#AND SWEATER DANNY WITH HEADBAND

[loser-user-noaccuser]

I’m all

Rn bc of josh

[caffeinatedvigilantewriter]

Master post OG post Part 1

“It’s about to go from bad, to worse. Brace yourself.”

~

Dani and Damian spent another minute watching the Agents before Dani felt a tap on her shoulder.

Dani turned, Damian following her lead. They came face to face with a small redhead boy, with green-blue eyes that had an odd cloudy gaze to them.

“Wes.” Dani greeted politely.

Wes nodded, shifting slightly. “Hullo.”

“Wes, this is Damian.” Dani gestured to Damian, who stuck out his hand.

“Good evening.” He greeted coolly. He didn’t like the way Wes’s eyes darted back and forth.

“You’re the turning point.” He whispered, ignoring Damian’s hand.

“Excsuse me?”

“You’re the turning point.”

Dani took a step forward. “Wes, what are you taking about?”

Wes blinked, hard, and the cloudy look in his eye disappeared.

“Sorry, Dani. What did I say?”

Dani and Damian looked at each other. Dani turned back.

“You don’t remember? You called Damian the ‘turning point’.”

Wes frowned. “You don’t know yet?”

“Wes, know what?” Dani’s voice had an edge of panic in it.

“The ecto.” Wes looked around to see if anyone was watching. “It basically contaminated all the kids in the town. Especially the ones in our grade.”

“So everyone is liminal?” Dani whisper in a panic.

“And we have powers. Meet us at the Casper High Football stadium at 11 pm.”

And he was gone, disappearing through the crowd of citizens.

~

Dani and Damian walked to a large house with their suitcases rolling behind them.

The house was neglected, with dirt and buildup on the bricks and stairs. There was a green flickering sign that read-

“FentonWorks Lab.” Damian muttered out loud and Dani shot him a strained smile.

“Come on, let’s go inside.”

They were barely on the stoop when the door flung open and a woman with bright red hair wearing a teal sweater that matched her eyes and headband.

“Dani! Thank Ancients you made it!” She said, wrapping Dani into a tight hug

Dani let go of her suitcase and hugged her back just as desperately.

“Hiya Jazz.” she said wetly, before breaking the hug and gesturing to Damian.

“Jazz, this is my brother, Damian. Damian this is my sister, Jazz Fenton.”

Jazz shot Damian a warm smile, offering her hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

Damian shook her hand.

“Likewise.”

“Let’s go inside.” Jazz eyed a GIW agent across the park, who was staring at them in mild curiosity.

Jazz opened the door and let them inn the house.

The house was nicer on the inside, although there was a familiar smell of what Damian thought was Battery Acid.

There was a teenager hunched over the coffee table, tinkering with some wires.

He was about Dukes age, black hair, swimmers body, ice blue eyes.

He looks exactly like Dani, from his posture to the freckle below his right eye.

The only difference he had from Dani was that the left side of Dani’s face and body was covered in lightning scars.

He grinned when he saw Dani and stood up, reaching his full height of 5’7.

“Dani!”

“Danny!”

Damian blinked in confusion.

“How can you have the same name?” He blurted, watching their twin grins grow larger.

“I’m Dani-with-an-i, hes Danny-with-y, duh.”

Danny smiled. “I’m Danny, Dani’s brother.”

“This is Damian. Also my brother.”

Danny furrowed his brow. “You’re going to have to start from the beginning.”

~

“You’re a clone.” Damian said, an empty plate in his hands. “And half ghost.”

Dani shrugged. “I’m mostly human. If I go ghost too often or too long the I’ll melt into goo.”

Damian took a deep breath. “… and is there anyway we can prevent you from… melting?”

Dani shrugged. “Time. If I have enough time to gather enough ecto to feed my core, if won’t destabilize.”

“To be fair, you haven’t had a haunt until now.” Danny points out, and received a small glare from Dani.

“What is a core? And a haunt?”

“A haunt is a ghosts place or city of residence. It can be as small as a house, or a large as a town.” Danny passed him more fudge. “A core is harder to explain, essentially it’s a ghosts entire being. Their soul, the propose of their afterlife. If a ghost damages their core, they become an ambition-less husk. It’s a war crime to take a ghosts core away from them.”

Dani shuddered, and Jazz winced.

“I think that’s enough learning for one day.” Jazz said, taking the plates and Dani stood up to help her. “Damian, are you okay with sleeping in Danny’s room?”

Damian nodded. “I have one more question.”

The three of them looked at Damian curiously.

“What’s your last question?” Dani asked, taking a seat once more.

“What is the GIW?”

~

[myfriendtheghost]

still thinking about headband sweater danny talking to plants 💔💔💔💔💔

[meatriarchived]

i just know that maria's got a cute little headband / hair accessories that are lil reindeer ears & antlers that she wears for xmas. and other clips or such that are made with (fake) poinsettias because she always looks pretty in something red c;

and i just know she gets all her friends stockings with lil treats inside along with whatever gifts she gets them, but they always get candies or baked goodies from her.

and i know damn well danny groans whenever the santa hats shoved into his arms or forcefully stuffed onto his head but he lets it happen cause it makes them all happy to have him match with them so he doesnt protest and he joins them wearing their sweaters and acts like he grins and bears it but deep down hes just happy making these memories with them and spending the holidays with them-

[lifesver]

@fcused said: “i got us matching ugly christmas sweaters.” :)

❝ con, hey! ❞ leland beams as he clambers through the door and out of the cold — shaking dampness out of his hair. despite the bags on his arms, he’s quick to gather connie up in a hug, while sonny squeezes by him holding the rest. maria’s apartment smells like gingerbread and pine, and is done up in bows and tinsel he’d helped with the day before. a christmas party, the girls had insisted — before they split off to their families for the holidays.

❝ sorry. i know we’re late — totally my fault. sonny bought a pie and everything, ❞ leland feigns his utmost apologetic look, as he shoulders off his jacket; ❝ — but, we lost it on the dangerous journey. ❞ he dropped it. he absolutely dropped it during their walk across a rainy campus, as sonny had stared at him in pensive disbelief, and the quietest ‘come on, man’ ever. sonny kicks off his shoes on the welcome mat, shoots him another mildly tired what do you mean ‘we’ look. leland half-pouts at him, trying to get him to play along with his stupid bit anyway; ❝ unforeseen tragedy, right williams? ❞

sonny rolls his eyes, fondly, shouldering by him gently; ‘yeah, we nearly didn’t make it.'

leland beams at him. and now he can hear a mild clamour in the other room, julie’s animated voice; ‘are they here?’ and then, louder, so they can definitely hear; ‘gee-eez, finally!’ soft accompanying laughter from maria. leland briefly pokes his head around the doorway, and the girls wave them in from where they perch on the couch. maria wore a very-maria reindeer headband adorned in poinsettias. julie had meticulously braided shiny red-silver tinsel into her hair. danny raises his drink in a humorously sober fashion — despite the crooked santa hat on his head. no doubt placed against his will.

'hey,' connie says, drawing his attention from over his shoulder, again. 'i got us matching ugly christmas sweaters'. the agreed-upon matching sweaters, of course.

leland gives a low whistle, examining the gaudy red-green sweater connie is holding out to him. thankful, now, that he'd left the party-attire responsibility firmly in her hands. hers, already equipped, depicts a cat with the words ‘santa claws’, while the one she offers him features a pug, also in a santa hat, and the words ‘santa paws’. he can’t help but be unexpectedly endeared, by this blatant show of kitsch, from connie taylor, of all people. leland pulls the sweater over his head, voice momentarily muffled in the wool; ❝ — these are awful. i love them. ❞ a crooked grin, and hair is thoroughly ruffled when he pops his head out of the neck of the sweater. connie’s eyes warm, amused, as she leans up to put a few wayward strands back in place for him.

he's of course, nothing but dumb puppy-dog hesitation under her cool gaze. ( — never quite sure where was okay to step, with their friends so close by. ) he waits a beat, and he opens his mouth to say something — just in time for julie and maria to skirt by them to help sonny with the gift bags. feeling julie’s all-knowing eyes on the back of his head, leland quickly eases back into casual, and connie lowers her hand to her side. he clears his throat awkwardly; ❝ … this is uh... cool. i’ve never done like… friends christmas, before. ❞ which is true. and somewhat sheepish in admission — that he was just thrilled to be invited —

julie takes him out of his thoughts, bumping his shoulder playfully; 'heard you lost the baked goods, mckinney.' leland blinks, whirls to pout after her — but the girls have already abandoned him halfway down the hall; ❝ — unforeseen tragedy, jules, i swear — ❞

[hournites]

hi T!! for the holiday prompts, can you do 7 for wildnite (friendship or romantic, either is good!) thanks! :)

"Awww, you didn't have to get me a gift!"

~.~

Yolanda taps on Beth's shoulder when her gingerbread cookies go in the oven. She spins around in the Whitmore-Dugan kitchen, wearing her snowman apron over her ugly Christmas sweater, wearing a pretty smile.

"Can I steal you for a minute?" Yolanda's reindeer headband jingles as she looks from Beth to Rick, who is helping with the second sheet of cookies.

Rick nods, uncharacteristically chipper, bobbing his head to the song on the radio as he grabs a new cookie cutter. "I'll watch the oven."

Beth shoots Rick an appreciative glance and dusts her hands on the apron. "Thanks."

Yolanda hooks her arm into Beth's, giggling as she veers her away from all the holiday noise downstairs. It's the first Christmas dinner with JSA's newly extended family, and it is a lot of people. The Chapels, Dr. McNider's family, The Shade and Jennie. Todd, with his boyfriend Danny. Their new friend Sandy. The Whitmore-Dugans, obviously, and Jakeem and Cindy, though Yolanda's been ignoring her. Even Alex said he's coming for dinner.

In Courtney's room, Yolanda closes the door to get some quiet.

"What's up?" Beth asks.

Yolanda pulls a neatly wrapped present from her school bag and presents it to her friend. "Merry Christmas, Beth."

Wonderful delight spreads across her face. "Aww, you didn't have to get me a gift!" Beth takes the big box and beams up at Yolanda, falling in for a hug. Yolanda squeezes her tightly.

Beth pulls away suddenly, her brows flexed together with concern. "Wait, seriously. Yolanda. You didn't have to get me a gift." She lowers her voice gently. "I know your family is going through a tough time financially, I really don't need anything from you."

Yolanda shakes her head. "I insist. Please."

"Okay..." Beth teases apart the wrapping paper, unearthing a box. Yolanda bites the nail of her thumb, watching anxiously as she sets it on the ledge by Courtney's window and lifts the cover. She gasps and pulls out gold and black boxing gloves that match the new suit her parents presented her that morning. On the cuffs is her name stitched in. Beth on one glove. Chapel on the other.

Yolanda takes a deep breath and starts the little speech she's practiced in her head. "I want to teach you to fight."

Beth's mouth parts open with surprise. "Oh!"

"I know you have combat mode with your goggles now. And I know that you don't necessarily want to hurt people, I know that, I do. It's just..." Yolanda trails off, crossing her arms over her dress.

"What, Yolanda?"

"You've been there for me. When Courtney was dealing with Cameron. You were always there. And I guess, I've always thought that Courtney was my best friend, because she's the first person who truly got me out of my funk when everything bad happened...But you were there before Court. You were the first person to let me sit at your table."

Beth grins, hugging the gloves to her chest. "Our table."

Yolanda giggles. "Yeah." She grabbed Beth's arm, eyes warm and happy. "You are my best friend, too. And I loved all the time we got to spend together, even when I was pissed off. And now that you and Rick are so close..."

"What?" Beth laughs. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Yolanda says hurriedly. If Beth hasn't figured out what's happening with her relationship with Rick quite yet, she's not going to be the one to spill those beans. Now isn't the time. "I just want to spend time with you. Just you. So let me teach you boxing. Because you can fight. I know you can. And the next time we're in a sticky situation, I want to fight with you."

"I would love that." She smiles down at the present, tracing her fingers over her name. "I love them."

"You do?"

Beth nods and puts the gloves back into the box, treating them like they're the greatest gift in the world, and not like the refurbished pair she's found online with a nice shine with the help of Jakeem. A look passes over her face that pulls a slight frown from Yolanda. She's deep in thought, considering something in that big brain of hers.

"...What?" she wonders cautiously.

Beth glances at her. "Yolanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you...do you want to stay with me and my parents for a while? I know you have a place here, but...I figured it's a bit awkward with Cindy crashing all the time, and we have room! Rick's in the guest room but we have a pull-out couch in Dad's study and-"

Yolanda throws her arms around Beth, stopping her mid-ramble. "Are you kidding?" It's embarrassing how fast happy tears well up in her eyes. "Yes! Yes!"

"Yeah?" Beth laughs. "Yay!"

"Merry Christmas, Beth."

"Merry Christmas, Yolanda.

Yolanda closes her eyes with the tiniest prayer. Thank you.

[allieisacrybaby]

fellow danny girls, are we ok?!? i am very much not!! he looks so boyfriend in his little sweater and the little reindeer christmas headband!!!😫😫😫😫😫 and his laugh in that video literally makes me melt!!!😫😫😫

[deuynndoodles]

read on ao3 or click read more!

suspicion increase by deuynndrabbles and @whimsicalweast

Dipper pulls out the paper in his pocket, unfurls it, and shows the paper to the black-haired boy.

“Ever heard of this ghost?”

He immediately blinks at the ghost on the paper.

“I might’ve heard of him,” he finally says.

(There’s a new ghost showing his face in Gravity Falls, and the twins have resolved to find him and find out if he’s malevolent or benevolent. At least that black-haired boy named “Danny” has offered to help them find this strange elusive ghost, unlike any they’ve seen before.)

3.2k | ch. one

Dipper wakes up to an irritating beeping.

He’s immediately awake, and he rises to check where it’s coming from. The brunet easily finds it’s coming from the supernatural equipment Ford brought along, due to the fact they’re camping in the supernatural forest.

Looking to Mabel, he finds she’s still fast asleep. She’s drooling onto her cat pillow, headband resting on the ground beside her rainbow sleeping bag. Her hair is all askew due to this, even messier than it is during the day. Mabel is still wearing a sweater, this one a pale green with a blonde puppy on the front.

Dipper rummages through his bag and pulls out the source of the incessant beeping.

Dipper blinks in surprise when the screen turns on, despite the faint yellow glow. He squints as his eyes adjust, and there are two blaring words at the top of the screen-

‘GHOST NEARBY.’

The device beeps for a second, before displaying a radar. There’s a huge white dot about half a mile away (he doesn’t know for sure, he’s just guessing) and various smaller dots that are more faded.

He sits and pauses, considering his options. On one hand, there’s a big chance for family bonding with Great Uncle Ford and searching for the supposed ghosts. After all, it is the reason they are here. (Aside from camping, Mabel insisted on that part.) He eyes his dead-asleep (ha) great-uncle, sleeping in the tent next to them through the bug screen.

Ford’s been swamped with work the entire week, and this camping trip is a possible getaway from everything. (Seriously, Mabel insisted.) It’s been the first night that Dipper’s actually seen the man get some shut-eye. Between running the Mystery Shack (Soos couldn’t be trusted with the financials), travelling with Stan, and dealing with magical/supernatural entities, Ford has enough on his plate already.

So Dipper decides to let Ford sleep.

Dipper bites his lip in concentration and checks the noisy device once more, the strength meter bouncing between level one and two. Dipper nods to himself in confirmation, as if to solidify his decision.

Surely, he can take care of a level two ghost on his own.

A sudden worry strikes him, the idea that Ford will be upset with him for going out on his own. That he’ll be upset that he misses this opportunity.

But then another thought follows this, and it’s the reminder that Ford needs his sleep. It’s better for one person to research than not exploring the ghost at all.

Besides, they’re bound to find more interesting spirits on this camping trip. It’s several days long. There'll be more interesting ghosts rather than a plain old stray level 2 wandering the area. There'll be more exciting discoveries to have together.

Throwing on his trusty blue-and-white snapback and his navy blue vest, he snatches his bag filled to the brim with ghost hunting equipment and heaves it onto his back.

Dipper turns his head to glance at his twin sister again, who has turned into her sleep and is now facing away from him. Her snores fill the tent, and he gives a slight smile and unzips the tent open.

Stepping out, he zips the tent shut and pulls a flashlight out of the bag, clicking it on and letting the beeping machine in his right hand lead the way into the nearly pitch black darkness.

Fallen leaves and twigs crunch underneath his sneakers, the moonlight barely making it through the canopy of leaves above. It makes it so the only possible light Dipper has is the faint light from the spectral device and his bright flashlight.

Despite this, he paves his way forward nervously, wary of knobby roots sticking out from overgrown shrubbery and and leaves he could possibly trip on.

It feels like Dipper walks forever, but the tracker says he hasn’t gotten any closer to his destination. Despite this, he will not give in.

A gust of wind rattles the brittle branches above his head and Dipper curls in slightly in on himself, regretting not having grabbed a thicker coat.

A shiver runs down his spine, and he’s not sure if it’s fear or just general chill.

A branch snaps somewhere behind him and Dipper spins around reflexively, brandishing his flashlight. (He’s not quite sure if it’s that effective, unless it’s some kind of mythological creature that has a weakness to light. He doesn’t stop, if only to relieve himself.)

His grip tightens around the ghost tracker in his hand, wary eyes jerking around along with the beam of light from the flashlight.

Dipper can hear nothing but the racing of his own heartbeat, the uneven breaths he takes in, and the steady beeping of the device in his hand; he does not let his guard down. The young teen takes in a deep breath, attempting to even his diaphragm. His eyes sweep the landscape, but he sees nothing.

He narrows his eyes at the lack of activity. It’s fairly odd, but he is in the middle of the forest in the middle of the night, so some things can be forgiven.

Instead of relying on sight, Dipper turns to the machine in his right hand for guidance. It continues to beep incessantly, remaining as before with the exact same words plastered at the top and the radar showing an ectoplasmic entity in front of him. The only difference he finds the white dot is closer, and the level counter toward the bottom of the screen is higher.

…

Wait, what?

Dipper does a double-take, but the screen does not change. What used to be a ghost around level two is now a staggering level five, and continues to steadily rise.

Dread pools in Dipper’s gut. He jerks his head back and forth, starting to panic, searching the landscape for the ghost as the white noise of the beeping suddenly is no longer white noise and is it speeding up? Great Uncle Ford talked about this to him, but for the life of him he can’t recall what it means. The sound grows louder and it’s starting to grate on his ears, and he shoves the device in his pocket and sticks the flashlight in his mouth, using his now free hands to cover his ears.

Dipper takes a breath to calm the rising fear inside his chest, but it isn’t effective.

There’s an abrupt cacophony from behind him, making him jump. He turns to the bag hanging off his shoulder frantically and finds that every possible instrument contained in the fabric was going off. Chimes, bird tweets, beeping, you name it.

(As he shoves a hand into the bag and attempts to silence the racket, Dipper fails to notice the device settled in his pocket is beeping even more rapidly and signals a presence higher than a possible limit on the screen.)

As if things can’t get any worse, he finds the bulb in his flashlight sparking and then dying right then and there.

And then there’s silence.

It fills him with dread incomparable to what he felt before.

Dipper’s breath catches for not the first time that night, and he freezes as he realizes there is no sound at all.

The silence presses on his ears, and he attempts to fill it by hitting the side of the flashlight with the heel of his palm, pretending his terror is nonexistent. The sound is a quiet whump and he cries to himself, trying to make it work.

It doesn’t, and instead, the echo of Dipper’s failed attempts sound in the pitch-black clearing (is it a clearing? He can only guess due to the fact he hasn’t stumbled into a tree yet). The newfound hush that’s fallen over the forest like a cozy blanket does nothing to help his nerves.

In fact, it makes him much, much more nervous.

Dipper isn’t sure how long it takes until the flashlight fizzles back into view, and he lets out a sigh of indescribable belief.

He reaches into his pocket and grabs the device, and the screen graces him with an entirely blank black canvas.

Dipper furrows his brow, his terror forgotten for a split second before the implications sink in. It means the ghost is gone, which does mean that he doesn’t get the chance to catch it and his efforts were in vain. And all he gets is a bag of broken machines. But it also means that he can actually head back to the tent, so he’s happy about that.

(Ford will be disappointed in him.)

He sighs and kicks a rock illuminated by the dim light of his flashlight, turning his head and starts to head back.

Wait a minute.

Which direction is the campsite again?

Dipper freezes, his hand going slack and the light pointing straight down at the ground.

There’s a crack from behind and he whirls around, meeting eyes with a pale black-haired boy, his blue eyes reflecting the light directed at him.

“Oh, uh. Hi?”

There’s a split second, and Dipper opens his mouth. (No, Dipper did not scream. And even if he did, it was incredibly manly, thank you very much.)

-

Danny stands awkwardly in the middle of a forest, in his ghost form, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. To be honest, he isn’t quite sure of how he got here. Just a few seconds ago he was flying through the Zone on a visit to the Far Frozen.

He can only assume that a natural portal popped up right as he passed into it. But for now, he’s just currently stuck in a place he doesn’t know.

He takes to the air, getting a good view of the landscape. The night sky is splattered with stars, and he smiles at the pretty sight.

Danny decides to sit on one of the taller trees, taking a spot on a higher branch and he watches the moon. He does this for who knows how long.

At least, he does until the branch cracks from his weight.

Danny knows he’s fairly light, in both human and ghost form. He isn’t sure how the branch broke, but it did and now he’s hurtling to the ground.

As he lands, he turns human in a wave of warmth and light. It’s unbidden, and he flicks some stray dirt off his t-shirt and licks his scratches. Danny steps out of the bush and belatedly realizes the world around him has gone quiet.

There’s a boy in front of him, having whirled around and the flashlight in his hands is directed straight into Danny’s eyes.

He looks fairly young, his huge blue-and-white pine cap dwarfing the rest of his body. Fluffy brown hair sticks out, partially covering his freckled face and wide hazelnut eyes stare at him gawkingly.

“Oh, uh. Hi?”

And the boy screams like a little girl.

-

Dipper isn’t quite sure what he expected, but brandishing a flashlight like a weapon at a teenager rubbing the back of his neck is definitely not it.

He only sees a hint of black hair and pale skin for a split second, before his brain catches up and tells him to put down his flashlight.

“So, what brings ya out here?” The boy says to Dipper, and he tries to calm himself by taking in a deep breath. (It doesn’t work, he should’ve expected that.)

“That’s something I should be asking you,” he says defensively, pretending as though he didn’t scream.

Dipper hears a quiet chuckle. “I came out here to stargaze, pretty much. Then the time flew by. Time flies when you’re majestically falling out of trees.” The last sentence is said confidently, but it only makes Dipper more uncomfortable.

“Yeah, sure,” Dipper says under his breath. He still doesn’t quite trust this stranger.

“Still though,” the teen says, and Dipper can imagine him looking to the side casually. “Why are you out here by yourself, kiddo?”

(Dipper wants to bark back “You’re a kiddo too” but finds that he doesn’t have the words. You can’t exactly say, “Oh yeah, just snuck out in the middle of the night to find a ghost only to get lost in the woods. No biggie.”)

So instead, he replies hastily with, “I came out here for a walk. Couldn’t sleep.”

(It’s the truth, just not the whole truth. But the other teenager doesn’t need to know that.)

The teenager lets out a sudden laugh. “Yeah, I get’cha.” He pauses before he says, “I like to, uh, take walks too. In the middle of the night. Yeah.” It’s said quite uncertainly, and Dipper raises his brow.

(Danny can see the kid raise his brow at his suspicious wording and almost sweats nervously. Thankfully the kid can’t see him so he’ll get away with it.)

“Anyways, it’s getting dark.” The teen says in a by-the-way tone of voice.

No shit, sherlock. It’s been dark for a while.

“You should be getting home. I mean, I should too, but yeah. Your family might get worried if they can’t find you in the morning.” (A little bit of his Phantom persona seems to be seeping in.) “I dunno if it’s just me, but kids back home aren’t too happy to stay out this late without a friend, at least.”

Dipper isn’t sure what the boy says next, as it’s muttered under his breath. (But is it just him going crazy, or was that something about ghosts?)

Dipper casts his eyes to the ground, his flashlight following. “I don’t really remember where I was,” he finds himself saying. As he says this, he bites his lip lest he say more. He grips the strap across his chest a little tighter.

“Ah, d’ya want some help getting back, then?” His tone is genuinely friendly, and it only adds to Dipper’s initial embarrassment.

The brunet almost declines the offer but then realizes he likely has a better chance getting back with someone who knew the woods rather than roughing it alone with no guide. His ghost hunting device sits heavily in his pocket, as a reminder of how he has no other way to get back.

After all, the idea of being left to fend for himself in the pitch black night, his flashlight possibly breaking again. . . it isn’t very appealing. He could stray further from the campsite, or even die.

“Okay.” Dipper nods in confirmation, knowing he won’t see it, but it makes him feel better so he still does it.

Somehow, they find themselves walking through a forest, with the occasional tweet tweet of a bird calling out. Morning must be approaching soon, as the sky dyes a deep indigo rather than pitch black. Both of them are silent.

(Danny finds the silence awkward, and he glances up at the open expanse above him. He’s briefly reminded of the peace just a few hours before of staring at the stars, and then attempts to strike up a conversation. It makes things easier when they walk out into a clearing.)

“You see that really bright star?” he asks, and Dipper nods out of courtesy. “That’s actually several stars, it just looks like one because of where we are in space right now.” He smiles, and pulls his hand down. “It’s actually my favorite. I just like the message it has in astrology.”

Dipper doesn’t really study the topic of space, but he can still admit it’s fascinating. And seeing the teen beside him speak so highly of the topic makes him want to research it later. He makes a mental note to ask Great Uncle Ford about the concept of space.

“Oh look! You probably know this one already, but that’s the Big Dipper,” the stranger mentions, and Dipper looks away.

“Yeah, I know about it.” Dipper doesn’t elaborate. Silently, discreetly, he brushes a hair out of his face. Danny remains silent before pointing out another star.

This is how the conversation goes until Dipper steps into a clearing, his flashlight illuminating two twin tents. He can hear his sister snoring, and he knows he’s back.

He gives out a relieved sigh. Dipper gives the boy a quick “thank you” out of obligation, and then realizes he’s forgotten something. He turns to ask the boy for his name.

There's nobody there.

Dipper blinks, and then he sees a light above the trees. The glow reminds him of a ghost, and he squints up at it.

It is a ghost, that’s for sure. It seems to wear a black jumpsuit, with snow white hair. But the most startling thing? Its glowing, acidic neon green eyes.

Dipper blinks again, and it’s gone.

-

Dipper is manning the register and Mabel is sitting on the floor, finishing sticking glitter all over Waddles with a huge grin on her face.

He spreads a paper over the counter, eyeing the ghost depicted on it (the one he saw last week). “Ugh, this is one elusive ghost.”

There’s a sound, and Dipper raises his head to stare at a vaguely familiar looking boy. His hands are shoved into the pockets of baggy jeans, and his scruffy black hair falls into his face. It doesn’t hide his expression, but Dipper can’t quite identify it so he leaves it.

“Did you say ghosts?” The teen asks, tilting his head slightly.

“What about it?” He says, rolling up the paper and stashing it away in his pocket.

The brunet looks off to the side and fiddles with the fold on his pocket. “I dunno, my parents are ghost hunters. S’kinda hard not to learn a thing or two 'bout them, so I might be able to help.

(Danny weighs over the words and finally decides on sharing that minor detail. It’s not like he’s sharing their surname after all.

It doesn’t take away from the fact the words feel awkward in his mouth, because he’s spent his whole life denying his parents believed in the impossible. Now, he’s the impossible, and he can’t really say no to them anymore. But he doesn’t stop denying his parents.)

Mabel pops into Dipper’s realm of sight, and before he can make a gesture to stop, she grins and immediately says, “Yeah! That’d be awesome!” Her grin is even wider, which seems almost impossible, but she’s done much odder things. (Like that time she made several clones of herself to naysay his own self. That was odd.)

“Mabel!” He scolds. “You’ve never even seen this guy before!” He can’t exactly say the same for himself, as he’s still struggling to place where he knows the teen from.

Mabel leans over and shields her mouth to whisper to him. “Exactly. Ain’t he cute?”

“You can’t just try and kiss every boy you think is cute,” Dipper groans. He speaks the next sentence louder. “Yeah, sure. We’ll take any help we can get.”

Dipper pulls out the paper in his pocket, unfurls it, and shows the paper to the black-haired boy.

“Ever heard of this ghost?”

The teen immediately blinks at the ghost on the paper.

“I might’ve heard of him,” he finally says.

[pettywhite]

❝ noah isabelle emerson ❞

35 ⋆ the broken ⋆ despondent ⋆ the gloomy day ⋆ the phoenix

tear soaked pillows ⋆ under eye bags ⋆ restless nights ⋆ apologetic ⋆ broken glass ⋆ oversized sweaters ⋆ messy buns ⋆  band-aids ⋆ heartache ⋆ meaningful tattoos ⋆ whiskey breath ⋆ passive aggression ⋆ bloody knuckles ⋆ bar fights ⋆ ripped jeans ⋆ holes in walls ⋆ cigarette burnt sweatshirts ⋆ black eyes ⋆  profanity lace yells ⋆ plaid shirts ⋆ leather jackets ⋆ sneaking out ⋆ empty beer bottles ⋆ smoke clouds ⋆ doc martens ⋆ black backpacks ⋆ sarcasm ⋆ ray-bans ⋆ mindless sex ⋆ sleepless nights ⋆ white powder lines

tw: alcoholism, car crash related death, death of a toddler

Noah grew up an only child, struggling with the fact that her father was rarely around and when he was, all her parents did was fight and argue with one another. It wasn't a stable household to grew up in, but it helped in molding her to become the person she is.

Her mother was a hard worker all Noah’s life. She juggled multiple jobs to keep her and her daughter's head above water. The house they lived in was inherited by her father and paid off by her grandparents, which was a bit of a relief. However, he never contributed to the household in general.

She really struggled to love her father and create a connection with him. When she was twelve, she learned the man was a playboy--regularly cheating on her mother and running off to gamble whatever money had managed to get his hands on.

It was also around this time that her mother decided to take her life back from being attached to Thomas Emerson. The divorce wasn't messy, but Noah feared moving and losing out on the home they lived in. Luckily, her mother got the house in the divorce.

When she was sixteen, her mother re-married Evan Jones. The two of them continued living in Miriam’s Well until Noah felt she was old enough to live on her own. Evan then moved her mom to the country where they now run a horse ranch and live a healthy life together.

When she was in college, Noah met Cain Oakley. Their love was a whirlwind and they married pretty damn quickly. With him, she had two children--Joy and Danny. When Danny was only three months old, her husband and daughter were killed in a car accident that left Noah with a life-long leg injury as well. If it hadn't been for her son, Noah likely would have lost her mind. And her life.

She now struggles with alcoholism and the ability to open her heart to people. But when she learned her father was ill, she found her way back to him. after years of not seeing him.

She runs Starlight Diner--a place her husband inherited from his family and left in her name as well. It keeps her somewhat sane, or so she claims.

plot ideas

the oakleys - her husband’s family! i imagine his parents are still alive and he had at least one or two siblings she can either be close with or have issues with. honestly, this is entirely open to play around with. i’d just love connections for her outside of her friends and if they’re slightly antagonistic, so be it.

the digital friendship - okay so this i’d like to see become romantic. but she participates in online group therapy that’s kept anonymous. there are people from miriam’s well and other places involved--mostly people who suffer from survivor’s guilt. it’d be interesting is this is someone she interacts with one a daily and maybe they do or don’t get along--i’m totally open to discussing. but it takes them time to uncover each other’s identities? we can figure out their backgrounds and gauge their chemistry.

sandbox love - please check out kai’s request here and make the rest of the crew! noah here is the broken and really needs the rest please.

starlight employees - “Soon after the alien invasion (or “invasion,” depending on your view), the Starlight Diner was founded. Located in the heart of Downtown, Starlight Diner boasts a large selection of space-themed items, including Nebula Nachos, Andromeda’s Apple Pie, and Parsec Patty Melt, among others. Over the years, as tourism has declined, Starlight has faced hard times, but they persist! Every year, they throw an Out Of This World™ party on the anniversary of the invasion, which is a hot ticket. The waitstaff all wear headbands with UFOs attached to them and are ready to talk your ear off about what they really think happened that fateful day in 1967. Starlight has grown in popularity again since the release of DOOMSDAY, and now, there’s often a wait for a table in the evenings.” -- all that information is copied and pasted from the google doc provided by our lovely admins. i’m working on a more cohesive request, but until then, please make the employees! i don’t have a solid list of positions right now, but don’t hesitate to ask!

starlight drive-in - a makeshift drive-in theater that only runs on weekends from memorial day to halloween, the drive-in is in need of paid volunteers to run the popcorn & concessions, check tickets, and make sure there’s not funny bidness happening. oh and to run the movies as well. these people are tight-knit and probs work at the diner too, but don’t have to! honestly, it’s all open, but please make them! fun shit!

[drethanramslay]

Day 1 of @it-lives-week : your MC

ILITW: Kia Hudson

aka your local edgy lesbian who is head over heels in love with a cute blonde cheerleader

Kia only wears black but after so many requests by Stacy, her girlfriend, she atleast wears colourful headbands

Weapon of choice: Axe because slicing it through those wooden mongrels is super satisfying

Best friend: Ava Cunningham

Tough through and through and takes no shit

Status: Alive and ready to kick ass

ILB: Charlotte Vance

Aka human equivalent of sunshine and unicorns but don't let it fool you, she is full of surprises

Sarcastic to a fault

Best friend: Danni Asturias since they complement each other so well, almost like yin yang

Loves stealing her boyfriend, Parker's sweaters and he has given up on getting them back

She is vocal about her thoughts and loves putting homophobic, racist assholes in their place

Status: Alive

My MC's are on opposite sides of the spectrum I just can't-

Also it looked better in my head but whale-

Tagging: @mvalentine @starrystarrytrouble @anotherbeingsworld @blossomanarchy @nooruleman @bratzlahela

[darkdoelette]

Winter coquette

Coquette in winter

Hey! I made an autumn post that did well. So here’s my winter one!

The coquette aesthetic is most often associated with warmer weather, which means that celebrating colder weather, especially for those new to the aesthetic, can be difficult. But, fear not. Here are some ways to keep up with the aesthetic!

Clothing:

(Psa: Real fur is cruel and faux alternatives can be just as warm. This blog does NOT support the fur trade in any way shape or form.)

Mittens-especially fluffy ones or ones with kitten paw prints

Gloves.

Scarves

Hats.

Fuzzy/fluffy jackets.

Fuzzy/fluffy clothes in general

Hoodies (especially if they smell like a person of interest’s cologne/perfume/fragrance.)

Hoodies with animal ears on the hood.

Boots.

Knee high socks.

Thigh high socks.

Tights.

Sparkly New Years Dresses.

Faux leather pants.

Petticoats.

Santa dresses.

Sweaters.

Robes.

Pajamas.

Slippers.

Ribbons-especially those that look like they belong on a present.

Bobby socks

Santa hats

Reindeer antlers

Faux fur trim coats and jackets

Tiaras

Cosmetics:

See my post about skincare

Blush

Highlighter. Especially gold, silver, or rose gold.

Reindeer fawn makeup.

Red lipstick.

Red eyeshadow

Green eyeshadow

White eyeliner

Blue eyeliner

Blue mascara

Gold eyeliner

Gold glitter

Blue glitter

Silver glitter

Bath bombs

Shower steamers

Bubble bars

Any shampoo to help with flakes.

Hair:

In a Santa hat

In a reindeer antlers headband

Milkmaid braids

Down

With snowflakes inside it

Royal curls

A messy bun

A neat bun

Cute little holiday or winter hair clips

In a tiara

Ribbons with bows

With golden hair acessories

Braids

Pigtail braids

Activities: (Keep in mind, some of them have different religious aspects. Learn to appreciate and not appropriate. Obviously there are some activities that apply to different people as there are different foods/clothes/etc.)

Ice skating.

Knitting. Especially if you knit extra garments to donate!

Making snow angels.

Snow ball fights.

Twirl around in the snow (especially if listening to the “Ice Dance” song from Edward Scissorhands during the first snowfall of the year. I listen to it every time I see my first bit of snow falling in Winter).

Playing in the snow.

Donate gifts to charity.

Donate food to charity.

Kiss under the mistletoe

Light scented candles around the house along with the Hanukkah/Kwanza ones.

Decorate the Christmas tree.

Bake Christmas cookies

Play with a Dreidel

Cuddle with someone (you know, for warmth)

Sit around the fire.

Dress dolls up in Christmas Outfits.

Visit the American Girl store.

Buy lingerie and a fuzzy robe to wear over it while you lounge inside.

Learn about other cultures.

Remember that people of other religion and cultures often invite friends to celebrate other Hollidays with them. It’s a beautiful thing that often happens, especially when the holidays overlap. I grew up in an interfaith family, as my mom converted religions shortly prior to marrying my dad (she already had an interest in the religion before they were engaged).

Play an instrument.

Sing Holiday songs.

Open Christmas Crackers

Watch the Radio City Rocketts

Look at Window Displays

Watch the fireworks on New Years (be careful if you’re going to set them off yourself for multiple reasons including preventing injuries and making sure there isn’t anybody with gun or explosion related PTSD living nearby).

Have a New Years Kiss

BE someone’s holiday present.

Sit on their lap and tell them what you want for Christmas 😉

Let them decide if you’re naughty or nice.

Stay up to date with the Iditarod.

Get vaccinated.

Decorate your room/house/apartment.

Put up fairy lights

Go to a Christmas carnival

Go sleigh riding

Cuddle up in front of the fire.

Take a nice warm bath

Make a gingerbread house

Decorate the Christmas tree

Build model train sets

Music:

Santa Tell Me-Ariana Grande

All I want for Christmas is You-Mariah Carrey.

Ice Dance-Danny Elfman

Santa Baby-Eartha Kitt

Light My Candle-Rent the musical

Baby it’s cold outside-Frank Losserr

Walking in a Winter Wonderland- Richard B Smith

New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift

Santa Clause is back in town by Elvis Presley

I’ve got some presents for Santa by Paul Horabin

I’ll be your Santa Baby by Refus Thomas

Wit it this Christmas by Ariana Grande

Mistress for Christmas by ACDC

Sext Christmas by Steel Panther

Merry Christmas, Baby-By Christina Aguilera

Christmas tree by Lady Gaga

The Nutcracker Suites

Varuca Salt’s Nutcracker Suite from Willy Wonka the Musical

Never fall in love with an Elf from Elf the Musical

Books:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis

Spirit by HP Heightman

Little Women by Luisa Mary Alcott

A Doll’s House by Henrick Ibsen

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice

The Winter Fairy by Lola Karns

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns

Peace Like A River by Leif Enger

Murder on the Orient express by Agatha Christie

The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Movies and Tv:

The nightmare before Christmas (1993)

Beautiful girls (1996)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Interview with a Vampire (1994)

The Apartment (1960)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Elf (2003)

While you were sleeping (1995)

Love Actually (2003)

Rent (2005)

Deck the halls (2006)

Friends

Frozen (2014)

Mean Girls

Bad Santa

Just Friends

Eyes Wide Shut

Games:

Dreidel

The Christmas pickle

Sled racing

Candy Land

Nancy Drew and the White Wolf of Icicle Creek Lodge

Food:

Hot chocolate with cinnamon, marshmallows, and whipped cream.

Milk and cookies

Carrots

Cranberries

Eggnog

Chocolate coins

Latkes (Potato Pancakes)

Donuts

Cannolis

Candy

Candy canes

Gingerbread people

Bread

Stew

Soup

Jollof rice

Collard greens

Okra

Grapes

Chocolate

Snowballs

Corn

Champagne

Cheese

Crackers

Popcorn

Animals:

Deer

Reindeer

Bears

Polar Bears

Sleigh dogs

Penguins

Arctic foxes

Arctic anything

Ermine

Smells:

Burning wood

Chocolate

Champagne

Snow

Others:

Mistletoe

Pionzidia plants

This playlist I made

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLedzHMFLbf6aoJ4INT4jRK5wPK5s1eq-J

[lydiaandarry]

{How To Dress Similarly To Your Favorite Cartoon Characters Pt.2 (Using Five Examples!)}

Hello there!

     My name is Arabella but you can call me Arry, if it’s easier. I don’t know about you but I basically grew up on cartoons. I watched Cartoon Network all day and I used to get so much inspiration from cartoon characters that probably followed me into my older years. Personality and fashion-wise. Have you ever wanted to dress similar to one of your favorite cartoon characters yet not wanting to look like a cosplay or costume? Well, you’ve come to the right gal because that is exactly what I am going to be helping you with but before I get onto the five examples, we must go over some basic knowledge. Fashion can say a lot about a character, especially in cartoons where the clothes rarely change. It has to be iconic yet true to the personality being demonstrated in some sense. Five things go into analyzing and copying a cartoon characters style: 1) Color Palette 2) Aesthetic 3) Overall Impression 4) Fashion Items 5) How It Shapes Their Personality? These are five things we are going to keep in mind during our five examples. Let’s invade this topic.

(Nazz)

   Nazz from Ed Edd n’ Eddy is probably one of the easiest old cartoon characters to make modern. Especially since her style has come back into trend with layering. Now I didn't grow up with Ed Edd n’ Eddy because my mother was fearful that I would develop behavior similar to the boys. But whenever I did see images of it or short scenes, I loved Nazz’s fashion (next to Marie’s). Starting with the first thing to think about when recreating a style of any cartoon character, color palette. A color palette is quite important especially when it comes to cartoon characters because these colors can be forever associated with this character. Nazz’s color palette includes black, white, denim, red, and occasionally green. These colors are great because they can go great with each other and makes a strong color palette. Nazz’s aesthetic is a mixture between Girl Next Door and Tomboy. She has boyish elements that allows her to be ‘one of the boys’ yet she also has a fun, flirty girly side. The third thing to consider is the overall impression of their clothes to the world around them. Now this may seem odd but this is worth consideration because it depends on how you want to be taken. As people judge upon appearances and your clothes can say a lot about you. Nazz’s overall impression and how it makes people see her is that Nazz is seen as very attractive and everyone wants to hang out with her. She’s the female character that has a lot of friends and is overall popular and kind. She isn’t the stereotypical mean girl despite dressing nice and being friends with a lot of people. She breaks that stereotype and shows that you can be cool yet nice. The fourth thing to consider is fashion items, unless you are planning on copying Nazz’s style piece by piece. It is great to really observe it and take pieces of it that may fit into her character yet is good for everyday use and not a cosplay. Remember, it’s all about inspiration. With Nazz, I recommend for tops, basic plain color shirts, crop tops, ringer tees, cropped sweaters, and cami tops. For bottoms, high waisted shorts, basic jeans or ripped jeans, flared jeans, and pleated skirts. For shoes, sneakers like Vans or Converse. For accessories, a quirky pair of sunglasses. And last but not least, the fifth thing to consider is how does her clothes shape her personality? Nazz’s clothes shape her personality in a sense of how she wants to look good. Nazz is very particular on how she looks and despite being confident, is upset if she looks anything but good. Her appearance is very important to her. It shapes her personality in how she likes hanging out with boys more so over girls in the show and is seen as one of the boys due to how her clothes aren’t overly feminine. She’s a great beginner choice for people who want to try this out.

(Mandy)

   Ah yes, the girl I aspired to be when I was younger and probably scared my mother some more. Mandy from Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. This is a fun character because her outfit… is completely different from her personality. She wears a pink flower dress, mary-janes and a headband. She looks like an innocent, girly girl but Mandy is evil. She’s a good type of evil but is still evil. Mandy’s color palette depends on where you want to take from it but I gathered white, black, pale pink, pale blue & pale yellow (counting the flower) and purple (her eyeshadow, at times). But if I was going to dress similarly, I would just do white, black and pale pink as the other colors are mere colors compared to those main three. Mandy doesn’t exactly have an aesthetic instead I guess she would be gothic with pink and a sort of doll-like quality. Mandy’s overall impression is that people mistake her for being sweet and innocent although her parents are terrified of her, everyone is mostly terrified of her. A grim reaper is terrified of her. Her clothes are deceiving but everyone knows that she is a very unhappy person due to her constant frown which was even in there inside the womb. Now onto the fun part, clothing choices. For jackets, I would suggest something like a Lazy Oaf jacket style (like their chore jackets) and oversized cardigans. For tops, mock necks, crop tops, layered shirts with a mock-neck under a shirt. Also pinafore dresses and a-line dresses. For bottoms, high-waisted shorts and pleated skirts. For shoes, mary-janes or sneakers. And for accessories, always have a headband on and maybe some skeleton or creepy accessories like a coffin backpack. Mandy’s clothing shapes her personality in a way for humor, she’s this scary person who can almost be a villain yet edges on being an anti-hero at most. It’s complete satire that she looks sweet and innocent with a gothic personality. So have fun with it because if anything, she shows that it’s not what is on the outside that counts after all. There’s a very creepy personality behind that color of pink.

(Sam Manson)

     Another favorite female character of mine. Okay, let’s say… that you don’t like pink or want to be a secret Goth. There is plenty of gothic female characters to choose from. But one of my favorites has always been Sam Manson from Danny Phantom. I mean, I loved that show in general. And I loved Sam’s design, even though I wasn’t allowed to wear crop-tops til I turned 18. Her color palette is purple, green, black. You’ve noticed that cartoon characters always seem to have a simple color palette. And of course, Sam’s aesthetic is gothic, even though she could also be eco-goth since I remember an episode of her wanting to save the Earth and becoming a vegetarian. For fashion choices, hm. For jackets, I feel like she would wear hoodies, oversized black denim jackets, and long coats or even a varsity jacket. For tops, crop-tops, band tees, mock-necks, muscle tees, fishnet tops and sheer tops with something underneath. If she wore a dress, it would probably be black and an a-line, once again with a mock-neck. For bottoms, plaid skirts, checkered shirts, pleated skirts, ripped jeans with fishnets underneath, high-waisted shorts. For shoes, Doc Martens, sneakers, mary-janes and platforms. For accessories, knee-high socks, fishnets, tights, chokers, patches and enamel pins, belt, and a cool backpack. Sam’s overall impression is kind of hard to sum up in a small summary since Danny Phantom is so complex so I recommend watching the show to get a better idea but it’s never really brought up as a main point in her character how she dresses. She’s a great gothic character for inspiration though.

(Valhallen)

   Okay now the first three characters and five characters of my last post were all girls. For those, who may not know Valhallen is a male character from “Justice Friends” which originated as a short from “Dexter’s Laboratory”, are you following me? Let’s say you’re a dude or you want to dress similar to a dude character. Valhallen is a great character to start with as he is a very simple character to modernized because you don’t even really have to go off his sense of style to dress similar to him. His color palette consists of black, yellow, and silver. Pretty simple. His aesthetic is kind of surfer mixed with metalhead mixed with Nordic god. He was created to be a parody of Thor. Which he succeeds greatly with. What is the overall impression of Valhallen? Well, he is quite a ladies man. He is definitely seen as the more attractive member. Valhallen doesn’t have much of an overall impression except the fact that the ladies love him from all realms and he is a fan favorite character. Onto the fun part! Fashion items. Now I chose Valhallen, because no offense but he does have a feminine touch on clothing that can easily be feminized. The dude wears a midriff. For jackets, denim jackets would suit, perhaps with patches of your favorite metal bands or enamel pins. For tops, crop-tops, midriffs, band tees, muscle tees, fishnet or sheer tops with something underneath, cropped camis. Don’t be afraid to show a lot of skin on your upper body. For bottoms, ripped jeans, basic jeans, high waisted shorts, bell bottoms. For shoes, knee high boots. For accessories, headpieces, fingerless gloves, studded jewelry, spiked belts. How does his clothes shape his personality? Well, he’s The Viking God of Rock. He has to look the part and this is basic metalhead fashion with God twists similar to Thor. He’s a goofy character who is hilariously rad and doesn’t take himself too seriously and his clothes show that. He’s less out there than Major Glory but can stand out more than The Infraggable Krunk. He’s obviously the more free-spirited one who isn’t afraid to be himself.

(Judy Jetson)

    Here is what I like to call expert mode because unlike the other four who have easily modernized looks. Judy is from the future yet has a vintage twist. Her clothes are not something a typical teenager or young adult would wear in this day and age. I mean, someone who isn’t as weird as me. So you have to kind of reinvent her and make her suit your taste yet keep elements about her that are amazing and what makes her lovely. Judy’s color palette is pale pink, red (in some lighting), darker pink, white and black. If anyone asks you about a known fact of me… I love pink with red and pink with black. I also love pink on pink. And Judy Jetson has two of my favorite pinks where it’s not Barbie Pink or Too Pink. The overall impression of Judy, well she’s seen as the teenage girl of the future. She’s boy-crazy, fun, has exciting hobbies, can be quite moody and sassy. She loves dancing, attends high school and spends her evening listening to her favorite boy bands. Parts of Judy have travelled into the future as I related to her a lot when I was sixteen. And still do! She can get out of hand sometimes and I feel like all girls do, even into early adult years. I’ve had my moments where I have overreacted. Onto fashion items! Now, with Judy, as I said before, you are going to have to reimagine outfits for her. With jackets, I suggest fit and flare, perhaps long jackets, something to show off the figure however. With tops, crop-tops, mock necks, fitted tops, fun bodysuits, sheer tops, about anything that is cool. With bottoms, flared skirts or pleated skirts, mini skirts, high-waisted shorts, suspender pants, pants or jeans. For dresses, pinafores, figure hugging, a-line. For shoes, sneakers, flats, boots, platforms. A tip for seeming more futuristic is adding in color palette fitting metallics and holographic. For accessories, tights, knee high socks, circle purses, star shaped things, hair bows, headbands, funky sunglasses, vintage gloves, roller-skates if you skate.  How does Judy’s clothes shape her personality? Well, her outfit is very youthful compared to her mother’s. She has more of a spark and quirky sense. Her clothes really show that she is bubbly and charismatic. She is out of this world. Something that I feel like girls should be more confident to try to be. To be unapologetically themselves. Just because her outfit isn’t exactly the future creators in the 60s were thinking of. It doesn’t mean that we can’t carry traits into this world.

    That was how to dress similarly to your favorite cartoon characters, part two! If you want to see part one, click here! Feel free to follow for more posts like this. Also feel free to like and reblog if you enjoyed it! I may turn this into a series as they are always a lot of fun. Just be you and have fun with fashion! I post every Wednesday and Saturday so I will see you on Wednesday! Peace out!

[dippedanddripped]

Brooks Brothers has teamed up with Fila to launch a limited-edition collection of apparel, footwear, and accessories for men and women.

With a notable tennis influence, the collection celebrates the elegance of the sport, with an unexpected edge. The Brooks Brothers x Fila collaboration serves up streetwear staples with a mix of performance and tailored styles presented with the signature white, navy, and red color palette associated with each brand.

For men, the offerings include seersucker suiting separates in either white or bold stripe, graphic and solid polos, button-down oxford shirts, matching tracksuits, full-zip jackets, v-neck tennis sweaters, and vests with rib-knit banding, French terry crewnecks, and t-shirts emblazoned with the dual-branded logo.

For women, styles include a chunky cable knit tennis sweater dress trimmed in red and navy, as well as a heritage-inspired pleated dress. Accessories range from neckties and belts to backpacks, waist bags, headbands, and wristbands, designed with all-over logo graphics and striped detailing. All pieces in the collection feature the co-branded Fila and Brooks Brothers Golden Fleece logo treatment.

In addition to the lifestyle offerings, a selection of court-ready styles include performance polos, crewnecks, shorts, blazers, pants, and a collared sleeveless dress. Fila-sponsored tennis players will wear these all-white pieces on-court in London.

To complement the apparel offerings, the collaboration features two footwear silhouettes, the Brooks Brothers x Fila Trigate and the Brooks Brothers x Fila Original Tennis LX. Both are packaged in a custom shoebox design that includes the same striping detail as featured on the Brooks Brothers x Fila apparel.

The Brooks Brothers x Fila Trigate runner is offered in three colorways: two body colors of red or navy, as well as traditional white, navy, red colorway. Details include a reflective upper and mixed materials of suede, leather, and mesh. The footwear is dual-branded with historical use of Fila’s double box logo on the tongue and back counter, while quarter branding features a molded Brooks Brothers logo. The sock liner is decorated with a repeat graphic pattern that can also be found throughout the Brooks Brothers x Fila apparel collection.

The Brooks Brothers x Fila Original Tennis LX is a court-inspired low model. The footwear features the same dual-branded logo on the tongue, with embroidered Fila and Brooks Brothers’ logos on the back counter. Additional details include rolled edges and full-grain leather on the upper. The shoes are offered with three optional laces, each with striping that ties back to the apparel. The sock liner is decorated with a repeat graphic pattern that can also be found throughout the Brooks Brothers x Fila collection.

To showcase the collaboration, the campaign, called “Scandal on the Court,” brings together a quirky cast of characters, dressed in the new collaborative collection, who are getting to the bottom of a mystery that took place at a recent tennis tournament. The whodunnit was written and directed by Danny Sangra. The campaign photography by Annie Lai, pays homage to the film, placing each character in their respective alibi. The actors include Emelia Turnbull as Billie, Daniel Chitra as George, and Edwin Louis as Barry.

The Brooks Brothers x Fila collection is available for a limited time on brooksbrothers.com, fila.com and at select Brooks Brothers locations including New York City, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Milan.

[newstechreviews]

Though it’s tempting to view the courtroom sketch as a quaint relic of legal decorum, the physicality of drawing is urgent in a way that camerawork can’t always match. If you’re so inclined, you can Google a color-crayon courtroom drawing from October 29, 1969 showing Bobby Seale—cofounder of the Black Panthers and one of eight men put on trial that year for staging anti-war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago—gagged and bound to a chair. Earlier, in a fit of justified anger, he’d verbally interrupted the proceedings; the judge responded by ordering court officers to remove him from the court and restrain him. The drawing, by Howard Brodie and preserved in the Library of Congress, shows Seale holding his strong posture to the degree it’s physically possible, as he strains to write something on a legal pad; a Stravinsky-like stanza of strokes, slashes and loops, the sketch is an urgent, evocative work of reportage. That this could happen in an American court of law was and still is unthinkable, yet not unbelievable. Brodie’s drawing challenges a nation to face its own shame. To look at it more than 50 years later is to recognize how slow we’ve been in taking that shame to heart.

Brodie’s drawing comes to life, with all its somber weight, in a key scene in writer-director Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, a movie as simultaneously entertaining and galvanizing as anything you’ll see this year. (It opens in select theaters on September 25 and will be available on Netflix beginning October 16.) Sorkin has detailed for us the half-circuslike, half-solemn drama of this intense pocket of American history, during which eight anti-war activists were tried for conspiring to incite violence at the convention. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is Sorkin at his Sorkinniest, in the good way, a work attuned to civic responsibility and small-d democratic ideals. It’s as lively as other Sorkin-scripted pictures like Moneyball (2011) and Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), and as astute as The Social Network (2010) was: we couldn’t have known at the time, though maybe we should have, that this story about the rise of opportunistic iconoclast Mark Zuckerberg was really a warning from the future.

Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020—© 2020 Netflix, Inc.Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Fred Hampton, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale, Mark Rylance as William Kuntsler.

And although The Trial of the Chicago 7 is only the second picture Sorkin has directed—the first was Molly’s Game, from 2017—in its construction, pacing and casting, it’s the work of an old soul. Sorkin takes a rather dense, complicated court case—one peopled with figures who clung to stubborn differences even in the context of their shared ideals—and keeps it aloft every minute, as if he were following the aerodynamic principles of hang-gliding rather than moviemaking. Best of all, he brings out the best each actor in this enormous ensemble cast has to offer; every character is rendered with jewelers-loupe clarity.

Read More: ‘The Violence Was Inevitable.’ How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968’s Democratic National Convention Protests

You need that gift of specificity to tell this story properly. These eight men were anything but a homogenous group, though that didn’t stop the nation’s conservative forces at the time from lumping them into one: Tom Hayden (here played by Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp) were clean-cut, crew-neck-sweater-wearing members of the Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, a left-wing group active since 1960. Staid dad and Boy Scout troop leader Dave Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) was a longtime pacifist and a member of MOBE, the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), members of the Youth International Party, or Yippies, were the Abbott-and-Costello wild card, a virtual comedy team steeped in marijuana vapors and leftist ideals. John Froines and Lee Weiner (played by Danny Flaherty and Noah Robbins) were two less-notable figures who were nonetheless happy to stand up for their ideals with the rest of the group. (One of them likens the trial to the Academy Awards. “It’s an honor just to be nominated.”) The eighth defendant, Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), of the Panthers, had never even met the others: he had arrived in Chicago to give a speech and departed within just a few hours. Even so, he was tossed in handily with this group, because the authorities believed the inclusion of a Black Panther in the proceedings would prove to the American people just how menacing this assemblage of citizens who had sought to exercise their right to protest truly was.

NICO TAVERNISE/NETFLIX © 2020—© 2020 Netflix, Inc.Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Shenkman, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp.

There’s a lot of talking in The Trial of the Chicago 7; it’s a courtroom drama, after all. But as fixated on words as Sorkin is, he knows they’re only part of the language of movies. The federal government’s prosecuting attorneys, Thomas Foran (J.C. MacKenzie) and Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), show up to court in dark suits so crisp they could stand up by themselves. Meanwhile, one of the two lawyers enlisted to defend the seven, William Kunstler—played with the perfect degree of low-key bull-doggishness by Mark Rylance— shambles in wearing a rumpled tweed suit, a fake-leather glasses case peeking out of the breast pocket. You know just by his rushed, shambling carriage where he’s coming from. (Kunstler did not represent Seale, who had unsuccessfully sought to delay the trial because his own lawyer was undergoing a medical procedure.) And when Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) sweeps in, the silent rustle of his robes suggest that he thinks he’s jurisprudence royalty. The rest of the movie shows him up as a pompous, vindictive serpent, and sort of a boob to boot. Watching The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a little like reading Dickens: much of the fun lies in picking up on the signals of individual characters.

Even if you already know the basic story of the Chicago Seven—also commonly referred to as the Chicago Eight, to include Seale, although his case was severed from that of the others after a mistrial was declared on his behalf—Sorkin’s movie is so richly layered with detail that you’ll surely find something new. The Chicago DNC protests began peacefully and erupted into stunningly brutal violence, and Sorkin captures its horror here, weaving in some archival footage in the mode of Haskell Wexler’s groundbreaking 1969 fiction-nonfiction blend Medium Cool. The trial, instigated by newly installed Nixon attorney general and flunky John Mitchell, applied as gospel the assumption that the riots couldn’t possibly have been started by police; surely, law enforcement would never instigate a public disturbance. But when Sorkin shows us the young, bespectacled, somewhat fragile Rennie Davis being cracked across the back of the skull with a police baton—and the unfiltered, visceral response of his best friend, Tom Hayden—it strikes like lightning. Even the simmering distrust between certain members of the group—for example, the disdain preppy-proper Hayden shows for goofball-intellectual Abbie Hoffman—is woven firmly into the movie’s fabric. Every detail has meaning in the end.

I can hear what some of you are thinking: This movie is just two-hours-plus of men talking; who wants to watch that? I, too, dread movies about talking men, but the Trial of the Chicago 7 won me over in its first, fleet 10 minutes. In places, it’s unapologetically charming, particularly when it focuses on Hoffman and his sidekick, Jerry Rubin. As the two saunter into the courthouse, dressed in their usual hippie gear of tunics and headbands, Rubin handily catches an egg that one of the many bystanders—some supportive, but many angry—has thrown. It’s a neat trick, and Hoffman expresses his awe, before asking, “But now what do you do with it?” The small shadow of sadness that crosses Rubin’s face—what do you do with it?— is as perfect as the smooth surface of his rescued egg. Later, the two will show up in court draped in judge’s robes. When Judge Hoffman angrily demands that they remove their phoney-baloney costumes, they comply, revealing the Chicago police uniforms they’re wearing underneath.

Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020—© 2020 Netflix, Inc.Sacha Baron Cohen and Jeremy Strong as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.

That really happened, because just about everything in The Trial of the Chicago 7 really happened. Including the shackling of Seale. From the moment Seale is led away by officers, Sorkin is careful with this scene. He shows the beating of Seale in flashes of fast cutting; the suggestion is that the officers’ kicks and punches were calibrated so they’d leave no visible marks on Seale’s body. But the moment Seale is led back to his seat, his limbs constrained, his mouth bound by a wide lashing of white tape, the very texture of the air in the courtroom changes. Sorkin somehow conveys this invisible yet shattering atmospheric shift; it’s hard to map exactly how, even beyond the fact that Gordon-Levitt’s prosecutor Schultz—who’s shown from the start to be a semi-sympathetic foe—verbally expresses dismay at the sight of Seale’s condition, and not just because he knows it will damage his case. Sometimes a great scene induces a kind of synesthesia in a viewer; an image you see onscreen summons a metallic taste in your mouth, or some other weird, specifically physical sensation. I felt that way watching Seale being led back to his chair. The Trial of the Chicago 7 reminds us of the chant that arose from the Chicago protestors as the police descended upon them with batons and, some sources have indicated, gloved fists fortified with metal: “The whole world is watching.” At what point do you look away? The Trial of the Chicago 7 details events that happened more than 50 years ago. The time to look away is never.

[deuynndoodles]

read on ao3 or click read more!

suspicion increase by deuynndrabbles and @whimsicalweast

chapter summary:

It's their first day out looking for ghosts, and it's a great day to be suspicious of Danny.

He glances back at his sister and Danny, who are still talking about space. Well, it’s more the latter who does so, rambling passionately while Mabel struggles to stay focused on one topic for this amount of time.

As Dipper realizes the irony of the situation, he stifles a laugh with his hand.

TW FOR DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PANIC ATTACK

3.8k | ch three

It’s the next day, the sun high in the sky. Birds are chirping, wild animals scurrying through the trees, and three kids are walking through the woods with one certain great uncle trailing behind them.

Dipper is in the front, a now fixed ghost tracker sitting in his hands and a bag of a dozen more sliding off his shoulder. (Dipper mentioned the problem to Ford a couple nights ago and he agreed to fix it. It’s even upgraded so it won’t break the way it did last time.)

Mabel is close behind, her baggy sleeves trailing behind in her graceful yet clunky movement. Today she wears a navy blue sweater with a cartoon ghost resting on the center surrounded by itty bitty stars. Her headband is white and her skirt a lighter grey, with her own ghost device settled in her sweater pocket. She’s ignoring the faint buzzing in favor of watching the scenery.

Danny is about a couple meters behind the twins, his own beeping device shoved into his big jeans pocket. He’s watching the scenery like Mabel, trailing a hand along the grass and occasionally picking a long piece to fiddle with in his hands.

There’s a long groan, and Dipper glances behind him to see Mabel leaning her head back to stare at the clouded sky, her feet planted on the dirt and unmoving.

“Why are we all just quiet?” She says, prolonging the last two syllables and sticking her bottom lip out a little. She takes a lock of her hair and begins to twirl it around her finger. “Let’s do something that isn’t just staring at those silly devices.”

There’s a quick shout of indignation from Dipper, but Danny interrupts by giving a slight nod and saying, “Yeah, it is kinda boring.”

Danny catches up to Mabel, his eyes drawn to the sweater she has on. He isn’t really sure what else to say (he’s not the best at small talk) so he compliments, “Nice sweater.”

It earns a toothy grin from said girl and she twirls in place as if to show off her creation. “Thanks! I made it myself!”

“I like the ghost, it looks pretty cool.”

“I thought it was fitting!” Mabel chimes, still grinning.

“Are those stars around it?” Danny asks, because his brain always comes back to the topic of space. Mabel nods, and Danny smiles widely, saying, “I love space!”

Mabel draws out a gasp, pressing her hand to her chest right on top of the ghost’s eyes. “Me too.”

Dipper’s pretty much sure that Mabel’s just saying it to make Danny happy. It works, as Danny’s eyes light up. She always does this, and Dipper won’t barge in this time.

Anyways, he’s paying attention to the pad in his hands more.

“Isn’t it just so cool?” Danny grins. (His face is full of excitement and he knows he’s going to rant about his special interest now. He’s practically prompted.) “Stars are amazing, and just so beautiful. But honestly, I’m super excited about space travel and all that stuff.”

Mabel nods along as if she understands every word that makes its way out of his mouth when Danny simply continues to rant on and on about astrology and other topics about space with an intense passion.

Dipper is more focused on the device grasped in his hand. His eyes dart about the monitor, looking for any sort of ectoplasmic signal but comes up empty. Dipper makes the quick hypothesis that ghosts are more active at night.

He glances back at his sister and Danny, who are still talking about space. Well, it’s more the latter who does so, rambling passionately while Mabel struggles to stay focused on one topic for this amount of time.

As Dipper realizes the irony of the situation, he stifles a laugh with his hand.

Mabel constantly tries to steer the conversation away from scientific aspects, preferring creative or ‘girly’ subjects like glitter and rainbows. She’d likely come out here in the hopes of finding a ghost cat and cuddling it or something. Probably to hang out with Danny too, maybe flirt with him or whatever the heck Mabel thinks she’s doing.

Instead she has to listen to the boy ramble on about various studies of space.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

Dipper can tell how absolutely bored Mabel is with Danny’s speech, and he still struggles to hide his chuckles.

(He’d probably get along better with the teen better than his sister, if he weren’t so skeptical of Danny’s unknown intentions.

He is still a stranger, after all.)

Mabel’s hands are fiddling with the loose threads of her newly made sweater. Her attention had clearly drifted off elsewhere a while ago, but Danny still hasn’t noticed, ever so caught up in his one-way conversation.

Dipper catches her eye, throwing a smug expression her way as Danny continues to speak animatedly, and his sister returns a raspberry as she slumps over.

‘Very mature’, he thinks.

Dipper rolls his eyes with a smile, about to return to examining the machines when Danny mentions a topic that Dipper had recently heard about.

“The Apollo missions inspired an entire generation of people to pursue math and science careers, and it’s amazing! Our society continues to become more technologically advanced and dependent, and the general populace need to become more scientifically literate to keep up.

“I’ve always dreamed of being an astronaut,” he says, his excitement slowing as he gazes down at the floor. “I’ve just- I’m not what you’d call a star student.” He gives out a chuckle, a chuckle that is absent of actual humor, and it makes Dipper hesitate in his step as well. “And outside of school, I’m pretty busy with other stuff. Uh- extracurriculars, and all that.”

With those last few sentences, it finally clicks, and Dipper whirls around.

“It was you!”

-

“I’m sorry, what?”

It’s the first thought that runs through Danny’s head, and apparently it spills out his lips too.

“You-You were the guy who helped me back to camp a week ago!” Dipper exclaims, his finger still pointed at the confused boy.

(For some reason this makes Danny think of Wes.)

“What?” It’s Mabel who says this. She’s eloquently ignored.

“Y’know, when you- uh, when you fell from that tree, and pointed out the constellations to me?” Dipper stammers, and Danny’s eyes widen in recognition.

“That was you?” Danny asks, and Dipper nods slowly, as if he’s uncomfortable.

(Mabel looks on in pure confusion. She is still promptly ignored.)

“What a coincidence, huh?” Danny lets out a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. “Well, uh. Nice to meet you? Again, I guess.”

(Danny truly does see it to be a coincidence. It’s so odd, how the universe chooses to dump on him in a place that isn’t Amity Park. Hasn’t he had enough?)

He stretches out his hand awkwardly, and cautiously, Dipper steps forward and shakes it. They’ve already met, but this makes it feel more official, Danny thinks. Maybe not quite that, but he imagines it’d make the scenario much more awkward if he jerks his hand back now.

Instead, Dipper is the one to pull his hand back, replacing his steadfast grip on the pad in his hands. It gives out a solid beep, and then returns back to its muted noise.

“Well,” Dipper starts, his face screaming the fact that he feels very awkward in this scenario. “How about we go back to looking for ghosts?”

“Sure!” Mabel chirps, and Danny shrugs, finally pulling out the device in his hands. He’s down for pretending that never happened.

Dipper pauses, and then says, "Hey, I can't see Great Uncle Ford."

Mabel pauses in her balancing act on a toppled tree trunk, glancing up to her brother. She takes a look back behind her. "Yeah, I guess so."

Mabel takes a seat on the ground, adjusting her skirt. Danny leans against a tree, and then a thought pops into his head.

“Oh shit, I pointed out the Big Dipper to a kid named Dipper.”

“Language!” Mabel sing-songs, blowing a small raspberry from her pleasant spot on the ground as Dipper's face reddens.

"Seriously?" Dipper bites out as Mabel gives a dorky snort, a fair imitation of the pig sitting back in her room.

(Ford can hear the tail end of the conversation as he settles his cane in a knot of roots and heaves himself over it. A fond smile tugs on his lips, and he lets out a chuckle.

He's glad the kids are getting along.)

"Go back to your dorky devices, guys." The last word is said even more dorkishly, and Mabel gestures to said devices. Danny imagines that she's already shoved her gadget back into her sweater pocket.

As Ford steps back into the small clearing that Danny and the twins are sitting in, everyone rises and Ford hands out snacks to each kid individually.

Five minutes later, they’re back on track and return to their task.

Danny this time trails in the back, stimming by shaking his hands, deep in thought.

Dipper is clearly wary of Danny, probably due to the fact that Danny said he fell out of a tree with little to no explanation. (He really needs to control what comes out his mouth.) Danny must seem pretty suspicious.

Or maybe it’s just how the kid acts. He can’t be entirely sure.

He’s still surprised that Dipper hadn’t mentioned his run in with Danny. The two don’t seem to be quite attached at the hip, but he can still tell they’re very close. He sees how they can just communicate without speaking, how comfortable they are around the other. It’s nice, he thinks.

(If later asked, he’d deny it. But Danny can’t help but secretly wish he was as comfortable around Jazz as the twins are around each other.)

What surprises him even more? It’s the fact that Mabel doesn’t question it. She’s been pestering Danny with questions non-stop since ‘inviting’ him over for a sleepover. Mabel is a chatterbox and it’s so odd that she doesn’t press, because it seems like it’s practically part of her nature to find out more about things.

The only reaction out of her hearing of Dipper and his meeting (aside from the earlier input) is a questioning glance at her brother, to which the boy shrugs halfheartedly in response.

Mabel throws him that look that Danny knows as ‘We’ll talk about this later’. He knows it well, having been on the receiving end of it countless times from his own sister. She then slows down, another grin on her face, and she strikes up another conversation.

To be honest, the constant conversation is starting to wear him out, but he still does it anyway.

“What’s your favorite animal?” Mabel asks, skipping happily.

Danny isn’t entirely sure. He says so.

“Me too!” Mabel grins, moving her hand to fiddle with her headband. “I just can’t decide! There’s cats, but dogs are really cute too! And not to mention koalas, and elephants and just. So many animals I can’t choose between them all.”

-

All in all, it’s a fairly uneventful day. All they seem to have done is walk through the forest, checking the devices, enjoying the scenery and engaging in small talk.

It leaves Dipper with a dissatisfied feeling sitting in his gut, but he doesn’t express it like Mabel does. Mabel sinks in disgruntlement with a roll of her eyes, slumped over slightly with her energy drained as much as it can be for Mabel Pines. That is to say, she has the energy of a normal person.

“Don’t worry, there’s still tomorrow,” Danny says, with an awkward pat on Mabel’s shoulder.

(Danny’s silently wishing they actually don’t come across any other ghosts. But alas, they’ll find someone, he’s sure. This woods has the same eerie feeling as the Ghost Zone, so he knows that there are supernatural entities in this place.

He’s not eager to find out what they are.)

Dipper’s head nods slowly in agreement, and it occurs to him that this isn’t the only day they go out to search for ghosts and he isn’t a failure-

Mabel elbows Dipper in the forearm, her mood having taken a 180 and a slight smirk resting on her lips. “Why you sad, bro-bro?” The brunette asks innocently, as if she wasn’t the one just dragging her feet along on the forest floor. “You still got a lot of-”

Mabel purses her lip, searching for the right word.

“Data. That’ll help, right?” She elbows Dipper again.

(Dipper’s sigh has a hint of disappointment, and Danny knows that Dipper is actually the one more disheartened in this situation. Mabel tends to exaggerate her feelings.)

“You’re right, Mabel,” Dipper mutters, fiddling with the pad in his hands again anxiously. “We have a lot of data now.”

Dipper glances up slightly, and sees the silhouette of the Mystery Shack illuminated in the near sunset, the sun beginning to slide behind the wide expanse of trees. He turns his head back to face the device, pressing buttons occasionally to change the view.

From behind him, Mabel straightens up, and pulls on Danny’s sleeve. “You ready for another sleepover?” She asks excitedly, her voice lilting.

“Nah,” Danny responds. “I’ll find somewhere to stay tonight.”

(Danny doesn’t want to bother Dipper again.)

Dipper doesn’t entirely care. He’s almost glad that he doesn’t have to sleep in the same room as Danny tonight, but he won’t say it out loud.

(Mabel huffs, and she has the social awareness to give a glance to the boy who is scouring the devices in his hand and in the bag on his back.) “Fine, just be okay, okay?” She pauses, and then giggles. “I said okay twice.”

Dipper inhales sharply, and Mabel instantly quiets. The next few minutes are pretty awkward, as all they do is walk. Dipper’s feet are tired and he’s more walking on impulse now, waiting for the moment to sit down. Mabel seems to be out of energy as well, as she doesn’t break the silence with her excited gestures or bubbly sentences.

The twins step up onto the slanted porch promptly, Dipper collapsing sitting on one of the stairs. Mabel groans and fans her face with her baggy sleeve, and Ford is a few meters behind them. Danny puts his hands in his pockets, staying a good few feet away from everyone, and gives a quick wave.

“See ya guys tomorrow,” Danny says, and as the two twins step inside, Dipper rushes to the nearest window to look out at Danny.

(He doesn’t see anything, as Danny is already long gone.)

-

Dipper sits in a fold-up chair as he watches Ford review the data they’ve collected that day, pouring over the gadgets. There haven't been very many ectoplasmic signatures, but any information is helpful and will allow them to know how to better handle it when they do come across a ghost for the first time.

The brunet still pipes in here and there with his own views on the data, but his mind has already drifted elsewhere.

(He does remember his first meeting with Danny. It was a week ago, and it’s still very fresh in his mind. The flimsy excuse of ‘stargazing’ had been so odd. But what other reasons could Danny need to climb a tree for? Was he hiding from something? Someone?

How had he even gotten up there in the first place? The branches on the trees in the forest are often placed far from each other, and once you do get a grip on them the brittle branches give up on your weight and you go collapsing back to the ground.

He’s seen Mabel try to climb the trees on multiple occasions. She’s never gotten past five feet above the ground.

And how does he just disappear into thin air? One second he’s beside Dipper and the next he’s nowhere to be seen. It’s also absurd how many times he hasn’t noticed the teen beside him; it’s like the teen has no presence whatsoever.)

He rests a hand on his forehead, letting out a sigh with a frown.

(Danny is such an enigma and it’s just so frustrating being unable to figure him out.

Though, he says this as if there’s anything to discover in the first place.

For all he knows, Danny could just be a regular teen with somewhat questionable hobbies. He hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary, ordinary for Gravity Falls at least. He gets along with everyone around him just fine with the occasional awkward sentence or body posture, fiddling with things when he’s nervous like Dipper does.

Dipper’s probably just going crazy overreacting.)

He glances up, combing a hand through his hair, letting out another unsteady breath.

(But if that's the case, why does he feel so uneasy?)

Ford pauses, taking a glance at his great nephew. He turns to him, devices still in his grasp, and asks, “Are you okay?” He cocks his head slightly to the side, eyeing Dipper’s tense body language.

Dipper nods sharply, rubbing his arm and staring down at the slick lab floor. “Yeah. . . Just, uh, thinking about some stuff.”

Ford seems unconvinced, his eyes still trailing on Dipper before he turns back to his devices. He hums in confirmation, making Dipper feel slightly guilty for the white lie.

A few minutes pass, and Dipper still can’t focus, catching more than one concerned glance from his great uncle.

"So, care to tell me what 'stuff' you're thinking of?" Ford questions, idly rifling through some papers.

Dipper fiddles with his lip with his two front teeth, rubbing his left arm. He winces slightly, refusing to meet his great uncle’s gaze.

“I-I dunno, it’s just. . .” He sighs, his hand dropping to rest by his side. “Danny’s been- He’s been super helpful and gets along with Mabel, but I- but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something here.”

Ford’s eyes soften, and he sets down the papers on another tall pile of paper. He leans down and pulls out his own chair from underneath a table, twisting it to face his great nephew and Dipper does the same with his chair.

“I get how you feel, Dipper. I understand, really I do, but not everything needs a dramatic reveal.” Ford says, gently patting Dipper’s head. “Oftentimes, people are exactly who they claim to be and that’s rather normal. Just because something may feel off about someone, doesn’t have to mean they’re dangerous.

“Gravity Falls is indeed a strange place, but not everyone who steps foot into the town is a monster in disguise.

“Puzzles are marginally harder to solve when you can’t see each individual piece and fit them together, or when you refuse to see the pieces in front of you. I myself had a difficult time grasping this after so many years spent living here.”

("And in the portal" remains unsaid, but Dipper can hear the hint of it behind the words Ford speaks.)

"You certainly have a knack for picking out who or not to trust, so if you really believe Danny has harmful intentions, I'll listen. To me, Danny just appears to be a typical teenage boy, similar to yourself, but it's your call, Dipper. Just remember that putting your faith in others isn't always harmful."

(“Not as easy as it sounds” whispers in the back of his head, and he shakes it away by bobbing his mechanically and allowing the words his great uncle speaks replace the dread sitting in his gut for absolutely no reason-)

Ford is right; he’s getting worked up over nothing. Not everyone is out to get him.

Danny isn't out to get him.

(It's irrational to think Danny would do anything to hurt Mabel, or anyone else for that matter.)

Danny’s just a random teen who made his way into Gravity Falls, a teen obsessed with space and finding himself wrapped up in Dipper’s research. From the start, Danny has done nothing but help them, and he likely thinks Dipper is weird when he refuses to meet the teen’s eye, hands shuffling nervously.

Guilt rises into Dipper’s chest, and almost immediately Dipper feels terrible. He’s only made things feel more awkward for Danny. By making the teen feel uncomfortable during their outings. Disappointing Mabel by ruining her sleepover.

(‘You know they would've been happier without you there, anyway,’ his brain barges in, and he can’t find the heart to deny it.)

Dipper is always bringing people down along with him. It’s his fault Ford’s machine broke. If he hadn’t gone out that night, none of this would have happened, anyway.

(Dipper always needs other people to help him. He’s just useless by himself.)

(Why can’t his brain just act normal for once? Why can’t he ever seem to let people in?)

His eyes begin to sting, and he feels the panic taking hold, leaching into his chest and refusing to let go. He curls in on himself slightly, because he can only just live through it and mentally hit himself-

Is it really so hard to trust people again?

(Dipper already knows the answer to this question; he knows because of the being that frequently haunts his nightmares.)

(‘Trust no one’ echoes endlessly in his mind, reflecting off every boundary and always making its way back to the center-

Dipper’s hand burns, engulfed in blue flame-

His laughter, resonating within his ears-

There’s no escape-)

His lungs refuse to take in air, and his vocal cords won’t work to even choke out a scream.

(He can't breathe-) 

In a split second, there’s a warm hand resting on his shoulder. It’s vaguely comforting, but Dipper still jerks away from it and takes in a shaky breath as his lungs start working again.

His mind slowly clears, and he glances up to see Ford resting beside the chair on his knee, hand pulled back slightly with a concerned expression on his face.

(‘You did that to him. You're the one troubling your great uncle. You're just a burden’, his brain screams at him, and he can’t find the courage to scream denials back.)

“Dipper?” Ford asks tentatively, concern hidden in his eyes. “Is everything all right?”

“Yeah-Yeah,” Dipper manages to choke out, still taking shaky breaths and refusing to look the man in the eye. “I’m good.”

"Are you sure?"

Dipper pauses for a moment, but then nods slowly. “I’m okay, Great Uncle Ford.” His breath is starting to steady, and he takes his first deep breath. “Thanks. For everything.”

(Really, he’s okay.

‘Keep telling yourself that’, his brain taunts, and he sighs again.

He's fine.)

[walkingmilkbox]

What the hell should you pack for the hospital?

It’s week 36, and baby could start the party at any minute. It’s time to pack your bag! But what the hell do you put in it?

My first introduction to the idea of a hospital bag was an episode of Full House, where Becky has the twins. I remember little of this show from my childhood, but I remember Danny, or one of the other inept men, packed a bag for Becky that was full of panyhose and other very useful items. (Danny also brought the Wake Up San Francisco video crew into Becky’s room. Danny Tanner, you’re the worst). When I started thinking about my own hospital bag, I knew I didn’t need tights, but I had no idea what I actually needed until my birthing class. Now that I’ve had a baby, I can say pack light and strategically. Below is a list of items I think you’ll need.

Clothes for you: Every time you go to a certain chain maternity clothes store, the sales associate will ask you if you have a gown for the hospital. Don’t spent $50 on something that is going to get covered in body fluids. What you really need to bring is comfortable clothes you don’t care about. For the first day, I wore the hospital-issued maternity gown that has slits for whipping out a boob to feed your baby. After the first night, I was ready to put on pajamas that made me feel like a regular person. Bring a nursing tank top, a big T shirt, two cotton sleep bras, an open front sweater, maternity leggings, and sweatpants. Bring socks and flip flops for walking around the hospital. Bring an extra pair of underwear, but you’ll be wearing the mesh underwear from the hospital for about two weeks.

Clothes for your partner: Tell your partner to bring sweatpants, a change of underwear, socks, and an extra shirt. My husband wore jeans to the hospital, and changed into sweats when we were in the recovery room. Other dads were jealous of how comfy he was.

Toiletries: Bring the bare minimum items that you and your partner need to function for two days. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, contacts and glasses, shampoo and conditioner, and any daily medications. I was so happy I thought to bring shampoo and conditioner. My post-delivery shower was the first one I’d taken in almost 48 hours. The facilities were terrible, but it still ranks in my top five showers ever.

Fiber supplements/Probiotic/stool softener: Having a baby messes up your system. I’ve heard horror stories of the first postpartum poop. I decided to be proactive by taking fiber, a probiotic, and a stool softener. Without too many details, my plan worked. Obviously talk to your doctor about any supplements.

Accessories: Bring something to pull your hair back, like a headband or a rubber band.

Snacks: There are two snack categories: during labor and post-labor. Some doctors allow you to eat during labor - I drank a ton of apple juice and applesauce. Suggestions are juice boxes, granola bars, peanut butter filled pretzels. Bring snacks for your partner too! You’re going to be exhausted, and your partner needs to keep his or her energy up.Pedialyte powder:

Pedialyte Powder: I threw these in last minute, and they were the most valuable item. I was severely dehydrated during labor. The pedialyte really helped. You can get a box in the baby aisle of any store.

Camera and charger: If you have a real camera, make sure to bring it, the charger, and an extra memory card.

Phones/chargers: Bring an extra charger for you and your partner.

Clothes for the baby: The hospital will give you diapers, wipes, and formula samples. All you need to bring is an outfit for the baby to go home in. The best option is a set of long-sleeve footie pajamas. The zip up or snap up footie jammies are easy to put on a fresh baby. (We were so terrified to pull anything over our baby’s head while she was tiny). Bring a newborn size and a 0-3 size, because it’s impossible to know exactly how big your baby will be. Keep the season in mind - a December baby is going to need a different outfit than a June baby. 

An empty zip up tote bag: The hospital is going to give you pairs of mesh underwear, maternity pads, numbing sprays, diapers, wipes, etc. Bring an extra bag to carry it all home. This will save you so many trips to the store or orders on Amazon.