#still figuring out how i wanna format these. the longer ones will get their journal under a readmore i think bcos some of em are p wordy

[sedge-and-sanctuary]

Moon One - Thawcreep

Sedgeclan has no deputy! Sedgeclan has no medicine cat!

Coniferstar journeys north alone, into the tundras, and finds Sedgeclan’s future camp, the Boulderfall.

Coniferstar - Male - 20 moons Leader - Remaining lives: 9 Charismatic Clever & a great hunter

Coniferstar’s paws ache. The ground this far north is frozen-hard, even late into newleaf, and scrapes his pawpads raw. Wind howls like a hungry animal across the open plain, with no trees to break it. The prey- tough and tricky as the tundra itself- evades Coniferstar’s claws, and his stomach growls. But the air is fresh and clean here, fragrant with sedge and heather. And the days are longer than they had been, to the south; even into evening, the sun is golden, and stretches out long claws out across the landscape. Coniferstar springs up a fallen rock, scraping away the greyish, clinging lichen. He takes a deep breath, and lets it out again with a purr.

Here, after days of wandering–  here is a good place. The sky is blue, above, the sun bright. A tumble of massive stones lie scattered, broken off from the cliff-face above, and in their shade; a shelter from the elements. Coniferstar hops from his perch, to the lee-side of his boulder, and the tearing wind cuts off abruptly; a silence more welcome than even hot, fresh prey would be.

He paces a tight circle- once, twice- before settling down, back pressed to one of the sun-warmed stones. In the morning, he will begin the work. For now; a rest. He’s surely earned it.

[the-fourth-knower]

Diary of a Lost Doe, Part 2

Part 2 is here! Read part 1 here! Left y'all off on a cliff hanger for part 1, so hopefully this part will be worth the wait.

Part 1 is a bit longer, but the first half's length is mostly spacing. This one has more paragraph format and ideally oomph to it.

Note: All Wheatfields belong to @aquillis-main, Eggman belongs to SEGA, and so on.

Diary 2 Entry 56

Fuck my life.

-

Angelica was gone for most of yesterday, I had to go into the Eggman zone to look for her. When i finally fukin find her she had a fucking mouse with her. Red furred, tan-muzzle/ears. Also tan tuft or fur patch. And I guess a tan tail. Clothes smell a bit like weed.

Angie insists that’s it's Trevor. This time there’s no dissuading her. It might actually be the Wheatfield kid.

-

She says the kid- is he a kid, he’s not that much younger than me? Fuck it, the guy ran into robots and got screwed. Angie saved him but the dude was beaten up bad or something and has barely woken up since

Angie definitely used her power on him. Even though I told her not to use it except for emergencies, multiple fuckin times

Shit i almost went through the page.

-

Angie’s been taking care of the guy all night and today. If I can’t get her to lay down she’ll do it all night tonight too.

Why the hell does she need to have a bleedin heart

-

Also, not sure but I could’ve sworn I saw Guardian guiding me to Angelica...mabye it really is a Guardian Angel for us. maybe

-

I think we may need to move out of here, things are too hot for my liking. I gotta figure out where we could go.

-

A stock of our current supplies

217 dollars and change

Quareter of a pallet of bottled water

Eight cans of food

Two bedrolls

Spade/trowel

Water can (could leave it)

Two backpacks

Duffel bag

Three first aid kits, one partly used

Three journal diaries

Half a case of pens

Three small bags of seeds

Quiver with arrows (Angie’s)

Pa’s gift to Angie (Shortbow)

Steel glove (Mine)

Pistol (Mum’s, technically Angie’s now - no bullets)

-

Haven’t made anything in the past few days. No one wants to hire anyone right now. And I guess I don’t look like bodyguard material. Can’t get a job with that, if I wanted to.

Man I wish Angie thought to grab some of the robo parts, we could have sold them.

-

Got to get Angie to sleep.

Diary 2 Entry 57, apparently.

Been a while. Finally have time to write again. Shit’s been crazy. We’re in an actual house now, or something.

Where to start.

Well first off. The Wheatfield kid finally woke up and stayed up. Freaked out at first before Angie calmed him down. Didn’t know she had it in her - usually she’s the one freaking out over things. But if she can calm down the kid then that’s a thing I don’t have to worry bout.

Turns out the kid has something the robot army dude - Eggman or Robotnik or whatever - wanted, that’s why he got thrashed in the first place. He also seemed embarassed bout his state, that or that we gave him some of our clothes. And by that I mean Angie did.

I’d been preparing to leave when some of the robots showed up. They wanted to grab the Wheatfield, and he looked like he pissed his pants.

Then Angelica got in the way.

Next thing I know there’s vines bursting out of the ground, just like what must have happened when Angie fought the thugs when we first met Guardian. They popped the robots like balloons, and animals jumped out of them. Why the fuck are there animals in there? Who uses animals in their robots???

I broke a few of them too, the ones that Angie didn’t get. Even the mouse got one that was gonna blindside Angie. So he is good for something.

Just one problem; during the fight our house shack got trashed. Or right when it started.

Well after that we obviously couldn’t stay in our place. So Angie had to say goodbye to another garden - she watered them all before setting the water can down. Or did whatever she does.

I think I’m gonna miss that dumb shack.

Wheatfield wanted to go home. So we went with him after getting everything salvageable. Angie grabbed the water can and used it to store stuff - was pretty sure at first she’d leave it, but I forgot she’s quick to adapt.

I wanna think I helped in that.

Dodged more robots to get to the house. Got attacked by one that seemed to be hunting us. That was after we went into sewers to escape them. Or we just got unlucky. So I decided to get to the bottom of why they wanted the Wheatfield kid anyways.

Turns out it was a fucking letter. A letter. All of this mess over a fucking letter.

I wanted to just throw it away there and then. The kid wouldn’t give it to me at first, so I had to get in his face. He gave it to me then. I was gonna drop

Then Angie butted in and told me to give it back. Which. honestly shocked me I think. she didn’t like me ‘bullying Trevor’ like I did.

Didn’t even touch the guy! And I wouldn’t have done it if he just gave it to me right away. I didn’t “bully” him.

whatever. She pointed out that we couldn’t get rid of the letter and get away with it; the letter wasn’t what the animal-bots wanted but the carrier.

Which gave me the idea to change how he looked. I think they thought I was gonna get rid of the kid at first - like I'd do that, sure I get mad easy but I don't just ditch people! Not sure if he liked what I did instead, but coating the guy with mud helped. I think. At least he wasn’t a red mouse sticking out in the crowd anymore.

Things went smoother after that. We managed to avoid the robots for the most part. Had to break a few of them. Saw a green orb a few times that led the robots away - came across some smashed up robots with flowers around. Guardian Angel and all, I guess.

Finally got to where the Wheatfields were living now. Near a park. Dunno why I didn’t think bout that. Then again I didn’t know it existed until the Wheatfield kid led me there.

Took Angie aside while the kid ran off ahead; made sure that she would let me handle all the talking. I wasn’t gonna let someone know bout what happened unless I trusted them, not even mum’s and pa’s old friends. She was still mad at me I think, but she agreed. Not that she’d been talking much to me all day, she was too busy making sure the mouse was okay - I guess it made sense. He was her best friend. Is her best friend? I dunno.

If I was rude then I wish I could have captured a pic of their faces when they figured out we were there. The pa of the family, Jackson, looked like his eyes would bulge out - the mum, Emma, looked only slightly more dignified.

After fussing over their kid, they fussed over us. Asked a bunch of questions. “Where’s your parents, are you okay, were you hurt, why are your clothes filthy, when did you last bathe, why are you both so thin”

I like to think that I did a good job keeping the two of us fed and clean. As best as I could anyways without running water and unreliable income - they may have meant me more than Angie. I made sure she was fed as best I could.

I planned to tell them that we would be fine on our own, that they didn’t need to worry bout us.

Then they offered us baths. And Angie just perked up at it.

I couldn’t disappoint her by telling everyone we’d leave. So I said yes, we’d accept.

And now we’re living in their house.

Fuck me, if it doesn’t feel nice. Angie’s even willing to sit next to me again, but she’s been playing with the Wheatfield kids - there’s a second one, younger brother. Solydaster I think. Kinda cute but also a bit of a pest.

Fuck, this is the longest entry I’ve written. Gotta chill now. We’ve all just laid low. The animal bots left. Guess they had something better to do. Or just got bored watching.

Still dunno bout living with them...but Angie’s happy.

If Angie’s happy I should be happy too. So I’ll try.

I can manage it. I gotta manage it. For her.

So why don’t I feel happy

[tirednotflirting]

when you're next to me and the music's loud

i joined the crew of people who wrote like, love letter fics to their city (though i will be back to do it again bc i’m a romantic about this place lol). so here is jalex in austin !

title and inspo from the ungodly number of times i listened to don’t come down by the maine. thank you to literally rian dawson on a podcast for getting me to sit down and finally listen to all of lovely little lonely lol

i don’t mention the name of specific places for the sake of allowing you to kinda picture whatever you want while reading this thing but if you’re curious, the boys are seeing a show at this restaurant/venue called stubb’s (the indoor part of the venue which i’m not sure if they ever actually played but they DID play the outdoor bit in like 2011 or something).

feel free to come chat w me about austin or the couple of other places i halfway mention if you wanna. i love my city w my whole little heart and miss dancing and singing at shows 

here it is on ao3

Watching Alex watch a show is probably Jack’s favorite view in the world.

He’s traveled around the world more times than he can keep track of at this point. Watched the sunrise over a few different oceans and sunsets over crowds of thousands singing along to words Alex scratched out into journals over a decade earlier. He’s watched meteor showers and solar eclipses and yet none of them hold a candle to the smile he can see on Alex’s face as he looks back at him from the crowd in this tiny, packed room.

He just barely catches the wink Alex throws in his direction before the bartender is tapping his shoulder to hand him his card back. Jack thanks her and weaves his way back through the crowd to Alex’s side. A lemon-vodka-flavored kiss is placed against the corner of his lips in thanks as Alex starts singing along to the song he’s somehow already learned the words to despite having never heard of this band before they started playing an hour earlier.

Jack knows he should be watching the band up on stage thirty or so feet in front of him but his attention just keeps getting pulled back to the boy next to him. To the way the blue and pink lights shine against Alex and paint his hair a bright purple (he makes the mental note to mention to him later that he should consider it next time he decides to dye his hair). To the way Alex bounces on his toes in the same way he does when up on stage himself. It’s always been one of Jack’s favorite parts about going to shows with Alex, the fact that he watches shows in the same way he performs one. It’s further evidence of how in sync he always is with the people who come to see them play.

It had been Alex’s idea to find a show to go to on their off night in the city. The venue’s website had no notice that tonight’s show was sold out so after dinner they wandered down the street and bought tickets at the door. Jack bought the tickets and Alex bought their first round (This is like a rock and roll version of dinner and movie, right?). 

He closes his eyes for a moment then and takes a breath before bringing his drink to his lips again. Jack has always loved coming to Austin. He’s spent his entire life in love with live music. He loves the volume that leaves his ears ringing and bright lights and screaming along with singers from crowds. It’s always been his favorite part of being in a band, that he gets to help create those moments. Sometimes he forgets what it’s like from this end though. And this city always feels like the best place to come to for a reminder. The city always feels like it’s singing, like there’s music coming from every corner. It’s a different feeling from LA or Nashville or any other big, bright city. It feels more pure and alive but in an unpolished kind of way. Austin is what live music is meant to feel like.

“What’s going on up there?” Jack hears as Alex’s lips brush against his ear while tapping a finger against his forehead. He opens his eyes to the bright lights and blinks a few times so he can focus on the room before turning to let his eyes lock with Alex’s. Jack watches the stage lights flash in the dark brown of his irises, another view he should be so familiar with by now but still knocks him out every time. His free hand drops to wrap around Alex’s waist to pull him into his side and his cheeks warm at the laugh he receives in response though the music is loud enough he can’t hear it.

“Just happy. To be here, to be with you,” Jack leans in to say so he can be heard above the music. He watches Alex close his eyes and smile in the flashes of colored light coming from the stage and Jack returns the grin when he feels Alex lean more into his side and drop his head against Jack’s shoulder. He reaches for Jack’s free hand with his own and presses his lips against the back of it and Jack figures it says more than what he would likely be able to hear over the crowd and the music.

Jack knows it’s a ridiculously cheesy thought but there really is something so intimate about standing in the middle of a crowd with the person you love. He can hear the music, see the lights and the colorful crowd around them, taste the tequila on his tongue but his head is full of nothing but a static of Alex Alex Alex. As he’s gotten older, Jack found he was proud of himself for his ability to be more present as he moved about life and the world around him. But every once in a while his heart clouds up what’s in front of his eyes and the weight of his smiling, singing boy against his chest is the only thing in the world. It’s a peaceful feeling. For as long as he can remember, even when they were rowdy, screaming kids, Jack’s brain has always automatically associated Alex with peace. It’s something he’s been thankful for, to grow up in this wild world they created for themselves while holding the eye of the hurricane against his chest.

Alex lifts his head from Jack’s shoulder then and returns to shouting and jumping along with the crowd. The song comes to a close soon after and Jack wraps an arm around Alex’s middle to sway them back and forth as they listen to the singer introduce what is to be the final song of the night. He thanks the crowd and tells them to come out back to say hello after they pack up. Jack smiles fondly as he remembers hearing similar words from another lead singer in the same room nearly a decade earlier. He hopes the boy standing at stage right all those years ago would be proud of where he’s at now, playing to bigger rooms further downtown and holding the boy he loves against his chest. (A younger Jack would probably be most surprised that he’s drinking tequila though, if he’s being honest.)

“Where are we headed after this? Zack and Rian are asking if they can join,” Alex says into Jack’s ear to bring him back out of his nostalgia.

Jack drops his head to rest on Alex’s shoulder, his arms wrapping further around his middle. “Girl at the bar was recommending this other bar basically across the street. Said they have a food truck too if the boys are wanting food. I’ll drop the location for it when we’re heading out.” “Always one step ahead, aren’t you?”

“Only when playing tourist,” Jack laughs before turning to press his lips to Alex’s hair. He stands up straight then as the song starts and this time he instinctively starts jumping with the rest of the crowd as he recognizes the tune coming from the stage. Alex joins him and then they’re both bouncing and dancing around in the middle of the packed room, loudly singing to a chorus they both only barely know. 

Soon enough, their eyes are sparkling as they laugh and try to catch their breath, the room already clearing out as the crowd heads for the merch booth and the bathrooms. Jack shoots the name of the bar to the group message while Alex spins around in circles while tying his flannel around his waist, bopping his head along and singing to a song that’s no longer playing. “Come on,” Jack says while pocketing his phone and reaching for Alex’s hand. “The food truck has chili fries.”

“God, I love you,” Alex says dazedly as they reach the stairs to take them back to the street level. 

Jack laughs. “Because I know where to get chili fries at nearly midnight in downtown Austin?”

“For so many reasons, my love, but at this moment, yes. Because of the chili fries.”

“Alright, silly boy. Love you, too.” 

And then they’re back outside and somehow the magic of the crowd and the band and the lights hasn’t faded as they head for the crosswalk. Jack is used to leaving a show and stepping back into a reality that just doesn’t feel as special as the energy of a show. Maybe that’s the most special part about Austin, that the entire city carries that magic in the gentle breeze blowing under the hem of his t-shirt. He’s turning to Alex as they cross the street to describe the feeling to him and see if he even understands what he means, when the grip Alex has on Jack’s hand tightens momentarily. 

“I can feel it, too.”

Jack can only laugh in response, because of course Alex gets it. He always gets it. Later when they’re dancing around their hotel room, Alex will compare the feeling to something having to do with the formation of galaxies and exploding supernovas. Jack will smile and agree with every comparison Alex makes but when asked for his own, Jack will remember the weight against his chest during the show and the reflection of the city in dark brown eyes and give an answer with a more simple, four letter name. 

*

[kosmicdream]

The Bizarre Pacing of Feast For a King

I WROTE ANOTHER LITTLE JOURNAL THING ABOUT MY COMIC enjoy

Feast for a king, right now, is around 4350 pages long. (A bit more than that, especially if you include the 80 page bonus chapter) but one thing about this story that stands out and ultimately becomes one of the biggest deciding factors of a readers enjoyment is the way I handle pacing.

Besides the ‘rough’ artwork, its absolutely the #1 thing people comment on. Disorienting, Rambling or meandering, it very much encapsulates a style that you would not typically find in a comic. It promotes an atmosphere of, obviously lacking an ‘editor’ who would attempt to reel things in or get to the point. As its creator, I’m very aware with how strange it is but that’s exactly one of the reason why I attempt to commit to it. I allow myself this strange liberty to participate in this comic in a format that is very revealing of all my flaws.. but also helps me discover my strengths as well. And besides that, it really gives me the most clear window of the possibilities of my skills.

Still at this point in my comic creating process, I start to hesitate to call this format experimental anymore. I understand that it is, but it also just.. is how I like to make comics. By calling it experimental, i find that I take myself a little less seriously as an artist. Or that it becomes a little more easy to put down what makes this process work and why its effective.

In the eyes of many, it breaks necessary boundaries and there’s not a lot pause for air. Its just like this, the entire way that it goes. Its something you must confront and deal with in order to read the story. I think that in a way, I use this pacing also as a protective wall for myself. The only problem is that it also isolates me from a larger audience. Which kind of sucks because, i think that my story is very special and i’d love for more people to read it because.. id.. like to make this my career and support me. I’m sure there are a lot of other aspects of my comic that make it hard to read besides the pacing but, I think that my pacing is something that I’d like to address in more detail as to why i do it. It IS absolutely an intentional choice, but at the same time, I’m not sure if its a choice I can really undo anymore. So perhaps its actually just something I can’t help but do.

1) The largest reason that I do this pacing is because its reflective of my main source of inspiration, Roleplaying! And, my favorite method of roleplaying is actually a very simple format close to chat-based style. I’ve been roleplaying since i was 11 and making characters and stories ever since. Its where I feel more comfortable working and exploring ideas. I wanted to make a comic feel like how I do when I roleplay. And how i roleplay is often filled with mundane, small scenes of almost pointless activities which end up really building that atmosphere or illusion that these characters are always living their lives somewhere, even if we don’t notice. I’m obsessed with documenting all that small boringness. The more i can pull out of myself, the better it feels. I feel like its a reward to get to see those things, and its the kind of attention to detail that often hooks me in when I experience other media. Its like, oh my god, i love this character fussing with a flashlight or looking for food at a grocery store. Tying their shoes. Fussing over their thoughts in a moment. These are things I cling to and want to take the time to mention. You can do all those in roleplaying without it being super distracting because its casual, but suddenly when its in the format of a comic it just-- doesn’t seem necessary. and it isnt. but thats why its such a treat to get it. But it also just stops being a treat when its constant, and instead, its all the time. Its just the normal standard. You’d think that make its loose its appeal... but for me i just, want more of it. Its really an obsessive hunger. I realized that i could do it this way in a comic and I never wanted it to stop. And i dont have to. That’s what makes it so cool but i feel like..im cheating at something by having so much..fun?

2) Meandering gives you plenty of fucking time to plan ahead. Oh it sure as fuck does. Oh my god. I am not even kidding. The satisfaction of feeling like I’ve got all my plans together because I spent hundreds of pages of my characters fucking around (sometimes literally FUCKING around) is amazing. I love just not having to worry about shit for a while because if i was hitting all these huge story beats at all the time, i think I would evaporate and miss out on just the slow, happy experience of getting to know my world so intimately and feeling very comfortable with how it unfolds. I sit and debate on things and Its like ahh, thank god I don’t feel a rush to get around to do anything. I love just being chill and drawing my characters walking around and doing fucking nothing but walking around and its like damn I could be walking around right now too, but I’m not. They are. What am i typing right now?

When exciting things happen in my comic, I love it. But i also love working by making basically mental buffer pages. Its like the camera kept rolling and following the crew around. Once again, basically ties into the “mundane” aspect, but it just gives a very nice satisfaction of not feeling rushed to do anything until its time to do it. personally, i think that if we are given more time with characters, even just by seeing there, we get a little more fonder of them. Like seeing a regular at a coffee shop or like, a video game npc bouncing around in the corner in the same spot for the entire game. They’re there and its a reliable landmark. Until it goes away. :)

3) Pay off. I’ve lulled you all into this false sense of mundane non changing-ism. Just think though. I could pull that fucking rug out at any time and all those little cute moments suddenly become very upsetting because that was all you got. It sucks now. See? I’ve manipulated you from the start and ive planted the little seeds in your mind-just kidding. everything is fine and no one will ever experience sad things in ffak. ONLY happy endings.

4) What’s the forth reason? Ummmmm....... I can take breaks from my own comic and then go into the past of the same story, or write about some random character... and then like. just do a totally different comic for a bit. and no one can say i cant do that, because if Its just what i wanna do you just.. get to see some of that. and i can extend one single day for as long as i want. i might just draw an entire chapter about sneezy the worm if i wanted. 600 pages of sneezy the worm. you want to hear about sneezy the worm? no? you want the main plot about the final feast? no fuck you.. im going to talk about sneezy now. that’s what you get. yesss. you look upset now but just wait, you’re gonna love sneezy the worm when I’m done and you cant escape caring about cute little worms no matter what.

So to wrap up today’s delirious ramblings 1) Its fun and i love small character moments 2) gives me plenty of time to write ahead and figure out endings lol 3) potential heart breaking pay offs when i change the routine 4) freedom to do whatever and write about whatever characters without a looming deadline or judgment from bosses. this is just what i love to do.

FFAK’s process is strange but I intend to enjoy myself as much as possible. I also think I’m very great because the longer i work the less ashamed i feel about my choices with writing and making it this way. its just like oh cool, i can do this and its not the end of the world if everyone doesnt like it cause I like it and thats what matters. and turns out, my happiness results in thousands of pages because I’m constantly self-motivated. So its fucking cool as shit and i love drawing. I love drawing more now in 2018 than i did when i was a teenager, or even a kid. Its so weird how much better and fun the experience has grown to be and I wouldnt trade that for the world.

Anyway thanks for reading. I’m drinking a frappichino. frappuccino. how do you fucking spell that.

-kosmic

[madkat65-blog]

Inheritance Falls ~ Preview

Word Count: 1717

Details: In a world where both Stanley and Stanford fell into the portal, it’s up to the novice duo of Dipper and Mabel to bring them back while living through the terrors of fighting off the dangerous anomalies that lie within the town of Gravity Falls. Note from me about the AU under the cut. More can eventually be found on @a-kat-makes-alternate-worlds

“Well, we’re here.”

The small car finally made a turn, pulling up a long dusty road. In the passenger’s seat, Mabel was holding a map, one location in the woods circled in red. She turned to Dipper, a little nervous. “You think anyone’s going to be there?”

“Most likely not. Mom and Dad said that no one else has been in that creepy old house since we were, like two or something.” The car stopped in front of an old house, small but definitely a decent house considering the work that was being done inside. “There might be some bugs. Or maybe some monsters.” Dipper waved his hands in Mabel’s face eerily, and she shoved them aside, laughing.

“If you jinxed it, I’m going to punch you.” Mabel gave her twin a laughing glare as they both opened the doors of the car. A small gust of wind was flying through the air, sending some leaves to the ground. The two siblings looked at each other, and with a nod, they stepped onto the porch.

It was unnecessary, but Dipper first knocked on the door before entering. The knock echoed throughout the closed off porch as both waited for the response that wasn’t there. After waiting for a few seconds, he pushed the door open, Mabel following inside.

The whole house was covered in dust, small bugs crawling around on the various shelves filled to the brim with all sorts of artifacts and scientific machines. No light existed except for the autumn sun filtering through a few dirty windows. There were a few doors scattered throughout the house, all most likely leading to more rooms.

“So… Creepy house, yay?” Mabel awkwardly looked around the house, unwrapping the scarf from around her neck and using it to wipe some dust off of the window to let more light in the main room. Particles flew everywhere, only bringing in a small amount of light in comparison to the amount of sneezing the dust caused.

“Well, creepy house means look for clues, right?” Dipper reached into his pocket and grabbed a phone to use for a flashlight. “Maybe something’s behind one of these doors.” He tugged on a knob, but opened to find an old bathroom.

With every door the twins opened, a new story. There was one room with nothing but a nice blue carpet, and another with a studio of sorts. On the desk of the studio there were many assorted pens, pencils, and the like, including one plain, maroon covered book. Dipper picked it up as Mabel started sorting through papers on the desk. He flipped through the book, only finding blank pages.

“Anything useful?” Mabel asked, crumpling up the paper in her hand.

“It’s all blank. What about you?”

“Same.” The twins both let out a sigh, to which Mabel immediately yelled, “JINX!”

Dipper rolled his eyes as Mabel pumped a fist in the air. “Aren’t we getting too old for this?”

“Nope!” Mabel sat down on a stool, spinning around before nearly falling off of it. “Now, how much more do you wanna stay in this musty old house before we take a break?”

“Until we find a lead on something, I guess.” Dipper shrugged, handing Mabel the book and grabbing a pen from the desk. “We can write down everything we find in here later, but let’s keep looking for now.”

The pair continued looking through the ruined house, nothing else of interest popping out. They finally ended up back in the main room, with nothing else besides the old maroon book.

“Nothing still?” Mabel audibly rolled her eyes, moaning and leaning against a closed door. “And I’m supposed to be the one who’s good at finding the details.”

“It’s only the first view we’ve had of the place. I’m sure we’ll find something lat-” Dipper was cut off as Mabel let out a yell.

“Dipper!” The fall became quick as the old door gave way, breaking free from the hinges and falling down a flight of stairs. Mabel fell along with it, quickly reaching for something to grab onto.

In almost an instant, Dipper was on the other side of the room, running down the stairs to grab Mabel. When she was finally standing up again, they heard a thud, and looked down. The door had hit a set of iron doors, most likely an elevator. Both of their faces lit up as they saw three numbers on the top, pointing towards the third number.

“What is that?”

“I think that might just be the lead we’re looking for.”

---

Very slowly, the sounds of gears turning and pulleys running echoed throughout the dark stairwell as Dipper and Mabel watched the arrow go up to two, and then one. As soon as the yellow light glowed one, the door opened, revealing an old elevator compartment.

“Ladies first?” Dipper asked, causing Mabel to give him a look before giving him a little shove inside. She stepped inside afterwards, and the door closed.

“So which one first?” Mabel asked, getting more and more eager with each step. “Numerical sounds best, any objections to that?”

“Well, if the arrow was still pointing to three then that’s where the first clue must be, right?” Dipper offered, reaching over to press the button. Mabel extended a finger with him, and they both pressed the button. With a rough start, the elevator finally started moving downwards.

After much longer than it took coming up, the elevator finally reached the bottom with a “clang”. The door creaked open as loudly as it had the first time, and the only reaction the twins could give was silence.

Behind the door, there was a whole lab of sorts. Switches and levers of all sorts lined the walls, and at the head of it all was a desk with a broken computer at the top. On the desk there was a simple clock, and a picture of a family. Behind that was a glass window, revealing a large, upside down triangle with a center in the middle.

Dipper was the first to step out, Mabel following behind in case the elevator decided to shut on her. Both looked in awe around, seeing nothing but a faint yellow buzz on most of the machinery.

“So it was all underneath everyone this whole time…” Dipper flipped a switch, looking a little disappointed when nothing happened. “Genius.”

“Pretty obvious if you think about it. Why hide your greatest invention in plain sight if you could hide it in a much better and more inclosed spot? Especially behind an unopenable door.” Mabel reached out, grabbing the picture of the family. “Hey, these people kind of look like us when we were kids!” She held the picture out, which showed two young boys, probably around ten or twelve. One was definitely a nerdy student whereas the other seemed much more reckless than the counterpart, having a few missing teeth and a bandage on his face. They were both clearly twins, except that one of the two had a deformity - six fingers on each hand.

“Are these our uncles?” Dipper asked when he saw the picture. “I mean you’re right, they do look like us.”

“Probably a better guess than any. I’ll send a picture to Mom and Dad later and see what they have to say.” Mabel removed the back of the framed photograph and took it out, reading a label on the back. “1962.”

“Must be them. Otherwise it wouldn’t be so old.” Dipper responded, causing Mabel to laugh a little.

“It’s not that long ago!” Mabel gave him a nudge before putting the picture between the pages of the book from before and continuing to look around.

“Well, if that picture is there, then this has to be the lab they worked in.” He turned his attention to the glass window. “Any idea how to get into that room?”

Mabel stepped to the side and gestured behind her, revealing an open door. “You were saying?”

“Of course you caught that detail before me.” Mabel laughed a little bit at her brother’s statement before they both passed through the door.

The triangle figure was just as ominous as it had been from behind the window. It was probably two or three times their height, reaching the top of the room’s extended ceiling. In the front there were two cylinder formations, but with only a lid and a base, no sides. In front of the those there was a yellow safety line, and just on the floor in front of it, another maroon book and a pair of old glasses.

Mabel was the one to pick it up this time. She dusted it off, inspecting it. On the front was a golden six-fingered hand, labelled with the number one. “‘This book belongs to Stanford Pines.’” She read from the inside cover, her words getting slower and more excited as they filled. “So it was their lab! And this is all the evidence we need!”

“And to think it was all just an elevator away from everyone else.” Dipper stared over Mabel’s shoulder as she started turning the pages, revealing many sorts of doodles of creatures.

“I think I know what we’re doing tomorrow.” Almost triumphantly, Mabel slammed the book shut, letting out a cloud of dust. “What do you think?”

“Like I’d be the one to wait before looking at a lead. Come on, I believe I owe you something for that jinx?” Dipper held a hand out to pull Mabel up, which she grabbed, putting the journal back into the bag.

“Did you see any good places to eat on the way up?” The chatter of the siblings faded as the clanging of the elevator was heard again, both Dipper and Mabel heading up it.

As they left, the shadow of the triangle structure got more ominous, a few blue sparks coming from it. Two arms briefly extended from the shadow, almost sinister as they most likely connected back together again once faded back into the shadow.

“So there’s another set of Pines twins? How interesting. Well, they have no idea what they’re up against. I wonder if they’ll break as fast as old Sixer. No matter, this is definitely going to be fun.”

~ Hey. If you gave the time to come down here, thank you so much! Not often do I get people to read my stuff! This here is an AU I’m excited to develop, called Inheritance Falls. It’s just simply another AU where both of the grunkles fall into the portal when it’s created, and now that Dipper and Mabel have had a chance to decide where they’d like to go in life, they’re offered the chance to solve this mystery and head up to Gravity Falls, where many things are different from the canon. If you enjoyed this and want to see more, I have no promises on the official release date, but I’ll be posting lots of stuff about this, and possibly a few other AU’s, over on @a-kat-makes-alternate-worlds

I really hoped you enjoyed my little story!

[deer-diary]

24/04/2018

so... a diary . or journal , or whatever you wanna call this . haven’t kept one of these since i was in primary school , and i’m not sure how i’m gonna go about keeping up with it . i’ve got such a terrible track record with staying committed to things ( see: everything i’ve attempted and quickly given up on in my life. i still plan on going back to boxing sometime ) . but ! as i learned through SMNTY ( stuff mom never told you ) , keeping a journal has a lot of benefits , allowing you to regulate your stress and make you happier in the long run ( as long as you’re actually using it as a release + to examine yourself and the ways you can be better , i suppose ? )

and who doesn’t want to become happier ? so let’s give this a go .

today , i want to talk about two things that are currently inspiring me . 1. lara croft , and 2. terry crews .

i haven’t been able to stop thinking about lara croft since watching tomb raider . i loved everything about her - her independence, her lifestyle, her attitude . she’s the definition of kick-ass ! and holy shit am i in love with alicia vikander . ( but that’s a diary entry for another day ) . i’m also obsessed with the workouts alicia did to get into shape for the role - and that’s really what the overarching theme of today’s diary entry is . it’ll probably be an overarching theme of a lot of my diary entries.

i want to squeeze in here one of my favourite motivational tumblr posts: evaluate your fitness as a measure of how well you’d survive as a member of the fellowship of the ring. ( or the zombie apocalypse ; tbt my zombies! run phase ) . that’s definitely one of the best ways to motivate lil ol’ nerd me .

alicia busted her ass to get into shape to become lara croft , and i adore how strong she looked in the movie . how capable . i’m determined to adapt parts of that lifestyle into mine , for some positive , healthy change . lara croft is adaptable , lara croft can survive in the harshest of conditions and come out fighting . to that end ,

1. i’ve been trying to go on more swims , runs , hikes and nature walks ( next stop : sublime point ) .

2. i want to take up kick-boxing again , and really stick to it this time ( this may have to come after i come back from europe , when i’m no longer saving up for the holiday of a life-time . in the meantime though , there’s always youtube videos ! )

3. i want to get a bicycle ( been saying it for years , and again , this’ll probably have to come after europe ) .

4. rock-climbing ! i so want to become a regular at hang-dog , but i really have to work on my upper body and core strength first . guess those workouts with richard might be good for something after all !

5. parkour ?? a kick-ass dream of mine for years , but i’m not sure there are any facilities around wollongong that cater to that . maybe someday.

6. archery . surely that’s something i can do for my birthday this year ? a special class in archery . hell yeah .

and that’s probably enough on lara croft for now . i’m sure i’ll talk about her more in entries to come , but now it’s time to discuss terry crews and everything i love about him . this morning i listened to startalk by neil degrasse tyson , the episode where he interviewed terry crews .

( fun fact : terry crews has star wars wallpaper . he’s one of the good ones . also , where do i have to go to get star wars wallpaper ? )

mental note to remember what terry crews said about the gym : treat it like a spa . treat workouts as something that will make you feel good . because otherwise , it gets really hard to stick to it as a habit . i think i’m already about three-quarters of the way there ; i look forward to picking out a different workout every day , i always have some good music pumping , and once i start , i immediately feel better . one thing i should work on though , is fitting in more cardio . strength-training , stretching , i’ve got those two things on lock . but i’m just so bad about being motivated to do cardio . and if i’m really serious about losing those extra kilos , i have to keep everything in balance .

that also extends to diet . i had a fledgling attempt at a 16:8 diet - that is , 16 hours of fasting , 8 hour eating window - earlier this year , that never really took off . i was miserable in the morning , i didn’t know anyone who committed to something like that . but guess what i just found out ? terry crews does the 16:8 diet , and look at him . i might just have to give it another go . 12pm to 8pm eating window , let’s do this . ( starting tomorrow , because i already ate my breakfast ) .

this has already become quite the lengthy diary entry , so i might quit here . still trying to figure out what sort of format i want these entries to have , or if i just want to keep everything loosey-goosey . but i think i want to sign off every time with something i am thankful for .

today i am thankful for : tomb raider ( 2018 ) . what a movie . when’s the HD version gonna leak online ??