#also for the ddmd thing

[mouseshift]

I am in love with your Gideon and Pacifica timeskip designs!!! Absolutely inspired. If you have any crumbs (art or writing or thoughts, anything really) I would LOVE to see them. No worries if not, I just wanted to let you know that there is an audience for it, if you would like to share :)

Have a wonderful day!

awwwww tysm :))

I have a billion thoughts on the more side-ish characters in gravity falls because. theyre all sort of connected and i think thats really fun to explore. like (mostly) everyone has had their memory erased, everyone experienced weirdmageddon together, and theres just so many points where they cross paths narratively. for paz and gideon i like giving them a good ending and (in at least my idea) figuring out how they actually want to live.

i have thoughts so ill probably make comics or more fleshed out things later .. we will see what brainrot takes hold of me next

anyways. here you go

[jettemara]

Random future head cannons for Gravity Falls.

(I can’t sleep so I’m gonna make it everyone else’s problem)

Dipper:

- Starts the first ever ddmd club at his high school as well as a Cryptid/ Mystery club (Mabel is the vice president of the club and always plans club events)

- Studies ancient history and journalism in college

- Is 100% a loser trans boy (Mabel always helps him with his t shots)

- Makes journals of his own and tried to publish one (Didn’t go well)

- Meets a really nice girl in college that helps him get out of his comfort zone. She finds Dipper’s work on cryptids very interesting. “She’s the one, Mabel. I know it. She just gets me.”

- Forgets to tie his shoes all the time and is constantly tripping because of it

- Still loves BABBA but also listens to Midwest emo

Mabel:

- Waddles still lives with Mabel and wins the world record for oldest pig alive

- Studies Fashion in college and starts her own alternative clothing business (it’s very successful)

- Stan taught her how to con during the first summer she visited gf and she got really good at it but has refused to use her skills unless someone is being an asshole and “Totally deserved it, Dipper! It’s not my fault he didn’t know how to cheat at poker”

- Listens to bands like lemon demon and will wood after she goes through her boy band phase (she goes back and listens to several timz when she misses Grenada and Candy)

- She and Pacifica have been dating since the beginning of their junior year in high school (they confessed to each other over the summer and are currently doing a long distance thing)

Ford:

- He and Fiddleford hang out after weirdmagedon and manage to rekindle their friendship

- Started a new journal with Stan while they traveled the world on the Stan’o’ war

- Found out that the Cold War ended and he learned about the attack on 9/11 and he found out that gay marriage was legalized all in the same day (had to sit down because he thought he was going to pass out)

- Is slowly learning to forgive himself for “falling for Bill’s tricks” and still has to accept that it wasn’t his fault and that he was manipulated

- His favorite new “technology advancement” is bluetooth

Pacifica:

- Over the years she and her family have drifted apart and Paz has learned to live to be completely independent from her parents

- Works at the dinner with Lazy Susan and has come to see her as a mother figure

- Is actually really good with computers and technology

- She went on a walk on night and ended up at the old Northwest Mansion. She was feeling really homesick and so she walked around the gardens for a while and met Fiddleford. They found out that they have the same passion for computers and bonded of it.

- She made an indie mystery puzzle solving game based loosely on weirdmagedon with the help of Dipper and Fidds

- In a relationship with Mabel and still gets butterflies whenever she’s around

Fiddleford:

- Divorced his raccoon wife (the break up was messy, he doesn’t like to talk about it)

- Invites Tate and his family to live in the mansion with him and they all accept

- He and Tate talk a lot and Fidds apologizes all the time for leaving when Tate was a kid. They mange to figure it out and their relationship is getting stronger

- Teaches Pacifica tons about computer tech and teaches her a little bit of robotics (her first robot blew up and set fire to the south garden of the mansion)

- Relearns banjo and is still one hell of a musician

- Barely remembers dating Stan when they were younger but still has feelings for him, he won’t tell him until later (don’t mind me just spreading my fiddlestan agenda)

Stan:

- Took Ford to go visit Shermie (Shermie hits them both and then hugs them immediately after)

- Has stopped conning people as much as possible and now only does it when absolutely necessary (Normally while on adventures with Ford)

- His favorite band is They Might Be Giants and he and Ford sing their songs together all the time

- Bill still lives in Stan’s mind but has no power he’s just like an annoying little voice in his head (they manage to be “friends” and get along)

- He picked up lace making and is incredibly talented (He originally learned how to knit from Mabel, but didn’t like it as much. She showed him what Lacemaking was and he fell in love with the hobby)

- Has gaps in his memory but has been able to regain most of them

- He and Fidds used to date when he was rebuilding the portal but they don’t talk about it anymore. He has lingering feelings but he won’t ever admit it.

[the-universal-sun]

this is one of my favorite blogs 🥹

during the summer, i think dipper plays dd&md with ford when he is little. Little Ford's characters get super silly but dipper always takes it seriously and works it into the story. Mabel and ford make friendship bracelets and i think she would really help him with opening up and being vulnerable when regressed. Little ford always goes to mabel when he needs time in sweater town...

regressed stan and dipper do a lot of parallel play (for example, Lee watches TV while dipper writes in his journal) but they both like to hang out with each other regardless. Lee and mabel are always getting each other into trouble and making a mess whether it's cooking, glitterbombs, or pranking dipper and ford.

Thank you so much! I try to make the content I want to consume, but don’t have much of! Sorry this is so late, my anxiety and mental health has been really bad lately, and it’s been inexplicably worse these last couple of days haha. So hopefully writing this will make me and others feel a little bit better!

Little Ford does still loved Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons! He can’t do too complicated math, he’s still capable of it when little but he prefers simple math so that he doesn’t have to think so much. Sometimes Dipper will do the more complicated math for his just so Ford isn’t taken out of his headspace. But his characters are always a riot with Dipper, and Mabel and Stan when they can get those two to play, the backstories he comes up with and voices he does always has Dipper riveted, even if Ford’s characters aren’t as complicated and intense as they usually are. He obviously models them after his family members, Stanthar the rogue thief, who swindles travelers of their money and charms the pants off their foes. Diptantic, the elf sorcerer who’s voracious reading lends him knowledge of ancient magic. And Maybelle, the Bars who uplifts her companions and foes in song and dance, also charming the characters they come across with her cuteness. And of course, Ford’s research partner, Dr. Mittens, has his own place next to him, and Ford gives him his own character sheets, too! Dipper sometimes finds it awkward talking to a stuffed cat, but his Grunkle Ford is having fun, and his characters are pretty funny, plus it just makes Mabel and Stan more open to playing, and DDMD is better with more players.

Both Ford and Mabel are pretty creative, and Ford’s more inclined to her type of creativity when he’s little, and she loves making necklaces and bracelets with her little Grunkle! He’s not allowed to knit or crochet when he’s little, but he can still have some input on her designs and colors, he even helped her make their family sweaters! When they presented the sweaters to Stan and Dipper, Stan smiled so brightly, hugging Ford to his chest. Admittedly, Stan’s actions were more due to the happiness and exuberance on Ford’s face as he held up two orange sweaters with boats on them, one for each of them. Mabel’s really helped Ford become more confident in himself when Little. Little Ford does take a lead out of Mabel’s notebook when it comes to sweater town. Sometimes, when he gets bad thoughts about Bill, dimension hopping, or about missing Stan for 40 years, he’ll go find Stan, curl up in the biggest and baggiest sweater he has, plop down in his lap and just stay silent. When this happens, Stan knows that his Poindexter needs some quiet time, and he’ll let Mabel and Dipper know if they’re around, just so they know they’re not being ignored, but just that it’s sweater town time.

Lee’s younger than Ford when regressed, so he can’t play complicated games with Dipper, not that he would when big let’s be real, but that does make it harder for Dipper to find things to do with his Littlest Grunkle. Dipper very quickly finds out that as long as he’s near you, Lee is fine doing literally anything. Coloring, playing with blocks, watching TV, doesn’t matter, just so he’s not alone. Dipper does like doing legos with Lee, though maybe not much how easy and childish they are, but both him and Lee like creating things other than the set out of the Lego bricks. Lee’ll draw pictures of Dipper, of him and Dipper, and give them to him to express his happiness at hanging out with him. Dipper tries to stutter and act aloof, but he’s fooling no one with that blush, try to hide it as he may. Hanging out with Lee is honestly a much needed break for Dipper, too. He has time to just write down in his journal or read a book with minimal distractions, so if he needs some quiet time when his Grunkle is little, he knows he can find it with Lee.

As mentioned before, Mabel and Lee have tea parties with Ford and Lee’s stuffies, spreading the hot gossip going around town. Ford wishes everytime Lee and Mabel hung out could be that cute and quiet. Alas, they are both too mischevious for their own good. He can’t tell who rope who into planting glitter attacks around corners, or why Lee would drink Mabel juice, knowing what he knows about it. He’s just thankful that they both follow the rules of “No Cooking/Oven use without an adult” (and “No Stan doesn’t count as an adult when he’s little, Mabel, that’s not how this works.”). Lee is usually really good about following rules. Too good, Ford doesn’t like it when Lee is too scared to break the rules because he fears getting punished or abandoned, curse their father (and curse myself too!), which is why he’s grateful Mabel gets him to break some rules. The ones that won’t hurt anybody, well nobody important or too badly in any case, are fine, maybe getting a stern warning on not letting the surprise hurt people is the worst of it. Besides, more often than not, when found out, Ford joins Lee and Mabel in crafting a hiding away confetti pouches and sprinkle pits.

Mabel and Dipper just love their Grunkles, whether they’re stern Great Uncle Ford and Conman Grunkle Stan, or excitable Ford/Sixer and sweet Little Lee

:,^,,,,,)

[irfrenchfries]

More sketch doodles.

I had an idea for a DDMD Forduary thing that I didn’t end up going with, but the top little two-panel thing came to mind while I was thinking about it. It was too funny (to me) not to do a Ford reskin of that one Dipper scene from the original show’s DDMD episode. Now featuring Shanklin!

Also it was weirdly easy to translate Mabel’s character design to a bunny.

Also also I want that paddleball.

[aibafiles]

so there are two big musical throughlines in npmd, which i was mostly aware of from the digital ticket but it's nice to listen through and confirm it:

the first is the "hatchet town" piano motif, which you can hear in the trailer, hatchet town (the chorus of course, but it's also the bass in the verses if you listen for it), and npmd/ddmd in the "who will pray for you" verse. i feel like i remember hearing it in the digital ticket before the opening (during the police bit) but maybe my brain is just making things up? idk, we'll find out. BUT we actually heard it for the first time in the bridge of axe man, very appropriately accompanied by the "watchin nerds run for their lives" lyric. it seems to be associated with the imminent threat of death, particularly if you're a nerd.

the other is right at the beginning of the opening (leading into "I'm dead"), and we hear it again in cool as i think i am ("I'm not a loser") and its reprise, and of course npmd and ddmd ("darkness will spare my soul"), neatly bookending the show. i think this one is more associated with The Nerds growing and asserting themselves, in contrast to the other theme. it reminds me a bit of black friday having two distinct themes that don't come together until the finale, one associated with wiggly and one with family (remind me to make A Post about that too) - it makes the act 1/2 closers really hit home and the show feels more musically cohesive for it.

uh, in conclusion:

[zephrunsimperium]

Do you have a favourite Ford scene in the show? Any favourite Gravity Falls scene in general?

As hard as it is to choose, the first scene that comes to mind is in DDmD. I think it perfectly showcases the best side of Stanford Pines.

"This is my favorite game in the whole multiverse! I can't believe they still make it."

"They do! And I've been looking all day for someone to play with me."

"My boy. Do you know what this means?? We must stop everything I've been working on at once! And play!!"

Listen, don't let anyone tell you that Ford is a serious man, okay? They're trying to sell you something. This man WROTE the Journals, he's got more Concentrate of Silly woven into his little finger than most of us could handle. Sure he’s got severe trauma and a convoluted relationship with an eldritch nightmare horror, but at the end of the day, he’s just a silly little guy!

For as much as I like Ford’s darker character traits - his anger and bitterness, his paranoia and distrust - it was the sweetness of this scene that initially endeared me to him. I’m going to school to become a middle school English teacher; I love kids Dipper’s age and seeing them light up when they’re able to share their interests is the most rewarding thing you can experience.

Ford is my favorite character because I can relate to his hardship and his anger… but also because I feel like he’d hug me if I told him that was the case.

[colorfullyminded]

Here's your excuse to rant about pinescone

Okay-- Okay, this is so ahhh. It's silly but listen!

I was playing Horrified with my family, and I love board games-- so i can totally imagine Dipper and Wirt being into board games-- and Dipper is always pulling out this gameTrying to be all charming and cute and like "Wirttttt- let's play this one" And Wirt usually doesn't mind, but just Dipper being so into this game even though he's probably actually met some of these in real life monsters himself. Though sometimes Wirt fights him on which game to play-- and it's not like in a "No, I'm tired of playing this game Dipper, I wanna play something else" The reason he fights Dipper over this game is because he wants to play this version (the original version)

Because horror movie monsters and book related monsters are Wirt's bread and butter so these two are arguing over which version to play until the next game comes out

And both of them just kind of look at each other like >.> <.< It's the best of both worlds! ....though they do still argue over which version to play sometimes, though if they can't compromise-- Greek Monsters usually is the happy medium and it's a coop game so they're working together and trying different strats, and when they win they get all dorky, and sappy, and mushy (Board games surpisingly bring out a lot of passion)

Anyway, I needed to ramble a little because I have all three games XD

And it's very fun, and this feels so much like Dipper and Wirt's cup of tea and I love the concept of them playing board games together cause you know they do DDMD. Lately, when I've been playing games, I start imagining how Dipper or Wirt would exist in the world-- or what character would they play as-- what weapons/style/class would they pick. Im playing Elden Ring right now with the though of making two separate files that would be based on Wirt and Dipper. Like I just love these two nerds playing games together-- board games or video games. They each have their own favorite genres that the other doesn't like-- but they also do have a lot of similar taste; and sometimes they'll play something their partner really likes because they love their boyfriend and want to make each other happy! They love each other so much! I'm so fucking feral for this goddamn crossover ship--why?! XD

((...That doesn't mean they can't be little shits though.

Lol, imagining Dipper not putting out for Wirt after because they didn't play the one Horrified he wanted to instead, like the little petty bitch he is Wirt: But we won, we always celebrate after a win Dipper: Yeah I know-- I just--- I don't know. I would have felt more excited if we had been stopping Bigfoot-- Wirt is, of course, not going to let his brat get away with this. ))

Anyway, I just-- valentine's day made me want to write more ideas of them playing games together, but I don't know how fun it would be to write characters playing this board/video game in a fic. So to the headcanon pile they go. If I could draw, it probably be easier to draw little sketches of them in the world of the game/their character designs. There are so many dumb little things I think about on a daily with these two.

[weltato]

WEEOO WEEOO! NPMD HOT TAKE INCOMING!

There are people who say that the pro shot of Hatchet Town takes them out of the show but FIRST OF ALL, THAT'S MY SON-

Second: How? Literally how? It brings in characters that we KNOW are in the universe and sure, maybe it's weird, maybe they don't turn up again, maybe you're like me and hadn't seen Perky's Buds before NPMD and therefore had zero clue who Ziggs was, but they're still all canon to the universe and it's cool we had Gerald.

You wanna know what took me out of the show?

"Nerdy prudes must die! Nerdy prudes must die-ie-ie!" (Same for DDMD)

It was so out of left field? We've already had the "oh he said the title of the show" line when he died, why'd he need to say it again? Jeff absolutely killed it with the songs, yes, but this line? It threw me way off.

I'mma say it: I didn't like the song at first. Really didn't. Was also disappointed it got reprised, despite having to replay that last line because CHILLS amirite?

On re-listening to the soundtrack (and watching a lot of fan NPMD content) the rest of the song is a banger and it's so good and Will's voice is spectacular and poor Richie man :(( but also...I still cringe at the line. It's also cool how Grace reprised the "who will pray for you?" with all her religious imagery, but why'd she have to reprise that one line too? You could have had her say the line as if she was writing it down to mirror how Max said it when he died to symbolise her innocent/old self dying, but no, we had to have the weirdly stilted, shoved in, too-many-syllables-for-that-note line of "Dirty dudes must die!"

But hey, I'm not mad with Grace's version of the song, I actually prefer it a little over the original despite how hard the original goes and I'm not saying NPMD (the song) is BAD, it's just that that line really broke me out of the show. It was the ONLY thing I remembered of the song on first listen and I hated it.

[raspberrysmoon]

Oh for the ask game thing uhm

Grace

omg hi i prommie this one is nicee than the last one grace is huge

grace is one of the three, with strong connections to blinky. she has about half the number of eyes that he does (554.5, she's partially blind in her right main eye)

she also carries around a lot of owl and eye related things. jewelry, toys, figurines, you name it. she wears them like the cross. it brings her comfort, even if it shouldn't

passed out when she got her tattoo, and has gotten really good at using foundation to cover it up since then. it took her months to feel comfortable wearing the mark of max jägerman, but she can't bring herself to hate it anymore. he's beside ruths mask and richies pen, and they all deserve the same respect.

(thats what steph says, anyway.)

she doesn't kill people in this one. no jason death (yet) and no ddmd, though i can see her having to work through that thought process with pete and steph

grace will be the first to know what blood feels like on her hands. she'll feel no remorse.

grace is blinkys favorite mortal. she's quiet and observant and honestly quite sweet. he envies her, in a way. she pulls pete and steph around and dances in the rain. she tears into people and puts her life on the line to keep others safe. she's a good pet for him. a wonderful toy.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 25: Daria Music Resource

I was reading a reddit thread about where Daria and Jane’s music tastes might diverge because that’s what happens when you go down internet rabbit holes on the weekend, and since I’d already sort of been thinking about characters’ canonical music tastes, I thought I’d make a list. A lot of people seemed to think Daria would be into death metal, which was never the vibe I got, but to each their own. There were also one or two people who said classical music; I got that vibe even less. And at least one who said she didn’t listen to music—unrelatable, truly, and anyway there’s headphones and a CD player included as part of the perpetual clutter on her bedroom floor, so I think it’s fairly obvious she does. But there were also some interesting points made that I would accept as headcanons, or that merged with some of my own ‘I have no evidence for this but it’s the vibe for sure’ thoughts that I’d already had.

Personally, I think their music tastes are very similar and if they diverge it’s because Daria likes some stuff that’s more obscure and weirder. I think Jane has a wider, broader taste, and I also think she’s probably more into music—she has the big-ass stereo in her room, the musician brother, the headphones she wears while running, etc.

But what I wanted to do really was more along the lines of a resource based in textual evidence, to start off with. I definitely think people should just use the general vibes of things, or what is most relatable to them, for headcanons, but I also really like being able to base headcanons and other beliefs in the text and there’s more evidence than one might think. One confusing point is that the show has—or had, haha, in its original run—a LOT of music in it, because in every scene that would usually just have a TV score they were using recently released music instead. I do not count any of this background music as specifically indicative of a character’s taste unless it’s shown to be playing in a way they can hear. In a very general sense, sure, the music played in Daria the TV show might be indicative of the musical taste of Daria the character—but that music is pretty eclectic, so it’s quite wishy-washy as evidence.

So, here’s what I’ve found:

Daria:

Boss Hog – written on a CD in Dara’s bedroom in Café Disaffecto; I might be reading this wrong since it looks a little like “Boss HxxS” where the X’s are illegible, but I can’t think of who else it could be

Bog Men — written on a CD in the same scene

Also in this scene is a CD that looks like it has “Delta” written on it, idk what this is, and a partial title “GH” at the end of a word.

The Beatles – gives Ted a tape of The Beatles in The New Kid

Jane:

Boss Hog – big poster in her room visible in multiple episodes

The Foo Fighters – Color and the Shape poster in, I want to say IICY, or something else toward the end of the series

The Presidents of the United States – Peaches was playing in her room when Daria walked in on her and Tom in DDMD (this is per Outpost Daria; I can’t personally identify it in the fan-restored version or remember it from when I first watched the show)

10Speed – Jane was listening to Space Queen in her headphones when ‘speed walking’ with Helen in Lane Miserables

NY Loose – Spit playing on Jane’s stereo in Esteemsters during the commercial break before Sick Sad World

Radiohead - listening to Paranoid Android through headphones in The Misery Chick

Theme from the Poseidon Adventure - favorite song per Sappy Anniversary

Trent:

Korn – poster on his wall in That Was Then, This is Dumb

Slipknot – poster on his wall in the same episode

Nirvana – he’s practicing the intro to Come as You Are, per Jane, in The Invitation

General alternative/grunge – Jane refers to the Zen as a “grunge club” (Ill) and Trent and Jesse want to go to the Alternapalooza (Lolapalooza c. 1997) in Road Worrier; this probably also applies to Jane, who invited herself to go with them, and possibly Daria as well

Jake and Helen:

Jake, showtunes – he’s singing Give My Regards to Broadway in The Teachings of Don Jake and talks about his own attempt at writing a musical in The Story of D

Helen, Joni Mitchell – quotes Big Yellow Taxi in the flashback in The Teachings of Don Jake

60s Classic Rock – they did not go to Woodstock, but Jake was at Altamont, where artists like Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, and The Rolling Stones played. Also… they were hippies. Enough said.

That’s all I can remember for now. As far as headcanons go, I definitely think Daria would be into some classic rock through her parents. I think Jane would be into post-punk like Joy Division (personal major hc for me lol). I think they’d both be into punk, grunge, alternative stuff; that seems to fit with the bands they actually are shown to be listening to. I’m neither the right age nor the right level of coolness to name names lmao but I think these bands and the other bands used in the show (with the caveat above that they aren’t canon interests technically and with a priority to scenes with the character in them) would be a good place to start spinning out headcanons or brainstorming band names for fic purposes etc.

[zonerobotnik]

It kinda makes sense why Dipper wants to grow up and Mabel doesn't.

Throughout the show it's shown that while Mabel and Dipper love their childhood(?), Dipper also thinks his could have been better.

Mabel sees being a child as a way to continue being herself, have fun and avoid the boring adult stuff along with the darker stuff she tries to ignore.

Dipper on the other hand has given up on trying to get people to love/like him for who he is and so he's moved on to the next best thing. Respect. He sees adulthood as a way to explore his interests without much interference and being liked/appreciated for his achievements.

That's pretty much their central conflict, yep. Mabel had no problem making friends, but Dipper was bullied all his childhood and even when he was in Gravity Falls he had trouble fully finding someone to connect with over his interests, until he met Ford. It's no wonder he actually considered staying and being his apprentice. And while Wendy usually respects him, Soos...ehhh...not so much. I feel like Soos leans WAY too far into the "childish" range, but honestly we can blame his dad for that because he spent years and years of hoping for a dad that never came and then overcompensated when he finally got a father-figure that cared about him. Anyways, yeah, Mabel wanted to have fun and ignore the dark side of life and Dipper basically buried himself in being "the mature one, the smart one, the reliable one" until he couldn't even recognize himself anymore under all the masks he put on to try to "fit in", even to his own detriment. Those few moments where he was able to let loose and just have fun with someone that wasn't Mabel must've felt so freeing, like when he and Pacifica goofed around destroying the expensive rug with messes after they faced a ghost together. We can't really say that he was able to relax and be a kid around Wendy, because most of their interactions were him trying to act more mature to be "on her level" in hopes of gaining her affection and sole attention. When he actually opened up to her and didn't put on a front, things went a lot smoother for him. Especially once he stopped trying to think of ways to get her to date him. And that was the lesson they both had to learn. Mabel needed to learn that life isn't always fun and games and you have to grow up sometime but even adults can have fun just in a less childish way and Dipper learned that you don't have to pretend to be someone you're not to make friends and let loose a little, that he doesn't have to be the mature and smart one all the time. They can now grow into their teen years with Mabel a little more mature but still fun-loving and Dipper knowing how to open up and, maybe, find some friends with common interests in high school, maybe a DDMD club. With all he's experienced, he could be an awesome DM. Especially since he also learned how to stand up for himself, while Mabel learned to be a little less of a bulldozer. Let's just hope that things don't go a little upside-down for them, eh? XD

[punedrr]

The Thesis and the Doctorate

**A/N: Happy new year! (Oh dear.) Please accept this chapter and my apologies for taking so long. I just finished my first term of actual college and it was hectic there for a while, but I’m on winter break now and I finally have some downtime (and motivation) to write. This chapter is very exposition- and dialogue-heavy (one of my writing weak points) so if you have any helpful suggestions or critiques I’d love to hear them! As my first serious fanfic this is a learning experience for me.

I hope it doesn’t read like I’m flying by the seat of my pants because that’s exactly what I’m doing! My outline is no longer current nor has it been for the past three chapters. It’s also a little shorter than I wanted but I wasn’t quite sure where to end and I really just wanted to get it out there. Y’all have NO IDEA how awesome I feel reading your comments and seeing kudos. Please enjoy!**

Link to the story: The Thesis and the Doctorate

Chapter 9: Show and Tell

You hurry down the front steps of the library. Thankfully Powers and Trigger don’t seem to be chasing you. You weren’t sure how much legal power they’d have (assuming they’re actually F.B.I.) but your gamble seems to have paid off. You slide into your car and throw your bag in the back before pulling out into the road. You don’t care if you have to break down their door, you’re going to talk to the Pines. They need to hear about this and you have more than a few questions you need answers to.

In the quiet of the car the agents’ words come back to you. “They’re master manipulators.” “Stanford and Stanley Pines are involved in numerous criminal activities, including the creation of a so-called ‘doomsday device.’” “You can’t trust anything they say.” You shake your head. None of that’s true... Right? It can’t be. But despite yourself you can’t help but look back on the summer and wonder if maybe the Pines are hiding something.

Stan definitely has a colorful past, you’ve heard enough of his campfire stories to guess at what he might have been doing in the eighties, but he’s not a dangerous criminal. He likes historical dramas, fishing, and creative taxidermy. He used to run a tourist trap and sails around the world during the off season. What illegal activities could he possibly get up to? (Besides some light tax fraud.)

Ford, however, is more of a mystery. He never told you much about his past but you know he’s very well educated with doctorates in multiple scientific fields. Now that you think about it, you realize that Ford never talked about a career or family besides his brother. His only interests seem to be cryptozoology, DDMD, and whatever he’s building with McGucket. But there must be more to him. You recall the many scars you saw last time you were at the shack, how sometimes you’d catch him tapping out ‘trust no one’ in Morse code, how he never seemed to sleep. 

What if Mabel and Dipper are a part of this, too? The thought is chilling but before you can pursue it you’re coming up on the shack. 

You turn off the ignition and sit for a second, gathering your thoughts. The Pines aren’t dangerous, and they’re not criminals. The agents are lying. They have to be. You step out of the car. It’s not even noon yet. The idyllic surroundings are at odds with the serious events so far. You knock on the back door, shattering the quiet. You can hear floorboards creaking but no one comes to the door. 

“Ford? Stan?” You shout. “Dipper? Mabel? It’s me!” You knock again. “I know Ford’s pissed off at me over the statue but I said I’m sorry!”

Silence.

“We really need to discuss some things! I just got talked to by some guys at the library, they said they were F.B.I.? Agent Powers and-”

The door opens. 

“Will ya pipe down?” Stan grumbles. “Come inside already.” You follow him into the living room, where he points you to the card table. He’s still in his pajamas. “Pointdexter! Stop sulking and c’mere!” He shouts down the hallway, then sits down across from you. “The kids are at the arcade with Soos.” He explains. “And sorry about my brother. He’s been a real sourpuss ever since you showed him those pictures.”

You start to apologize again but Stan holds up a hand. “You said the F.B.I. was sniffing around?”

“Yeah, Agent Powers-”

“-and Agent Trigger. I might’ve met ‘em once or twice.”

Your eyes go wide, then narrow. “So what they said is true?”

“What did they say? I’ve done a lot of things.” Stan shrugs, nonplussed. 

“They said that you-” Ford walks in, looking everywhere except the table. “That both of you were dangerous criminals who are trying to build a ‘doomsday device.’ Apparently, they’ve been watching you for a while. They told me you’ve escaped arrest before.” At this, the brothers share a significant glance. What aren’t they saying?

“Look-” Stan starts, resting his hand on the table.

“No,” you cut him off. “You don’t get to dismiss this. I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on. First it was you-” your finger points accusingly at the Ford, “-acting all weird around me. And then I find the statue and you freak out. Which, by the way? It’s considered rude to slam a door in someone’s face. And then the F.B.I. shows up at the place I’m known to frequent, asking about my ‘perspective’ on the town and offering me money to sell you out.” 

Stan jerks back, brow furrowed in suspicion. “An offer which I firmly declined.” You shake your head. “Jesus, did you really think I’d say yes to them? I don’t even know what you’re doing yet!” You throw your hands up in exasperation. “Which brings me to my next point: what the hell have you two been doing to get the F.B.I. asking around?”

Ford looks at Stan and raises his eyebrows. Stan sighs. You cross your arms over your chest and wait them out.

Stan looks somewhere over your left shoulder and finally begins, “Kid, in the interest of mending fences I’ll give it to you straight. I’ve been involved in some pretty seedy stuff over the years, enough to get the F.B.I. interested. But-”

“What kind of ‘seedy stuff’?” You ask, catching his eye. “I need to know.”

Stan heaves another sigh and rolls his shoulders back as if reluctant. “All kinds, kid. Every type of fraud or traffic violation you could name. Smuggling, heists, crime rings, fighting rings. I stole my brother’s identity and faked my own death. Did I ever tell you I’m banned in 32 states? How’s that for seedy?” Stan cracks a smile, some of his old bravado resurfacing. 

“You stole your brother’s identity?!” You turn accusingly on Ford. “And where were you during all of this?” 

He won’t meet your eyes. “Traveling.”

“‘Traveling.’” You mock. You’re starting to feel like a parrot, but what they’re saying is ridiculous. “Traveling where? Did you know he was impersonating you at the time?”

“No.” Ford glances at Stan. “But he had his reasons.”

You clench your fists. “Will both of you stop being so goddamned cryptic?!” You shout. “I don’t know what you’re hiding, but I need answers!” You take a breath. “I come here at the start of this summer to study some trees. I get kidnapped by gnomes, find out magic is real, meet the Pines. I’d say I’m handling it all pretty well for an out-of-towner. But then the literal F.B.I. tracks me down and makes you guys out to be dangerous criminals, and tells me that they need my help to protect the world from whatever it is you’re building.

“Put yourself in my shoes for a minute. Imagine how I’m feeling. Now look at how I’m reacting. I’d say I’m entitled to a bit of a freak out at this point. I don’t want to believe what the agents told me; that’s why I told them to fuck off. You’re both my friends and it’s unthinkable to me that you’re a pair of evil masterminds. But you guys aren’t answering my questions and I know you’re hiding something. Probably something big based on your reactions. So could you please just tell me so that I know what to believe?” You plead. 

The twins share a look. Abruptly, Ford stands and folds his hands behind his back. “It’s a long, convoluted story. I’m not sure what you’ll think of us once you know it,” he warns. “But it might be easier if we show you.”

“Show me what?”

—---------------------------------------------------------------

You’re led to the gift shop vending machine. Stepping in front of you, Ford inputs a code on the keypad and you watch as the vending machine hinges open to reveal a dimly-lit passageway. You gasp in surprise but don’t say anything. You follow and hear Stan pull the vending machine back into place with an echoing clang!

You descend a steep stairway at the bottom of which is an elevator. Ford opens a panel on the wall next to it and inputs another code, this one a series of alchemical symbols. The elevator doors shudder and slide slowly open. 

“After you,” Ford says. 

The ride down is short and bumpy. Neither of the twins say anything until the doors slide open once again, opening directly into a cavernous space lit only by dozens of tiny blinking lights. 

“This is the bunker.” Ford says, reaching over to turn on the lights. These ones are brighter than those in the hallway and you can clearly see panels of switches and screens lining the walls, all of them either dark or filled with static.

You sneeze. The bunker is dusty, though not from disuse. Loose papers are scattered across any available surface and forgotten projects clutter the counters. “What- Why-” you start. You’re not sure where to start. It’s definitely interesting, but you can’t see what this place has to do with anything.

Ford stalks deeper into the space, flicking switches as he goes. You nearly walk into a periscope sticking down from the ceiling as you follow. He stops at a dark window and reaches over to press a button on the wall next to it. Suddenly the window brightens, casting Ford’s shadow tall behind him.

“Behold,” he sweeps out a six-fingered hand, bitterness in his voice. “The doomsday device.” Behind a thick pane of warped glass is a large room carved into the bedrock. It’s bigger than the bunker and extends high enough that the ceiling and back wall vanish into darkness. Taking up most of the space is the destroyed husk of a giant machine. Debris litters the floor around it. There are unfamiliar sigils carved into the face of it which emit a faint glow.

You turn to Ford. “You built this?” You search his face, unsure of what you’re looking for. 

“Yes.” He admits. “But I didn’t build it to destroy the world. Not consciously, at least. It was intended to be an interdimensional portal.”

Never once taking his eyes from the derelict machine, he tells you the story behind the construction of the portal. He starts at the beginning, back when he was a fresh-faced graduate of Backupsmore University with too much grant money and not enough sense. 

“One day I discovered cave paintings detailing an ancient ritual. The Native Americans who used to populate the valley had kept it secret for good reason, but I was young and too curious for my own good.” He laughs bitterly. “I didn’t think he was dangerous at first.” You can hear the self-deprecation in Ford’s voice.

“He tricked me into building this for him. Fiddleford was my assistant at the time but he was unaware of my inspiration. During our first trial run he was pulled through. I managed to get him back, but he...” Ford pauses and puts one hand on the glass. “Never fully regained his sanity.” Ford learned of Bill Cipher’s true plans soon after. Desperate for help, he called his by-then estranged brother.

“When Stanley arrived he didn’t want to take the journal like I told him to do. We fought. We were too close to the portal. I was trying to destroy it but-”

“I pushed him in.” Stan speaks up, startling you. Between the machine and Ford, you’d forgotten he was there.

“Stanley–”

“And I didn’t see my brother again for thirty years. That’s when I stole his identity. I needed a clean record and money to rebuild the portal, but I guess it turned out alright in the end.” Stan gets up to stand next to Ford at the window and picks up where his brother left off. He tells you about Lil’ Gideon, how he tormented Mabel and Dipper and eventually allowed Bill to cross into Gravity Falls. You learn about Weirdmageddon and about how the town came together to defeat Bill, how it all came down to Stan in the end. 

Both of the brothers are nearly hoarse by the end of their explanation. Stan soon excuses himself to go back upstairs. The quiet hum of the bunker is the only sound. What do you say to that kind of story? Your first feeling is relief, and then shame for doubting them. Anger follows, both at the Pines for not telling you sooner and at yourself for not figuring it out. 

You bump Ford with your shoulder, startling him into looking at you. From this angle his face is swathed in shadows. “Thank you. For telling me.” You say haltingly, not quite sure how to proceed. “And for showing me all of this. I know it must to be a lot for you. Hell, it’s a lot for me and I’m hearing about it secondhand.” You crack a smile. You don’t get one in return, but some of the tension seems to ebb from the room. “I can’t even imagine... Thirty years in the multiverse. What was that like?” You say the last part to yourself but Ford hears you and answers.

“Terrifying.” Shoulders up, hands in his pockets, facing forward again. Old trauma. “Surrounded by an ever-changing alien landscape, constantly either running for my life or hunting down Bill. Never sure if I would live to see the next day.” His voice is quiet, a razor’s edge of bad memories. He pauses and turns back to look at you. Behind the shadow flits the ghost of a smile.

“But sometimes,” he speaks softer now, and with a trace of wistfulness. “It was beautiful.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------

Back upstairs Mabel and Dipper are back and watching T.V. with Stan, who has mercifully decided to get dressed. (It was too serious to register at the time, but after your first meeting you had hoped never to see Stan in his pyjamas ever again.) Mabel is the first to notice you walk in, Ford on your heels. 

“Hi!” She chirps.

“Hey guys, how was the arcade?” You ask, taking a seat at the card table. A glance at the screen tells you they’re watching Ducktective reruns. From your previous visits you’ve learned that Mabel, Soos, and Stan all have a passion for it and that Dipper will put up with it only because his favorite paranormal show usually airs right after. You don’t think Ford even watches television.

“It was fun! Soos got a new high score on Ghost Maze, which I didn’t even think was possible,” Mabel recounts. “Grunkle Stan told us that you know about all the stuff that happened with Bill now. Which is great, because I hate keeping secrets!”

And what a secret to keep, you think. The mention of Bill brings up another question. “So... That statue I found in the woods- that was Bill?” 

You expect Ford to answer, but it’s Dipper that speaks up. “Yes.” His tone is serious, and suddenly you understand why he reacted the way he did when you showed him the picture. Like he’d seen a ghost, because he had. “But after I saw it I talked to Grunkle Ford and he says we don’t have any reason to worry.”

“That’s right, Dipper. It’s impossible for Bill to have survived. The statue is nothing but an empty shell. But just in case, I have plans to rig up a monitoring system so that we’ll know if anything changes.” 

The issue settled, you lean back and glance at the wall clock. It’s early afternoon. That means you were only down in the bunker for a little over an hour, but it feels like so much longer.

Truth be told, you still can’t believe that Stan and Ford told you everything. They had no reason to trust you, but they still let you in. You’re glad though. Over the summer you’ve grown close to this weird family and the weird town they live in, and now that you know about Bill it feels like you’ve grown impossibly closer. 

“What about the agents?” You ask suddenly. “I mean, I know now that they’re full of-” you remember just in time that the kids are in the room, “-it, but just because I’m not helping them doesn’t mean they’ll give up.”

Ford frowns and opens his mouth, but Mabel beats him to the punch. “We’ll kick their butts! We did it last time, didn’t we?”

“We did,” he confirms. 

“All I’m saying is, it’s probably best for everybody to watch their backs,” you say. “They didn’t tell me their plans, or if they even have one. But from the way they were talking they seemed pretty desperate.” You wonder if they’ll try to grab you again. You don’t have any weapons besides a small pocket knife, and it’s not like you’re trained in self-defense.

“Perhaps you should stay here for a bit,” Ford suggests, seeing the look on your face. “Just until we know the situation better.”

You stare at him. He flushes and looks down at the table. “Not that you can’t defend yourself, I’m sure you’re quite capable-”

“Sixer,” Stan cuts in. “Give the lady a chance to speak for herself.” 

“Right. Yes. Sorry.”

Stan pauses, but you’re silent. “Now,” Stan continues, “what my idiot brother means to say is: you’re welcome to stay here until this blows over, and all things considered, we could probably use the help. If you don’t feel like it though, I’d be happy to give you the family and friends discount on any weapons you may happen to find in the gift shop.” At this, Mabel reaches between the couch cushions and helpfully brandishes a grappling gun. 

“Thanks?”

“Don’t mention it,” Stan shrugs.

On one hand, you’re itching to get back to your cabin and think everything through. The last couple of days have been a lot. On the other hand, you would definitely feel safer at the Shack, even if that would be putting you closer to the action. You’d be in good company. Plus, it’s not like staying a night (or two, or three) is out of the ordinary for you anymore. 

In the end, the choice is easy.

[callipraxia]

Sad thing is, he's not over it even by the end of the series. When he proposes the trip around the world to Stan, he goes with the same "too old to manage everything by myself anymore" spiel he'd previously used with Dipper. Even though...y'know...Stan's the exact same age Ford is, and in worse shape overall.

Which, of course, makes sense. Aside from his pride, which is considerable, there's also how, for a very, very long time, Ford was in a position where he couldn't really form relationships. Not only was he effectively on a suicide mission, but he was also an interdimensional outlaw. He admits flat-out to Dipper that it's been a long time since he's had a friend in a tone which implies this was not necessarily by choice, his thoughts during "The Last Mabelcorn" include missing Dimension 52 even though he was only conscious there for about a week while recovering from major surgery, and in Journal 3, he seems honestly amazed to record that he had *fun* that day with the DDMD game. There's also a moment at the very end of "A Tale of Two Stans" - not only is it implied (since the first scene starts during sunset and the second scene picks up when it's full dark) that he and Stan were able to have a somewhat civil conversation for some time between when Stan sent the kids packing and when the mirror scene picks up, he actually jokes about Stan resembling Filbrick, and they have a laugh together before Ford's tone and facial expression very suddenly change and he announces he's going to lock himself in the basement for the rest of the summer until they all kindly clear out and let him get on with his life. As if he'd remembered - "Oh, right. Attachments bad. Business relationships only."

...only to then not make it 24 hours before probably deliberately allowing the cycloptopus to "escape" to give him an excuse to interact, and then maybe make it another day before taking up with Dipper. Because Ford's fully as averse to isolation as any other member of the Pines family. Heck, he's more sociable than Stan - Ford actually had friends at one point in his life. He just can't bring himself to admit the full extent of his distaste for being alone, and so needs a "good reason" to ask someone not to leave him.

re: the ask i answered last night

you can see what i was talking about with Ford in the ways he interacts with dipper too. Sure, they played DnD together, but dipper fell into his lap with that (literally)

The other times we see Ford reaching out to him are about the portal, about bill proofing the shack, about an apprenticeship

maybe its not so much that ford wants to dump all this on a 12 year old, maybe its the only way he feels like he has a right to talk to him?

if its for saving the world, if its for protecting the family, if its for furthering his education, maybe then its okay to love and be loved back...

i dunno

[gfdatingsim]

When Stan mentioned Ford suggesting he keep familiar habits I actually screamed because of the memory loss reminder. Also, the DDMD art was a very intense homage to the whole mess with Bill, including the Bill and Stan's symbol in blue flames part. Very inrense. Who came up with that?

rosie: wasn’t that the cutest and most heart-wrenching thing ever?? goodness

i think our lovely orion thought of the window designs themselves! it’s definitely one of my favorite backgrounds from the game as well as all of sovo’s… and raz’s… but yeah ORION is our clever clogs with the symbolism!!

sovo: :))) ah yes, my main contribution to Stan’s route… constant reminders about his memory loss

[orangeoctopi7]

Stanswap AU Part 28

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16

Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24

Part 25 Part 26 Part 27

Fanfiction.net

And a couple of comics that inspired some things in this chapter.

Chapter 28: A Day on the Town

In the day or so since the government guys had left, things had settled down into what Dipper supposed would be the new normal, now that Stanley was here. Ford mostly stayed down in the portal lab, only coming up occasionally for food. That had actually become the norm over the past month or so. Stan was just exploring the house, although he seemed antsy. He didn’t seem ready to make himself at home just yet, like he was expecting he’d need to bolt any minute now.

Everyone could sense the tension in the house, even Mabel. Dipper had seen her plotting upstairs, with a flowchart and illustrations and everything. And she called him obsessed with planning; this was going to be even worse than what she’d done with Robbie, he could tell. Unfortunately, the boy thought, this was something not even Mabel could fix.

Speaking of Mabel, she came jumping down the stairs with a smile on her face and a notebook in her hand. On that notebook was a list of tv shows and movies, and at the very top, underlined twice, was Ducktective. She screeched to a halt in front of her brother.

“Hey bro, guess what? I figured out what Grunkle Stan needs!” She handed the notebook to Dipper, “I was just thinking how freaked out I’d be if I came back home after spending 30 years in space or wherever and everything was way different, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on repairing broken family relationships either! So I asked myself, ‘what’s the best way to teach Stan about how the world has changed?’ And at first I was like, ‘The internet!’ but then I remembered that most old people have a hard time with the internet even if they weren’t gone for 30 years, so then I was like ‘TV!’

“So I made a list of all the TV shows that would teach Stan about the present, and I think Ducktective is the best show for the job. The London setting is old-fashioned enough for him to be comfortable with while still using digital-age language and technology. Also, with the themes of family and friendship that run through the whole show, it might subconsciously persuade Stan to make up with Ford! Also also, the season two finale is tonight and they’re marathoning the whole series today so that’ll make it easy to watch and Grenda’s coming over to watch it with us.”

“Uh… ok.” Dipper said simply as his brain processed the word-dump Mabel had just babbled at him. When he actually thought about it, he realized it was a pretty good idea. Stan obviously didn’t want anything to do with Ford right now, but maybe if they took the old conman’s mind off things for a while his emotions would settle down. And watching a show all about unlikely friendships and family couldn’t hurt. “That’s a pretty good idea. Nice job, Mabel!”

They found Stan rummaging around in the kitchen again, which was no surprise, really. Since he’d arrived, he’d spent about 70% of his time in there. A room full of food seemed to be a bit of a novelty for him.

“Hey kids.” Stan greeted them without even taking his head out of the fridge. “Is this peach soda a new fad, or is it some sorta local thing?”

“You mean Pitt Cola?” Dipper asked. “It’s a local thing.”

“Huh. ‘S good.” He guzzled a can of the stuff. The young twins noticed a small pile of empty and crushed cans next to the garbage. “Any other good local foods I should try?”

“Oooh! We should take you to Greasy’s Diner!” Mabel suggested.

Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Ford, which was so surprising that they all actually gasped. It wasn’t meal time; they hadn’t been expecting him to emerge from the lab for another few hours.

“Oh, good, you’re all here.” The old scientist said, a cheerful tone failing to mask his nervous posture, like he was psyching himself up to speak in front of a large crowd.

“Are you having an early lunch?” Dipper asked, confused.

“No, I… I was hoping… I was thinking…” He stammered, “it’s about time we got back to our weekly game of Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons.”

“Does this mean you found a way to keep the rift contained?” Dipper asked hopefully.

Ford flinched. “Well, no, not… not yet. I think I’ve made all the progress I can at the moment though. I… I thought it might be good for me to take a break.”

Mabel gasped again. She’d had to nag her Grunkle about taking a break constantly over the summer, and now he was deciding to take a break on his own!? This made her so happy, she didn’t even care that it got in the way of her earlier plan.

The younger twins seemed ecstatic to hear Ford’s proposal, but Stan still hadn’t pulled his head out of the fridge. He was pretending to ignore his brother, until Ford called on him directly.

“Stan, I… I was hoping we could all play together. You know, as a family.”

Stan was quiet for a long time. For a while it looked like he was going to go right on ignoring Ford, until he finally turned away from the fridge, slowly and deliberately. “You want me to play Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons?”

“Yes.” Ford replied, trying very hard to sound confident.

“That ‘game’ that’s more math and statistics than actual gameplay?” Stan continued dryly.

“Er, yes.” The old scientist confirmed, surprised that Stan knew of it. “Have you played before?” He was pretty sure the game had been invented after Stanley’d left home, and he had a hard time imagining his brother playing it on his own.

“Yeah, I was forced to play by some actual Nerd-Lords in Dimension 26*^.” Stan said bitterly. “And I’d rather eat one of those flap-drassin’ 38-sided dice than play it again.”

“O-oh.” Ford stammered. He was momentarily crestfallen, but pulled himself back together quickly. “Well, we don’t have to play that, I’ve got plenty more games in--”

“Nope.” Stan cut him of.

“Bu-wh… you don’t even know what I was going to suggest!” Ford protested.

“Yeah, but I know I don’t wanna play with you, jitata.” Stan glowered as he stomped out of the room.

Ford glared after his brother for a moment before heaving a frustrated sigh and leaving out the opposite door.

“Dipper, go after him!” Mabel pushed her brother towards the door Ford had left through.

“What?”

“This is the first voluntary break he’s taken in over a month! He needs this!” Mabel pleaded. “You go play DDMD with him or whatever it takes to keep him out of the lab for a while, I’ll take care of Grunkle Stan.”

“Narfin Ford, wantin’ to play his narfin games…” Stan grumbled under his breath. He didn’t want to play with his brother. Nope. Not one bit.

He paced around the living room, trying to think of what he could do to blow off some steam. It was weird. He’d been longing for home all these years, but now that he was here, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He hadn’t stayed in one place for more than a month in well over forty years. Of course, he reminded himself forcefully, he wasn’t planning on staying in Ford’s house for more than a few weeks anyway. But after that… the idea that he wasn’t going to leave this world was almost completely foreign to him now.

He should be learning more about this world, about what had changed, about what hadn’t… but he didn’t really know where to start. That and the fear that he wouldn’t like what he saw kept him from leaving the house and exploring the town. Or really do much of anything other than mope restlessly from room to room.

“Hey Grunkle Stan!” Mabel popped up from behind the couch, startling him out of his funk. He instinctively swung his staff at her. Luckily he realized who it was just in time.

“Yeesh kid, don't sneak up on me like that!” he barked. “That's a good way to get whacked upside the head!”

“It's ok.” She waved it off like a near concussion was nothing. “Hey, do you wanna watch the Ducktective marathon with me?” She didn't wait for an answer and immediately pulled him onto the couch.

“Uh, what?” Stan asked blankly.

“It's my favorite TV show!” She said, as if that explained everything. “I can tell you've been major-leauge stressed since you got here. You should sit down and relax for a while.” She sat down on his lap to close the deal.

“Look, uh, Muriel…”

“It's Mabel.” She corrected him cheerfully.

“Sure. Mabel.” Stan repeated, trying to remember her name for later. “I haven't really felt safe sittin’ down and relaxin’ in a long time.”

“But you are safe now.” Mabel assured him.

Stan chuckled wryly. “Yeah, but try telling my brain that.”

He sat there for a beat, waiting for her to get up and let him go. She just stared back up at him.

“You're not gonna move, are ya?” He groaned.

“Nope!” She grinned back.

Stan knew he could easily just stand up and send the girl toppling to the floor, but there was a glint of determination in her eye that told him it would be better not to try.

“Alright, so what's this 'Ducktrucker’ show about?”

Stan was surprised how quickly he was taken in by a cartoon about a duck that solves mysteries, but really, weirder things had caught his attention before. He felt like he'd just started when the doorbell rang, and Mabel got up to invite her friend Grenda in. The big guy from the other day, Soos, also joined them for the premiere of the season finale.

The incredible thing was that Stan was actually enjoying this! He was actually loosening up and joining the conversation with these kids, talking about theories of what would happen, favorite characters and how they’d developed over the course of the show, and jokes that had made him laugh sincerely for the first time in years. Maybe Mabel had known what she was doing, getting him to sit down and relax for a bit.

The finale itself was pretty fun, but listening to everyone's reactions afterwards was even better.

“He had a twin brother all along? That's the big reveal we've all been waiting for?” Mabel asked incredulously.

“What a rip-off!” Grenda yelled.

“The fandom came up with that theory over a year ago.” Soos said.

“Eh, I dunno if I buy it.” Stan said. “Speaking as an actual evil twin here, I wouldn't shoot my brother, I'd just go around disguised as him and make trouble. Y'know, just to mess with him.”

Mabel scoffed and punched Stan in the shoulder playfully. “Pfft, you're not an evil twin!”

Stan put on his best evil grin. “You sure about that, sweet-heart?” The others all laughed.

“Still, it was nice to watch the finale without any distractions or games or family getting in the way.” Soos said. “Can you imagine if like, some paranormal thingum showed up right before the show started?”

Everyone laughed again, relieved that, for once, it had just been a normal, adventure-free day.

Ford came up from the lab the next morning, not even attempting to stifle an enormous yawn. He was exhausted. After an admittedly much needed break playing DDMD with Dipper yesterday, he'd spent the whole night working. Now at long last, the portal was dismantled. After all these years, he could finally sleep without the dread of knowing that monstrosity of a machine was waiting below to swallow the world whole.

No, now he just had to worry about the rift. Which was really just as bad, if not worse. After all these years of working on it, the portal was a danger that Ford knew well. The rift was something he knew very little about. Could it be contained permanently, or would he constantly be working to keep the rift out of Bill’s clutches for the rest of his life?

Oh well, another morning had come, and the world had yet to end. He'd better grab some breakfast, or Mabel would be on his case. Ford wondered idly who he’d find in the kitchen this morning. Stanley emptying to fridge, giving him a contemptuous glare before ignoring him entirely? The kids, planning some sort of workaholic intervention?

It was Stan, idly sipping a cup of coffee and wearing a painfully bright red and gold Hawaiian shirt.

“Stanley, where did you get that?!” Ford asked. Surely he didn't get such an outfit beyond the portal.

“Found it.” Stan replied coolly.

“Just because you're hanging around the house all day doesn't mean you can dress like a street light.”

“I'm not hanging around the house, I'm going into town with Mabel. Think I'll tell her I found this in your closet, too.”

“You're going out?!”

“Yeah, can't stay cooped up in this shack all the time.”

“O-of course not… I just… got the impression you didn't feel ready for such a big step yet.”

“And what makes you think you're an expert on what I feel suddenly!?” Stan snapped.

Ford recoiled, like his brother’s words had physically stung him. “Sorry. I’m actually happy to hear you’re going to get a bit of fresh air, meet some new people.

“What do you care?” Stan grunted sullenly.

“Why is it so hard for you to believe I actually care about you!?” Ford asked in exasperation.

“Aw, gee, could it be the fact that you left me stranded for thirty krutacking years!?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have exactly been saving you if I brought you home just in time for the end of the world!”

“Or maybe it’s the fact that as soon as I got back you recreated one of the worst days of my life and told me to take the kids and go!”

Stanford felt his temper flare. “I will do whatever it takes to protect this family! That may not always match up with what you want, Stanley! Don’t go guilting me for trying to protect you and the kids!”

Stan didn’t seem to have a retort for that. He just left in a huff. Ford found some grim satisfaction in getting the last word, but it was a very hollow victory. The old researcher spent all day cooped up in his lab, wishing he could talk to his brother, and then the moment Ford actually worked up the courage to talk to Stan, it quickly devolved into a shouting match.

“What is wrong with me?” He sighed forlornly, and smacked his head against the kitchen table.

Stan had wanted to leave rather quickly that morning, but Mabel wasn’t bothered. She liked to get an early start on the day. They began their walk into town talking about Stan’s bold fashion choices. Apparently he’d rummaged through Ford’s old clothes and found the brightest, loudest, most over-the-top apparel he could. Mabel assured her Grunkle that it was very chic and fashion-forward. The conversation drifted to Mabel’s love of sweaters and where she got her design ideas from. The young girl found that Stan was a very good listener, always chiming in at the right moment with his own joke or opinion. Their humor and personalities meshed together well.

Once they got into town, Mabel started the grand tour of Gravity Falls, Oregon, hitting all the places where she and Dipper had adventures over the summer.

“Here’s the arcade! Dipper brought one of the games to life with a magic cheat-code!” Mabel said as they entered the darkened building.

“Uh Mabel, I’m pretty sure we had these when I left.” Stans squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust.

“Yeah, but that was back in the 80’s, when arcades were struggling to maintain relevance in the face of the increasing popularity of home consoles. These days arcades have found a niche market that brings together both oldschool nerdcore gamers and casual nostalgic gamers, both classic standing cabinets and cutting-edge AR.” A voice said to their right.

“Soos!” Mabel exclaimed when she turned and saw her friend holding a plastic toy guitar.

“‘Sup dudes.” Soos greeted them. “I’m here playing Power Chords of Death, how ‘bout you?”

“I’m showing Grunkle Stan around Gravity Falls, so he can see what it’s like living in 2012!” Mabel told him.

“Sweet! You wanna play a modern-day videogame?” Soos asked Stan.

Stan gave him a surprised look. “Really?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“Well I’ve only got one arm, for starters.” Stan said dryly.

“No problem, dude.” Soos assured him. “We got a left-handed controller over here. All you really have to do with your other hand is hit the strummer in time with the beat, so if I just…” He got down on his hands and knees and started messing with the wiring, “...switch this bit from that doohickey… and move this here… oop, almost electrocuted myself! ...There!” he stood back up. “I rigged it so now you can use the foot-pedal from the drum instead of the strummer!”

Stan hadn’t actually been interested in playing (he’d never really cared for video games that weren’t gambling-related) but now that the guy had gone through all this trouble, he felt obligated to play. He was pleasantly surprised anyone would go to such lengths just to include him. He didn't want to seem ungrateful.

“Alright, let’s give it a shot.”

“Oooh, Grunkle Stan, you should play Danger-Lane to Highway Town!” Mabel suggested. “It’s the only song on this game I know all the words to!”

“What? I’ve never even heard of that song!”

“That’s cuz it’s from a movie that came out in ‘86. It’s ok if you don’t know the song, you just have to hit the same colored button as the one on the screen when it reaches the picture of the guitar at the bottom.” Soos explained. “This is a co-op game, so I’ll be playing the notes on the right side of the screen. This game has a thing where if your partner chokes, you can save them.”

“Uh… good?” Choke? What was he talking about? What was there to choke on?

The music started up, and Stan saw the colored buttons start scrolling down the screen. He pressed the corresponding button on the neck of the guitar as it reached the bottom, but nothing seemed to happen.

“You gotta tap your foot in time with the music!” Soos reminded him.

Stan started tapping the pedal Soos had rigged up for him, then looked back at the screen and watched the colored buttons scroll by again. This time, as he pressed the buttons, the toy guitar he was holding started to play music! The same music that was coming out of Soos’s guitar and the game console! Well, almost the same. Stan’s sounded a little distorted, and cut out whenever he missed a button. But he got better as the song went on. All those years of honing his hand-eye coordination with that paddle-ball were finally paying off! Mabel joined in singing once they reached the lyrics.

As they played, arcade-goers began to gather around and watch. It started with just a few, but news that an old, one-armed guy with a scraggly beard and crazy clothes was playing Power Chords of Death spread quickly.

“Whoa, he’s actually not terrible!”

“Look at him go!”

“His adequacy is amazing!”

“I am impressed because he is both old and disabled. But mostly because he’s old.”

“Soos, did you rewire one of my games again!?”

“This is gonna get so many views online.”

They had quite the crowd going by the time the manager threw them out.

They continued on with their tour to the library and the museum and the pool and the local newspaper. In each place Mabel told a story, sometimes assisted by Soos. Stories like putting together an epic sock-puppet show that was crashed by Bill, or the 8 ½ president lost to time, or her first kiss with a merman, or meeting a creepy reporter. In each place Mabel went out of her way to introduce Stan to everyone. And while she was doing this, Stan noticed a few things.

Everyone knew Mabel. A lot of people knew Soos, but they had yet to come across a single person who didn’t know Mabel. And she greeted each and every person like they were an old friend, even if as they walked away Mabel occasionally said something like “That’s Toby Determined. He’s messed up.” or “That’s Bud Gleeful! His son tried to kill us!”

“You kids come here every summer?” Stan asked.

“Nope! This summer is our first time coming here to Gravity Falls!” Mabel replied.

It was incredible how quickly Mabel had endeared herself (or at least introduced herself) to the whole town. Sure, Gravity Falls wasn’t exactly an overpopulated urban center, but it wasn’t the sticks either. They had a mall and a mini golf place, which didn’t really scream rural. The way she seemed to know everyone was an impressive feat.

The other thing Stan noticed was really driven home when they reached the police station.

“This is where me and Dipper broke Grunkle Ford out of jail from the government guys! You remember them! That was the day you got here!” Mabel pointed to the jail excitedly.

“Oh yeah, that was the day I had to throw down those agent dudes!” Soos remembered.

“Wait wait wait, lemme get this straight. You an’ your brother busted Ford outta there while it was crawlin’ with feds single-handed?” Stan asked incredulously.

“Well, we did get some help from Tyler and all the other guys at the bar to keep them from following us while we escaped,” the girl clarified, “But other than that, yeah!”

The look on Stan’s face was not just one of shock, but of a growing dread. This was lost on Mabel.

“One more stop to go!” She led them to Greasy's Diner. That lifted Stan’s spirits immediately. Mabel pointed out some local delicacies on the menu: Lumberflapjacks, beavertail steaks, roadkill ravioli, and of course, the waitress’ special: coffee omelette. Stan ordered the special out of morbid curiosity.

“Hmmm…” He chewed the rubbery omelette thoughtfully, “s’not terrible, once you get past the burnt coffee taste. Woulda killed for one of these when I was lost in the Hailfire Peaks on Raretania 2.”

“If you like it, you should go tell Lazy Susan yourself!” Mabel suggested. “Maybe if you two start talking you’ll get to know each other better! You could even ask her for her number!”

“What, the classy lady over by the cabinet? She seems way out of my league…” Stan trailed off, “Waaaaait a sec, you didn’t bring me here just to try and set me up with some stranger, did you?”

“What? No.” Mabel denied, “I just knew since you like weird local food so much you’d love the diner. And when I saw Susan I remembered she had a crush on Grunkle Ford earlier this summer, but he didn’t reciprocate. So I thought, since you guys look just alike, she might like you too.”

Stan nearly choked on what was left of his omelette.

“Are you ok?” Mabel asked in alarm, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything! I should have just left it alone! Dipper’s right, I do get too involved in other people’s romance!”

Stan thumped his chest with his remaining hand a couple of times and finally swallowed the food down the right tube. “Ha-hack, s’fine, just… just the first time I’ve ever heard of somebody havin’ a crush on Ford. Caught me off-guard.”

Mabel sighed with relief. “Good. So you’ll go talk to her?”

“Nope.” Stan grunted.

“Aw, come on Grunkle Stan!” the girl complained. “I’ve introduced you to half the town, and so far the only person you’ve hit it off with is Soos!”

“Don’t take it personally kid, I don’t plan on gettin’ emotionally attached to anyone in this town. ‘Cept you kids, course.”  The old con man said.

“Grunkle Stan, maybe if you just give some of these people a chance, you’d want to stay here in Gravity Falls.”

“Mabel, this whole town is quelfed!” Stan exclaimed.

“What do you mean?” Mabel asked in confusion.

Her uncle sighed wearily, and took it from the top. “My brother may not think so, but I do realize what a big risk it was to open the portal and bring me back. I know what kind of consequences we’re dealin’ with here. I know Ford’s workin’ on sealin’ that rift, but Bill’s comin’. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. And when he does… well, I’m not so worried about you an’ your brother, from what you’ve told me, it sounds like you two are survivors. You’ll find a way to make it together.

“But these townspeople? They barely know up from down! They don’t realize they got monsters running around in the woods, they line up around the block just to get a look at a party thrown by shazbots who won’t even let them in when a ghost is threatenin’ them, and they couldn’t keep my stupid brother locked up for more than a few hours! I thought my only hope was gonna be to fight Bill when I got the chance, but now… now it looks like we’re gonna have to settle for survive.”

“We can still fight Bill!” Mabel insisted. “We’ve beat him before!”

“Yeah, but he keeps on comin’ back. I’ve been lookin’ for a way to beat Bill for good the last twelve years.” Stan paused a moment, debating whether or not he should tell this story.  “You remember that story I told you ‘bout the time I invited Bill an’ my brother into my dream at the same time, and I found out Ford’s portal was operational, but he wasn’t gonna open it? Well, after that, things got weird. Well, weirder. I’d let Bill into my mind, and he wasn’t about to let me forget it. He couldn’t take control of me like a lot of other idiots who’d made a deal with him, but he was in my head day and night, messin’ with me, makin’ me see things. I was already in bad shape, I couldn’t take care of my stump properly by myself, I was still on the run from the royals I’d stolen the star rubies from, and Bill messin’ with my head on top of that wasn’t makin’ things any easier. I would’ve been a goner if it hadn’t been for her.”

“Her?” Mabel asked.

“Some giant space chick called Jheselbraum.” While Stan’s words weren’t exactly reverent, his voice certainly was. His tone softened considerably, and he lowered his gaze as if momentarily lost in a memory. “She’s the nicest person I’ve ever met, if not the nicest person in the multiverse. She swooped in an’ took me to her super-secret lair in the mountains, fixed me up, set me straight about Bill and what the jerk wanted with me an’ my brother, never expectin’ a single thing in return. She even gave me a way to keep Bill outta my head, even if it meant I wouldn’t be able to talk with Ford in my dreams anymore. Honestly, that seemed more like an extra perk at the time.” He leaned over the table towards Mabel and parted the hair at the back of his head, revealing an irregular patch of white. “Put a frellin’ metal plate in my head. See where the hair’s gone weird? That’s from the scar. I started growin’ my hair out to cover it up.

“Anyway, where was I… oh yeah. Once Jheselbraum explained what Bill’s deal was to me, I figured out he was the reason my brother wouldn’t open the portal. It was pretty obvious I’d have to get rid of that monster if I wanted to get home. No Bill, no reason Ford shouldn’t open the portal. So Jheselbraum set me up with a robo-arm, gave me a few pointers on Bill, and sent me on my way.

“Right before I left, she told me I’d see my family again. It took so long, I started wonderin’ if she was messin’ with me the whole time, but… here I am. Never should’ve doubted her.”

“So wait, if you spent all that time looking for a way to beat Bill, you must’ve found some stuff that can help us, right?” Mabel asked hopefully.

The old con man sighed. “It’s hard to learn anything about someone like Bill. Anyone who ever did know anything about him is either on his side, driven insane, or dead. For all those years of searchin’, it seemed like all I ever found was dead ends… until…” He looked around surreptitiously. “Hey, is that cute waitress watchin’ us?”

“No.”

“Anybody else?”

“I don’t think so.”

“That’ll have to do. There a bathroom in this place?”

“Yeah, follow me!” Mabel led her uncle to the restroom. He gave another fruitive glance to make sure no one and nothing was watching, grabbed Mabel by the wrist, and darted through the door.

“Hey! This is the boy’s bathroom! I can’t be in here!” Mabel protested.

“Hey, keep it down!” Stan shushed her as he carefully inspected the bathroom graffiti. He found one that was vaguely triangle-shaped and slapped a square of wet toilet paper over it.

“And I thought Grunkle Ford was paranoid…” Mabel muttered under her breath.

“Ok.” The old man nodded, satisfied that there was no way they were being watched. He twisted the round end of his staff, revealing a hidden compartment. “Feast your eyes on this!”

The end of the staff glowed blue, until Mabel looked directly at it. Then, there was just a plain old chunk of rock. “Uh, this is just a pebble.”

“Not exactly. It’s like some sorta quantum thingy. Like Schrodinger’s Cat or whatever.” Stan explained. Mabel looked at him blankly.

“Uh, when you look at it, it’s normal. When you look away, it’s radioactive and junk..” He tried again.

“Oooooookaaaaaay.” Mabel said slowly. That made slightly more sense.

“So not too long ago, maybe second-to-last dimension I was in before I got back here, I ran into a parallel universe version of Ford, where he somehow managed to fix the portal so it wouldn’t work for Bill with some help from his friend/assistant guy. But Bill still had control of Ford. It was my brother’s dream come true, but he couldn’t even be on the same floor as the portal without that jerk monster taking hold of him. Obviously, they were pretty invested in gettin’ rid of Bill too. So assistant guy and I use the good portal to go lookin’ for some theoretical elements or whatever that could ‘disrupt Bill’s extradimenstional form’ or somethin’ like that. Honestly, a lot of what they were sayin’ went over my head. What I got out of it was we were gonna make a gun to blow up Bill.

“Anyway, me an’ the assistant guy went to some super-bizarro-paradox world where we found this.” He gestured with his stump to the plain looking rock sitting in the hidden compartment of his staff. “We were in the middle of arguing over what to call it when his parallel/bizarro version showed up an’ he had to split. The jerk left me behind! Luckily I already had my own resources for dimension-hopping by then, but still! I’d wanted to talk to them about what they’d done to fix the portal and pass it on to my Ford somehow, but I never got the chance. So I had a piece of quantum junk that might be the key to beatin’ Bill, and no idea what to do with it.

“But in the end, none of it mattered. I showed up here maybe a week later. Turns out I didn’t have to fight Bill to get home. I’ll just have to fight him if I want it to stay home. And so far, I’m not likin’ the looks of my allies.” He said gravely as he closed the compartment in his staff.

“Hmm…” Mabel was deep in thought. “This assistant guy… did he have a really big nose, talk like a crazy robot-obsessed Colonel Sanders, and play the banjo?”

“Uh, yes to the first two, not sure about the last one.”

“That must have been parallel McGucket! Maybe he and Grunkle Ford can figure out what their parallel versions were gonna do with it!” Mabel suggested.

Stan grumbled. “I was afraid you were gonna say somethin’ like that.”

Mabel took his hand gently. “Grunkle Stan, I know you’re really mad at your brother right now, but you both wanna stop Bill and protect your family, right?”

“...Yeah.” Stan huffed.

“And the best way to do that is to work together, right?”

“Alright, I get it! That doesn’t mean I gotta like it. Now come on, let’s get outta here.” He climbed on top of the toilet and opened the window.

“Why are you trying to climb out the window?” Mabel asked.

“I don’t have any money to pay for lunch, do you?”

It was nice and cool in the shade of the forest as they walked home that afternoon.

“Thanks for today, kiddo. I feel a lot better gettin’ that all off my chest.” Stan thanked the young girl skipping beside him. “Sorry to dump all that on you, though.”

“Pch, that’s what family’s for, dum-dum!” Mabel pushed him playfully.

“Eh…” the old man shrugged. “Oh, hey, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t repeat any of that to Ford or your brother. It’s kinda… personal.”

Mabel made an exaggerated face of thinking it over. “Ok, but only if you promise you’ll tell them yourself!”

“Yeah, sure, I promise. Whatever.”

Stanley had to be going soft. He actually felt bad for lying to her like that.

[a-million-stories-for-you-blog]

Stanford Pines Application: Accepted

Name/Alias: Rosenthorne (Or Jess or Thorne)

Preferred Pronouns: She/her/They/Them

Age: 29

Time Zone: Central

Discord name: *Private* (since you already know who it is 8U)

Triggers: Not much. Bit of a crime buff so I’ve seen/read a few morbid things. Or a lot. Don’t like feet.

Personal/About Yourself: I can be nice and squeaky clean or I can be downright morbid and not so clean. Depends on the situation. I’m a stickler for canon when it comes down to it. Not much for romance but I can write for it when the mood allows. I have written a LOT of smut in my day though. I love the strange, the unique, dark humor, dark stuff in general.

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Character Name: Stanford Filbrick Pines

Headcanon Age: Young to Adult (But like 15 minutes older than Stan XD)

Headcanons About Character:

-Asexual, aromantic. This is mainly for the fact that in Journal 3 he wrote that he found ‘romance more baffling to him than the greatest mysteries of the universe’.  If that doesn’t scream asexual, I don’t know what does.

-Despite being asexual, he is very touch starved. He wants people to talk to him. He doesn’t mind hugs, holding hands, platonic cuddles, laying side by side while talking about anything really (it doesn’t have to be science based), etc, from those who are very close to him. He will always do what he can for those who mean a lot to him.  Any unsolicited touching without his acknowledgement of who it is will usually end with someone’s arm twisted behind their back and on their stomach on the floor out of reflex.

-Has a hard time opening up to people and is still learning on how to do so. This is the result of being viciously bullied growing up with Stan as his only friend. This makes being touch starved even worse.

-He did love DDMD in middle school on up and tried to join the local clubs full of other nerds who adored the game, however he was shunned and avoided like the plague due to his extra fingers. Undeterred, Ford continued to make OCs and strategies in hopes that one day he’d have friends to play it with.

-He would quickly finish his tests in school and, instead of turning it in, ‘accidentally’ leave it somewhere that Stan could cheat off him. While Stan did this, Ford would use this time to draw or read paranormal books.

-Terrified of swimming in open water at a young age, opposite of Stan’s fear of heights. He slowly grew accustomed to the idea of sailing when Stan started to weave the idea of adventures on the high seas. He did have a fascination with boats despite his fear and he had tried learning to swim in a community pool, making him a mediocre swimmer.  After he arrived in Gravity Falls, he included swimming in the lake as part of his exercise regimen. He had hoped to swim the areas Nessie or Ogopogo had been rumored to be.

-After Ford closed the curtains on Stan when he was kicked out, Ford sunk to his knees and cried while hugging a pillow. Time was lost to him (he spent two weeks in his room, barely eating what his mother brought to him or going anywhere). His heart and trust had been shattered by the only person he had ever trusted. During that time, his father started to beat ideas into his head, building him up to a more egotistical persona, one that re-sparked his interest in inventing and school. He made Ford believe he was better than everyone, that he was special and only people like him were destined for something greater. However, the motives to get Ford moving again was not without want of personal gain. Filbrick still wanted those potential millions. These motives have severely harmed Ford’s ability to forgive Stanley. Ford is slowly unlearning what his father had instilled in him.

-To Filbrick’s dismay, Ford did not go down the path of ‘potential millions’ right away. The father had tried to make Ford change his mind about going out west to pursue his interests in favor of being hired on as a scientist somewhere. However, the flattery had made Ford a bit more cynical to the world around him. He did not share his grant money like his father expected him to. He pretty much cut ties with the rest of his family minus the occasional phone call to his mother.

-If it weren’t for his mother and later Fiddleford and Bill in his early years, Ford would have been worse off. When he throws himself into his work, he forgets to take care of himself. He wouldn’t shower for weeks on end, forget to eat or sleep to the point of passing out and would often forget what day or year it was.

-Loves horror movies and has somewhat identified with the monsters but greatly criticizes them. He has never showed any fear toward ‘old school’ horror movies. However, he hates jump scares and will react violently to them out of reflex.

-Ford’s trench coats have been modified to be ‘bags of holding’ through a technique he learned while traversing the universe. When you look into one of the many pockets, you find nothing but a void of stars and nebulae which pretty much are ‘pocket dimensions’. **BU-DUM-TISS** He could pull more than a live rabbit out of any one of them at any moment. Probably an extinct Dodo bird or a mini noodle dragon.

-Ford has doodles all throughout Journal 1 and 2 of characters he created for DDMD. He also has a strategy journal floating around the shack somewhere that contains some of his best material that has been lost for years.

-He buys ALL of his clothes in bulk, sometimes the boots already have their own mud stains or have them printed on them at all times. It’s a look Ford loves. Speaking of looks, not all of his black pants are actual pants. Some of them are spandex or yoga pants in case he’s afraid he may rip normal pants when having to do something athletic.

-Yes, he does have 12 PHDs. He earned one on earth but the rest were earned during the 30 years he was away. None of them are in the medical field. That’s what spells are for. One has to wonder if the other eleven are even valid in our dimension. Even he ponders that but will probably aggressively state that they are.

-Everyone expects him to like classical music. While, yes, this is true, he actually took a liking to rock and alternative music. However, he somehow knows all the lyrics to songs that were not made in his time, possibly from a parallel timeline where he got his PHDs.

-He has commissioned Mabel to make him a knitted Plaidipus plush that he shamelessly sleeps with every night. Its name is ‘Theory’.

-Ford keeps up an exercise regimen that he doesn’t force on anyone. He couldn’t care less about anyone’s physical prowess unless they wanted to adventure with him. He doesn’t want them hurt. He only comments on his brother to rile him up from time to time. Sibling rivalry and all.

-Ford has killed before and he will kill again if he has to. He doesn’t like talking about it but most of his kills were the result of either protecting himself or someone or getting something he desperately needs.

-He has a lot of scarring all across his body. While he will admit half of them were from his years in the multiverse, a good chunk of them were from Bill after he found out that Bill was plotting against him.

-After Stan’s memory recovery and his adrenaline came down, Ford had to be taken to the hospital as a result of Bill’s torture on top of the ride in the alien shuttle that would have taken him to an intergalactic prison. He didn’t stay there long. In fact, after he was bandaged up, he declared himself healed and walked right out the front door. Remember, none of his PHDs were in medical. He probably memorized a healing spell.

-Ford may be looking into changing his name after seeing the list of charges Stan put on his legal name. Yeah.

-He and Fiddleford keep a close connection. When he isn’t skyping the kids on his adventures with Stan or spending time with Stan, he is talking with Fiddleford. They pretty much rekindled their bromance. He somewhat owes his life to Fiddleford for all the times the man had saved him from his own stubbornness.

-With Dipper turning down Ford’s offer of apprenticeship, Ford has turned his sights to another adventure loving child who was more local and could probably keep up with him like, if not better than, Dipper had. Wendy. However, during their first adventure out, instead of voicing her opinion on a matter, she ended up knocking sense into him with the back side of her axe. The clanging of it against the metal plate in his head echoed throughout the woods.

.

Example Writing Piece:

There he was. Lying flat on his back on the kitchen floor of his cabin with a bewildered look on his face as a pair of long, twiggy legs draped over his chest and hugged around his arm that was outstretched and held fast against a thin chest. Never in his life did he think he could have been taken down so easily by a man who claimed to be a complete pacifist.

“Say it!” Fiddleford panted, tightening his grip on the arm some while lying on his own back, perpendicular to Ford’s body.

“Never!” Ford snapped out of his bewilderment and started to try to struggle against the hold. “They’re nothing but a stupid fashion trend!”

“Facts are facts! Leg warmers are a practical piece of clothin’!”

“What warmth could you possibly get from leg warmers?!”

“Not all of us have paddin’ in the winter, Stanferd!” the assistant growled and twisted the arm. A yelp echoed off the walls as Ford tried to manage to get the upper hand. He should have been able to dominate this… whatever it was. He was a good bit stronger than his friend. When Ford found that he was not going to get out of the hold without resorting to dirty tactics that would hurt Fiddleford, he sighed and smacked his open palm on the floor next to him to tap out. “Ah ah! Ya gotta say it!”

“No!”

“Say it’s practical! I ain’t lettin’ go until you do!”

“Fine! Leg warmers are practical! Now get off!” Ford tried to remain irritated but then started laughing at the whole situation. All this over leg warmers? Well, now he had a topic to get under his friend’s skin other than his cubic’s cube. Maybe next time he’d get a running start.