fordscape

[fordscape]

GHOSTING

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I’ve been ghosting, I’ve been ghosting along Ghost in the world, ghost with no home

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Happy B-Day!!

@a-million-chromatic-dreams

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(Some progress and flat color version under the read more)

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[fordscape]

okay SO. Fordscape AU stuff: Since Ford technically needs a vessel to exist, and his body got like ultra destroyed, he can't use that. But he kept finding that his eye was bleeding onto the pages of his journal(s), right? So maybe, he could use those? Not necessarily move around in them, but inhabit them enough to bring words onto the page for Stan to read, something like Tom Riddle's diary?

Oooo, funky idea! Towards the climax of the story in 2012, I’d say probably yes, but it takes a good deal of time for Ford to acclimate to being a vessel-less being in the mindscape and figure out how to manipulate it. 

My reasoning for that is when Ford’s body died, Ford’s essence- lost in the mindscape- lost all connection with his own world. This is in direct opposition to what happened in Sock Opera, where Dipper’s body still existed in the real world. Because Dipper’s body was still there and alive, Dipper was still tethered to this world and could naturally influence things around him as a result. Ford? Not so much. For the first fifteen or so years he’s more of a passive viewer from his mindscape “prison,” trying desperately to alert Stanley, to tell him he’s still kinda alive, but unable to affect the world around him in any way. His tether is just so weak. 

But come twenty years… twenty-five years… thirty years… and he slowly but surely regains his connection with this world. And along the way, he begins to find that he can affect and manipulate aspects of it much like Bill Cipher himself could, too…

Towards that point, I bet Ford would begin trying to spell out words… on mirrors in the steam, in pebbles on the ground, in the branches of the trees… At first his efforts turn out much like those times where Dipper finds “bewarb” written on his arm in mosquito bites. Words all jangled up, not making sense.

But thankfully, the summer the kids come to Gravity Falls his ability shoots up waaay faster than ever before out of sheer desperate necessity, and he figures out how to talk through dreams or possess inanimate vessels like Dipper possessing a sock puppet.

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This au gives me pain and is beautiful.

~ Fordscape au belongs to @a-million-chromatic-dreams

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Ok i love Fordscape au made by @a-million-chromatic-dreams

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In one of your post you mentioned the older twins would probably end up switching in and out of Stan's body. Immediately, I had this vision of whichever twin in Stan's body coming down stairs for breakfast, and Dipper's asking "So who are you this morning?" They tell them, and Mabel responding with "I thought so, you were acting very geeky/conman-y when I said 'Hi' this morning."

Ahhh thank you for the ask, friend!! :DD

Ahahah, that’s such a funny image! If something like this happened enough, I’m sure Mabel and Dipper would learn to immediately recognize who’s who based on how they walk without Stan or Ford even having to say a single word.

I do get the feeling that Stan and Ford would want to be very upfront with the kids on what’s going on, however. That first time Ford posessed Stan- since it was an accident- the kids and Soos didn’t really know what was happening and were kinda concerned and frightened by "Grunkle Stan’s” sudden shift in personality. “Stan” was stumbling all over the place, since Ford hadn’t been in control of physical limbs in over thirty years. At first, Dipper and Mabel and Soos thought Stan had been injured or had hit his head or something and it wasn’t until Ford sat them down and explained how he had accidentally switched places with Stan that they calmed down.

The first time was an accident Ford didn’t really have conscious control over, but once he figured out how to pull his mind back into the mindscape and gained more command over this ability it becomes something he can control at whim. I mentioned briefly in this post (I think it’s the one you were talking about?) about the potential of Stan and Ford switching places as they try to defeat Bill, and I still really like that idea. I don’t quite know yet how this might play out, but I’d love to use it in some way since it kinda parallels the twin switch in canon. In that case, the kiddos would definitely be briefed on the plan and would know who’s who when and all.

bUT! If the prep for their plan to defeat Bill would take more than a few days? Imagine if Stan let Ford take over for a day to get to know the kids more easily, as a surprise or something. They’d be expecting their Grunkle Stan as usual, but then Ford lets them know it’s him and... well I imagine Mabel might shriek in joy. Cling to his leg or something.

“Dipper, Dipper! Now we get TWO Grunkles in ONE!”

They’re probably... a bit weirded out by it at first, interacting with a Grunkle who’s NOT Stan but still looks like Stan because of the whole consensual possession thing, but over time they get used to it. Stan probably jokes that they’re taking their twinhood to the extreme. 

But from that day on Mabel and Dipper always asks who’s who in the morning, just in case. Usually it’s Stan, because Ford doesn’t want to overstay his welcome, but every once it a while it’ll be their other Grunkle. 

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aAUGHHH okay so after some lovely screaming with @picnokinesis the Fordscape AU took a really odd but interesting turn, and I’m not sure how on earth we went from point A to point B, but it just sort of…??? Happened???

The whole meal deal summary of what happened is: This AU’s Ford eventually becomes the being known to the multiverse as the Axolotl.

Crazy, but I’d like to think there’s at least a little bit of sense in our thinking further on in this post… XD

Okay, so first off… Taka (picnokinesis) suggested the idea that long after Stan, Dipper, and Mabel were gone and it was just Ford, still remaining in the mindscape, that Ford eventually is able to peer into other dimensions and becomes some sort of multi-dimensional guardian to people. 

(some transcribed chat below)

Ford also definitely helps his fellow multiverse-faring Fords! :D

We decided that- like some theories suggest Bill is- this version of Ford integrating with the mindscape and becoming some powerful protector is basically a near-zero probability. So this Ford is the only one this happens to.

And then there was some random musing over the workings of the mindscape. And how Ford and Bill are unable to interact with each other because they don’t actually inhabit the same space within the mindscape…

And then later we chatted about if Bill would actually be defeated in this AU, or if Ford would just oversee how the canon GF-verse defeated him. We decided it would be best to actually defeat Bill in this AU too, for character story arc reasons. :DD

The current thought is that over time, Ford eventually comes across some individuals who address him as ‘Axolotl,’ having heard stories of such a being of his kind. At first Ford is kind of confused, unsure of what they mean… but perhaps he remembers seeing some inscriptions and paintings about this being in the caves in Gravity Falls. He remembers reading a legend about how the Axolotl was once tricked and betrayed by Bill, but rose against him and defeated him. And the more he thinks about it, the more it fits. The more it makes sense that these inscriptions referred to HIM.

I have a few more thoughts about an ultimate confrontation between this version of Ford and Bill later, but I gotta eat lunch and run to class so I’ll add on later!

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Gonna clean up the layout of this blog and add some links soon! If y'all have any questions about the AU or ideas my inbox is open! :D

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Fordscape AU HC:

Despite Ford not physically existing outside the mindscape- he figured out how to play board games like Monopoly or Sorry or Battleships with the two kids. The pieces look like they’re creepily moving on their own, but naw, it’s him. Thank goodness for telekinetic abilities.

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ancientouroboros replied to your post: aAUGHHH okay so after some lovely screaming with…

I dunno…wouldn’t same coin theory be kinda perfect with this? One twin starts out as an interdimensional being and ends up a person, one starts out a person and ends up an interdimensional being.

Sure, the same coin theory makes complete and utter since in a sort of fancy literary cyclical fashion, I agree. The reason I shy away from specifically including that in my AU however, is because the concept that Stan was always technically Bill, but reborn as human sort of… makes me a bit uncomfortable? Bill Cipher abused Ford, and nearly killed Dipper and Mabel. Stan’s not an abuser, and I never want to relate him to an abuser. 

I totally get that’s not what people intend when they use this theory, but unfortunately it’s what first pops up in my mind. I think the theory itself is pretty dang cool, but it’s just not for me. 

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In Fordscape au, if they ever found a way to pull Ford back into the same plane of exsistance (like by modifying the machine Bill was telling Stan to make or black magic or the Axolotl or something) would Ford have aged at all? Or would he be 30 years behind Stan?

Within the mindscape, Ford has not aged at all and still appears in his early thirties- the same age he was when he died. I mean, I suppose he could technically appear however he wanted within the space of the mindscape, but he sticks with what he’s most comfortable with. So you have poor Stan over here, having Ford pop up in his dreams one night- the real Ford he realizes, not just an imagined figure- and he looks the same as the day he lost him. It’s kinda painful for Stan.

And as much as I’d like to say Ford could definitely be brought back into the real world with an actual body and everything could be 100% happy in the end, weeeeelp… *guilty grimace*

Ford’s body is like… mega dead. And it’s been burried for 30 years. Kaput. Whoops. Present day Ford ain’t gonna want to be rolling around in that anymore; he’d scare the neighbors. With Bill Cipher, he would be able to use Stan’s machine to manifest his physical body in their dimension because his physical body actually existed in a dimension on the other side of the mindscape. He’d be using the mindscape as his personal lil’ bridge to get across, basically. But there’s honestly no way for Ford to physically get out of the mindscape forever, because he has no viable body left. 

His only options are communication through dreams, possession, (which, after the incident with Stan he doesn’t want to do on purpose), and projecting himself through inanimate objects. None of these he can do permanently. They all take energy, and he’d have to rest sometimes. But he IS able to use these almost whenever to communicate with his family, so I guess… he’ll be like the family specter? They’ll make it work  :)   

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In your Fordscape AU, maybe the reason Ford can posses Stans body without consent like he does is because they're twins and therefore so genetically similar that it's almost as easy for Ford to slip into Stans body as it is for Stan to slip in? And maybe that's why Ford can even still interact with the physical world; he has a tenuous link to the physical world through Stan, and without that he would have just...gone on to the afterlife? (BTW I was the Goldie anon I'm glad you liked that!)

Yayyy Goldie anon has returned!!! :DDD (Sorry it’s been so long- I know I like rambling on the AU asks, and I haven’t had much time lately to sit and write, aCK!)

Oooh that is interesting… I do feel like them being twins might indeed have something to do with how easily Ford ends up slipping into Stan’s body, like you said. I haven’t entirely wrapped my mind around how or why that could happen, so that’s definitely a route I could take with that!

I also feel like it has to do a lot with the fact that Ford literally lives in the mindscape, unlike Bill- who simply uses the mindscape as a sort of pathway between his own crumbling dimension and others. Bill may be a dream demon with the power to manipulate this realm, but he doesn’t live there. To him, the mindscape is a tool, and so perhaps that’s why he has to follow rules- often in the form of deals- to gain access to people’s minds and bodies.

But Ford lives there now. He’s encapsulated there now. After his death, the mindscape is the sole place that holds his mind and spirit, the place he’s spent every second of every waking day for the past thirty years. To him, the mindscape isn’t a tool- he’s a part of it! And it’s a part of him. Considering this, it would only make sense for the “rules” of this world to work differently for him than they do for Bill. He’s got the home court advantage, so to speak. XD

That’s a funky thought, though… hmm… would Ford have DIED died if it weren’t for his link with Stan tethering him to the mindscape, the edge of his old world? I’d argue perhaps not. I think it’s more the fact that Bill had shucked Ford’s mind to the mindscape in the first place when he was killing him that kept Ford’s soul from perishing as well. When it comes to Stan, however, I think his presence did provide Ford with an inkling of connection to their reality. Allowed Ford to begin to subtly influence small things for communication, like wind and doors. That’s a connection that had to be built up over time. The more connected Ford became to his old world again, the more influence he could weld over his surroundings. But I do think that connection at least started with Stan, because they were twins.

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This is a little thing inspired by @a-million-chromatic-dreams‘s Fordscape au, which you can read about more here, but the gist of it is Ford and Stan reconcile 30 years early, dismantle the portal together, and everything looks great!  Until Bill possesses Ford’s body and kills it, leaving Ford to drift the mindscape for 30 years while Bill gets Stan to build a device that can pull a mindscape-dwelling entity into the physical world.  Stan’s trying to save Ford, Bill is going to use this gadget to start Weirdmaggedon.  Needless to say, here there be stangst.  But, I also see a lot of comedic potential.  Ford would be able to see everything Stan does during his 30 years in Gravity Falls, and I am positive he would be the grumpiest “ghost”(?) ever, seeing every dumb thing Stan is doing (using Fords name no-less!), and being completely powerless to do anything.  And as soon as he’s able to communicate with the physical plane of existence  again, he would have absolutely no filter whatsoever more than likely.  

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Regarding that mindscape AU of yours: Bill would figure out that it was actually Ford in Stan's body, wouldn't he? I mean, the demon has been drifting through Ford's mind several times and surely he'd recognise that they were Ford's thoughts going through Stan's mind? I reckon Bill would attempt to get Ford out of there, either by making deals or simply trying to kick him out. Stan would be furious to find out that Bill was the reason his brother died, and would do anything to stop Ford leaving.

Yes to your first thing. Bill would definitely notice, and probably immediately come to terrorize Ford when he fell asleep that night, before Ford’s mind drifted back to the mindscape.

Oooh, I hadn’t even thought about this situation being the time Stan finally realized that Bill was the one who murdered his brother- the reason Ford was stuck in this empty realm for the rest of time. I definitely think that he would have suspected something, the conman that he is, but he never knew the full story before now. He was so desperate to get Ford back that he never pried to get the full story. 

Although, I’m trying to figure out how Stan actually finds out about this? I HC that Bill Cipher and Ford somehow inhabit entirely different mindscapes as a result of the nature of Ford’s death (with Ford in the mindscape while it happened) and how violently Ford’s mind was cleaved from his dimension when his one link to it (i.e. his body) was severed. So for those thirty years, Ford never once ran into Bill. It’s like he ended up in his own little solitary bubble universe. Which y’know, has a myriad of its own issues. Pure isolation and all that. 

Keeping that in mind, Stan couldn’t have heard this directly from Bill while in the mindscape. Oh.. Oh hold on, I just had a cool idea!! 

How about Stan hears about all the shit Bill truly did when he is pulled towards Ford’s dreams? If Stan inhabits a different mindscape than the one that Bill does, then that means that they should be able to both converge on the same dream!

So imagine Stan… witnessing Bill practically emotionally torture Ford within his dream… taunting him, and bragging about how thanks to Stanley, he was only one step away from world domination. Imagine how furious Stan would be at this. 

And then, as the horrible dream ended Stan could feel himself being pulled back to himself, and he woke up in his own body, sweating and gasping for breath. 

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For the Fordscape AU, Does Stan and Ford talk about the their lives up to and after the science fair fiasco during the dismantling of the portal and start to patch up their fracture relationship? I would add they start making plans for the Stan-o-War to hide Ford's journals. All this makes Stan more desperate to get Ford back in his life.

Yes, Stan and Ford do indeed begin to work their issues out before Ford… y’know, is killed by Bill. *shakes fist* BILL CIPHER!!! 

In this AU, the two are able to diffuse their anger when they’re about to fight in the basement, and actually talk things out like they’re suppose to. Stan manages to convince Ford that it would make more logical sense and probably act as a sense of emotional relief to dismantle the portal rather than just hide the journals. Together, they just about dismantle every bit of this metal behemoth over the next few days. Along the way, they do make considerable progress in discussing their… issues. It’s messy and awkward and not without hesitance and anger on both sides, but there’s now a definite hope that things could improve. That they could truly be brothers again.

And then Bill Cipher- utterly furious that the portal is being dismantled- possesses Ford when he finally falls unconscious from exhaustion, and holds him as ransom. Threatens to kill him if he doesn’t immediately reconstruct what he took apart, foolishly believing Ford’s sense of self preservation was stronger than his desire to protect this world, at any cost. Ford calls Bill’s bluff, and dies for it. His death happens long before he and Stan could truly re-connect completely, and it leaves Stan with a sort of emptiness… a sense of incompletion. There was still so much they needed to discuss, and now he believes he’s lost this chance forever. So definitely a big reason Stan is desperate to get Ford back, like you said!

Of course, Ford’s mind is now suspended within the mindscape… but Stan has no way to contact him, and Ford doesn’t yet know how.

They don’t speak face to face for nearly thirty years, until Ford finally understands how to project himself into the dreamscape, and interact among others’ dreams. 

(I’ll answer the two other asks I have for Fordscape AU tomorrow! :) )

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Ok first off AHH the fordscape au is SO awesome and I can't wait to see where it goes!! Second - does Ford manage to figure out a way to give Stan his body back? (I imagine he could, because when Bill collapsed in Sock Opera Dipper regained control - can Stan slip back into his body temporarily when Ford is sleeping?) If so, when does this happen? And what happens to Ford afterwards?

Original post for Fordscape AU… things probably won’t make sense without context whoOPS! But for those who want a tiny snippit of what the hell I’m talking about, it’s an AU where:

Ford basically becomes a mindscape dwelling creature after Bill- possessing him- kills his body. Neither Bill nor Ford anticipated this.

Bill starts manipulating Stan in his grief to “build a machine to pull Ford’s soul back into reality,” but Bill obviously wants to use this to gain a physical form as in canon.

Over the years Ford gains influence within the mindscape and tries to warn Stan about Bill.

This post deals with a plot point in which Ford eventually accidentally possesses Stan (he never knew he had the capability, but he was desperate to shut off Stan’s machine and it just sorta… happened).

Oooh, that’s a good point… To be honest I haven’t fully thought through all the aspects of this AU yet to figure out if it even logically fits together?? So I’m still ironing things out haha. 

First off, I imagine that yes- Stan indeed DOES get his own body back by the resolution. 

As for the point you make about Dipper retaking his body after Bill goes unconscious in it- you’re right. There’s no logical reason that this scenario wouldn’t act out the same for Stan and Ford, when Ford accidentally possesses Stan. If Ford is indeed a mindscape creature now, then he should have to abide by those same rules. 

Man, that means I gotta come up with a damn good reason why Ford didn’t need a deal before accidentally possessing Stan? Maybe there’s differences between mindscape creatures and demons who USE the mindscape? Because Bill doesn’t outright live in the mindscape- canon seems to tell us he only uses it as a conduit by which to contact individuals in other dimensions. Perhaps being bound to the mindscape permanently like Ford is changes that in some way? I’ll have to think more on that.

But anyways, (Ack sorry, this is a long huge ramble), this means that the later plot of the story wouldn’t be based around Stan and Ford trying to figure out how to swap back, but rather around the emotional, and maybe physical repercussions of that initial possession. So say Ford spends the rest of the day in possession of Stan’s body because he can’t figure out how to give it back. Then he falls asleep. Naturally, Ford’s mind drifts back into the mindscape, and Stan takes back what is his. 

From here, I imagine that Ford might be filled with immense guilt for what he did, because he feels like he did the exact same thing as Bill- possession without consent. Perhaps he even begins to fear he’s only becoming like Bill. (He isn’t, of course. It’s a matter of intent.) Maybe there’s also some strange feelings about his short experience in having a body again… geeze, I can’t quite explain what these feelings would be??… Nostalgia? Rememberance? I mean, Ford has been stuck in the mindscape for over 30 years now. 

And Stan’s gotten his first glimpse at the mindscape his brother has been in for all that time now. I have a feeling that would only serve to heighten his intent to rescue him in whatever way, even if Ford doesn’t want him to in fear of Bill.

My last thought… maybe in stopping Bill, Stan and Ford eventually have to work together and consensually swap places, and navigate the mindscape together. :OOO….

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In your "Ford is stuck in the Mindscape AU" I have a proposition: Stan possesses Goldie as his first means of communication, since Goldie is a humanoid object already in the Shack. Stan likes how much Goldie bugs and creeps out Ford, so Stan will almost exclusively use Goldie as his vessel when presented with other options. Mabel tries giving Goldie a make-over to make him less horrifying, but it only makes things worse, and makes Stan-as-Goldie trail glitter everywhere.

THIS. THIS IS CANON TO THIS AU. @witete i’M CRYING 

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Stan seems like he would understand since he took Ford's "life" for 30 years and gives Ford "another 30" to figure out how to get out of his body. By then Mabel or Fidds would probably offer to make him an artificial body .

(This is in reference to my proposed AU where Ford’s trapped in the mindscape, right here!)

Yeah I agree, I do think Stan wouldn’t entirely be upset over it… and knowing his self-depreciatory attitude he’d probably even find a way to blame himself for everything and construe this as a fitting punishment for betting the universe for his brother’s life. Which is pretty sad, because he wasn’t actually at fault for Ford being trapped in the mindscape in the first place? That was all Bill. What a jerky triangle. ;O;

But while Stan might think it’s fair that HE’S now the one stuck in the mindscape, Ford ain’t gonna have any of that. In Ford’s view, he did the same thing to Stan that Bill did to him- possessed him without his consent. He made a terrible mistake, and he’s determined to figure out how reverse it as quick as he can. Oooh, good idea- they might indeed consider making some sort of temporary vessel for Stan… but that wouldn’t be the ideal, permanent solution Ford wants. If anything it’d just be a means of conversation.

Now that I’m ruminating on the topic… I should solve a pretty big discrepancy with the rules of this AU’s mindscape huhuhuh… XD

Overall, I’d say Ford’s progression of ability that builds over thirty years of honing his connection to the real world from within the mindscape would be:

Rudimentary elemental manipulation. (Stuff like creating a stiff breeze.)

Object manipulation. (Like flipping a page in the journal for Dipper, or cracking open a door.)

More advanced object manipulation. (Moving an entire object from here to there, floating stuff in the air, the ability to manipulate multiple things at once.)

Entering the dreamscape.

Projection into the real world via inanimate objects. (Like how Dipper talked through the sock puppet.)

Possession of a vessel.

So essentially, without a vessel to return to in the real world Ford’s slowly becoming a mindscape dwelling creature along similar lines to Bill. Definitely not the same, but similar. While Bill uses the mindscape as a tool to reach different worlds, Ford LIVES there- for one.  

When it comes to Stan’s trip into the mindscape, when Ford incidentally snatches his body and can’t figure out how to give it back, Stan’s connection to the real world is initially stronger than Ford’s was 30 years ago… since Stan’s body still lives in that world. The reason Ford’s abilities were so weak at first was because- with his body killed by Bill- this connection was severed and he had to rebuild it.

For Stan, this means he’s likely already able to project like Dipper did in Sock Opera, and “commandeer” a temporary inanimate vessel, so to speak.