#jheselbraum (mentioned)

[gay-dorito-dust]

After request the kiss on the cheek and gotmany likes, its too joyful for me. Im craving angst

Stans brothers reaction when Bill told them that y/n will and always died in every universe and dimensions like stuck forever as zombie/wood statue/etc, which y/n will die in their own dimension too in matter of time or months, time is ticking, they can’t change destiny (can they?)

Ford

Didn’t like those odds at all.

He and bill had history and who’s to say that this wasn’t just Bill trying another method to get inside his head once more by using you, his beloved, as a cheap tactic to do so.

‘I thought a being would have more tact than this Bill.’ Ford would say as the dream demon only chuckled.

‘Oh Stanford, do you really think I’d bluff about this? You should know me better by now that I do not bluff, I’ll show you instead seeing as how stubborn you are into believing me nowadays.’ Bill said as he then showed Ford of all the infinite ways you died throughout the multiverse:

Drowned

Stabbed

Possessed

Lost in the multiverse

Body snatched

Turned to stone

Went through a curse doorway unknowingly and never returned, etc, etc.

Bill took immense pleasure in the horrified look upon Ford’s face as he gingerly traced your face as though you turned into porcelain and not stone.

‘Sucks doesn’t it knowing they your loved one is bound to die in every single timeline, it’s enough to suck the joy out of everything.’ Bill said as Ford only glares at him. You don’t deserve these fates, none of your alternate selves did and he could only imagine what you could’ve possibly felt before dying alone.

‘Oh and your beloved y/n is on route to die in like five months.’ Bill casually mentions and Ford immediately looks to him again.

‘What do you mean by that? How do they die! How can I stop it!’ Ford exclaimed as he felt his heart race and his blood run cold at the sheer helplessness he felt in the moment, but it only proved to humour bill all the more. ‘Oh you can’t prevent this one Stanford Pines, they’ll die regardless of what you do to try and prevent it they’ll die regardless and you’ll have to live with it.’ Bill says before leaving Ford alone with his rampaging thoughts.

He could send you away to Dimension 52 to stay with Jheselbraum for the time being, just until he figured something out, but what if Bill foresees this move being made and goes after you himself? Ford didn’t know what he could do to protect you and it was driving him mad with Bill’s vague nonsense not helping him in the slightest. He’ll become paranoid of every little thing you did from that point onward to the point that even if you got a paper cut Ford was expecting something unfortunate to happen, but it never did.

Shit like this kept him awake at night as he holds you tightly against his chest, staring at the ceiling as though daring it to try and take you from him, which it didn’t but Ford grew skeptical of everyone you came across in case they were the catalyst for your death and kept himself near you at all times, hand on his gun in the instance he need to use it to keep you safe.

Ford would busy himself down in his lab to the point of exhaustion looking and theorising methods on how he could prevent your death, so much so that you’d have to come down and practically dragging him out because he was worrying you and the rest of the family. But Ford was stubborn as stubborn could be when it came to you and your safety that he tends to drown out your concerns for him, much to your dismay.

Ford believed that Bill was tempting him into making a deal to keep you safe but he knew that even as powerful as Bill was, even he couldn’t prevent something that he himself and told him happened across the entirety of the Multiverse. So Ford stuck to his guns and buried himself in work to keep you safe because he couldn’t and wouldn’t loose you if he could help it.

Stan

Doesn’t believe a thing Bill is saying in the slightest and thinks it’s all a pile of horseshit, up until the triangle demon shows him of all the infinite universes of which you did indeed die did Stan actually start to believe that Bill was actually telling the truth for once.

Zombies made you one of them.

Got turned to stone by a gorgon like creature and wasn’t saved in time.

Possessed by bill and had multiple stab wounds, bruises, scratches and lacerations from his misuse.

Submerged in amber/tree sap, face permanently stuck in horror.

Eaten by the Summerween Trickster.

Replaced by the shapeshifter after you were killed for being the imposter.

So many timelines where you’ve died cruelly or unfairly and it broke Stan’s heart knowing that in all of these universes his other selves might’ve been either too late, or made the wrong choices that he probably regrets as he downs each and every bottle of the hardest liquor in hopes he’d numb the pain.

He was destined to loose you no matter what and things weren’t made any better when Bill tells him that you were on route to die really soon, taunting him with the fact that there was nothing he, Ford or even the Pine Twins and their stupid pet pig could do to stop it; you’re death was an inevitability across the entire multiverse.

Stan hated being told that there was nothing he could do to prevent you from dying, he hated being told what he can’t do in general! So he’ll much rather take his odds with trying any and everything in his power to keep you safe and sound, even if it means dying himself he’ll do it gladly knowing you were okay.

He was already protective of you to begin with but with the added fact that you were bound to die sooner or later had Stan become even more protective of you. So much so that he doesn’t leave the shack without a crossbow or even his brass knuckles to fight off whoever or whatever was going to try and take you from him; hell he might even teach you how to fight should you get into trouble and he’s not there to protect you.

He keeps you by his side almost 24/7 at this point and would shower you in affection as though he was going to run out of time to do so, even going so far as to keep you away from walking under any ladders, tripping over anything and or crossing the street when you shouldn’t. However it got concerning to the point where you’d have to sit him down and ask what was wrong. Stan isn’t one to talk about his emotions nor how he felt about certain things but this was something he knew he had to share with you sooner or later, regardless of whether you believed him or not.

Stan still thought Bill was full of shit and even acted like he didn’t believe him about you dying and everything, but deep down Stan was scared that his best attempts to keep you safe wouldn’t be enough and that you’ll be taken away, regardless of how hard he fought back but Stan wasn’t one to easily give up not when his loved ones are involved.

[huginsmemory]

Another thing from rereading J3 is the fact that Jheselbraum (the Oracle. You know. Implying she can see a bit of the future. Like an oracle does) is that she looks at Ford and literally goes "you have the face of the man who is destined to destroy Bill" and then they party about it. In the two pages he writes on Jheselbraum he takes the time to mention this, because it matters so MUCH to Ford. He's going to be the one to take down Bill. Part of it is definitely the sudden certainty that yes, he will succeed. But it's also in a way a replica of his relationship with Bill, in being like I'm the chosen one, my mission is fated, once again I'm important, I'm special, the same way him making the portal under Bill's guidance was. And oh Ford you didn't change at all did you?

And then, of course. It's not Ford really who destroys Bill. It's Stan, who tricks Bill, allowing them to destroy Bill, and it's the twins together that destroys Bill (how's that for a show that emphasizes strength in community?). So. Yeah. Indeed, Ford, you've got "the face of the man who will destroy Bill", but you've got an identical twin (also like rule 101 of prophecies is never immediately assume things. The wording matters). And of course, unlike what Ford thought, it wasn't about him being the sole hero. It's about the both of them. Which, btw, them destroying Bill wouldn't have been possible if they didn't have the same face.

[ckret2]

Kinda weird ask incoming: Are Bill's substance abuse issues in your characterization based on anything canon or an Alex Hirsch interview or something or is it just "he obviously would abuse substances (more) if this wasn't a disney show so I'm just filling in the blanks"

1/3 actual canon & context clues, 1/3 reading five feet deep into one foot deep canon material, 1/3 "he totally would if this wasn't Disney."

To my knowledge there's no interviews confirming that he's heavy on the substance ABUSE (rather than just substance use), but to my recollection I'm pretty sure he's got the most allusions to consuming something alcohol/drug-adjacent of all the characters in the show. Outside of Bill we've got:

Stan ordering "expired apple juice"

since we're including "they probably would have done this if not for Disney," you could make the argument that Stan drinking Pitt cola was probably supposed to be beer cans.

the apple cider at the Northwest party

I'm gonna throw in Grenda drinking spoiled milk

Mabel consuming Smile Dip

farmer Sprott drinking hippie tea and pouring it out when he sees the love god fly by

Ford & the Oracle drinking Cosmic Sand, something strong enough he wakes up the next morning in a different dimension

that one alcoholic priest in TBOB

on TINAWDC, Ford tells Stan where to find his stash of beer.

And I think that's it?? Remind me if there's more.

WITH Bill, we've got:

In the Bill Reddit AMA he mentions salting his margarita glass with Time Baby's molecules. (and for the longest time I'm pretty sure this was the only explicit reference to an alcoholic beverage in a Gravity Falls-adjacent media; but Reddit is a godless land where S&P cannot tread, so I'm not gonna put too much weight on that. Still worth mentioning tho.)

he's got Time Punch at his Fearamid Party. Considering the "time" in the name, it could be related to Cosmic Sand (maybe you mix sand to make the punch?) which would mean they're drinking HARD.

(if Cosmic Sand IS related to Time Punch, now that we know Jheselbraum was in Bill's gang, there's a high chance she picked up drinking it while in the Henchmaniacs, so that's another thing we can now tie back to Bill's influence.)

He's drinking something while trying to interrogate Ford, an activity you'd probably want to be clear headed for, meaning either he drinks so hard so regularly that he DOES still have a clear head or else he's so accustomed to going "this is stressful, I need a drink to unwind" that he just does it even though it puts him at a disadvantage.

with the addition of TBOB, we now have: the silly straw page, where he's drinking a cocktail while also sitting in an enormous cocktail. Bill gushes about silly straws as one of his favorite things; and we know that stems from childhood, but NOW he paints an association between silly straws, drinks, and an overall margaritaville vibe

Bill mentions that the shaman introduced him to a local strain of hallucinogenic moss

Bill brings boxed wine to the Puritan girls' night.

Bill gets Ford wasted at karaoke night (and I have no doubt Bill was just as sloshed)—and if he knows how to make a drink that'll get you drunk in your sleep, he's got some serious mixology chops

the O'Sadley's incident.

That's so big it gets two bullet points. Nowhere else in all of Gravity Falls is there such an extensive, explicit, or extreme example of unhealthy substance abuse—barring the Smile Dip incident, but like, Mabel didn't know that was gonna happen and immediately swore off Smile Dip.

Three bullet points. He noclipped a guy into the ceiling. he got so drunk he forgot he killed his mom. He was arrested for "indecent exposure." Bill you good???

So most of the examples of drinking/hallucinogenics we get from the rest of the show are like, casual drinking or else children doing stupid shit. ONE incident of depressed drinking and one alcoholic side character.

But Bill drinks when he's partying, drinks when he's depressed, drinks when he's relaxing, drinks when he's stressed, drinks socially, drinks alone, drinks when he's helping a friend have fun, and thinks about drinking when he contemplates his worst enemies.

Okay.

Now half of these are from TBOB, so obviously they didn't factor into my decision to portray him as inclined to substance abuse over a year ago; but like... I'd say I interpreted the info we had on hand correctly, yeah?

Beyond that, it's a headcanon built up on the fact that he's got a lot of traits that lend themselves toward substance abuse.

An EXTREME "maximum fun NOW, consequences later NEVER" attitude. There seems to be no limits to how far he'll go in the name of chaos, fun, & hedonism, no matter who he hurts, no matter if he hurts himself. He's got that combination of reckless + irresponsible + shortsighted + passively self-destructive.

BIG on partying, which generally means drinks are involved and definitely seems to be the case here based on the time punch. "A party that never ends with a host that never dies"??

"says he's happy, he's a liar." When an emotionally stunted depressed person is in denial about being depressed and trying to convince everyone they're fine, what's a common coping mechanism? Self-medication!

he likes hurting himself. consuming substances in ways that are harmful to him is recreation to him. Yes I am talking about the soda in the eyes, even if it was a loaner body that can't have felt pleasant. The way he seeks out extreme+strange sensations makes me think he'd jump at the chance to try some weird new substance that does some crazy new thing to your head.

loves to socialize, but like... doesn't seem to have close friends. It would make sense for him to be inclined to use drinks/drugs as a social lubricant, both for himself and for his "friends," to help them all overlook the fact that maybe they don't actually really enjoy each other.

he's got a very strained relationship with reality, by which I mean he's actively attempting to murder reality and replace it with fantasy. What's a common method people use to try to escape/avoid reality? Self-medication!! What's one variety of self-medication particularly good at letting you slide into a fantasy world? Hallucinogenics! Which thanks to TBOB we now know he takes!!!

if Bill's reaction to an emotionally close relationship catastrophically falling apart is going on a massive bender, and if Bill's got a long string of exes that fell apart so catastrophically that they're straight up blocking his number, he's denying he ever dated them or ever felt love, and he's claiming that love is merely a pupa for hate... I think there's probably been a lot of benders.

overall he's just... a stressed, cranky, high-strung control freak who wants to give off the image of being so chill and cool and popular and enviable and suuuper happy. I think it'd make sense for him to turn to chemical assistance to bridge the gap between who he really is and who he pretends to be.

[primreaperstuff]

Trying to figure out what's under the Jhesselbraum crossed out text in the Book of Bill

EDIT: Somebody figured it out! Thank you @kitcatia (and @angst-estefany for helping them out)!!! This makes a lot of what's in the post outdated or wrong here but I'll keep it for archival purposes. :D

Dunno if anybody's done this before but I figured I'd give it a shot. This is the original image.

I first went and found the font used for this. I think it's DIN Condensed Bold. This font unfortunately costs money to get onto your computer, but it is included with Adobe Suite software so if you have Photoshop or are silly like me and used Illustrator, you can access it (I know Illustrator isn't great for this stuff but I generally use GIMP and didn't feel like installing Photoshop for this one thing).

And this is the image with the letters I can figure out.

If I got this right, there are a couple of things in here that are huge.

Bill thinks (or at least thought) very highly of Jhess. He describes her as the smartest Henchmaniac. Depending on how you interpret that comment about the eyes, he either let her into the group despite not liking how many eyes she has or has sour grapes about her leaving.

Jhess did a ton of the heavy lifting for the portal project. Bill is often presumed to simply have the multiversal know-how for a lot of the physics and stuff behind the portal, but this implies that Jhess was actually the first one to figure much of this stuff out and Bill went off of what she told him.

I also want to draw your attention to a tiny detail I noticed in the name Bill gives her. It's so small that it might just be me just seeing a pattern where none exists, but I thought it worth mentioning anyway.

My first thought was, obviously, that the name given was "JESS." The first two letters are clearly J and E and the character is called Jheselbraum so that would track. But then I noticed this tiny squarish region that does not line up with how the red pen's stroke normally tapers off and is slightly whiter than the pen. It is exactly where another letter would be... and it does not line up with DIN's capital S! The capital letters in DIN that it lines up with are B, D, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, P, R, and T. The name looks like it cannot exceed 5 characters given the position of the pen stroke.

In terms of plausible names in there, these are the options:

Jeb

Jed/Jedi

Jet/Jett/Jete

Jeff

Jerry

Jerk (lol)

Jelly

Jem

Jen/Jenn

The majority of the plausible names, as you can tell, are either masculine or ungendered. Which makes me wonder-- is Jheselbraum the Unswerving trans??

Because that implies a lot. For one, I have to question why Bill is deadnaming her in that case. Is it to be hurtful or did he just legitimately never figure it out? She went on the run from him so it's likely she never updated him on her live-name. (And I mean, let's face it, "Jheselbraum" is not that far off from some of the live-names trans people choose for themselves. You guys are reviving antiquated names one transition at a time. \pos)

He also speaks rather admiringly of her, which would be odd if he was trying to insult her with her deadname, so I think it's really highlighting how little Bill actually knows-- and might underlie the real reason he crossed it out. He literally just found out she transitioned and he doesn't even know her live-name. Really undermines the whole "unlimited being with knowledge and answers" thing he claims about himself.

It would also explain what drew her to Bill in the first place. Bill already believes in 14 million genders, and he was offering to smash all the norms and rules. What have norms and rules ever done for the trans community? Seldom anything good is my impression.

Hell, maybe she wound up doing her own sex change surgery, because nobody else would do it for her, and that's why she has the skills to install a metal plate in Ford's head. (Pure speculation of course)

Or maybe I'm just overthinking a print error or false pattern or something! Who knows?

Anyway, I thought this was interesting enough to share. Not important my tailbone lol.

[legobiwan]

I want to spend a moment talking about Ford's relationship with alcohol and how it ties back to both his social isolation and relationship with Bill. Warning, there's no real thesis to this post, but I do want to explore the concrete tidbits we get in so-called 'canon.'

Before Ford meets Bill, it's more or less stated that Ford doesn't really drink - maybe on occasion (high school/college shenanigans and such) and in small amounts, but never to excess. To do so would be to lose control of both his intellect and actions, and we all know Ford loves to try and exert control over his environment.

And then Bill comes around with this proposition:

"How about I mix you a drink to make it up to you? It's called the 'Myoclonic Jerk' and it can get you loaded in your sleep. Salvador Dali loved 'em!" "I was flattered but politely declined - I'm not much of a drinker."

Well, we know how that turned out.

Long-standing crush/obsession peer pressures you into drinking and you give in, finally able to slough off your many, many inhibitions for a delightful evening of...well, we're not exactly sure what happened but we're kind of sure via insinuation. (And let's be honest. The man did build a literal shrine to Bill, a point which I feel we're ignoring in the whole Bill-crying-over-his beer-because-he-got-dumped fiasco).

Anyway, Bill feels awkward. Ford feels awkward. They get cosmically smashed and then whatever happens, happens, but there's no reason this is considered a negative event considering Ford's escalating shrine and Bill's consistent fixation.

Fast-forward to the Krampus incident.

"He asked if I was finally coming around on holidays, or if this was just to keep the Krampus from coming back. I told him it was time to drink nog until we couldn't remember what a Krampus was."

I don't think Ford's referring to virgin egg nog here.

This is fascinating shift for a man who claims he doesn't really drink not all that long ago. There has to have been enough positive reinforcement for Ford to default to suggesting getting blackout drunk again for him to even bring this up. (The last time ended up with him and Bill doing something...good - he thinks. Ford doesn't want to consider the Krampus and how he insinuated that Ford was a callous, lonely man who cared for no one by not offering 'holiday cheer' to others. He might even feel that his natural anxiety and 'oddness' dissipate when he's drunk - a common enough rationalization for people with social anxiety/issues finding a social home. Hell, it might even be a fragment of what could be attraction to Fiddleford that he's working through the same unhealthy way Bill did with him).

This isn't the last time Ford gets plastered in canon.

"I was so excited that we [Ford and Jheselbraum] spent the entire night partying and drinking Cosmic Sand - the very same kind Time Baby himself consumes. When I awoke the next morning, she was gone and I was in another dimension entirely."

Again, I don't think Cosmic Sand is a Dasani bottle in this universe. Ford waking up in a whole new dimension with no idea how he got there is more than enough evidence, not to mention the fact the Oracle used to run with Bill's gang of Henchmaniacs and Ford himself outwardly states that they (him and Jheselbraum) 'party,' which is amazing for a man who was so socially tortured for so long. (But there is something to be said for being a freak in a situation where you know you'll be a freak. For example, living abroad in a country you have no chance of fitting in due to the way you look. You accept that you're going to be perceived as weird and that takes a certain amount of pressure off you, although it doesn't really help if and when you go back home. I have the feeling Ford experienced something similar on the other side of the Portal, and aside from not being able to kill Bill, it may have contributed to some of his bitterness upon coming back to Gravity Falls. Because at the end of the day, you can't run from yourself, and Ford had been running for a long, long time).

Funny enough, this habit doesn't seem to cease even after Ford comes back through the Portal, the most notable moment being after Stan and Ford are captured by Bill while the kids run off on a - as Ford so aptly puts - 'suicide mission.'

I would bet good, legal currency that this isn't water. Why even include it in the animation - in a set of episodes that were already constrained in terms of time and plot - without good reason? The fact that he passes his canteen to Stan afterwards is telling.

They're bracing themselves.

Now, why Ford had this on him before the surprise Weirdmaggedon (and that has to be when he equipped it, as he was in captivity throughout the rest of the timeline up to the point where the Shacktron and Stan/Mabel/Dipper freed the Gravity Falls citizens) - well, that's anyone's guess.

Addiction? Wanting to feel something the way he did so many years ago? Trying to bury a fuckton of emotional issues, including the nature of his relationships with Bill and Fiddleford? (He is a child of 1960s New Jersey, and that is bound to fuck you up). Too much time spent hanging around Rick Sanchez in the multiverse? (Not out of the realm of possibility).

I've seen a few fanfics touch on this topic and I don't think it's that much of a stretch to consider that Ford - for many, many reasons - may have developed an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, not solely, but at least partially due to Bill's initial influence and that first true influenced moment possibly resulting in a scenario where Ford would be able to drop so many of his barriers and, for once, (in his mind), be a human who is worthy of acceptance without needing to prove and justify his existence through achievement and accolades.

Anyway, this would be great fodder for Stan O'War II content, especially considering the massive guilt complex/hair shirt Ford dons after the whole Weirdmageddon event.

[sharksfrommars]

The Love Curse pt. 2 - the Exes

had some more ideas for that love curse AU I had a week ago. Here’s an exhaustive list of all the exes the pines family had to deal with. :/

The Love Curse- the exes

The pines got a list of exes they each need to reconcile with. Once they had, the name would disappear off it. The curse would be lifted when all the names were gone.

DIPPER

Literally just the girls from Roadside Attraction. He’s got the easiest list. He essentially just mass emails most of the girls, they’re all like ‘lmao we were 12 and never spoke again, it ain’t that deep’ and they all get a laugh out of it.

With Candy specifically, they reconciled pretty much immediately so he just rolls up to her and is like ‘can I check you off this list’

MABEL

Mabel’s got slightly more to reconcile with. 

Her more recent exes are all pretty chill with her these days so they can be dealt with via messages. Even the bitter ones reconcile pretty much immediately. One guy thinks it’s a sign they’re meant to be. Dipper threatens to punch him.

Mermando. The pines go to the land of the mermaids and they meet mermando’s wife. 

Gabe. Mabel really doesn’t want to talk to this guy, but he’s on the list. He’s kinda snooty about the whole thing. Like ‘it’s alright, Mabel. Not everyone can be on my level when it comes to puppeteering.’  Mabel gets annoyed, so the pines have a puppet battle against him. They ruin all his puppet cred by outshining him.

FORD

this is where things start to get interesting…

Fiddleford McGucket. This one is easiest. They’ve already talked about a lot of their history, and McGucket already doesn’t hold it against Ford. It’s pretty easy, except for the killer robot. Naturally.

Random college librarian. Whilst at college, Ford decided that he should get a girlfriend. It was a completely logical decision driven by his mother’s constant questioning. He asked her out, and was the world’s worst boyfriend for 2 months before she broke up with him. She was crying. He was not. 

The pines find her and she’s married and a grandma now. Ford realises that despite the relationship meaning nothing to him, this poor girl got her heart shattered and it kind of changed her entire life. Ford apologises and all is forgiven. Stan shoots his shot with her, only to be elbowed by Ford.

The Siren. Ford asked him out more to study him than to date him. The siren also low-key wanted to eat Ford. It was mutually destructive. They broke up when Ford threatened to harpoon the siren. 

The pines end up on a quest to save siren society from the evils of fascism . Turns out the siren ended up the head of a siren rebellion group, so they go raid the siren capital and do a siren coup. The siren recognises Ford didn’t want to be eaten, and Ford recognises that maybe he kind of emotionally manipulated the siren for science. They end on good enough terms, even after the siren asks of he can eat Stan.

Jheselbraum the Unswerving. They had a beautiful night in Dimention 52, and casually saw eachother whilst Ford stayed there. They ended on good terms.

The pines end up at D-52 to talk to her. Jhes is happy to see Ford, and to meet the rest of them. Ford has to confront his obsession with cipher. He has to recognise that he could have chosen to have a life of his own if he moved on, and he didn’t. Jhes gets it though. It took her millennia to get over her complicated relationship with Cipher. The pines get to experience partying on D-52. Mabel takes notes.

BILL CIPHER. Ford doesn’t mention this one to his family, and instead pretends it’s not on the list. Bill’s dead, right? Or as good as. His family doesn’t need to know. He doesn’t want to have to confront the nature of their relationship infront of the family. Not yet at least. 

STAN

oh BOY does Stan have exes. 

Lazy Susan. This one isn’t that deep. But Stan did kind of run out of their one date and never address it. Mabel has to literally DRAG Stan to Greasy’s so they can talk about it. Susan says she’s been on worse dates and they all laugh about it in the end. Mabel makes a play for free pancakes.

Beatrice. Obscure pull with not much (thanks gravity falls wiki), Stan mentioned to dipper that she slapped him for “being a cad”. Cus we don’t know shit, I’m gonna just make stuff up. Stan seduced her whilst she was married to her ex husband. Stan was fully aware of this, he just wanted something he couldn’t have. Unfortunately for the both of them, Beatrice decided to choose Stan over her husband and she left him. Stan was happy for a while, but now that he had her, a lot of the charm wore off. Stan and Beatrice were in a sad relationship where Stan’s eyes would wander and Beatrice would cry about it. One day, Stan was flirting with some other girls. She saw and so she slapped him and they broke up.

Stan and the family find her in a witches coven. Apparently, her husband wouldn’t take her back, so she decided to swear off men forever and become a witch. She curses Stan to be a child because he ‘acts like one.’ Shenanigans ensue. Dipper eventually manages to convince the witches coven to go easy on Stan by becoming one. Stan manages to apologise and make amends to Beatrice, but apparently cus dipper’s a witch now, he can’t leave. Not that that means anything to the Pines, who steal dipper back and run as fast as possible. The only thing that changes is that dipper has a witch hat now.

Marilyn Fakenamé. Time for a REAL witch. Marilyn was Stan’s vegas wife. She stole his wallet. The only thing Stan wants is to get his wallet back. It was a nice wallet! (He stole it.) Stan genuinely had feelings for her, but it seems she didn’t feel the same way.

Ford built machine that could track the exes listed. For Marilyn, it pointed to Gravesfield, Connecticut. When they got there, they could not find a ‘Marilyn’ anywhere. It’s a whole thing, but Ford detects an anomaly and naturally, the Pines’ get distracted AF. 

When they finally figure out that ‘Marilyn’ was pseudonym, Ford and dipper stare at Stan like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Dipper and Mabel eventually manage to speak to Camilla, who points them to the abandoned house, leading them to the boiling isles, and finally to Eda. The MOST shenanigans occurred, before they finally reconcile.  Ford spends the entire time at the boiling isles making notes. He nearly dies about 5 times doing this. Also Luz and Mabel are besties.

Natalia Annika Önnanövv. She was a Cold War spy, sent to the Mystery Shack in the 80s. She was assigned to one Stanford Pines, a genius scientist suspected to have made a mind control device, specifically one used by Ronald Reagan’s handlers. Obviously, a country like Natalia’s had great need for technology like that. Unfortunately, Ford was already in the portal, so none of Natalia’s investigations lead to anything. So she decided to seduce him. Stan fell for it hook line and sinker, and they dated for 2 years. But it turned out Stan could keep a secret, so she never found out about the portal. 

Natalia realised Stan was keeping secrets so she played the long game. During which, she fell in love. She loved the way he’d scratch his butt then eat food without washing his hands. They went steady, until Natalia’s country fell. She realised she was a target, that she couldn’t stay with Stan, so she ran. Stan ran after her, said he loved her. She needed him to stay away. So she said she never actually loved him, that she was just using him for his science. Stan stormed off and they never spoke again.

The pines find her when she randomly reappears at the mystery shack. Turns out she hid a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ at the mystery shack. She already knew everyone’s names, which freaked Dipper out. Dipper immediately doesn’t trust her and assumes she’s out to use Stan again. The pines get caught up in international heist shenanigans, and end up bonding with her. She and Stan spend one beautiful night together and they reconcile. Eventually they find this ‘weapon’. It’s Vladimir Putin’s baby photos.

Jimmy Snakes. From the days when Stan was in a motorcycle gang. They were lovers, until Stan ended up snitching after taking the fall for a heist. Stan traded his gang mates for a way out. That’s why he’s banned from Arizona.

The pines end up in Arizona, looking for snakes. Dipper and Mabel end up separated from the grunks, and accidentally join Snakes’ biker gang. It’s a whole thing. Mabel gets a leather jacket, dipper does the Akira slide and falls off, they both get matching bikes. Jimmy really takes a liking to them. He decides to get them involved in the next heist. A train robbery.

Meanwhile Stan and Ford are having a mental breakdown trying to find the kids. They decide to take a train to the next town over. The very train they are heisting. During the heist, the pines meet up again, and Stan sees Jimmy Snakes after all these years. They all manage to pull off the heist (with the help of Mabel’s grappling hook), and Stan and Jimmy have a heart to heart. Stan tells Jimmy that he was young and scared, but he really did love him for a long time. Jimmy calls off the hit on Stan, so he’s allowed back in Arizona to visit now. Mabel and dipper shrink down the motorbikes and keep them in their pockets for a rainy day.

Sandra Sweetmeadow. She was a sweet girl from Pennsylvania, back when Stan was trying to sell the StanVac. He knocked on her door and it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, she was Amish, and her parents told Stan to scram with his ‘Sinful electromajigs’. But Stan snuck back at night to serenade her at her window like in Romeo and Juliet. They were steady for a few months before Stan popped the question. She introduced him properly to her parents, who disapproved of Stan’s ‘sinful flashy gold chains’. Sandra ultimately agreed, but she still wanted to marry him. She asked Stan to give up the chains and the gambling and his bad boy ways for her. Stan said no and they argued. Then Stan left her a week before the wedding. 3 months later he was banned from Pennsylvania.

The Pines arrive at a medium sized house in suburban Philadelphia. Sandra lived there with her daughter. Apparently, after Stan had left, she realised she wanted to be with him, regardless of the gold chains, so she went looking for him. By the time she set off, Stan was already two states away with a different name. She eventually got married, had a daughter, and then got divorced. Stan was still annoyed. It honestly pissed him off. He told Sandra that he didn’t appreciate the fact that she thought he needed to change to be ‘good enough’ for her. They argued loudly, and it seemed like reconciliation wouldn’t be possible. Apparently she really hit a nerve.

Mabel, dipper and Ford decide they need to Do Something about it. They team up with Sandra’s daughter and they make a plan to force them to actually talk. They trick them both into drinking a truth potion, and force them to have a heart to heart. Eventually they talk it out and reconcile.

Burline. She left her ring at the mystery shack in the 90s. Stan put it on, and hasn’t managed to take it off since. Apparently that counts as a relationship? Stan goes to meet this Burline with Dipper. They can’t get the ring off, so dipper has to go on a quest to figure it out. Once they get the ring off, they apparently ‘reconciled ’. They also had to sign fae divorce papers. Turns out the ring was Fae, and dipper has to use Fae rules to get the divorce to happen. Burline has no clue where she got the ring and has no attachment to it, so she lets Dipper keep it.

Brenda Chuggins. She had freakishly large thumbs. Something about that made Stan nostalgic so he decided to hire her for the mystery shack’s new freak show. It was perfect, and Brenda was pretty too. They started going out. On day 2, Jimmy snake’s estranged younger brother Johnny turned up looking for a job. Stan barely knew him, but he figured Johnny could pass as a freak. He had bright green hair and a split tongue. There was definitely a story for Stan to make there. Johnny and Brenda hit it off, and at first it was all good. That night they all slept together and Stan thought it was great. The next day, Brenda and Johnny had run off together, deciding they liked each other more than either of them liked Stan. So Stan was missing out on talent AND a lover.

Stan and co find Brenda in New Jersey, at the glass hard beach freak show. Honestly, it was the last place Stan expected to see her. She had married Johnny Snakes, and they seemed to be living their best life. Stan asked Brenda where he went wrong, but she and Johnny had gotten REALLY into the mysterious carny thing so they made stan and Ford go on a whole fetch quest to catch the jersey devil. They end up meeting the jersey devil again, but Mabel and dipper got their first. They’re having a tea party. Mabel’s idea. Brenda finally admits that she quite frankly didn’t see the kind of future she wanted at the mystery shack. But she did with Johnny. Stan accepted that. Then Brenda and Johnny invited Stan over for the night. Dipper wanted to melt hearing that.

Carla McCorkle. After breaking up with Stan, she dated thistle down. She travelled with him on tour until she found out he was cheating on her. So she broke up with him and took on the Feminist cause. She dated a woman for a long time, first as a political thing, but then for real as they both realised their feelings. They adopted about 5 cats and 2 dogs. Then, tragically, her partner died of cancer. Since then, she lived on her own, spending time with her friends from the 70s, and working at Hot Belgian Waffles at Glass Shard Beach.

The pines weren’t expecting to find Carla at Hot Belgian Waffles. Mabel just noticed it and laughed, and dipper said they HAD to go in now. When Stan walked in, Carla dropped her tray. She pointed at Stan and said “YOU’RE DEAD!” Stan and Ford had to spend a good 3 hours explaining the whole sorry tale to Carla. She clearly didn’t believe a word. But regardless, she told them her life story. Stan offered to buy the film rights for $20. He said it was like ‘the Duchess Approves’. No one got it. Dipper asked her what it was like being brainwashed into dating a musician. That got a glare.

Stan and Carla talked about their relationship. They were just dumb kids really, they didn’t fully understand themselves or their feelings. And the fact was, they had both grown and changed so much since they had last saw each other. Now, they found they could laugh about the things that seemed so serious, like old friends do. It occurred to Stan, that maybe that was the point. He had so many exes since Carla, and maybe because of that, he was pretty much a different person. If he had to deal with Thistle Down today, he wouldn’t drive his car into a ravine. He’d just shit in his front seat.

[craycray-wolf]

HELLO FELLOW FALLERS!!

(⚠️🚨 SPOILER ALERTS FOR THE BOOK OF BILL AND FANFICTION FLAT DREAMS ⚠️🚨)

I would like to propose something.

Back in 2016 a fantastically creative individual known as PengyChan wrote a fanfiction on Bill Cipher's origins/backstory based off of novel Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (if you haven't read the fanfic I 100% recommend). I loved its characterization of Bill and the references to Flatland! I'll provide a link at the end of this post for any who are interested.

BUT as many know, the Book of Bill just came out on the 23rd! And he discusses his origins in it. I figured this would either debunk what Pengy had written/make their fanfic an AU.

And of course that's true for some of the story.

But here's the thing. I personally think quite a bit of it would still work! And thus blending the 2 could be plausible.

1. Bill is a horribly unreliable narrator.

2. Bill despite going a bit into his origins/home dimension actually doesn't say much at all, either because of omission or censoring (whether that was intentional or not is also its own conversation, I personally believe he's- I apologize if I'm phrasing this wrong- dissociating/repressing and thus not intentional). It does indeed reference Flatland in a way but it's never outright said whether its a version of it or not.

3. We actually know very little about his family asides for sure having a mom (assuming his ramblings are correct), so Liam still existing and being the Axolotl are not necessarily out of the question especially considering Bill's "punishment" is therapy rather than say- proper imprisonment or hell or anything.

4. As far as I can tell, not much is said about the Oracle/Jheselbraum the Unswerving other than an implication she was once a Henchmaniac (which is huge! But it doesn't necessarily completely mess with the fanfiction. She could still be Nora with a slightly different story).

5. Bill is very supportive of feminine people as seen by how he helped the women in the 1600s, and is fond of Mabel. Though the latter point is more because of Mabel's personality and self, it's another trait of Mabel that maybe- just maybe attributes to it.

Yes he's still Bill and thus a homicidal asshole who's committed horrid atrocities that should absolutely not be excused - I just find it interesting how strangely supportive he is. Perhaps this could be connected back to Nora?

______

The reason I thought of blending the 2 in the first place is because I love fan content and wnat to make some myself, however I'd also just like to have what sounds like an interesting discussion. I understand that fanfiction ≠ canon of course but I personally just like to think of it this way.

I invite you to tell me what you think, either by reposting or commenting! 😁

Here's that link I mentioned earlier:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6062122/chapters/13896454

[stupidlittlespirit]

i've seen the "he'd never date a woman" thing with ford so much, which i think about a lot. like it's one thing to just headcanon him as gay but there are a lot of posts where internalized or blatant misogyny shine bright. one i saw straight up had multiple people going "he respects women too much to want to date/fuck them" like hello? do you realize what you are implying ab real women when you say that?

i'm not great at articulating my thoughts but i think it's especially prominent with ford because of his intelligence + unconventional demeanor. he's off-putting and a genius and didn't want to give up his work to settle down into a standard marriage with kids. women can't be weird or smart in the same way men can for example and all women want the typical white picket fence nuclear family american dream. therefore you are off your gourd if you think he'd ever want to be with a woman. so there’s that on top of the already rampant misogyny present in fandom spaces with shipping especially.

there's also the whole "gibe the oracle your phone number" / "i miss dimension 52" that could have some implications if you want but ig i can't blame people for forgetting jeselbraum because hirsch barely expands on her LOL. but basically it’s all up to interpretation and it really isn’t all that wild to think he could be attracted to women.

personally i just enjoy projecting my own sexuality onto him. “what gender are you attracted to?” don’t care. can i show you my isopod colonies. “how would you describe your sexual attraction?” uhhhhhhhhhhh (<- is probably demisexual)

So, I deleted my post because I felt like I was rehashing points I'd previously made a million times before, but I stand by it.

I want to address what you said and then I want to kind of go on a tangent (shocker, I know) about the interpretation of GF at large because I've been engaging with a lot of Lynch stuff recently, who we know was by and large the most influential person for Hirsch, and one of the biggest things around Lynch's work is the beauty of subjectiveness. I think Hirsch carries that legacy with him at the heart of his work.

So yeah, the comments about Ford 'respecting women too much' is insane. If anyone thinks that they are probably the kind of person who doesn't respect a woman anyway. If your hands sully the one you touch, perhaps your hands were not so clean to begin with, yknow? That's the vibe I always get with those kinds of comments.

Society approaches women so differently from men in this regard, as you said. Where a man is 'quirky' and 'cool', a woman is 'annoying' or 'trying too hard'. She suffers for her differences where as he profits for them. She can only commit the crime of being Cringe, and in my experience, people will forgive many things but never that.

There is certainly merit in the way in which a lot of people recognise that Ford is partial to things that are 'weird' or that are shunned by society, especially because of his hands, and that plays well into Queer culture. It's a feeling most of us (if not all of us) experience. So I can see where there connection comes and it's totally cool to hold that belief. Queer is BIG umbrella and I think he falls under it myself, what with the ace/aro stuff. We're given much more canon evidence of him being ace/aro, in fact, than of anything else. I maintain personally that canon Ford is asexual and aromantic, and that romance doesn't factor into his life in the way it does for 'normal' people. It's why when Bill mentions that quiz Ford does in his dreams in TBoB it makes me think of my own struggles with asexuality: "I'm not normal, everyone else is feeling this type of way and I'm feeling that type of way. There's something wrong with me. I'm weird. I need answers." It feels very much like Ford is attempting to understand that side of himself and is very afraid of the answer.

The Oracle stuff makes me so sad it was never expanded on more. I really love Jheselbraum and it felt like she was one of the first people that Ford met who was of higher intelligence than him, and who actually did just want to help. She extended an extreme kindness to him. Whether it was more than that doesn't even really matter. There was still a relationship formed there that can't be discounted. But again, it can be interpreted in lots of different ways.

This is the other thing. There's nothing wrong with projecting yourself onto your favourite character. We all do it. I do it. It's fun and it brings comfort. And that's okay! But that means we can all do it. So it's unfair for someone else to say "you're wrong for thinking XYZ about Ford" because we're all just kids in a sandbox playing house with these characters. You can't gatekeep someone else's enjoyment.

You can believe Ford is gay. You can believe Ford is ace. You can believe Ford is whatever you want him to be, but what you can't do is then rescind that privilege from someone else just because you don't like it or because it makes you feel better about yourself to punch down on someone else. People are entitled to their own interpretations of media, even if they make you feel uncomfortable or whatever.

Which brings us onto Lynch. Now, I'm not a huge surrealist fan, I like Lynch most for the person that he was (ugh I'm still so sad to type that). One of the biggest things about him was that he valued the intelligence of his audience and respected them enough to allow them the space to interpret his works as they saw fit. He never wanted to define his films in a way that would prevent another person from taking their own meaning from it. There was no definition, only feeling.

There's a clip of him being asked to expand on his meaning for one of his films, I forget which one, and he just replies "no". It's so fucking good because that, to me, is art. It is fundamentally subjective in its existence and the way I view something is not going to be the way someone else does, so why take that interpretation away from one to give to another just for their approval? We may align in thoughts but the way we process the media is going to be entirely different. Why? Because we're different people. Our experiences throughout our lives have informed the way we interact with things.

I think Alex Hirsch enjoys other people making their own interpretations of his work in a similar way. Just as Lynch does. Hirsch wants you, the audience, to derive personal meaning. He doesn't need (or even want) to tell you how to engage with the themes because why would he? It would only make him work harder to get a simpler point across and it would risk alienating parts of his audience. He wants the audience to connect and to find their own familiarities, and he respects his audience enough to give them the space to let them do that. He's often evasive when he's asked to tie things down firmly. To be honest, I think he should be braver in just saying "no, I don't want to answer that" sometimes. You can tell he wants to but he also wants to engage with people so it can be hard.

People are very desperate to want to have answers in black and white. They need things to be canon in order to feel vindicated, when in actual fact, an idea is just as legitimate when it comes to fiction. Fiction IS an idea. It isn't tangible and therefore cannot be quantified, so it can be interpreted however.

Anyway, by forcing your interpretation of the work onto others (ie. 'Ford would never', 'Stan would never' etc), I think you fundamentally misunderstand what the purpose of the work is. You're taking away the light of other people because you're scared yours doesn't shine bright enough. And you're scared because other people previously took your light away, but all you're doing is repeating the cycle and taking away from the rest of us.

Your ideas can coexist with others. No one is right and in that, everyone is right. Does that make sense? Idk.

I voice my opinions of disliking certain ways the fandom engages with elements of the show, but I don't think they have less right to have those ideas than I do to have my own. I interpret Bill as one way and someone else will interpret him another. That's okay. You're allowed to do that. But I don't think you're allowed to be actively vicious to others over it.

Engage with honesty and recognise that other people enjoys things in different ways, and it's okay not to control the narrative of that sometimes.

I have my criticisms of Hirsch but I also have a lot of love for the guy, and one of the biggest things I respect about him is him allowing us to draw our own beliefs. Do I think he could stand to do some things better? Yes. But that doesn't mean I don't love what I already have from his work.

I'm not sure if this makes sense, I'm having a bit of a Day, but I hope it at least reads well enough to convey my meaning.

[ivxliwh]

okay, yep, mhm, gotchu. I have written this down for totally future reference. mhm. totally.

do i wanna know what you were gonna ask?-

hey providence? quick totally normal question that doesn't relate to any recent events that have happened at all but how quick did your, yknow, 'magic' or whatever it is devealop?? and how long did it take to get used to it?? like the whole powerset.

just a- just a simple question, really. mhm. yep.

[ @ivxliwh ]

UH, WELL...

BACK IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL I REMEMBER DISCOVERING I COULD SET THINGS ON FIRE... THE WHOLE FACE SHUFFLING AND LASERS THING CAME AFTER I DID WHAT I DID. THE FIRE WAS HARD TO CONTROL. I'M STILL NOT THE BEST AT IT NOW.

[achromaticegoist]

Gods of the Multiverse

couple of doodles i did for some gravity falls characters (two of which are only mentioned once in the show but expanded elsewhere

also jheselbraum I love her soooo much if the book of bill does not mention her I will cry (fr)

guys i am so multifandom it hurts I am so normal over them

[kaye-go-moo]

Shapes and Strange Ciphers AU: Need a hand? Pt. 2

SaSC by me

Shapes and Pines by @/void-dude

Next Part

Jheselbraum, on the rare occasions she saw Bill in town, noticed his behavior gradually becoming increasingly strange over the span of a few weeks. At first, his movements were clumsy and awkward, stumbling through the streets like a child learning to walk. She initially assumed he was drunk, but as time passed, it became clear something else was wrong. His walk became more refined, but completely different from his usual stride—his head held high, his steps confident, and his hands clasped neatly behind his back. However, this wasn't nearly as disturbing as his newfound hostility towards others. Bill, who had always been somewhat stand-offish but never rude, acted arrogant, treating those around him as if they were beneath him. 

Bill also appeared disheveled; his hair was long and tangled, his clothes dirty, and his face gaunt. There was also something off with his eyes. Jheselbraum couldn't place it, but they just looked wrong—dark and empty, like something had crawled inside of Bill's skin and was poorly imitating him. Jheselbraum was filled with a growing sense of unease, the feeling in her gut that had kept her in gravity falls returned, leading her to pay Bill a visit.

-

When she entered his house, Jheselbraum was taken aback by its state. The place was a wreck—papers strewn everywhere, cobwebs draped over the furniture, and dust filled the air. Is Bill really living here?

She called out his name, but there was no response. She ventured down into the basement and found him working on the portal. He looked awful. With his long hair tied into a messy ponytail, revealing his condition was far worse than Jheselbraum had initially believed, "Bill?"

Bill jumped and looked up in surprise, “J-Jhesel? What are you doing here?”

"I was worried. About you." Her gaze lingered, examining his decrypate from, her face a mix of shock and concern.

Bill’s expression darkened as he turned to continue his work., “Im fine. You can leave now.”

"Fine? You call this fine?” Her anger surged, “Bill, what the hell is going on with you?" 

For once, Jheselbraum didn’t hold back. Normally, she would leave in quiet frustration, wanting to avoid confrontation, but not this time. She had reached her limit. If escalating was the only way to get Bill to listen, then so be it.

She unleashed everything—her concerns and frustration from the last year, picking apart his every action. She questioned his sanity, asking if he was having a mental crisis. She tore him to pieces before threatening to contact his family, “Is that what it will to get you to pull your head out of your ass?”. However, this only managed to anger Bill and send him over the edge.

Bill had been frozen in stunned silence, but the mention of his family caused him to snap. His face contortinf with rage as he yelled, “Leave them out of this!”

He unleashed a barrage of cutting insults, using her insecurities and regrets as amunition. In his rage, he grabbed a nearby tool and flung it at her.

It missed, bouncing off the wall behind her and clattering to the floor. Jheselbraum stood in shock, face pale and eyes wide. She stumbled back, turned, and bolted up the stairs, fleeing the house and driving away.

Bill sat there, paralyzed, the weight of his actions crashing down on him. He wanted to chase after her, but his legs wouldn’t move. Minutes passed before he managed to stumbled to his feet and up the upstairs. The front door was open, left ajar by Jheselbraum. He reached outt, his hand hovered over the doorknob. I should apologize.

“You should stay here,” Bill shifted his attention to Ford. “Things will only escalate if you go after her.”

Bill, deflated, slowly closing the door. He stood in silence, staring blankly at the knob, fog clouding his mind. “You should rest.” Ford glided in front of Bill, forcing him to meet his gaze.

Bill silently obeyed, numbly turning and walking to his bedroom. He slumped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, exhaustion overtook him, and he feel fast sleep, unaware of what Ford did while he rested.

When he woke, he back in the basement, a sticky note left by Ford sitting in front of him: ‘There's nothing to worry about. The problem is solved. Continue fulfilling your legacy.’

A pit formed in Bill’s stomach and a lump formed in his throat. He swallowed hard, let out a shaky breath. Rising to his feet, he turned back to the portal, but a chilling anxiety brewed in his chest as he forced himself to continue working.

-

A week had passed with Bill tirelessly working on the Portal and Ford taking over his body at night. But eventually, something clicked in Bill's mind. Why wasn’t anyone banging down the front door? Why hadn’t anyone called? Knowing Jheselbraum, she would’ve definitely told his family about their fight. So why was no one there?

A cold shiver ran down his spine as Ford’s words flashed in his mind ‘the problem is solved’. What did that mean? Bill thought back, remembering all of his doubts, doubts he had kept hidden—doubts Ford had somehow known. Ford knew exactly what to tell Bill to keep his fears down. To keep him down. Something wasn’t right.

Unable to shake the feeling, Bill raced out of the house and into town. Heading towards Jheselbraum's apartment, he spotted her wandering the streets. Relief washed over him as he ran up to her and began apologizing, stopping when he noticed her confused and worried expression.

"Do I know you?"

Bill’s heart sank. His face paled as he looked her over. She was wearing the same clothes from when he last saw her, but no coat or shoes—in the middle of winter. He quickly wrapped his jacket around her, ushering her towards his car and out of the cold. But she recoiled in fear, wriggling out of Bill’s grasp before running away.

He tried to chase after her, but his exhaustion slowed him to a wheezing crawl. Bill spent the rest of the day searching, but the cold forced him to stop. Desperation pushed him to ask the police for help, but all they could offer was a vague promise to “keep an eye out.”

Bill had no choice but to return home. He needed to call the Jheselbraums family and tell them. Tell them... what exactly? That their daughter had gone mad? That she lost her mind and was now wondering underdressed through the cold? Thinking about it, he realized he didn't even remember their numbers. He couldn’t remember anyone's number. Bill never could, always having to rely on an old notebook with the everyones contact information listed.

Bill frantically searched the house, but the notebook was gone. Even his phone had disappeared.His breath quickened, becoming ragged, as the world collapsed in on him. Nothing was where it should, no one was acting how they should be. Nothing was right and he had no one—not his friend or his family. He was alone.

Bill crumpled to the floor in a sobbing heap before waking to a familiar cosmos. Ford hovered above him, trying to explain away all of Bill’s doubts.

Bill stayed quiet, listening to Ford try and rationalize what Bill saw. Then Ford paused, seemingly interrupted by a silent voice. He looked down at Bill, examining him with a narrowed eye.

"I want the truth." Bill's voice was cold, his eye fixed on Ford.

Ford sighed with annoyance, looking at Bill with disappointment. "I'll give you this one chance, Cipher."

With a snap, the dream unraveled, and Bill was bombarded with flashes of creatures and places he had never seen before, inventions he could never dream of creating.

"This will all be ours, my protégé.” Ford gestured towards the images, “Anything we desire. Everything we deserve."

Bill's head was spinning. Overwhelmed, he squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, "No! I asked for the truth, Stanford! Give me the truth!"

Ford's eye darkened, and a flash of red anger painted his shape. He closed his eye, recollecting himself before he raised his hand, fingers bracing against each other. His eye reopened, staring at Bill with a cold indifference.

"To think I would've let you join me."

Snap

-

Ford took control of Bill's body, forcing it up from the floor and over to the basement door. First, he changed the doors passcode before heading down to the lab. There, he grabbed one of his secret side projects: a pin lock, which he installed on the closet door. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the portal, picking up where Bill had left off. He worked until Bill’s body reached its limit, its hand’s trembling too much to use. Finally, Ford locked himself in the closet. Now, Bill was trapped—only able to leave when Ford possessed his body.

-

Ford continued working on the portal, knowing it would be complete in a few more days. However, Bill didn't make it easy. When awake, he tried breaking down the door, leaving his body too exhausted for Ford to use, delaying the portal's completion. Bill’s continued escape efforts lead him to work his frail body past its limits. In a desperate attempt to slow Ford's progress, he restored to hurting himself. Forcing Ford to work with broken bones and trembling limbs. Ford tried reasoning with Bill—through flattery or insult—doing everything he could to break him down. But Bill held strong.

After a few days, Bill finally managed to break down the door and weakly climb upstairs, only to be met with another lock installed by Ford. In that moment, Bill nearly gave up. His body was wrecked, the pain being the only thing keeping him conscious. Ford tried encouraging Bill’s weakness, insisting his actions were pointless. But Bill fought off his desire to quit and steeled his resolve. 

He tried kicking down the metal door, but his legs were too weak. Taking a moment to assess his surroundings, he realized he could just break through the wooden wall instead. With renewed determination, he shuffled back down to the lab and grabbed his tools. He spent hours tearing at the the wall, all while enduring Ford’s manipulation. Eventually he broke through.

Bill raced to the front door, only to be halted by a raging blizzard. It was too risky to push through the snow—he could die of hypothermia or pass out, giving Ford to the chance to regain control or manipulate someone else into finishing the portal. He had no choice but to find a solution inside the house.

Bill frantically searched for something—anything—that might help him deal with Ford. It was a feverish attempt made more difficult as night fell. Ford had taken the time to remove every light bulb in the house, leaving Bill in the dark and forcing him to return to the basement. There he found a busted old torch that he used to light his way.

During his search, he came across an old photo of him with his friends. A heavy pit formed in his stomach as he stared at the picture, a reminder of forgotten memories and broken friendships. Before he could dwell on it for too long, another photo caught his eye.

In it, a younger Bill smiled proudly as he held up a first-place prize from a science contest. Beside him stood someone he hadn't seen in almost a decade—his old babysitter, first friend, and big brother, Tad. Tears welled up in Bill’s eyes as he realized just how much he missed Tad. How much he’s needed him—now more than ever.

Suddenly, an idea grounded him. Bill jumped to his feet, rifling through drawers until he found an unfinished postcard addressed to Tad. “What good will that do?” Fords voice cut through Bills thoughts “He abandoned you, Cipher. What makes you think he’ll come back?” Bill paused. Ford was right. And even if he wasn’t, who was Bill to ask Tad to travel all the way to Gravity Falls just to help him? They hadn’t spoken in years. Did Tad even remember Bill existed?

Taking a deep breath, Bill steadied himself. I won’t know unless I send it. He wrote “PLEASE COME!” followed by his home address. Once the blizzard died down, he bundled up and made his way into the woods, placing the letter in an old, rusted mailbox. He lifted the flag and left, hoping—praying—Tad would receive it.

-

While waiting for Tad, Bill loaded up on caffeine and energy medication, trying to stay awake for as long as possible. He couldn't risk Ford taking over his body and locking himself somewhere he couldn't escape. Bill continued his search for something against Ford, but he couldn’t find his journals. He nearly tore the house apart, but there was nothing—Ford had either hidden or destroyed them. Defeated, Bill shifted his focus to dismantling the portal.

It was far from an easy task. Bill's body was weak from a lack of food and sleep, and with his journals gone, he had to rely on scattered notes and his foggy memory. He gathered what he could find, but between Ford’s constant badgering and Bill's sleep deprivation, it was hard to focus. Things only got worse when he started to have hallucinations—or what he convinced himself were hallucinations.

Every bump and creak sent Bill into panic, scrambling to find its cause. The only way he could get any work done was by tricking himself into thinking everything was fine. As long as he saw Ford, he was safe, his presence brought Bill a strange sense comfort. He could keep and eye on him and didn’t have to be completely alone—though its debatable if being alone would’ve be better than hanging out with your captor.

One night, after ignoring a series of thumps upstairs, Bill was startled by the sound of breaking glass. He looked around and realized Ford was gone. He’d been so focused on the portal that Bill didn’t notice his absence. Grabbing a long metal pipe, he raced upstairs, slowing as he neared the source of the noise. He was chilled to see a decaying body crawling through the broken window, its eye glowing a golden hue.

"Stop with these games, Cipher." The corpse’s voice was raspy, its words disturbingly familiar. Ford. "I gave you the opportunity to do one worthwhile thing in your pathetic life, and you wasted it."

Bill froze, trembling as the corspe staggered to its feet. "This is your last chance."

A bloody hand reached out toward him. Bill's grip on the pipe tightened.

"Cipher, my protégé, don't—"

Before Ford could finish, Bill swung the pipe down onto the hand, then back at Ford’s face, landing with a sickening crack. The corpse slammed into the ground. Bill stood panting, waiting for Ford to get back up, but the body lay still. Shining his flashlight into the dead man's eyes, Bill saw no glow—the pupils small and unreactive.

Bill dragged the body outside. It took him a while, but eventually, he managed to lay it beside the back porch. He stumbled back inside and returned to the basement. He tried dismantling the portal, but his hands wouldn’t cooperate. Shaking so violently he could barley hold a tool without dropping it. He told himself that he was just the cold, but even after an hour of sitting in the warm basement, his hands pressed tightly against his chest, the trembling wouldn’t stop. And then came the tears.

-

At one point, Bill toyed with the idea of blowing up the house. It would be the quickest solution and would set Ford back significantly. The idea intrigued him, but the intrusive thought of being inside when it exploded quickly snuffed out the plan. Besides, it was only a temporary fix. Bill needed something permanent. And then there was Tad. If he comes—when he comes— how would he feel, finding nothing but the ashes of Bill’s homes?

-----

Lore Comments

[skeletboi]

Intridimensional AU update:

Previous Part

This is going to be a very long post!

I've been too tired and unmotivated to actually make any art or fics to go along with this AU. I work 50 to 60 hour work weeks and have really bad Seasonal Depression, so I just don't have the energy to do more than this. I'm sorry, I tried, but I just don't have it in me.

So, instead, I'm doing a general rundown of what happens. I'll post it on ao3 as well, which might make it easier to read. AO3 Link.

But here it is:

The trio are in the multiverse for around 15 years.

In that time they go from dimension to dimension having adventures, being ridiculous, and gathering what info they can to use against Bill.

Notable stops that I haven't yet mentioned:

Lottocron 9! 

Fidds gets kicked out for using probability to win a variety of pig and horse races. Ford gets kicked out because they think he was counting cards, but he was also just using probability to win. Stan gets kicked out for accidentally flirting with a guy who ended up being a powerful royal who was visiting Lottocron 9 from a kingdom in a nearby dimension.

All three of them find it hilarious that Stan was the only one not kicked out for gambling-related reasons.

Dimension 47/1.

They show up in this dimension that seems similar to earth and accidently piss off a sleeping monster of some sort or another. Fidds and Ford both get knocked down in the fight and it's left to Stan- but it's not looking good. He tries to fight, but loses his knife in the commotion and gets knocked back as well.

Cam shows up and kills the monster, then proceeds to give them shit about nearly dying. They ask Cam why they're there and Cam says they were just passing by on the way to get Thai food and begrudgingly invites them along.

Ford mentions the Oracle telling them about Cam and Cam complains about how the Oracle always ruins their fun, but without any heat. (Cam considers Jheselbraum a good friend.)

Cam leaves the trio a communicator, saying to contact them if they're ever in life-threatening danger. Then reiterates “ONLY in life threatening danger, or so help me Ax, I will make it life threatening.”

Other dimensions..

It’s 15 years. They do a lot. I don't have the spoons to come up with more ideas of where they go, but ya’ know. They do things. Adventure and what not.

Meanwhile, in their own dimension:

Shermie is alone when he shows up to his mother's funeral. She died too young only a year after the passing of his father.

He's convinced his mother died of a broken heart. She occasionally got phone calls from Stan, conversations she artfully pretended were with a client, and not with her little free spirit Stanley to avoid the ire of her unimpressed husband. Ford called even less often, and the cnversations were short- he was always too busy with his reasearch.

The last call she had gotten from either of them had been from Ford, calling her to say Stanley was staying with him for a few days. It was a very short call, and Ford gave her no details.

After a year of calling and getting no reply she finally called Shermie to go check up on them. She couldn't find a way to Oregon, but he was closer in California than she was in New Jersey. He agreed, but all he found was an empty house. Food molding in the fridge, gadgets and books strewn about everywhere, and no sign of Stan or Ford.

Fifteen years have passed since then, and Shermie's mother passed never knowing what happened to her twin boys.

Shermie didn't grow up with them, he was ten years older and fell in love with a girl when he was only 18. He moved to California to be with her and her family when he found out she was pregnant. He has two 12 year old grankids now, his daughter also had kids very young. She is having trouble with her husband and asks him to watch to kids for the summer, so he says yes, and brings them with him to the same place he's been going the last 10 or so summers: Gravity Falls, Oregon.

Dipper finds Journals one and two, and spends the next month or so doing ridiculous Dipper and Mabel cartoon-like adventures. They befriend the owner of the Gravity Falls Arcade, Soos, and his one employee, Wendy. They also befriend the young man that works at the bait shop by the lake.

Then, when on some Dipper-style anxiety rant, they find the bookshelf that leads to the basement, where they find the portal and journal 3. 

There are no warnings in the journals because Ford learned too late about Bill being evil, so Dipper, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and Shermie all open the portal. 

Three men fall out of the portal, two of them looking oddly similar to their Grandpa Sherm and one with a robot arm. They are all very unhappy to be back in this basement, and quickly shut down the portal, but it's too late, and there's a rift open into their dimension.

Long story short, they all meet, they all panic, Bill gets the rift, the whole town is fuckeroinied, they try to kill Bill and fail, so they call Cam.

Cam says they're all dumb, and opens the journal to the zodiac, only to find that they are also part of this dimension's zodiac. They break the fourth wall by saying that doesn't make any damn sense, the lengths people go to to put an OC in their stories is ridiculous, and they use the zodiac to defeat Bill. 

Why the zodiac, Skelet? That seems lame! Well, it's because I do what I want, also I like the idea of the zodiac actually working since the brother's have mostly gotten past their differences and learned to get along since they traveled time and space together. Also, I think it's funny that Cam could have defeated Bill without much issue, but just held hands with some random humans instead because it seemed like less effort. The road less traveled or some shit! I never do low effort things. (Refer to exhibit A, this outline I'm doing instead of actually finishing this AU the way I started it.)

Anyways, Fiddleford is finally able to see Tate again, who was in Gravity Falls trying to figure out what the hell happened, and Shermie finally found out what happened to his brothers. The young twins love their grunkles and are super excited to find out twins run in the family. (They get along as well as they do in the original series, with the added bonus that the young twins are extra excited at having two super badass grunkles and a super badass grunkle-in-law. Also that makes Tate their Uncle? Right? Maybe?)

The grunkles stay in Gravity Falls and still go on crazy adventures together because they don't need a boat and the adventure of a lifetime when they already spent the last 15 years fulfilling that dream, just different than how they originally assumed. They are no less adventurous, though, and end up making the Mystery Shack into a museum of weirdness. It's world famous, of course! The young twins and Shermie visit every summer, and Soos ends up working at the Mystery Shack, and thinks of the trio as his weird parent-uncles!

That's about that. I don't know if I'll do much more in the way of art for this AU, but I'd be happy to answer questions or talk about it or whatever! 

(Also I did not proof read any of this. So sorry if it makes no sense.)

Oh! Also, if you want to read a similar, but way better au that is like the twin (lol) to this one go check out @squatch-and-stretch 's Myster Trio Through the Multiverse AU!

[thereareeyesinsidethetrees]

now that au we mentioned yesterday...what's that about?

-post-canon

-a...hole in space-time? what is this? he doesn't know. anyway, it forms beneath ford and he falls into it

-he floats in space world for a little while. he can't seem to get himself to move anywhere, so, even though the hole to the surface is still there, he can't reach it. he spends time watching the stars and galaxies and nebulae collide and collapse and cover eons at a time all before his eyes

-stan can't get down to him safely, and neither can fiddleford. they build a drone to fly up and down, talk to him, bring him stuff, etc. etc.

-ford starts to get hopeless. seeing a drone freely leave anytime it pleases when you can't do the same isn't exactly good for one's mental health. stan starts to get concerned. fiddleford insists that they continue working to get him out of there

-stan agrees. just not in the way fiddleford wanted. he sends the drone to give ford a small crystal, a leftover from one of the many sealed rifts within gravity falls. he doesn't have time to explain what it is, fiddleford forcibly taking control of the drone (using a, ahem. sharp object to 'convince' stan to let him have his turn) to try and take it back. he demands that ford drops it, but ford only tightens his grip on it. after all, why should he listen to fiddleford? stan's actually trying something, seemingly, and fiddleford isn't

-the crystal becomes embedded in the palm of his hand and he discovers (frantically trying to bat the drone away) that he can now cut through the fabric of reality with it. he takes the chance and pulls himself out of the space pit, finding himself in dimension 52

-(meanwhile, fiddleford breaks the machine they were using to pilot the drone out of frustration and leaves the room. alas, he did not consider that stan kinda knows his shit when it comes to being stabbed and thus has the ability to both leave the room and confront him AND take care of his wound. he also did not consider that fact that stan was carrying a gun on him. sorry folks, this au is not a happy ending for fiddleford one)

-jheselbraum helps ford recover and he becomes aware of the fact that the space pit has apparently corrupted him (more details on this will come soon). after a few days, he's ready to go! he leaves dimension 52 and gets started trying to find a way back home

-(stan tries to repair the machine. it's not going well, but damn is he trying)

-ford comes across an evil stan. it does not go well. he just barely manages to pull through via chomping into the evil stan's arm and fleeing while he's distracted. symptom number one of being corrupted by the space pit: your mouth looks normal, but is in fact filled with star plasma in place of teeth or tongue or anything really. and when you bite people, it burns them and the plasma leaks into their veins and, yes, your blood that looks like outer space does in fact do the same thing. evil stan survives but ouch that one's gonna hurt a while

-ford has gained a fear of mullet stans due to their resemblance to the evil stan. he sees one, yelps, and accidentally slices through space time and falls backwards into another dimension. every time. he's more trusting of older stan's that resemble his own brother

-he meets one that's very kind to him and decides to stick around the guy for a while

-(stan hasn't given up, but his body has. he's found by soos and wendy and they help get him to a hospital. oh yeah, he forgot he could do that now)

-ford gets injured and nice stan decides he'll have better chances in another dimension. he packs some supplies on ford and has him do his newfound lil magic trick, sending him somewhere else

-the stars align and, after a lot of wandering, an injured ford comes across a similarly injured stan. his stan. his stan who is absolutely ecstatic to see him

-this time, the hug goes through

[ckret2]

hey, first of all I have to say that your bill cipher fic is genuinely one of the best fics I’ve read in a while. the amount of work you put in plot and characters is incredible. every new chapter makes my week.

i was wondering if your thoughts (or headcanons) on jheselbraum changed at all after the book of bill came out. will bill’s relationship with her be mentioned in the fic ?

hope you have a nice day !!

My original headcanon was that she was Oracle to the Axolotl and that was it. Wasn't close to Bill, had possibly never even met Bill. Everything she knew about Bill came from the Axolotl being like "let me tell you some shit about this fucked up guy I know, it's important for you to know in case he tries to destroy your universe or something." since I headcanon the Axolotl as a divine defense attorney (Bill's attorney specifically), I also headcanon that from the Axolotl's POV his Oracles (there have been many) are like intern newsbloggers and he tells them things about his big cases so they can pass on that info to the local community (i.e., the mortals who come to them for their wisdom, like Ford did with Jhes).

Post-TBOB, obviously "she has no connection to Bill" doesn't work anymore. According to TBOB, she was a Henchmaniac and she helped design a portal, possibly the portal—we don't know whether Bill's using the same design or if he goes through tons of new ones all the time.

So, my new headcanon is that she was one of the many scientists Bill contacted to try to get them to build a portal so he could break into their universe. Ford was one of those scientists, Pyronica was one of those scientists (and I had that headcanon before TBOB listed one of her skills as quantum physics, so lemme toot my own horn for that), and now Jheselbraum was one of those scientists.

I've decided that, in his capacity as divine defense attorney, sometimes the Axolotl helps get at-risk mortals out of lifestyles where they would probably start committing crimes against reality—and since the Ax already works with Bill, he was in a perfect position to meet Jhes and help her escape the Henchmaniacs when she decided she was in over her head and wanted to live a saner lifestyle. Bill still resents him for this, but like, what's he gonna do? Get another attorney??

From there on my headcanons about her role as Oracle are the same, with the change that she knew Bill personally, but learned the truth about his backstory from the Ax.

My original plan for the Henchmaniacs in the fic was for them to start planning to move out of the Nightmare Realm to another more stable dimension, and for this info to eventually make its way to Bill. With the new info from TBOB, I'm just inserting "they're planning to move to the dimension Jhes suggested to them on TINAWDC" and continuing on with my original plan. I'm sure Bill's relationship to her will be mentioned at some point in the fic as relevant, but I don't have any big important plans for her beyond her new role in helping the Henchmaniacs get ready for evacuation.

[pengychan]

Ok I went looking to see if anyone mentioned this to you and I didn’t see anything but there’s the theory now that Jheselbraum was one of Bill’s exes with the evidence in the Book of Bill and all I could think of was you and I can’t handle this information right now lol. I just needed to tell you have a good night!

HAHAHA, I love that theory! Imagine how the break-up went.

"I'm sorry, but you've got one eye and I have, like, seven. I don't think we're gonna work out."

[ultrakeencollectionbreadfan]

Gravity Falls Grauntie Jhes AU

A while back, I wrote a fanfic prompt for an AU where Jheselbraum the Unswerving ends up coming to Earth and becomes Dipper and Mabel's honorary Grauntie. Well, I decided to expand on it and add a a few more details. Here they are:

-As mentioned before, Jheselbraum, or Jhes as everyone starts to call her, arrives shortly after Ford does. She shows up because the Axolotl told her that Stanford might need some help. She knows that Weirdmageddon is coming, but she can't give the Mystery gang all the details yet.

-Jheselbraum is capable of changing her size at will, so she makes herself the same height as Ford so it's easier to get around.

-She often finds herself mediating between Stan and Ford whenever they get into an argument.

-She finds herself bonding with Mabel, because the latter reminds the former of herself as a child. She participates in Mabel's slumber parties and has a heart-to-heart with her at one point, which turns out to be useful when she's in Mabeland.

-Stanford introduces Jhes to Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons at one point.

-She has a fight with Bill Cipher during Weirdmageddon, but he's too powerful for her and she ends up incapacitated. Fortunately, Ford manages to save her.

-She goes back to Dimension 52 after Weirdmageddon, but still periodically checks up on Gravity Falls and the Stan twins.