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Stanford gets the chance to go into the past and warn himself of an upcoming event, giving himself time to prepare/change the future. He thinks on it for quite some time, weighing the pros and cons.

His first thought was the science fair, but he has no idea how anything after that could play out. He doesn't know if he'd be able to rescue Stan from his fate or if he'd end up on the streets with the two of them drifting apart anyway.

He can't go warning his 30-something self about Bill because he was far too arrogant at that time, and too paranoid afterwards.

He doesn't regret coming back through the portal (although he could possibly warn his past self to hurry up and take the shot? But that has its own risks).

So he settles on trying to prevent Weirdmageddon. He goes back to a few days before it begins, warns his past self (after a brief battle due to the slightly-younger Ford suspecting him to be the shapeshifter), and returns to the present. Nothing has changed. He's a bit disappointed, but relieved that it didn't get worse.

In reality, it's because after the misunderstanding, he simply said: "You cause the rift to split with the twins and kill Stanley. You have a week." And then abruptly dipped back to his own time. Instead of just alarming and knocking sense into past Ford, it just causes him to amp up his paranoia by 1000% and try desperately to avoid his brother and the twins while simultaneously rushing fixing the Rift. He drops it.

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Stan's been on the road for a while now, so he's had time to think. All he's been doing when he isn't trying to survive is think. It kinda sucks.

He's figured out that even with the millions his Pa demanded of him, Filbrick wouldn't let him back into the family, not really. At most, he'd probably end up as a begrudging business partner. And honestly, Stan doesn't want to give him shit even if when he makes his millions. If anything, he wants to do it just to rub it in everyone's face that he isn't just a fuck up and a leech.

But then he keeps thinking. Ford was never one to really care for money, but he was really pissed about losing his chance at that nerd school. He thinks about it more and realizes that Ford never officially applied to the college. Which means technically there's no official rejection. He knows his family well enough to know Ford won't apply without the chance of a scholarship, and he definitely won't try so soon after the scouts rejected him.

So, occasionally, Stan starts looking into it. And sheesh, these private colleges are expensive! He asks around, finds loose pamphlets, and starts doing the math. Tuition itself is 5 digits a quarter, and with room and board and whatever extra stuff he knows Ford would like, that's a couple hundred thousand all together.

But, hey, that's less than a million. Ford was pissed about Stan messing up his chance at a free ride through his preferred school, so Stan just has to make it happen! Sure, it'll be a couple years later than he would've gone initially, but Stan's heard of a couple middle-aged folks just starting out, so Ford wouldn't stand out too bad for that.

Now Stanley's got a new motivation besides spite. It's not like it's anything new, he's always wanted to help out his twin any way he can. He just needs to earn those millions before he faces his brother again. How hard could it be?

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What if Stan just turned himself in after Ford came out of the portal. While the twins and Soos are busy meeting Ford and vice versa, Stan sneaks back upstairs and turns himself over to Powers to get them away from the Shack.

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Projecting my own habits onto the Pines family once again.

Both sets of twins like to collect things from the beach.

Stanford likes to collect anything he can find that's shaped like something else. Rocks, glass, and petrified wood. If he or Stanley found something that was shaped like an animal, structure, or especially a person, Ford would take it home with them. It didn't stop when he moved to Gravity Falls, although the things he brought back has a good chance of actually being anomalous rather than just oddly shaped. (He still wishes he could've hauled that giant tooth back to his house.) He still collected occasionally during his time in the portal, too, although he had to be much more selective about what he pocketed, rarely keeping something he simply wanted to have instead of something useful.

Stanley loves sea glass. As a child, he just loved the different colors and shapes of glass he could find on the beach, of which there were a lot of. It is Glass Shard Beach, after all. He usually kept the most colorful pieces he found, or the biggest, and kept them in the Stan-O-War after he was scolded once for bringing trash into the house. After he got kicked out, especially during his homeless years, he liked to wander whatever beaches he ended up nearby and collecting whatever glass he could find. He keeps his collection in one of those giant 150 ounce alcohol bottles under the passenger seat of his car. It's a comfort to him on the worst nights, and he has it hidden in his closet when he takes over the Shack. It stays sealed for the entire 30 years, and he starts collecting again whenever they port at a decent beach after they set sail. Stan and Ford now have a lovely display case fastened down inside of their ship so they can display their collections and treasures safely.

Mabel isn't very picky with her collecting, although she mostly sticks to rocks. She likes to collect any and every rock she finds that's colorful or patterned. Striped, spotted, green or red or blue, and even lava rocks. She gathers at least a bag full each time they go to a rocky beach, and she likes to show off each and every piece she finds to her brother and parents, and then her Grunkles. Sometimes she uses her smallest rocks for little pieces of jewelry, or tied into a dreamcatcher. She'll crack open a few of the bigger ones she finds if she gets a good feeling about them, and she's found a couple geodes that way! But her absolutely favorites are the ones that sparkle in the sun. They're just so glittery!

Dipper picks up a ton of shells and quartz, and occasional fossils if he finds them. He'll pick up every type of shell he can find, inspect them, and pocket them if they're empty and whole. If they're not empty and still have clams or crabs inside, he'll place them near the water and wait to see if they come out of the shell, eager to study the little creatures. Although, the tongues on clams gross him out a little bit if he's holding it. Quartz he likes to collect because they're often shaped like teeth or pieces of bone. He doesn't take home the super small pieces, but he does enjoy speculating if they were possibly part of a whole set, especially after they started visiting Gravity Falls. He has one piece that's shaped almost exactly like a human canine, except it's the length of his finger. Mabel keeps telling him it's just another cool rock, but he's not so sure.

Soos started doing it after going for a walk in the woods with Stan in his teenage years. It'd been a particularly stressful week at the Shack and both of them needed to step away from work for a bit. When they came across a river in the woods, Stan had started looking along the riverbed instinctively. Soos was a bit confused, as he'd never been to a beach so he hadn't seen this kind of behavior before and the lake's edge is mostly just sand. But Stan was picking up rocks just to inspect them and put them back, occasionally pocketing some he thought he could make money off of, so Soos started searching too. He was more willing to dip into the river, since he was already wearing shorts, and brought whatever rocks he thought were neat up for Stan to inspect. At one point he'd picked up a nice smooth stone and held it in one hand while picking up others with his free hand. When Stan had rejected the smooth stone, he told Soos he could keep it, that it was still a pretty cool rock. Soos pocketed it at the time, but he later brought it out just to run his thumb over the surface of it. He's found that it helps him with his fidgeting when he's nervous or restless, so now he'll go out to the river every few months and collect a handful of the nice skipping stones. He keeps one in each pocket at all times now, and the rest in a drawer in his room.

Shermie just wants to know where this gene came from and why it skipped him.

They collectively call the green sea glass uranium. It started with Stan finding an extra shiny piece, Ford relating it's color to uranium, they kept making that joke until it stopped being a joke and started being a habit, and then fed that habit into the younger twins and Soos when they were older.

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Artist rendition of a very angry bird chasing a squirrel outside my house yesterday.

Close ups

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Stanley used to sing a lot as a child. Sing along to songs on the radio, commercial jingles on the TV, performers on the boardwalk, and of course, make up his own little tunes. Everywhere and anywhere, he's singing something. Except, of course, around his parents' respective work areas.

Everyone thought it was adorable when he was little, when his energy and volume was just something to be expected from a child. Then he hit puberty and suddenly people stopped seeing it as endearing. And when he started smoking and adding a gravel to his voice, people started telling him to stop. Because suddenly his voice is annoying and irritating, and so he stops singing in public. Restricts himself to his own tunes and humming.

Then Ford starts working on his science fair project, and he says he needs peace and quiet to work on it, so Stan stops himself altogether. He wouldn't want to throw off his bro's focus, after all. He reads comics and plots what to do with the ship and chews on his cheek when he catches himself humming. It's only while Ford's working anyway, it'll be back to normal soon.

It never is.

But. Listen.

Imagine that at some point on the road, Stan catching himself humming along to the radio, and he quickly stops himself. But it keeps happening. He keeps catching himself humming to songs and jingles again, and stopping himself with rising annoyance. And after months of this with increasing frequency, he catching himself mumbling along, and snaps.

"Fucks sake, what's wrong with you?! Knock it off, you're gonna piss off-!"

And he pauses because. Because who's he gonna piss off? He's here alone, no one's in the car but him. Who else could possibly snap at him, the car?

So, slowly, and somewhat to spite everyone that ever told him to shut up, he starts singing along. He starts simple, mumbling the words to familiar songs and humming along to new ones. He catches himself stopping occasionally and turns the radio up a few notches to drown out the voices in his head telling him to quit. He slowly gains more confidence, singing a little louder as days and weeks pass. And louder. And louder. Until he's going 80 on an empty stretch of road, radio blasting, singing so loud that his throat starts to ache, with a wide grin plastered across his face.

Yeah, he's still bad at it, no, he can't hit all that many notes, and yeah, the smoking probably doesn't help.

But who cares? Not him! Not anymore!

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What if Stan started the portal like 10 minutes later. He took a power nap after an emotional breakdown because he finally, FINALLY, has all 3 Journals and he can finally bring his brother back, and he'll just turn himself in if he messes up the very last steps to turn the damn thing on.

Ford, still hyped on adrenaline and victory over Bill, still punches his twin in the face because, yeah, it's still an incredibly risky thing to do. But! But Bill's dead! Bill's dead and holy shit! Ford's staring at his twin again! He didn't think that'd happen, he never really thought about what could possibly come after, but he was so certain he'd never see Stanley again.

So Stan, now angry about being decked in the face, gets back on his feet, only to be tackled in the most flawless launch he's ever seen and nearly strangled in the bear hug on the floor.

Ford's angry, but he's so, so incredibly excited too and who says he can't be both at once? He'll yell at Stan, hell, he's screaming in his ear and Stan is yelling back, complaining about his hearing aid, but Stanley! Stanley!! You could not have had better timing, Stanley! I'd have missed the portal if you'd waited 2 more minutes! I'd have missed the shot if you'd opened it any earlier! Stanley!!

He does not realize there's others there until they're trying to drag him off of Stan so he can, ya know, breath.

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i have three responses to "how is your writing going"

1) it's not

2) it's going

3) i am ENTHUSED. i have been BLESSED with the POWER of the MUSES. i am an UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF CREATION i am the MOST ULTIMATE OF ALL WRITERS

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Contained

Part 1, (more to come)

The summer breeze feels colder tonight than normal. That may just have to do with the turning of the season, with Fall approaching faster than planned. Or it could be that the house behind him lacks the now-familiar chatter of his niblings.

Stan and the twins haven't spoken a word to each other since lunch. And he's fine with that! Serves them right for using a dumb controlling tie on him like he's just- some stupid puppet for their entertainment. No, he's not upset that they didn't believe in him (like teachers like peers like Pa like Ford), what are you, a cop?

So maybe he's sitting on the porch until he knows for sure that everyone's in bed, so what? That's a perfectly normal thing for him to do, he's an old man.

Moses, he needs a smoke.

Stan sighs heavily and takes another slow drink from his Pitt can, hearing the peach pit rattle around inside. The sun set a while ago, but no one's bothered to turn the porch light on, and Stan always refused to get an automatic one. There's already cameras posted everywhere, he doesn't need some blinding light letting him know every time a bird or gnome crosses his yard.

Besides, it's not the first time he's just sat around overnight. Sometimes it's nice to just listen to the forest and let his mind wander away from the stress of everything else. It's good for his "mental health" or whatever Mabel keeps talking about.

Stan sighs and leans his head back against the couch, letting his empty can settle on the seat next to him. He might just sleep out here tonight, it's decently comfortable. Sure, his back'll ache tomorrow but it's not like he has any tours to host. And he can stand on a stage and talk without throwing his back out, easy.

The quiet approaching footsteps don't set off his warning bells yet, just makes the distant thought of needing the broom to chase off whatever's going through his trash pass through his mind. They're more hesitant than those weird beautiful men are, but maybe they're just learning to back off.

It's only when they transition from the soft crunch of grass to the heavy clunk of the porch's wood does his eyes snap open, danger warnings blaring when he sees the hulking figure shrouded in the shadows. Stan jumps up, already gearing up to fight and opening his mouth to shout when the person(?) rushes him and slaps a hand over his mouth. He throws a punch, hitting the thing square in the face, and tries to squirm away. The combination of the punch and biting the bastard's hand makes it let go.

Unfortunately, the whatever-it-is is twice his size and recovers fast, clumsily twisting Stan around and throwing him face-down to the wood. All of it's weight presses down on his back, forcing the breath from him before it covers his mouth again, cupping under his jaw so he can't bite a second time. An arm wraps underneath him, pinning his own arms to his sides, before he's heafted upright and off of the ground.

At this point, Stan knows he's fighting a losing battle. He might have been able to fight this thing off in his prime, but he's old, tired, and weaker than he used to be. His kicking and thrashing is doing nothing to deter the thing that has him caught. So as a last resort, he desperately makes eye-contact with the camera hidden just under the overhang. He prays to whatever the hell could be listening that his brother is paying attention for once.

He sees the camera twist to focus on him just before a fist connect with his temple, knocking his lights out cold.

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The real reason Stan lost all his teeth is because he chews on jolly ranchers and jawbreakers.

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You know what would hurt. I wonder if Stan still had hope before the talk on the swings.

Yes, he was hurt and at least a little angry; his twin didn't stand up for him when the principal was talking shit on him in the office. But Pa was in the office too, and Ford hates confrontation. He's been speaking out less and less against the whispers lately, he can get why Ford wouldn't speak up under such pressure.

And yes, it sucks that their plans are suddenly changing, but West Coast Tech is still near the sea, so they don't have to totally ditch the Stan'O'War. Maybe Stan could work somewhere nearby and save up while Sixer's getting super smart in his nerd school. That's fine, they can set sail after he's all smart and Stan has enough cash to get them all the supplies and parts and science stuff they might need.

And sure, Stan's still kinda hoping that Ford will turn them down, because this has been their plan for years. And sure, he's poking fun at his brother for wanting to be so much smarter than he already is. And sure, Ford seems way more excited about this college than Stan had expected, but he's not ditching the ship entirely, right?

Then. Then "You better come visit me on the other side of the country!"

And he says it so happily. Like he doesn't mind that they'll suddenly be separated for the first time in their lives. Like he doesn't know that Pa would never shell out enough money for a plane ride or a cross-country trip, especially just for Stan. Like he doesn't know Stanley won't be able to make that much money scraping barnacles.

Like he doesn't care.

It's then, as his twin walks away grinning down at that stupid pamphlet, with a pep in his step that he'd lost months, if not years ago, that Stan realizes.

This isn't about getting away from New Jersey anymore, it's not even just about changing his mind on sailing.

No, Stanford wants to get away from him.

It's then that Stan realizes he's already lost his brother, to a stupid college, because of a single stupid machine.

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FrankenStan but after Ford goes through hell to bring his twin back, Stan just grumbles and groans and rolls back over like he just woke up from the deepest sleep of his life.

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FrankenStan but after Ford goes through hell to bring his twin back, Stan just grumbles and groans and rolls back over like he just woke up from the deepest sleep of his life.

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Happy birthday to the brothers ever!

Sketch under the cut

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No gf today, just fantasy plant practice.

Sketch under the cut

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AU where both twins are dealing with the supernatural but in very different ways.

Ford is still in Gravity Falls, having the time of his life with the gnomes and eyebats. Stan is traveling all over the country trying to get a single normal job and somehow always ends up dealing with Resident Evil level monsters. He hates it and has no clue how he's not dead yet.

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I absolutely love identity issues with characters and Stanley Pines is like nothing but identity issues.

Because he never really got the chance to make his own identity, did he? Even when he was young, he was just the “dumber, sweatier version” of Ford, or just the screw up, the problem child. And almost everything he was allowed to do growing up was centered around Ford. His own creativity was shut down at a young age, and the only thing he was actively praised for was boxing- which made him better at protecting the smart twin from bullies. As far as I know, the only thing Stan did up until he was 17 that wasn’t directly connected to Ford was dating, and even that seemed brief and didn’t end well. He was compared to his smarter, more popular twin so often he stopped trying to be anything but the dumb, headstrong twin. And then he got kicked out and couldn’t be Stanley Pines anymore. Lost his name, his identity, and everything but his car an a pre-packed duffel bag. Had to start using fake names and fake personalities(like his Mr. Mystery persona) to survive and fit in enough to be somewhat profitable. He had to conform to what others wanted him to be and never truly got to grow up as himself. He had to grow up quickly, but not as Stanley. Then Stanford called for him, he finally became Stanley again, just to immediately need to kill him off. He had to host his own funeral, knowing the wrong twin was being mourned, and he knew he’d never be able to be Stanley again. Not legally, at least. And for the next 30 years, he had to be called his brother’s name. He probably had to fake his voice and actions originally, especially for the funeral and around his family (that he probably distanced himself from again). He knew he wasn’t really Stanford, but he couldn’t be Stanley anymore, so now he’s a secret third thing; the owner of the Mystery Shack, who just so happens to use his brother’s name. Sure, he can act more natural as time goes on, but he’s not truly himself anymore. It's still just another persona that he needs to maintain.

And 30 years after killing Stanley, the true Stanford returns, and he’s finally allowed to tell people who he is, at least those close to him. 

And then. And then like, what, 3 weeks later? And then the world ends, and a demon dies, and Stan dons his twin’s name one last time, and fully expects that to be the end. He thinks the last thing Stanley Pines will ever truly do is what the spare part is supposed to, and does so willingly and without hesitation.

Do you understand how much that must have messed with him. He not only spent more of his life pretending to be his successful twin than he did as himself, but also died as him. 

Only after all of it is done, when he’s getting his memory back and everything after, does he finally get the chance to just freely explore who he is. He’s relearning what he knew about himself and getting the chance to figure out even more because he’s sailing with his twin, with no one else left to force him to conform to an image. For the first time in his life, he’s truly free.