#Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel

[ckret2]

Chapter 27 of human Bill Cipher trying to trick his captors into liking him, featuring a mall shopping trip that turns into this:

Also, Bill faces the most difficult ethical dilemma of his life: should he act like a big jerk to a 13-year-old.

####

As they left the cheap jewelry kiosk, Bill tapped his new dress shoe against Stan's ankle to catch his attention. "Hey. Your cut." He flipped a ring in the air.

Stan caught it and inspected the symbol on its surface. "Is that the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel?"

"You gave your protégé your fez, I thought you might want a replacement! I know how proud you are of your lodge membership, Fisherman."

Stan admiringly studied the ring and its open-mouthed crescent fish; then the corners of his mouth turned down. "Ahhh, it wasn't my membership." He stuffed the ring in his pocket.

"No? I got one with the Fishmasons symbol if you'd like that better." Bill spun the oversized ring on one finger. It slipped off and he fumbled trying to catch it.

In the smoothest move he'd pulled all summer, Dipper caught the ring before it hit the floor. He ignored Bill's outstretched hand and inspected the complicated tool-lined diamond symbol. "Fishmasons? I thought they were called..."

"Yeah, you would," Bill scoffed. "Do you believe everything you read in The Paranoia Code? You know novels are usually fictional, right?"

"But don't masons work with stone? How does a 'fish mason' make sense?"

"If everyone knew what it meant, it wouldn't be a secret society, would it?"

Dipper gave up on prying anything more than snark out of Bill and turned toward Stan. "The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel is associated with the Fishmasons, right?"

"Yeah," Stan said, "they're uh, sister organizations or something, I think. It's complicated."

"It's a spin-off organization," Bill said. "All Mackerels are Fishers. Once you've reached the top rank in the Fishers, you're eligible to join the Holy Mackerel."

"Yeah. What he said."

Dipper nodded. "Sooo... is it true that the Fishmasons are secretly... working with the government, or...? I mean, yeah, I read it in a book. But they've had a lot of real historical figures."

Stan snorted dismissively. "If they are, they didn't invite me to those meetings."

"Well sure. The lodge that decides politics is in D.C.," Bill lied. Dipper's head whipped around to stare at him. Ha. When they got home, Bill would have to spend some time deciding which would be the stupidest conspiracy theory rabbit holes to send Dipper down. If he played his cards right, by Thanksgiving he could have the kid spouting rubbish that would alienate half his extended family.

"Would you stop staring at me like that?" He shoved the side of Dipper's face; and, while he was distracted, grabbed back the Fisher ring to inspect its symbol. Kryptos's face. Far better drawn than Bill could do. And the thin little layer of gold atop the ring should be enough to enhance Bill's psychic signal. Maybe that would be enough to get a call through to the Nightmare Realm.

He tucked the ring in his shoe and turned to Stan. "Anyway, if you think that was good, you should see what I can do in a real jewelry store. What do you say?"

"I dunno. Jewelry shops are tricky, they're always on the lookout for shoplifters."

"They never catch teams and we've got two rambunctious kids to split their attention. I'll do the distracting, you do the lifting. When's the last time you had a gold watch that isn't cursed?"

"Nope!" Mabel, who'd been trailing behind the group with her arms crossed, finally shoved her way between Stan and Bill. "That's enough! We came here for a good time, not a crime time!"

"We came here to go shopping," Stan protested. "We're shopping!"

"Yeah, we're just getting the best discount possible."

"It's like advanced couponing."

Bill laughed. "Hey, I like that."

"No!" Mabel stood in front of them, arms and feet spread wide like a barrier. "Grunkle Stan, you should know better. You're letting—" she dropped her voice to an emphatic whisper, "Bill talk you into doing bad stuff. The whole reason you came along was to make sure he can't do that!"

Stan snapped, "Oh, like you didn't just make us stand around for an hour while you played dress up with him! Why's it okay when you play with the demon, but nobody else can make him useful?"

Mabel winced. "No, that's not... I mean..."

If this conversation went the wrong way, Stan and Mabel might both talk each other out of doing anything interesting with Bill. He'd better defuse this situation quick. "Hey, c'mon, Stanley, that's your niece. Don't be so hard on her."

There was a flicker of irritation on Stan's face directed at Bill, followed by a flicker of guilt toward Mabel, followed by him grunting and refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

That was one threat neutralized. Bill turned his grin on Mabel. "Sorry for monopolizing the trip, kid. We'll make it up to you! Fordsy got you that cute crystal bracelet, didn't he—wanna graduate to some real gemstones?"

"Hey, yeah," Stan said, immediately perking up. "You like jewelry! I can get you something with hearts or kittens. Way better than a bunch of boring rocks." Bill mentally patted himself on the back. Oh, he was so good at this. Good old sibling rivalry. Families were so easy to manipulate.

Mabel slapped her hand over the rainbow crystal bracelet mixed amidst her other bracelets. "I don't want you to get me real jewelry!" she shouted; but Stan had already set out on his new mission, with Bill trotting along just behind him. "Not if you have to steal it!"

"Relax!" Bill waved without turning around. "We're a couple of pros, you've got nothing to worry about." He elbowed Stan before he could absorb Mabel's protests. "Don't worry, once she's older she'll appreciate what a financial investment fine jewelry is. Never too early to buy a little gold. Or—well—acquire gold."

"Yeah," Stan said, "who knows when the next apocalypse is gonna be."

"Could be any day now," Bill lied.

"The only bracelet I want is this one!" Mabel waved her arm in the air, pointing at the shooting star friendship bracelet Bill had made. But Stan and Bill were too far away to care about her protests now.

Mabel's shoulders slumped. She glowered at the friendship bracelet. It didn't seem as friendly as it did when Bill gave it to her. "This whole trip was a mistake, wasn't it."

Dipper grimaced. "I didn't say it."

"You don't have to." Mabel sighed heavily. "I don't know what got into me. B—Goldie's been so nice lately, I thought he was making progress! But he's been nothing but a creep today. Guess the niceness was all an act."

"He can act nice for a long time. It took Grunkle Ford almost three years to figure out how evil he is." When Dipper concluded that this hadn't had the comforting effect he'd intended, he asked, "Do you wanna tip off security about the jewelry heist?"

Mabel sighed again. "No, I don't want Grunkle Stan to get in trouble. And if Goldie's arrested he might spill the beans to mall security. Let's just wait outside by the car."

"Yeah, all right," Dipper said. "If they don't come out in twenty minutes, we'll call Ford."

Headed the other way across the mall, Bill said, "So, a watch for you, a necklace or something for the kid, and for me... they probably don't have crowns here, so—"

"Whoa, hey, I don't remember offering to get you anything," Stan said. "I already got you fancy shoes and a bunch of clothes. We're square."

"We're no such thing. Besides, why should I help you if I'm not getting anything?" Bill asked. "Maybe earrings? Gimme a nail when we get home and I can pierce my own ears—"

His arm was wrenched backwards and he fell on his back.

Thirty feet away, Mabel yelped as she was yanked back and landed on her butt.

Bill and Mabel turned around and stared at each other.

Bill said, "Right! Forgot about that. Just—get over here."

"No!" Mabel shouted. "You get over here!"

Bill scowled. "Come on, kid. Your great-uncle and I are trying to do something here. If you don't want to come along, at least let Stanley have the other half of the bracelet—"

"I said NO!" Mabel planted her feet wide apart and tugged her wrist back as far as it could go. "You used me! You were only nice so you could go outside and I fell for it! As soon as you got what you wanted, you started acting like a huge poop face again!"

"Wow, language—"

"I'm not helping you anymore!"

Bill could feel his face heating up. "Kid, don't be ridiculous! You can't stand there forever! You're being..." selfish, irrational, petty—what word would get him what he wanted?

The pedestrian chatter over the inoffensive mall music had fallen silent. The feeling of being watched crawled over his back. (He seemed to discover another unpleasant new human bodily sensation every day.) Oh. Witnesses. There was no way the stranger in a shouting match with a little girl was coming out of this looking cool.

He could still save face if he got her uncle to do Bill's arguing for him. He turned hopefully to his new shoplifting buddy. "C'mon, she's—she's being unreasonable, right? We're talking about one watch, here."

And Bill had lost him. Stan's expression hardened. He crossed his arms and Bill flinched at the movement. "If a stupid watch is gonna upset Mabel that much..."

Families were so difficult to manipulate! Why did they have to gang up on him, it wasn't fair. He shot a furious glower at Mabel.

And then laughed, loudly enough for the rubberneckers to hear. "Okay, okay! You win. Sheesh, you look so serious. Peace talks in front of the Kidz Zone?"

Sternly, Mabel said, "Okay, but you do not get to ride the little coin-operated train."

"I wasn't gonna ask!" Bill paused. "Or the—?"

"Or the helicopter!"

Dipper called, "You haven't earned it, man."

"Fine," Bill snapped, "I didn't want to ride it." Swallow your disappointment, Cipher. Just play it cool.

When they'd rendezvoused, Bill said, "Okay, I might have gone a little overboard. Big deal. But we've been here all afternoon, we haven't eaten, I'm sure that's why everyone's so testy. Let's just swing by the food court and then get out of here."

Mabel frowned. "You're just trying to get us to stay."

"Yes. I am. So that we can eat before we go." If he ended this on a win, even a small win, that would be what everyone took away and he could call this trip progress. "Funny thing about human bodies is they need to be fed a couple times a day. Maybe you've noticed."

Dipper frowned. "Dude, you're only eating twice a day?"

"I don't question your diet, get off my back. What do you think, Stanley, feed the kids before we go?" Bill might've lost Mabel, but he had a shot at securing Stan. He could work on Mabel again once they were home. "You wanna drive home a couple of cranky teens, or a couple of cranky and hungry teens?"

Dipper snapped, "We're only cranky because of—!"

"Nah, he's right," Stan said wearily. "I'm starving. We'll grab something quick to eat."

Bill immediately perked up; but Mabel's frown deepened.

####

"I want chicken strips," Dipper said. 

Mabel said, "I'm getting pizza."

Bill said, "I want—"

"I don't care what you want," Stan said. "I'm getting a burger and you're getting the fries."

"Oh, so you want to find out what I'm like when I'm the cranky and hungry one?"

Stan grunted. "Fine. Your budget's five dollars. I really do only have a twenty."

"Fine." Bill drifted over to Mabel, who'd gotten in line in front of the food court's pizza booth. "Hey, Shooting Star—"

"Leave me alone, jerk."

"Whoa, am I not allowed to get a slice of pizza?"

Mabel didn't respond. She was glaring through the glass display window at the available pizza flavors as she waited for her turn to order. Apparently Bill interpreted that as permission to stay and look over the flavors himself. 

Standing so close to Bill Cipher when Mabel didn't want him there was like having a monster breathing down her neck. She hadn't realized how hover-y he could get until it stopped being fun. She remembered something like this from Ford's lesson on cults and con artists, how they try to get into your head by talking and talking and not giving you any time and space to breathe.

She could feel Bill's heavy gaze on the side of her face. Dipper and Stan were at the next restaurant over, but Bill stood between her and them. The chain bracelet on her wrist felt like a handcuff. She wanted to rip it off and be free of him. She wanted to go home.

"I've never had American pizza before," Bill said. "What do you think, cheese or Hawaiian?"

Mabel screwed up her face. "Ew, the one with pineapple?"

Bill's grin twitched wider. "Is that a vote for cheese, then?"

Gross, he was trying to get her to talk again. She glared at the pizza more determinedly. "Get what you want, I don't care."

Bill sighed. "Fine. You're no fun." He looked over the pizzas—standing too close—for one brief moment of heavy silence; and then, pointing between the cheese and Hawaiian, murmured to himself, "Eenie, meenie, miney..."

Mabel's whole body went stiff.

####

She felt the oppressive oven-like heat of Bill's dark floating pyramid, a too-euclidean temple built without the comfort of humans in mind, so hot that touching the walls burned your skin; and she felt a sticky sweat running down her back. She felt the constant electrical static of Bill's glowing shadowy grip around her waist. Every time she shifted and struggled, her sweater crackled and stung her. Bill's hand felt like nothing, absolutely nothing, and it was crushing and inescapable.

She could hear his voice, that forced jollity pushing to the verge of exhausted hysteria, saying, "I think I'm gonna kill one of them now just for the heck of it!"

She could see his eye like a blood red spotlight, eye like an incinerating laser, the light swallowing her and Dipper; she heard her heartbeat pounding in her ears; she saw the symbol that represented her flashing in Bill's eye, and even before he stopped she knew it would be her. 

"EENIE... MEENIE... MINEY..."

She saw his hand tremble with rage as he prepared to snap her out of existence.

"YOU!"

####

"Hey, you." Bill put a hand on Mabel's shoulder. "What are you getting? Maybe we can split two slic—"

There was a wild look in Mabel's eyes.

The moment she seized his upper arm, he knew he was ending up on the floor and it was going to hurt.

She spun her back to him, jerked him against her, and flipped him over her shoulders. It was bizarrely relaxing, that second spent floating upside-down in the air. Familiar, comforting.

And then he slammed back first on the tile floor. And it hurt.

He stared wheezing at the faraway lights until his internal organs remembered how to lung. The world was too bright; he'd lost his sunglasses. He sat up and gingerly felt the back of his head. It had cracked open, he was leaking internal organs—no. That was his hair. His head was fine.

Dizzily, he asked, "What was that for?" He shook his head to clear it. "Hey. Hey! What the heck was that for!" He grabbed the counter and got to his feet, and almost slipped back down on his first attempt. "I've been a little obnoxious but what'd I do to deserve a surprise attack out of nowhere? What, were you just waiting for a chance to get the jump on me—"

And then he saw the look on Mabel's face—the absolute unadulterated terror—in the split second before she gave a little flinch of realization and the guilt kicked in.

Baffled, he looked past her and the confused nearby mall-goers to Stan and Dipper—who thankfully didn't look angry, but they also didn't look as confused as Bill felt. They had tight-lipped white-faced looks like they understood what they'd just seen perfectly.

"What," Bill said. "What'd I do? Was it something I said?" He racked his brain. He did something that scared the dickens out of them—because all of them were giving him that look—it was three against one, something must have happened that he didn't pick up on. Something that made humans nervous that wasn't important enough for someone like him to recall?

He didn't know what.

That was it. He lost. All his work was undone, they were afraid of him again, they saw him as a threat and they'd lock him back up in the shack. There went any chance of ever seeing the outside world before his execution. There went his hopes of befriending the more pliable humans, or winning Ford back over. There went his conversations with Mabel. And he didn't even know what he did wrong.

If he killed Mabel and cut the bracelet cord, was he fast enough to escape before Stan and Dipper could react? If he lunged over the counter, could he get the pizza cutter and slit Mabel's throat before she flipped him again?

He saw a flickering glimpse of his uncoordinated scramble in the futures where he tried; the scene quickly fizzled out as he concluded it wouldn't work.

"Sorry," Mabel said. "Instinct. You know how martial arts are! You get it trained into your muscle memory, and... and... I... didn't mean to do that, that was my bad."

No less confused, Bill said, "Yeah, no, sure, it's—it's fine." He couldn't afford for it not to be "fine"; he didn't know what the other options were. "I know I cut an intimidating figure." He laughed weakly.

He couldn't apologize even if he wanted to. He didn't know what he was supposed to be apologizing for. He was still watching Mabel's face and Dipper's and Stan's for any context clues to explain what just happened.

And Mabel said, voice small and shaking, "You... don't wanna hurt us again, right?"

Bill blinked slowly at her.

It was the stupidest question he'd ever heard.

She had to know that. Everyone watching had to know that. Bill had been plotting how to hurt them again not fifteen seconds ago. He had every reason to want to hurt them—his very survival depended on finding a way to hurt them—and anyway, regardless of his intentions, obviously if he was asked he'd say "no," wouldn't he! As if he could admit to his captors that he did want to hurt them! It was such a breathtakingly stupid question that he could laugh.

He didn't laugh. He didn't point out how dumb she was for asking, or what a waste of time the question was, or remind her that they both knew there was only one answer. He didn't want to show off how effortlessly he could talk circles around humans; he didn't care about making her feel stupid.

He only wanted Mabel to stop looking at him like he terrified her.

So he said, "No. Of course I don't want to hurt you." He nodded toward Stan and Dipper, "No promises about these guys, they've been making fun of our fashion sense all afternoon, but... not you." He held up one hand, showing Mabel the friendship bracelet she'd given him with the evil eye beads. "You gave me a new job, remember?"

He'd hoped the jokey half-threat might help lighten the mood, maybe get her to smile; but she just nodded. "Okay."

Okay.

Stan shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Welp. I lost my appetite. We're going home."

####

Bill didn't care about Stan and Dipper glaring at his back as they trudged toward the exit, but Mabel walking so quietly beside him was sandpapering at his nerves. If he were back home and she were one of his usual pack of friends, he could just order her to perk up or else get out of his sight until she did—but that wouldn't work here, where he was currently not all powerful, he didn't have supreme control over everybody in the vicinity, and they did have to share a ride home. If he tried to get all imperious on her, she'd never speak to him again and Stan would probably break his skull.

What could he do to make her less nervous?

"Hey." He held out his hand to her. She gave it a quizzical look, then looked up at Bill. He said, "Can't hurt you if I can't use my hand, right? Unless you expect me to start biting."

Mabel said, "This isn't, like... a deal, is it—?"

"No! What? There's no deal, where would there be a deal?" Irritably, Bill said, "I'm just trying to help, if you don't think it's helpful then fine, whatever—"

Mabel took his hand. He shut up.

She flinched in surprise and pulled her hand back, holding the ring with the Fishmasons symbol. "I don't w..."

"I know you don't. Listen—we're all going to jail if we go back to 18th Century to return anything, but... I mean, we pass the ring kiosk on the way out, so..." Was that enough? Would that do anything?

She pushed it back into his hand. "You return it."

Irritation flared up his throat; he swallowed it down. "No problem." She was probably worried he was trying to set her up.

As they walked past the kiosk, he steered around to the side opposite the teen manning it; ran one hand over the rows of rings like he was idly inspecting the designs as he passed; and with a subtle movement, slid the stolen ring back amongst the others without pausing. He showed Mabel his empty hand to prove he'd done the deed.

As they moved passed the kiosk, she took his hand again. He squeezed hers back.

He'd find another way to get a message out to Kryptos. That dumb cheap ring probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

Dipper muttered, "You're still a threat if you have one hand free." He took Bill's other hand. They simultaneously shuddered. Never mind the being-watched feeling Bill had earlier, this was what the phrase "skin crawling" truly meant.

But Mabel immediately perked up. "Thanks, Dipper."

Oh! Sure! Thank him. Bill shot Dipper a dirty look and tightened his grip. (It wasn't even tight enough to hurt.) "I forgot how sweaty your palms are."

"Shut up."

Behind them, Stan grumbled, "I'm just glad you only have two hands."

"Hey!" Bill twisted around to give Stan an exasperated look. "Do you have any idea how much I envy you right now? This is torture. I can feel every fingerprint on these two. How come you're the only one who doesn't have to suffer."

Mabel laughed weakly. "Because Grunkle Stan never tried to end the world."

"Neither did I." He sighed exaggeratedly. "But fine—I'll take my punishment like an adult."

He'd gotten a laugh out of Mabel. That was good enough for now.

####

As soon as the car pulled around to the house side of the shack, before they'd even come to a stop, Bill unfastened his seat belt, shouldered open the door, and tumbled out into the sunlight and dirt. A couple of stolen shirts fluttered free.

"Hey!" Stan rolled down his window. "Get back—! How'd you get that door open?!"

"I never closed it!" Bill was already doing cartwheels across the grass, turned like a sunflower to catch the early evening sunbeams filtering through the trees. "I just pulled it close to the car."

"It was ajar the whole drive?!"

"A jar of what?" Bill's cartwheels were already better than the ones he'd tried earlier that day.

Mabel winced. "Sorry, Grunkle Stan, I should have checked..."

"It's not her fault!" Like heck was Bill letting Mabel get in trouble over one little door. "I'm an out-of-control agent of chaos! I'd ride home sitting on the roof if this body had the friction to stay put."

Stan snapped, "Next time, that's where I'm putting you!"

While Stan parked properly and everyone else got out, Bill got tired of cavorting and trudged up to the shack. He kicked his shiny new shoe against the wall as he waited for the Pines to let him inside.

"Glad that's over," Stan sighed. "I'm never going shopping with you again."

Yeah, sure he wasn't. Bill could work on him. Stan would want a new watch eventually.

"And I'm still starving," Stan said.

"Pizza," Bill said. Dipper and Mabel perked up like a couple of dogs that had just heard their owner say walk.

"Ehh..."

"Hawaiian," Bill added.

Stan looked considering. "I do appreciate pineapple's laid-back, tropical attitude." Dipper and Mabel groaned in disappointment.

Bill proposed, "Two pizzas."

The Pines and Bill went inside, and the door swung shut behind them.

None of the humans noticed the minuscule break Bill had kicked in the shack's unicorn hair barrier.

####

(Thanks for reading, y'all! I've been really looking forward to posting this chapter, so if you've got any comments or thoughts, I'd love to hear them!)

[fizzingink]

Caryn Romanoff Pines

Hey, Gravity Falls fans! I am thinking about writing a story (most likely 5-10 chapters) about how I headcannon Caryn's life. We don't see a lot of media that appreciates Caryn, and I want to contribute through telling a story. However, I am curious how many people would be interested in this story. Please let me know through a poll below.

Trigger Warnings:

This story will include:

○Her time in Russia before WW2

○Spousal Abuse from Filbrick

○The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel Cult scenes

○Possible sexual assault (unsure yet)

○Early life with the Stan Twins

○Her witnessing Stanley's eviction...

[comically-blu]

welp since there’s others with their own portal versions, why not give the portal routes to PW:ALTL different names!, just to differentiate! :D

To hear me out on my rambles here, this is for clarification whenever I get to mention anything about my au:

The time branches to PW:ALTL will be called as routes! I’ve decided that any routes’ names wouldn’t really change the title of GF much since PW:ALTL is one vast timeline that is close to GF’s canon world itself, so no Falls in the name.

Canon Compliant Route: its name speaks for itself; it’s the timeline that follows canon plotline exactly.

The Portal!Shermie au will be referred as Portal Pinecone! (PPC for short) In reference to this post, in which Shermie’s symbol is revealed. In routes Shermie gets involved in, Bill makes double sure to include him in the Cipher Wheel in advance— which Portal Pinecone is one of them.

(Not official design of Portal!Stan)

My version of Portal!Stan would be referred to as Portal Mackerel, aka PM for short, in reference to the fez symbol. Apparently, this fez belongs to Filbrick from his organization, the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel in canon. Then there’s the fez symbol looking like a Pac-Man fish, so Mackerel it is for Stan!

There’s a couple of routes I did come up for scenarios in PW:ALTL buttt imma not mention those yet since I hadn’t revealed those. So that’s all here for this post! Def will be tags for them as I post :]

[nitw]

do kids these days even know about the royal order of the holy mackerel

[mysteriesofmarcy]

Gravity Falls mirrors Amphibia's triangle

Founder and Duly Appointed High Exalted Big Fish of the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel Douglas MacKrell liked to say that much of Gravity Falls is a mirror.

He meant that, in the show, many scenes and events mirror each other -- they are different possible outcomes from a similar situation or different possible ways to achieve a similar outcome.

For the former, I would point to all the parallels between Stan and Ford, and Dipper and Mabel. One twin is the smart one, the other is the people person. The smart one is offered the chance of a lifetime, but it would mean leaving their twin behind. The other one -- to put it mildly -- doesn't take this news well, and makes one big mistake that separates the two. And I could go on, but you can draw your own parallels there.

For an example of the latter, I would point to Dipper and Mabel's relationships with their respective summer rivals.

Both met their rivals in similar circumstances: Dipper met Robbie one night at a haunted convenience store, where he made friends with all the other attendees.

Two episodes later, Mabel met Pacifica one night at a Mystery Shack party, where all the other attendees save for Pacifica's gang wanted to cheer for her.

But both made up with the other's rival under opposite circumstances: Mabel made up with Robbie thanks to a love potion from a cherub who wanted nothing more than to make people fall in love and to play his music at a daytime hippie festival, where the rest of the friend group all came back together at the end thanks to Thompson. Mabel appealed to Robbie's inability to make up for his mistakes by literally zipping his broken heart back together and redirecting him. And she refused to reverse what she had done after seeing the consequences.

In the next episode, Dipper made up with Pacifica at a nighttime party thanks to a vengeful lumberjack who had been wronged by her ancestors and wanted nothing more than to be let into the party or to destroy the mansion and kill its residents, where the high society party itself was ruined even though the townspeople were eventually let in. Dipper appealed to Pacifica's inability to make up for her mistakes by helping her face them head on. And what he had done was reversed after he saw the consequences.

This is a major theory on its own, but I'd like to talk about how much of Amphibia is a triangle -- in that, three things sort of mirror each other in the same way as described above.

For example:

The season structures:

Season 1 starts with Anne getting stranded in Amphibia and meeting Sprig. They then become fast friends and get into all kinds of mischief together. The first half of the season focuses on Anne forming bonds with each of the Plantars and the family adjusting to her being around, while the second half focuses on her using her heart calamity power to connect with the townsfolk of Wartwood. Then it ends with the family leaving Wartwood.

Season 2 starts with Anne and the Plantars adjusting to life on the road. The first half focuses on how they get along as they travel and some of the towns they find. Then in the second half, Marcy uses her brain calamity power to lead the gang on an epic quest to the three temples across Amphibia. Then the season ends with Anne and the Plantars leaving Amphibia.

Season 3 starts with Anne and the Plantars adjusting to life on earth. The first half focuses on how they live their lives there, and how they interact with Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy and the other humans. The second half focuses on Sasha using her strength calamity power to fight a war against Andrias and his forces. And the season ends with Anne, Sasha and Marcy leaving Amphibia.

In each finale, a Plantar (Hop Pop, Sprig, Anne) nearly dies when the final antagonist (Grime, Andrias, The Core) proves to be a sore loser and goes for broke after losing the battle, but is saved unexpectedly by an outside force (Wally and his boom shrooms, Marcy, The Guardian). Anne loses a friend (Sasha, Marcy, all of her amphibian friends) in the process.

Each season, the stakes are set progressively higher as we explore more: Wartwood is at stake in season 1 after we explored Frog Valley, all of Amphibia in season 2 after we went across the whole land, and Amphibia and Earth are at stake in season 3 after we explored both worlds that season.

I also found it interesting that the main antagonist of Gravity Falls is a triangle, while a major message of Amphibia has to do with liking who you see in the mirror -- being "the best version of yourself."

If you have any other examples, for either show, feel free to reblog or comment!

[pinesquest2d]

As a little gift for you all, and to show my gratitude... version 0.8.1 of PinesQuest 2D has been released.

Download it on:

itch.io / GameJolt

Version 0.8.1 Changelog:

The first half of level 6, the Crystal Woods, is now accessible. 

Gideon is now playable and joins the party at the beginning of level 6.

Debug Room is now accessible, but you will need to find the password...

Once Bill has joined your party, new items will appear in A. Tad Square's shop.

If Bill is in your party, you can access a cutscene about the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel and Shermie Pines by examining the books in the hideout (hub area).

Certain items have been buffed.

Debug Room Features:

Talk to Bill to mark level 6 as completed. You can then go back to the Mystery Shack and talk to A. Tad Square to trigger a cutscene. At the end of cutscene, Bill will join your party.

Talk to Ford and he will join your party. Talk to him again to instantly raise your entire party to max level (99).

Talk to Dipper to watch some cutscenes from level 7.

Talk to Nemm to gain access to each character's ultimate weapons. Ford, Bill and Gideon's weapons are received automatically while everyone else's must be obtained from the secret areas in levels 1-5.

Talk to A. Tad Square to instantly get 999999 gold.

This will likely be the last version of the game I ever release. Through the full game document and videos I released recently, I now consider the game to be "finished," even if the remaining 5 and a half levels aren't playable. I truly wish I could make them playable but as I've discussed before, after years of trying, I just don't think I can make it happen. I did my best, but I hope you still enjoy what I was able to create.

Thank you for playing PinesQuest 2D! Stay weird!

[broodhollowan]

I wish I had the foresight to archive this youtube video, from the now dead Gravity Falls theorist channel, The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel, from over 7 years ago, because it was my introduction to Broodhollow. (I almost skipped watching the video when the creator uploaded it because it was off topic for a Gravity Falls channel, but hands down the best decision I ever made.)

One of the biggest overlaps of the Broodhollow fandom (outside fandoms for anything Kris has created), is the Gravity Falls fandom! And I would say for Broodhollow's small fandom, the Gravity Falls to Broodhollow pipeline is pretty big!

I would really love to hear how you found Broodhollow in the comments/reblogs to see if there's any other fandoms Broodhollow crosses over with!

[themsource]

If you could change anything in the Zodiac, what would you change? Wendy's symbol I would change to be either her axe or the axe on the sweater that Mabel gives her during Weirdmageddon 3. McGucket's symbol I would change to be the gold glasses which have green lenses that he uses in Season 2 or the round lens glasses he used in his younger years, when he was helping Ford with the Portal. Pacifica's symbol I would change to be a diamond, since we see her using a pair of diamond earrings during The Gulf War and she uses them again at the beginning of Northwest Mansion Mystery with a diamond colar or the front of the pocket mirror she uses in The Gulf War.

Sorry this took me a bit to get to! Family in the hospital and I've recently contracted covid (AGAIN rip) ^^;

The Zodiac, huh?

I really like your switch up for Wendy, and I have to agree I'd change it to the Axe just because I see her more as a symbol of strength which is usually tied to the image of the lumberjack - so it'd be a two fold meaning! Plus that's been shown to be her go to weapon in both the show and the comic book Lost Legends.

For Fiddleford, while I agree glasses fit him currently I'd personally prefer something more on the engineering side just because that's what he's known for. He likes to build and create, so I'd say like a wrench or hammer. Sure the dude is scholarly but let's be honest, he's not as scholarly as he used to be due to his trauma and how that's affected his mind. While still very much gifted and a genius I feel his talent for creation is really his strongest attribute.

Pacifica having a star is a good choice! Definitely has roots in canon as well as carries the implication of her being the rising star in her family/much needed change. But I'd prefer a compass! Just think it'd be really cool to see a compass pointed in the Northwest direction and would be an appealing design choice.

Gideon I'd REALLY like to change, though the pentagram fits the whole occult theme that is very heavily used in Gravity Falls and represents his tent of telepathy's symbol, I think the depiction of the cursed amulet (mentioned in journal 3) he carries would have fit better. I just feel that's more personalized in both it's meaning for how he's turned out personality wise (arrogant and spoiled) from having such power at a young age and as well as the burden of carrying consequences that come from that.

The rest of them I feel are pretty accurate and I guess I just would change those I mentioned to be more tied to the individual, so that it hits more of a prophesy that 'could only be carried out in a specific time and place', rather than having that openness for previous generations to have maybe the chance to use it if they'd found the correct people to fit those non-specified symbols.

Oh, and I'd chance Stan's back to the crescent! I liked that better than the redesign. I feel the redesign was a bit too goofy for me. At the end of the day it's confirmed to be a Shriner's hat, and the crescent fits when you see the full symbol for the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel. Really upset me to learn they had been forced to make the change to avoid potential lawsuits. Who in the world can copyright a crescent?! Geez XD

[bbuzz28]

this thought immediately came to mind when I read this idea (and it maybe gets away from the point a lil bit, ((apologies)) ):

For his first thunderstorm at the Shack, Stan Pines slept in the bathtub.

He's experienced all kinds of weather over the years- the sticky humidity of a Tijuanna winter, ice storms that could freeze rats solid on a New York City fire escape, fog banks that cover the road so thick that you can barely see a foot in front of you (or whatever the hell an elk was) in Washington State.

Technically speaking, a thunderstorm should have been comforting-he remembered many a summer night running home from the beach in the rain with Ford- and yet...

He can hear every pane of glass in every single window in the house shake. He runs around and taped them in place just like they used to do during hurricane season, and yet the noise still follows him wherever he goes in the Shack. Why did Ford have to build a house with so many fucking windows? The noise is overwhelming and there unfortunately isn't anything else he can do but wait the storm out.

He considers going underground to the lab-he wouldn't be able to hear anything there. He still hadn't worked out how the electricity worked in the lab (though it luckily didn't seem to be attached to the electric bill)-he was pretty sure it had its own generator, but this would be a hell of a day to test that theory if he ended up without power and stuck in that dreary place.

Instead, he turns off the lights and draws back the flimsy shower curtain around the tub-shoving a pillow on the opposite side from the spigot. He'd rather face the opposite way to keep an eye on the door even if it was locked, but the last time he slept in here he ended up cracking his head on the damn thing. He had enough going on in his life without giving himself a concussion.

As he lay in the dark, he tried to remember the last time he felt this unnerved by a storm and his mind took a walk back to Glass Shard Beach, 1960-something. His father was away for the weekend with the fellas from The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel and Shermie was staying overnight at a friend's house- leaving just Ford, his mother and the cat at home.

They laid three to a bed in his parent's big bed, listening to the windows shake and the wind howl. As his mother's cat clung to her head, Stan considered joining it as another thunderclap shook the upstairs apartment. What if the storm blew all the windows in? What if the bay flooded? What would happen if water got into his father's shop? He remembered his mother pulled him and Ford closer to her in the bed, Stan flush against her and his brother against him, shushing any worries. She told them she knew exactly how far away the storm really was-and not just because she was a psychic.

Now in the slightly damp tub, too many years later, Stan tried to count how many seconds fell between the flash of light and the sound of thunder just as his mother taught them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven-CRACK! He turned to face the rim of the tub, gently placing Ford's glasses from his pocket along the edge and stared at them. He shouldn't have them, but at the last second he had grabbed them off his brother's old chest of drawers-as if the inanimate object could provide any sense of company.

The curve of the tub, though colder than his mother ever was, held him as comfortably as the El Diablo ever had. He had spent more nights than not in her worn leather seats, blocking out the outside world with the pieces of cardboard he had perfectly traced to fit each of her windows. The tub was like that; he felt better being enclosed, waiting for the next flash of lightning.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten- CRACK! Okay, the storm was moving at least-was it two miles away now? Isn't that how the math worked? He remembered vaguely how his brother exclaimed that his mother's trick was just math at the end of the day. At least if Stan was distracted by the numbers bouncing around in his head, he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Like how he wished Ford was here, since it wouldn't take him half as long to count or do fourth grade math in his head- he would just know.

He stretched a leg out and kicked the faucet, wincing as he went over the numbers one more time, certain he was right. He felt a little silly-he was a grown man. A grown man with a bed. That's where men were supposed to sleep, not cars or park benches and certainly not bathtubs. His father surely never slept in a bathtub. He wonders if Ford ever did-maybe after a drunken college night with that blonde guy in the photos he had found the other week.

One, two, three, four, five- CRACK! It didn't matter-no one was here to judge him. Now that the storm was certainly overhead it didn't feel quite as lonely as it normally felt in that big open bed. It was nothing like his car, nor his (at this point if it still existed, much too tiny) bunk bed back in New Jersey. He wasn't sure if he would ever get used to the open space-but he supposed as long as he lived here he could always just set up an unofficial camp.

Stan concentrated on the curve of the tub and how it held him, imagining he was far, far away. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep; hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't dream, but if he did it would be of home.

Stanley having trouble sleeping in an actual bed so he sleeps in a tub because it's cramped...like his car.

[nenoname]

the continued ambiguity about stan's cipher wheel symbol is something i think about often

the fez is mentioned as belonging to the royal order of the holy mackerel, but the symbol itself was never named directly, made even more notable with bill calling the rest of his family by their symbols; pine tree, shooting star, question mark, six fingers... and tbob + the website really emphasizes this difference even more

while bill doesn't call gideon by his zodiac symbol either, even gideon's is called "the tent of telepathy sign" by other characters, and robbie's referred to as his hoodie (the only ones not directly mentioned in the cipher wheel scene is ford's and stan's.... and also the llama.)

it's pretty infamous that the fez symbol's redesign happened unceremoniously mid season and was retconned to it always being the new version in flashbacks and in the cipher wheel

and while fan names i've seen have been stuff like fez, fish, clam, oyster or mac (this one i prefer the most honestly), it's never really mentioned that it also looks like the shriners symbol simplified and on its side

(at least from the tweets i've seen) it's interesting that when alex tweets out character stuff and symbolizes them via emoji, it's usually their zodiac symbol with stan being the exception, being represented by money, but also by glasses and boxing gloves for lost legends teaser

(also before anyone gets too worried, the polls mentioned here is stan voting for mcgucket for president cos he's enamoured by free death robots and ford is voting against cos he thinks it's bad for mcgucket's heart pressure)

[ckret2]

If the Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel is Gravity Falls' in-universe parody of Shriners International, and if Shriners is a branch of the Freemasons, then Gravity Falls' parody of Freemasons is fish-themed. They're the Freefishers now. This is why Stan is grumpy that the "guys from the lodge" won't go fishing with him. Fishing trips are the Freefishers' whole thing.

"But if they're not the Masons then why does Kryptos have the Masonic compass and square ruler—" I don't know what you're talking about, that's the Fisher fishing rod and uhhh, open tackle box? idk, I'm still working on justifying Kryptos, come back and ask me later.

[woolydemon]

I once again want to direct everybody to punch chowder dot com for rottmnt watching purposes <3 (but do watch the show on streaming services if u can)

Edit: it appears that there's a glitch with episodes 21-26 so you'll have to watch those on a diff website (I'd personally recommend this one)

[theroyalorderoftheholymackerel]

When is the next LIVE MEETING of the #ROotHM? Find out now! LINK IN MY BIO! http://ift.tt/2j6qgaY

[docholligay]

NOW WE ARE TO THE “MORE ON THIS LATER”

So I did not realize until I was talking to verb about her wedding that the UK* is SO INCREDIBLY AUTOCRATIC about weddings. Holy shit, oh my god.

So in America, it varies based on what state you’re in because the states all have a lot of individual power--it’s actually not terribly UNLIKE how countries work in the UK but I digress--but by and large you have a fair amount of freedom. In, I think every state in the union, an ordained person can marry you, a judge can marry you, and in some getting ordained is like..sending a letter. It’s basically a test to see if you can fill out paperwork. I am ordained in Colorado and Montana because I’ve done weddings for people. In my state, you can even self-solemnize, which means if you have witnesses you do not NEED a fucking officiant (this buckwild rural take is v uncommon even in the US. Only I think...three western states allow it?)

Anyway, even in the most serious state, there doesn’t have to be a script. I mean, an individual religious institution can make a script that someone has to follow if they want to be married in that specific religious institution, and I suppose a venue could say something like, “If you use the fucking Corinthians quote there is an automatic $2,000 upcharge” (It’s me. I am this venue.) All of the Americans in the audience are currently going, “Why the fuck are you rehashing all this?”

Because I discovered that TIS NOT SO IN THE KINGDOM THAT IS AT LEAST FOR THE MOMENT UNITED.

So Verb got married, and it is when we are chatting about this that I discover that apparently there is a whole fucking PROCEDURE in the UK, with SO MANY RULES, which I will not bore you with but caused my jaw to drop open, and still to this day, sometimes I think about and it smacks me in the face like a dead mackerel. This includes a very serious attitude toward the vows, including the fact that if you aren’t going to have a fully religious ceremony, YOU CANNOT MENTION GOD AT ALL. It is an actual honest to God The Royal Kingdom rule. I would have to look up her email in order to get more details from it, but basically personalization** has to be kept to a very much minimum, and short.

All this to say, other than to share my shock and horror as a person used to the “YOLO” approach to ceremonies, that...I mean, the ceremonies aren’t that different. I guess I’m assuming this is Church of England, so I could be massively incorrect here. But PRESUMABLY at some point along the way, you read the required verbiage. If it’s that common y’all must have it quasi-memorized by now. I’m not saying you can’t have an opposition to this I’m saying a few months before the wedding is a real ROUGH time to be doing it.

As it turns out, my other objection is solved by them just doing it in the registrar’s office, which is that in England at least the venue has to be WEDDING APPROVED by the government. I have no fucking idea how an officiant could be defrocked, shall we say, by the mere impropriety of someone’s backyard, but it is England after all, we’ve been doing it this way for 352 years why stop now. But I DO have a solution: Just...get married legally first, alone, and then have your religious wedding***.  I guess this requires the priest/pastor whatever to be cool and okay with just not signing the papers but like, who the fuck cares. And then I remember that I come from a country that has, AT LEAST PRESENTLY, separation of church and state, and I recall verb and cockatiel signed in front of everyone where that’s not a very common thing here, so, maybe this won’t work as flawlessly as I’m imagining.

ANYWAY MY POINT IS: YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS SO MUCH SOONER.

*Based on cursory curiosity-based searches, Scotland appears to be more freewheeling than England and Wales, but less freewheeling than every state in the US.

**You mention the UK ONCE, and the autocheck tries to get cute with the letter s. I have never realiSed a thing in my life, computer

*** this is what my wife and I did, not for religious reasons but for the fact that the law against same sex marriage was struck down and we didn’t want a challenge to it to stop us. We were actually the first couple married in our county.

[cosmicpines]

I just saw the phrase “Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel” and was sent back in time holy shit

[mysteriesofmarcy]

Season 2 looks boring to some because Star is meant to be an action/adventure show with a little bit of mystery. Sure there can be some comedy and drama but SVTFOE isn't meant to have episodes with those sitcom plots. Babysitting (Starsitting), Third Wheel (Just Friends), Starcrushed (Star's side) That's a huge change in the formula. Episodes like My New Wand and Baby feel like it was slow paced. Hey, in Starstruck, Star didn't have her wand. Only a crazy lady, Mina, and a cliched plot.

When a show uses a cliched plot, anon, it’s up to the writers to twist it into something worth watching. They have to make it funny, create an original ending, and just generally keep things interesting.

Not to mention, it’s impossible to write any story without tropes. Even the act of avoiding some tropes is a trope in and of itself. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to write something truly original.

Even my show is not completely original. It was inspired by other fan projects. I tried to combine the short and sweet approach of Vailskibum94, and the official feel of The Royal Order of the Holy Mackerel, into a podcast like Talking Rainbows Talking Puppies.

And while I’m at it, let me just say that IMO, the way the love triangle situation was handled is the best I’ve ever seen. There is no clear winner here. Star and Jackie are both great people and I would date either one of them. Marco loves them both. And they love each other. In every other love triangle, either somebody is clearly a better choice, or the person in the middle doesn’t deserve either one. And usually somebody is a jerk about it. Here, the writers respect Marco, Star, and Jackie. I trust them to do the impossible and make a good love triangle.