come on.” Gideon glanced at the other door. He could just leave, avoid the whole thing. He could see Mabel was setting up a camera outside. “Come on, you two!”” Mabel called impatiently. “Not yet.” Dipper walked over and took Gideon's hands. “Come on. Join us.” He pulled him along to the doorway, making sure to look over his shoulder every now and then to make sure he wouldn't trip. Gideon sighed and let him lead him out, wincing a bit as the sun hit his eyes. Stanford walked out after them, apparently catching on that Dipper didn't want to chance Gideon breaking free and running for the other door. “Dipper, what took so...oh.” Mabel glanced to the side awkwardly. “When did Gideon get here?” “He just arrived. I guess he got lost on the way.” Dipper grinned at Gideon. “Good thing we hadn't taken pictures yet. Oh, right!” He let go of Gideon's hands and went to grab the box, bringing it out to her to see. “Look what he made for us. These are even better than last year's.” “Y-Yeah.” Mabel looked at the figures, avoiding Gideon's eyes. Gideon could tell she was uncomfortable and looked at Stanford. “...I have to go.” “Dipper would be upset if you left.” Stanford told him. “I can't stay here and upset Mabel.” Gideon shook his head and moved around to the porch railing, climbing over it and escaping back to the woods. “Hey, Gid--...Gideon?” Dipper looked around, seeing he'd gone. “Oh no.” He left the figurines with Mabel and ran off to find him. “Gideon!” – He knew it, he should've just left. Mabel didn't want him there, it was clear. She still hadn't forgiven him for his actions five years ago, and now he was ruining her 18th birthday. He just didn't belong in this town anymore, and especially not with her. “Gideon!” He heard Dipper calling his name and walked faster. He needed to just disappear. Disappear from their pictures, their lives, everything. His parents hated him, the town didn't trust him, and he had endless nightmares that plagued his very existence. Without his powers he was useless to his father, and he couldn't even forget everything and start anew. And Mabel...she hated him, maybe even feared him. The few conversations they'd had were short, concise, and she always found a reason to walk away. She was always busy when he visited, and after two visits like that he just gave up on trying. He'd tried giving up on her, but then what? He felt empty, purposeless. What was he, without his powers and his love for Mabel? He had nothing left. He was sure that Dipper only talked to him out of pity, maybe a little bit of gratitude for giving himself up to Bill. He stopped at the stream, staring into its depths and wondering how far it would carry his body before he got caught in rocks. Maybe he should just go all the way to the lake. “There you are!” Gideon looked over his shoulder at Dipper. Out of breath and disheveled, Dipper had followed him into the woods and actually looked...happy to have found him. “Dipper.” “Why'd you leave?” Dipper walked over to him. “Mabel was unhappy.” Gideon looked to the side. “But your leaving made me unhappy. Doesn't that matter?” Dipper asked. “I don't know. I don't know why you care.” Gideon sighed. “No one else does.” Dipper frowned and reached out, like he was about to take his hands again, and then threw his arms around Gideon's body, pulling him close. “You idiot. Why wouldn't I care? Aren't we friends?” He asked, his chin digging into Gideon's shoulder. “Friends...?” Gideon looked at him. “Are we actually friends?” “Why would you ask that?” Dipper looked at his face and gasped. Gideon's expression was empty of feeling, like he'd completely given up. Dipper then gasped again and looked at the stream, realizing what Gideon was about to do. “Oh, damn...Gideon...” He held him tightly again. “Of course we're friends. I'm just a bad friend that's stupid. Don't...don't do this, man. People care about you.” “People?” Gideon asked. “What people?” “I care about you, and what about your friend Ghost-Eyes? And your parents?” Dipper held him at hands-length, looking at him intensely. “Why do you think people don't care?” Gideon looked towards the stream. “I spent five days in my room and my parents barely noticed I was even home. I spent five weeks in the woods and no one noticed I was missing. Hell, some people were disappointed I was back. Ghost-Eyes and the others are back in prison, and my parents...my mother has always hated me and my father used me for money. He never cared about me. N-No one...has ever really cared about me unless I threw money at them or acted like the naive little kid. And after Bill let it be known that I let him back in town in the first place to everyone that was brought in after I was put in that cage, that spread through town like a wildfire. A-And--” “That's enough.” Dipper held him tightly again. “Just...that's enough. I still care about you, okay? You made mistakes, so did I. I broke Mabel's heart and that's why she ran off and Bill got to the rift in my bag in the first place. But people can recover from mistakes. The world didn't end that week, we're still here.” Gideon sighed. “I'm ruining your birthday.” “You know what? I'll live, okay? I'll freakin' live. It's just a birthday. You wanna talk about ruining birthdays? I don't even know when yours is. I think Mabel knows, she mentioned it once in passing, but we've never – even once – wished you a happy birthday. And now you're telling me your parents hate you and the only people that cared about you aren't around anymore? That's just...” Dipper pulled Gideon away from the stream. “It needs to change, okay? It needs to change. When is your birthday?” “July 9th.” Gideon said quietly. “On your next birthday, we'll do something special, okay? Just you and me. Forget anyone else. Forget Mabel. In fact, we can go do something just us today, too. I'm tired of my friend not coming to my birthday party just because Mabel starts to pout.” Dipper moved his hand down to Gideon's. “She can live without me for one birthday. We'll have many, many more. Let's go do something fun. Wanna go out to eat? We could drive somewhere, too, I've got a license. You wanna drive?” “I don't know what I want.” Gideon admitted. “Well, we're going to just drive and figure it out from there. Come on, let's go tell everyone I'm driving off.” Dipper pulled him along, back through the woods. “And if you ever stand at the edge of a cliff or a body of water with that empty look in your eyes again, I am tying you to me with a rope.” Gideon actually gave a genuine smile at that, giggling softly. “Okay. Happy birthday, Dipper.” Dipper smiled at him over his shoulder and then looked forward as they left the woods together. End

#gravity falls #gideon gleeful #dipper pines #long post #suicide mention #zone kitty is writing #pines twins birthday 2k17 #might do a companion picture if i can decide on a scene

7 notes · View notes

overthegravityfalls · 7 years

Text

Sooo, I was looking through my old fic ideas and I thought I might as well post this since I’ll probably never write it. I mean, there’s a chance I might. But long-form writing is my kryptonite, haha, it’s really hard for me to stay invested in one thing for so long. If anyone wants to take inspiration from it, that’s okay with me!

(But, jesus christ, Loomy, you wrote 1400 words of just the ideas?)

Anyway, it’s not 100% coherent as a linear plan, more like a jumble of scenes and ideas, so I hope that’s okay! Enjoy! <3

Pinescone figure skating/YOI AU

Wirt (23) and Dipper (20) are good skaters, but not the best in the world. Wirt is especially good at scoring high on PCS, and he deeply invests in the stories he's telling. He'll choreograph parts of his routines, choose the music, maybe even ask someone (family member?) to compose pieces for him. But, he gets anxious and loses out on technical points. His routines always start out bad, when the pressure of thousands of eyes staring at him feel like pinpricks on his skin. He can fall during his jumps often, but he loves doing step sequences and is very flexible. Dipper, on the other hand, is very technically skilled. He can land jumps with ease, quads included, and during his routine, he'll calculate what scores he might get, doing the maths in his head. Afterwards in practises he'll write them down in a notebook to get an idea of how he can improve. But he rarely thinks hard about the components of his programs, only how to technically perfect them, and doesn't care too much about story or themes.

Wirt comes fifth and fourth in his GP series cups, and misses out on the final. Langtree, his coach, gets in touch with him later and says that she is taking time off from coaching because of personal reasons. Wirt would have been happy to leave it there, but she tells him, in painstaking detail, about her fiancé and how heartbroken she is about his disappearance. (Maybe later he calls her and finds out she's teaching kids to skate instead.) Wirt starts looking into who else he can work with. After some research and networking, he decides that Stanford Pines, once a highly skilled figure skater himself, would be the best choice to try and improve his skating. He already has one skater under his wing--a certain Dipper Pines. Huh. He was coaching his own grand-nephew. Wirt thinks he might have skated against Dipper once, in the Grand Prix series, but doesn't really know much about him. Still, he's willing to work alongside the guy, and moves out to Oregon to start training.

Dipper has been missing out on the final too, and Stanford tells him that he'd probably be better off finding someone else to choreograph his routines, but Dipper insists that he doesn't want anyone else to as much as he does Ford.

When Wirt first sees Dipper skating, he's surprised to see him in shorts. Falling onto the ice with all that bare skin would be uncomfortable. But as he stays and watches, Dipper, doing a range of jumps, lands every single one. He didn't have a need to worry about what skin on ice felt like, apparently. That was...kinda intimidating.

Wirt works with Sara, a ballet instructor, often. They’ve been friends since they were teenagers, and Wirt skated a routine for her (with accompanying poetry) when he had a crush on her. He also likes talking with Greg about how his music sounds, and Dipper is surprised he can talk about it in that much depth with a 15-year-old. Wirt says they come from a very musical family.

Wirt started skating because he remembers his dad took him to a small local rink every year around Christmas. He started skating regularly when his dad stopped seeing him, as a way to remind himself of his old family instead of his new one, a kind of spite thing (though Phil (step-dad) was always supportive of it regardless). Dipper thinks his dad died at first, but Wirt says no, just moved far away. He has his own family now, just like Wirt does. They see each other sometimes for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and they call occasionally, but...mostly his dad keeps to his other kids, and Wirt keeps to his new family, too. He stopped skating for his dad and started doing it for himself when he was a teenager.

When Wirt was younger, he’d always do exactly what his coach said. Changed upon meeting Beatrice in the junior league, she suggested he do a different jump in a routine, caught between what Beatrice and his coach suggested, he did what he would have preferred—Beatrice’s suggestion. Also ties into the falling into a lake incident. ((I have no idea what I meant when I wrote this.))

Definitely going to be a whole "woah he looks hot" moment after one of them finished a routine and is all sweaty and panting.

Lorna is a British female figure skater that Wirt is close too. Beatrice is too. They go to the same Grand Prix series at one point and Wirt runs over to Beatrice and greets her with a hug, then she's all like "geez Wirt stop being so desperate" and they sass each other. It shows a side of Wirt that Dipper hasn't seen much.

Dipper will always be best friends with Mabel, and she comes along to all of his competitions to cheer him on, and designs his costumes. They're always super affectionate and playful around each other. Mabel greets Dipper with a big wet kiss on his cheek at one point, and Dip admonishes her for being gross, and Mabel says she wants to see Dipper get stuck to the ice.

Wirt is calling with Greg at one point while he's changing, he has it on speaker phone and Dipper walks in, introduces himself over the phone. Greg replies with “Oh, you’re the guy Wirt’s been talking about so much!” and Wirt hisses out “Greg!” in a warning tone.

Keep the surprise on-the-ice first kiss, maybe also the airport scene at some point. Wirt’s voice breaks when he tries to say “this was the only thing I could think of to surprise you more than you’ve surprised me”

Wirt jokes that Stanford is totally going to play favourites and would want Dipper to win more than he does Wirt. (…Secretly actually anxious about it?)

They help each other become better by learning from the other’s strengths and competing between themselves. When Wirt asks about how Dipper comes up with themes, etc, he says he just kind of goes for whatever might fit with his routine.

Bill is an asshole stray cat who lets himself into Dipper’s apartment and steals food no matter how much he tries to cat-proof it. He scratches and bites and Dipper had to go get rabies shots for it—“he is literally a demon". Dipper’s upset that he happens to be there the first time Wirt comes back to his apartment. Wirt says “A cat named Bill? Really?” and Dipper responds “What’s your point, man-named-Wirt?” “…Touché.”

Dipper had a dream once that Bill was an Illuminati triangle guy

Skating routines based on original shows? Original show music? Or YOI routines/music?

Maybe one routine could be--a story of two brothers getting lost, one failing to look after the other, until something bad happens and the brother comes rushing to help. Music: Into the Unknown instrumental?

Another--about a girl who defies her father to do what's best for their family, almost gets into trouble, until her father tries to save her and ends up disappearing. Music: One Is A Bird?

Theme: family

Dipper: A girl? Why a girl?

Wirt: That's just...the character I see in my head, really. It just fits somehow, you know?

Dipper: And you're playing that character?

Wirt: Well, yeah. Do you think I shouldn't?

Dipper: No, no, it's just... (I wish I could be that comfortable with doing something like that.)

Wirt gets a skirt on his costume, maybe some effeminate makeup done. "Oh my god he looks so beautiful." - Dipper

Dipper invites Wirt to have lunch together at some point, and Wirt says “Sorry, I can’t.” Dipper looks disappointed. “I-I mean, it’s not because I don’t want to—I have, ah, I have a counselling session today."

In the Grand Prix series, they have their first competition together (France?) and the second apart, maybe Skate America for Wirt and somewhere else for Dipper. The first kiss happens in France, the airport scene happens after they're separated for their other matches.

#over the garden wall #gravity falls #pinescone #text #crossover #figure skating au

20 notes · View notes

minijenn · 6 years

Note

I've got another Drabble thingy if you wanna do it: 34, CF Dipper.

“I wish I couldn’t feel a damn thing.”

Mabel couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at her brother’ssurprising choice of words as she sat by his bedside, knowing that he must havepicked up such language during his all-too lengthy stint with Bill. Still, shetried her best to remain as upbeat and supportive as she could as she dabbedhis feverish forehead with a wet cloth. “Well… look on the bright side,” shesaid with a small smile. “Grunkle Ford said you’re pretty much through theworst of it, so you should be up and around again in a few days.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Dipper said, leaning his headback as he stared up at the ceiling listlessly. Mabel bit her lip, knowing thather brother disassociating had been a common thing ever since his release frombeing Bipper just a few days prior. Of course, that was only one of the“symptoms” of the “sickness”, he had been left with in the wake of his ongoingpossession, the primary other two including a severe illness brought on bymonths of food and water depravation and nightmares of horrors now finally pastbut far from dead and gone.

“Um… w-what did you mean then?” Mabel asked, pulling away abit to give Dipper some space. Her role in nursing him back to health had comeabout both from her own willingness to finally help her brother in whateversmall way she could after all these years, as well as the fact that he refusedto let anyone else peacefully come near him save for Lapis. And since the blueGem was currently preoccupied with other matters at the moment, that meant thatshe finally had all to herself.

“You wouldn’t get it…” Dipper muttered, closing his eyes ashe let out a tired sigh. Mabel pouted, knowing that he did need his rest butrefusing to simply leave it there.

“Dipper…” she began, placing a gentle hand on his arm. “I…even if I won’t get it, I still want to hear it. Who knows? Maybe I can evenhelp with it, whatever it is.”

“…I doubt that, but… fine,” he shook his head relentingly ashe sat up a bit, his sister helping him along in the relatively weakened statehe was still in. “I wasn’t talking not wanting to feel anything physically. Iwas talking about not wanting to feel anythingat all.”

“Anything…” Mabel repeated softly. “You mean like… emotionsand stuff?”

Dipper slowly, solemnly nodded, his expression ascrestfallen as it always seemed to be, devoid of hope or comfort or relief orany of the things it should havecarried in light of his recent liberation. Mabel shifted in her seat, wringingher hands together anxiously. She knew she shouldn’t pursue this, that herbrother deserved his privacy and that she had no right to continue prying; butshe couldn’t help it. She had to know. “W-why… why wouldn’t you want to feelyour emotions?”

Dipper glanced towards his sister with the slightest ofdisappointed scowls as he let out another sigh. “See, this is what I mean? Itold you you wouldn’t understand.”

“T-then help meunderstand, Dipper,” Mabel urged, keeping her hand positioned on his shoulder.“I only want to help you in any way I can. But the only way I can do that is ifyou let me help you, bro-bro. So… please… just… let me in…”

He hesitated, meeting his sister’s pleading, sincere gazewith clear distrust; distrust that had been born from years of havingabsolutely no one to lean on but himself, no doubt. And it was clear that hewas getting to the point where he could support the crippling weight of his ownanguish no longer. “I… I’m so tired…”he began, somehow not even tearing up at all as he had already shed all thetears he really had to offer quite some time ago. “I’m tired of feeling so…weak, and hurt, and empty, and afraid, and angry, and sad, and everything else! I don’t want to feellike this, or like anything else anymore! I… I just… I want all of this tofinally be over already…”

Mabel felt her heart sink upon hearing just how small andsorrowful her brother’s voice was, to the point that it reminded her so vividlyof the day that they finally found him in his longtime underground prison thatit just about drove her to tears. “But Dipper…” she whispered, gripping hisshoulder tighter as she looked directly into his eyes. “It is over.”

“No, it’s not…” he returned just as softly, looking awaydejectedly. “Sometimes I think this will neverbe over, at least not for me…”

For a moment, Mabel had no idea how to respond to herbrother’s clear misery, misery that had been going on for far too long now.Misery that he needed to be freed from, just as much as he had been freed fromall the other prisons he had spent his life trapped within. And while she didn’thold a key or an escape for this particular prison, she did have the next bestthing.

Without warning, Mabel hopped onto the bed beside Dipper,startling him somewhat, though the most he could do was watch in confusion asshe made herself comfortable and wrapped a secure, comforting arm around him.Unused to such close physical contact with someone else, Dipper flinched,unsure of how to really feel about his sister’s largely unfamiliar, yet stillstrangely welcome embrace, which was why he made no effort to move out of it asthey sat together in silence for a moment or two, before Mabel final spoke up.

“Dipper… I… I know you’ve been through a lot…” she began,leaning her head on her brother’s shoulder. “But I promise you that you’ll getthrough this. We’ll get through this.Together. I promise.”

And, despite all of the dreams and promises Dipper hadwatched crumble apart right before his eyes, this was a promise and a dreamthat, enveloped in the warmth and protection of his sister’s embrace, he felt couldfinally come true.

(Kind of a continuation of my CF oneshot Reaching Out here, one that takes place in the aftermath of that. Its angsty and sweet all at once, bury me in my Pines twins CF angst for the rest of my liiiiiiife)

10 notes · View notes

minijenn · 7 years

Note

Number 24, starring Pacifica sometime shortly after Mabel and Steven return from the events of Wanted. Please and thank you!

24. “Am Iever going to see you again?”

“I’m sorry,Pacifica. B-but Dipper, h-he’s… he’s still there… he’s still on Homeworld…” The phonefell out of Pacifica’s hand and onto the floor the moment she heard Connie confirmher newfound fears. She was unable to hold back a sob as she covered her mouth,tears already pouring down her cheeks as she tried to make sense of it all. Stevenand Mabel made it back to Earth, but Dipper didn’t? He was still on thatmysterious Homeworld, still being held prisoner by that insane, human-hatingYellow Diamond? How could such a thing even be possible? Certainly Connie wasn’tserious. She had to be joking, there was no way it could be true.

Unfortunately, when Pacifica rushed over to the shack to seefor herself, she found that it was, against all odds, completely true. Dipper’sglaring absence from the assembly of Pines and Gems gathered there was evidenceenough, but Steven and Mabel’s completely distraught, guilt-ridden tears onlyproved it even more. And while her own tears over the matter were plentiful,Pacifica had always been one more for action than for mourning. From the momentthe tallest Gem (she still hadn’t fully committed the Crystal Gems’ names tomemory yet) had confirmed that Dipper was indeed still alive, Pacifica demandedto know if there was anything they could do to rescue him and bring him home.Ford and Peridot mentioned that they were already working on plans to build aspace-faring vessel to get them to Homeworld, and despite some attempts atdissuasion (mostly from Lapis, who bitterly argued she had no parts in this),Pacifica was resolved to be on that ship.

But until then, it was made painfully aware to her that therewas very little she could do to help, which was largely the same straitsSteven, Mabel, and Connie were in over the situation. That still didn’t makeher feel any better though, especially whenever she thought about the kind oftorture her boyfriend might be going through at the hands of that vicious yellowtyrant. He was alive, yes, but only for the moment. Honestly, that wassomething that could change in an instant, Pacifica knew. And even if YellowDiamond, for whatever reason, did decideto keep Dipper alive for the long run, then there was a very high likelihoodthat he wouldn’t make it out of all this unscathed, either physically ormentally. Certainly, when and if theymanaged to rescue him, then there was no telling what kind of state he’d be inwhen they found him, and if she was perfectly honest with herself, she wasalmost too afraid to find out.

And yet, as the days turned into weeks, these were the kindof dread-fueled thoughts that filled Pacifica’s thoughts every night when shetried to sleep. And tonight was no exception to this as she lay in bed, simplystaring up at the ceiling for what seemed like hours on end. She silentlywondered if perhaps, somewhere on Homeworld, amidst all of the trials andtribulations Dipper was likely going through at the hands of the Gems who werekeeping him there, if he was thinking about her as much as she was thinkingabout him. It was a selfish thought though, for he had so many other things toworry about, from his sister, to his uncles, to the rest of his friends, tohimself, that certainly she was probably the last thing on his mind. But in allactuality, Pacifica figured that he probably wasn’t given much time to himselfto think if he was indeed being tortured, a thought that was almost too muchfor her to bear, even if she knew it was more than likely true.

So, in a meager attempt to get her mind away from saidthought, she grabbed her phone, blinking tightly as its bright light filled herdarkened room for a moment before she was able to see enough again to go to herphoto album. Her heart both leapt and sank as she looked at her most recentphotos, all of them taken in the weeks preceding Dipper’s capture and almostall of them depicting the two of them as the happy, peaceful couple theyusually were. There were pictures them on dates from their early days lastsummer, from the elegant eateries she had tried to drag him to, to the humblemovie nights at the shack he had talked her into. There were selfies she hadtaken of the two of them simply hanging out, going out for ice cream or onmystery hunts or just relaxing near the cliffs, with both of them warmly,genuinely smiling in each of them. And then there were photos she had takenjust of him, snapped in moments that he hadn’t really been paying attention in,that always managed to capture everything she loved about him. The excitedsmile that always filled his expression whenever he solved a mystery or foundthe answer to an unanswerable question. The confidence and daring air in hisposture as he practiced his swordplay skills with deft and ease. The way hiseyes lit up whenever he looked at her, which was always in a way that nobodyhad ever looked at her before but always filled her with so much warmth andhappiness that she couldn’t help but smile every time he did.

And as she happened upon the latest picture of the two ofthem, taken the very last time she had seen him, her heart ached as she saw allof those things shining through and more through that one image alone. Sheremembered positioning the two of them to take a fun, casual selfie, though asshe told Dipper to smile, he had caught her off guard by giving her anunexpected kiss on the cheek right as she snapped the photo, which explainedher surprised expression in the picture. She also remembered the aftermath ofthe photo, her calling him a dork as she playfully pushed him out of his seatbefore the two of them broke down into endless laughter, both of them completelyinnocent and heedless of how, in just a few day’s time, they would inevitablybe torn apart.

Pacifica hadn’t even noticed the tears streaming down hercheeks as she placed a gentle finger on her phone, wishing that Dipper wasthere with her to give her the reassurance and comfort he was so good atproviding. But he wasn’t. He was thousands upon thousands of miles away, on adifferent planet entirely, most likely having all of the things she loved abouthim beaten out of him by pain and hardships she couldn’t even begin to imagine.Pain that probably made the agony she was feeling right now pale in comparison.“You stupid dork…” she whispered to the photo on her phone as she choked out asmall sob. “Do you even realize what you being gone is doing to me? I miss you so much…” She knew it was senseless,talking to “him” alone in the dark like this when she was really only talkingto herself. Still, for as much as it hurt her, it also helped, in a way thatshe really didn’t understand. She sighed as she looked to the image of himkissing her, longing with every fiber of her being for that to somehow happenagain someday. “A-am I ever going to see you again?” she asked wistfully,swiping to another picture of just him, looking to her with an inquisitive,admittedly adorable smile. “Because I-I better. When you get home, they’regoing to have to pry me off of you, I swear…”

Unable to bear the sight of a smile she wasn’t sure she’dever get to see again, Pacifica finally turned her phone off, rolling over inbed to face the window. The stars outside were bright and numerous, but for asbeautiful as they were, they only served as a reminder to her that out there,somewhere among them, was Dipper, so far away from where he was supposed to be, which, Pacifica knew,was with her. And that was something that she was resolved to do everything inher power to fix, no matter how hard or daunting it might be. “I swear…” shewhispered again before closing her eyes and somehow finally drifting off tosleep.

(HGGGGGNNNNNNNN SHIP Imo I kinda cried a little while writing this because??? WELL DAMMIT SHIPPING ANGST IS THE BEST ANGST But for reals, imo Pacifica is gonna be so damn torn up over what happens to Dipper in this whole Stonemason thing from like beginning to fucking end and if you think that its not going to effect their relationship at all then you are dead fucking wrong because again, SHIP! But yeah, guess I gotta go find one of these prompts still sitting in my inbox that’s fluff because AUGH I’M DYIN)

REQUESTS ARE CLOSED!!!

#jen writes #universe falls #pacifica #dipifica #stonemason stuff #drabble prompts

27 notes · View notes