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yeysal · 8 years ago

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I Wrote A Thing

Still writing! I’m still taking my time and trying to make these stories as best as I can. They are very important to me. Currently, I’m up to speed with The Maze rewrite and should be posting the next chapter (relatively) soon.

Below the cut is a short part of what happens after the events set in The Maze.

Just a reminder that the rewrite of The Maze veers off on an entirely different set of events.

I hope you enjoy this! No warnings needed!

Thank you for reading. Feedback is much appreciated!

Thursday, May 30, 2016 - Gravity Falls, Oregon

Dipper stretched his legs out, the movement causing his hips to slide further down in the folding chair. The position was hardly comfortable but he couldn’t bring himself to move. After all, a body not in motion stays in...not in motion. As he stared at the ceiling of the long-abandoned spaceship, he wondered if the aliens who occupied it ever needed to change the lightbulbs.

Did they even need them? Dipper made a mental note to check for any supply closets once he was finished extracting the alien adhesive from the stones and metal plates. The substance was slower than molasses and Dipper had already been here for two hours waiting for one plate to drain completely.

He had ten plates waiting behind it.

“Ugh.” Dipper was bored out of his fucking mind.

His sigh echoed off the walls and he counted the seconds it took for it to fade away. “Cipher.” The echo of his voice nearly startled him.

No response. Dipper groaned, “Cipher.”

Dipper felt a small prod in the back of his head but no response. He rolled his eyes, “I know you’re there.”

Still nothing. Feeling defeated and slightly annoyed, Dipper rubbed the back of his neck and stood up and decided to check on the plate. Unfortunately, it still had about four inches of adhesive left and Dipper calculated that it would probably take another three hours for it to completely drip off. With a heavy sigh, he turned back to his tent and thought he would work on his journal.

Ever since he had agreed to assist Cipher four years ago, he had been detailing his findings in his own journal. While he always believed in the supernatural, Dipper’s discoveries were beyond what he ever imagined. He couldn’t decide if the conspiracies were better before or after they were proved or busted.

Some were better found than others and Dipper wondered if digging was even worth the scars. He thought if he could go back to the start, the day he decided to summon that stupid maze, and determine whether he would do it all over again knowing where he’d end up, he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

Mentally, Dipper had never been better. He wasn’t weighted by his old insecurities and, truthfully, his confidence blossomed exponentially. Obviously those results were keepers. He still cared deeply for his family, especially Mabel, and he didn’t let his ambition cloud his judgment when it came to family time. Still, he wouldn’t let himself be tied down.

The maze, as stressful and pain-inducing as it was, freed him from his ghosts.

On the flip side, it was the company that came with the finish line that he resented. Having Cipher as his mind-companion was as annoying as expected when it was pitched in its infancy. Dipper wasn’t sure if that made it more bearable. Cipher was essentially a sadistic talking encyclopedia in his head at all times. Dipper learned more about insignificant things like the fact that there are more ants on the Earth than humans; yet, was frustratingly mum on other ground-breaking discoveries that Dipper would rather learn about.

It also didn’t help that Cipher was no teacher by any means. Dipper learned quickly that any task set by Cipher was always going to be a trial by fire. Dipper was thankful to be alive despite suspecting that Cipher most likely intervened in each near death experience so that he wouldn’t have to wait around for another puppet to potentially complete the maze.

Overall, it was a “decent” relationship. They didn’t talk much, which came as a surprise to Dipper. When Cipher wasn’t nudging him in a certain direction he was usually making Dipper’s life a living hell. It was like having a silent roommate that only activated their annoying behavior during a full moon and Dipper wished that Cipher was that predictable.

Dipper hummed out a few beats of a pop song stuck in his head as he fanned through the pages of his journal. His frowned deepened when he had nothing to add and nothing to edit. He grabbed his laptop, checking on his electronic journal for anything to update and drummed his fingers on his knees impatiently as he waited for it to boot up. He groaned when he saw that he had already updated the journal only a few hours ago.

Determined to keep his mind occupied, Dipper found himself making an outline for his next article to submit to Paranormal Investigations, a website that Dipper submitted some of his more low-grade discoveries. The pay was decent and he quickly became one of the website’s most respected contributors. Currently, he was in a contract with them to produce an article every two weeks and he was, of course, up to date. He had submitted his last article a few days ago, having it approved almost immediately.

Dipper outlined the subject and within two hours, his next article was fully drafted. At this rate, he would have his articles lined up without having to do that much work each week.

Dipper sighed and figured he’d try prodding Cipher again. It felt odd to wear the other shoe for once. “Cipher.”

Silence.

Dipper pursed his lips and he smiled as an idea sprouted like a weed in the grass. He grabbed his phone and opened his music app, selecting one of Mabel’s playlists. He scrolled until he found that synthetic song with the relaxing undertones and selected it. The slow tune faded in slowly and increased an volume the longer it went. A nice, fifteen-minute instrumental.

Dipper set his phone down in his cleaned out soup bowl which amplified the sound and the tent livened up with music. While it wasn’t Dipper’s favorite song, he was willing to take the heat in order to get the prize. The prodding in the back of his head intensified and Dipper grinned. Hook, line, and sinker.

You are incredibly irritating today. It was odd to hear Cipher sound so fed up.

Pleased, Dipper grabbed the phone and lowered the volume, “Nice to know you’re alive.”

Oh please. You’d throw a party in the event of my demise.

Dipper hummed, “Can’t deny that.”

Your disappointment helps me sleep at night.

Dipper scoffed, “You need sleep?”

No.

“Okay, look,” Dipper said sternly, “You told me that I can’t leave the ship unless it’s an emergency and this is a little boring.”

Silence.

Dipper groaned and urged again, “There’s nothing to do here…”

More silence.

“I’m tempted to leave the ship to spite you…” He hoped the implication would spark a conversation.

He was met with more silence.

Angry, Dipper increased the volume of the music and then crawled out of the tent, storming over to the now adhesive-free plate, carefully picking up a new one and fixing it to the suspender so that it allowed the glowing pink substance to drain into the large jar.

Looks like you have plenty to do.

“Ugh!” Dipper threw the cleaned plate across the room and the metallic clank echoed loudly, “Will you just humor me for five seconds!” he yelled over the sound of the music, “I’ve been down here all day under the pretense that I’ve been ‘camping’ for the sake of your little experiment, which, by the way, you’ve told me nothing about!”

You’re on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.

“So if you’re not going to tell me why I’m collecting this weird alien goo, can you at least tell me a little bit about the aliens who crash landed here?!”

Why?

“Well, maybe I want to know if they crashed here on purpose or on accident,” he listed off, “I want to know if whatever’s going on in Gravity Falls caused it to crash here or if they came here because they were just touring the galaxy, or, I don’t know, just maybe, I want to know because it’s an alien ship that’s been sitting here, unnoticed, for the last ten thousand years!”

Dipper knew his face was red. He was taking deep breaths and his heart was racing. He didn’t realize how loud he was until he heard the silence that followed his rant. Meanwhile, the flowery and upbeat syntho vibes echoed beyond the tent. It was actually starting to piss Dipper off.

Hm. Cipher sounded like he was smiling. You’re not ready.

“Oh my god…” Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose, “I completed your maze, I fought and subdued a shapeshifter living in the town, I wrangled an army of gnomes by myself after you instigated them; how could I not be ready for this?”

There’s this subtle desperation in your voice.

Dipper blinked, expecting for Cipher to continue. When he didn’t, Dipper grumbled, “And…?”

It’s funny.

Defeated, Dipper scrunched his eyes shut and sank down to the floor, covering his mouth as he listened to the adhesive drip slowly into the jar. It would be getting full soon. Dipper reached for an empty jar and quickly switched it out.

Cipher wasn’t going to entertain him with anything. Not even answers. He couldn’t even get the music to work at this point. Silently admitting defeat, he stood up and walked back over to his tent, crawling inside, turning that damned music off, and curling up on his sleeping bag. He dimmed the lantern a bit and closed his eyes, hoping sleep would come soon.

The last few days were finally catching up to him and he felt the lull of slumber relaxing all of the tension in his muscles. The room was just the right temperature, the lighting was perfect, and Dipper knew that he would probably get the best sleep of his life if he fell asleep right now. Everything was quiet until...

If you’re not too busy…

Dipper groaned, “Are you kidding me?”

You looked so relaxed, I had to fix it.

“Dammit, Cipher…”

In all seriousness, you can actually be asleep for this.

Dipper groaned and buried his face in his pillow. He was tempted to ignore it but his curiosity outweighed his concern, “What is it..?”

We’ve been friends for a while-

“I don’t know if I’d use the term ‘friends.’”

Rude. Sounds like your problem. Anyway, there is one thing that you might be ready for.

Dipper bristled, “Okay?”

You know about the millions of dimensions, thousands where you and I exist, hundreds where we interact, and the very few in which those interactions are actually positive.

“This one not being one of them, I imagine,” Dipper mused as he shifted onto his back and stared at the folds in his tent. “You’re talking about your-”

Yes. The reincarnations of the energy that was taken from me. You know that when those die, they’re returned to me and I absorb that energy, soaking in everything it lived. You want to learn something fun, right? I’m going to show you one of those lives while you sleep.

Dipper didn’t like the insinuation behind Cipher’s words but he was curious, “Like a dream?”

In a way. It’ll take a good thirteen hours for that adhesive to fully finish draining. That’s plenty of time for you to take in at least half of that life.

Dipper gaped, “I’m going to be asleep for thirteen hours?!”

You haven’t slept the past fifty-two hours. You should be thanking me.

“Oh…” Dipper was anxious about seeing whatever Cipher was going to show him. It didn’t feel right. “This isn’t going to be like, mentally traumatizing, or whatever?”

Cipher actually laughed in response. Pine Tree, you are a riot. Time to hit the hay.

The next thing Dipper felt was the heavy weight of sleep.

#yeysal writes #billdip

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