#(this is why getting 'The Power Of Mabel' used enough to be canonical is one of my greatest achievements)

[scribefindegil]

i think it's a major failing of Mob fandom that "broccoli horror" isn't a canonical AO3 tag

[incorrectstarcoquotes]

What Coulda/Woulda/Should've Been?

Star vs the Forces of Evil is on Disney+ and that’s so awesome. Since Disney+ is the big streaming service that everyone is going crazy over that can only mean that Star vs can get a new audience for people who don’t even know that the show existed. I just hope Doug Walker doesn’t review it for Disneycember. I really don’t need that guy claiming that Star and Marco are rip-offs of Dipper and Mabel (they’re not).

However since the show ended earlier this year, I can’t help thinking about all the interviews and AMAs the crew has done since then. There are several things that we’ve learned from them between what the show was going to be and what the show ended up being. 

Let me preface that saying traditionally kids cartoons don’t last very long on television. Reason being is that TV executives figure that the intended audience for whatever show they made has grown out of watching that show by the time season three comes around. It’s one of the reasons Disney had the 65 episode rule for such a long time. Everyone just assumes that by the time episode 65 airs, you’re too old for the show they made and you’ll move on the something else. The exceptions to the rule are shows that don’t do very well and shows that are mega hits that made the network SO MUCH money (Think Spongebob or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). 

The traditional TV plan for cartoons was make them as toyetic as possible, make a certain amount of episodes, then sell the show for syndication so reruns can run on lesser networks or foreign networks. That’s how I was able to watch so man episodes of Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Inspector Gadget and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles even though all those shows ended production by the time I was born.

Of course in the ass end of 2019, we know things have changed. Millennials and Gen Z’ers love cartoons, and thanks to the internet, it’s easier for someone to keep up if you tell a serialized story. You can watch from the beginning whenever you want; you just need a streaming service. We know that, but a lot of executives are old. Add this knowledge to the fact that it doesn’t look like Daron Nefcy thought her show would last that long at all.

She says here’s my idea for a show. They say we’ll do it but first age up the characters. She does it and makes Star an actual magical princess from another dimension. She thinks of a plot and ending. She figures two seasons is good enough. Disney XD decides to try impress advertisers and greenlight season three. She pushes back the ending and adds another story arc. The show becomes so popular that after Gravity Falls ends it becomes the flagship show for Disney XD and gets a fourth season. She thinks that she’s really pushing her luck and decides that season four is the final season just to be safe. Basically. The show was originally going to end in Battle For Mewni, but the ending kept getting pushed back since the show kept getting new seasons.

From what I can gather, there were parts of the show that were going to be there regardless of when the show ending. 

Star was always going to try to destroy the magic as a way to stop the final boss for good.

The magic that we keep talking about was the magic that the Butterfly Family and Magic High Commission used to stay in power. The Lucitor’s keep their demonic powers, the Pony Heads still float, and monsters maintain their abilities (size shifting, regeneration, etc.) because those are biological, not magical. 

Star and Marco were always going to end up together as a romantic couple in the end. Always. In the end.

The Magic High Commission was going to be taken out of commission (I know, I couldn’t resist. I’m sorry).

So if the show would have ended at Battle For Mewni:

Before or after the showdown with Toffee, Marco would have confessed his love to Star

Instead of reviving the magic with Glossaryk, Star would have destroyed the corrupted magic dimension which held Toffee’s consciousness. 

The Magic High Commission would have remained dead. 

Marco could have ended up stranded on Mewni.

If the show had ended at the season three finale:

Star would have been disillusioned by the corruption and racism of the Butterfly Family and the MHC (if she hadn’t been already).

Destroying the magic would have removed her family and the MHC from power as well as weaken Meteora.

Tom would have chosen to back off to let Star and Marco be together.

Eclipsa would have to deal with an older Meteora.

Marco again could have been stranded on Mewni.

It’s really season four that threw a lot of people off including the svtfoe crew. Nefcy has admitted that they did several things just to see what it would look like, like Marco and Kelly getting together. They also wrote themselves into a corner when it came to Star and Marco’s relationship. Tom was the only reason Star and Marco couldn’t be in a relationship which is unfortunately why TomStar lasted as long as it did. 

This last bit is a personal issue just for me and my brother, but one of the reasons we did like season four was because the Mewmans were jerks. The average Mewman was always depicted as being either stupid, lazy or vindictive. So when we spent more time with regular Mewmans in season four, we started to dislike them more and more. Star wanted to make Mewni better, but we never thought the Mewmans were worth the effort. 

Waiting until the end to make Starco canon always pissed me off too. Nefcy has said that she thought it would be “boring” if Star and Marco just got together without drama and doesn’t like it when stories have the main couple just get it right on the first try. Well I hate stories where the main couple doesn’t get together until the very end of the story. Shows like Kim Possible and Parks and Recreation really spoiled me. The main couple got together but the story still continued. It pisses me off that TV writers and producers don’t think that they could get good stories from being in a relationship or it’s too hard so they don’t want to. Tangled the Series is doing just fine and the main couple is going to stay a couple for the whole show.

Thanks for reading. 

[invisibletinkerer]

Fic: The Secret Journal of 'Stanford' Pines

Size: ~3000 words AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20864183

Stan Pines keeps a journal of brief daily notes during the summer of 2012.

Note: We all know that the Gravity Falls timeline makes no sense whatsoever. Therefore this is based on a headcanon timeline I made a year or so ago, trying to incorporate as many of the canon dates (in show and published J3) as possible, but ignoring the ones that were contradictory or made no sense. This still means some episodes did not happen in a strictly chronological order.

June 1

Kids are here. I have no idea what to do. Why did I agree to this.

Boy is a grump and girl made macaroni art in the kitchen. Did I even have macaroni?

 June 2 Sunday

I think boy got spooked in the forest. He seems fine, though. Good taste in gold chains.

Girl is now dating some punk kid.

 June 3

Kids looked like they’d been run over by the golf cart when they got back tonight. Not good.

Gave them some free gifts from the shop to cheer em up. Yes I know

Boy got a new hat. Should get him to wear a Mystery Shack shirt next. Girl found a grappling hook that was not in my inventory. Bold choice.

What would they say if they knew about me?

June 4

Fishing Season Opening Day – took the kids fishing.

Of course, they got excited about monster hunting instead. They’re listening to reason about as well as I and Fo did as a kid.

But. They came back to me in the end. We had fun.

I love those kids.

 June 5

Soos found those cursed old wax statues I sealed up some ten years ago. Don’t seem all that cursed now. One had melted.

Mabel’s gonna make a new one for the wax museum. Meaning I’ll have to figure out how to make suckers pay to look at wax statues again.

 June 6

Mabel’s wax creation nearly gave me a heart attack. It looks just like my twin me.

She’s crazy talented.

 June 7

I’d say the wax museum reopening went well. Assuming “well” means “profit”.

Did anyone actually think I’d hand out free pizza?

 June 8

Hanging out with my wax twin Stan, and the moment I turned my back he was murdered.

 June 9 Sunday

Tried to hold a funeral for Wax Stan. Failed to keep it tounge-in-cheek.

Face it, Ford is long gone

 June 10

Guess the wax people were still as cursed as I remembered. Kids killed them with fire – I should have done that long ago.

Dipper crawled in the vents all day looking for a wax head that got away.

If I keep telling him he’s delusional, he’s got to stop looking for trouble eventually, right?

 June 11

Mabel decided I should date Lazy Susan. Couldn’t stop her. Now Susan and her cats keep calling me.

This was a bad idea. (I will never tell Mabel that.)

 June 12

Went on a date with Lazy Susan to shut her up. That ended just as well as expected.

Need to figure out some more specific excuses.

 June 13

The worst thing is, the Portal should work now. It’s functional. I just can’t get it to start.

Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all along

I did fix that old copier. Don’t know if it still makes copies of people, but at least it makes copies of paper again.

Caught Dipper making oogly eyes at Wendy. I smell drama.

 June 14

Did not expect “The Duchess Approves” to be that good.

 June 15

The traditional Mystery Shack party that has nothing to do with any birthdays.

Mabel is a great singer, and that Northwest brat cheated.

Happy birthday, Sixer.

 June 16 Sunday

Gideon Gleeful’s running TV ads again.

Of course my family goes to his show just to spite me.

 June 17

Mabel played with Gideon today. Did not see that one coming.

As long as she’s happy, I guess.

 June 18

I hate Pioneer Day.

Stupid people acting even stupider than normal, nothing works, then someone (me) ends up in the stocks.

 June 19

Gideon and Mabel are dating!?

Seemed like a horrible idea, but Bud Gleeful has a point on the moneymaking opportunities if we play it right.

 June 20

So if Mabel marries Gideon, his business will be incorporated into mine. I sure like the sound of that.

Bud is already making t-shirts.

 June 21

 June 22

OK, no. No deals with the Gleefuls. Not now or ever.

Mabel broke up with the little pest. Good riddance.

Got me a nice painting from Bud’s house, though.

 June 23 Sunday

The Mystery Fair! It may look cheap, but it brings in the money.

Though someone broke all safety protocols and brought a futuristic laser gun to Dunkle the Grunkle. That’s unfair.

Mabel has a pig now.

 June 24

Got roped into the gaming arcade with the kids.

Maybe get one of those games for the Shack?

 June 25

Mabel decided to fix my fear of heights.

I can say this – being on top of a water tower about to fall over was unpleasant. Compared to that, a high but stable ground isn’t so bad.

Dipper got into a fistfight with Wendy’s boyfriend over teenage drama, but good on him for standing up for himself.

 June 26

For some reason Gideon has gotten it into himself that he wants the Mystery Shack now.

Good luck, kid. I’m a better conman than you’ll ever be.

 June 27

Mabel is slightly taller than Dipper. This is funny.

Gideon Gleeful trying to be threatening while throwing a hysterical fit after breaking my new mirror maze – mostly confusing. Wish I knew what went on in that kid’s head.

 June 28

Kids made me wear the golden teeth. Guess they think I’m a dishonest man.

Fortunately, I’m good at bullshitting even when telling the truth. Think I scandalized the poor things. Hilarious.

Could have been disaster, though. Could have easily made them hate me.

 June 29

Spent half the day falling down the Bottomless Pit.

 June 30 Sunday

Summerween, now that’s a respectable local holiday.

Scaring children for fun and profit. Celebrating true evil together with family.

 July 1

Hottest day of the year. Wax Stan was permanently murdered by the weather.

Closed the Shack and went to the municipal pool with the kids.

Gideon stole my perfect pool chair. It’s on.

 July 2

Broke into the pool area at night to get the chair to myself. Which was a good plan, until I wanted to get up later in the day. The pest had coated it with glue.

The kids broke into the pool at night, too. Didn’t ask.

 July 3

Opened the Shack again.

Can’t be too lazy. Tourists to fleece and all that.

 July 4

 July 5

Mabel bet she could run the Shack better than I can. Well. I’m nothing if not a gambler.

So, three days of vacation, in which I will make more money than she will make running the Shack. Winner takes the Shack, loser sings a silly song.

Best case scenario, she learns something about business and stops complaining. Worst case, she actually makes money and then runs the Shack for me the rest of the summer. Not bad.

 July 6

Made it past the line to be a contestant on Cash Wheel, using my Old Man powers and lack of common decency.

Why is it so hard to sleep

 July 7 Sunday

Well. I lost at Cash Wheel.

Guess that means I lost the bet with Mabel, too. Unless I go rob a bank or something in the time I have left. Hm.

 July 8

Turns out Mabel barely broke even when running the Shack. She did win the bet, but she didn’t want my job, no surprise there.

I’m proud of her for learning something.

She still made me sing that song. On video tape. It’s kinda catchy.

 July 9

Mabel’s friends came for a sleepover. They make a lot of noice.

 July 10

Soos managed to uncover the door to Ford’s that old study I sealed thirty years ago the very moment the kids demanded separate bedrooms.

I never wanted to see that room again. His glasses were still there

Guess they didn’t want the room in the end, but now it’s open. Can’t re-seal it.

I think they messed around with the freaky carpet. Took it away at the end of the day just in case.

 July 11

I fucked up, but I fixed it.

I got Mabel’s pig back, even when I had to punch a pterodactyl in the face for it.

She doesn’t hate me.

I love that kid so much.

 July 12

That weird egg I pocketed from the dino-cave hatched. Dipper says it’s a compo-whatnot.

I call him Compy. He’s now my Mystery Pet.

 July 13

Soos’ birthday. The kids tried to throw a party, which is. Bad idea.

Think he appreciated laser tag, though. And the magic pizza they got him. Never seen him so happy on a birthday.

 July 14 Sunday

Turns out Compy is a very tiny dragon. Hoards stuff, mostly cash. In places I can’t reach.

It’s no good. Gonna hand the chicken-lizard over to farmer Sprott first thing in the morning before he bankrupts me.

 July 15

Mabel and her friends went to some boy band concert. Got back late with a large pack of spoils. Probably robbed someone.

Wendy’s boyfriend is charming her with homemade music. Dipper suspects magic. Can’t rule that out.

 July 16

There was a hypnotic message in the music, but telling Wendy about it only made the teenage drama worse.

Went bowling with Dipper afterwards to cheer him up. Should have a chat with Wendy, too.

 July 17

Gideon   I’m   How could

Didn’t know Gideon was that serious.

As if half-lucid dreams about that yellow triangle wasn’t bad enough. (The kids know something. Not asking. I want them to stay away from that stuff.)

We’re staying with Soos as I panic figure out how to fix this.

 July 18

I can’t fix this.

Gideon’s got the whole town eating out of his hand and I’m just a grouchy old man.

Doing the responsible thing. Got bus tickets to send the kids home tomorrow.

Whatever I do next, don’t want them to watch.

 July 19

GIDEON IS A LITTLE SHIT AND I AM AWESOME.

Figured out his trick, proved it in public and now he’s in jail.

Got the Shack back. Got the kids back.

And. Get this. Gideon had one of Ford’s missing journals. I have it now.

 July 20

I can’t believe it. Dipper. Had the third journal all summer.

All three of the dumb books are right here in front of me.

I activated the Portal. Simple as anything.

It’s scanning for Ford right now.

I’m actually bringing him back.

 July 21 Sunday

Grand reopening of the Mystery Shack turned into a zombie-fest.

Kids could’ve died because I was too busy with the Portal to pay attention. That won’t happen again.

Should have talked to them about weirdness sooner. Hope they believed me when I said I have no more secrets.

A little worried that government might have picked up signals from the Portal.

 July 22

Repairing the Shack. Too much undead slime to attract tourists like this.

 July 23

Re-reopened the Shack.

Dipper got himself an old laptop computer from somewhere. Probably stolen. He tried to hide it.

 July 24

Went minigolfing with the kids.

Mabel challenged Pacifica Northwest to a duel at midnight. I’m so proud of her.

Letting kids into minigolf courts at night to take a rich snob down a few pegs – finally putting my skills to good use.

 July 25

I still can’t believe the Portal works.

It keeps scanning.

 July 26

Tried to bring old Goldie back to the gift shop but apparently he’s unhip and scary. Had to throw him away before the parents sued me.

What I do need is a singing animatronic robot badger. That’s what kids like these days.

 July 27

Soos missed work for the first time ever. Seems to be girl trouble, but the kids are handling it.

Would’ve stolen myself a robot badger if it hadn’t tried to kill me. Saved by old Goldie. No way I’m not keeping him now.

 July 28 Sunday

Went for a Vegas vacation because I deserve it.

Not because I’m nervous.

Brought Goldie, might have gotten slightly drunk. And slightly married.

 July 29

Mabel found herself a new obsession with hand puppets.

She’ll throw a big show on Friday. Made me rent Gravity Falls theatre for her. (Can’t believe I did that.)

 July 30

The Shack is full of sock puppets and kids and Mabel keeps singing.

Guess this is my life now.

 July 31

 August 1

Soos went to his cousin’s wedding with his new girlfriend. Good on him.

Mabel’s still obsessing about puppets.

Dipper looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Can’t blame him with all this ruckus.

 August 2

Play was good! Think it paid for the costs, too. Mabel’s got showmanship.

Don’t get the ending, though.

I mean. Children fighting always makes for good footage, but was it necessary to beat Dipper up that bad? I swear Mabel don’t know how strong she is.

A little worried about Dipper. He seemed high as a kite all day. Probably sleep deprivation. At least he’s sleeping now.

 August 3

 August 4 Sunday

Gravity’s going more crazy around the Portal the longer it’s on, but I don’t care.

It hasn’t found Ford yet.

It won’t find him if he’s dead

 August 5

The Portal ate my notebook.

Got a nasty cut on the back of my hand from some debris, too. Could have been worse.

 August 6

Tried to advertise the Mystery Shack for the kids at the Woodstick Festival. Hilarious disaster.

Being feared is worth more than being loved anyway.

 August 7

 August 8

IT FOUND HIM.

He’s alive. There’s a lock on his position.

Fuck I don’t  I have to

I know how it works. It needs to calibrate for a while. It needs to be fueled for the big moment.

I’ll go rob a government facility right now.

(So glad the kids are off at the Northwest party tonight.)

27 hours and then I’ll see him again.

 August 9

Ford is back.

I had to run from the feds and the kids found out everything the wrong way but it worked and he’s back.

But he doesn’t  He still hates me.  

Why would I expect anything else.

Don’t know what I’d do with myself if the kids weren’t here.

It’s fine. I fucked up everything, but. Mabel trusts me. Dipper forgives me. I’m fine.

not crying

 August 10 Sunday

The Shack needs repairs again.

Spent most of the day making Duck-tective finale preparations with Mabel. We had fun.

Told the kids to stay away from Ford.

 August 11

Dipper has predictably decided to be nerd friends with my brother.

Can’t stop him. He looks happy. Both of them do.

Still can’t figure out why Ford would have reality altering dice lying around in his sci-fi pouch.

Anyway. I knew Duck-tective had an evil twin.

 August 12

I hate everything.

Ford will take my his place here soon enough, does he have to undercut me while I’m still here?

I’m running for mayor now.

 August 13

Kids are helping me with a political campaign. Apparently I know nothing about politics and have unpalatable opinions. Bah.

 August 14

The Stump Speech went great! I relax, words happen, people cheer.

Dipper got a lucky tie for me. Think it really works.

 August 15

Should’ve tried being a politician before. Almost feels like people like me.

 August 16

Nope. Politics is not for me. Too much mind control.

Should’ve known it wasn’t me making those speeches.

(The kids shouldn’t get into politics either. Can’t always be there to save them from murder.)

Turns out I’m not mayor material, but I’m a HERO.

Take that, Ford.

 August 17

Rented an RV and took Soos and the kids and Mabel’s friends on a road trip.

Pranking the tourist traps. Good old Mystery Shack tradition for the last time.

Dipper’s practising flirting like a pro.

 August 18 Sunday

Almost got eaten by a spider-woman. That could have gone better.

Have to admit, the kids are heroes too.

Don’t think Ford noticed we were gone.

 August 19

Opened the Mystery Shack for the final stretch.

Two more weeks, then I’m gone for good.

 August 20

Made a good deal on illegal pugs. Still got it.

Ford and Dipper put some magic mojo on the Shack. Not gonna ask.

Might have something to do with how badly Ford is sleeping.

 August 21

Ten days left until the kids’s birthday and the end of summer.

Guess I’m doing a countdown now.

 August 22

Nine days left.

 August 23

Eight days left.

I’m gonna order a ponytail kit.

 August 24

HELL NO I DON’T NEED THIS.

It’s the literal end of the world and the kids are missing.

Suddenly orange skies, goats turning into monsters, the whole shebang. I thought I had enough troubles.

That magic on the Shack seems to be protecting it, but. THE KIDS ARE MISSING. So is Ford.

 ??? 1

Day and night are replaced by eternal glowing orange and every single clock is busted, so no more dates.

Went out looking for the kids, but all I find is other people. Also demons. No sign of Soos or Wendy, either.

Been taking people to the Shack. Safest place on Earth for all I know. I have enough brown meat and elected myself Chief.

The kids are fine. Probably with Ford. That’s the ticket.

 ??? 2

Went out looking again. Found the Northwest girl dressed in nothing but a potato sack. She was crying and I don’t want to know, but she didn’t deserve it.

Been told the head honcho is the yellow triangle. He calls this Weirdmageddon.

Old McGucket showed up more coherent than usual, herding a whole flock of forest creatures into the Shack. Starting to get crowded here.

The kids are fine. Of course they are.

 ??? 3

There’s still people alive out there. I heard cars over at Gleeful’s place.

Didn’t see anyone else.

I’ve lost  I couldn’t even

Mabel and Dipper are definitely still alive. So is Soos and Wendy. And Ford better be.

 ??? 4

They’re alive!

All four of my kids, bursting through the door like cops doing a raid but they’re alive!

Now all I want is for them to stay here and be safe. Why can’t they see that?

I’m done saving my brother’s skin and getting nothing but scorn for it.

Ford made his own bed with that demon. Forget it.

 ??? 5

Did I mention, the plan concocted by five kids, Soos, and a known madman is utterly insane?

They’re rebuilding the Shack. I just had it repaired, too.

It’s my house, but no one’s listening to me.

 ??? 6

I keep having this bad feeling about Ford.

It’s dumb. My brother has made it perfectly clear how he feels about being saved.

 ??? 7

Well then.

Not letting the kids lead an apocalypse rebellion against a demonic triangle without me.

 August 25 Sunday

 August 26

 August 27

 August 28

Huh. I can’t remember writing this, but it does ring a few bells.

It’s like I

I need to talk to Ford.

 August 29

So. The apocalypse is over, and we’re all fine.

We killed the demon by burning my mind out when he was inside, pretty much.

My mind’s still there, but it’s kinda. Well. In need of repair.

Spent a few days reliving good memories.

Turns out there’s more than a few bad ones, too. But.

Everyone is so good to me

I don’t deserve this

 August 30

I remember how Ford looked at me after I brought him back.

Now he acts like  he likes to   he thinks I’m

Now it’s like he’s my brother again.

He said. “Thank you.”

 August 31

The kids have left. I’ll miss them, but I’ll see them again.

Until then, my brother and I are going sailing.

[dreamseersystem]

How I Met Bill and Dipper

First to start as a note. I can visit worlds and dimensions, mostly when I sleep. Most of the events occurred during the "dreaming" cycle, but I always lucid dream.

It all started in the end of 2015 for me. When I first found myself running from Oryan (a crazed Celestial Asshole that was bent on owning me) yet again and Alcor (of the Transcendence Timeline) sent me through the portal. He... Gave his life to save mine and the niblets. Nydia and Nall (children of another Dipper and Mabel I knew before this). He used the last of his magic before transferring it to me to change them into dragons in the scape and erase their memories until we were safe. He then casted a spell to seal away my magic and hide me from Oryan. The side effect was, which I didn't find out till I woke up, was that is made me appear as a 14 year old female. He pushed me through the portal and sealed it behind him. I didn't wake up till a few days later in the dimension.

I found out later I basically landed naked on Dipper and Soos carried me back to the shack after wrapping me up in his shirt. During my time asleep, Bi was watching through his Windows. I sensed this, still having some powers despite being sealed and watched him in return. He sensed me and I faded into a healing sleep.

When I woke up it was a week before Dreamscapers. I spent that time finding out how the dimension differed from canon and really the only thing was me. One night before a few days Gideon would summon Bi, he decided to enter my scape to spy on me, got caught by Nydia and we talked. He was interested in me and all so we made a deal. He was allowed in my scape while I was sleeping and he wasn't allowed to attempt any possession and whatnot. He had some idea I was familiar with the timeline and it was also stated I would not reveal anything about the future in the agreement.

Dreamscapers went about the same, just me disappearing until the end, telling Bi that not everything is what it seems, and Gideon Rises went the same except when leaving Gravity Falls I was on the bus too... The barrier stopped me from leaving and I was thrown out of the bus. One of the shards got me really bad, and Bi offered a deal, he'll save my life for the ability to possess me. I made the terms more fair, only saying when I give him permission or sharing the body and I wouldn't be removed from it.

Need to say he used it to his best advantage. Causing trouble for me with Dipper and Mabel. He left me alone at nights only because I was helping Stan with the portal. I decided I would help a bit since I would be going by my own smarts and not what the future was. That way he got more rest.

We had a hate relationship. I played with him and got the upper hand a lot. He hated me and resented me. At the same time, Dipper got over his crush for Wendy and found out he had one on me instead. By Sock Puppets, both were interested in their own ways. Bi was more possessive, Dipper was more loving. Bibae's reason for making the deal with Dipper then was to mess with his feelings for me. I know for a fact now it was because he was jealous.

As the portal came closer to getting done, I knew I had to make plans to protect Bi from Ford. Meanwhile, after Dipper's bout of possession from Bi, we found out he could see Bi like I could in the scape. Which caused more conflict. They were always fighting. Bickering even worse than they are now. There was a few times they got along... But not really until the Northwest Party. He got pissed that a ghost would be Dipper's end and threaten to throw his ectoplasmic body into a dark abyss of the Nightmare Realm. Needless to say, I had to stop him and let Paz do her thing.

Since Bi started possessing me, some of my powers were able to leak through the seals, tho not enough to let Oryan find me. I was able to devise a way so Ford couldn't detect Bi. But the downside was he couldn't fully possess me anymore. Well, downside for him. It was something we talked about because we knew he would be back. But, he agreed it was necessary since he didn't want Sixer knowing he was back yet.

The day he came back into this dimension was... Taxing. Dipper got mad at me because I sided with Stanley. We had a fight... That night I went out onto the roof and just me and Bi were up there listening in on Stan and Ford. When they went to bed, Dipper came up and we talked. He realized he made a mistake and he should have trusted me. We all were tired at that point and fell asleep on the roof together. Mabel took a picture of me and Dipper and somehow caught Bi between us. It is a cute picture. Might have the drawing I did still somewhere. Have to find it.

Ford was smart. He traveled to a few dimensions that heard rumors about me. Saw certain symbols that matched my seals. He never trusted me. Even when I offered him information I normally wouldn't give. But he was too fascinated by me to shun me. So he would talk to me and ask me questions which I only vaguely replied to at the time. I met some Fords... Only my first Forddad was good... The rest... I won't go into it here... So I was wary.

When Bi finally revealed himself to Ford, he sent me away to not know what was going on. I think he suspected even then that I was talking to Bi. He got Mabel to get stuff for the barrier, tho Dipper tried to make light of it. He didn't think Ford was possessed in the basement like Ford thought at first, he was scared that Ford found out. And almost did with the brain scanner. I, meanwhile was busy with my own thing and planning for the barrier. I knew it would go up somehow. I was setting up a place to stay out in the woods. And by the time I came home the barrier was up. I couldn't go in because of not only my connection with Bi, but because of the powers I didn't know of yet that laid dormant.

Ford had me sent away then. Dipper pleaded for me, but he would not be moved. By this time the power that was unsealed was starting to overwhelmed me, whisper thoughts into my head, losing control of who I was. The darkness that had once consumed me was returning. I let Bi's talk of revenge sway me. So I knew what to do. Bi never had to use Blendin except in changing a few things in the past to make everything fall into place. But a part of me knew what was happening. I was able to drag Ford and Dipper into the Dreamscape and place a protection spell on them to prevent harm. I warned them that I would lose myself and the next day Weirdmageddon began. I was the one whom convinced Mabel to give the rift over. I'm the one that broke it.

I remember bits and pieces myself after this. Bi told me most of it. But I was... Not feral, but I lost myself to my own darkness. The insanity that once drove me to do very bad things. Bi said to him at the time I was very... Bad ass but scary. Tho he wasn't scared of that till later. He let himself at me like how he wanted to from the beginning. Causing pain and suffering. Stuff he regrets now. He did it to purposely hurt me. During one of these sessions I started to feel and know who I was again. I remember seeing Ford being tortured. I remember seeing Dipper waving his hand across my face as he removed the chains. I remember him hiding me behind a pillar and running off with his sister into the pyramid. I remember Stan and Ford switching clothes...

I snapped out of it then... I wanted to warn Bi, but I knew I couldn't. So when Bi entered the scape, I did too. I remember mostly the fire. Calling out to Bi as the fire surrounded him and Stan. Him yelling that I was stupid and needed to get out of there. Me refusing. Bi said he felt fear for the first time in his life then. He actually did care about me in his own way. Just never was shown how.

He used the last of his power to send me out of Stan's mind. He told me later that Stan asked him why if he had energy left... Bi had simply said... "Because at least they can still have a future."

I woke up outside the scape and everything was falling around us. Bi was shattered. By the time we were on the ground we saw the rift still open and didn't know why... Then I remembered. I had a shard of Old Bill left inside of me. Any Bill was connected to the rift. I knew what I needed to do. I told Dipper to get everyone in the circle and activate the zodiac. I was able to use that power to Ascend. I turned into the Ascended form and shattered myself on the barrier, causing it to break and send a power surged throughout the dimension. Thus causing the transcendence. I ended Weirdmageddon only to start the era of magic. I remember everything fading to black.

Dipper said it was calm then. That I was gone. Stan had lost his memory. And everyone was shaken. He cried for me. But somehow he knew I would return there. Stan had regained his memory because of Mabel, and all that was left of Bi was a stone statue. Summer ended, but the adventure wasn't over yet. That would be five years later.

Dipper: I'll take it from here for the interval.

After they were gone, everything hung just felt out of sorts. The world was changing and didn't know how to handle it. I went back to school as the nobody. Parents said the events should just be forgotten and just focus on dealing with school. Neither of us really forgot our summer. I was focused on seeing Astra again. I knew he would return. I spent five years sticking to the books, dealing with Mabel's crazy adventures. Not getting into those here.

When I just had graduated, I had a huge fight with my parents that night and went to bed. They couldn't understand why I would want to go back to Gravity Falls. To the Supernatural. Mabel said she was just leaving and acting like she is on a road trip. We both wanted to go back. It was that night I suddenly saw Astra for the first time in five years floating right above me and making me fall out of bed. He "convinced" my parents to let us go to Gravity Falls and we left within a day.

Astra: This is where I continue off. Those five years... Happened in a night in reality. It was like watching from beyond. I remember the scape... Shapes forming around me... Seeing Alcor in the space between life and death and explaining what he did. Seeing Old Bill one final time, the last piece I knew of then passing beyond. Being surrounded by the Flock as they recognized me as their new master. Feeling myself reform. It was different than the other times. Usually when I died I would appear back in my own scape awaiting for another portal to open... Another world to visit... But I was still in this world. I haven't returned to my scape. I was still in the dimension's scape. It was surreal... Something had changed... I didn't know what then... I guess from the transcendence. I still don't know why...

We returned to Gravity Falls. I made a deal with Ford about protecting the shack. For you see, I was weak and only Dipper was able to see me. I made a deal to claim the shack as my territory so I could appear in reality and be grounded there. It took a little time but I was able to claim the town too. I appeared to people and made deals under the name Alkaid. I created my demon self you could say. Our Alk didn't split from me till way after. I even got our Gideon on my side by healing his mother. By then I had an inkling of what was to come to GF so I made a deal with him that he would start a protection squad to watch over the supernatural.

Then I found Bi... Well what was left of him. His statue. Took me awhile but I found it. It was then I met Axxie for the first time. He told me that I couldn't wake him up until we had a way to split his power, so he wouldn't go mad with power like before. I had an idea then. Time Baby owed me a favor. So I went to the future and claimed a Time Wish. Used it to bring Liam to our time without changing the events of the past. I was able to devise a spell to split the power Bi had and share it with Liam. Liam was all for it, he wanted to see his brother again. So we did it and Bi was awaken in human form and Liam gained a human form as well.

To say Bi didn't take to the new look was an understatement. He hated it... Resented me, Dipper, and Liam... Whined, threw fits, screamed with rage as we had to limit his use of powers to protect ourselves. Ford didn't help by bullying him a lot. Shenanigans occurred. Axxie decided to take a more physical form and hang about to tease him too. I tried to reason and teach. Bi... Hit me only once then. We were on the roof that night and I brought up if he truly hated me for now... That maybe if I could have taken his place back then... He slapped me... Said that I shouldn't say such things. He told me... He didn't hate me. He was just... Confused and it felt odd having a human body of his own. He never had feelings like this before... And it confused and frightened him. We talked more and slept on the roof that night. The next day I saw him talking with Dipper. It took awhile... He was still getting used to everything. But soon he and Dipper found out they cared for each other too. Tho they still had their spats. Like even now. We bonded in a special Celestial marriage ceremony and found out Dipper was a Forest Guardian soon after.

Then Dipper's parents came for a visit. There was no warning. Even I didn't See it. But they came and demanded Dipper and Mabel return home and rid themselves of any magical taint. They called me a monster and said I brainwashed them. That I would condemn them. That I was evil.

I don't remember much then... I shut down... I always do when people call me things like that because I start believing it. Bi held me and Dipper fought and yelled at his parents. They left... We were hurt... They had joined the new group of Anti-Magics that was going around. The Pure Ones. The Untainted Ones they called themselves. We vowed to protect the town then. And to support each other. It wasn't a few months later in reality I found out about soul bonds and we realized that we were connected like that. And the rest is another story.

There isn't much more to it. We had more things that happened afterwards, stuff that happened with ex friends... Personal things. I won't talk about Old Bill. I'm... Not ready for that story yet. Too painful still. I did say something about him before ages ago. But that's all I want to talk about it for now. Bill, Dipper, and me have triplets together. And many more through our other mates. We are still happy and care for one another very much. Tho Bill is a lazy ass these days lmao.

And that is that.

[digikate813]

Fanfiction Writer Appreciation Recs

I’ve seen a bunch of people doing these, and i really wanted to too. I may be late to the party here, but I hope I can point you towards some cool stuff to check out. Most of what I read in the fanfiction circle is Gravity Falls, so this post is mostly just multi chapter fics from the Gravity Falls fandom! I might do one for one-shots, and I’m sorry if I forget any major ones, but this is what immediately comes to mind that I highly recommend.

Stanswap by @orangeoctopi7

Reverse Portal AU at it’s best! The Reverse Portal AU was popular for a while (almost on par with Blind Faith) and a lot of people tried to grab onto the idea, but after all this time, it just seems to have left a lot of incomplete works in it’s wake. That is not the case here. It’s still going, but it shows no sign of stopping until it tells it’s entire story. And this story has been insanely detailed and well executed. Retelling almost the entire series as if Ford was the one taking care of the kids, and the dilemmas he faces with the fact that Stan is stuck on the other side of the portal. Not to mention most of the jokes are on point with something you’d hear in Gravity Falls. The author is someone I am proud to call my friend, and that all started when this fic was recommended to me.

30 Seconds Later by @invisibletinkerer

A pretty recent one that i really hope gets more attention. I’ve seen people do fanart and stuff of Ford being the same age as when he got sucked into the portal, while his home dimension and Stan aged, but I didn’t really see much potential for a full story in that idea. That changes with this fic, which again is still ongoing, but updates fairly regularly. The interactions between the Grunkle Stan we know and love and a Ford who is still fresh from his sleep deprived paranoia days, and still susceptible to Bill’s possession brings so much engaging conflict that i cannot get enough of!

My Demons by @kazriku

An oldie but a goodie. This one is basically a Mystery Trio story that focuses mostly on Stan and Ford, and the first chapter was written before A Tale of Two Stans came out. Adjustments were made after that episode came out, but this fic is very much telling it’s own story on how the Stans became so distant, and the incident that lead to Ford being trapped on the other side of the portal. Filled with mysterious suspense and some entertaining brotherly bonding, even if it hasn’t updated in a while, if we’re talking about fanfics I appreciate, there was no way i couldn’t include this one. It was the first major GF Fanfic I read from the person who would become my first mutual, and chances are this fic lead to me reading all the ones you see here!

By the skin of your teeth by @apathetic-revenant

I didn’t realize just how popular this one was until today, but it deserves it. It’s so good! When Stan gets into his argument with Ford after Ford calls him for the first time in 10 years, he realizes that something's wrong with Ford. He’s very sick and his house is a wreck. There is so much tension and angst in this one as Stan puts the pieces together about what’s been going on with his brother, and Ford continuing to fight what seems like a losing battle. There’s a happy ending, but it takes quite a bit to get there, and it is glorious!

And Then There Were Three by @kalajorn

I’m just going to say it. This is one of my favorite Mystery Trio stories. Ever! With an author who I think really is under the radar in the community. Mystery Trio is probably my favorite AU for Gravity Falls, but depending on who you ask, it either got stronger or weaker once A Tale of Two Stans came out. For me, it only got stronger, and this fic is an excellent example of why. I adore the scenario presented here of how Stan and Ford eventually reunite. How there is some spark of their connection as brothers still there, but there are still forces interfering with that, and using the material from canon to build some great tension. Updates take some time, but i promise you it’s worth it. This story only gets more engaging with each chapter and i’m hoping it’ll stay that way.

A Little Bit Lost by @impishnature

Impish is really a beacon of life for the GF fandom. Regularly producing high quality content of all kinds. I could have put any number of her stories on here. If you miss Gravity Falls, and you want to reminisce about it over a weekend, scroll through her AO3. You’ll find a lot to enjoy. But one of my personal favorites is this compilation of fics surrounding the Feral Ford AU. An AU that vanished as quickly as it arrived. I was even going to write something small on it, but i just never got to it. Anyway, these stories of a paranoid, almost animalistic Ford from what trauma he faced on the other side of the portal is just so powerful. Every idea has a new obstacle. Sometimes it’s comforting. Sometimes it’s heartbreaking. But there’s always something to grab your attention and not let go. I come back to these a lot, and they are always a great read.

I’d also recommend her Mystery Trio fic Phobos, but that one hasn’t updated for a while. But I still really like it so here ya go!

Maybe it’s Not Too Late by @rum-and-shattered-dreams

Why was this one so hard to find? It’s awesome! One of the reasons I’ve dived so deeply into Gravity Falls fanfiction more then any other fandom I’ve been in, is because even after the official shows credits rolled, it still left us with so much potential for what other adventures were out there. And this is one of the best examples of that. It’s a great, insanely engaging post series adventure involving pretty much the entire main cast and the return of the Shapeshifter, with Fiddleford and Ford as the main focus. Yes, it is partly a Ship Fic, which I’m not crazy about, but I don’t really find it distracting. There is so much in this story, and the shipping is just another element of it. And FiddAuthor is one of the ships I tolerate more, so I don’t really mind that much. The rest is just too dang good!!

Better Kept Secret by BadonKaDank

Another one that nearly alluded my radar until a friend mentioned it to me back when it had just completed, and I’m glad they did because this story is AMAZING! Having someone from one of the boys’ past come back for revenge is another premise that was circulating for a while that I freaking adored!! There were a few good pieces of writing out there on this (and even a comic currently going on), but this fic is at the top of the chart for me. Filled with drama, action, intense and suspenseful moments, it’s one that really stuck with me that i can’t believe I almost missed. 

Goodnight Stanley by Kitsunesocks

I haven’t seen many people mention this one, and while it may not be the most angst filled story involving the Stan Bros, it’s still a great one. Without giving too much away, while Stan and Ford are getting ready to head back to Gravity Falls, they discover that Bill might not be entirely gone, and that he may be plotting a way to come back right under their noses. Despite how common it is, this is a premise I’ve never been crazy about. I think @thesnadger Axolotl is the only story like this to engage me past the first chapter. Except this one. This is a great adventure of a story. The pacing is excellent and the characters are on point. Some of the most accurate I think I’ve seen in a Gravity Falls fic. I especially appreciate how proactive Dipper and Mabel are in this story. A lot of fics like this tend to push them to the side to make room for the Stans. But this story makes good use of everyone involved. It’s not the most emotionally driven story out there, but it’s one of the most well put together stories I’ve seen in a GF fic.

Blind Faith by @pinesinthewoods

Oh my God! This one! I originally wasn’t going to include this one because I know the author is no longer active in the fandom, but again, appreciation post. And this story deserves to be appreciated no matter what. You all know this AU, where Stan and Ford both wind up on the other side of the portal, and have to face the horrors on the other side together. Blind Faith was already fairly popular at this point, but this story propelled it to something else. Something stronger. Something with depth. Leaving you with chills as you finish every chapter. Aside from My Demons, this is probably the first fanfic I was checking for updates on, daily. This brought many new ideas to the AU that you still see in the occasional new content today, and that is something truly special. This is from yet another author who I am proud to call a friend, and it’s weird to think that back then, I was just a fan of something a lot of other people were. I’m sure most of you have read this one, but if you haven’t, go read it! It’s one of the best out there.

Stanley McGucket by @thelastspeecher

This is the sort of fic I don’t normally care for. Tons of original characters and a lot of shipping. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just not for me. But the premise was just too intriguing to resist. The idea of Stan being offered a job from Fiddleford’s parents and basically becoming an honorary member of the McGucket family is a really endearing premise. And when certain characters reunite or put the pieces together about who they are to each other, it really gets the ball rolling. You’re just waiting to see how everything will turn out, and it’s a pretty great ride. I followed this story and it’s expansions for a while. Then it branched into multiple AUs on it’s own and it just got way too confusing to keep up with the tag. But the main story is still a enjoyable ride from a type of fic that usually doesn’t grab me. But it had an interesting idea that pulled me in, and followed through on it. Welcome to the McGucket Family Tree Stanley

Amnesia by @ducksalive

Okay, yeah. This one isn’t technically a Gravity Falls fic. But I’m really into Ducktales right now and i was running out of Gravity Falls stories. So yeah, I’ve started diving into Ducktales fan fiction. Even wrote one of my own which you should definitely check out. Please? There’s not much out there that’s grabbed me as much as these other stories yet (if anybody knows any good Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera/Gizmoduck stuff out there, let me know), but something about this one had my attention. 

I’m one of those people who is immediately intrigued by amnesia stories but the reason most people aren’t is because of how often they can go wrong. So far, that’s not the case here. In this story, Donald is the one with amnesia, and Glomgold finds him and convinces him that he’s his uncle, and that Scrooge is the enemy. From there it’s a race to try and help rescue Donald from a trap he doesn’t even know he’s in. While Donald constantly suffers for it. If you’re the type of person who likes family angst (which chances are you do if you’re a fan of any of the above fics) then you’ll get a kick out of this. Every time you think the family is going to get Donald back, Glomgold manages to snatch him away. And realizing just how far he’s willing to go to keep Scrooge’s nephew on his side is just shocking. This is another story that’s still ongoing, so there’s no telling how this will conclude yet, but at the moment, I am very emotionally invested in this one.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve gotten way more into fanfiction then I ever would have imagined. I never looked twice at it before, but now I’ve been a spectator to many creative stories, the authors of some of my favorites have become some of my closest friends, and I’ve even written a couple myself. I may be late to the actual day, but I hope this shows my appreciation for all the fanfic writers above and a few dozen I’m probably forgetting at the moment. 

[iprincezzinuyoukai]

BillDip Week, Birthday Week, Day 1: Planning

Hello! A new BillDip Week? Sign me the fuck up! I’m so excited to see everything the fandom has prepared, yeah! Unlike previous weeks, I think this time I’ll use the Post-Canon scenario – That’s right, I’m going to use only one AU for this week ~ Also, let’s celebrate because exactly three years ago I started participating in these OTPs Weeks.

Notes and Warnings: Post-Canon. Plot Twist?

Birthday?

The door of the Shack was lashed with such force that it could possibly be destroyed.

“It arrived!” Mabel announced, her voice louder than usual. “Finally it arrived! Dipper, come down at this moment, I need you!”

The twin male walked down the stairs, watching his sister sit on the couch and throw everything on the coffee table to put on a medium-sized box. Mabel vibrated with emotion.

“What has arrived?” Dipper asked, sitting next to Mabel. His sister stopped trembling.

Mabel pulled out a book smaller than the box – Dipper must have assumed that, because they were a conman’s relatives, they must have known when they were being scammed. “The Kit Plan Your Own Party 18.8!”

“Mabel, you’ve bought that book since I can remember and are always the same steps.” Dipper said exhausted.

“This time the drawings are different.” Mabel opened the book and leafed through the pages as quickly as possible, “And it comes with magnetic stickers.”

Dipper rolled his eyes.

It was two weeks before their nineteenth birthday, and it wasn’t that Dipper wasn’t excited to celebrate his birthday with his friends and family – The problem was that this birthday would be normal. Stan and Ford wouldn’t arrive in time (the Shack was running at Mabel’s hands, who preferred the business over the university), their parents had a business trip (they had already sent their gifts, though), Mabel had an order for sweaters for the next winter season, Dipper had finally sent his book Gravity Vortex: A Mysterious Summer to the publisher and he was just waiting to hear their answer, Soos and Melody were waiting for the moment when their baby was born (which would be soon), Pacifica’s had to return to Norway for her new semester, Candy had a concert with her music camp, and Grenda was still in Austria.

Even so Mabel had said that the two of them could celebrate their birthday together – Or wait for everyone to be together.

That left only one person in all Gravity Falls –

“Does Shooting Star have rabies?”

“Nope.” Dipper answered him.

It was bad enough that the Zodiac plan had failed, but everything got worse when he and Bill were bonded, and whoever could have been the Supreme Overlord became a weak demon that over time regained his powers, but never broke the bond... And even more horrible that both ended up developing feelings for each other. A confession that didn’t happen until a year ago.

“I’m planning my and Dipper’s birthday!”

“Why? Nobody will come.” Bill crossed his arms. “Also, why is it so important? It’s to celebrate another year closer to your end.”

Mabel booed.

“Let her have fun. By the way, Bill, where were you all morning? Ford didn’t stop scolding me for letting you run free.”

“I can’t reveal it, yet.” Bill winked, at least that’s what it looks like, Dipper often detested when Bill was in his triangular form – As cute as he was, it was the only way when it was impossible to know what kind of expression Bill had.

“So,” Mabel attracted their attention, “Are we going to celebrate our birthday?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Bill, we’ll just be Mabel, me – And you, if you feel like wanting to eat something.”

“As if I wanted to come to your celebration – You should have let me have mine six years ago.” Bill complained, “I may change my mind if you tell me what we’ll eat.”

“The souls of our enemies!” Mabel played along.

“Finally the revenge will be mine. A feast worthy of the gods.” Bill said and in a poof his human form was present. “Who says patience doesn’t bear fruit.”

“Everyone.” Dipper pointed out, why of all the people in the world, he had to fall for the craziest of all?

“We’ll see in six more years.”

“What will happen in 2022?”

“Not a new Weirdmageddon, that’s for sure.” Bill said, “Then, I’m going to continue doing my business, and I checked that you’re well, for the time being.”

“You’ve to be here at five o’clock, or otherwise – ”

“Sixer will get me back into that bubble. Roger that!” Bill disappeared in a second, and as every time he did, a faint smell of smoke was present.

Mabel turned her eyes to her party planner book, then she noticed that Dipper had that thoughtful look in his eyes. “What has gotten into your head, Dipstick?” Mabel asked, dropping her head over her brother’s shoulder, “And don’t lie to me, our tastes are different, but we’re twins, and we’ve the same face...”

“I was thinking about what – If I should give Bill a birthday party.” Dipper confessed quickly, but to his misfortune, Mabel had caught what he had said.

“That’s amazing, Dipper! Very romantic. Let me see if I’ve some ideas – ”

“No,” Dipper interrupted her, “I don’t want to do something very big – ”

“Do you want a party for you two alone?” Mabel waggled her eyebrows. She couldn’t ask for someone else for Dipper, not when her twin looked happy next to the Dream Demon.

“It’s nothing of what you’re imagining!” Dipper said with a face even redder than Wendy’s hair.

Was it a bad time to retract?

[not-a-statement]

Chasing ghosts. Chapter 1

I’m finally posting the first chapter.

Forgive me for my grammar, like I said I'm not a native speaker, but I hope you'll find it at least readable.

As always big thanks to @edward-or-ford for all his help and guidance

I’ll soon figure out how to create a master post, but just for now I’ll leave a link to a prologue (if you haven’t read it) here

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter

New City, NY, August 31st 2024

Dipper set aside the empty glass and glanced around at the merry people gathered to celebrate the Pines twins’ birthday. There were friends, a couple of relatives, colleagues. Mostly the Zach Turner’s colleagues: Dipper himself did not have personal contact with many people every day. A freelance journalist is called freelance for a reason. But if you are a stockbroker, even a beginner, then you might be in this kind of crowd. All of them fit, most of them tanned (probably from a solarium), wearing fancy Trussardi polos, a full set in order to impress you. To make you believe that you are looking at a wealthy confident man who knows no worries and ready tackle any money issues.

No, It’s not that Dipper could blame them, it's just their job to look successful and reliable. But from all this dazzling crowd hanging out in the backyard of the house he began to feel a ruffling sensation in his eyes. As if somebody poured a bucket of transparent glue on each of them and after they were shot with a sequins canon or whatever. It’s just seemed that each movement of these people somehow refracted the rays of sunlight at such an angle to hit Dipper directly in the eyes with a piercing beam. But anyway, Mabel was probably over-delighted with this kind display. Somehow it became a sort of tradition for the past ten years: what was painful for Dipper was pretty joyfull for Mabel.

Pines mentally kicked himself for that last thought. It sounded terrible, even if he didn’t say it out loud. And it sounded even worse coming from the thoughts of a loving brother.

Hah, a loving ... brother. It's odd even to put these two words in one sentence…

Another mental kick. Don’t you even dare to think about your feelings for your own sister, not now. Better to not ever.

Disgusting thoughts.

Wrong feelings.

Bad brain. Very bad and being an ass right now. We need to focus on what is important: today's birthday. Stan could get to us from his backwoods. Dad and Mom are also going to visit in a couple of days, when they return from the next trip around the country. They are probably happy with their new life without the constant care of children, busy only with each other and with their dreams.

Everyone was happy. Why couldn’t Dipper at least relax a little and pretend that he enjoyed this noise, instead of constantly thinking about escape paths from this house filled with smiling mannequins and idle talk? From the house where every piece of furniture, every spoon from the gift set and every word uttered by its inhabitants would forever remind Dipper of what he lost, and more than that, what he could never get. It was taken away from him by this slender hard-built bastard with a radiant smile from ear to ear and the sweetest speeches that he poured in huge doses into the ears of everyone around him. All these manners, courtesy. Damn, was it really only Dipper that was sick of this man-made likeness? Did no one else see his essence? Why did no one else see him as the dirty bastard he was? And why was Mabel, sweet smart Mabel, so blinded by all his fake ... this fake ... facade?

Dipper let out a deep sigh and reached for the glass again.

You know what? Forget it. You once again begin to come up with wild ideas and seeing things. Not every man hovers around Mabel actually turns out to be a psychopath, a juvenile maniac or a bunch of wild Fae creatures.

Yes, but I was right then!

Because then you tried to protect your sister, not the girl you are in love with.

As if there is any difference.

Newsflash. Of course there is. Want an example? Okay second year at college, the black guy what’s-his-face? Always found an excuse to hang in your dorm room with Mabel. You do remember him, right? And how long did it take your eye to recover from swelling.

Hey, it's not my fault that he got into a fight.

It happens when you get a lot of suspicious glares.

There weren’t so many of them ...

Dude, he still probably thinks you are a racist or something.

The rumble of a bourbon being filled in a glass was almost a lullaby. Dipper did not even notice how he filled the vessel almost to the brim.

Well, that was great: he was talking to himself now! Not that it was the first time. He often arranged internal disputes on this or that topic, clashing his rational part with itself or with the sensual, but never before his emotional side sounded so offended and pitiful.

Dipper frowned, sipping an amber drink, which burned his tongue and throat, but at the same time it became a little easier to consider everything that was happening and himself in it. With this ease, eyelids grew heavy, thoughts became slower - only the footage of the last six months of his life began to flash before his eyes.

If it could be called that. A life ...

Life is something sensible, controlled in the most of things. With no comprehensible forecast, only with assumptions - and that's enough, believe me.

And this kind of floating in the time-space with rare interactions with random objects floating there as well could hardly be called a life. It's like flying on autopilot without a specific purpose. And even you can not enjoy a journey in spite of what they say. A kind of asteroid in the cold space.

Or more like....

Perhaps it's ... like a satellite? Yes, a satellite that spends its entire life quietly orbiting its planet - a circle after a circle, year after year. It's boring, but you can adapt, especially if you do not think about why you get in this orbit and what happened before. If you do not replay in your mind moments from the past when at the age of fifteen you started to notice things that should not have been noticed, when your sweating hands, weak legs and lack of words turned the simplest conversation into an attraction of strangeness and awkwardness. If you do not replay memories of prom night over and over again in your head, which you found an excuse not to go to having no date to bring along, and your sister spent the whole night accompanied by that tall blond guy from her Spanish class and returned only the morning after. Or how you secretly threw out letters from the MIT that was ready to tear you away from the opportunity to choose a college in the same city as Mabel did.

Collect all these pieces together, and here you are - Dipper Pines - a proud mayor of the city called "What am I doing with my life?". Population: one person.

No, not like that.

And you are ready to go out into the streets and tear leaflets to passers-by with an invitation to the seminar "Are you too happy with your life? I will tell you how to get rid of this feeling. Every Sunday at a local community center. BYOB"

Yes, that's better. I can at least raise a little money.

Wait, what am I talking about? I need to open my eyes ...

A little more ... a little more ...

Oh, No! Bad idea!

Too light! Too light and too many people!

Oh... damn it …

Hmm ... although what am I? This was like it before I fell into my thoughts.

And yes - I'm still here. In the backyard of this hellhole, where Turner dragged my May ... um ... my ... my sister in his clawed paws. And from this hell I will never get her out of.

Dipper opened his eyes a little wider and looked at Zach's two-story house with complete disdain. Painted in a sky blue color, with windows washed up to the illusion of their absence and a neat backyard with garden gnomes, miniature paths lined with wooden footbridges, solar-powered lanterns and a low fence separating this site from the neighboring ones, it fit perfectly into a quiet family scenery, which New City of himself represented. This house came in no comparison with a small apartment in Brooklyn, where the twins has lived for almost a year after moving to New York. The apartment, which was a witness of moments of happiness and sadness, where the TV sometimes wasn’t turn off til morning because of the another marathon of cheesy horror movies, which housed the whole world of two closest friends, who loved each other sincerely and unselfishly. And which kept the secrets of one of them about where in its sincerity and disinterestedness there were footnotes in small print.

At the age of sixteen, Dipper told himself that only time was needed and that everything would end, everything would pass.

Now that’s a funny statement. Like a film or a book with an open ending, it gives a choice. For example, how long will it take or what will end? How many more will a small gray spinning top spin before shaking and gradually slowing its course until it stops? And will it stop at all?

Well, anyway, Dipper learned one thing - nothing can depend only on his will and obey the dry logic and, therefore, control. At the age of eighteen, he began to feel how gradually the situation began to develop according to his own scenario, regardless of his efforts to manage it. At twenty-two he could hardly find an explanation for his actions and decisions, and six months ago …

Six months ago, the satellite nevertheless descended from orbit and began its journey through the cold dark and empty nothingness. Six months ago, time had finally passed and everything was over.

On that day he walked from the editorial office with a new assignment. It was Friday, there was nowhere to hurry, although on the streets of New York even if you do not want to you have to merge with the eternally rushing crowd. There was a smell of spring in the air, and no matter how cliched this phrase was, damn it, it was true. Even Dipper felt something like that. Light and warm whiff. For the short time that he walked from the editorial office, the world around acquired more color, more smells - not literally, New York, with its busy streets, always supplied smells even above normal. Everything around seemed to come to life, blossoming in all its glory.

Not surprisingly, Mabel was always so happy about the arrival of spring, wherever we were. Maybe I should learn from her? Observe her today while taking a walk in Central Park - why the guy can’t invite his sister to take a walk in Central Park? Also, it’s now so beautiful there - bare trees are just beginning to be covered with the first signs of foliage, old men and women and young lovers are walking slowly along the paths of the park, contemplating what’s happening around them ...

It is possible to pretend that there is no hidden sadness that there is no emptiness inside. You can just move your legs, do not think about anything and absorb the sensations. And all this next to the most beloved person in the whole world …

Immersed in these thoughts and not particularly paying attention to scurrying hurried to and fro people around him, Dipper did not notice how a lazy and pacified smile began to creep across his face.

At least today life is good!

Mabel was waiting for him in the Ferrara bakery on Grand Street, where she was heading after another interview. It turns out that it's not so easy to find a job in New York for a mobile designer, but Mabel was not one of those people who despairs even after four months of searching. Although it seemed to Dipper that her enthusiasm was already at an end, and only by some miracle she still finds the strength to get up in the morning. He wanted to cheer her up, somehow raise her spirits, even if she does not admit that she is sad. Show that he is near, that he was always and will be there.

He planned everything: meet Mabel after work, a walk in Central Park, pizza for dinner and several pre-prepared playlists to choose from - romantic comedies, musicals, horror films and detectives. When they were sixteen, they could spend the whole night before the TV screen watching this kind of marathon of films. It's clear, they are older now and they have work and responsibilities, but, hey - today is Friday.

Simple and sincere. Only two of them, together.

It sounds like a date. Something like that…

From Worcester Street, on which stood the editorial building, it was ten minutes to go to the venue. Turn to Grand Street and go east, bypassing Green, Mercer, Broadway, Crosby, Lafayette, Center, Baxter and Mulberry Street. Piece of cake.

Despite the fact that after the turn the only thing that he had to do was to be on the straight line all the time, Dipper repeatedly checked the route in Google maps to make sure that he does not get lost and will be in place on time. Yes, it sounds odd, but New York is a big city, and it needs to be able to navigate. He didn’t want to repeat the story when Mabel mistakenly left for Jersey City and Dipper had to explain to her how to send her geolocation message to find it and pick her up.

Although now, probably, Dipper with all the desire could not not find the place where his sister was waiting. Huge signboards to the owners of the establishment seemed to be not enough, so they hoisted a giant plastic cones with a multicolored ice cream on both sides of the entrance, put a showcase with sweets on the street, and on the visor above the entrance for some reason they’ve put an old red baker's truck or something like that. Only the red carpet leading inside was missing. Oh, no, here it is …

Mabel sat in the far corner at a table for two. Before her stood a half empty mug of latte (obviously with a syrup of bubble gum, how can one drink it at all?) And a barely touched strawberry cheesecake. A slight dreamy smile played on her lips, a look through half-open eyelids was directed against the wall opposite her, the cheek is propped up by the palm, and the head is slightly tilted. Oh, so might it be that today she was at luck?

And how did it always happen that in any situation, in any position and with any expression of her face, Mabel was more beautiful than all the girls, that he’s ever seen in his life?..

"Hi, sis," Dipper said with a smile. "How was today?"

Whatever Mabel dreamed of, she was deep in her thoughts, because only the creak of the chair being moved in front of her and the appearance of her brother in her field of vision could bring her back to reality.

"Oh, hello, Dip," she chirped smiling wider. "I didn’t expect you so early."

“What?” Dipper was slightly taken aback. “I thought that I was even five minutes late ... wait, is this sarcasm? ...”

"No, no," Mabel said, quickly removing her elbow from the table and tucking the hair into her ear. She scanned the bakery, as if not quite understanding where she was.

“What time is it now?”

"Um, seven o'clock, just the time we agreed to meet”

"Oh, already?" Mabel lowered her eyes slightly and began fiddling with the tips of her hair.

"The time flew by so quickly," she added in a half whisper. Her cheeks glowed softly.

“Yes, already”  something suspicious was in the behavior of the sister. But put it off, Pines. You were going to offer something.

"Well, how did it go this time? Everything’s worked out? Looking forward to the call?”

"Or I can call first," Mabel playfully giggled.

“Mmm? Can you call them first for what?”

Mabel raised her eyes to her brother, in which a certain perplexity was read. For another couple of seconds, the sweet mist of dreams in her gaze dissipated until something clicked in her head, and she finally realized what Dipper was talking about.

"Ah, yes," she did her jazz hands "an interview. Well, it seems that next month you’ll still have to pay for the apartment. "She sighed and took a mug of coffee with both hands, lowering her head," again ... "

"Hey, hey," Dipper reached out and covered Mabel's arm, "it's all right. It's not important, the main thing is that you find a place where you’ll be appreciated and where it’ll be interesting for you to work and manifest yourself. You're the most creative person in this world. Heck, they're just idiots, if they didn’t take you right away!”

Mabel looked into Dipper's eyes and sadly, but sincerely smiled.

"I'll help you with what I can and will be around," Dipper smiled back.

God, how beautiful she is. There were so many guys in high school who liked her that the fingers of Ford's hands would not be enough to count them. True, none of those who had the luck to be with her, did not last more than two or three weeks, because none of them saw that behind the beauty of her there is also a very sharp mind. The whole universe with its rules and colors was stored in this charming fair-haired head. But none of them seemed to notice this.

Unlike Dipper.

Mabel embodied all the things that he lacked so much: freedom, creativity, infinite energy. Without it, he would not be a whole person. No one would have him learn to enjoy life and look at the world from a different angle, different from the position of dry logic.

"Thank you, bro bro," Mabel said quietly. "It means a lot to me, really”

"Any time, May," Dipper snapped his hand away and looked at his watch. "We still have plenty of time until the sun sets. It's about 20 minutes by metro to the Central Park, so I thought that we could wind up our heads a little. What do you say? You didn’t have any plans for tonight, did you?”

Mabel looked away and blushed profusely, covering her mouth with her palm and softly giggling.

Oh no. No no no! He screwed up, did he? He said it as if he was inviting her on a date. Oh, damn, oh, damn it! He rehearsed this phrase so much that it sounded like a simple friendly proposal in order to funk up anyway ?! She knows, she knows for sure, and now this situation will become even more awkward.

Set the panic aside! I need to figure out how to get out of this. Just laugh it off or try to explain what he meant.

Shit, why his palms are so sweaty? Is he in the eighth grade again?

“It sounds tempting, Dip. I’d really like to take a walk now …”

Oh, my God, phew. Everything is fine.

"... but, you see ..."

But? What’s for but? But what?

"... I really don’t know how it happened ... it seems that I have a date tonight!" Mabel finished her phrase. Her eyes were just glowing with happiness. The smile was broader and more dreamy than before, which made Dipper feel cold in the lower abdomen.

“I really didn’t know that this is the case in real life, but when I was walking from Five Points here ... i mean, our eyes just met, and I realized that he’d come up to me and ask me some question or say something... I just don’t understand how you constantly experience such stress every time you try to talk to a girl, this has never happened to me ...”

But Dipper wasn’t listening anymore. Only now he finally noticed all the details surrounding them. Strawberry cheesecake - when was the last time Mabel allowed herself something sweet in the city? Of course, they were not so poor, but given the fact that Mabel still did not have a permanent job, she tried to save money and not squander the money of her brother over trifles. So it was a treat. Then, how did Dipper not notice the empty espresso cup standing on his side of the table? He was too busy contemplating his sister to draw attention to this and to the fact that Mabel was constantly fiddling a napkin in her hand, on which was visible the pen-written sequence of numbers and one word.

Zach.

He left her his phone number. Who does this now? What kind of moron should one be to do this, instead of just dictating a number to be recorded in the phone?

That invisible, light breath that warmed Dipper so far from the moment he left the editorial office was instantly replaced by an importunate cold draft, from which all the muscles of his face grew cold and numb, turning nis face into a fixed mask that did not express any emotion. The bright March evening began to be replaced by a dark emptiness.

And Mabel kept talking and talking. She was extremely excited by what was happening: so many emotions, so many assumptions and hopes. As many as many times the only one phrase sounded in Dipper's head:

It happened again …

Sooner or later, it should have happened, but why today? On the day when he finally felt a barely perceptible wave of happiness?

Sometimes it seems that the universe itself is against you. Whether you achieve something desirable say some fun and joy come to life - bam! Sign here, please.

On the one hand, you can, of course, decide that this is "designed" so, that it’s fate and junk, that everything is natural and the time has come. The time for whatever - for example, the time to give up.

On the other hand, one can regard this same "bam" from the Universe as an appeal not to relax and to act further, to become better, to grow and all that.

You can, of course, just not react at all.

It depends.

A lot of dependencies happens to be all around us. Someone sits for hours with a guitar, learns to play the way his or hers favorite performers do, someone shoves career needle into his or hers veins, someone’s obsessed with science - yes, there are plenty of examples.

And love is something you can depend on too.

It’s even addictive.

And for someone who already has a strong addiction, something smoother will ... be like ...

Damn ... words ... how to make them into sentences? ..

So, enough for today's memories.

And speaking about strong and smooth ... I need another drink.

The glass stood on the table right here. Where is it ... hey?

Hey!

What the...?

"You tell me. That's enough for you, kid."

Kid? Oh he didn’t...

Dipper opened his eyes, trying to make out the speaker with him. It would have been better if it was anyone, but Zach.

"I think you might have the wrong glass, buddy," he croaked, trying to focus on the figure of the man next to him holding a vessel with amber corn liquid.

“Oh yeah? And didn’t you have the wrong party, knucklehead? The last thing I want to see right now is how my nephew gets drunk as hell at his birthday party”

Wait…

Stan? ..

“No, Pope John Paul II. Who do you think?”

In a second, Dipper's eyes flew open, and consciousness returned to online mode. Was he talking all this time out loud?

“I ... um” Dipper uncomfortably fidgeting on the chair, adjusting the edges of the shirt that was pulled up and briskly brushing his hair with fingers.

"Stan ... how long ... are you sitting here?"

"What? You wanna know how much of that nonsense that you muttered I heard? Don’t worry, your secrets will die with me.”

Oh no…

Dipper swallowed nervously and nodded uncertainly, looking before him. Stan responded with a laugh and added, changing his tone from more strict to good-natured:

"It's a joke, kid," he lifted his massive hand onto his nephew's shoulder, "there's nothing for me to blackmail you. This time.”

If they were in another place and under different circumstances, Dipper would have laughed along with his Gruncle. Now he did not even try, because together with laughter it would have turned out to be some silly awkward likeness.

"And yet, what made you to portray that guy ... Kain Rivers? Give you a piece of cake in the hand, and there’ll be complete similarity.”

"You mean Keanu Reeves?"

“Him, too.”

Dipper sighed and lowered his head, covered his face with his hands. Stan, having sipped a little bourbon from the glass, put his hand on his shoulder again.

“Seriously, Dip, what's wrong?” he added worried.

“Nothing, I'm fine” telling lies to a man who has proved over many years that he is the most understanding and caring member of the family left a disgusting taste on the tip of his tongue. If someone than it would be Stan to always be able to hear out and help. He would lay down his bones for the well-being of his family. Maybe he can at least somehow pour out his soul? ..

“What did you feel when Gruncle Ford disappeared in the portal? What’s it like to understand that your closest friend’s gone forever?”

Stan also sighed, setting aside his glass, and turned to face Dipper.

“Listen. You and Mabel, as long as I can remember, have always been together. You grew up, studied, moved to another cities. As I said, you rarely see such a relationship between a brother and a sister. But sooner or later, both of you should have had other companions of life. This is normal - it’s so arranged in the world. People get married, have families, children, invite each other to their dinners, go to work, dig in the garden in the backyard. It’s not the same as getting lost in another dimension for thirty years. Mabel just got married, she didn’t disappear from your life. Yes, now you’ll be separated not by the walls of the rooms, but by a good one and a half hour drive, but ... I’m not a good speaker... anyway,” - he drank some more whiskey.

"You two are better than we were with my brother. I'm telling you this, Ford claimed it until his last breath - believe me. Even if you were separated by space and time, you’d find a way to find yourselves... I mean to find each other. Do you understand what I mean?”

Dipper looked at the old man. In Stan's glance, God bless his heart, confidence and love were read. As always. And although he did not come even a bit close to understanding what was going on in Dipper's heart, his words still warmed.

"Yes, I do, Gruncle," Dipper smiled slightly. "Thank you."

"Well, it takes more than a simple thanks to be stuffed" Stan laughed and rose from his seat, leaning on the cane, "if you knew what they feed you on the plane, you’d understand what I mean. Next time I fly business class, and you pay. I spotted like a table with snacks inside, it's time to visit it.”

With these words he headed toward the house, stepping unsteadily and constantly leaning on his cane. Dipper saluted him in the style of Lando Calrissian and frowned. It was not fair  to upset Stan today with talk like that. So much of a burden was falling on his shoulders lately, and then there's just a glimpse of joy. Still, not every day his grand-niece marries.

It's a pity that Ford did not live to see this day. I definitely need to take a couple of  days off and go to Oregon. Stan becomes too weak to regularly care for the grave.

“Dipper! Bro-bro!”

Oh no.

Dipper pulled a smile on his face and turned to the source of the sound. There she was, flying to him in a light purple summer dress with a white collar.

"Silly drunken little brother. Where did you disappear?“ Mabel laughed, catching him with an empty glass and a half-empty bottle.

Dipper rolled his eyes and smiled wider.

"Mabel, we're the same age. Also I noticed that one bottle of champagne was open before the guests arrived”

He frowned in a mocking way and rubbed his chin,

“Hmm ... But who drank the champagne?..”

He pretended to be chewing a pen, thinking hard.

Mabel stuck out her tongue at her brother and laughed loudly.

"You’re such a nerd!"

She plopped down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Just think of it, we’re twenty-five now. Do people even have to live so long?”

"I'm still surprised that you even lived to be of age, considering the amount of sugar you absorb daily ... Ow!"  light elbow pokes from her still caught him off guard.

“You deserved that. Be grateful that Mister Tickles didn’t show up for such conversations with your sister.”

“Okaaaay. Mabel, are you sure you’re twenty-five?”  Dipper quickly moved away from Mabel, who was ready to attack on his brother's ribs with his fingers spread out, and raised both hands, "Okay, okay! No more of that!”

"Good brother." Mabel nodded with a satisfied look. "And now, if you'll allow me, jokes aside."

She took a small rectangular bundle from her handbag hanging from her shoulder on a thin chain and solemnly handed it to Dipper.

“Here!”

Dipper took the package from his sister's hands and for a few seconds admired this neatly wrapped in a nice-to-feel gift paper object. It was a pity to spoil such beauty.

“Come on, open it!”

In one motion Dipper opened the package, and in his hands was a large, thick notebook of dark blue. On his soft leather cover was woven golden threads of a small pine tree. Dipper carefully opened the title page, which was encoded with a neat letter. This time Dipper's face was lit up with a sincere smile - they invented the cipher together, many years ago, when in the classroom they passed notes to each other or left them in lockers.

"Wow ..." Dipper sighed. "I ... um ... thanks, Mabel."

"You're welcome, Dip," his sister shone, "I just wondered where it's seen that Dipper wouldn’t have a journal, would he?"  she again laughed and wrapped her arms around him, pulling her brother in a bear hug.

“Happy birthday, Dipper.”

"Happy birthday, Mabel," he replied, breathing in the fragrance of her floral perfume. "I ... um-uh ..." he cleared his throat and pulled away. "My present ... it... I decided not to carry it with me, so it's in the house, but ... I'm sure you'll like it too.

“It would be better if it was so.” Mabel said haughtily. With these words she jumped up, grabbing Dipper by the sleeve of his shirt and dragging him toward the house.

"There's a whole bunch of them there! Gifts!” she skipped off to the house, taking her stumbling brother along with her. "Let's go! I can’t wait to open each one right now!”

* * *

“Son of a…”  the lighter was still sent to the garbage because of malfunctioning, and now all the hope remained that the houses still had matches. Dipper had already rummaged through all the drawers in the kitchen, but not even one sucker was found in this abundance of kitchen utensils and cutlery, such an absurd abundance for the apartment, now serving as a lonely young man's refuge.

Dipper's gaze wandered around the kitchen, the space in his eyes doubled, quadrified - in general it was multiplying in every possible way, and it was extremely difficult to focus on something definite.

Was it really necessary to get so drunk? He did not have a car in New York for the time being, he used to travel by public transport and a taxi, but this is not an excuse for finding a pub on his way home to Brooklyn and staying there until midnight. The morning will be very bad. Very painful and bad.

But, it looks like this is the problem of tomorrow's Dipper, not today's, who has a real business to do now.

He held his hand to the countertop, and staggered to the gas stove, which looked like the last chance to light a damned cigarette, clamped in his teeth. Unsafe last chance. After meditating for couple of seconds, Dipper shook his head, muttering "No, sir," and went to investigate further. Still an eternity, according to the present chronology of Dipper, was wasted - there were no lighters or matches in the house, so that the stove was again in his field of vision.

Still adhering to the nearby interior for a safety net, Dipper drove to the suspicious fire-breathing inhabitant of his house. The fire was only lit from the fifth attempt, and, bending over to the hotplate itself and almost putting his shirt collar on fire, Dipper finally sucked in the pungent tobacco smoke.

And, it turned out that trying to smoke his first cigarette in life right now was a bad idea. Even disgusting. Not only that, he immediately became overwhelmed with a heavy cough and the shaking of his diaphragm awakened something dark in the stomach, consisting of half of bourbon, and half of the birthday cake.

Oh, shit, shit, SHIT!

To the left from the kitchen into the corridor, to the end ... lights on...

Where’s this switch ?!

Oh no! ..

FUCK!!!

At the last second Dipper managed to touch the toilet before he utterly unpleasantly vomited. All thoughts and emotions were compressed into a dot, leaving the consciousness with a devastatingly pure emptiness.

At some point, it might even have seemed that Dipper had blacked out, but as soon as the last urge receded, he straightened leaning with his hands on the rim of the toilet bowl and stood on his unsteady legs and went to the sink, much more tired and much less drunk.

At least giving the face a splash and rinsing the mouth with a freshener will not hurt.

And what do we have here? Oh, nothing, just your dirty still green face with a week stubble and some substance smeared around your mouth.

Oh, gross, ew!

He pulled off his shirt right over his head, doused his face with cold water, rinsed his mouth and staggered into his room.

Well, that's my life now. Drinking, no permanent job, a broken heart ... what could be better?

Dipper hobbled to the bed and plumped on it, without even bothering to remove the veil and pull off his trousers.

At least here I can quit pretending, he thought, as the tears came down bombarding his pillow.

[fantroll-purgatory]

@silenteko

Same As Sallva: Tronia, so an AU of Sorts I Guess.

Name: Nellie Axolte - I had actually been thinking about Axolotl when I came up with his last name. As in the Giant Space Salamander Mabel and Dipper ran into in that non-canon adventure they had. So yeah, I like Gravity Falls quite a lot.

That’s really cool! Did you also know the axolotl is a legit existing creature? Also looking into Gravity Falls theories it seems that the predominant consensus is that Axolotl may in fact be Xolotl, the Aztec god of lightning, death, twins, monsters, misfortunes, . We can work with that to get him a first name that ties back! He’s also listed as a dark personification of Venus (the planet, not the goddess, though that gives us room to play with it), so maybe we can use that to get him a new first name!

The Romans looked as Venus’s evening star aspect and called it “Vesper,” which seems easy enough to convert. How about Repsev Axolte? Sounds suitably alien.

Age: 4.15 Sweeps, 9 Years

Strife Specibus: Staffkind - I like Bō Staves. Their cool. Anyone who can use one is awesome. Both Aang of Avatar and Nami of One Piece use them and those two are awesome.

If I could make a suggestion, maybe they can have a modification that lets it be used like a slingshot to hurl spears? That’s an atlatl, which sounds a little like axolotl.

Fetch Modus: Pictionary - IDK why. It just seems to fit him for some reason.

If we’re going off Xolotl’s “twins” alignment, maybe Jade’s Memory modus! You’ve gotta find the twin before you can access the item!

Blood Color: Teal

I think he’d be better suited as a purpleblood if we’re gonna push the axolotl theme?

Symbol and Meaning: Libun - It actually really represents what I feel like his personality would be like, if I’m being honest. And it was actually my friend that had chosen his Symbol

Derse and Breath…I wasn’t sold on it, initially, but I like Derse especially with the tweaks I made to his bio. As a purpleblood, this would make him Capriun, the Cartographer, which is great for a character whose skill is navigation. Even better, Xolotl is the god of twins and this is one of the Soleil twins’ signs!

Troll Tag: titanicVamps - I was actually thinking of both Titans and Vampires when I came up with it. I don’t know why though. My brains weird.

Maybe axoLittle? I think it would be super cute to go with his aesthetic.

Quirk: He doesn’t have one. He actually writes everything completely with proper punctuation.

>If you wanna add something, maybe he just encloses his thoughts in accents like this?<

>To look like the gills on the sides of an axolotl’s face<

Lusus: A dog with bat wings. Mostly because I like both dogs and bats

I think the dog bit works given its association with Xolotl, so how about a Mexican hairless dog (also known as Xoloitzcuintli, or “water dog”) with axolotl gills so it can traverse the water more easily! Good dog, best friend.

Personality: He is hyperactive and a happy-go-lucky kid. Though, there are times when he can get pretty serious, which is a bit scary now that I think about it. Never piss off a happy-go-lucky kid. Um… I don’t know what else to put here. I know how he is, but I can’t put it into anymore words. Sorry.

It’s all good! This initially reads as a Prospit description, but the interests I’ve added could potentially make him Derse.

Interest: Crossdressing, His Lusus, His Moirail, wood carving

Idk that crossdressing needs to be a specific interest of his. He can just be a dude who wears skirts sometimes. It also sort of lines up with my headcanon that highbloods are more likely to adopt signifiers of femininity to align themselves with the Heiress. Woodcarving is def. a good hobby!

But let’s expand more based on what we know about Xolotl! His role as a deity was to protect the sun as it traveled through the underworld each night. You could make him a guide to trolls trying to traverse the ocean! Especially good since people sometimes used the evening star to navigate.

Since Xolotl is associated with lightning, maybe he’s a stormchaser? This would be especially interesting as a nascent Seer of Breath; he’d be exceptionally good at predicting where storms would start.

As for monsters, misfortune, sickness, deformities…maybe the “sun” he’s trying to guide are vulnerable lowbloods who feel that they don’t stand a chance in modern troll societies? He could guide them to islands where they could form their own communities, opening their minds to the possibilities of a better life!

Title: Seer of Breath

Land: Haven’t thought of one yet

Maybe it’s too on-the-nose but I really think Land of Tidal Lightning (LOTL), which is COVERED in stormy ocean and extremely difficult to move around. He would need to use his windy powers to part the seas and create paths through the planet.

Dream Planet: Derse

More Info: He’s Sallvas Moirail. He is a literal Seer, but he loses this ability after he Rises to God Tier. Or at least, that what he told Adrium. I haven’t decided on whether or not he’ll actually lose this ability or if it will get stronger after his rise because of his Tier. He foresaw Sallvas Lusus’ death and warned her. She refused to believe him and they got in a big fight and ended their Moirailgence(?). After the event happened Nellie went back to her, which shocked the hell out of her. From then on, Sallvas never doubted him again. As you can probably guess, they became Moirails again. He was, and still is, friends with Nepeta and Equius who he met when they went to Alternia.

I think I like the idea that he voluntarily gives up using his abilities for some time before god tiering. If we run with the Xolotl idea, he would need to reach a point where the risk involved with guiding a troll would be so great that he would refuse to use his powers, akin to Xolotl crying so much at the thought of having to sacrifice himself to move the sun that his eyes fell out.

Since this isn’t an Insert, you can go to town on him. Thank you for your time.

Thanks for the submission! Redesign to follow.

Nellie’s original outfit can be credited to naphal, whose sprites I edited, and you, whose drawings I referenced.

Horns - I wanted a little more axolotl reference in there! Since Purplebloods are known for extremely weird horns and I already had to make them loop down to match the symbol, I decided to give them three curls to look like axolotl gills. I had a lot of fun spriting these.

Face paint - As far as we know, all purplebloods still wear facepaint or something circus-y, but I didn’t want to make him look mean! So instead I tried to do the axolotl :D face.

Tube top - I was just going to slap his symbol on but then I realized it could be easily incorporated into the design!

Skirt - I wanted to continue with my headcanon that highbloods might like to dress similarly to the empress. I haven’t reviewed the Tronian fuchsiablood yet, so I used Feferi as the inspiration. Hence, the swim top and bi-colored skirt. But unlike Feferi, Repsev is not a high enough caste to wear all that color without reason. So instead, I used his moirail’s colors.

And that’s it for your troll! Hope you like the changes I suggested.

-TR

[endae]

|ashes among us| - Part II

[AO3]

[Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV]

Sequel to Before the Bridges Burn. Dipper & Mabel. Canon Divergence from Weirdmageddon.

"U'lm qlwe fzpdyultzg polk ahetz. I'mp vqeq czg sbjp fhjw eumf."

It can’t be more than a few hours when he wakes again.

At least, that’s how it feels. There’s the kind of sleep that takes you and keeps you, and the kind that feels more like being dunked in a puddle and left hung out to yearn for submersion. A taste of sleep. And it’s definitely the second.

But feeling less like lead and more like they should, Dipper opens his eyes to a blur that lingers for far less the second time around. Whatever frantic grip it is that held him captive hours ago, it’s left him be. With consciousness, comes the realization that his heart isn’t pounding anymore. Breathing doesn’t hurt. His thoughts are still anything but pacified, but the shift in scenery doesn’t twist them into panicked mantras this time.

It’s ‘I’m still here,’ before it’s ‘not in the hospital anymore,’ and the bite of it only serves to remind him of how hard it was going to be to shake his own convictions.

Carefully, Dipper lifts himself to sit up and take in the surroundings.

The Shack’s living room.

At some point between then and now, they’d taken him home. And at no point at all had he stirred — or if he did, he doesn’t remember. It’s becoming an unsettling pattern. By consequence, the thoughts assault him the instant they have an opening.

‘This isn’t real’ and ‘It’s all a lie,’ stubborn but resilient.

To ward off the paranoia, he takes in everything around him, piece by piece.

There’s a familiar fabric against his skin. Out of instinct, he feels at his chest again. Just as before, still missing his vest, but back in the tee he’s been sporting all summer. Back in his shorts, his socks.

Dipper knows the answer even before his hand combs through his disheveled hair, but he’s never felt more naked without his hat.

There’s the cushion beneath him. Rather than a hospital bed, it’s Stan’s yellow couch. Musty and worn, but in the moment, feeling far more plush than it ever did those Saturday mornings as he marathoned Ghost Harassers.

It’s as the thought passes through his head that he’s peering over at the TV set, which for some reason, is turned on. It’s been muted with a string of subtitles rolling along the bottom of the screen, and the program itself is something too old for him to recognize.

He runs through the checklist in his head.

Dipper studies the the nook, the table to the far right. Atop it, Mabel’s model Shack for their thirteenth birthday party. The fish tank — still growing more algae by the day. The walls are structurally sound, and its blue paper is still peeling beyond repair, but not so much that it looks like it’s weathered an apocalypse.

Nothing a touch out of place. Everything all as it should be.

If anything, he feels the the odd one out in all of it.

Yanked from his daze, Dipper stiffens at the sound of footsteps above his head. More so that they’re getting closer, etching a familiar path in the wood for him to know they’re heading for the stairs. From seemingly nowhere, the nerves leap out from the recesses of his head, intuition telling him to feign sleep before they come down (‘but why?’).

But it’s the way they descend them, light but bounded, for him to know even before she turns the corner that they’re Mabel’s.

It quells the nerves, just a bit.

And sure enough, a splash of pink rounds the corner wall and he blows out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. She’s carrying that knitting box of hers that seems to travel wherever she goes too, a comically large trove that’s somehow able to house her endless supply of yarn.

By chance, she lowers it just enough to stop obscuring her vision, and her eyes light up when they reach his.

“Oh Dipper you’re up!” she exclaims, freezing at the threshold. Even if he can’t see her mouth, there’s a smile in her voice that’s far from hiding. “One sec, let me go put this down first.”

She turns hard on her heel to shuffle into the kitchen, a hurried step in her pace. Out of sight, he hears the telling thud of her knitting box hitting the table. In a heartbeat, she’s back out again, making her way to him.

“Heyyyy,” she starts, propping herself atop the dino skull at the side of the armchair. On her elbows, she leans in, “I was thinking you were out for the night. How you feelin’?”

“...Exactly how you’d expect after crashing out of the sky from an extraterrestrial spacecraft,” he answers, blunt. Dipper reaches back to massage at his shoulder, a raised bump that’s either an inflammation or a stress knot. It’s anyone’s guess at this point. “But yeah. Not too shabby.”

He glances around the room again, like there’s anything left to survey. His mind’s still numb to it all, and the next thought surfaces without much meaning to it.

“Umm...we’re home.”

“Call the presses, your brain isn’t mush,” she blurts. Mabel follows it with a big sigh of relief, but he thinks it’s attributed more to what comes next than it is playing along with her joke. “Yes. We’re home.”

The sound of it alone, comforting. They were home. The hospital, miles and hours behind them, the warmth of a run down house he’s learned to call home. The roof is in one piece, and as he’s learning, so is everything else he was convinced wouldn’t be.

Dipper rubs at his eyes. Maybe not mush, but his whole head still feels like it’s stuffed full of cotton.

“Must be exhausted then. I don’t even remember getting back.”

Mabel snorts. “That’s probably because Grunkle Stan carried you in. That or the ‘maybe-but-we’re-not-sure-yet’ concussion.”

He hopes she’s joking. “How long ago?”

“Let’s see...We took you home around...seven. So a bit ago.”

It means next to nothing, at first. By habit, Dipper raises his hand to check for the watch that isn’t on his wrist anymore. Right. Doctors probably took it off, that is, if it wasn’t destroyed altogether. Mabel picks up on it, and she’s glancing past him to what he imagines is the owl-clock face hanging above the doorway. She squints.

“...Or a lot ago. It’s almost eleven. Huh.”

He nods. Not a huge shock. What is, however, is that’s the first question he wants answered. There’s a torrent of them lighting up his insides, but the mental capacity to prioritize them is fleeting. He goes with the one burning brightest:

“Where’s Great Uncle Ford?”

Mabel puffs her cheeks out, pouting. “Beats me. After he brought you to the hospital, he rushed off again to go deal with whatever it is you two found out in the hills.” A beat. “Not that he really wanted to.”

That answers that, then. The rift. Of course he would.

“And Grunkle Stan?”

“Helping him? Assuming they’re not being butt-faces to each other for once...”

Mabel huffs when she says it, rolling her eyes. But they darken just a tinge, the arms crossed around her chest tucking in a little tighter. Rare are the moments that she lets anything show that isn’t cavity-inducing kindness, but today has been more than just one for surprises.

“Who would've thought: they can’t even look each other in the eye any other day, but the minute either one of us is in trouble, all bets are off. Figures!”

He shares the frustration. But unlike him, Mabel’s temper only lasts a second before she drops it, reverting to her bubbly exterior in a flash.

“Anyway. You’re probably starving right? I’m pretty sure you weren’t gonna eat cold soup off the floor,” she thinks aloud, sliding off the skull and onto the floor. “Stay right there, I’ll make you something.”

“Wait Mabel, I’m—”

Not hungry. Still wrestling with a stomach churning too violently to even think about ingesting a meal, but she’s turning to dart into the kitchen before he has the chance to protest. Defeated, his outstretched hand falls back to his lap, sighing.

Well. Maybe the hunger was clouding his thoughts.

When she disappears around the corner, busied noises start up in the kitchen. The opening and closing of cabinets and drawers, and if he puts it out of mind, he may as well pretend that she’s Stan.

Thinking about either of them only furthers the strain of it all. They’re still at odds, the two of them. If they’re not working together this moment, then they’re doing everything in their power to avoid the other.

But they aren’t here. Stan’s comically the farthest thing from a helicopter parent, and maybe Ford even more so but…he needed a hospital. Needed Ford to carry him in, Stan to carry him out. He was in such bad shape that he needed to be watched.

But they aren’t here.

It stings more than it should.

[Read the rest here on AO3!]

[sage-nebula]

PokéAni - Immortality AU headcanons

I honestly want to re-write the one fic I have for this AU (in order to fix up some details that are either now incorrect, as well as add in things I forgot, like how Alan keeps Gabrielle after Sycamore’s passing), as well as write more fics for this AU (including and especially one showing Ash’s life after the events of all this), but since I don’t know when I’ll get around to all of that, I figured I’d go ahead and make this post real quick so that I can at least have details for this on my blog. (Plus, if I have the structure down, this means I can hop around in this AU and write fics for it wherever. I can refer to this as a masterpost if anyone ever has any questions.

So with that said . . .

The basic premise is that this would happen near the conclusion of the Flare arc. I first conceived this AU before the Flare arc finished, when all we had was an episode summary saying that Alan and Ash were going to head into the Megalith. Back then, I hadn’t yet realized what the Megalith actually was, and thought that it might have some connection to Xerneas due to its rainbow color (and because we were still speculating at the time that the ultimate weapon from the games was going to come into play somehow thanks to Lysandre). Now, however, I’ve realized that the Megalith was actually the meteorite that crashed in Hoenn eons ago and allowed the Draconids to get Rayquaza to mega evolve (since it served as a massive Key Stone, and thus reacted with Rayquaza’s innate ability to mega evolve thanks to Dragon Ascent), so that idea is kind of scrapped. However, I can still work with this. For the purposes of this AU, let’s say that Lysandre does still have his hands on the ultimate weapon, unbeknownst to anyone (save perhaps Xerosic and the other scientists), and was keeping it as a backup. When he loses control of Squishy and Z2 thanks to Bonnie (and therefore Plan A fails), he moves on to Plan B and relocates to Fleur-De-Lis Laboratories in order to put the ultimate weapon into place. Now, the Megalith still has to factor in somehow. In the actual arc, it activated thanks to the life energy Hari-san had absorbed from Squishy, thereby going crazy with roots and whatnot as it moved toward the Sundial in Anistar City. That can still happen, but perhaps that was a diversion. Lysandre set it up so that the Megalith would activate and head toward Anistar City, supposedly to wreak some kind of havoc and end the world, but in all actuality all that would happen is that there would be some more city destruction because on its own, the Megalith can’t do anything. It’s just a massive Key Stone, after all. Unless Rayquaza is there to mega evolve with it, no world ending is going to happen. Nonetheless, everyone is distracted and still goes after the Megalith as in canon, particularly since Hari-san is still trapped inside, and Alan made a promise to get Hari-san back for Manon. So all of that still happens. However, again, it was a diversion. While everyone else is doing that, Lysandre is preparing the ultimate weapon, which he can then use to cause mass genocide all on his own, without making Squishy or Z2 do it for him. Though he does need a legendary to power it, it’s possible that he has another Zygarde core (perhaps Z3?), or maybe there could have been something about how he found Yveltal and/or Xerneas, or at least their energy. Or maybe, and I like this idea even better, the real reason why he was already in Hoenn after sending Alan there to search for the Megalith was because he---unbeknownst to the rest of the TSME squad, Steven included---was having a business meeting with Steven’s father, the current CEO of Devon Corporation, and the result of that meeting was that Lysandre got his hands on enough raw Infinity Energy in order to power the ultimate weapon. Remember, the Infinity Energy that Devon Corporation canonically makes (according to the games) is the same exact energy that was used to power the ultimate weapon 3,000 years ago, made from sacrificed pokémon and all. (Well, it comes from the lives of dead pokémon, but that’s not to say Devon Corporation is necessarily sacrificing pokémon to make their technology. That said, the games also don’t say that they’re not doing that, so . . .) This means that if he had that Infinity Energy, he could power the ultimate weapon even if he didn’t have Zygarde, Yveltal, or Xerneas. I like this idea a lot better, particularly since it doesn’t require him to pull a legendary out of thin air. Let’s go with it. So Lysandre, while everyone else is busy stopping the Megalith, is powering up the ultimate weapon, possibly (probably) with Xerosic’s help, along with the other scientists (e.g. Celosia, Mabel) once he rounded them up from wherever they were. Once Hari-san is rescued and the Megalith stops, instead of Lysandre having his “surprise, bitch” moment by showing up actually on the scene, his “surprise, bitch” moment comes when someone picks up on a really frightening energy reading coming from near Geosenge Town. (I believe everyone might have already been near there, but I can’t remember if they said where the Megalith was, exactly, when they managed to stop it. They may have, but I’m not going to rewatch those episodes right this second to find out.) Lysandre perhaps hijacks everyone’s HoloCasters and other equipment again to make another announcement about his plans, this time adding that he has an ultimate weapon with which to carry them out (and at this point perhaps Sycamore can have a moment of horror as he realizes what this ultimate weapon must be, gives a brief history lesson to those who either aren’t native Kaloseans or else don’t know their history / lore), and thanks Devon Corporation for providing him with the energy to do it (as a “fuck you” to Steven, who definitely hates him now if he didn’t hate him before (and trust me, Steven hated Lysandre before, we have canonical evidence for this)). Of course, everyone is beyond horrified about this, and when whoever was picking up on these signals or energy readings or whatever pinpoints the location and gives the exact coordinates for where this is going down, Alan wastes all of .01 seconds before hopping on Lizardon’s back (FINALLY) to fly there and do something to stop it, because you know he would. (And so does everyone who knows him. Like, legit, Steven tells him to wait, Manon tells him he can’t, Sycamore is in shock, but does Alan listen to any of them? Nope. He and Lizardon are going to stop the director right now and you better believe that no one can stop him.) I don’t think that, even mega evolved, Lizardon could presently fit two people on his back . . . but Ash would still try, chasing after them and jumping to try to hitch a ride on Lizardon’s back. He falls, but Alan catches his wrist, and in the next second Lizardon grabs Ash (and Pikachu, of course!) in a tight bear hug, and off to the ultimate weapon they go. They arrive before the weapon is fired, and of course Lysandre has his gloat moment like in the games. Since the confrontation on Prism Tower borrowed dialogue from the games (the “what are you protecting? A tomorrow that is even worse than today?” line he gave to Alan, as well as his woe is me sob story about how people were greedy when he tried to help them and thus everyone deserves to die), more dialogue could be borrowed and put to use here, such as the “you did stop me fair and square, but I’m not going to stop because lmao you can’t always get what you want” bit, among other things. Lysandre would have healed his pokémon by this point, probably, so they could battle again, and once again Lysandre would lose (hopefully with Lizardon getting a win over that pyroar because tbh, he deserves it). Lysandre is mad, kind of, but in this case the battle would mostly be to stall as the ultimate weapon powers up. Lysandre still plans to fire it, but before he can, both Alan and Ash order attacks on it, and Lizardon and Pikachu follow through. While this doesn’t break the ultimate weapon entirely, it damages it enough so that it at least can’t fire on all of Kalos. And this time, Lysandre is truly angry, he’s truly enraged, and he lashes out at Alan in particular because, you know, Alan has been his abuse victim for the past two years, so why wouldn’t Lysandre lash out at him in retribution for his plans having failed? So there’s another verbal fight there (and also Ash speaking up because hey, Lysandre, shut up), but eventually it stops when Lysandre realizes that (as I said before) they didn’t break the ultimate weapon completely, it can still do something, and he starts laughing and says that even if he can’t unleash this on the world (as the world deserves), he can still use it on them. Alan realizes what’s happening and he says, “Ash, run.” “What? I’m not gonna run and leave you here,” Ash says, indignant. “Pika pika!” Pikachu agrees, equally indignant. “We can all get out!” Alan says, but he doesn’t really, completely mean that, because the fact that Lysandre is doing any of this at all is his fault (even if it was Infinity Energy and not mega evolution energy that he’s using for this particular portion of it, but details), and so if he dies that’s okay, but--- “Lizardon, take them and go.” “But are you actually going to follow?” Ash would ask, and Lizardon hasn’t moved either, because he knows. He knows. And Alan is so frustrated, but there’s no time--- And there really isn’t, because this little bit took maybe about three seconds, and that was enough for Lysandre to do what he was going to do, and what he did results in the ultimate weapon exploding in a burst of rainbow light, and that---that did it. That did the trick. See, in the games, his final gambit failed. The protagonist and other characters didn’t die (Y Version), nor were they cursed with immortality (X Version). But here, it doesn’t fail. No one dies (though Alan, Lizardon, Ash, and Pikachu are all unconscious and buried under rubble when they’re found), but they are struck with immortality. (Lysandre isn’t found, by the by. He’s not there when everyone else shows up to dig through the rubble and recover the human boys and their platonic soulmates. But he is immortal. He just had the good sense to get the fuck out of dodge before the police showed up.) But this isn’t something they don’t realize right away. How could they possibly know? It isn’t until later that, well . . .

First, as a disclaimer: I’m aware that the way immortality affected AZ was that he grew into a giant (though personally I think that’s just genes?) and did seem to age to some extent. But that said, it’s been 3,000 years and he still just looks like a really big old man, so I think it’s less that he just stopped aging at some point, and more that he was just already somewhat old when the immortality struck him, and so he’s just been frozen like that all this time. Floette also makes me feel that way, since she still looks perfectly young, like any other floette. So for the purposes of this AU, the immortality I’m saying they were struck with is the “stop aging as you are right now” type of immortality, so they won’t grow or physically age beyond that point. (With one exception, kind of. More on that in a second.)

A lot of the stuff that I had in the original fic I wrote for Alan still holds true. At first, no one knows that Alan, Lizardon, Ash, and Pikachu are immortal. This is because they have no real way of knowing, no one told them, and also because aging is slow, you know? Teenagers don’t show that much variation as they get older, once they’re older teenagers, so even though Alan doesn’t seem to change when he turns sixteen (shortly after all this), or seventeen, or eighteen, no one thinks much of it. But when he’s twenty-five, he looks the exact same as he did when he was fifteen, and Manon jokes about his moisturizer, like, how does he still look so young? And as he nears thirty and still looks like a teenager, well . . . Sycamore puts the pieces together a few years before that point (like, early 20s, maybe 23-24). He realizes that when the ultimate weapon exploded, there must have been some kind of reaction. And that’s when Alan leaves to find some way to end this, to stop it, because he doesn’t want to be immortal and outlive everyone he cares about, he doesn’t want this. (He’d probably sort of . . . not necessarily resign from being Champion, per se, but since he can’t do his duties while traveling like this he’d at least step down to an extent, and the day-to-day stuff would be handled by a standing Champion, kind of like what Lance did while Red was being a hermit on Mt Silver in the games. In this case, standing Champion would probably be Diantha.) 

That said, even if the non-aging stuff wasn’t as immediately apparent for Alan, for Ash? Whether we go with the idea that he was ten (as is canon) or thirteen / fourteen (as I prefer because it makes more sense), you’re still going to see a lot more variation in the next few years due to how kids are, you know, supposed to have growth spurts around this time. But Ash doesn’t. His voice doesn’t get any deeper, and he doesn’t grow, and at first he’s just really irate, because really? Really? He was already always pretty short for a boy his age, and he’s been looking forward to finally being taller than Misty (he plans to gloat so much), so when is his growth spurt coming, huh? When is this gonna happen for him? It’s not. It doesn’t. And when he gets to be about fifteen and he looks and sounds the same way he did when he was thirteen, he gets really alarmed. He’s alarmed enough to see doctors about it, but they have no idea what happened. And he asks Professor Oak, but Professor Oak doesn’t know either. Neither does Professor Kukui. For some reason he doesn’t think to ask Professor Sycamore (in fairness, Ash was never that close to Professor Sycamore), so they don’t talk about it, but he sees various people to see if they know why he’s just not aging, and no one knows, but most tell him not to worry. At least, they do when he’s fifteen. When he’s twenty and he still looks and sounds thirteen / fourteen (just let me have this), yeah, then they get concerned. But Sycamore had realized about Alan in Alan’s early-to-mid twenties, and to be honest around the time he does he might contact Ash himself to ask Ash how he’s doing, and when he sees that Ash still looks ten, well . . . good news is, he knows why. Bad news is . . . everything else. So, that’s real great news. Ash is thrilled. [/sarcasm]

Like I said, a lot of the other stuff for Alan still holds true. Alan doesn’t find a way to reverse it (of course), and so he can’t do anything to stop the fact that the people he cares about age out and die while his body stays fifteen. Meyer, Clemont, and Bonnie (so, his stepdad and stepsiblings) all grow old and die, with only their kids and/or grandkids (mostly just in Clemont’s case---Bonnie never has any kids) living on. Manon grows old and dies as well, and though she always seemed to find delight in the fact that people mistook her for the older one and Alan for her younger brother / son / grandson as she grew so much older than him, toward the end of her life she did let on that she realized that Alan never found those jokes nearly as funny (and she realizes why he never found them funny), and encourages him to, hey hey, maybe spend some time with her surviving family? (She’s a lesbian, but she got married to a nice woman and they adopted some kids, who had some kids, and so on and so forth.) And Alan says sure, but his heart is really not in it. And as for Sycamore . . . Well, Sycamore was always pretty worried, you know? He’s a forward thinker, and he knows his son, and he saw how desperate and despaired Alan got when there really was just no way on record to undo what happened (because why would there be?). And so he spent a lot of the time they had together alive trying to look on the bright side of things. Alan is immortal, so think of all the things he can learn! The places he can go and the things he can experience! So much left to learn, and explore, and do. There’s no getting around the fact that Alan is watching everyone he loves (apart from Lizardon, ofc) grow old and die (and no gentler way to put that, either), and of course that’s heartbreaking, but Alan is still alive and can do so many more things and Sycamore just wants Alan to keep learning, keep experiencing, please, promise him you’ll keep doing this--- And Alan promises that he will, but . . . again, his heart’s not really in it. Alan would take Gabrielle once Sycamore passes away. Gabrielle is a dragon by species, so even though she’s not immortal herself, she’s still aging very slowly. She’s got a lot of longevity in her. So Alan, being immortal, takes Gabrielle (or Gabby, as he calls her) with him, because as an immortal he’ll actually outlive her, but he’ll also be able to care for her for the rest of her life. Plus, he’s family, he’s the one who originally brought her home . . . so it makes sense that he would be the one to take her from there, too. (The lab is left in his name, but it’s too painful to be there once Sycamore dies. So although Alan does own the property, he lets the assistants that were presently working there still run the place. The parts of it that were home are closed off, no one can go through their bedrooms, but . . . yeah, he just can’t bear to be there anymore. It’s too painful.) That really, really bad moment where Alan legitimately tries to kill himself because he just can’t stand this anymore still happens. This time, though, it’s after Bonnie’s death, since Manon was a little older and thus would probably die a little sooner? Then again, Bonnie was a Ranger . . . well, either way, after losing his father, his stepfather, his (step)brother, and both of his sisters (stepsister in Bonnie, tagalong kid that he formed a sibling relationship with in Manon), that’s just . . . kind of more than enough. And so he still has that really, really bad moment where he actually gets the alcohol and all of those pills and is about to really do it . . . but the he feels the weight of Lizardon’s pokéball in his pocket, and he realizes what he’s doing (that he’s about to leave Lizardon alone, too), and so he calls him out and has that moment where he apologizes and apologizes while hugging Lizardon, and just cries, and all of that still happens, because it’s honestly based on my own near-suicide and how I only stopped because of Shiloh and hugged her and apologized in much the same way, and therefore it’s personal enough for me to keep. So that stays. After that, Alan gets himself together again and decides to keep traveling, as noted in the fic. He does go to so many different places, experiences different things . . . but, perhaps most importantly, he also makes it a point to always get involved in any criminal, world-ending things that are going down to stop them, because if he’s not doing that, then what’s the point? (Also, yeah, he stopped being Kalos Champion a while ago---like, officially gave it up---but that’s just a tiny blip to this whole story now.) He also starts wearing the second outfit I described in this post (yeah, this is the AU that I was talking about; the fic I was trying to keep from being spoiled got deleted when I lost my “current WIPs” folder, so). CTRL+F and search for “the other outfit I have in mind” to jump to that part. Alan is given the coat from the Johto Dragon Clan after he helps them out with something, as part of his “when there is a crisis, stop to help” thing he has going on. I’m not sure if he’s actually aware of his heritage (though quite possibly, if his biological parents also sought him out in this AU), but whether he is or not, it’s not entirely relevant, because he was given the coat as a gift nonetheless.

All of that said about Alan . . . remember how I said there was one exception among the four to the “no longer grows or ages” bit? Yeah. Lizardon. My headcanon for the charizard species is that the 5′7″ height given in the Pokédex is an average height for charizard when they first evolve from charmeleon, but that they continue to grow in size as they grow older. This is why all of the charizard in the Charicific Valley are so big, why Ash’s charizard has grown over time, why Kiawe’s charizard (which was his grandfather’s) is so big, et cetera. And so, as the years pass, Lizardon gets bigger, too. The thing is . . . he shouldn’t be. At least, Alan doesn’t think he should be. He was caught in the blast, too---the ultimate weapon should have affected him, too. And look, guys, look, he has already watched his entire family grow old and die. Gabby will live for hundreds of years or so, but she’s going to die, too, and he knows this, he’s accepted this, but Lizardon . . . yeah, he had that brief moment where he flipped out and was going to take his own life, where he wasn’t thinking about Lizardon, but then he did think of Lizardon, and he stopped because of Lizardon, because he can do this, he can do this so long as he has Lizardon, but only as long as he has Lizardon. If he . . . if he has to . . . if he has to watch Lizardon die, too . . . if Lizardon also grows old and dies too, then he . . . then he . . . He really tries not to think about it. He really, really tries. But Lizardon, as a charizard, gets to be pretty damn big. Like, ten feet tall? Something like that. Eventually he just can’t be indoors anymore, he’s definitely big enough to carry multiple riders, he could make the earth quake when he roars, like. He gets to be a big boy. And he doesn’t look older, really, other than that, but like . . . it’s deeply, intimately terrifying for Alan. He knows he really will lose it if Lizardon dies, too. Nothing will hold him back. Not even Gabby. So he tries---he tries to tell himself that maybe the Infinity Energy just affected Lizardon differently because he’s a dragon. Maybe it still lets him grow because he’s a dragon, but he’ll stop growing at some point. Maybe . . . maybe . . .

As for Ash, well, as mentioned, he was irate when he realized he wasn’t getting his growth spurt, then scared / worried, and then he learned what happened and he . . . he just . . . Oh.  At first, he tried to look on the bright side. Look, Pikachu! We’re immortal! We’ll never grow old and die! We can do everything forever! Our journey will never end! Hooray!!! The thing is, there’s only so long the bright side can hold you over. Although Ash is only thirteen / fourteen physically, emotionally and mentally, he isn’t. He matured. And so, say, did his feelings for Misty. He had a big ol’ crush on her that he didn’t fully understand or know what to do with when he was ten, but those feelings matured over time. And to be honest, Misty had feelings for him back then as well . . . but as she grows into her twenties, she doesn’t feel attraction toward him physically anymore, because . . . well, he has the body of a child (young teen, but you know). So although she still cares about him very much, she moves on. He doesn’t, but she does. And she gets married to someone else. And Ash---feeling salty, and bitter, and more than a little upset that the woman he loves is marrying someone else because he looks like a thirteen-year-old even though he’s mentally twenty-six---doesn’t attend the wedding even though he was supposed to be part of the bridal party (he was Misty’s best friend, after all). He does send Pikachu, but this still causes a huge fight with Misty, who wanted him to be there, but Ash is angry and emotional, and it . . . it’s a huge, big mess.  And that’s just one thing---that’s just one thing that happened. There are other things, too. Such as, well, just as Alan had to deal with Sycamore dying, so, too, does Ash have to deal with watching Delia grow old and die. She teases him sometimes about never giving her grandkids (“At least I have lots of pokémon,” he says), but for the most part she’s of course still very supportive and loving of her immortal son until the day she dies (from old age, peacefully in her sleep). Ash inherits the house, and unlike Alan he still visits someitmes when he’s older. It’s kind of rare, though, because as the years (and centuries) go on the populace of Pallet Town changes a lot, and so while no one can take the house because it does belong to someone and not the town itself, there are so many urban legends surrounding it from the Pallet Town populace. Whenever Ash does show up, everyone is always pretty “!!!!” about the fact that some seemingly random “thirteen-year-old kid” is going into the “abandoned house,” so Ash usually tries to sneak in at night, or however he does it. And it’s not just his mom. After enough years, when Ash is mentally in his thirties or forties, he realizes that the TRio hasn’t been around. He seeks them out, and finds that they have . . . a house? A house. They have a house. (Probably squatting, but whatever.) And they’re . . . not following him anymore? Really? “We’re old now, twerp,” James says. “Speak for yourself,” Jessie snaps. “We’re the same age,” James says, offended that she had swatted his arm like that. And it’s true, they’re in their forties or fifties now, like---it’s fine if they retire now, right? “But don’t you wanna try to steal Pikachu?” Ash asks. He didn’t sit down at the kitchen table even though they told him to, even though Jessie is fixing up some tea in the little electronic kettle they have, and James is preparing pancakes at the stove. “No, not anymore. If we wanted Pikachu we would have gone to take him. We don’t do that anymore,” Jessie says. “We’ve moved on.” “Moved on?” Ash says. “Everyone’s gotta grow up sometime, kid,” Meowth says, from where he’s curled up in front of the fireplace. And that was the wrong thing to say. When Jessie and James turn around to give Ash his tea and pancakes, he and Pikachu have already bolted through the open window.  He never speaks to them again, though they have an uncanny ability of tracking where he is, and so they send him things from time to time. After enough years pass the gifts dwindle down, and then the last thing Ash gets is a letter written by James telling him that he and Jessie are very old and also sick and don’t have much time left at all, but that they want him to take care of himself, and also to never let anyone else steal Pikachu, either, because if they didn’t get to no one else should, okay? He goes back to them at last just to make sure they can have proper funerals, or at least memorials. I mean, they didn’t have any family. No one besides him and Pikachu, really. And it bothered him too much to see them all old and stuff when he wasn’t, and when they weren’t going to steal Pikachu (or try to steal Pikachu) anymore, and so he had stopped visiting, and he really regrets that now, and--- I’m sure you can imagine the breakdown for yourself. I don’t need to write it out. He had stopped talking to Misty for a good chunk of years after their fight, but this motivates him to seek her out and really . . . make up. And she calls him an idiot for thinking that she wouldn’t have wanted to see him, or that she’d still be holding a grudge, and so they do reconcile. But when she dies, he doesn’t go to her funeral. He does’t go to Brock’s, either. Or Gary’s, or Tracey’s, May’s, or Max’s, or Dawn’s, or Iris’s . . . See, here’s the thing. He had to accept his mom was dead because he was the one to put that funeral together. He had to accept the TRio was dead, because same. But if he never sees anyone else’s funerals, or hears of their deaths, or anything like that, then he can just pretend they’re still alive somewhere. Old, sure, but still alive somewhere. He never has to move past the denial stage. Definitely not to acceptance. And this is totally a perfectly healthy way to live, so he’s just going to do that. It’s a bit harder for his pokémon. Most of them aren’t dragons by species. They die over the years. He always makes sure he’s there for that, as best he can be. Charizard is still alive, being a dragon by species, and in the Valley for a good portion of time. Gible, Noivern, and Goodra as well (though he doesn’t have Goodra officially, anymore, but still). He does eventually get Charizard on his team permanently once again (along with a Key Stone and Charizardite Y), as well as the aforementioned Gible (now Garchomp) and Noivern. He also gets a milotic (since milotic are dragons by species---sea dragons), and this milotic actually gets a nickname: Mysterica. He calls her Myst or Mysti for short. “After a real special girl I knew a long time ago,” he says. He never becomes Kanto Champion in this AU, because around the time he was going to he has already realized / learned of his immortality, and it was pointed out to him by Gary that, well, it’s probably not the best to put himself in public spotlight then, is it, because then everyone will realize what has happened to him. And to say that Ash is a little bitter about this on top of everything else that his immortality makes him salty about is an understatement. Bad enough it makes him have to watch everyone grow old and die (even his dragons will grow old and die eventually), but now it has also taken his dream from him. Great. He does keep traveling, though (of course he does), but after a little while he stops getting travel companions, for the most part. That’s just more people he’d have to get attached to, only for them to grow old and die later, and also most of the people who’d want to travel with him are kids, because they think he’s a kid, and he is . . . not a kid, mentally, at all. But sometimes he does still mentor some new kids, and when he turns one hundred he decides to pretend that he is a brand new trainer fresh out of Pallet Town again as a “fun prank” (so mentally healthy!), and that’s how he meets Souji and Makoto. See, look, I can do things with M20. I can make it even sadder than it already was. Look at me go. Like Alan, he ends up purposefully involving himself in world-crises as he travels around, because he’s Ash, of course he does. The outfit I usually imagine him in is heavily based on Red’s from SM. He has the t-shirt with the 96 on it, and the backpack that has the strap go across his chest. But his hat is actually the one Red had in his original art, albeit the leaf badge is instead replaced by his Key Stone. (To use it, he swipes his fingers across the Key Stone and then grabs the bill of his hat to turn it backwards in one fluid motion. His invocation is: “Let’s understand the power that’s inside! Mega evolve!” Because come on, it’s perfect.) His pants are baggier, too, and fall over his sneakers, and he still has some dark fingerless gloves on. That’s how I picture him in his immortal years, anyway. But speaking of traveling . . .

So both Alan and Ash travel around, getting involved in things, probably dropping fake names and aliases everywhere, you know. They both know, in the back of their minds, that the other is immortal. But any attempts at communication failed for some reason or another (they both travel so much being the main reason), and for decades and decades their paths never crossed, and Ash was doing his best to avoid everyone for a time, and things happened . . . But finally, they both do reunite, purely by chance, during a crisis in Oblivia. How I imagine it is that there’s this big, huge battle going on, and Ash is fighting, and all of a sudden he hears “Dragon Claw!” and he knows that voice, he knows, and he looks over and there’s Alan and Lizardon, and he calls Alan’s name, and Alan looks at him, and they realize so many things in that second, but there’s no time to talk, so they finish up the battle. Everything gets wrapped up, and it takes another couple days, but when they finally get a chance to settle down and reunite and talk it’s just . . . it’s really emotional, for both of them. But we also know what Ash tends to do with emotions he feels about other humans, so he says, “Hey . . . we never did have that battle you promised me.” So they battle. Lizardon vs. Charizard, and maybe mega evolution is involved, but either way. They battle and Alan wins, but at the end Ash is staring at Alan, and when Alan asks him about it, Ash says, “Nothing, it’s just that this is the first time I’ve seen you really smile in three days.” And it’s true. Alan feels . . . lighter, and the battle made him feel happier, than he has in . . . god, as long as he can remember. He forgot . . . even with his eidetic memory, after all these years, he forgot that Ash always had that effect on him. But it’s not just him. I said it was an emotional reunion, and I meant it. Like, Ash is . . . for the first time, Ash is faced with someone from his past who looks the same as he always did, because he’s immortal, too. Alan is immortal, too. Those feelings---he had formed such a connection with Alan in Kalos, even before the immortality. Alan had helped Ash, too, back then, even if it wasn’t as obvious. And now Alan is here, and Ash hadn’t even realized that he needed this, hadn’t even realized---of course he has Pikachu, they’re platonic soulmates, of course he does, but . . . to have another human being that he can connect with, that he can be honest about his immortality with, that he won’t have to watch grow old and die . . . When they go to part ways, and Alan goes and hops up on Lizardon’s back, Ash runs after him and is like, “Wait! Alan!” And Alan does. He waits. And Ash asks him where he’s going, and Alan shrugs, because who knows. And Ash says, “I don’t really have anywhere I’m going either, not really. Wanna go wherever . . . together?” And Alan is quiet, and at first Ash thinks that Alan might say no. But then Alan smiles a little, and extends his hand. And Ash grins, and takes it, and allows Alan to pull him up on Lizardon’s back. So they start traveling together.

They continue what they were both doing before, but together. Lots of exploration, but also lots of world defending, like . . . they intervene with huge criminal organizations or legendary crises, yes, but they also keep an eye on political stuff, too. Like, at one point the Charicific Valley loses federal protection as a result of some corrupt government dealings in Johto, and as a result poachers descend on the place en masse. Ash and Alan book it to get there, but they get there a little too late. They save some of the charizard (a couple, here or there), but a lot of them were just . . . it wasn’t pretty. It was devastating, actually. But they did their best, all the same. They felt it was their duty. The least they could do. But this is a part of the reason why, years down the line, the charmander line is . . . basically extinct. There are maybe still some others, apart from Lizardon and Ash’s charizard, but . . . they’re very, very few in number. (And like, no, the Valley was not the only wild charizard sanctuary, but the fact that it was necessary at all tells us the charmander line was already hurting. This . . . this didn’t help.) But sometimes they are more successful, and as I said, they keep an eye on things like that. There are times throughout the years when a government gets too corrupt and they actually intervene to help stage revolutions. At one point, there’s a Champion (maybe even in Johto or Kanto around the time the Valley massacre happened?) who likes to wear a necklace made out of charizard fangs, and Alan actually jumps up on that stage to use that necklace to pull the Champion near so that he can punch him in the face, and the government was so corrupt at the time that this puts a bounty on Alan’s head, so that was a thing that happened. (Ash was there, but he was in the crowd and is like 4′8″ forever, so. Not easily seen.) They made it out of that one, but you know what, the guy deserved to be socked in the face. Alan had enough.  But anyway, main takeaway here is: They keep an eye on world events and intervene when necessary. If you ask Ash, “We’re . . . kind of like guardians.” It’s the least they can do, you know.

Both are considerably happier once traveling together. Now that he has someone human to joke about it with, Ash likes to make lots of jokes about their immortality. He says he likes to think of his age as, “Thirteen with an asterisk.” He sings songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys for the irony. (’Cause you know, the first lyrics are, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn’t have to wait so long . . .”) It’s been a long time since he was ever in the mood to spontaneously sing, but hey, he is now! And Alan asks him if he’s a steel-type, actually, because, “Your irony is killing me.” Ash is delighted. He’s so delighted. They eventually do tell each other all about what they’ve been doing in the interim. Ash is the one human Alan was always able to confide in without problems, so he does naturally tell Ash about his suicide attempt. And Ash? Now Ash is not delighted anymore. He’s furious, and horror-stricken (because he can’t help thinking about what if Alan had gone through with it, he wouldn’t be here right now, he wouldn’t be---) and he’s just, “We hadn’t had our battle yet! You promised!” Alan stares at him. “I wasn’t thinking about that.” “Well, you should have been!” Ash says, and before Alan can say anything else, Ash points at him and says, “Three hundred more battles. I want three hundred more battles with you. Promise me.” Alan is aghast. “That’s . . . excessive,” he says. “That’s an absurdly high number---” “We’re immortal,” Ash says flatly. “We’ve literally got forever. Promise me.” And Alan knows what Ash is making him promise, really, and so he nods. “I promise.” “Good. I’m gonna make sure you keep it. Right, Pikachu?” “Pika!” Pikachu says, and believe me, he means it. 

They get very close, as could be expected. They reach a point where they can communicate certain things just by looking at each other. Pikachu, as he always did with people he and Ash became close with, does have a way of saying Alan’s name after a time (Kacha), as well as Lizardon’s (Pikaacha). I know that the names Pikachu has for others typically start with Pi, but there was just no way I could make Alan’s name work with that, so. Just work with me, here. Sometimes he rides around on Alan’s shoulders or head as well, depending. Ash, being a person who conveys love through physical affection and who loves physical intimacy, is often the one to initiate any sort of cuddling. Sometimes he uses Alan’s chest or stomach as a pillow (and complains about Alan’s abs, which Alan absolutely has as a dragon rider, because god, they’re so hard, couldn’t he be a bit of a softer pillow?), or just throws himself back against Alan when they’re watching a movie or something, if they’re staying at Ash’s house or somewhere else. Alan doesn’t mind; he might not initiate the cuddling himself, but he doesn’t mind it. Ash is really grateful for this. Sometimes, when they encounter others, people mistake them for brothers. Neither Alan nor Ash ever bother to correct them, although they don’t think of each other as brothers. In Alan’s mind, he only ever had one brother, and that was his stepbrother, Clemont. In Ash’s mind, well . . . he just never really thought of his friends as siblings, you know? He was an only child. Closest he ever got was Gary, he guesses, and also probably Brock. So even when someone calls Alan his brother, he goes with it, but he doesn’t really think of Alan like that, not really. It’s different than that. But they don’t ever discuss it. Alan figures they’re fine as they are (gee, wonder who he learned that from, Sycamore), and Ash kind of does, too. I do think Ash probably thinks about it more than Alan does, particularly since . . . well, keeping in mind that mentally they’re both over a hundred years old, probably, by this point (and that in canon we never saw a maturity gap between them anyway), and Ash is demiromantic pansexual (in my headcanon, at least), it is possible that Ash would actually develop feelings for Alan. But---and this is important---Alan is still aromantic asexual, so he’s not going to reciprocate those feelings. And Ash is very emotionally intelligent, I think he’d be able to tell that Alan is not in love with him. (And he figures, well, he still looks thirteen anyway, he still looks like a kid whereas Alan looks like a teenager, so thanks for that once again, immortality.) And he’d be fine with that, really, so long as they can stay together. Like, whatever he feels, even if he doesn’t realize “I’m in love with him,” I think he’d at least know that he wants to spend the rest of his forever with Alan, or at least he does for the time being. And he hopes Alan feels the same way. And even if he did tell Alan, and Alan was like, “Oh . . . I can’t---” and was feeling kind of alarmed, Ash would assure him of this. Like, he might want Alan to know, but he doesn’t expect anything from it, like that. Don’t worry. But that said, even though Alan is aroace, make no mistake that Ash is just as important to him, like . . . we all saw those canon episodes, we know what kind of deep connection these two have. So especially in Immortality AU, where they’re the only humans each other has left, really, that bond is going to be even stronger. (It’s going to be a mega bond, if you will---okay, I’ll see myself out.) So that’s definitely where the queerplatonic relationship comes in, even if it’s never actually called as such between them. (Actually, in a situation where someone who knows they aren’t brothers asks what they are, Ash would probably just shrug and say, “Dunno. Haven’t thought too much about it. It’s good, though.”) So that’s a thing, too. 

But oh, I’m sure anyone who is still reading this is probably wondering . . . what about Lizardon? Because I mentioned up above that Lizardon still grew physically, and Alan was internally wrecked with worry and impending grief over this, and Ash, being emotionally intelligent, would pick up on Alan’s fear even if Alan never actually said . . . Well, you really can’t expect Ash to just let this go, can you? The thing is, Ash has a way with legendary pokémon. You know this, I know this---we all know this. And by this point in his immortal life, he’s just not down to take any nonsense from them. So he decides, okay, you know what, we’re just going to go ask Xerneas about this. Let’s go to Kalos and ask Xerneas what is up. If Lizardon’s not immortal, we’ll have Xerneas fix that. And if Lizardon is and is just growing anyway because he’s a dragon, hey! Now we know! And if he isn’t immortal and Xerneas won’t fix it, I’ll have a talk with Yveltal to fix me, Alan thinks, but doesn’t say. No, Ash thinks when he can tell that Alan is thinking ths, but also doesn’t say because Alan didn’t say his part, either.  So they go to Kalos so that Ash can tell Xerneas to get his antlered ass out here so they can have a little chat. (Probably he approaches this with a bit more tact, but . . . only a bit, because this is Ash we’re talking about.) And he succeeds at getting a chat with Lizardon, and Alan is suitably impressed, because like---it’s not that he didn’t believe Ash when Ash said, “Oh, no, trust me, I’ve got a whole thing with legendary pokémon, I can make him have a talk with me,” but it’s just . . . seeing is different than believing. Anyway, as it turns out (thanks to Pikachu helpfully translating), Xerneas’ power did affect Lizardon differently because Lizardon is a dragon by species. Essentially, it took longer to kick in, wrangling with Lizardon’s longevity. Lizardon did age normally for a few years, but all the while Xerneas’ power was slowing that process down, until it does eventually stop. Lizardon is fine. He won’t grow old and die. He’s immortal, too. Alan’s so relieved he nearly cries. “Great! Thanks, Xerneas,” Ash says, and he grins. “That’s all we had for you. You can go now.” Xerenas is more than a little bewildered by this sudden dismissal, but he probably does go. (A fic I was writing was originally a time travel fic wherein Alan and Ash, in the midst of trying to find Xerneas, were sent back in time by Celebi (who was feeling mischievous and pranky, I suppose) to the time period between TSME 4 and the League. They end up encountering Sycamore by happenstance, and Sycamore doesn’t realize that this is time-travel, and so it’s all emotional as Alan gets to see his father for the first time in 80+ years, and as Sycamore tries to talk to Alan about Lysandre, but Alan is cagey and won’t talk about that and says, “Nothing you say to me right now will change anything” and Sycamore doesn’t know why, and Ash keeps interrupting and changing the subject every time Sycamore tries to press, and also Alan refuses to call Lizardon out and Sycamore doesn’t know why that is, either (it’s because Lizardon is over ten feet tall and, uh, that’s going to be more than a little noticeable, probably), but he’s really worried because Steven told him that Lizardon healed fine after the incident in Hoenn, so ??? Anyway, I was originally a fic about all that, but then I lost my “current WIPs” folder, so. That’s gone now. I’m as devastated as anyone about this.)

There’s probably more that I could say, but wow, I’ve been typing this up for two hours and it is long, so I’ll leave it at this, haha.

[hauntedhistorycolorado]

Crystal Valley Cemetery of Manitou Springs

 Photos courtesy of FindAGrave.com

Historical background

Crystal Valley Cemetery was incorporated as the principal cemetery in Manitou Springs, Colorado in 1890, and is historically significant as being the final resting place for many of the more prominent figures from Manitou history. Manitou Springs was founded 18 years before, so Crystal Valley isn’t actually the original site of Manitou’s pioneer cemetery. The first cemetery was located off Pawnee Avenue on Iron Mountain, on the land that Redstone Castle now sits on. RedStone Castle has it’s own haunted history, but more on that later.

Isaac Davis, a famous figure from Manitou history who turns up in my research a lot, was the original owner of the land beneath RedStone Castle, where the first cemetery was located. He had the oldest graves moved from there to the current location of Crystal Valley in the 1880s, because he wanted to develop his land. Peggie, of the Manitou Springs Historical Society, was gracious enough to take me on a walking tour of the cemetery while I was researching. With the graceful, evocative language of a local history buff who truly loves the place they live, she said of Isaac Davis: “He felt that the living would enjoy the view more than the dead.” There are a few crumbling headstones in the oldest part of Crystal Valley that mark the location of some of the displaced corpses, but the majority were reburied in unmarked graves.

In her book Haunted Manitou Springs, local author and paranormal enthusiast Stephanie Waters claims that the cemetery sits on the site of an ancient Native American burial ground and that Native American artifacts have been found on the property, including cradle boards, beads, and arrowheads. She goes on to say that the name “Crystal Valley” comes from early prospectors who called the location “Crystal City” due to its abundance of smoky quartz, purple amazonite, and yellow topaz. 

Notable people interred

Since I’ve already mentioned Isaac Davis, we’ll start with him. Dr. Davis was one of the original movers and shakers in Manitou. As I mentioned earlier, Crystal Valley Cemetery wouldn’t exist without him. He was the town’s first physician, and also ran a drugstore in addition to acting as the undertaker, county coroner, town trustee, and justice of the peace. He also served as mayor for one year. Today, he is most famous for the mummification of Tom O’Neal.

Tom was a classic wild west outlaw, and died in a saloon brawl in Old Colorado City, which, for those of you that don’t know, is just up the road from Manitou. Nobody could track down his next of kin, so his body was entrusted to Dr. Davis, who used the opportunity to experiment with embalming techniques. Using potions and sun-drying, he worked on mummifying Tom’s corpse for two years. He was very successful and eventually displayed the mummy in the stone building in the original cemetery on Pawnee until the cemetery was relocated. Tom was then buried in a loose gravel grave in Crystal Valley for only a short period of time before he was stolen by grave robbers, and was last seen touring across the U.S. in a fake Native American costume as a sideshow attraction. Nobody knows where he is now.

Dr. Davis was a man of science, and was doing this as a way to further his scientific and medical knowledge. But still today, it’s really damaged his reputation, despite all the good things he contributed to Manitou in the town’s early years. People call him Dr. Frankenstein. In Stephanie Waters’ book, she says that he also had a habit of preserving dead animals, his house so full of animals preserved in jars that his wife would find them in strange places - like their kitchen cabinets.

Dr. Davis’s mother, Hannah, is also buried next to him in the cemetery, and is notable because her monument was the first erected in Crystal Valley in 1885.

Charles Adams is particularly important when discussing the history of the cemetery through the lens of researching hauntings, as his grave is the only one I found specifically mentioned in my research as being a regular site for paranormal activity. During my initial research of the cemetery, I read that his headstone is said to emanate heat at night. Wondering why, I looked into the life and death of Charles Adams. 

The grave of Charles Adams, taken by me in January 2020

General Charles Adams is remembered for maintaining close friendships with the local Ute Native Americans, and because of that he was able to negotiate the safe release of the kidnapped women and children following the Meeker Massacre in 1879. In 1985, he was killed in the tragic Gumry Hotel explosion in Denver. There are a few different accounts as to who was responsible for the accident, but the general consensus is that the water level of the hotel’s boiler fell below the safety valves, and the boiler overheated, causing it to explode when cold water was added. The explosion caused the walls of the hotel to blow out and the floors to collapse. 22 people were killed, including Charles Adams.

Courtesy of Newspapers.com from Newton Daily Republican

Courtesy of Denver Fire Journal & Western Fire History

No discussion of Crystal Valley Cemetery would be complete without touching on Emma Crawford. I would like to make an additional post focusing exclusively on Emma in the future, as she is perhaps the most famous figure from Manitou history, and is inexorably linked in the accounts of several separate haunted places in Manitou Springs. For now, I will include a simplified version of her story.

Emma Crawford is where Manitou gets inspiration for their famous Halloween event, the Emma Crawford Coffin Races. Emma and her family came to Manitou during the Victorian era because Emma had tuberculosis, and Colorado Springs and Manitou both were wildly popular destinations for people suffering from TB, due to the crisp, dry air, the so-called “300 days of sunshine” per year, and the famous Manitou mineral water, which people still claim to have healing powers to this day. Emma was buried at the summit of Red Mountain after dying of tuberculosis at age 28, because she had climbed the mountain on her own just a few weeks prior, and claimed to have had a spiritual experience at the top. According to Emma, she was visited by the spirit of a Native American chief, and she begged to be buried there, because she hated cemeteries and death. After a large rainfall, her casket rose to the surface and was washed down the side of Red Mountain into town - the reason we have the coffin races today. She’s now interred at Crystal Valley, although nobody knows exactly where.

Emma Crawford’s monument in Crystal Valley, taken by me in January 2020

Other notable people interred at Crystal Valley include:

Mabel Jane Willie, first female mayor of Manitou

Theresa Kenny, who built and stucco’d her own mausoleum in the ‘30s and enjoyed rocking in her rocking chair outside it prior to her death

Kelly Murphy, killed at home in Manitou in 2008 from carbon monoxide poisoning; her rental was owned by the then-current mayor of Manitou and did not have a carbon monoxide detector (though it was no the law for the house to have one at the time)

Pam Hartman and Jeanne Kerechanin, local lesbians killed in 2005 in a car accident on their way to Wisconsin for a funeral, unable to afford a flight due to being denied the bereavement price for both of them as Colorado did not recognize their union as legal

The hauntings of Crystal Valley

Paranormal activity encountered at Crystal Valley Cemetery in the past has included; heat from Charles Adam’s grave, cold spots, EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon), and photographic anomalies - which can include streaks and apparitions, but most commonly appear as orbs. Full-bodied apparitions have also been sighted, and are most commonly said to be the spirit of Tom O’Neal.

Reflective commentary

According to general consensus among paranormal researchers, spirits tend to hang around where they most suffered in life, rather than remaining with their bodies after death, making cemeteries relatively rare as haunted locations. However, it is also said that desecration of gravesites can be a common cause of paranormal activity. Because of this, I suspect that it is because so many graves were disturbed in being moved from the original cemetery on Pawnee Avenue to Crystal Valley, that paranormal encounters are said to be had in both locations.

I would also say that the conjunction between Charles Adams’s cause of death by fire and the manifestation of his haunting through the emanation of heat from his gravestone is also compelling in drawing a connection between recorded historical events and later stories of hauntings.

To me, the story of Dr. Davis and the mummy of Tom O’Neal is also exciting in approaching this historical research from the folkloric perspective. Dr. Davis was a prominent, well-respected member of his community, and it’s unfortunate that what he is remembered for today is an excitement for playing with dead things. This tells us a little bit about what locals choose to remember in the canon of their town’s history, and how this can be shaped by external forces like pop culture (”Frankenstein”). 

CLICK HERE FOR FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR THIS LOCATION.

[wufflesvetinari]

Do I get that you dropped "She Left A Week To Roam" because canon cancelled out a lot of the details? Am I using robin's egg lipstick to draw a summoning circle in my bathroom through which I will access a wellspring of power, and divert it to you so that you achieve the will and inspiration to finish it anyway, or at lest detail how the rest of it would have played out? Also yes.

(referencing this)

lmao thank you nonnie i smiled reading this

you got it on the head; i have trouble continuing stories past the point where canon diverges to a ridiculous level because i’ve let it sit way too long. i did the same thing to my, like, rose/kanaya arranged marriage scifi au because eventually we learned about roxy lalonde and it just felt wrong to use the characterization i’d been using for rose’s mom the whole time

ANYWAY AS TO YOUR SECOND QUESTION i, uh. i really wish i could give you a whole plot summary, but in this case i don’t know if i had enough of one written down to remember it all.

i’m about to leave work but i’ll let you know if i find any more notes on my laptop at home

what i do remember is below the cut

they were going to make it to halloween without any shenanigans happening, but something VERY BAD was going to happen on halloween that would require summoning mabel. i hadn’t decided how she was going to manifest but it was going to be VERY FULL OF CHARACTER as opposed to dipper’s sort of “sign-of-the-cross, you-shall-not-pass” performance. (dipper knows how tragically intangible astral specters are supposed to look ok, GOD mabel)

pacifica was going to have roughly 20 seconds of mabel instead of the 5 minutes she was looking forward to, after they were done Fighting The Thing. it was going to be Gripping and Tragic and mabel was going to say something nice about time they had spent together that pacifica would dwell on for like the whole next chapter

eventually either grunkle stan or dipper would be summoned again in a time of need, which–GASP, SHOCK–would return them to the mortal realm in perfect condition since their threads were all cut, which is why pacifica keeps obsessing over cutting the bracelet off in the first place. she can’t do it because then mabel can’t Solve The Problem In The Forest but god she wants to. she’s being a GOOD PERSON, DAMMIT

except maybe…..whoever came back is also somehow Off and everybody has to figure out why. changelings, etc. pacifica is one of the first to figure it out because she keeps remembering how mabel started acting after she got bits of that arrowhead stuck in her wounded leg. haunted, almost. possessed.

at some point pacifica, wendy, and soos need to go into the forest themselves. there was going to be shit about either fairy courts or what’s basically a fairy court but re-purposed to sound less “british folklore” and more “pacific northwest folklore”

they’d rescue mabel from something, she’d rescue them from something etc. they’d get out alive

pacifica was going to love waddles eventually

[matttheratking]

ship: mabill

Send me a ship and I'll tell you

How do much do I ship it?: Never heard of it/ Notp / Dislike / used to ship / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / IS IT CANON YET?

What non sexual activities do they like to do together? Most things tbh cause like.... I dunno I don’t think of either as particularly sexual beings. They cuddle a lot.

Who does chores around the house? Mabel def Bill tends to break things bc it’s funny and make more of a mess

Who’s the better cook? Mabel she works at a bakery so she knows her way around a kitchen. Also Bill doesn’t need to eat

Who’s the funniest drunk? BILL there is a definite difference in this new “body” vs his old physical state and he can NOT hold his booze

Do they have kids? I don’t think that is physically possible so no

Do they have any traditions? Whenever they go to Gravity Falls (with Bill in disguise) they’ll go find his old stone body and have a picnic

What do they fight about? HAHA WELL ISN’T THAT JUST THE QUESTION

What would they do if they found their paring tag on tumblr? (If they have one) Mabel would be equally confused and intrigued and Bill would like to know why he always looks like some tan blonde guy

Who cried at the end of Marley and me? MABEL Bill thought that shit was hilarious

Who always wins at Mario kart? Bill

One thing I like about this ship? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think..... if you play around with the setting of their dynamic I think they’re very cute and silly but only when u neutralize Bill some.........

One thing I don’t like about the ship? people do NOT neutralize Bill enough and it gets creepy and bad real quick. Also anytime Mabel is canon age cause let’s not do that

The song I would say fits them? A Kiss to Build a Dream On by Louis Armstrong 

Another headcanon about the paring? (Free space) Well since this is all mostly in my Witch!Au where Bill is teaching Mabel how to use her powers so they make games out of making things float or changing one thing into another it’s fun

[thesnadger]

Axolotol - Chapter Twelve: That You Always Keep Locked

Read previous chapters on Ao3

Thanks as always to @scribefindegil for betaing! 

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“All right...family, extended family and close friends.” Ford stood in the center of the Mystery Shack den, clapping his hands for attention. “Let's go over everyone's

The minor crowd that had assembled in the Shack quieted down and turned to him. Candy and Grenda had arrived mid-morning, and Pacifica had gotten a ride with Fiddleford. By the time everyone was gathered and ready, it was nearly noon.

“This will be a delicate and dangerous mission.” He continued, “and any number of things could bring it to disaster, so the safety of the Shack is of paramount importance. The unicorn hair barrier is still functioning, but there are a great many threats that can get through it. That's why we'll need a security force patrolling outside. Wendy, Grenda, Mabel. You three are the most formidable fighters we have.”

“Darn right.” Wendy said.

“We'll need you to circle the perimeter of the Shack.” He unfurled a map of the surrounding woods spreading it out on the table. “You'll spread out in three directions and circle counter-clockwise to ensure as few open spots in our defenses as possible. This pattern is the most efficient use of our ground forces, and the unfortunate fact that it resembles a triangle is just something we'll all have to deal with.” He added, gritting his teeth. “In particular you'll be keeping an eye out for Cipher cultists, government interference--”

“Those guys do have the worst sense of timing.” Mabel said.

“--And anything else that might pose a threat to what's happening in the Shack. Now, formidable or not, if you do encounter something dangerous it will be better if you aren't alone. So Grenda, you'll be with Candy. Mabel, because you insisted he be counted as an individual and not a pet, you'll be going with Waddles.”

“All right!” Mabel opened her arms as her beloved pig waddled up to her. “Who's gonna help me defeat the forces of evil? You are! Yes you are! Yeeeees yoooou aaaare!”

“And Wendy, you'll be paired with Pacifica.” Ford finished.

“Cool.” Wendy smirked. “Badass world-saving girl gang. And Waddles.”

“Eh.” Mabel said, still scratching the pig's cheeks. “Waddles responds to all pronouns.”

“...Soos, since you're CPR-certified, your task will be to stand by and monitor the three of us in case something goes wrong in the mindscape. In the event of an emergency, I'm trusting you to handle any necessary first-aid that may be required. Melody, your job is to ensure Soos doesn't faint in the event of an emergency, to provide additional aid, and to make any difficult decisions he may not be emotionally equipped to handle.”

“...Difficult decisions?” Melody frowned.

“You'll know them if they come up. Fiddleford....” Ford began.

“I already know, dangit, y'don't have to remind me!” Fiddleford said, holding up the device in his hand. “I'm s'posed ta keep an eye on Stan's brainwaves, because for reasons I won't understand if I live to be a hundred, you think I'll be able to tell if somethin' weird is happening in there. Weirder than all this, anyway.” He shook his head. “I'll do it, for whatever it's worth, but you know I'm getting nothing but static from that man's skull.”

“...It's worth trying all the same. Thank you.” Ford turned to Dipper. “You know well what our role is. Enter Stan's mind, find Bill, and destroy him by whatever means necessary. I can't predict exactly what we'll find in there. We'll have to be prepared for anything.”

“I know. I won't let you down.” Dipper said. “...You either.” he added, turning to Stan.

Stan grunted, glancing away. “Yeah, yeah. Just stay outta that one year where I worked as a party clown and we'll be fine.”

“Stanley...from your point of view, this will likely all feel like a dream. If we're lucky, you'll be able to focus enough to consciously aid us while we're inside your mind. We'll hope for the best.”

Ford finally turned to the three remaining figures in the room. He knelt down in front of Lee, Sephiroth and Chestaur, who were lined up nearby.

“Small, defenseless children—I have a special task for you.”

“Oh, oh!” Lee hopped up and down on her heels. “Do we get to man the giant laser canon that's gonna shoot Bill in the face?”

“That was my original plan, yes.” Ford said. “Due to your small size and manual dexterity. But there wasn't time to rebuild the quantum destabilizer and at any rate, we're not presently dealing with Bill's physical form. Also your mother expressed some concerns and a number of disturbingly specific threats when I brought the idea up to her, so instead your task is to go upstairs and watch this video--” he pulled a VHS tape from behind his back and presented it with a flourish. “--about brightly colored animals that emit personality-altering mind control beams from their stomachs.”

The children groaned.

“Now, now, it'll be fun! You can look for animation errors and analyze the influence of Regan-era conservatism on the narrative!” Ford grinned. “Up you go, come on.”

With some reluctance, Lee accepted the VHS tape and took it upstairs, her brothers following behind her. Mabel approached Dipper and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Good luck. You're gonna do great, I just know it.” She said softly.

“So are you.” Dipper replied. He let go of her and held out a fist. Mabel held one out parallel to his and made a nyyyyoo sound effect as they collided. The two of them made explosion noises and wiggled their fingers together.

“Mystery twins?” Dipper asked.

“Mystery twins for life, bro.” Mabel replied. She turned to Stan and Ford and wrapped an arm around each of them, pulling them both into a tight hug. There were a number of audible popping noises as she squeezed.

“Oouf.” Stan smiled, voice tight. “You're gonna snap these old bones in half one day, you know that?”

“S'okay. I'll glue you back together.” Mabel smiled back. “I love you.”

“You too, pumpkin.”

Mabel pulled back a little and looked at Ford. “You and Dipper'll take care of each other in there?”

“Of course.” He replied.

She nodded and reluctantly let them go. Wendy put a hand on her shoulder as she turned back towards the others. As Candy hopped onto Grenda's shoulders and ran out the front door towards the woods, Mabel took a last look back, before following after her friends.

Ford pulled the pendulum on a metronome that had been placed on a nearby table (a compromise, after last time he wasn't eager to put a paddleball in Stan's hands again.) The rhythmic clicks filled the room, and he gestured to the mustard-colored easy chair that had been surrounded by runes and protective herbs the night before.

“Welp. Here goes nothing.” Stan took a deep breath and sat down, leaning back and closing his eyes. Soos hit the lights. Ford and Dipper knelt down on either side of the chair, each placing a hand on Stan's forehead.

Ford looked at Dipper, who nodded back, and began reciting the incantation. “Videntus omnium, magister mentium...”

The others crowded around the three of them, Fiddleford watching the device in his hand with a frown, Melody resting a hand on Soos's shoulder as he fidgeted with the fez in his hands.

“...Inceptus Nolanus overratus...” Ford chanted. “Magister mentium! Magister mentium! MAGISTER MENTIUM!”

* * *

Dipper's vision was taken over by white light, and his other senses quickly followed suit. For a moment, he was nowhere. Then, he was kneeling on a soft patch of grass, he heard the sound of wind in the trees, and felt a six-fingered hand on his shoulder.

“Stand up slowly.” Ford advised. “Just because you don't have an inner ear right now doesn't mean you can't get vertigo.”

Dipper nodded and rose slowly to his feet, lifting his head to see his uncle standing beside him, and the mindscape spread out in every direction.

“Oh!” His breath caught.

“What? Do you see something?” Ford asked.

“No, no, it's just...” Dipper stared out at the scene surrounding him. “It looks so...different than it did before.”

He and Ford were standing on a bluff, overlooking the Mystery Shack. It was whole, not the broken building floating over a void that Dipper had seen before. A soft, warm light was coming from its windows. On one side, there was the forest. On the other side, the ground gave way to gently lapping waves where the Stan-O-War was anchored, beyond which the water stretched on for miles, eventually curving up into the sky. A swarm of bats flew by, dipping and circling near the Shack, but they didn't seem ominous, really...they were just the kind of spooky touch Grunkle Stan would like.

It was night. The moon was still shaped like the 8-ball from Stan's cane, but the sky around it was filled with countless twinkling stars.

Ford smiled down at him, warmly. Then he turned and pointed. “We ought to get moving. No sense in dawdling.”

“Right.”

There were floating rocks, chunks of the bluff that seemed to have been yanked away from the bulk of it, revealing dinosaur bones and veins of precious metals underneath, and they made for an easy climb down to the Shack. Ford reached into his coat and drew out a weapon that Dipper didn't recognize...maybe some sort of alien technology, or something he had made. It was always hard to tell with Ford. Had he brought a gun into Stan's mind?

“...It's a projection.” Ford said, answering Dipper's unasked question. “...This was a favorite weapon of mine before I lost it in Dimension 833-7...or was it 733-8? Whichever one was underwater.” he shrugged. “It's just a mental image, but in here things like this have a degree of power.”

“Oh yeah! I know all about that.” Dipper beamed. “It's how we defeated Bill before—we gave ourselves weapons and superpowers from our own imaginations.”

Dipper reached behind his back and pictured a laser canon that he'd seen in a movie once, a huge, intimidating thing. He felt his hand close around something and pulled it out, over his shoulder, letting the weight of the giant weapon rest there. He grinned proudly, hoping he looked cool.

“...Very nice.” Ford said mildly. “There's just one problem.”

Ford reached out and tapped the side of the laser canon with his gun. With a loud clang, the weapon fell apart, breaking into rubble and becoming lost in the grass. Dipper looked down at the pieces.

“But...” Dipper frowned. “How?”

“The more you believe the projection, the stronger it will be. Tell me...have you ever held a weapon like that in real life? Do you know how much it weighs? What kind of kick back it has? Do you have any idea how it might work? Whether it radiates heat or cold? What kind of textures are on its surface?”

“Well, no....” Dipper admitted. “I...just thought it looked cool.”

“Exactly. You only had the image of it in your mind. It wasn't real to you. And so, it fell apart when confronted with something that was imbued with a more powerful level of belief.” Ford indicated his gun. “That's why the strongest projections are always things you've actually used in real life. It takes a powerful imagination to imbue a fictional weapon with that kind of reality.”

“Geez...maybe Mabel should have been the one to go...” Dipper muttered.

“Now, now, don't get discouraged.” Ford put a hand on Dipper's shoulder. “Remember. In here, a weapon doesn't need to be literal. You don't need a giant gun to fight with...you just need something that makes you feel strong. That makes you powerful.”

Dipper nodded, thoughtfully. Right. Okay. He could do this....He reached into his coat and closed his eyes, trying to think of something that made him feel strong. Something that made him feel powerful against the supernatural. He concentrated on that feeling until he felt his hand close around something solid, and he pulled it out. Looking down, he saw a thick book with a dark red cover, the number three standing out on top of the gold six-fingered handprint in the center.

“Whoops. Uh, how'd that get there?” Dipper said, stuffing the journal back into his coat, cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

“Don't worry about it, Dipper.” Ford said, smiling, looking a little bemused. “You'll find something that works for you. For now, let's just get moving. Remember to stay close to me.”

“Right....yeah, of course.”

The two of them closed the distance between themselves and the porch. Dipper couldn't help but notice Ford pausing on the way to glance at a swingset—old and rusty, but in surprisingly good condition—stuck in the ground between the porch and the water. Something about it looked familiar, but Dipper couldn't quite place what it was. He supposed it didn't matter.

Ford entered the Shack first, his eyes sweeping nervously over the twisting halls and shadowy corners. Dipper looked around. The entrance felt a little more welcoming than it had on his last trip into Stan's mind, but it was no less of a labyrinth. Halls and stairs still twisted in every direction, like paths in an Escher drawing.

“Do you remember anything about this place from your last visit?” Ford asked.

“I think so...this part looks kind of similar...” Dipper closed his eyes and listened carefully. From a hallway to his left, he heard the soft but certain sound of a film projector. “That way!” He pointed. “Memories are down there!”

The two of them hurried down a hallway, through a door marked “memories,” and into a long room lined with doors. Hallways branched off from the sides, twisting and turning out of sight, extending out of the ceiling in defiance of gravity and opening into long, winding staircases at the floor.

“...Looks like we've got a lot to search.” Dipper said, walking out into the center of the room. There was one thing, it seemed, that was different about these hallways than before...in addition to doors, the walls were lined with framed pictures of the family. Dipper pressed his hand against one that he recognized, and found that his fingertips went through it. He took a breath and stuck his head in.

“Mabel, duck!”

Dipper flinched at the sound of his own voice, as a blast of cold air hit his face. His past self's warning had come an instant too late. His poor sister never even saw it coming—she was sent reeling backwards by a barrage of snowballs, a sneak attack from behind the outhouse.

Dipper could see her out on the lawn of the Shack, laughing as his past self pulled her to her feet and the two of them ran back towards the porch, pursued by Stan and Ford. Based on his vantage point he thought he might be watching this from one of the Shack's windows, but no one out there seemed to be able to see him.

He remembered this. It was from that year they'd all gotten super competitive about gift-giving at Hanukkah, and ended up having a big snowball fight for some reason. He watched as Ford and Stan cornered himself and Mabel by the eastern wall of the Shack.

“Had enough?” Stan tossed a snowball from hand to hand.

“Ready to admit defeat?” Ford asked.

Dipper saw his past self and Mabel look at each other and smile. In unison, they shouted “Now!”

Their grunkles realized their mistake too late to do anything about it. The sound of Wendy's laughter came from the trees, followed by a hail of ice and snow aimed squarely at the elder twins. Even from a distance, Dipper could hear their squawks of surprise.

“Oh, man...” Dipper muttered. “I remember this next part, too.”

Sure enough, he saw Soos at the top of the roof, struggling to roll a giant boulder of snow over the peak. The second he successfully pushed it over, it started rolling, picking up the snow that was still stuck to the rooftop, growing and growing until it fell on all four of them, burying them under the powder. There was a brief, worrying silence before four heads and eight hands dug their way out of the pile. Wendy was the first to laugh, pointing from her perch in the trees, then Mabel, then the rest of them. It had been a good day.

Dipper smiled at the memory, until something caught his eye, making his smile slip. It was easy to miss, tucked away in a corner of the porch. Carved into one of the boards crudely and clumsily, but still unmistakable, was a triangle with an eye in the center.

That carving wasn't supposed to be there. It wasn't on the porch in the real world. Dipper had spent last night sitting on that porch with Mabel, not far from that very spot. He'd have noticed immediately if something like that had been carved into it. Besides, they'd all gone through the Shack with a fine-toothed comb after Stan got his memories back and dug up everything that had Bill on it. Anything they couldn't burn or smash had been painted over or scratched out or something. Which meant that the carving wasn't part of this memory. It was...an invader.

Dipper pulled his head out of the picture frame, frowning, and turned back to Ford. His uncle was peering through a doorway with a tense expression. When he realized he was being watched, he quickly shut the door.

“There's no organization to any of these memories.” Ford muttered. “It's like Stanley's closet—a jumble of random things defying all rationality and sequential occurrence.”

“You might want to take a look at this one.” Dipper said. “I think I saw some sign of Bill in there.”

Ford nodded. “In the background, easy to miss unless you're looking for it?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“There's a few of them in there, too. Bill's had a long time to dig his way into Stan's mind.” Ford frowned, eyeing the walls. He walked towards the end of the room, gesturing for Dipper to follow as he headed towards one of the hallways branching off. “For all we know there might be traces of him everywhere. What we really need is some sort of trail. Something more obvious than—oh.”

Dipper turned the corner an instant after Ford, and was nearly clothesthlined as his uncle held his arm out protectively, blocking him from what was in the hall ahead. It started in a corner and crept across the floor, peeking through the boards, growing upwards and clinging to the walls like kudzu. Long, twisting vines with nasty looking thorns that sprouted yellow, three-sided leaves. The vines were spotted with concentric circles that gave off the unnerving impression of being eyes.

“...That wasn't here before.” Dipper said, unnecessarily. He looked back at Ford, to find that the older man had frozen in place, and was staring at the weeds with a distant, panicked expression. “Ford? Hey...you all right?”

“Hmm? Yes, I'm fine.” Ford snapped back to attention, withdrawing his arm and placing his hand against his holster. “We're going to have to clear this out as best we can. Do you have any experience with gardening?”

“Not really.” Dipper said, looking down the hall. The growth seemed to get thicker the further down it went. “I had a cactus once, but I over-watered it. I think I'm not very good at keeping plants alive.”

“Keeping these plants alive is frankly the furthest thought from my mind right now.”

Ford fiddled with a dial on the back of the weapon he was carrying and aimed it down the hall. Green-yellow fireballs shot out of it, spreading over the vines wherever there was contact while leaving the walls and floors untouched. Dipper swore he heard a high-pitched whine as the plants caught fire, burned and blackened.

“Stay close behind me. If there's anything you can think of that might help in tearing these things down, use it.” Ford said, sprinting down the hall.

Dipper closed his eyes and tried to remember the weight and heft of the hedge trimmers in grandpa Shermie's gardening shed. When he opened his eyes again, they were in his hands. He tucked them in his belt and hurried after Ford.

***

It was hard to tell how much time was passing. Dipper could at least say with confidence they'd been in Stan's mind long enough for the adrenaline rush to wear off and the process of hacking through what seemed like miles and miles of these vines to go from creepy and exciting to monotonous and dull.

He dug the broken half of Shermie's hedge trimmers into the base of a vine, sighed and wiped his brow. He didn't feel tired, not physically at least. Probably he couldn't get physically tired, or physically anything in here. But he was starting to feel worn out in a way that was hard to put his finger on.

“Do we actually know where we're going?” he asked Ford.

“Hard to say.” Ford pulled a small notebook out of his pocked and scribbled something on it. “I've been keeping track of our turns, but spatial relationships in the mind aren't the same as they are in reality.”

They turned the corner again and found themselves in a hall that had already been cleared. Chopped, burned and blackened vines stretched out in either direction in front of them. Dipper groaned.

“Aw, seriously? After all that we've just been going in a circle?! This sucks.”

“We're on the right track, at least.” Ford said, crumbling the charred remains of a vine in his fist. “Bill's here, somewhere. But these things are superficial. We could spend hours pulling up and destroying them and still make no progress...if we want Bill out of Stan's head, we'll have to find where they're coming from.”

“How?” Dipper frowned. “There's so many false doors and dead ends here...I'm not even sure which way we came in anymore.”

“I was hoping that by now we would have run into Stan. Or rather, a localization of his consciousness.” Ford sighed. “Though if these dead ends are part of Bill's tricks, he might be just as lost here as we are.”

“I don't know...I think it might just be Stan. I think his mind is just...sneaky or something.” Dipper muttered.

He remembered how Stan's mind had hidden the code to his safe under the rug from the gift shop...someone who didn't know to look there would have run past it without a second thought. In all the time they'd spent searching Stan's mind that day, none of them had found any memories of Ford or the portal. He hadn't even seen Stan dealing with the monsters in the forest, or anything else that would've given away the fact that his skeptic act about the supernatural was just that, an act. Stan's mind hid his secrets well.

Hmm. Last time, they'd found the code because they knew enough about Stan to guess where he'd hide something like that. Maybe they were thinking along the wrong lines.

“...You know more about Bill than any of us, Grunkle Ford.” Dipper said. “Where do you think he'd be? I mean...if Bill had a whole lifetime's worth of memories to hide in, where would he choose to anchor himself?”

“If I know Bill's methods, he'd find the place where...his host was vulnerable.” Ford said, hesitating a little before pointedly avoiding Stan's name. “He'd look for the single most important thing in his mind, whatever was truly precious, and then coil himself around it. That would allow him to use that weakness to hurt the host mind, either to discourage anyone trying to stop him, or just...because that is the sort of thing he does.”

The most important thing in Stan's mind...Dipper's eyes widened.

“Where on the Stan-O-War do you keep Mabel's scrapbooks?”

Realization spread over Ford's face. “By the Axolotl, you're right. Quickly! Let's get to the exit. The faster we move, the less time Bill has to prepare....”

The two of them sprinted back down the hallway, back to the entrance of the Shack, hoping that they hadn't been turned around enough that they'd be unable to find their way out. As they ran, Dipper began to notice something wrong with the walls and floorboards. They were shifting and shacking, cracks were widening between them. Before long, it was like running through an earthquake, the floor shuddering under them, doors flying open and closed on either side.

“He's trying to stop us!” Ford shouted back at Dipper. “That means we're on the right track! Keep running!”

“Right!” Dipper shouted back, pumping his legs for all he was worth. He focused all his attention on running. Keep moving forward, don't look back. He told himself. Not always great life advice, sure, but good in the literal sense right now.

Still, he probably should have looked down. If he had he might have seen the trap door that had been flung open by the shaking before his foot went through it. Off-balance, still mid-stride Dipper barely had the chance to process what was happening before he'd tumbled forward completely into darkness. He was falling. Above him, he heard Ford calling his name in a panic, and saw the light of the trap door shrink into nothingness. He reached up reflexively though there was nothing to grasp, and when he shouted back to Ford he couldn't hear a response.

He hit the ground with a thud. Painful, but not the bone-shattering impact it should have been, which was a plus. He'd only just barely gotten to his feet when something heavy slammed into his side, knocking him down again. Somewhere in the room, he could hear mocking, high-pitched laughter, and a chill ran up his spine.

EFMZA FTQ OXAIZ'E OMDQQD IME NDAGSTF FA MZ MNDGBF TMXF MRFQD M PQYAZEFDMFUAZ AZ TAYQYMPQ RUDQIADWE. FTQ QJBXAEUAZ FAAW AGF FTQ NAGZOQ TAGEQ MZP YAEF AR FTQ MOFGMX TAGEQ ME IQXX. UF IME FTQ IADEF NUDFTPMK QHQD.

[transcendence-au]

Thoughts on Object Forms

I’ve had this thought, for a while now, that Mabel got desensitized to cult-bashing (with all the blood, and gore, and cracked skulls) awfully fast, and it’s lead me to this head-canon:

Dipper’s object form is not initially a star. He never realizes this in the main TAU-verse because the change happens before he ever uses it. You see, Dipper measures his humanity against Mabel. And, unknowingly, whenever he loses pieces of himself he patches the holes with bits of her. This is why she acclimates so quickly to demonic levels of violence; she’s missing pieces too. Her holes are smaller - she’s still human, so they heal. Maybe sometimes she notices, just a little. When Dipper seems to act more and more like her, and she’s ok with things she’s not sure she should be. But she doesn’t mind. If it’s true, then she’s simply found a way to share her brother’s burden. Take some of the load from his shoulders. And she knows he’d be horrified if he ever suspected, so she never tells him.

In the Drift AU though, it’s another story. Here Dipper ends up stuck in object form rather quickly, after yet another desperate attempt to contact Mabel. Here Dipper is a yellow pine tree (Yellow because of Bill’s energy. Yellow because pine needles turn yellow when they die), and he HATESit. Not only does it make him look like Bill, it makes him what Bill called him. He can’t help but wonder if Bill somehow knew. (Did he do it on purpose? Am I still falling into his plans?)

In the bad end, this is the first step down the slope. His fractured humanity hates this form because of Bill, his newfound demonhood hates this form because it means he’s weak, and he does everything he can to never get stuck in it again. He no longer gathers power purely in hope of getting home, but also to avoid weakness. It is the first time he gives in to his demon side. And the worst part is he never recognizes it.

In the good end, he catches that thought and nips it in the bud. The ONLY reason he will gather power is to see Mabel. If he’s stuck in this form because he’s too weak to maintain another, that only means that it conserves his energy. So Dipper uses his object form as often as possible. Not during summons. The rush of power from a sacrifice is enough to push him out of it, and even if it does conserve energy he still doesn’t want anyone to see him like that. But when he’s alone in the mindscape, and no one can see him? He’s a pine tree. He hates every second of it, but if it gets him back to Mabel even one minute faster it’s worth it. And the only reason he hates it (the only reason he lets himself hate it) is because it reminds him of Bill. It reminds him of what he’s fighting for. He hates it, but it helps him stay focused. Ironically, looking less human is the very thing that lets him stay human.

In the main TAU-verse, Alcor’s object form is a star because Alcor is a star. The pine tree was Dipper, and Alcor is not quite Dipper any more. It still reminds him of Bill, and he will always hate it. But it also reminds him of Mabel, so he doesn’t mind using it on occasion.

In the good end of Drift, Alcor’s object form stubbornly remains a pine tree, even after he takes the name Alcor and uses the stars as his theme, because he has stubbornly clung to his humanity - and has arguably had far more success doing it alone than he would have had with Mabel. After Mabel’s death he changes his form to a star in her honor. And despite still being yellow and pointy, he never truly hates his object form again. Because it will always remind him more of Mable than of Bill. (In this universe, no one ever manages to bind Alcor with his symbol. Because no one realizes that the star is not his symbol. Every other demon’s most important symbol, the one central to their circle, is their own. But Alcor’s star is, has always been, Mizar’s symbol. At his heart, Alcor is still the pine tree.)

In the bad end of Drift, no one knows what Alcor’s object form is. No one but he has ever seen it, and he has only ever used it once.

[rum-and-shattered-dreams]

Oh Boy...  I’m Finally Writing This Thing... Heroism is Subjective - Prelude

The fic that goes with this AO3 Link Summary: An AU fic where what Ford was hiding under his sweater was a last-ditch method of defeating Bill once and for all. With all other efforts exhausted and time running out on the containment of Bill's chaotic devastation, he knows what must be done and that there's no chance he will make it through alive. The only problem is that for first time in thirty years, he doesn't want to merely survive for the sake of repairing his mistakes, he wants to live. Notes:  This is a fic I had originally started in the (relatively) short hiatus before the finale. Going back to try to work on this has been rather difficult since I had to put myself back in that mindset of not knowing so many things including how the series would end. I've tried to stay true to the original AU idea as much as possible so I'm sorry if there are inconsistencies with canon or disappointments because certain things from canon (cough cough The Shacktron cough cough) aren't included. (Though, apparently I did get in the ballpark with the appearance of a giant robot and totally nailed that Bill was showing Ford visions with that promo shot of him looming over a galaxy. But the funny thing is that I actually tortured Ford less than canon did which, believe me, is saying something O_o.) Additional note: This fic is purposely vague about everyone's future families so readers can headcanon what they like as far as who married whom. I wanted to keep this as much of a gen fic as possible so have fun filling in the blanks with whatever you like. And now for the main attraction, several thousand words of solid pain. Please accept a complimentary virtual hug and box of tissues...

December 2043 Dipper had barely climbed out of his slush-spattered SUV when a flash of pink and purple slammed into him and powerful arms wrapped around his neck.  Mabel's quilted coat sleeves squished against his cheeks as she squealed in delight, "Dipper!" "Ha ha, good to see you too, Mabel" his greeting squeaked mid-way through with an extra squeeze of her arms.  He returned her overzealous death-grip of a hug before having so much as a moment to survey his surroundings.   Seemingly out of nowhere, two more sets of arms wrapped around the twins as the joyful voices of his parents parroted Mabel's enthusiastic greeting. "Mom!  Dad!  You made it!" he remarked, "How has Florida been treating you?" "Pretty decently," his father answered, patting his back. "Oh, be honest, dear," his mother added, "That last hurricane had us huddled up in a closet and wishing we were back on the west coast." "I'm glad you didn't end up with any damage to the condo," Dipper commented, soaking in the warmth of his parent's arms surrounding him and his twin.  In that moment, television producer and paranormal researcher, Dr. Mason Pines, shed the constricting exoskeleton of professionalism and reveled in the nostalgia of his childhood and the love of his family.  The group released each other and Mabel and his parents took turns hugging his family members as they emerged from the passenger and back seats.   Dipper smiled as he watched the moody are we there yets of a long drive melt into gushing about the warmth and fluffiness of the scarves Mabel had made for everyone.   "Not everyone can say they have a scarf made by the designer!"   "These are so cool!  Everyone back home is super jealous that I have an M.Pines original!" He turned back to the SUV, ready to pop open the trunk and unload his family's luggage but a shaky hand on his shoulder triggered a pause. "Hey kid.  Good ta' see you again." "Grunkle Stan!"  Dipper whipped around, catching his wobbly great uncle in his arms. "Grunkle Stan, I thought I told you to stay inside where it's warm!"  Mabel scolded him with an outstretched finger and pouted lips.  Her concerned "You could have slipped and fallen!" and "Why didn't you at least use your walker!" faded as he waved a hand at her dismissively.   "Psh.  I get around fine without that rickety thing.  'Sides, I got impatient.  Couldn't wait any longer to give you this," he joked, wrapping an arm around Dipper's neck and rubbing his gnarled knuckles in his hair.  His voice creaked and rasped, weathered by a blur of holidays, summer vacations, and, Dipper suspected, from the source of the smoky musk clinging to his hair.  His arms, once a powerhouse of punches, felt bony and thin beneath his sheepskin coat, his grip retaining less and less strength with every playful choke hold and noogie, yet, Dipper played along, bending nearly halfway over to surrender.   "Aw, I'm glad to see you too," he said, giving his great uncle a few moments of triumph before carefully freeing himself from his grip and wrapping both arms around him. "What is this, a hug?" Stan grunted, as he always did. "Yeah.  Yeah it is.  You got a problem with that?" Dipper joked. "Smart mouthin' me, huh?  I'm proud of ya, kiddo," He replied, patting Dipper's back.  "Proud 'a ya both," he added, reaching up to pull Mabel into the hug.  He released them, stepped back for a moment to appreciate their presence before him, then threw his arms around them again, holding them tightly for a moment and releasing them with some reluctance. Stan took turns hugging and greeting the others with two hugs each while Dipper and Mabel unloaded the trunk.  After handing out suitcases and bags to every open hand offering to carry something, Dipper closed the trunk, shouldered his messenger bag, and rolled his own suitcase along the ice-spotted path cleared between snowdrifts, looking ahead to a familiar sight.  Thirty years had brought Dipper and Mabel growth, failure, new family members, exciting technology, and a dusting of gray hair but one thing remained constant, a rock where he and his family could tether their drifting rafts every holiday season, The Mystery Shack.   Blanketed in snow and nestled between towering conifers, the only change the shack had seen, repairs aside, was thirty years ago, when anything too reminiscent of a certain demon had been stripped from the structure.  Amber lights flickered through orange and green stained glass, inviting the visiting family in from the biting flurries drifting down from a blanket of clouds above.  Even so, Dipper's shoulders sagged as one mournful memory threatened to drown out laughter fueled water balloon fights, celebratory fireworks shot toward the horizon, snowball fights in the forest, and monster movie nights spent together in the warm glow of the television.  He tried to smile past it but his sagging posture betrayed him. "Hey, Dipper,  It's okay," Mabel whispered to him, her shoulder tapping against his as the lag in his stride allowed her to catch up, "I know it's still hard for you sometimes." "Yeah, kiddo.  It's...  It's rough sometimes," Stan added, his head lowered and one arm locked with Mabel's for support. "I try to remember all of the good times but sometimes..." Dipper trailed off, his vision locked on a cleanly shoveled square in the snow where a stone engraved with the words "Heroism is subjective." marked the center of a tan and brown mosaic depicting a zodiac circle.   "Yeah, me too, kid.  Me too," Stan agreed softly, his voice hitching between words.  After a pensive pause, a smile lifted his cheeks and he looked up to Dipper, wagged a finger at him and added, "But save the spiel of asking me if I'm okay staying here.  I'm just as fine with it now as I have been the thirty-thousand other times you two have asked.  Soos and Melody have been takin' good care of the place and of me too, if you must know." "I'm glad to hear that," Dipper replied, shifting the strap crossed over his chest. "Me too," Mabel added, resting her head on Stan's shoulder for a moment.  She had become closer than ever to him in the five years preceding her fashion line's explosion in popularity.  Thanks to his offer to live in the Mystery Shack for as long as she liked, she was able to quit her day job and focus on her designs.  With his experience in running a business, he helped her set up her own and ran the administrative portion until she could afford to hire an assistant.  Despite his protests to any form of repayment, he regularly received new coats and sweaters in the mail along with lengthy, hand written letters, drawings, and cards.   "Oh, by the way, Grunkle Stan," Dipper said with a light grunt as he hoisted his suitcase onto the porch, "Thanks for coming all the way down to LA for the graduation ceremony.  We were all so happy you could make it." "Well, of course!  I had to be there for the two of us, ya know," He answered, nodding toward the mosaic. "Yeah," Dipper replied with a melancholy smile, holding the door open for his sister and Great uncle, "He's still with us everyday, isn't he?" "Damn straight!  And if he ain't, when we meet again, I'm gonna yak his ear off with thirty years worth of stories.  Yer gonna have to bury me with one'a Mabel's scrapbooks so I can show him all the photos." "Heh, yeah," Dipper muttered with an awkward laugh.  It was hard enough losing the grunkle who made him feel less alone, who threw aside his work to play their favorite game together, and who praised him for being who he was.  He didn't want to so much as imagine the inevitability of losing the grunkle who taught him how to fight, who gave him the strength and confidence to follow his dream, and who sent him letters every week when he was struggling with anxiety in his first year of college. Yet, as much as Stan joked about the topic, he certainly had luck to spare in continuing on year after year.  He'd kept his promise to his brother that he'd live a long and happy life, that he'd defy death out of pure spite, if necessary, to live for them both.  Every hug became two hugs, one from each of them.  Every family event was met with twice the pride and enthusiasm.  Yet, he still allowed himself space to grieve, space to rest, space to sometimes simply not feel up to doing anything, and space to be himself.  It only took Mabel saying, "He'd understand," and Dipper adding "He'd want you to do what makes you happy and keeps you healthy," once for Stan to concede.  Though it took time, they all learned to find a balance between loving their lives and respecting the family member torn from them too soon. Dipper shook the thoughts away, settling himself into a lighter mood, and glanced around the Mystery Shack's hallway, a smile spreading on his face as he lifted his head, sniffing the air like a cat waiting for its dinner.  The smell of fresh baked cookies intertwined with the sound of Soos and Melody's laughter lilting from the kitchen's open door. Stan whispered something akin to an apology to his walker before sitting on it's knit-covered seat with a groan.  He looked up to Dipper, noticing his audible sniffing, and said with a wink, "That's my recipe they're using in there, ya know." "Your chocolate crisp one?" He asked, brushing the rapidly melting snow flurries from his shoulders, "No wonder it smells so good-" "Hey Dipper," Mabel elbowed him gently, "You know..." her gravely whispered tone dispelled his attempt to lighten the mood.  "I think the kids are all old enough that we could tell them what really happened that summer...  If you want." "You think so?" he asked, tugging his gloves off, "I guess it would be good.  We don't want to keep secrets, right?" "Yeah."  She shrugged off her coat and hung it on a peg beside the door.  "Grunkle Stan?  Do you think you'd be alright to tell the story?"  She bent down to help him wiggle one arm out of his coat, "I know it's tough for you but you're the best at keeping all the pieces together." "I guess so," he answered, slipping his other arm out of his coat and handing it to Mabel, "I mean, you two are right.  It's not fair to keep this from them.  They hear about him from me sometimes, they deserve to know who he was and why it's important to me to hug them for him all the time."  He looked up to the twins and smiled, "I mean, he is a part of this family too right?" The twins nodded in unison, Mabel's answer of "damn right," overlapping Dipper's, "Of Course." "After dinner then.  Everyone will be together. That'll be a good time to tell them what really happened to Ford."