#'she needed to learn to let go of dipper' SHES 12!!!!!!!

[monstrsball]

defending mabel pines online isn't enough i need a gun

[thecluelessdoctor]

a review of Gravity falls from someone who had never seen it before.

Alright so I've meant to make this post for a while but then I got... sidetracked *glances at my fucking au* ANYWAY

I'm basically unbias to the show, due to the fact I have no nostalgia for it. Ill only be talking about the show it's self for the main review.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Gravity Falls.

Oh yeah, and spoilers for gravity falls. Im sure most of you have seen it but- yk just in case.

I watched the show 2 times in a row. One time mostly just for me, and the other time with my little sisters. Somehow both times made me cry it's fine.

Let's get my praises out of the way first before I begin to criticize the show (yes, I do have things to say)

Number one, the actual mystery. Genuinely so fucking good. Like going in I already knew Ford existed, and I knew Bill existed, but that was it. And I thought the mystery wouldn't be a mystery to me due to this but I was WRONG. BRO WHEN STAN FUCKING PULLED UP WITH THE PORTAL I WAS F L A B B E R G A S T E D. I WAS BAFFLED. OR OR- FIDDLEFORD NOT JUST BEING A CRAZY OLD GUY BUT INFACT A ONCE GREAT SCIENCIST THAT TRIED TO DESTROY HIS MIND- it was insane.. I only had the parts, but I didn't know how they fell into place, and it was BEAUTIFUL. Hell the mystery even had my little sister theorizing.

Stan, Dipper, and Mabel's arcs. Say what you will but I think they were done perfectly. Especially Stan's. You don't even realize how he has grown as a character until the end and it's AMAZING. Dippers arc of learning how to not grow up so fast (relatable ...) and Mabel's arc of accepting that she will grow up (ALSO RELATABLE?)

The character designs. We all know, I eat up a good design. And these guys are no exception. I love how Mabel has a different sweater at least every episode, very fun. Dippers design screams nerdy kid I would bully or be friends with in 6th grade, and Stan is.. yeah I really like Stan okay. He's perfect. His design reflects his eccentric nature really well. Also Shriner fez. We need more characters with a Shriner fez. (Fun fact: I didn't know what those hats were called until watching this show.) bill is a very simple design but I love it.

Also, I love alot of the foreshadowing the show does, even if at times unintentionally. Such as with Stan and how he sadly goes out. Every representation ends up being destroyed in some way.

I also really like Ford as a character. Idk if it was intentional, but he portrays a lot of narcissists rather accurately. I live in a family of narcissist, and a lot of them act directly like Ford (especially my dad and my ex-step- grandpa) but Ford I feel like is a good representation of how a lot of people, especially narcissists, actually change. Yes, shockingly, they can. Usually being the one to pull the trigger on something they love tends to do something. Not all the time but it happens. Idk.

Also I feel like I need to talk about Mabel and Dipper more. Starting with Mabel. Mabel is fun. She reminds me of my sister, both good and bad. Though I don't understand the amount of Mabel hate there is. Like seriously she's just a 12 year old kid. I was the same way when I was 12. I was a trashy kid. Hell, I'm a trashy teen!!! And Dipper? Yeah he's dipper. Shockingly I don't have much to say about him other than the fact he reminds me way to much of the guy friends I've had since 3rd grade lmfao.

Next is the animation. The animation is pretty consistently good, I like it. Especially in some of the more dramatic scenes. All of not what he seems, a tale of two Stan's, and weirdmeddon (I can't spell) are especially well animated.

There's a lot more i wanna say, but those are the major things.

From now until when I say, it's gonna me my personal criticisms of the show. Course I am no professional, I'm literally [AGE REDACTED] minor. So yeah.

Number one: the timeline. Oh my god the timeline. As a fun thing to do on the side, I tried to sort out the timeline- IT TURNED INTO 2 HOURS OF ME SITTING THERE, PIECING THIS SHIT TOGETHER. it's not as back as some fandoms (looking at your FNaF) but STILL

The lack of Ford. I wish Ford has been introduced earlier in season two, or they had a few more filler episodes involving him as a center (similar to the episode D, D, and more D.)

The ignoring of the fact that Pacifica is borderline abused??? She's AFRAID of her parents??? She flinches at the bell??? Like what the fuck-

The lack of in show development between Bill and ford. I kinda wish it showed a bit more of their relationship in show.

Those are all my major criticisms. I don't have anything other than those that aren't more personal tastes than anything.

But ultimately, I fell in love with this show from the get go. It was the weirdest thing I'd watched in a while, and I loved it, hated it, and cried because of it. Truly on of my favorite shows I've ever watched, and I really wish I knew what it was when it was in its hay day, because truly that would have been great. However in 2012 I was only like- 3-6 so- yeah

Very much a ten outta ten show, and if you somehow haven't watched it, please do.

[oh-allie]

mabel hate in 2024 is CRAZY...

lets not forget that she is 12...! in basically all canon media she is 12 or newly 13!!..... i dont even know what people hate her for ??? shes "selfish" for wanting to stay with people she loves? for being scared of change?

"it was selfish for her to expect dipper to stay with her!!!" hey go rewatch the whole show actually!... did you not watch ATOTS at all ?? i never see that same point of hatred perpetrated onto stanley when him and ford are LITERAL parallels of dipper and mabel 😓😓

especially with tbob coming out and us finding out that dipper and mabels parents dont have a great relationship ->

- this explains why mabel lied in that scene when she overheard stan and fords conversation. she was protecting dipper

- this also explains why dipper possibly staying with ford would bring up so many conflicting emotions for her, she wants the best for him- and she knows their home life isnt the best, and she knows that their parents arguing really affects dipper, but she obviously doesnt want to be alone.

^^ and THIS is why she gave away the rift. not only did she NOT know the ramifications (this was ford and dippers faults for not trusting and telling her such important information {she wouldve understood, she had also faced bill before}) but she believed that MORE SUMMER = more time with the people she loved, more time with dipper without having to face reality alone.

pre-weirdmageddon pines family just needed some group therapy and communication 😞 some people act like the apocalypse was mabels fault when she didnt even know ?? and she didnt know because FORD (and dipper but ford was makinf him) purposefully kept the rift from mabel and stan. dipper KNOWS that mabel and stan would understand, since they both have dealt with bill ALONGSIDE dipper. cmon guys.

its okay though i still love ford 😇 heehhshweh okay he needs to learn communication but hes so cutie... i could literally talk about this show for hours. someone save me from gravity falls hell.

[starfiyah]

yes the young stan / ford conflict where ford wants to go to college and stan wants them to go adventuring does parallel the dipper / mabel conflict in dipper and mabel vs the future but they’re NOT equivalent and it’s driving me a bit nuts bc ppl are using it to push the “mabel is selfish” thing again 😭😭

at its core i think gf is a coming of age story where dipper basically learns what’s important in life and what he’s being like, delusional about. mabel doesn’t usually need the same life lessons bc she’s pretty confident about herself and doesn’t (usually) need/want external validation. with ford and stan, ford wanting to go to college is a very normal thing, and stan wanting them to just sail around and adventure is a fantasy. i love stan but the narrative tells us he really did ride on ford’s coattails (eg cheating in school) so he needed to learn how to be on his own a bit. hence it was selfish for him to (accidentally) break ford’s machine and sabotage his college dream.

ok now we go to mabel and dipper. yes it was selfish of mabel to not want dipper to leave her and she accidentally started weirdmaggedon bc she was TRICKED ok tricked she’s literally 12 can we relax on that part pls. but i keep seeing ppl say that in mabel’s bubble dipper shouldn’t have agreed to give up his dream of adventuring with ford bc dipper keeps making sacrifices for her and i’m like ughhhhhhhh you guys have never gotten the point ever.

dipper’s “dream” of staying in the mystery shack basement and hanging out with a social recluse all day is not a reasonable dream compared to ford’s dream of going to college. like his whole character arc has been about taking himself less seriously and getting better at socializing, so why would it be a good idea for him to throw that away and just hang out with someone else who parrots his thinking all the time????? he didn’t sacrifice his dream, he realized that it was not a good thing to idealize in the first place. and mabel also learned she has to grow up a bit and let people move on (like stan was supposed to learn) so that part is fine that’s decently equivalent. but ford and dippers dreams are not about the same thing!!!!

[vannalamba]

this one is for all the gravity falls fans

mabel. in the end, there’s not a lot to say about her. she’s 12, 13 by the end of season 2, likes colorful things and being girly, typical tweenage things.

so why does she get so much hate? i’ll explain. throughout the series, she constantly pushes aside her brother’s warnings of danger and acts based on what she wants instead of what’s best for them.

examples of this are in season one episode one tourist trapped where she ignores dipper’s warning of norman possibly being a zombie, which, fair enough. at this point in time, they hadn’t been made fully aware to the oddities of gravity falls, and nobody really believes in zombies, so she wasn’t wrong here.

season one episode nine where she reverts and scrambles the timeline for waddles, ‘destroying’ any chance of dipper getting close to wendy. let’s be honest, that relationship was doomed from the start. sure, three years isn’t a big age gap, but 12 and 15 is a ginormous maturity gap, and wendy ends up rejecting him later in the series either way, plus both of them messed around just to get what they wanted, so they were both equally at fault.

season one episode twelve where mabel pressures dipper to go trick-or-treating even though he’s ‘sick’. the entire events of the episode (likely) wouldn’t have happened if dipper hadn’t been rude to the summerween trickster, only getting them deeper into trouble upon the candy barrel and nearly getting them killed. so, again, mabel wasn’t wrong.

season one episode fifteen where mabel essentially guilt-trips dipper into sacrificing his summer job (and opportunity to get closer to wendy) for a merman she met in the pool. mabel was trying to do a good thing, if mermano stayed in the pool he likely would’ve been discovered and killed sooner or later.

many more examples follow this, but i don’t feel like listing them all,,, the most prevalent, though, is in season two episode 17, dipper and mabel vs the future, where mabel guilt-trips dipper into giving up what could be the best opportunity of his life to stay with her. i agree, this one was kinda bad, but she was about to lose her brother, the only person she felt like she could talk to for god knows how long.

and even so, at the end of the weirdmageddon arc she was fully ready to embrace whatever choice dipper made, but by then he decided to stay and likely took up the opportunity again when they were a bit older.

mabel defenders and haters alike need to realize. yes, she was selfish at times, but each time was for a perfectly valid reason a twelve year old girl would reasonably have. and by the end of the series, she betters herself and learns to see things from others perspective as well.

in short, she’s me

[shadowofthelamp]

🫶A bio for Bea?

Ended up long so under the cut!

Name: Beatrice "Bea" Marie Pines

Age: 30, 12, 6. All technically true, but mostly acts and looks 12 so let's go with that.

History: Created through impregnating Ford through magic whipped up by Bill a mere few weeks before the portal test incident that severed their 'working relationship'. Ford was left pregnant for nearly 25 years on the other side of the portal as Bill had manipulated the gestation time as a threat, on top of the baby being half Euclidian so it was unpredictable- but wasn't able to change it when the connection between them was lost through dimensions. She was born through an emergency c-section during an attempted heist to get parts for the Destabilizer. Raised on the run, her aging seemed to be doubled, so by one year old she looked and acted like she was two, by two she looked and acted four, ect. Whether it was due to being half an energy being, a side effect of the extended pregnancy, or even something to do with jumping dimensions, no one can really say, but it seemed to stabilize when she was around other children in Gravity Falls when they were pulled back 'home'.

Personality: Highly intelligent and endlessly creative but with a habit of laser-focusing on whatever she's thinking of. Growing up as the 'sidekick' to Ford led her to extremely gung-ho when it came to adventuring, as well as somewhat socially awkward as she's never really interacted with anybody her own age on a regular basis- or had any friends other than her father. She often bites off more than she can chew, sometimes forgetting which memories are hers and which were Ford's as her abilities allowed her an open door to his head. (Although he does quickly learn how to build walls she can't get around, it's an unconscious instinct for her to 'share' even before birth, and she's more than once realized that the experience she thought she had wasn't actually hers, and she has to wing it.) Still, she'll always be in the thick of solving it and her somewhat reckless bravery can come in handy.

She keeps the fact that her other parent was Bill a secret, leaving her goggles on even when she sleeps until Dipper and Mabel find out soon after the events of Last Mabelcon when the goggles are torn off when she's trying to protect them. She feels deep-down guilt and fear at the idea she might be like Bill and might hurt people, and tries her best to be 'good' and 'the hero' in hopes that it'll stave off any 'Bill-ness' in her actions, although she only has secondhand accounts and memories of him, most of which Ford tries to keep locked away. (Even deeper down, she wonders if Bill ever actually wanted her as a daughter or just as a tool to manipulate Ford. She first meets him during Weirdmageddon, and then decides that even if he did, it doesn't really matter, because he hurt her family.)

Powers: Ability to shift into a small triangle form, can float in said form but can only hold up herself or very small objects that she's carrying. Her 'mind' powers are mostly centered around Ford at first as the pregnancy gave her a direct connection, but with time she's able to enter other people's dreams and give them 'suggestions' that they tend to follow once they wake up. Can turn food or even garbage into fuel for herself as her insides are essentially a giant furnace, which isn't really a power but is kinda cool. Can use a gun/knife/practiced in hand-to-hand combat.

Future: After Weirdmageddon is reversed, she ends up staying in the Shack with Soos and his grandma for a while after Stan and Ford go out sailing together, as she wants (and needs) to learn who she is outside of him and to get the chance to be a 'normal' kid. When The Book of Bill shows up as what appears to be a scrapbook of the three of them (Bill, her, and Ford) as a happy family and promises of making it happen, she's incredibly suspicious but she decides to go and visit him in Theraprism anyway, for closure if nothing else. He's a pathetic mess that's pretending not to be, but there's a nagging at her like pressing at a loose tooth and she returns every once in a while as he seems to be attempting to improve, and remembers things about her she's mentioned from visit to visit in the process.

She remains suspicious at first but slowly builds a relationship with him, discovering that time works strangely there and decades are passing for Bill in between each visit of hers. Eventually, he's allowed to be given a human form and taken into the care of the family, with warning buttons given to everyone to alert the Theraprism if he needs to be brought back into custody. The rest of the family is still understandably very wary, but by that point she's come around to him.

When she grows up, she becomes a traveling anthropologist and cryptozoologist, comparing human cultures and often finding local cryptids in each location.

[kitpanthera]

chapters 16-18 🎉

1. my immediate thought about the girls screaming is that stan must be benefiting from having hearing aids he can turn off rn

2. "it's like she doesn't even know how to handle me being my own person" dipper :((( more dippy fresh foreshadowing? (god i wish we had actually seen dipper snap his neck in canon. he deserves to!! but still, grappling with the knowledge that when mabel could remake the world, she remade her brother completely out of character. 😔)

3. bill getting constant whiplash from dipper being genuine in wanting to hang out with him makes him nonverbal. me too, bill.

4. dipper feeling bill's hand in his hair is so sweet 🥹 even if bill refuses to admit it, he's come to care for pine tree! and dipper getting physical affection from someone besides mabel!!

5. "for now and forever, full access, with my permission" a shiver just went down ford's spine somewhere in the multiverse.

6. is a pact bond different than a traditional deal? i'm assuming it is -- is it just stronger than a deal?

7. STARS STARS STARS (is this something you incorporated post reading the book of bill or were stars always part of their story?)

8. "it's not stupid to want to share the stars with someone you care about" i'm going into cardiac arrest.

9. the dying dimension bit -- i don't think bill ever told ford that the nightmare realm is dying. he's willing to be more vulnerable with dipper (i need to come to your universe or i will cease to exists)!

10. dipper sharing the constellations with bill when the people of his dimension couldn't see the stars, let alone name them...

11. i haven't been commenting on the ciphers but the one at the end of ch 17 ("from now and always," "from now until the end of time," what's the difference?)... when weirdmageddon comes, time is dead. and then bill literally kills time baby. so by making the distinction between the two, dipper will stand by him/bill will have access to his mind even after time no longer exists!

12. a world where dipper tells mabel everything in that moment...

13. the cabin changing so they have a way to go view the stars together 🥹🔫 (the touch of the memory gun to my head)

14. dipper waiting for bill to be ready for their friendship -- he's still a sweet kid under all that anger bill is pulling out of him!

15. bill looking at the stars by himself. i weep.

16. stan being upset about dipper "researching" things and being apart from mabel. stan having the history repeating itself realization and seeing that even mabel couldn't get her twin to stand by her. (it was always fated for them)

17. dipper learning how to pick locks! i could see stan being so annoyed that he didn't get to teach dipper that. wonder if that will be useful in the future. 👀

18. "prove it" and he stands up to mabel, the hardest thing he could've ever done before this summer.

19. mabel once again reinforcing everything dipper has been thinking -- her not liking that dipper isn't conforming to how she thinks he should be !! dippy fresh, when i catch you!

20. "you did what you needed to do." well yes! even if bill hadn't manipulated him to that, dipper absolutely needed to set boundaries at some point!

21. how much energy is bill using to send things todipper?

22. where are stan and mabel while gideon is just tearing dipper's room apart?

23. gideon making a real deal with dipper... did bill teach him how to do that or was that all dipper? his magic seemed to react instinctively by switching to the fire so fast.

24. bill being upset because he's starting to realize he also cares for dipper... not even he can escape the magic of friendship.

25. the wood symbolism this entire chapter... the wood falling after dipper mentions bill's home, the main log cracking but staying together (bill clinging to the illusion that he doesn't care for dipper?), the log snapping and finally crumbling after dipper calls him out on bill no longer genuinely believing in their relationship being transactional... also the fact that the fire has continously been a symbol of warmth to welcome dipper into the cabin (symbolizing bill luring him in or the real warmth the bill always had but was hidden)...

26. bill not realizing that dipper knew he was using him the entire time when you realize that a) dipper knew bill views friendships as transactional, b) his dimension is dying and he wants into dipper's, and c) dipper is part of the plans for that. you're not subtle!

i'll be back with more tomorrow!! thank you thank you thank you! i appreciate this so much 💚💚💚

1. During the day, he's either busy with tours or turns the hearing aids down when they're screaming. At night, he's in the basement, and can't hear anyway!

2. I sincerely cannot wait for Weirdmageddon. Hoohoo, heehee. There is so much to work with in their crumbling relationship, and the "ideal" Dipper is one piece of it!

3. Yeah, Bill sincerely believes everyone else he's worked with in history has just seen him as a means to an end. Then Dipper comes along, sincerely and honestly just liking him... and the guy who uses his words to appear more powerful, to have control of every situation, loses his words. :)

4. Yes! The boy needs physical affection, and it's becoming less and less of an act as time goes on for Bill. Dipper hasn't gotten any affection at this point in weeks. In canon, he and Mabel are always grabbing each other, their hands, arms, they hug, all this, constantly comforted in each other's presence. Dipper hasn't gotten that. So Bill is showing that he cares more than Mabel has lately, that's what he intends it to mean, but he finds it means more to him than he bargained for.

5. Oh yeah. This was the point where I definitively said to myself, he's officially in deeper than Ford.

6. Yeah, so a pact bond is specifically when someone makes a deal to be bonded to a powerful being, such as a deity. It goes beyond just a normal deal, it actually binds the person to the being to some extent. Normally this is in exchange for access to non-traditional magic, but not always.

7. I was actually always going to have stargazing be something they do together (the idea was in my head for months), but with this chapter releasing post BoB, I decided to incorporate Bill's relationship with the stars into it. I was so pleasantly surprised that it canonically means so much to him, actually.

8. :)

9. As far as we know, Dipper is the only one he's told. The level of vulnerability it takes to admit there's a self-preservation reason to his plan... :)

10. :)

11. Yes! This is the answer!!

12. It exists, just not here :)

13. Isn't the cabin such a cozy and comforting place?

14. Oh yes! And he is certain and confident he knows what he's doing. All his sweetness is currently reserved for Bill.

15. He can't deny the beauty of the stars, or the appreciation for Dipper naming the constellations. Just wait until Dipper tells him that every individual star has a name!

16. Yes! Stan and Mabel relate hard in this house. Stan wants to stop history from repeating itself, and tries to comfort Mabel often by telling her it won't. He kinda sees the writing on the wall, their relationship deteriorating like his and Ford's, if Dipper keeps this up, and he doesn't even see a good reason for it.

17. 👀

18. Yep! Proving he's loyal to Bill more than Mabel, who's been his other half his whole life. It's been a responsibility drilled into him to always put her, her feelings, her goals, all before his own, and Bill has broken through that conditioning and taught him to stand up for himself, his feelings, his goals, and his beliefs.

19. Hey, when you're used to someone sacrificing everything for you, you don't realize how much they do until they stop doing it. Their parents have done so much damage and basically Mabel became spoiled by Dipper, in a sense, without realizing it, and now that she's not, she wants it back and doesn't get why he stopped.

20. Yes! Boundaries for our king are so important. Bill does make some good points.

21. A good bit. :)

22. Stan was running tours, and Mabel was at Grenda's house!

23. He's been training with Bill so much, it basically came naturally to him to make deals. You'll also notice I had Dipper sitting and kicking his feet, a mannerism he picked up from Bill. He's just generally more like Bill, as well.

24. :)

25. Yes yes yes yes thank you so much for noticing this???? The fire and wood symbolism was so intentional on my part and it's one of the things I'm most proud of because it's multifaceted and I just. adore that metaphor. I'm so glad you picked up on it!!!!

26. He's so insecure about the fact that he's sincerely liked (and probably loved on some level) by another being, that he just... he feels the need to make it abundantly clear that his intentions were never pure, and that Dipper shouldn't care about him so sincerely, because he's not a guy who deserves it. And he feels guilty that Dipper cares about him, because he's found that he cares about Dipper.

Thank you so much!!! It is bringing me such joy to see such intense and genuine interest, even brainrot for my story, I am so so happy :)

[judging-films-of-all-kinds]

Gravity Falls Review: Episode One: Part One

I decided to Gravity Falls first since I have better memory of it. It's totally not the fact that I it's my favorite show. Alright! Let's get started!

The Plot

So this episode introduces us to the main cast. Dipper, Mable, Grunkle Stan and Soos. The first thing we see? Mable and Dipper being chased by something. It then freezes and we hear Dipper talking. 

He then explains to us that his parents sent him and his twin, Mable, to stay with their Great Uncle Stanford Pines in a sleepy town called Gravity Falls. Dipper explains to us that Stan had turned his home into a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack. The narration ends with him thinking the summer was going to be boring. 

We get to see Mable trying to get a summer boyfriend. She’s 12 years old, she doesn’t need a boyfriend. Anyway it shows her being a little too strong with her approaches. Something Dipper points out. Stan then comes along and has Dipper put up flyers.

While Dipper is walking through the woods putting up flyers, he stumbles upon a fake tree that has a book hidden within it. The book is very old and has a golden symbol of a hand with five fingers and a thumb. In the middle of it is a number three. Dipper learns that it’s a journal that has records of strange objects and creatures that live within Gravity Falls. 

Dipper then takes it back to the shack so he can read more of the journal. Meanwhile Mable meets a goth looking teenager. He agrees to date her,  much to her delight. It doesn’t take long for her to bring him to meet her family. 

Stan doesn’t show a whole lot of interest and moves along. Dipper on the other hand shows worry for Mable. He shows her the journal and tells her that he thinks her new boyfriend is a zombie. She lashes out at him and makes it clear that his paranoidness wasn’t going to ruin this for her. 

Then we are introduced to a new character, Soos the Handyman! He encourages Dipper to get proof about Normaine being a zombie. So he does by following his sister and her new boyfriend around. At one point he starts to give up, thinking his crazy as he looks through his film. That is until he sees Normaine’s hand fall off. 

He rushes off to tell Stan, who is busy trying to explain a rock to some tourist group. I still laugh at that scene. So Soos gives him the golf cart and a shovel to fight a zombie with. 

Meanwhile with Mable she finds out her boyfriend isn’t a zombie or vampire, as she had hoped for. Instead his gnomes in a hoodie. They kidnap her and try to force her to marry them all so she can be their Gnome Queen. Dipper then comes to the rescue and finds out he was way off. To be fair he was spot on with the information he had.

So together they fight off the gnomes till they get to the shack. Mable then begs Dipper to trust her. So he does, letting Mable to trick the gnomes and use a leaf blower against them. Once the gnomes leave the pair talk. It ends with them hugging it out. 

They then go through the gift shop where Stan is counting money. He teases them a bit but stops when he notices their gloomy faces. He lets them choose something from the shop for free. 

The episode ends with Dipper narrating but trusting his sister and the secrets of gravity falls. We then see Stan open a secret door and duck behind it after he makes sure no one is watching.

Okay that's the end for now. Part Two will be about the charatures and all that. Till then! Stay safe!

[stephreynaart]

Gravity Falls - “Waiting”

Pop-Pop AU

Stan sits in a hospital waiting room, thinking about his life and the people he loves.

- - - -

This is kinda old, but I realized I never posted it on tumblr. Hope ya like it!

Lots of fluff, the only ships are Soos and Melody.

AO3 LINK

- - - -

It had a square aspect ratio. Ink pen and watercolor on white heat pressed cotton paper in a bland white frame. One single blue flower in a red vase with what looks like a yellowish shadow. One shadow going left, the other going right. The lack of confidence and inexperience was obvious, the lines were unfocused and jagged, the color plainly filled the shapes and gave no other visual interest to the image.

Below the frame was a small white card that read “Painting donated by Jessica Blaise from Gravity Falls Elementary School”

Stan scanned the painting at least 20 times while sitting in that chair. The too rough and too soft at the same time chair that had similar copies populating the almost white room he sat in. The wallpaper bouncing off light pinks and blues with tiny ducklings as a makeshift wainscoting was starting to irritate the old man. It was too bright, and the consistent buzz of the fluorescent lights seemed so loud. Stan adjusted himself in his chair, switching his crossed legs to a wider spread and leaned his head against the wall.

The only other stimulus in the room were a few posters promoting proper hand washing techniques, the play area with a small table and chairs with large blocks, crayons and that weird “game” with the metal wiring and wooden beads that’s in every waiting room Stan’s ever sat in. He played with the toys to give himself something to do after he read all the magazines. The novelty wore off fast.

The television mounted on the wall was airing some cooking channel with no sound and no subtitles. Looking at food when you haven’t eaten in a few hours was practically torture, so Stan had been averting his eyes.

There were other paintings on the wall, one was less of a painting, but instead a print of a painting. He doubted that the artist got any compensation from it, if they were still alive. The other was a charcoal drawing done by a student from the community college a town away. Another square, but the entire image was black, the brightest thing on the page was an intruding infant hand coming from the left with the arm fading into the dark background. The fingers seemingly mid-twitch and grabbing at something. The lighting was dynamic and interesting. Stan swore it was a drawing of a penis the first time he glanced at it, which resulted in his brother’s laughter. Stanley smiled at the memory, it was only a few hours ago, but he relishes any time he can make Stanford laugh.

Stan’s eyes darted at the door in the far corner when it opened suddenly. He eased back into his chair when the nurse crossed the room to talk with the receptionist. He couldn’t hear the conversation very well, but could tell they were just gossiping and making jokes. Nothing that was of his interest. So he looked back to the elementary school child’s painting and analyzed it again. His eyes were dry and he was tired. He wished he could sleep, the chair wasn’t comfortable enough and when he did managed to sleep, his neck was sore when he woke up. He was only lucky Ford let him use his shoulder as a pillow for a while. He looked to his left and noted the book his brother placed in the seat. It seemed thick and in what looked like Hebrew. Stan wasn’t very surprised Ford was fluent in the language they were acquainted with as children. Their grandparents on their father’s side were the last to be fully fluent in Hebrew. It was like his brother to be curious of their heritage, but Stan only remembered a few phrases and words he learned from holidays and special event when he had to recite anything in Temple.

Stan crossed his arms and glanced at the clock on the wall and let out an exasperated sigh. It had only been 10 minutes since he last checked the time. He wanted to be at home, be in his soft warm bed and getting ready to eat pancakes at this time in the morning.

He and Ford were on the porch of The Mystery Shack when Soos rushed them off to the hospital the yesterday afternoon. What he originally thought would be a couple of hours of waiting turned into almost twelve. Apparently labour can last a long time.

Stan wished he could be a witness for Soos and Melody like he was when Dipper and Mabel were born, but Melody wanted her privacy, which Stan could respect, but Soos wanted him there…..so he and Ford waited in this bright, annoyingly pastel waiting room, twiddling his thumbs awaiting the arrival of the new member of the mystery family. He was glad he was in at least comfortable clothes, some gray sweatpants and a sweater Mabel knitted for him that read “godfather”.

He was never clear on what the title entailed, but it was mentioned a few times by Soos’ grandmother and the kids insisted that Soos was intending to ask him. He hadn’t, but he didn’t protest Stan wearing the sweater. Whatever job godfathers had, he was willing to play the part if Soos were to ask him.

Stan looked at the double doors a few feet away that lead out of the waiting room and into the halls. His brother left to find something for them to eat, but was taking his sweet time. The turkey being basted on the television was no help in aiding his growling stomach.

He distracted himself by returning his thoughts to Soos and Melody. Just down the hall they were experiencing the strange and beautiful phenomenon that was witnessing the arrival of a brand new person. Stan remembered the feeling so clearly. His entire life he’s felt the presence of human beings. It’s inherent in most people to feel when someone is in the room with you, the other soul sharing the same space as you. Imagine being in a room with a set amount of people and someone else comes in, but imagine they came in without using a doorway. Just appearing seemingly out of thin air. Suddenly another person is with you, and they’re brand new to the world, a life full of potential and power. Yes, today is indeed a happy day, but no amount of positive thinking would ease Stan’s nerves. His foot began to bounce and his hands unconsciously began to fiddle with each other. He didn’t want to think anything would go wrong with Soos’ baby, but anything can happen and life is so fragile, especially at the start of it.

He recalled his nephew’s nervousness the day Dipper and Mabel were born. His hands were shaking and he was constantly checking on his wife and asking the doctors loads of questions. He didn’t fully understand the twins’ father’s behavior until the end of that day.

Mabel’s birth was swift and easy. Her mother only needed to push one and a half times before she was here. It was as if she was eager to meet everyone waiting for her. She cried like most babies do, but Stan could’ve sworn they were tears of joy. While Mabel was greeted with, “hello, beautiful”, “hi, sweetie” and “she’s perfect”, Her brother’s introduction to world started with, “what’s wrong?”, “wait, let me hold him”, and “he’s not moving”. Dipper was rushed out of the room before his mother got a chance to look at him. Stan managed to catch a glimpse of the horrifyingly blue tint on his great nephew’s tiny face. The memory still gave him chills. He remembered how much he wanted to hold Mabel, who began to fuss and cry, obviously missing her brother. He was terrified at the prospect of another incomplete set of twins in their family. After the longest 30 minute of his life, Stan’s great-nephew returned with a bright pink face, wailing with all the power his little lungs could produce. Once the twins were reunited in their mother’s arms, they settled down almost instantly. The doctors told their parents Dipper was significantly lighter in weight than his sister, but both were very strong and healthy. Every so often Stan thinks about Dipper and how much he has impacted his life. His thoughts lead to darker places and he questions if Ford would be here if Dipper wasn’t there to find the third journal. He shook his head as a cold shiver went up his spine.

Stan did his best to distract himself from revisiting the scare that Dipper caused him 16 years ago.

16 years…..17 in August

Stan blinked. The squishy, bright faces that stayed with him that first summer had changed significantly. They stayed in contact all year round and visited every summer since they were 12. But every in-person meeting was always a shock. Dipper was developing the square jaw Stan, both his brothers and nephew shared. He started to regularly wear glasses their second summer with the Stans. Poor kid will grow up looking like Filbrick like the rest of the Pines men. He reminded Stan of Ford at that age.

And Mabel…..

Stan will never get over how much she looks like his mother. It didn’t strike him until Soos and Melody’s wedding and she put her hair in a bun. She’s calmed her hyperactivity down a bit, but not by a lot, she still brightens his day with her wit and creativity. They’ve both matured physically, but not much has changed personality wise and they still acted like big children when they’re around each other. Stan loved them very much, and wished he could see them more often. He wondered what the future held for all of them. Would they still visit town after going to college? Would they move here? Or somewhere else?

He’s had several conversations with them to see how they’re managing the prospect of separating. They’re much better at communicating than he and Ford were and they seem actually excited to have some independence. It made Stan nervous, but he was sure their close relationship wouldn’t suffer.

Wendy chose to be elsewhere for the next few years. She and her friends booked a plane ticket and plan to backpack and hitchhike around Europe and the UK. Stan hopes they stay safe and watch out for each other. Lotta weirdos in Amsterdam. She was set to leave in the coming days, Wendy wanted to wait until today arrived so she could meet Soos and Melody’s kid before going away for who knows how long.

A tap on the shoulder woke Stan from his deep thoughts. His brother arrived with some warm sub sandwiches and coffee.

“Any word yet?, he asked Stan

“Nothin’ yet”, Stan felt helpless not having any clue how Soos and Melody were doing.

Stanford took his seat next to Stanley and they both silently enjoyed their late breakfast. Since arriving they’ve witnessed families reuniting and going past the door in the far corner to meet their children, grandchildren or siblings. Stan looked at the clock again. How has it only been another 5 minutes? He sighed, leaned back and finished the rest of his sub. One hand holding the sandwich, the other went back to gripping the arm rest, then a six fingered hand went down to rest on top of it. Stan let go of the armrest and tangled his fingers between Ford’s and held onto it with a, hopefully not too tight, grip. It was like an anchor to reality, much better at easing his anxieties than any words could. Over the past 4 years, Stan and Ford’s bond grew stronger. Stan still feared one day he would wake up and find himself still in that basement surrounded by broken machinery and languages he didn’t understand. He hasn’t yet, and was enjoying the time he had left with his twin. Stan took a moment to look at his brother again, Ford made eye contact and smiled then continued to read his book. Hands still intertwined

Stans thoughts went back to Soos…

It amazed Stan how much he had grown and it still baffled him that Soos idolized him as much as he does. Before Soos, Stan had no one. His brother was….gone, the rest of the family didn’t talk to him much outside of the holidays and special occasion. There hadn’t been any sense of consistency in Stan’s life for years, decades even, until he hired the chubby little kid he barely glanced at one random Saturday. Soos always arrived to work early, sometimes with breakfast for both of them. Stan didn’t know how much he needed a reliable companion until he had it and he enjoyed the 10 years he had with that kid… or man he should say. Here he was…a few rooms away, becoming a father.

Stan used to daydream a lot about the prospect of having kids when he was younger. He’s was always good with them when he had the chance to babysit his nephew, then later Dipper and Mabel when they were toddlers. He loved having kids in his house that first summer. He loved the energy and the sense of adventure the twins brought. They gave him a sense of purpose and belonging he hadn’t felt in years. He wished he was brave enough to have his own children. Not that he was ever with anyone long enough to want to have kids with him. He supposed it was for the best that he didn’t subject a child to homelessness or an unhappy marriage. He was also terrified at the idea. His dad used to say having kids ruined his life. He wondered who his father was before his older brother was born. Did they really ruin his life? Stan often wondered if he would be like his own dad if he has children of his own. Would he change and become that annoyed parent that resenting his children?

He thought about Soos again

That was probably the closest to parenthood he ever experienced. The first time he felt like one was when Soos asked him for homework help after closing. He initially told Soos no, he wasn’t exactly smart and didn’t think he would be any help. It apparently upset the kid, so Stan sighed and gave it a try. It was fairly simple middle school math, he didn’t remember everything, but helped Soos do more than half of it. Soos thanked him and went home happy. Stan felt weirdly proud, he was glad he made a small difference and managed to teach Soos something he didn’t even know he knew.

The second time was when Soos was a teenager. His grandmother wasn’t able to teach Soos to drive, since she had forgotten how and her late husband used to do the driving, she mostly walked everywhere. Soos offered to work for free so Stan could teach him. Stan loved driving and found teaching Soos cathartic. He was a fast and eager learner, he only bumped Stan’s car once while trying to figure out parallel parking. Little did Soos know that he was getting paid for his normal work hours. Stan just put it away long enough to help buy the kid some old used truck in the junkyard for getting his license. They fixed the truck up and in only a few weeks it was ready to be on the road. Soos has taken good care of it and it’s still his ride to this day

Stan was very proud of Soos. He taught the kid some basic self defense and managed to be a decent influence in his life. Soos at least has his priorities straight.

Stan was even glad to see that Soos was willing to question him. When the portal was reaching the final countdown, he didn’t hesitate to protect the kids from him when he thought Stan was dangerous. He didn’t know, none of them did, so he didn’t blame Soos for distrusting him. He hoped he never had to betray him again. They both had crappy dads, and Stan knew how Soos saw him. Stan was never really sure if he reciprocated those feelings. It felt natural to act the part, but to put a label as important as “dad” on Stan was daunting. Soos definitely deserves better than what he was given, Stan wasn’t sure if he was it.

Stan looked up at the familiar voices running towards him from the double doors.

“Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!” Mabel waved to them

The two teenagers and Wendy walked in holding a balloon and various toys. They took some seats across from the Stans and asked how everyone was doing and if the baby arrived yet.

“Not yet, hopefully soon” Ford answered

Stan relaxed and silently enjoyed his family’s company. He laid his head back and leaned slightly on Ford to rest for a minute. His eyes shut as he listened to the kids joke around and talk amongst themselves. He squeezed Ford’s hand one more time before drifting off.

He knew he should’ve tried sleeping earlier, he wasn’t out for more than 15 minutes when Soos came into the waiting room. Stan’s eyes shot open and he was on his feet faster than he did when he was being chased by angry costumers as a door to door salesman. Soos’ red eyes sagged and he seemed exhausted, but carried a proud, wide smile across his face. He sniffed and wiped his eyes.

“It’s a boy”, he squeaked, “mom and baby are okay”

Dipper and Mabel were first to start the hugs, and the room filled with cheers of congratulations and love. Stan felt light as a feather giving Soos a hug and joking about child labor.

“Can we see him?”, Mabel bounced with anticipation

“Yeah, dudes!”, Soos gestured everyone past the corner door and into the suite. “But only for a little while, Melody has to sleep”

The room was small, dimly lit and warm. The Pines crew collectively lowered their voices as Melody came into view on the bedding holding a bundle of blankets decorated with small yellow ducklings. She was leaned back on a large pillow, covered in blankets and toted a soft smile on her face. Soos stroked her hair and picked up his little son to show to the Pines’. The younger twins got a look at him first,

Mabel squealed and cooed at the tiny infant. Then Wendy, who said hi to the baby and told Soos she’d make sure to send him gifts while she was away

“What’s his name?”, Mabel asked Melody

“I named him after my dad”, Melody replied, “Jacob”. She smiled sadly at the memory of the father she lost the year before.

Soos approached the Stans, Ford smiled and complimented the couple on a having such beautiful little boy, but shot Soos a look, who silently replied with another one. Something was up.

Finally Stan got a look at baby Jacob. “Wow” Stan smiled, patting Soos’ arm. “He looks exactly like you”

Soos laughed, “really? I think he looks like Melody”, there was a short silence before Soos spoke up again.

“Do you want to hold him, Mr Pines?”

Stan looked at Soos and smiled, “heh, sure”. He held his arms out. Soos lowered his arms to pass the baby to Stan, who scrunched his face up and started to fuss. Stan took the infant and managed to hold him with one arm. He bounced and shushed little Jacob until he calmed down. “Heya kid”, He’s held babies dozens of times, but something felt different about this one. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but Stan felt an almost magnetic pull towards him. Jacob settled comfortably against Stan and continued his rest. Stan softly beamed at the tiny person in his arms.

“Hey, Stan?”

Stan lifted an eyebrow and looked at Soos, who was fidgeting with his hands and nervously smiling.

“Uh..”, he paused, taking in the sight of Stan holding his child. “You know about my dad”, Soos looked at Ford again, who shrugged and nodded. Stan studied Ford’s face, who’s eyes strayed away as he hid a small smile. Soos got his attention again.

“You uh…he wasn’t…”, Soos choked up, his voice strained a bit, “I met you when I was probably the loneliest I ever was in my entire life”. Stan pictured the little boy he hired on the spot, he didn’t remember him until Soos showed up at his door step the next day ready to work. He didn’t know how much that quick, thoughtless decision would change his life.

Soos perked up and walked across the room to a table and picked up the piece of paper sitting on it. Soos glanced at it, then at Stan and smiled, gaining some emotional strength it seemed.

“You mean a lot me”, Soos, “you were there when I really needed it, you gave me a job, taught me just about everything I know. I don’t think I ever thanked you for that”

Stan got a bit nervous, Was this him asking to be the godfather?Everyone was silent and curiously watching. Soos held his hand out and handed the paper to Stan. He adjusted his arm to properly hold Jacob in his arm and took it. Stan flipped the page and noticed it was the baby’s birth certificate. Stan eyes bounced off the page and read the various information: birthdate, weight, parents, but he froze when he read the full name. Stan’s wide eyes questioningly studied Soos’ face.

“Are you…”, Stan felt his own throat tightening, crap. Come on, not in front of everyone “really?”, he asked. Soos gave a genuine nod and sniffed.

“I uh” Soos cleared his throat, “I was wondering, since Jacob doesn’t have one…if you wanted to be…. his grandpa?

There it was

Stan felt dizzy and took a small step back before remembering who was in his hands and regained his balance. Ford came to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Stan decide not to look at his brother and chose to stare forward, then his eyes went back to Soos, who look deflated. Oh man. Stan was terrified, he didn’t want to say no and hurt Soos, but if he said yes….he wasn’t sure what made him so nervous. The entire concept sounded so alien to him, like he didn’t deserve the title. He always considered Soos, Melody and their son a part of his family. But to bare a title like “grandpa”, had to mean he had children that that children. That he was already a parent without his knowledge. It all felt so natural to want to lean into this and become part of this family like Soos wanted.

He heard something make a noise from beneath himself. Stan looked down at little Jacob, who was mid yawn. The baby’s mouth grew wide opens and inhaled, scrunching up his face and suddenly shut. Suddenly two tiny eyes opened for just a few seconds, enough time for Stan to make eye contact before Jacob shut them and got comfortable again

Everything was different now.

Stan didn’t notice how quiet the room had gotten nor the tears forming in his eyes. Stunned by beauty and overcome with pride and a sense of purpose. The pride he felt teaching Soos math, how to drive and attending his graduation all combined just looking at the perfect being in his arms. If he said yes, he would want everything that came with it. Stan lifted the birth certificate up to read the name again.

Jacob Stanley Ramirez

“Y-Yes”, he heard a shaken voice say, almost not realizing it was his own “of course”. He looked at Soos, tears in his eyes and a bright smile on his face. He still wasn’t sure if he deserved this, but Stan wanted it. He wanted it all. Why not indulge just this once? He gave the certificate to Ford and used his now free hand to pull Soos into a hug. Gently sandwiching his…..grandson in between him……and his son.

[asterkiss]

What a Catch!: Chapter 12

Pairing: Bill/Mabel Synopsis: Mabel was a mermaid who didn't ask for much. In fact, all she pretty much wanted from her soulmate was a romantic first meeting where he would sweep her off her fins. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Her soulmate didn't so much sweep her off her fins as he trapped her in a fish net. [Read on AO3 here]

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5  | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12: HUNTING PARTY

‘Mabel, I need you to tell me everything that transpired during my hibernation.’

The mermaid blinked owlishly beneath the sphinx’s narrow stare. She hadn’t been too happy about him yanking her out of the water, and after a hasty apology she now found herself looking upon both her Grunkles on land. 

‘Uh, what do you mean?’ she asked, wondering if Dipper had gone and blabbed.

‘Cipher,’ Stanford replied, eyes narrow. ‘How did you learn about that name?’

Ah. Mabel paused, now she actually wished Dipper was here as support. ‘Oh, well that’s just… You know.' She shrugged nervously. 'It’s like I saw it written on a mirror that he dropped.’

‘He?’

‘Yeah, the, um, Hunter?’

Stanley’s eyes flared as he jerked forward. ‘Hunter? He came near you? ‘

‘He hasn’t hurt you, has he?’ Stanford asked, frowning.

‘No, no, not at all!’ she replied breezily, waving her hands about and realising he hadn’t hurt her one bit actually. Both men relaxed. ‘Although…’ They tensed again.

‘There is a little tiny piece of information that’s causing a bit of an issue.’ She whispered, offering a sheepish smile as she poked her fingers together. Time to finally let the cat out the bag, huh?

Stanley blinked. ‘Like what?’

Mabel folded her arms as she leant against the shore. ‘So, haha, funny story but uh… It turns out that blonde hunter is sort of my soulmate?’

The mens yells echoed throughout the entire island.

>

>

>

Bill remained stoic as he fiddled with his rifle in a small workshop, currently adorned in full hunting gear. His back flared with fresh pain and the blond's lips pressed into a tight grimace . He knew from experience it would be a good few weeks before the pain dulled to an ache. Then a few weeks more before it healed completely. Then the cycle would be repeated at the behest of his dear mother.

Bill clenched his jaw as he applied lubrication to the moving parts of the gun, wiping a cloth over the rails and bolt lugs and guides. Usually maintaining his gear had a calming effect upon him but this time it only proved to further rile him up, given the reasoning behind it this time. It was in the next moment that the door to the shop opened, and when the blond raised his head he found his mother stepping through with Kryptos and-

‘Xanthar?’ 

His other cousin was so large he had to duck down to get through the door frame, his biceps as large as Bill’s head. A shaggy dark beard and hair covered most of his face, with a chainsaw slung over his shoulder. The guy didn’t say much but it was obvious from one look that he could split a tree in two from his arms alone. Bill heard all his clothing had to be made tailor made.

‘Why did you get those two?’ Bill asked, face sour. He didn't need others making this any more complicated.

‘Because I obviously can’t trust you to do anything yourself,’ his mother snapped, voice laced with disgust. She huffed, hands on her hips as her piercing eyes regarded them all. ‘The portal is being reopened you will all go in and handle this matter quickly and efficiently as expected as members of this family. I expect you back by tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow?’ Krytops asked, eyes wide. 

‘Is that a problem?’ she asked, voice sharp.

‘Um, no, not really… I mean, I just, that’s not a lot of time, y’know?’

‘You’re catching a mermaid, not a sphinx. Even my dumb sister could do it with her eyes blinfolded.’

Bill swallowed thickly.

‘I’ll repeat myself one more time. You will go to the Monster Dimension, you will capture this mermaid who has become a thorn and embarrassment in our family’s side, you will kill her, you will bring her body back, and she will be presented as our kill for this year. Am I clear?’

‘Y-Yes Auntie Ciri.’

Xanthar grunted in confirmation.

Bill felt her cold gaze on him expectantly and he nodded, latching the barrel into place with an audible click. His gaze was empty as he nodded obediently.

‘Understood.’

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Soulmates or not.

His back continuned to burn.

[summerofpinecestcontest]

The Dream of a Normal Life

by @cornytyrannosaurus

The fresh breeze of the Norwest lands scurred between the mountains, between the hills, beneath the trees, until it reached the nostrils of a young man inside a van which was stationed atop a hillside.

He breathed deep, filling his tired lungs with the soft breeze and all the scents it brought from every corner of the undying forest. His always hurried mind took this moment of serenity to fuel itself back to be awake, he already processing within his blurred thoughts all the duties of the day.

Mile 82, 54. Mile 21, 12 up to date. We go downhill until…

Then he opened his eyes, and the list stopped. He saw her, gently snoring in her sleep, her hands improvising a pillow. He smiled, recalling how annoying she could get when her hands felt sore; but what to do about it? She looked just too adorable right now to be awoken just for the sake of a mere slumbering formality. Her neon-stained, raggedy hair fitted with her purple sleeveless shirt, the only piece of cloth she was wearing in her sleep. He rolled his eyes down to her nude legs, remembering with heated fondness how much he made her to feel loved last night. Maybe he should put the blanket over such gorgeous sight, he thought. Unfortunate, but necessary.

Heavily, he put the brown blanket over her underside, to stop at her slightly inflated belly. His eyebrows dropped, reminding the main why of her needing to feel loved last night. She was having one of those delicate hormonal moments, a thing he took years to get accustomed and now was proving itself really useful during these uncertain times.

Uncertain, never better though.

He gave a quick kiss on her forehead, rolled his body around in search of his clothes, and hurriedly put his pants on.

He opened the backdoors, sat at the edge of the white van they lived in now, and took a long look at the immediate surroundings.

The gigantic mountains came across his sight like an unfathomable Leviathan welcoming his life with its majestic shape. Around him and all across the hillside, countless trees of all shapes and sizes covered the outline of horizon like a fortress for their tiny kingdom of intimacy and solitude. What he could give for them to have a tiny home where to start a family at a place like this, he could not tell but was certain in it.

Then he heard the growls coming from the trees, and he recalled they were just passing by.

A couple of man-sized hoofed monstrosities ran wild from between the depths of the forest, galloping over the concrete and disappearing behind another line of old pine trees. Their countless mouths filled with human-like crooked teeth, placed all across their headless, dark furry bodies, screeched continuously as they waved their long rat-like black tails at the fresh airs of the of morning.

Aaaaaaw f*ck.

Tagging eldritch creatures in a national park wasn’t precisely his dream job, but was quite within the spectrum of skills of the Mystery Twins, and as these non-euclidean beasts began to reproduce, they found themselves at a chance of getting a good source of income at the aftermath of events he didn’t want to remember right now.

If only his mind could listen to him to stop rerunning the horrible memory of that day.

Before sorrow had the chance to overtake his heart, he felt the warm of a pair of arms circling his tummy, a pair of legs caressing his, and a slightly inflated belly gently pressing his back. He smiled in relief; he hadn’t figured yet how she was able to slip across surfaces.

“Good morning, Dipdop” she murmured in his ear with seductive tone.

“’Morning, Mabes” he said back, turning his head to kiss her cheek, and then her lips, to go back to look at the hill.

“Why are yah awake so early? I wanted to spoon yah” She asked, squishing his belly with her arms”

“Dunno, just… wanted to start earlier today” He said with slow content.

“Before breakfast? You gotta be kiddin’ me” she said with pretended anger.

“You’ll never let me to skip it, will you?” He mustered with a grin.

“Nope, I won’t” She asserted. “Besides…” she said, as she squished her legs around his.

“Besides?”

“I’m still just in my shirt” she whispered at his ear. His grin grew bigger, as his sister slipped back from where she came and he rolled around to follow her.

“But what about the breakfast?” He asked with fake indignation.

“First this breakfast, then food breakfast”

“Mhmm, I like the plan…” He said as he closed the van’s door behind him.

It wasn’t the most conventional form of Love, nor the beginning of a normal life. But it was theirs to live , and they loved it anyway.

At least there, away from the unsuspecting and prejudiced eyes of the world, they were free.

If only the world could know the pain it could cause.

- Six months ago…

Mabel Pines had endured many terrifying moments in her life. When Dipper broke his leg at their kickboxing practice, when she was at the hands of a gigantic childish mechanoid, when her brother was about to be devoured by a living corpse, when she was about to be erased from existence by a extradimensional pyramid god, when she got lost in that trip to the unknown… but these immediate moments were heaving in her stomach more than any of that. Maybe it was because those moments were a little far in her memory, or because her resistance to cringe was absolutely superior to her brother’s. Or maybe it was because this time, the impending threat came from within her very own family.

And now she was frozen in place inside the van, watching how Dipper stood over the grass of the family home, his forehead bleeding and his face turning to their parents, his shape contrasted between the darkness of the night and the porch’s lamp.

Maybe they weren’t as angry and freaked out as they were an hour ago, but their resolution wasn’t something they were willing to accept. Right now, Mason “Dipper” Pines was standing against the destruction of his incoming family.

“Dipper, please… be reasonable. There is no way out of this” His father reassured, trying to appeal to his intellect, trying to undo the damage of the wound he had done to his own son. But Dipper had already cried, so the wound would stay a long time.

“No” Dipper pronounced in crackly voice.

His mother approached to him a couple of steps more, heartbroken for the glance of their own children at them. “Dipper, you’re not in your right mind, you don’t-”

“No, Mom!” Dipper yelled high. “We-we tried, we really really tried. But it didn’t matter how much we tried, how much we were honest with you. You didn’t listen, and you are still not listening. You look at us like if we were just a couple of f*cking monsters!”

“Dipper… You won’t be able to live a normal life with Mabel” His father told with serious tune. Again, they weren’t listening; again, they were mistaking their love for another crooked urge they needed to repress to have fulfilling lives. If only they knew.

“Well.. maybe we don’t want one!” Dipper finally shouted, turning around to walk aimlessly to his van.

Their parents only watched impotent how their beloved children drove away from home, and away from their lives…

“Mhm… so… I’ll want a French-Fry-Fantasy and a Slurpy Surprise” the young woman finally chose her meal options from between the short menu in the grease-stained paper sheet. It was kind of her personal politics about road restaurants to “choose the weirdest dishes in the menu or don’t say yourself worthy of a road trip”. The waitress with curly black hair and more freckles than space in the face to have them, could read for her bun hairstyle, her capri pants and her lots of laces and bracelets on her arms, that she was the extroverted and adventurous of them.

“I’ll want a pancake plate and a coffee, thanks” the man said instead. Judging by the old flannel coat and his black pants, he was the quiet one. The young waitress tried not to smile too much at the enormous contrast between their breakfast options, pondering in her mind how so alike persons could have such starkly different personalities. Anyhow, they made such a lovely couple, one of those who brighten the day of a service worker doomed to attend uncourteous people the rest of the day just like she was.

“Oh right, so a coffee cup, a Slurpy Surprise, a pancake plate and a French-Fry-Fantasy” The waitress repeated as the couple at the table nodded in agreement. “Ok, your order will be done in 10; anything else?”

“Nope, that’s all; thanks” he answered with kind tone.

“Okie dokie” The waitress said. “Oh! And congrats for your baby!” The waitress said before to leave.

“Owww thank you so much!” she said in joyful tune, making the waitress to enlarge her smile as she left to attend the order.

The young woman turned her attention back to her brother, moving over her seat with impatient joy. It was one of those days where the world seemed that friendly at them; after an inconceivable quantity of bad days in between, both had learned to appreciate them.

“Gosh I’m so hungry!” she exclaimed, enthusiastic at the edge of childishness.

“Yeaaah I kinda doubt ten minutes will be enough for your order” he asserted, resting his elbows on the table, looking out the window for a moment.

“Ooh, hush you there, bro-man! Have a little of faith in these peoples; they’re experts!” she dismissed.

“Experts in road restaurant dishes?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yep, I’m sure they attend to a special college for restaurant workers and stuff” she said with erudite-like pride.

“I did!” the old cook behind the bar yelled at their table with a stoic smile, raising his spatula. Maybe they were talking too high for a public place, but as they were currently the only customers it did not seem like it mattered at first. He usually would beg for her to slow down a little, due to the obvious need for them to conceal their true identities, but given the events of last night, he was simply happy to see her so free and being herself.

“You see? Road restaurant experts” She finally asserted as she raised her arms in a gesture of obviousness.

“Ok, I’ll eat my words along my pancakes” Dipper commented with an ironical smile.

“Yes you will, you will” She asserted, bopping his nose with the tip of her finger. Suddenly, she got aware the sorrow behind her brother’s eyes, and she worried. “What’s up, Dip?”

He paused for a couple of seconds in which his always hurried mind deliberated. She didn’t like unnecessary dramas, but she also liked him to be honest, as they had committed themselves to be. So after that instant that felt eternal, he spoke.

“Dunno, kinda… I know you’ll just tell me it was some kind of hormone rush or whatever but… I really…”

“Hey, it’s ok, Dip” she interrupted him, taking his hands with hers over the table. “I guess I was just… scared about the call Mom and Dad made and…”. For a moment, she thought she could express better by enacting, so she leaned across the space between them to rob him a deep kiss, to just after returning to her seat. “I want this, Dipper. I want all of this” She said, her eyes getting moisty.

“We’re just that crazy, aren’t we?” he asked with a moved smile. She was that fantastic and brave he couldn’t contain his love for her.

“And I couldn’t be happier for it” She asserted. He raised his hand to caress her cheek. Maybe it was the magical pregnacy hormones he had heard about in documentaries, or the strange and unnamed dimensions of their mutual love reacting again for a full catharsis potential, but she looked especially beautiful this morning, and (as energetically as he showed how much he loved her earlier at the van) she deserved to feel it. “To heck with a normal life” she cited from him as both just stared each other until the dishes were ready.

- Six months ago…

Dipper was quiet, as he had been all the way the long long time of driving lasted until the gas ran out near San Francisco Bay. He hadn’t said a word, nor even tried to clean his face of the blood; anyone with no idea of what really happened could have thought he was just coming out from a horror scene.

The unnerving silence was the exact kind Mabel recognized perfectly; she knew exactly what he was thinking and why he was thinking it. The waves of fear and regret and self-hatred and so many other things too deep to have a name. She let him have his inner battle, because Dipper Pines was the man of resolutions; but at some point she got aware he was just self-loathing again. Self-loathing for loving his sister in unexpected and strange ways she also felt. Self-loathing for stripping her dreams away just because he said he wanted to be with her and promising they would fight together whatever it would take. Self-loathing about the fact he actually accomplished his promise and now faced the true, palpable consequences of not having a plan this time. If he only had a plan, if he only…

“Dipper!” Mabel yelled at him, and he raised the head to look at her. His wound had closed enough for his blood over his face to dry a little, but the scar was still cutting his birthmark at half.

“I…”

“No. Don’t you ever dare to say you’re sorry about this. And you know what? It’s because this is not your fault, Dipper!”

“Bu-“

“But nothing, Dipper! It was Dad the one who punched you, it was Mom the one who pushed me, it was them the ones who wanted to… to wanted to…”; Mabel couldn’t even pronounce the fact that her own parents wanted to kill their unborn grandchild. “This is the part where I get all serious and say to you: We did everything we could. It didn’t work, eh? Well, we just move on and keep going forward! Because we have each other, just like we always had!” Mabel said, half crying, half smiling. Dipper smiled as well, because he knew it was true. He had saved the universe (now more than once), living in it was the least of the problems if they were that powerful together. At least, as powerful as their love was.

“To heck with a normal life” He said with trembling lips as they approached each other and kissed fiercely. Young? For sure. Inexperienced? As every young adult. Willing to face the full grasp of all the risks, the current perils, and unexpected tangents of becoming a wandering couple of roadside adventurers? As few souls in the whole Creation were.

-

It had been a tiring day. Some unseen thing had tried to eat his leg; some random stone had pierced a tire and they had to wait until a car stopped to help them and the muscled father of the family aided them to change the tire; they had tagged 328 adults and 58 younglings within the 36 nests across 28 hectares. Should they worry about the spreading of the hairy Lovecraftian monstrosities any further? Maybe, but first they should get some profit out of it. Now they were on their way to the next town, way far along the road.

For moments, they held hands together, staying in silence. For moments, Dipper changed the gear lever. For moments, they stopped so she could pee, as unceremonious as it was; pregnancy issues, she could recall very well. But they were in their way, announced by the gorgeousness of the sunset, sealed between unsaid promises coming from silent smiles. For moments, they talked as well.

“What are we gonna call our baby, Dips?” She interrupted the sound of the radio ballad songs.

“Hadn’t we agreed we were going to wait to know what our baby is to suggest names?”

“I knoooooow but I really wanna start having this solitary baby tummy-mommy chatter and I can’t just keep calling our baby ‘unnamed baby in fabrication’”.

He laughed wholeheartedly, as only she could make him laugh.

“Ok then, what if it’s a boy”.

“Weeeeeell I was thinking about Bob, or Steve, or Ronan!” She said in joy.

“Ronan? Heck no, that sounds too much. What about Connor?”

“Mhmm, I like Connor” she nodded. “Ok, so what if it’s a girl”

“Well, I kind of thought about Madeline, or Samantha, or Cassiopeia!”

“Do you really want to call our baby girl like a Greek tragedy?” she dismissed with a defiant smile.

“Ok ok, maybe it’s kinda preposterous. That’s a hard choice, Mabes”

“What about Mabel 2.0? Like Grenda!”

“I still want to figure out how names with numbers are allowed, by the way” he asserted.

“Eh, we’ll know when we reach New Jersey”

He smiled with hope. It was a still-in-process plan, but it was something they could have for sure. That, if the thing with the eldritch furry monsters didn’t grow for them to having to change it. They were going to land at New Jersey, where the grunkles would reach in some months to help them to acquire the old pawn shop they once lived in. It was a plan, and that’s the only thing they needed to know as they approached their destiny.

“We’ll make it, Dips” She reassured with a gentle glance.

“I know” He said back, as they drove deep within the endless road. Life was theirs to live, and that was everything that mattered.

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Okay I should be sleeping but I just made the ultimate WandaVision Gravity Falls connection and I need to share:

*WandaVision ep. 6 spoilers*

It’s the Mabel Bubble. That’s literally what Wanda’s world is. She didn’t want to deal with reality anymore. She felt alone. She says in ep. 6 that she’s not really sure how she made Wandaworld. She controls everything in it, makes the rules, made things bright and cheerful and good (?). But it is wrong and if you mention the outside world you will get YEETED out. Her twin brother just SHOWS UP like, “Hey are you okay??” Vision gets to be the other half of Dipper with all his investigating and “This is not right”. Remember that one time Dipper said he wanted to leave and go back to reality and everything around him turned into a hellscape of dead earth and bugs and eyes? Yeah that’s the vibe here, especially now that we know going through the barrier can lead to DISINTEGRATION. 

Wanda needs to learn to face reality just like Mabel did, the difference being mainly that Wanda’s entire family is dead and her bubble happened after the insane world-altering war instead of in the middle of it. But like, beyond that I am shocked by the similarities??? Even with the girls’ mindsets of “This is BETTER. This is GOOD. Why are you trying to mess up my perfect world don’t make me yeet you, I MAKE THE RULES HERE!” and that’s... interesting, because the reason Wanda has more grown-up problems is because... she’s a grown-up whereas Mabel was 12. And yet Wanda is dealing with her problems like a scared 12-year-old who’s afraid of losing everything and facing a world that is torn and broken and a life that will never be the same again. Which maybe speaks to the fact that she’s traumatized and the part of her that is acting is the part of her that’s a terrified 12-year-old. Which is understandable, but the fact still remains that you can’t hide forever in a fantasy. You MUST learn to face reality and move on, that’s just part of life (though friends help, Wanda needs some friends- maybe Darcy, Monica and the other guy whose name I can’t remember [it is 2am and I am horrible with names I’m sorry] can be her friends? also therapy.).

Anyway, there’s my two cents.

Some questions:

1. Is just Wanda behind all this? Or is something else at play? Like how Bill made the Mabel bubble and then gave Mabel total control over it. I’m just asking, I mean, Wanda said she doesn’t really remember what happened.

2. Is Pietro and/or Vision going to convince her to let go of this like the Fantasy vs. Reality Trial in the Mabel Bubble? How will that work since they’re dead?

3. When the Wanda Bubble lifts does everything go back to normal? Will Vision and Pietro be dead again?

[nataliedanovelist]

C-137 Vs. 46'\

C-137 Vs. 46'\ = A Gravity Falls & Rick and Morty crossover fic for @stephreynaart! I meant to finish this, like, forever ago, but I did my best and decided this has stayed hidden in my files long enough. I hope y’all enjoy it!

Stanchez for life!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Episode Placement: GF = after the finale (season 3) R&M = Between S1E10 and E11 (In S2E2, Rick dates 1/12/2015 on the drop-off papers for Jerry. Though Alex hates dating cartoons, it can be estimated that GF took place during 2013 thanks to Sev'ral Timez, so the next summer would be 2014. So… yeah. I put way too much thought into this.)

The vast galaxy in front of them was an endless sea of stars and space-clouds of many different colors. Some were green, some were blue, some were magenta, it honestly looked like a generic Hot Topic galaxy t-shirt.

But Rick didn’t give a shit about some fucking space-clouds or some fucking shop for teenagers who were trying too hard to be goth. Rick didn’t give a shit about the fact that Morty barely knew how to drive the fucking spaceship. Rick only have a shit about getting away from the other fucking spaceships that were after the humans, but he couldn’t drive because Rick had to repair the fucking weapon to kill those fucking bastards. Fuck.

“Aw, geez, Rick, hurry it up!” Morty yelled.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job, Morty!” Rick snapped back as he tinkered with the huge ray-gun that laid by his feet.

The spacecraft jolted to the side as a beam just barely missed it. Rick caught his screwdriver as it flew in the air for a second and he finished the final turn. Rick grinned maliciously and aimed the newest invention out at the enemy. He pulled the trigger and rather than a beam of light or a bullet escaping the gun, it appeared that nothing happened, until each spaceship seemed to be covered with blood and guts from the inside, covering the windows and halting the enemies’ spaceships.

“Oh my God, Rick, what the hell?!” Morty screamed.

“Relax, Morty, you’ve seen worse. It’s just a gun that released microscopic ninjas that slice people up from the inside until they’re nothing b-b-but guts.” Rick burped through the alcohol and leaned on the big gun proudly with a monotone voice and facial expression.

“No, Rick, what the hell IS THAT?!”

Rick looked ahead to see a wormhole of pink, blues, and whites glowing brightly in front of them. Morty was trying to turn the spaceship away, but they were being pulled in by gravity.

“Well, fuck.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Mabel was bouncing like she had springs on the bottoms of her shoes as she held her Grunkle Ford’s hand. They were both wearing ponchos and on their way to the magical part of the forest. Mabel, Dipper, Stan, and Ford had only been back in Gravity Falls for two days and Ford wanted to start off this summer right by bonding with his favorite grandniece in the Multiverse.

Ford felt guilty of the little time they had spent together the previous summer. True, he had arrived home a little late in the season, but he had spent plenty of time bonding with Dipper, leaving not nearly enough for Mabel. Ford loved her very much, but with Dipper things were more predictable. The boy was a lot like him, so Ford knew what to expect and how to bond with him, like playing Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons or working or investigating an anomaly together. Ford had no clue what twelve… thirteen-year-old girls liked and Mabel’s overwhelming flood of love and affection had startled Ford like an old alley-cat.

Still, he admired her positivity and loved to do arts-and-crafts with her. They had captured time last summer for her to make a beautiful hand-turkey on Ford’s six-fingered hand; she had said that the extra feather made it special. The old scientist had no idea what he had done to deserve Mabel… no, he didn’t deserve Mabel, but she seemed to like him, so he owed her some alone-time. Mabel seemed to like the supernatural almost as much as Dipper (Dipper took a more serious approach to it while Mabel seemed to accept everything with loving arms), so Ford offered to take her out to the magical part of the forest over breakfast and Mabel nearly choked on her Stan-cake out of pure joy.

Now, as the morning sun rose and was nearly above their heads, after about an hour of traveling and quietly talking, they were starting to reach the magical part of the forest.

“So, why do we need ponchos, Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked as she used her free-hand to play with the yellow hood that was over her beautiful brown hair.

“Because the fairies we’re going to investigate are… rather messy.” Ford landed on. The Barf Fairies used to turn his stomach, but after traveling through dimensions for over thirty years, Ford’s stomach had hardened and since Mabel also seemed to have a strong gag-reflex, he decided that he would try to learn more about the less-than-pleasant type of fairies. “I would hate for them to ruin a Mabel Pines original.” Ford added with a smile down at the young teenager.

Mabel grinned braces-free (she had them removed back in February) up at the old scientist, loving it when he called one of her sweaters a Mabel Pines original, and her eyes twinkled when she saw the blue sweater through Ford’s poncho, the one she had made for him with a golden six-fingered hand on the front, like his old journals. “So, these are…”

“Barf Fairies.”

“Right. What do you already know about them?”

“Only that we should avoid whatever they eat.”

Mabel laughed along with him and said, “Okay. Well… I’ve actually never talked to or met a fairy before, so looks like we’re both starting from square-one. Did you meet any fairies out in the Multiverse?”

“Yes, but they were very different than the one here in Gravity Falls. I once landed in a dimension where the seasons changing was caused by the fairies, and in another dimension I met a giant fairy-queen that looked more like a slug with wings covered in glitter.”

Mabel opened her mouth to contribute to the conversation, but they both heard a noise and stopped walking in the woods. The sound had made them think of clanking metal and yells. They looked up and around at the trees, but a little puff of smoke confirmed that they had heard some sort of machine.

“What was that?” Mabel asked quietly.

“I’m not sure.” Ford said honestly and started to walk them to a clearing.

The two Pines left the cluster of pinetrees so they could look around the skies more clearly. It was a beautiful cloudless early-summer day. As they looked up at the heavens above, a flying-disk of a spaceship was whizzing over their heads, having trouble staying up in the air. Ford held Mabel close in fear of it crashing down near them, but the spaceship staggered over the woods and crashed landed from a safe distance.

“Aliens!” Mabel gasped. “Dipper told me about the one under the town! Do you think this is like that one?”

Ford, whose mind was racing, shook his head to try to think straight, and he said, “No, I… I think I know what it is, but… Mabel, I’m afraid the Barf Fairies are going to have to wait.”

Mabel peeled off her poncho and shook her hair free, revealing her purple sweater with a heart and sunglasses on it that matched her red skirt and headband. Ford also took off his poncho, pocketed both of the big yellow articles of clothing in his trenchcoat, but then pulled out his gun. He opened his mouth to tell Mabel to stay close, but she already pulled out her grappling hook and was standing behind Ford, waiting for him to lead the way.

Ford crept back into the woods with Mabel behind him. He had a good idea of what had crashed into Gravity Falls, but he had hoped that he was wrong. He didn’t want Mabel to meet him. Ford was hoping he would never show up in this dimension, but if he was still traveling around the Multiverse…

A low hissing noise from a busted engine told Ford and Mabel where to go. They only had to walk a minute before the spaceship came into view, landing in between two trees and leaving a trail of up-turned dirt in its path before coming to a halt. Ford and Mabel slowly moved towards the ship with their weapons in hand, but they found it unnecessary as a boy stumbled out and coughed into a fist, on his hands and knees and ruffled from the crash.

“Oh geez, oh man, we’re dead. We’re dead. We survived, but we’re dead.” The boy moaned as he slowly stood up. He looked about Mabel’s age, had short brown hair, and wore jeans and a yellow t-shirt with white sneakers.

Mabel pocketed her grappling hook while Ford let his arms fall to his side, but he kept the weapon in hand, just in case. “Huh. That was… not what I was expecting.” Ford said, more to himself than to Mabel.

Mabel stepped forward with her hands up kindly and she cleared her throat, gaining the boy’s attention. He blinked at the two humans and Mabel said in a soft voice, “Uh, hi, I’m Mabel. Are you hurt?”

“What?” The boy asked. He seemed jittery from the crash, his eyes darting and his forehead glistening with sweat. “Uh, n-no. No, I’m fine. I’m…”

“MORTY!”

The boy groaned and squeezed his eyes shut as he tilted his head upward. “Yup, that’s my name. Morty.”

An older man in a white lab-coat with blue-white hair stumbled out of the spaceship, and not out of drunkenness for a change. “Morty, you little…”

“Sanchez.” Ford growled and covered Mable’s ears. He knew this guy had a foul tongue, and while Ford and his brother might have sailors’ mouths, at least he and Stan knew to censor themselves around the kids. Ford’s old friend didn’t.

The old man in the lab-coat looked at Ford and his eyes widened in shock before he grinned. “Oh, no way! Good to see you again, Fordsie!” He laughed, amused by the scenario in front of him. “Great, another genius. Mind giving me a hand with this piece of… erm, crap?”

Ford groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, the sooner I can get you out of my home dimension, the better.”

The man Grunkle Ford had called Sanchez appeared shocked again and he dug around his coat. “Wait, wait, wait. Your home dimension?” Sanchez pulled out a white flat gun with a green bulb on top and he seemed to be reading off a tiny screen. “Huh. Dimension 46’\. This one’s way out of the loop. There’s no way I could’ve gotten you home with this thing. How did you manage to pull that off?”

“Long story.” Ford said and pocketed his hand in his trenchcoat.

“Grunkle Ford,” Mabel piped and smiled up at the visitor. “Who’s this?”

Ford looked down at his niece and decided to share this piece of his thirty-year-long journey in the Multiverse with her. “Sweetie, this is my old acquaintance, Rick Sanchez. Rick, this is my great-niece, my brother Sherman’s granddaughter, Mabel.”

“Oh, hey, nice to meet you, little lady.” Rick said with a small smile and then jabbed a thumb back at Morty. “That little screw-up is my grandson, Morty.”

“Oh, yeah, like you could do any better, Rick.” Morty huffed with crossed-arms over his thin chest.

“I could do better, Morty,” Rick said and rounded on his grandson. “You know what else I can do? I can also leave you behind on Asteroid 3924987, but I won’t. I can also feed you to a five-headed mega-bird from Bird-Person’s homeworld, but I won’t. I can also send you to the citadel and trade you in for a new Morty, but I won’t, as long as you quit being a pain in the ass.”

“Rick, please!” Ford hissed.

“It’s okay, Grunkle Ford, I heard worse when I went to get a snack and Stan was watching football.” Mabel giggled, remembering the other night when Stan’s team was losing and he let out a long stream of colorful swears that made him turn red when he realized Mabel had heard him.

“Of course you have.” Ford groaned and shook his head. “Well, let’s see what the damage is, Sanchez. What caused the crash? Did your micro-verse battery finally start a rebellion?”

“No, because they know if they do, I’ll get a new battery, Genius. When we came to this dimension through a wormhole we hit a mountain side and a part broke off here…”

The two old men examined the spacecraft and were discussing ways to fix it, meanwhile Morty walked up to Mabel and rubbed an arm nervously. “So, uh… I guess they met out in the Multiverse, huh?”

Mabel nodded; she didn’t know how these two old men knew each other or why these two humans were in a spaceship, but based on context clues, Morty’s guess made the most sense. “Wait, so you two are from another dimension?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Morty said with a shrug. “This is 46'\, right? My dimension is C-137.”

“Wow, cool!” Mabel said with shining eyes that threw Morty for a loop. “So, what’s different over there? Was Benjamin Franklin a man and never accomplished anything? Are dinosaurs still alive? Oo! I bet your sky is lavender-purple all the time, right?!”

Morty laughed a little and rubbed his arm again. “Uh, no. It’s, I think, pretty much the same as yours. My Grandpa Rick says there’s an infinite number of realities that are just slightly different from one another. M-M-Maybe the difference between C-137 and 46'\ is so small and unimportant it’s not obvious.”

“Oh, okay,” Mabel peered over to watch Rick and Ford work together for a little bit and then she smiled back at Morty. “So, do you always go on adventures with your Grandpa Rick?”

Morty sighed in a shaky puberty-voice and nodded. “Yeah, he’s always making me go on these stupid adventures with him.”

“What?” Mabel gasped with a smile. “They’re not stupid! I’d love to go to a different dimension with my Grunkle Ford! I’ve already been on one with him and Grunkle Stan when they had to rescue me from Dimension Mab3L. The other mes were a little self-centered, but it was a lot of fun to punch myself in the face and rescue my great-uncles.”

“Yeah, but from the sounds of it, your - what did you say, Grunkle Ford? - is nice to you.” Morty pointed out. “My Grandpa Rick treats me like garbage all the time, but then again he treats everyone like garbage, so at least he’s only signaling me out to stay hidden from the Federation or whatever.”

“Oh.” Mabel said quietly and held her hands behind her back bashfully, unsure of how to respond, but she decided to try to make Morty feel better. “Well, my other great-uncle, Grunkle Stan, is a little tough sometimes, but that’s only because he cares about his family and is toughening us up for a tougher world. He’s my hero!”

“That sounds nice.” Morty said with a small smile. He didn’t think Rick cared about his family like this Stan guy, but Morty wasn’t in the mood to kill Mabel’s optimism. “I like your sweater, by the way.”

“Thanks!” Mabel grinned proudly. “I made it!”

Morty’s eyes widened. “Wow, really?” Mabel held out her arm so Morty could feel her sleeve. “Oh my God, that’s amazing! You’re really talented.”

“Hey, thanks! If you want, I can make you one!”

“R-R-Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Sure! What’s your favorite color?”

“Uh… y-yellow.”

“Got it!”

Ford and Rick walked up to the teenagers and the six-fingered researcher said, “Well, I’m afraid the ship lost a part we need, but luckily I have the materials we need to build one in the lab back home.”

“Great!” Mabel said and grinned. “Let’s go! So, how did you two meet, anyway?”

Ford and Mabel led the way with Rick and Morty closely behind. “We met about twenty years ago in a high-security prison. I remember feeling relieved to see another human. I had been without human contact for a little under two years at the time since I had been stranded on some desert planet.”

“Yeah, this nerd got into big trouble for the extinction of a few million species on Planet 8824816.”

“What?!” Mabel gasped and looked up at her great-uncle, unable to believe that he would cause such mass genocide. “Grunkle Ford, you didn’t?!”

“Of course I didn’t, Mabel.” Ford quickly reassured his niece. “That was the planet I thought was a sandwich. Anyway, at least I didn’t do what Rick was in for…”

“What did he do?”

“I purposely caused mass genocide on Sector 56, Dimension “”113.” Rick said in a scaringly monotone voice.

“What?!”

“Rick!” Ford and Morty both scolded at the same time.

“Hey, it was either me or the Valakawns!” Rick snapped back. “Those bloodsucking leeches didn’t see what hit them, until the Federation caught me hanging from a tree upside-down, passed out and drunk.”

“Alright, enough!” Ford said firmly. “Let’s just build the part we need so we can get you two back to your home dimension. And, Mabel, once they’re gone we’re going to patch the wormhole with alien adhesive.”

“Okay. Last thing we want is for Dipper to get stuck in Dimension Dipp-3R or something.”

“Who’s Dipper?” Morty asked quietly.

“My twin brother!”

“Oh, cool! I don’t have a twin, but I have met multiple versions of myself.”

“Hey, me too! I’ve met Table-Mabel, Explainble, Threebel, Military-Expert-Mabel, Brainbel, T-Rex-Mabel, Fire-Mabel, and even Anti-Mabel!”

“I’ve met an Evil-Morty with one eye-patch who worked for the worst Rick in the Multiverse. I’ve also… Well, let’s just say I’ve met a lot of mes.”

The two teenagers talked while the two old men chatted on ways to fix the ship as they got closer to the Mystery Shack. Rick looked up and down the place and then snorted, amused. “Huh. Not the kind of place I’d expect from Mr. Stick-In-The-Mud over here.”

“My brother had to make some… changes in order to pay off the mortgage.” Ford explained and led the way to the back door. He opened it and said, “My lab is downstairs behind the vending machine in the gift shop. I believe Soos is giving a tour, so it should be safe to enter.”

“Gift shop?” Rick laughed and poked Ford’s shoulder. “When did you get so soft?”

“I am not< soft.” Ford said dignified.

“You’re wearing a blue sweater with a gold six-fingered hand.”

“My niece made it for me!” Ford said proudly and puffed out his chest.

Mabel rolled her eyes with blushing chubby cheeks and a smile and decided to let the old guys fight. She took Morty’s hand and said, “Come on! I’ll show you my room! I have a huge sticker collection you’ll love!”

“Oh, okay!” Morty said and allowed her to drag her up to the attic; it was nice being dragged to something nice and safe rather than some new monster of a different dimension.

“But hey, you turned your lab into a gift shop.” Rick was saying while the teenagers did their own thing. “Least you’re making a profit.” Ford wasn’t sure if Rick was being sincere or not.

“Actually, it’s all my brother’s.” Ford said and waved the subject away. “We’re getting off track. Let's just get you and your grandson out of my dimension.”

“Geez, you used to be way more fun.” Rick said with sagged shoulders. “What happened to the guy who ranked up million on Lottocron Nine and got tattoos with octopus-armed piglets? What happened to the interdimensional criminal who once shot fifty Bureaucrats to save a fellow scientist’s ass?”

“He discovered what was most important, Sanchez.” Ford growled with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh, HO!” A voice laughed as he shook his head and left the kitchen. “I know this guy isn’t talking about Mr. Goody-Nerds-Shoes!”

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose. The last thing he wanted was for his twin and his old friend to meet, but it seemed like some greater being(s) really wanted this to happen, so here we go.

Rick grinned at the sight of a conman in his suit and fez, with a can in his hand, instantly giving Rick the vibe that this guy couldn’t be trusted but would be a hit at parties and wasn’t a total snitch. “Now THIS is what I’m talking about! Name’s Rick, Ford Two.”

Stan barked a laugh and shook his hand. “The name’s Stan, Genius. And please for the love of Moses you weren’t just talking about my brother?”

“Are you kidding, this guy was a total badass!” Rick jabbed a thumb back at the fuming scientist. “He was a total idiot, had no clue how the Multiverse worked, but he was always willing to barrel into whatever crap was out there and destroy some shit!”

“Okay, you and I need to talk.” Stan tossed him the can of soda and went into the kitchen to get some snacks. “I wanna hear more about what kind of crazy violent nomad Ford was back in the day!”

“You got it! Just tell me how the hell he ended up with a cool twin? What, did you inherit all the fun traits leaving him with hobbies like collecting alien stamps?”

Stan barked a laugh and was back, looping an arm around his skinny neck. “I love this guy! Now, please tell me you were there when he got his stupid tattoo.”

“Stanley,” Ford scolded. “We’re supposed to be working on building the part he needs so he can go home. Rick and his grandson are stranded here…”

“Please, I can make that piece of shit from scratch in my sleep.” Rick said. “And Morty’s fine. That niece of yours will keep his small brain entertained for hours.” He turned to Stan and asked, “You got any booze, we had a rough crash here and I need a drink.”

“I got a secret stash in my room,” Stan muttered. “I don’t like drinking with the kids here, but I guess you can have a shot of whisky to relax. Want some soda?”

“Sure, why not. There’s a bit in my flask to last.”

And the old men walked away for the ‘Employees Only’ part of the house, leaving Ford to grit his teeth in annoyance and then bite his lip in discomfort. This could only end one way and he was not looking forward to it.

To be continued...

[evabellasworld]

Storm of the Republic

Chapter 21

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21

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Summary:  When Tup murdered General Tiplar during a battle, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex dispatched Ahsoka, Fives, and Yara to solve the mystery that was plaguing the Clone Army. Meanwhile, Senator Padme Amidala contacted Commander Fox, Commander Tori, Riyo Chuchi, and Dipper to help her continue investigating the death of Palpatine, suspecting that Dooku was behind the evil plot. But when Dooku send an ISB agent to stop them, the team had to race against time to search for the truth, which could alter the course of the galaxy.

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With their hands cuffed, Odd Eye could only blink towards the soggy ground as Tarot and Mina were sitting beside her, not saying a single word. “So, what do we do now?” Mina asked, trying to wrangle herself free. “How do we get out of here?”

The commander of the 666th Battalion turned towards Tarot with a stony expression on her face. “Can you shuffle the cards for us?”

Tarot turned to the other Mina, gesturing towards his utility belt. “Could you help me get my tarot cards? I don’t think I can reach them with those handcuffs around me.”

“Seriously?” the other Mina rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “You were given two hands and a brain. At least utilise it.”

“I’ll give you a reading if you take my tarot cards for me.”

“Yes, vod,” she gave a nod, as she looked left and right and reached for his pocket, slowly taking out the deck of cards with her hands. As she handed it to him, Tarot glanced at Odd Eye, smiling. “So, what questions do you have for me, Commander?”

“Will we get out of this situation?” Odd Eye asked the deck, hoping she would get a yes as an answer.

He shuffled the cards for her, provoking no form of attention from the battle droids. They may have gotten hold of their blaster, but they will never take away his treasured possession that his late general had gifted.

As he finished shuffling the cards, he pulled out the Temperance card from the deck, which made him frown. “Oh dear,” Tarot bared his teeth. “I’m afraid I have bad news for you.”

She breathed in frustration. “Seriously? We’re not getting out of here? Did you even shuffle the cards properly?”

“Of course I did, commander,” Tarot insisted. “I’ve been doing readings for the entire battalion for years and I have never been wrong in my entire career, ever.”

“Entire career, my ass. No one has ever paid you to do a reading for them.”

“Well, I’m planning to become a professional tarot reader once the war is over. Besides, I could earn a lot of money for predicting other people’s future, you know.”

“The only thing you’re always fixated on is your future,” Odd Eye raised her voice. “Right now, we’re being captured by the Imps and that’s the only thing running in your head right now? How do you become an ARC Trooper with that kind of attitude?”

“Okay guys, let’s not argue too much,” Erina stepped in between them, squeezing both their hands. “Right now, we’ll have to think of a way to get ourselves out of this sticky situation. Can we work on this together?”

Before Odd Eye and Tarot could answer their general, two battle droids approached them, pointing their weapons in front of their faces. “Silence, Republic dogs, or we’ll shoot.”

The former could only smirk as she glanced at them, before pouncing on one droid and disarmed it, shooting both the droids with agility. Erina was speechless as watched the commander freed herself, before the latter tossed a blaster towards her. “What are you waiting for? This is our chance to take them down. Come on.”

“You’re insane,” the general remarked, as she shifted her focus towards Raul, who was trembling to himself. Pulling the trigger, she shot her partner’s handcuffs, making him exclaim through his throat.

“Makers, Eri. You could have killed me.”

“Just be grateful that you can fight. Now don’t just stand there. Grab something and fight those Imperial scum, goddamit.”

“Yes, dear,” Raul saluted as he jumped on a droid and stomped its head, snatching a blaster from its hands. The Imperials opened fire towards the clones, but the latter fought back with their combined strength and their brains, taking them down like what they did in their training simulation.

Mina got back her twin pistols and took down the Super Battle Droids, before moving on with the B1 units. Nygma and Beetle, on the other hand, collected some explosives from the droid’s camp and tossed them towards an army, making the ground shatter.

Watching the battle, Faven’s legs were shaking as Hyewon unlocked her handcuffs with a safety pin, before doing the same for Boil and Faven. “We should join the party,” the purple-haired clone gestured. “Come on, guys.”

“When did you learn how to pick locks?” Boil asked her. “I don’t even know how to do that.”

“I learned it from an escaped artist. He failed to escape from prison, though.”

“How ironic,” Faven snorted, tossing their weapons towards them. “But we have a job to finish and we don’t have time to loiter around like.”

The two of them nodded and joined the battle, gunning down their enemies swiftly. The droid army had called for reinforcement at their camp, but Boil could not care, for he was determined to win this minor battle. He was humiliated for getting ambushed by the Empire, and now, he is getting his sweet revenge against them.

“Hey, you three,” Mina pointed her fingers at Faven, Boil, and Faven. “Don’t just stand there and shoot. I need you all to sabotage their tanks right now. We need to everything we can to cripple those scumbags. Got it?”

“Yes, general,” Hyewon acknowledged, looking at her siblings. “How the fuck are we going to do that? We won’t even last for two seconds.”

“It’s easy,” Faven picked up three bombs from the box they carried moments ago. “We run towards them, plant them on the bottom of the tank, and run for safety. Understood?”

“I won’t fail you, pal.”

“That’s the spirit,” Boil cheered them up, as they brave themselves through the crossfire, avoiding every blast as they could.

Hyewon shielded herself from the attacks with her arms while Faven blasted the droids while running in the dark, hoping she could knock on a tree and die instantly. Meanwhile, Boil kept on sprinting towards the first tank, without looking back.

“I won,” he laughed, much to Faven’s exasperation.

“Not everything is a game, you know. For all we know, someone could die right now.”

“I love this game,” Hyewon smiled underneath her helmet, as she threw a bomb on the second tank, before winking at the former. “You can do it, Fav.”

She could only roll her eyes as she was the last one to finish her task given by the commander. Ducking behind the tree for safety, Faven covered her ears as three of the tanks blew up, sweeping away most of the droid army.

“Take that, you motherfucking clankers,” Boil screamed in joy as Hyewon cheered in a high-pitched voice.

“That is one hell of an explosion,” she bellowed. “I’ve never had this much fun since I beat someone in a poker game.”

But they spoke too soon. As the trio helped each other up, they were surrounded with reinforcements from the Imperials, prompting them to raise their hands in the air.

“Looks like we spoke too soon,” Faven said, deadpanned, as they were led back to the 666th and the 197th Battalion, who were forced to surrender.

Odd Eye stretched her lips wide, realising that she had to lose to the droid army for the second time in one day. “I can’t believe your deck is accurate.”

“I’m sorry, commander,” Tarot apologised. “Sometimes, I can’t always control the answers shown on my cards.”

“Looks like the concentration camps seem fun,” Raul showed his optimism, making Erina roll her eyes.

“You have to work to death in a concentration camp till you die, Raul. It’s not a delightful spot for vacation.”

“We shared the same blanket and you still can’t tell the difference between my normal voice and my sarcastic voice?” the general gasped dramatically. “That’s just absurd.”

“Are you using my words against me?”

“Well, I mean, you said that to me first, so it’s only fair if I-“

“Quiet, you too,” the B1 commanded. “Or we’ll shoot.”

Mina sighed in defeat when she watched the droid commander taken down, prompting her to turn around. The remaining members of the  212th Attack Battalion and the Coruscant Guards had arrived, with General Obi-Wan Kenobi And Commander Thire leading.

“My apologies for being late,” Obi-Wan greeted, as his troops moved into an attack position. “We were held back by the enemies on the beachfront.”

“No worries, General Kenobi,” smiled Erina. “You made it just in time.”

“Alright soldiers, let’s finish this battle and call it a day,” the soft-spoken Jedi ordered.

“Right away, sir,” Cody bobbed his head as they fired at the droids, sparing no one.

[popculturebuffet]

Close Enough Reviews: The Canine Guy

We’ve finally reached the end.. hopefully not of the season and there are hints that there’s a little more to come so fingers crossed, but of the massive bomb. 12 episodes, with three thankfully done already. 1 day. Doors open let’s go after the blurb and the cut.  Josh and Alex have a falling out over a yearly tradition that leads to Josh befreinding a talking dog raised on Jim Carrey movies, while Bridgette drags Emily to a cabin in the woods, wooo ooo, to try and get their music duo back on top and run into musical legend and living god Weird Al Yankovic. Dare to be stupid under the cut. 

Like many episodes of this show, and what i’ve said is a strength this episode is two plots tha tsomehow end up smashing into each other but unlike the rest it’s 22 minutes. The show was, unsuprisingly originally convinced this way, as recently revealed by JG himself during the show’s premiere day reddit ama, but the execs later decided to simply cut most of hte episodes down to 11 minutes to improve hte pacing, which as we’ve seen clearly worked . But this one DOES make full use of it’s 22 minutes and does make me hope if hte show gets a season 2 they feel free to ping pong a bit. So with that settled, let’s dive in.  Our A-Plot starts with a flashback showing Josh and Alex’s yearly tradition: Going to midevil times together, due to having seen it in the cable guy, even qouting it and other jim carrey movies as the two were super fans. This continues fine into college but by last year alex just.. isn’t as into it. IT’s a sacred friend ritural and all but Alex is just getting bored.  Things come to a head in the present where, when Alex tries to just flat out get out of it, as he has press agents looking at his viking novel he’s been working on who might actually publish it and as his characeter profile, if not the series makes clear, just like josh and emily’s own dreams this is his. It’s resonable, they could just resschedule.. but Josh feels betrayed lashes out, Alex calls medivial times stupid and historiclaly inaccurate (even if he loves fecatia dippers with tomato soup ), and Josh storms off. Josh wallows, and finds the mead tastes like horse piss (Which leads to an utterly great and gross gag when it turns out ita ctually is, the guy serving it says “He’s on to us”) And switches to brownies using the same horse. Sometimes a grossout gag can work.  However Josh soon finds a new buddy in a talking dog named dog guy who was tourtred by and is running from the scientest who created him for reasons we’ll get to in the climax. And since the dog was also raised on jim carrey movies, and gets josh’s refrences and love of htem, the two quickly bond. Alex is pissed and jealous, somehow more than with his own ex wife, to see this despite trying to clear his schedule to make things up to josh, as he’s still a good guy and can realize he was wrong, and has his meetings, which are boring or frustrating, whie also stalking JOsh and Dog boy. Alex in a fit of rage at seeing dog boy seemingly tear up his manuscript calls the scientest, who popped by earlier looking for him.. only to find out that he just tore up the ending because he felt , as ac ollege graduate no less, that it could be a franchise and the two become friend. WHile Josha nd Alex fight over him Dog GUy’s creator kidnap him and the two head off, their freindship exploding over josh calling the cops and the two both wanting the dog to be their new best friend as well as the whole medievil times thing. Meanwhile Pearles tracking dog guy’s creator, because as she explains to ready cold cases are her majong and lets Candace be the corrput denzel washington type which unlike the previous pearle bit has REALLY not aged well for a number of reasons, but none I can blame the show itself for. 

Alex and Josh head after dog boy and find that the crazy lady who made him is making animal films (It was tourture because she’s bad at it and she was still genuinely abusive) and seeing dog guy as a failure wants to chop up his balls (after using 80 diffrent terms with alex scremaing “Just say balls), to make new dog guys.  Meanwhile in the B plot we first see Bridg and Emily’s comedy rock act which is genuinely funny but fails to impiress with Bridgette having grown frustrated over emily’s focus on candace, in a nice parallel.It also shows that for all her social mediaing and partying, Bridgette DOES take her music seriously but it hasn’t been able to progress without her musical partner.Emily waffles on joining her for a cabin retreatto work on it, with bridgette evne assuming with a fake emily she made out of pillows that emily would bring candace but nope: Candace is left with pearle and josh is busy with a dog so Emily is free. Things still don’t go well: Emily still won’t focus and is on her phone constantly, and emilys defense of “well you were on your phone at your wedding” when BRidgette calls her on it falls flat in a nice moment when bridgette points out she’s divorced. It’s also a nice moment of self relfeciton that shows Bridgette has learned from “Robot Tutor” and accepted her part in her marriage falling apart. The two fight until an angel appearls: Weird Al Yankovic! Like I hoped it really is him! Not that it’s HARD to get him to do voice work, he’s done quite a bit and he’s always happy to pitch in for another comedian, as Red Letter Media recently pointed out he’s kind of the bridge to all eras of comedies as he never really went away. When the two ask which is better: using your family or shutting it out, he admits there’s no perfect way to write a song or no one right way you just do your best.. and in his case stab yourself iwth a narwhal tusk and pray to a demonci god. Then one of the crazy lady’s animals attacks, we get another trailer homage and as they approach our herooines both apologize, Emily admitting Bridg is like her sister and in a funny but still sweet moment BRidgette admits she’s like a half sister... and only dosen’t say the full sister because she has a sister and dosen’t throw that around lightly, but the sentiments the smae. But the animals are recalled to deal with Josh and Alex, so while Emily and Bridgette follow them we get our climax.  Alex and Josh naturally crumble under hteir new foes, but both , like their spouse and ex spouse, reconnect over their mutual love of dog boy and apologize for their behavior to one another, sharing one last dumb and dumber most annoying sound in the world.. which ends up being the key to defeating the animals with Pearle soon swooping in to arrest dog boy’s creator.. for unpaid parking tickcet,s a good gag. She’s in jail, Dog Boy is free and the whole madness and talking dog has given Bridgette and Emily a new song. Our friends are all best pals again, Dog Boy spends time with bost his best friends before nleaving to start his own theater and work on his acting career, so he could show up again and I really hope he does. That last part was revealed via a hilarious where are they now that shows where all the animals oepn up and we close, hopefuly not on the series but on this day Final THoughts; This was a really good one. While admitelly havn’t not watched any pf the classic jim carrey films in years, though I own dumb and dumber I just haven’t gotten around to rewatching it, it was a nice throughline and the kind of specific nostaliga this show is great at. It was also nice to see a conflict where alex is being througly resonable to start and shows that beneath his nutty exterior (he also assumes the scinetests plan is at first to make furries even sexier (his note, add more nips)) is a guy who like his friends has a dream. We see the same with Bridgette who most of the time is’nt on give a fuck mode but here we see there is something besides her friends and ex husband she cares about: her music. It’’s a nice roll reversal to see BRIDGETTE, be the one to take something seriously and Emily to be the one who can’t commit to it and it takes compromise and both realizing they need each other to work. IT’s a nice examination of the shows core freindships that also has a wonderful talking dog and of course weird fucking al being amazing as allways. A stellar close out to this swarm of episodes and hopefully not hte series.  I”ll give my thoughts on the season as a whole later if this turns out to be the season and in a few weeks if not, but for now I finsihed this matharthon and i’m glad: Close enough is a damn good show that while having some more eh episodes, has a good strong emotional core, a great cast, great humor and is creative as hell while improving on the genre and even it’s predecessor. Just a delight to watch. I have regular coverage of Amphibia and Owl House coming up saturday, and hopefully close enough will continue each week, but if not until we meet agian later days. I’m going to go lie down. WOO. 

[hey-hamlet]

Quarentine Recs

What with everyone munching through media like my dog munching on anything that could be considered edible, I thought I’d throw some general recomendations into the ring! Everything here is hopefully something you can start right away without needing to leave your house, if you’re ok with some quasi-legal pirating.

To watch: 

Ore Monogatari / My Love Story Romance / Comedy One Season Fluff to the max, Gouda Takeo is a massive first year highschool student of exeptional size and strength. While hes popular with the boys, most girls think he’s strange. When he saves Yamoto Rinko from a creep on the train its love at first sight, but she’s convinced she’d into his hot friend. Comdey follows.

Somali to Mori no Kamisama / Somali and the Forest Spirit Drama / Fantasy / Good Dad Golem  12 Epsiode Season In a world where humans have been hunted right to the edge of extinction, one golem and his human charge journey in search of the remaining few to reuninte Somali with her kind. Golems live very long lives, but finite ones, and Somali’s guardian is reaching the end of his. I’m two episodes away from finishing it but its really sweet, great dad content featuring multiple guest dads and their children. Somali is so sweet she’ll give you a toothache

Isekai Shokudou / Restaurant to Another World Slice of Life / Fantasy / Is food a genre? Because food Every Saturday this restaurant closes it’s doors to the public and recives visitors from another world. There isn’t much plot here but it will make you very hungry and strangely greatful for processed flour, canola oil and freezers. I’m pretty sure the chef is voiced by Aizawa’s Japanese VA and its amazing.

Gravity Falls Mystery / Drama / Comedy Two Seasons A Classic - A set of twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines wind up spending their summer holiday with their sketchy grat uncle Stan. But, as they soon find out, the town is not what it seems.

Features loads of action, fun mystery and loads of twists set up so well you’ll kick yourself! Good family relationships with rounded characters and fun villains. This series has a special place in my heart as something I grew up watching when I was twelve, and it finished in my second last year of highschool, its just a great story. The comedy is really only big in the first season and dies down fast when things get serious. Be prepared to hate a tiny 10-ish year old boy.

Steven Universe / Steven Universe Future  Comedy / Drama / Slow Burn / Action Six Seasons Considering it just finished, now is a great time to start. Steven Universe is a bubbly young boy who lives with the Crystal Gems, a strange set of gem creatures who knew his mother. Steven is half gem himself and the show features him growing up and helping the people around him grow as well. 

The show is slow and starts a little rough but its very sweet and ernest. Steven Universe Future is far darker than the original show (but, a minor spoiler, does have a happy ending) so be careful!

Over the Garden Wall Mystery / Drama / Supernatural 10 Episode Miniseries  Two half brothers, Wirt and Greg, find themselves in a part of the forest they don’t recognise with no clue how they got there. The deeper they go, the stranger it gets and the less certain their escape may be. And whats all this talk of a beast? 

This show has Wirt learning how to be a good big brother along with some delightful autumnal scenery and American gothic fantasy elements. I recomend you sit down with some tea and baked goods and watch it like a movie.

To play: 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch Brand new and very popular, you play a human on an island with delightful animal neighbours. Make friends, customise your island and live your life to the fullest! Features local and online mutliplayer with up to 8 people. Also feel free to play it with me because its taking over my life!

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles PC / Play Station 4 / Nintendo Switch / X Box One A sweet open world indie adventure and exploration game with farming and fantasy elements. You find yourself shipwrecked on a strange island with only your magic compass that I can’t remember the name of to guide you. This game is mostly about expolaration and discovery and the enviroment is pretty enough that it works well.

Niche PC A boardgame like turnbased strategy that has you controlling a small group of creatures and tinkering with their genetics and breeding to try and survive the harsh world around you. Cute creatures, fun game.

Temtem PC A pokemon-like MMO that sees you capturing creatures call Temtem to fight for you. The game is still in early access so keep that in mind, but it’s pretty fun and the creatures are very well designed. 

Guild Wars 2 PC FREE TO PLAY VERSION AVALIBLE The only MMORPG I’ve ever played but boy it’s spoilt me. A one time purchase lets you experience the world of Tyria where you can play as one of 5 races or one of 9 classes. The personal story is great (unless you’re me and have played the sylvari stories so many times you can quote half of the lines) and the post game story gets real fast. Asside from that, its a really pretty game thats super fun with one of the nicer communities I’ve ever experienced. Co-operation is encouraged and the dynamic event system will have you playing with puppies one minute and murdering a giant undead behemoth the next. I have sunk so many hours in this game.