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videogamelover99 · 1 month ago

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[Gravity Falls] Waking Days Ch. 7: Sarah Wheatfield

Summary: Bill Cipher is reborn, but not in the way he would have wanted. Stuck as a mortal and relying on those who brought his downfall, he realizes that maybe he didn't lie as hard as he should have. [AO3 Link] Characters: Bill Cipher, Mabel Pines, Dipper Pines, Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines, Jheselbraum the Unswerving, The Axolotl Pairings: past BillFord Rating: T

A/N: Turns out I'm not skipping out on you this week! Yay! The plot thickens even more, Bill joins a Mystery Twins adventure, Nora learns the joys (and pitfalls) of human recreational activities. Thank you to @megxolotl and @nexstage for beta-reading. Enjoy!

---

High on Gravity Peak, Ford tried to add the finishing touches to his sketch in the dim lighting of his lantern. The sky had long since descended into darkness, clear and perfect for viewing the local constellations. Even the sky in Gravity Falls was undoubtedly unique. Well worth the grass stains on his pants, or the chill that pierced through his coat.

It had been two years since he’d arrived in this town, and one year since he’d met the most important being in his life. He didn’t know he could be this happy.

“Heya, Brainiac!”

Bill’s habit of sneaking up on him did not falter even when he’d brought it up. Ford startled and dropped his journal, having to pick it up and brush off the wet stains from the grass.

Bill, at least, had the decency to look sheepish. “Whoops, haha, whatcha got there, buddy?”

“Oh.” Suddenly Ford felt a lot more embarrassed by what he’d just drawn. He tried to hide the journal, only to realize what a mistake that was – there was nothing that could stop Bill from finding out what others wanted to hide.

Ford was much the same way, really, his curiosity often got the best of him. It’s just that Bill’s curiosity was insatiable.

“Come on, you’re not gonna show me?” Bill floated circles around Ford, trying to take a peek. Despite his nosiness, Ford couldn’t help but laugh at his antics.

He quickly muffled his laughter, eyes darting to the tent where he knew Fiddleford was sleeping

“Relax, you’re in your mind.” Bill tapped him lightly on the forehead. “You fell asleep right in the middle of your writing session.”

Oh. That wasn’t good. Ford could feel the crick in his neck he would have when he woke up. “I should go to bed,” he said, thinking of his insulated tent.

“Sure. After you show me what you’re hiding,” Bill manifested half a dozen eyes all around him to stare him down.

Ford sighed. “I was just sketching the constellations,” he said, feeling his face heat up.

“Oh.” The eyes vanished, leaving only Bill with a bored look in his eye. “You got stage fright for your drawings? That’s-”

“It’s not that…” Ford showed him the page. “I noticed one I thought you might like. I named it after you, actually.” Now he felt the shame creep in. Was this too much? Should he ask? He didn’t know what he was doing.

Bill stared at the page for a while longer than necessary. William, the constellation Ford had pointed out, was still hovering above them. Observing.

“Is this too much? I know the statues were a bit much, I just thought-”

Bill giggled and flicked Ford on the nose. Ow. “You? Too much? You’re a real flatterer, Fordsy, you know that?”

“I am?”

Bill fluttered his eyelashes, which Ford would’ve found ridiculous if he wasn’t so flustered. His muse settled down on Ford’s shoulder, small enough to fit comfortably and flop one spindly black arm in Ford’s hair. “Sure you are! You really know how to get my good angle!”

“Technically, it was the stellar masses that make up-”

“Learn to take a compliment, kid, yeesh.”

Bill stroked Ford’s hair, and Ford couldn’t help but close his eyes, leaning into the touch.

“Weird though, huh?” Bill said suddenly, quieter than Ford knew him to be. “Bill’s short for William? Shouldn’t it be Billiam? Who made that up?”

“I could find out,” said Ford. It would only take a few days of research. “But there’s better nicknames, I suppose. Like Will. Or Liam, both of which are part of the name.”

Silence. Ford frowned. “Bill?”

Concerned, Ford gently took Bill off his shoulder and held him in his palms. Bill’s eye, known to flash symbols and images, was blank, not unlike the static of an empty television channel. His arms and legs were hanging limply from his frame. Ford’s concern grew. “Bill?”

In the year Ford had known him, never had he considered the possibility that Bill could be harmed. He was so above any physical concerns, and so on top of any conversation or intellectual activity that Ford had assumed Bill being harmed by something was a ridiculous notion.

He didn’t think so now.

“Bill!” He shook him gently, not knowing what else to do.

Then Bill blinked, once, twice, and the static was gone. “Huh?”

“Are you alright?” Ford almost reached out to check Bill’s “forehead” temperature, like Ford’s mother had done when he was little.

“Uh, yeah?” Bill looked at him incredulously, hands on his sides. “What were we talking about?”

Ford had the thought then, that they did not need to rehash the conversation. “Nothing important.” He assured his muse. “You don’t remember?”

“Eh, it happens sometimes.” Bill looked completely unconcerned.

“This happened before?”

“Hey, don’t make a big deal out of it! When you live as long as I do, you’re bound to pick up a few hiccups. What are those compared to infinite knowledge?”

“I-I suppose…if you don’t think it’s a problem-”

“Sure isn’t! Anyway, where was I-” Bill scrunched up his eye in thought, staring hard at the grass under them. “Oh yeah!” He floated above Ford’s head, and put both hands on Ford’s cheeks, stroking his stubble with a finger. “Learn to take a compliment!”

—

“Soos! Put ‘er there,” Stan reached out with a hand, only to pull Soos into a bear hug when he got close enough. Predictably, the kid made a noise that was almost like crying.

“Wow, this place hasn’t changed a bit.” Behind them, Melody set her suitcase down by the cash register, where Wendy was, as usual, slacking off, reading a magazine. “How have you all been?”

“The usual,” Wendy said, not looking up from her magazine. “Except…” She shot a look at Stan, who returned it with a shake of his head and a scowl bigger than what he normally wore.

“Something wrong, Mr. Pines?” Soos asked.

“Nothin’,” Stan said. “Why would anything be wrong?”

“You can’t not tell them.”

“No one asked you for advice, Wendy.”

“Geez, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

“If it’s anything serious, you know we can handle it,” said Soos. “There are things I’ve seen that no man has seen before.”

“Ugh,” said Stan.

“You want me to break it to them?” said Wendy.

“Hey, anyone seen one of those brush sticks you humans have for your teeth?” As if summoned by a curse, which wasn’t too out of the question, Bill strode into the gift shop and started searching the place. “I was gonna build an effigy that would put a curse on that lady with the ostrich hair. You know the one. Hey, Red, what’s with the face? Question Mark, long time no see! How’s your banal existence been treating ya? I’ve been, well, dead! But you knew that already. What? What’s with the stares?” He finally quit his search and leaned against one of the clothing racks, grinning. “Did ya miss me?”

“Soos,” Melody said. “Is that…?”

“Oh hey, that guy sounds just like the Triangle Dude.”

Everyone was eerily silent.

“...Wait a minute.”

—

“So, he’s-”

“Yep.”

“And you’ve been-”

“Yep.”

“And now he’s-”

“Yep.”

“Wow,” Melody stared into her cup of CALMING, HERBAL TEA! CURES ANY CRISIS!, a box Mabel had gotten for this exact occasion. Soos promptly made an excuse to see his Abuelita and, quote, make sure she’s not a chair or anything. Haha, wouldn’t that be crazy, dudes? Melody, being the only one who wasn’t there for Weirdmageddon, now sat with Stan at the kitchen table and listened patiently as Stan explained what had happened. “I get it.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t get me wrong, this is a lot to process, but I’ve seen my fair share of weird, you know? You’ve never-” She paused when her phone buzzed in her pocket and scowled as she dismissed the call.

“Don’t you wanna get that?”

“No.”

Yeesh. Not gonna pry into whatever that is.

“There’s another thing,” Stan said, just as the door to the kitchen opened, and his brother headed straight for the pot of coffee on the stove.

He was, well, a mess wouldn’t cover it. With disheveled hair, eye bags so big he could carry something in them, and patches of his lab coat burned off or stained, Ford resembled a zombie more than a normal human being. It reminded Stan too much of how he was 30 years ago when Stan had first stumbled upon his brother’s paranormal mess.

“Stanley, we’re gonna need another order of potassium, have the university- oh, Melody! Good to see you again.” Ford poured the leftover coffee into a chipped mug. It had a sticker on its side that read certified nerd on it, along with a smiley face wearing glasses. “How was your trip?”

Stan and Melody watched as the coffee in Ford’s mug overflowed and started dripping onto his shoes. Ford didn’t seem to notice. “It was, uh, good? Are you alright, Dr. Pines?”

“Never better! Of course, there is a new calamity on the horizon, and everything we know and love might dissolve before our very eyes, but nothing a good amount of problem-solving can’t handle.”

The coffee started to form a small puddle on the floor.

“Sixer?”

“What is it, Stanley?”

“You’re making a mess.”

Ford only then realized his shoe was soaked through. “Oh.”

“Leave it,” Stan said when Ford’s bloodshot eyes searched for a towel to clean it with. He stood, and gently took the mug from Ford’s hands. “Listen, I get this is the fate of the universe and all-”

“Multiverse, Stanley.”

“But I think you could use a break right about now.”

“We can’t stop, not when we haven’t had a breakthrough yet. But with the new materials, I’m sure-”

“I’m sure you’ll figure all of it out with your magical fortune-telling buddy of yours after you sleep for at least like, eight hours. You look like hell, Pointedexter, even I can see it.”

Ford stubbornly lifted his chin, before his shoulders slumped, as if he was too exhausted to even hold them up. “Maybe I should take a break.”

“Stanford?”

A fourth visitor of the kitchen made herself known. Nora walked in, her nose in a set of notes. “We should try with Potassium-40, the radiation might counter the unstable effects.”

“Right, of course!” Whatever ground Stan had covered in the conversation they just had vanished in an instant. Ford grabbed the cup, chugged down the lukewarm coffee, and reached for a wireless phone. “I’ll order it right away.”

Whatever insanity had overtaken Ford clearly had a source, because Stan spotted the same unyielding tide wave of energy in Nora as she and Ford catered off into a debate on…something so scientific and technical it almost sounded like another language.

Before Stan could say another word, the two vanished from the kitchen and back into the basement, where he didn’t doubt, they were blowing something up.

“Fate of the multiverse, huh?” said Melody.

—

Dipper might’ve gone overboard with the conspiracy board. Just a little. He stood back and read the words in the center over and over again as if that would get him any closer to the answer. Who was that mysterious entity that talked to him? Why did she reach out to him, of all people? What did she mean when she said reality was splitting at the seams? And did it have anything, at all, to do with Bill’s code?

His phone buzzed. Which meant that the forum thread he started was updated. He grabbed it and eagerly opened his browser.

It wasn’t easy, running Gravity Falls’ sole supernatural blog. Not just because the town’s desire to sweep everything under the rug meant a ridiculous amount of censorship and takedown notices. It was mostly because no one except him sent anything in.

But there it was, a post, from Anonymous37. Dipper opened it and read the contents.

Hi there!

Didn’t know who to reach out to about this. Recently I had this strange encounter that I couldn’t explain. It was like a visual distortion and looked a lot like TV static, but I swear it wasn’t just in my head! If there’s anyone who knows about these things who can help me sort this out, please come and talk to me! My name is Sarah Wheatfield, and I’m a manager at the Sort It Right clothing store.

Whoever you are, admin, please help.

This almost sounded too good to be true. Dipper had waited so long for this, for his work to finally be recognized. He needed to meet this woman.

Dipper found his sister on the front porch, busy adding to her scrapbook.

“No way,” Mabel read the post and her face lit up. “This sounds just like what happened to Waddles!”

“Exactly,” said Dipper. “If we find there’s a connection, we can help fix him!”

“Then we gotta go talk to this Wheatfield lady.”

Suddenly, a pine cone landed on Dipper’s hat. He heard familiar nasal snickering and looked up.

Bill sat on the rooftop's edge, his feet dangling back and forth like a little kid’s. He seemed unnervingly cheerful. “Pine Tree! Hey! Over here!”

“Bill’s been giving me advice on some of the scrapbook designs,” Mabel said.

“I still think page 22 should have a lot more dead ants!��

“Some of it’s even been helpful!”

“You have some nerve,” Dipper said to Bill. “I heard what you did to Soos this morning!”

“Hey, hold on! I didn’t do anything! Question Mark can’t handle a blast from the past, that isn’t exactly my fault, is it?”

“Of course it is!”

“Did ya figure it out yet?”

Dipper froze at the question. The code. Reluctantly, shook his head.

“Gotta be honest, I was expecting a little more from Gravity Falls’ ‘best detective’.” Bill did the air quotes as he said it.

“It’s nonsense!”

“To limited minds, maybe.”

“Boys, boys,” Mabel put her hands up in a placating gesture. “I’m sensing some tension.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Dipper muttered.

“And it’s nothing that some bonding time can’t fix! Bill should come with us.”

“Mabel! No way!”

“Who said I want to.”

“Come on,” said Mabel. “You!” She pointed at Bill. “You’re bored out of your mind, admit it! Your jokes didn’t leave me as half disturbed as they do on a good day!”

“Or you’re developing a tolerance,” Dipper muttered.

“And you,” Mabel said to Dipper. “You and Bill have like, a ton in common.”

“No, we don’t!”

“You’re both super into codes!”

“That’s like, one thing!” Dipper rubbed his temples. “Why do you want everyone to get along with Bill so badly?”

“Oh, so we just sit around being mad at each other all day? He’s not going anywhere.”

“True!” Bill piped up.

Dipper looked between Mabel’s pleading face and Bill’s devious one. “Fine. This one time.” He mustered his best Grunkle Stan glare. “But if he tries anything, I’m pushing him into the Bottomless Pit.”

—

Ford drained the coffee in less than an hour. He came up the stairs a second time, debating on whether or not to steal the entire coffee maker, albeit temporarily, when he came face-to-face with his brother, blocking the entry to the kitchen.

Melody stood next to Stan and gave Ford an awkward smile.

“Alright, Pointdexter, this ends now,” Stan pointed a stern finger at him. Ford was jarringly transplanted into 1968 when his father stood over both of them with the same expression after the twins had broken one of the display cases in the pawnshop while treasure hunting.

The sleep deprivation must be getting to him.

“What, exactly, are you referring to?” he asked. “And why are you dragging Melody into…whatever this is?”

“Actually, I’m uh, helping,” said Melody.

“With what?”

“With the intervention. That’s happening starting now. You’re taking this day off, and that’s final,” said Stan.

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn’t have time for this. “Does the ‘potential end of the world’ not hold any weight to you?”

“Nice try, but we already had one of those, and we turned out fine!”

“This isn’t like Weirdmaggedon! This is infinite times worse!”

“I don’t care!” Stan snapped. “The end of the world can wait a few hours, can’t it?”

“Stanley-”

“Um, if I can say something,” Melody started. She pulled a few pieces of paper out of her pocket. “We have all these free bowling tickets and Soos and I never got to use them. Mr. Pines thinks you should take your mind off things for a little while, and I kinda agree with him.” She waved the tickets in the air.

Now, this was a problem. Because back in the day, the Stan twins had held the Glass Shard Beach strike record for several years before it was briefly interrupted by some kid from NYC. They were ridiculously good at bowling.

Stanley knew exactly what he was doing.

“I can’t just leave Nora on her own,” Ford gave one last attempt at resistance.

“Oh easy, you’re not.” Stanley grinned. “Fortune Telling Lady’s coming with us.”

—

As they walked to the bus stop that would take them to Gravity Falls’ shopping mall, Dipper briefly pulled Mabel aside, keeping a wary eye on Bill.

“What’s up, Bro-bro?” Mabel asked.

“I’m worried about you,” said Dipper.

“Whaat?” Mabel laughed. “What’s gotten you this time?”

“Bill,” Dipper snapped. “I don’t understand why you’ve been so buddy-buddy with him since he came back! You know he’s still the demon that tried to kill us and our family, right? You said you wanted to snap him like a corn chip!”

“Pff, that was before he got all human and pathetic. Duh.”

“So you pity him? Is that it?”

“I told you why,” Mabel lost a bit of her cheer.

“Right. You think you’re the one who brought him back. Still, I just don’t get why…What if he did something to your brain? Last year or maybe even now?”

“Dipper,” Mabel said, all cheer gone. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m treating Bill like a person because he is a person now, okay?”

“Did you forgive him that easily?”

Something flickered in his sister’s gaze. She laughed it off. “I just don’t like holding grudges for too long! Besides, he’s been pretty well-behaved.”

They watched Bill find a beetle under his shoe and slowly step on it. There was a long and painful crunch.

“For the most part,” said Mabel.

Dipper watched his sister skip back over to the demon and playfully admonish him for the poor bug. Bill must’ve said something less offensive than usual because Mabel laughed and punched him lightly on the side.

If anyone saw them, they would assume they were friends.

A lump settled in Dipper’s throat. Something was wrong, he just knew it.

—

“Breathe it in, folks!” Stan took a giant, gaping breath just for the effect. Ah, the scent of freshly polished lanes, overpriced bowling shoes, and cheap fried foods. Gravity Falls’ Bowling sat in the back of the shopping mall, too intimidating for Stan to face without his twin by his side.

“This is a rather nice place,” Ford remarked. He already looked more relaxed than he did in the car on the ride over.

“What did I tell ya?”

“Wow, check it out, dudes,” Soos said behind them. “Pretty sure that guy’s only facing one direction.” Melody followed his gaze, her hand clasped in his.

“Charming family moment and all,” said the fifth member of the party. “I still don’t quite get why I’m here.”

Stan had been worried his brother was going to try to jump out of the car or something on the way here, having changed his mind, but Ford turned out to not be the one he should’ve been worried about.

In the middle of throngs of people in squeaky, smelly rental shoes, Sixer’s space alien girlfriend looked out of place and uncomfortable.

“You don’t like bowling?” Soos asked.

Nora looked annoyed by the question. “I understand Stanford’s human body needs rest, but I don’t have that issue. It would be best if I-”

“Learned how to have some fun?” said Stan.

Something flashed in Nora’s eye. “I know how to have fun.”

“Oh yeah?” Stan pulled down a pair of bowling shoes, ignoring the indignant cry of the clerk. “Prove it.”

—

The clerk handed them their shoes like he wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible. Soos kept trying to see the man’s right side, and the attempts were skillfully avoided. Giving up, Soos took his position next to Nora and Melody. It was the three of them against the Stans, which Stan thought was pretty unfair. These kids didn’t stand a chance.

Stan was up first. “Strike!” They watched the little television up above display an animated bowling pin getting brutally flattened by an angry-looking bowling ball. Stan did a little victory dance Melody stealthily recorded to send to Abuelita later.

“Isn’t that bad?” Soos asked.

“That’s baseball, hun,” Melody whispered.

“Oh yeah. Sports!”

Melody took her position when her phone buzzed. She impatiently silenced it and picked up the ball. Her swing didn’t have great form, but she managed to get roughly half of them. Which wasn’t bad. At least it wasn’t in the gutter.

Ford came up to the starting line. “I haven’t done this in a while,” he admitted. “30 years, to be honest.”

“Stop whining and throw the ball!” yelled Stan. Some of the other patrons looked back at their party.

“If it makes you feel better,” said Nora. “I already know how this ends.”

Ford didn’t seem to feel better at all. Still, he picked up one of the bowling balls. Then another, testing its weight.

“Oh, come on!” cried Stan.

“We believe in you, Mr. Pines!” said Soos. “Even Mr. Pines!”

“Give me a minute.”

Ford brought the ball over, trying a practice swing. Then another. Stan opened his mouth to yell at him some more when-

“Strike!”

“Yeah! Whoo!” Stan threw up his arms, ignoring the glare the clerk sent him. “I knew you still had it in ya!”

“Yes, that was…nostalgic, to say the least,” said Ford. He was smiling. As far as Stan was concerned, his mission was over.

When Nora came up to the lane, Ford offered her one of the lighter balls. “You need to make sure there’s a curve in your wrist-” He tried to demonstrate.

“Stanford, I know how bowling works,” said Nora.

She threw the ball.

It sailed out of her hands, over their heads, and into the group next to them.

“Augh! My spine!”

“Right. Two eyes,” Nora said calmly.

“Someone call an ambulance!”

“Welp, it’s been fun!” Stan steered the four of them toward the exit, smelling a lawsuit. “Who’s hungry?”

—

It wasn’t hard to find the store Sarah worked in. It was the same one Mabel and her friends had taken Bill a week or so prior. Hopefully, the staff didn’t remember them well.

“Out!” The store clerk, a pale man with far too many wrinkles for someone in his thirties, pointed to the exit. He was sitting behind the cash register, a few wrappers hastily crammed into his pocket.

So much for not being remembered.

The goth girl they’d seen previously spotted them from behind a pile of clothes she was carrying. She waved. Mabel and Bill waved back.

Dipper quickly pulled them away before there could be another incident. “Okay, it looks like this one will be harder than I thought.”

“Please, they haven’t even called security,” said Bill.

“...So, we’re gonna have to break in.”

“Uh-huh,” said Bill. And walked back into the store.

“Bill!” Dipper whispered.

Bill pretended not to hear him. We sauntered over to the counter, leaning against it like he owned the place. The clerk squawked and shut the cash register. “I told you, sir, we don’t need any more trouble.”

“I know you don’t, uh,” Bill squinted at the clerk’s nametag. “Dave? Can I call you Dave?”

“That’s…my name?” said Dave.

“Sure is! Great name, simple and sweet. Listen, bud, you think I don’t get it? Standing on your feet for 10+ hours, getting penalized for your bathroom breaks, wondering when Joane will call you back, worried she knows your ‘well-paying job’ is a minimum-wage soul-sucking boulder up a hill of sweaty, loud teenagers and moms buying underwear for their kid’s birthday. We’ve all been there!”

“Oh,” said Dave.

“Retail sucks. Also, is that a new hair gel? Looks fantastic, anyone tell you that?”

“Yeah,” said Dave. He looked a lot less confrontational, and a lot more confused. “I mean, no…but I’m still gonna have to ask you to leave.”

“No, I get it, I get it,” Bill looked away as if debating something. “I also get if I, you know, didn’t see you for a few minutes. You were in the back! And if, you know, you came back with one of those pretzel dogs.”

Dave stared at him.

“You’d deserve it,” said Bill. He winked.

“...I would deserve it,” said Dave, as if it was a divine realization. “Okay. You sound like a cool guy, last incident aside. Please don’t touch anything.”

“Atta boy,” said Bill as he watched him go. Dipper and Mabel walked over.

“How’d you know he wanted a pretzel dog so badly?” Dipper asked.

Bill picked up a greasy wrapper from the floor and flicked it. It landed on top of Dipper’s hat.

—

Sarah Wheatfield was a middle-aged woman with braids in her hair and a mole over her lip. They found her in the back of the store, sorting clothing without really looking at it, which was either impressive or evidence of a troubled psyche. Dipper couldn’t tell which yet.

Dipper came up to her first. “Ms. Wheatfield?”

Startled, the woman dropped a few of the t-shirts she was sorting. “You’re not supposed to be here! How do you know my name?”

Dipper pointed at the nametag. Sarah looked down. “Oh. Right.”

“You sent in a post recently, to Unnatural Sightings Anonymous?” He held up his phone. “I uh, I run that blog.”

Sarah squinted at the screen. “I don’t remember sending this.”

Oh. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Heh, might’ve been a prank! Probably from someone you know. Guess it’s nothing,” said Bill.

“No, I…” she looked back at Mabel, then at Dipper. “Wait, aren’t you those Pines twins?”

“Y-yes!” Dipper said, a little too loudly. “Yes, we are!”

“Hi!” said Mabel, “I’m Mabel Pines. We’re like, super on top of all this mystery weirdness stuff. You can tell us anything!”

Sarah looked at Bill. “And who’s this?”

“That’s Willard,” said Mabel, and Bill made a noise between a growling protest and a squeak of rage. She patted him on the arm as if pacifying an angry cat. “He’s helping.”

“I see,” said Sarah. For a moment she looked hesitant. She checked that the door was closed, before turning to them once more. “Well, it’s not nothing. My husband must have sent it in. Or maybe I did, I’ve been…forgetting things lately.” She looked at the three of them in turn, her voice nervous and small. “I know it sounds crazy, but everyone knows your family deals with crazy, so, just…” She made up her mind. “Follow me.”

Sarah led them down a set of musty stairs and a locked door. She pulled out a key, fiddling with the lock as she turned to them. “We use this for storage and breaks. Or, we used to use it for breaks, before…well, before. Now it’s just storage.”

She turned the key and opened the door, flipping on the switch in the corner. The room was illuminated by buzzing fluorescent lights. It was big, about the side of the Mystery Shack gift shop, with rows of shelves taking up most of the space, filled with cardboard shipping boxes of what was probably stock. In the back corner was a table, a couple of coffee cups, and a curtain that was…glowing ominously.

Bill shivered, and whether it was out of excitement or because the room was cold, Dipper wasn’t sure. The room was more than cold, though. It felt tilted, like the space around him was drawn with the wrong perspective. It was vibrating with an energy that Dipper could feel in the tips of his fingers.

It didn’t help that the edges of that curtain were turning into pixelated static.

Sarah cautiously approached the curtain. “Just don’t freak out, okay?” she said.

She pulled away the curtain. And Dipper was twelve again, the high of beating some alien robot with this Great Uncle Ford shattered as the sky above him ripped apart at the seams.

“That’s the rift,” Mabel said next to him. Dipper was still trying to find his voice. “But that can’t be the rift. Why’s it so small? Why’s it underneath the mall?!”

“I was hoping you could tell me,” Sarah answered. “Also, don’t look directly at it. That’s how the memory problems started.”

They had seen remnants before. Ford had taken them to help track down dimensional vortexes and eldritch horrors that were still lurking around. But this was nothing like that. This was the rift.

The entity’s warning still sat firmly in Dipper’s mind. Reality was splitting at the seams. This was what she was talking about, wasn’t it?

Dipper tore his eyes away and instead glared at Bill. The ex-demon was grinning ear to ear, not caring about the warning as he stared at what could only be a remnant of his apocalyptic takeover.

“Sorry,” Dipper said to Sarah. “We’ll just be a minute.”

He practically dragged Bill outside by the sleeve of his sweater, Mabel not far behind.

“Hey, what the heck?!” Bill tore his arm away. “Get your sweaty hands away from me.”

“What did you do?!” Dipper snapped.

“Nothing!”

“That doesn’t look like nothing! That looks like a rip into your dimension!” Dipper shoved a finger at Bill’s chest. Bill stumbled back, scowling. “Was this human thing all part of some scheme? Answer me!”

“Hey, hey, hey, easy! I didn’t make that thing! Well, okay, technically I did make that thing, but only through a direct causality. So did Sixer, by the way, by building that portal. So did Stan, by turning it on, so really, if you think about it-.”

“You’re the one who tricked Grunkle Ford into building that portal! Are you kidding me? Do you really think I’d believe a word you’re saying, after what you’ve done?!”

“Guys, come on!” Mabel stepped in between the two of them. “Let’s not fight, okay? We don’t know why it’s here, so if we just-”

Dipper gaped at his sister. “Are you serious? Are you really defending Bill right now?”

“I’m not defending him! I’m just saying, maybe if we hear him out…”

Something obvious suddenly clicked into place. Dipper laughed. How could he not see it before? “Bill Cipher ended the world. He manipulated our uncle and drove him to insanity. He locked you in a dream prison. He tried to kill us, Mabel. Multiple times. Did you seriously just forget all that? Because you feel bad for him?”

“That’s not…” Mabel hesitated.

That’s all Dipper needed to hear. He climbed up the stairs, not wanting to look at his sister. He didn’t want to see her face and confirm what he already knew was true.

---

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#gravity falls #bill cipher #flat dreams #pengychan #human bill au #fanfiction #the book of bill #vee's writing #a different form a different time #waking days reboot #doodledrawsthings

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zuko-always-lies · 2 years ago

Text

@nexstage submitted:

Sequel of "Azula disappears and everyone suffers the consequences AU" AKA an idea I had that is way better than the comics, but anything is way better than the comics so it's not saying that much.

Book 2 Earth:

As Zuko and Iroh rest after the fiasco on the North Pole, The Gaang arrives at the headquarters of general Fong. While the conflict between the Gaang and Fong happens like in canon, Zuko and Iroh are sent into a trap made by Combustion Man who proves to be too powerful for Zuko. Iroh lightbends and knocks their assassin unconscious.

Zuko asks who the heck is that guy and how could he blast stuff with her mind, he also asks Iroh about the lightning he summoned. His uncle explains that there are a few rare firebending techniques: mental combustion and lightning which only a small bunch of people could accomplish. While the first one is extremely rare and there is no time to study it or resources, the second technique is Iroh's specialty and Zuko is more than willing to learn how to lightbend to defeat Combustion Man next time they see him. Despite his nephew's enthusiasm, Iroh suspects their assassin was no random case but someone Ozai sent to eliminate them; however, telling that to Zuko might not be the best idea for he is still in denial about his father replacing him with a new heir. Iroh decides to keep this information secret until he sees it adequate to reveal it to Zuko and keep him distracted with lightningbending and the search for the Avatar.

Iroh convinces Zuko that if they want to get answers for the Avatar again and not be ambushed by the assassin they will have to cut off their topknots.

Zuko disagrees with the idea saying that would mean being fugitives from their own home, which Iroh explains is the most pragmatic solution to find the Avatar on the Earth Kingdom without being pointed as Fire Nation and it will be just for a while. Zuko agrees reluctantly.

During their travels, they meet Song and her family and they let them into their house after Iroh accidentally poisons himself with toxic herbs he used to make tea. Zuko sees another point of view of the war when Song shows him her scars made by cruel firebenders. Unlike canon, when Zuko wants to keep looking for Aang, Iroh convinces him to stay until the next day and thank Song and her family for their hospitality.

The Gaang, on the other hand, is shocked to see that the Fire Nation has conquered Omashu and plans a way to liberate it and Bumi.

Like in canon, Tom Tom gets too attached to Momo and he accidentally takes the baby away from his family making Ukano believe his son has been kidnapped by the resistance of Omashu. Aang has the idea to return Tom Tom to his parents and free Bumi at the same time, like a deal. His friends aren't that sure about Ukano being honest with the deal and things will be more difficult if Aang is in the middle of this because he's the Avatar.

Ukano has the same idea about exchanging Bumi to have his son back, safe and sound but Mai says that if Bumi, an experienced and powerful earthbender is freed, he will find the Avatar and teach him earthbending which will make stuff harder for the Fire Nation. Mai and her parents argue because it seems to them that Mai doesn't care about her younger brother, and Mai knows that if a powerful enemy escapes from their clutches and joins the Avatar, the Fire Lord won't like it and will punish them in the end.

Bumi talks to Ukano and says that if he wants his son back that's ok but he won't leave or let Aang and the resistance free him. Ukano thinks Bumi is messing with him and plotting behind his back but the mad king assures him of his honesty.

Bumi's words are sent to Aang in the form of a letter by Ukano and everyone thinks this is a trap. The leader of the resistance repeats himself saying that Bumi surrendered like nothing. Aang, distraught with his friend's choice, decides to give Ukano his son back and talk with Bumi for the night, without being caught.

The night comes, and Bumi explains to Aang he can't leave for he needs to wait for the right time to fight for his city. Listen and wait for the right time to strike, the neutral jing, that's the fighting style of the earthbenders and the best strategy, that's why leaving right now is not a good idea.

Aang reluctantly accepts this and trusts that Bumi will have Omashu back. He returns to the group and explains to them what Bumi has told him and they kind of see the sense of it though they don't agree wholeheartedly.

Zuko's training for lighting bending starts and like canon, he has the same difficulties as his attempts end up blowing up in his face. Iroh explains that he's confused and needs to come to terms with the changes in his life and be more humble because too much pride can lead him to his doom. Zuko says he's been living a forcedly humble life as a fugitive so that's something, and there is also the change in his plans with the Avatar. Iroh adds his father's new family and that makes Zuko angry as he yells that he is the true heir of the throne, not whoever child Ozai had while he was gone.

Iroh ventures carefully with the topic by saying that even if he was born as the heir, his father is the Fire Lord so he can decide who's going to succeed him once he's gone. And if he had written a will as a law stating that his new child will be the future Fire Lord, then there's nothing they can do.

"There is still the Avatar!!" Zuko screams. Iroh sighs and tells him they have a mission with Aang and that is knowing more about the war, what truly happened before the Fire Nation started it. Iroh also says Zuko had seen the bodies of children, women, and elders inside the Southern Air Temple which means the Fire Nation army did unspeakable and dishonorable stuff to innocents and that's something they can't overlook. Zuko storms off.

"He doesn't get it. No one does! He had grandfather Azulon's favor for a long time! How could he understand that I need this?! My father would never do such a thing!! I'm not something to replace!" Zuko doesn't want to admit that all his hours training and studying are for nothing with this new heir of Ozai because that will mean that even without Azula, her prodigious sister, even with his best he's still nothing to his father and he wont have a purpose if the Avatar defeats the Fire Nation.

The Gaang finally arrives to Gaoling and meets Toph, stuff happens like canon except that this time Toph little discussion with her parents gets more intense. She disagrees with the idea of being locked up in her home just because she's blind because her father has seen already how strong she is, and her parents aren't happy that Toph wants to go to a war that they don't have anything to do with and blame Aang for making Toph think she can fight whenever and wherever she wants to. Katara explains that Aang meeting Toph wasn't a random choice but a vision, that she was chosen to be his earthbending teacher, and even if they hide somewhere else, the Fire Nation will conquer everything on the Earth Kingdom including Gaoling, which means that the more help Aang has, the sooner they can save the world.

Toph's parents aren't still conviced until Sokka promises to protect their daughter as the oldest member of the group and send them letters about how things are going. He understands their fear for Toph because Kanna, his and Katara's grandmother told them to go help Aang stop the war with faith in them but also a lot of worry because they're still children and stuff is dangerous outside but if they don't act, the world will never be safe again.

Finally, although relunctantly, Toph's parents agree but their ultimátum is that if something happens to her, the Avatar and the group will pay.

Toph becomes part of the Gaang much to everyone’s joy.

The Zuko Alone episode turns into duo travel as Zuko and Iroh haven't separated; however, Zuko is still angry because he's not making any progress in his light-bending training and Iroh's insistence on not pleasing Ozai anymore and put more effort into knowing about the war and the role of the Avatar before it just make it worse for him.

They end up in Lee's village and befriend him and his family. Both learn that a group of earthbending soldiers are bullying the villagers when they were supposed to protect them. During their stay at Lee's home, the boy talks about his older brother, how he's fighting for their country, and how much he misses him. Zuko talks about Azula and that he misses her too because she vanished without reason. While bonding over absent siblings, Zuko accidentally reveals a bit about his family by saying that Azula had everything at home because they were rich but she still left. Fortunately, that's the only bit of info and Lee doesn't figure out who he is. That is until Iroh and Zuko are informed that Lee has been held hostage by the bullies soldiers after they discovered that it was Lee who threw eggs at them.

Iroh and Zuko had to fight with weapons to hide their identities from the village; however, the leader of the soldiers separates them with an earth-rock wall and knocks Zuko out. He throws more rocks to kill him but Iroh gets in the way and breathes fire much to everyone's shock and horror.

The bullies-soldiers run away from Iroh's power but no one celebrates because Lee, his family, and the village call Iroh ash maker, a demon, and reject him for it. To defend him, Zuko reveals himself as a firebender too and the village kicks them out.

Resuming their journey, Iroh thanks his nephew for standing up to him even when he had made a friend in the little village. Zuko replies that it felt nice to have a friend in Lee and teach him how to use the swords but he wasn't going to let his uncle deal with all the hatred even when they have saved the villagers. Iroh says that what the Fire Nation and the Fire Royal Family have done for years to the other nations has left a deep, terrible mark that will take a lot of time to heal so the hatred and anger are understandable, that’s why it’s important to find the Avatar because he has the answers of how the war started.

Zuko is a bit reluctant because he also wants to recover his throne from his half-sister but he accepts to look for Aang to find out what happened for the Fire Nation to want to go to war. Iroh hesitates about telling Zuko that the assassin is his father’s doing and that he wants to get rid of both of them. He starts by asking Zuko why might be the reason for that assassin to go after them.

The prince remembers what happened at the North Pole and gives that as the answer. Iroh grimaces, technically Zuko isn't wrong but while he tries to capture the Avatar, the former general fought Zhao and his fleet with the Gaang and saved the Moon Spirit. However, if Ozai had as a goal killing a traitor, Iroh would've been the only target, not him and Zuko. Iroh knows that telling his nephew about Ozai’s intentions of eliminating them is important, but doing that will cement more on the prince that his father couldn't care less about him and prefer him dead. Iroh decides to wait for the right moment to give him the news hoping that Zuko takes it as calmly as he can.

During The Chase, Combustion Man finds the Avatar and his friends, and knowing Zuko and Iroh must be looking for them, he waits for them to cross paths with the Gaang and also keeps an eye on them. It will be two birds dead with a single shot. Due to his decision to wait and spy on the Gaang, our heroes don't feel like they have to run away every five minutes which in canon, with Azula and her friends chasing them, tired them out. However, Toph still senses Combustion Man following them but he hides very far away after pretending to leave to make sure they don't escape from him. The fight between Toph and the Gaang doesn't happen because the team is better rested than in canon; however, with Combustion Man still behind them, they decide to create a scheme to fool and defeat him. After some deliberation, the Gaang splits to deceive the enemy. Toph stays on the ground while the rest of the team flies on Appa but they don't go that far. Everyone is concerned about Toph discovering who Combustion Man is as he hasn't revealed himself yet; meanwhile, Toph surprisingly meets Zuko and Iroh and shares some tea with them as an invitation from Iroh.

The Gaang hasn't told her yet about those two (just like in canon) and during a short conversation, Toph describes her friends to them. Zuko can't believe that he has met a new ally of the Avatar but his heart rats him out and when Toph confronts him about his sudden surprise and impatience after talking about her friends, Zuko lies saying that it is a shock a blind girl is part of the Avatar’s group. Toph attacks Zuko and Iroh after sensing his lie and runs away to warn the Gaang.

Zuko and Iroh follow her immediately. On the other hand, Combustion Man had been following Aang, Katara, and Sokka who had flown away on Appa. He finds them in the abandoned, little village but discovers that Toph is missing and Zuko and Iroh haven't found the Gaang yet. That is until everyone meets each other.

With the chaos starting between the Gaang and their old enemies, Combustion Man sends a blast that separates everyone. During his attack, Toph’s feet are injured preventing her from “seeing” where are her friends and their enemies. Sokka carries her and takes her back to Appa while yelling for Katara and Aang to follow him.

Seconds before doing so, a new blast creates a crater, stopping Katara and Aang from running away. Zuko and Iroh shoot fireballs at Combustion Man but he dissipates them and his third eye shoots another blast.

Aang wants to escape but watching how dangerous that guy is and his intent on killing them all, he uses his glider to create a mini tornado and throws Combustion Man toward a few old houses to give Zuko and Iroh a chance to run. Despite the fall, he gets out from the rubble with ease and sends another blast that goes through Aang’s air slash; it explodes a meter from him burning his clothes and a few of his limbs. Katara immobilizes Combustion Man with a water rope turned into an ice rope before aiding Aang. While doing that, Sokka comes to rescue them on Appa, Toph sat on the saddle.

Combustion Man frees himself from the ice rope and scares Appa away with a blast, then a big fireball collides with his back much to his fury. Zuko says this is the rematch time but Iroh tells him to join the Gaang while he distracts the enemy. Zuko refuses to leave him behind so both have to deal with Combustion Man while the Gaang escapes.

Again, the assassin proves to be more efficient and experienced than the banished prince but Zuko holds back his impatience and frustration and in an attempt to end the battle quickly he imitates Iroh’s movements to lightbend; however, only tiny sparks appear. Iron lightbends to kill Combustion Man but he uses his blast to propel himself to the air and evade the attack. During the few seconds in the air, the assassin watches as the Gaang is finally on Appa’s saddle, ready to leave. His next blast is fired a few seconds before Aang airbends to defend the team and Appa and the Gaang are knocked out, having a turbulent landing.

The Avatar State is triggered the moment Aang sees his injured friends and beloved pets. In his rage, he earthbends creating an earthquake the same way he did when General Fong triggered the Avatar State, and Combustion Man, Zuko, and Iroh end up unconscious and badly injured.

When Aang comes back to his senses, he's horrified by the destruction he had caused and helps his friends and even Zuko and Iroh that are beneath the rubble, and all escape on Appa. Half an hour later, Combustion Man wakes up just to discover that his targets are gone.

A few hours pass and Zuko wakes up, he's covered in bandages just like his uncle who is still unconscious. The Gaang is slowly recovering from the terrible battle with Combustion Man while keeping an eye on their old enemies.

Zuko asks what happened, taking Aang by surprise with his awakening. Sokka mockingly responds that Aang kicked their butts and saved them from Combustion Man, Zuko remembers then the earthquake that almost killed them much to Aang’s shame and horror.

He apologizes profusely because his anger wasn't targeted at him and Iroh but Combustion Man, though the Avatar State didn't let him think things through. Sokka tells Aang to not say sorry to jerkbender much to Zuko’s anger but the prince can't retaliate due to his injuries. He then asks Katara who is checking over on Iroh if he will wake up and she replies that he will but it is still too soon, he needs more rest.

Zuko decides to rest for a while, more worried for his uncle than the mission at hand. He asks Aang if he could kill Combustion Man which makes the Avatar flinch and look away.

Toph tells Zuko to shut up and not bother him but the prince demands an answer because the assassin is too dangerous to let him at the hands of luck.

Katara yells at him that perhaps this was his idea: sending an assassin to kill Aang, pretending to not know anything about it, and waiting to be the victim to hide the evidence.

Zuko responds that the man wasn't chasing the Avatar but he and Iroh. Sokka says that it is suspicious that both were chased by Combustion Man only for the assassin to put Aang and the team on his list of targets.

Zuko says at the end that he doesn't care if they don't believe him but he's no liar.

The night finally comes and the Gaang take turns to keep an eye on Zuko while regaining their energies.

The next morning, Iroh wakes up much to his nephew’s relief and joy and he narrates the past events for Iroh to catch up. The former general is happy that they are with the Avatar now and very far away from the assassin; however; they will have to intensify the lightning-bending training in case they meet Combustion Man again.

Then Toph wakes up prompting the rest of the group to do it. Breakfast is awkward and tense because no one trusts Zuko and Iroh, Aang still feels guilty for the destruction caused by his Avatar rage, and Zuko is still mad that they called him a liar.

Iroh tries to lessen the tension by thanking the Gaang for taking care of them despite their rocky past encounters.

Sokka says that Aang was the one who did all the job because he's too kind for his own good. Zuko retorts that doing that was the least Aang could do after almost killing them.

Iroh whispers to his nephew to keep things civil. Katara says that it is hypocritical for Zuko to expect kindness from a victim after what he and the Fire Nation have done like the Air Nomad genocide, the raids against the SWT, burning Suki’s village, chasing and trying to kill them and to top it all, they brought a dangerous man to their doorsteps.

Zuko screams that Combustion Man's first targets were he and Iroh, not the Avatar. Katara responds that it doesn't matter, what's done it's done.

Iroh tries to calm him down saying that right now, what they should do is rest and then train on lightningbending not fight with the Avatar’s friends.

Aang asks out of curiosity what's lightningbending but Zuko says that's not his business. Aang complains saying that he had already apologized for almost killing them in a fit of anger and Zuko responds it doesn't matter, lightningbending is too complex for him anyway.

Katara tells Aang not to feel bad about it, and that once Zuko and Iroh are better, they will go their separate ways.

Iroh corrects her saying that now that they're together without killing each other, it's time for them to explain to the Gaang what they want.

Sokka interrupts, replying that both want to imprison Aang and win the war so guessing games are unnecessary. Zuko objects, he explains his plans have changed. What he wants to know is Avatar’s role before the war and how the Fire Nation started it.

Toph asks “shouldn't you know that already?”

Zuko explains that the Fire Nation's lessons about the war weren't accurate at all and he puts as an example what he found at the Southern Air Temple. The Gaang is shocked that he went there after them but keeps listening. Zuko says the Fire Royal Academy for boys and girls teaches children that the air nomads fought the Fire Nation with their armies; suddenly, he is interrupted by Aang who angrily corrects him: the Air Nomads weren't soldiers, they were non-combatant monks, pacifists. Also, the Air Temples weren't fortresses but spiritual places to raise future generations of air nomads until the Fire Nation ambush them all.

Zuko replies that that is why he was saying there was no accuracy with his lessons. He and Iroh discovered skeletons of children, women, and elders not soldiers, meaning that the Fire Nation armies attacked and killed innocents and then put something different from what happened in the history books. By asking the Avatar for information about how the war started, he can rectify the serious mistakes made by the Fire Nation both in the military and in the educational system.

The Gaang is skeptical about that, though Aang tries to be optimistic and Toph, thanks to her seismic sense, knows Zuko is being honest.

Sokka tells the Gaang to have a private meeting and the team leaves Zuko and Iroh waiting for their answer.

Sokka asks the others what they think about Zuko’s intentions. Katara goes first, saying that she doesn't trust them and it sounds too good to be true.

Toph says he was being honest and when her friends ask how she knows she explains her ability to sense who is lying and who's not.

Aang then says that even if he doesn't trust either of them, he as the Avatar needs a firebending teacher, and Iroh and Zuko could teach him after he learns earthbending.

Toph agrees with that. However, Sokka says that they could ask another firebender who hasn't chased them or tried to kill them when Toph replies with “Who exactly?” he responds “Jeong Jeong”. Katara objects saying that after their encounter with Zhao in front of Jeong Jeong’s house, he won't be in the same place anymore.

Sokka thinks looking for him instead of relying on Zuko and Iroh’s help is better and safer, Toph counterargues saying that they have a chance to help Aang with his Avatar training now that there are two possible firebending teachers and besides it is the most pragmatical option. Searching for Jeong Jeong will take too much time.

Katara asks Aang what he decides and whatever it is, they'll trust him.

Aang takes a few minutes and chooses to have Zuko and Iroh as his firebending teachers much to Sokka’s exasperation. Katara says that it will be ok, and if they try something, the Gaang will retaliate.

After a long waiting, Aang tells Zuko and Iroh that he wants them as his mentors in firebending and together will find the answers about how the war started and what the Avatar was doing during that time; however, he warns them that if they betray the group or try anything, the consequences will be dire. Both accept Aang’s terms.

The rest of the day continues with Aang having trouble at first with earthbending until he faces saber-toothed Moose-Lion that wanted to kill him and Sokka for touching its cub and next Toph when she tried to use Aang’s glider again as a nutcracker. Then it goes to Zuko who still struggles with lightningbending. Iroh teaches him a new movement he invented to redirect lightning but things go south when Zuko wants to try it and asks Iroh to shoot him lightning which the former general refuses.

Angry at his refusal, Zuko leaves to find a storm and redirect lightning on his own prompting Iroh to ask for help from the Gaang. Sokka and Katara still don't want anything to do with the prince, Toph is resting, so it's up to Aang to prevent Zuko from getting himself killed.

Hours later, a raging storm happens and Zuko waits anxiously for lightning to strike. Aang comes to his side and tells him this isn't a good idea and Iroh is worried about him. Zuko doesn't listen to him and keeps waiting but only rain and strong winds come from the storm.

Aang tries again and politely asks Zuko to reconsider this method as it is too dangerous. Zuko snaps saying that of course, the Avatar would think that because for him bending is easier than for anyone else.

Aang argues that not, bending is not easy for him just because he can bend 4 elements, he even had trouble with earthbending because it resorts to a mentality opposite to his. Aang then gets an idea: he asks Zuko what is the mentality behind lightningbending. The prince answers why that is important and Aang explains that by adapting to the mentality and flow of another bending, the job becomes easier and it should apply to lightningbending.

Zuko is not sure about this but seeing that the storm hasn't struck him yet and he's getting cold, he relents and comes back to the camp with Aang.

After returning to the camp, Iroh talks with Zuko privately about what this alliance means for them and the Fire Nation. He explains that now that they will be Aang’s teachers, they can't and shouldn't stop him from defeating Ozai.

Zuko doesn't like that, saying he's no traitor. Iroh says that they technically are after accepting being Aang’s mentors but they plan to find answers about the war, about how the Fire Nation lost its honor and became how it is today.

Zuko says that by letting the Avatar defeat the Fire Lord, his status as a prince will be nothing because he will be remembered as a traitor who aided him to beat his own country.

Iroh asks him to ask himself what is more important, what is a worthy goal for a prince: redeem his country from the many sins it has committed in a false sense of honor, or be as opportunistic as he can.

Meanwhile, the Gaang is also having a private conversation.

Sokka says that they have forgotten the fact that their unwanted new members might go against the team when Aang is ready to fight the Fire Lord.

Toph suggests keeping an eye on them and if there is doubt or one of the two plans something, they will interrogate them and kick their butts.

Katara agrees with Toph despite her increased worries that accepting them as Aang’s teachers might have put the team in danger. Aang wants to be optimistic about the situation but Sokka decides that to make sure there will be no betrayals, they will talk with Zuko and Iroh immediately.

To his surprise, the other two also want to talk with the Gaang and the group gathers in a circle.

Sokka goes first saying if they can really trust them because Zuko is the Fire Lord’s son (I don't remember if that bit of info was said by Zuko in the first episode of the show, by the way) and he accepted to help Aang which he considers suspicious because Zuko was determined to capture him time ago.

Zuko answers that yes he used to have that as a goal but things have changed; however, he's still loyal to his nation.

Katara replies he isn't helping his case by saying that stuff.

Iroh butts by going to the topic of the assassin. Ozai sent him to eliminate both of them much to Zuko’s lingering denial. Iroh explains that he is technically a traitor to the Fire Nation after helping protect the Moon Spirit while Zuko’s status is uncertain but it's not that Ozai would care about that. He then goes with the news about Ozai’s new heir, Chiyo, which surprises the Gaang.

Katara asks if she will be a threat but Iroh tells her that the new heir is a 3-year-old child Ozai is using to extend his bloodline.

Zuko bitterly replies that he is the true heir, he is technically the firstborn, and the brat is a replacement because he couldn't keep his mouth shut at the war meeting.

Aang kindly says that he shouldn't be so mean to his half-sister because she doesn't even know Ozai only wants her to get rid of him.

Zuko snaps saying that how could he know how this feels, he is the Avatar, and he is well-loved by everyone and respected, meanwhile, the prince was burnt, banished, and now replaced with a brat.

Toph tells him he's making his case much worse because now it seems his only goals are the throne and kicking Chiyo out of his home instead of fixing the mistakes of the Fire Nation and finding answers.

Iroh agrees with her which enrages Zuko further.

“Of course, you would say that!! You don't even have to lift a finger to make your own father like you! You're Grandfather Azulon’s favorite child and firstborn after all! He even defended you when my father wanted to take the throne from you after my cousin died!!” Zuko storms off.

The Gaang asks for an explanation and Iroh tiredly summarizes Zuko’s life before the banishment: his hardships in trying to have Ozai’s validation and love, the disappearance of his mother and younger sister who was a prodigy and the favorite child, the war meeting that ended up in banishment, and then he narrates Zhao giving the news about the new heir.

After processing this information, Sokka asks if both are really trustworthy, Iroh says he wanted Zuko to see the wrongness of the Fire Nation because he hated the idea of his nephew following his father’s steps and being a slave of the toxic mindset of the country. He then admits it will be harder than he thought because of the new heir and the assassin forcing him to accept that Ozai never loved him but Iroh is sure Zuko can change for the better and he as a Fire Lord can help the world.

Aang asks why Iroh doesn't take his rightful place on the throne and Iroh responds that before his son’s death, making his father and forefathers proud and gaining more power were his goals but now he prefers other stuff now, power isn't in that list.

Toph says that even if he doesn't care about power anymore, shouldn't he make sure the Fire Nation doesn't fall apart after the war? What if Zuko isn't well-prepared to rule?

Iroh responds that he has been studying and training for years before his banishment but Toph considers that insufficient and an adult is a better candidate for that position anyway. Katara then intervenes saying that what's most important is being 100% sure Iroh and Zuko are on their side and helping Aang defeat Ozai, after that, they can take care of who's going to be a proper Fire Lord and how to make reparations to the other nations.

Iroh is left thinking about this.

The next day, the whole team embarks on to the Si Wong desert to find the Library with a professor from Ba Sing Se. According to him, that library is guarded by a giant spirit and contains invaluable knowledge. Iroh murmurs that he feels like this was told to him some time ago, Zuko asks him what he's talking about and if he entered that library. Iroh only answers that someone mentioned a library but he can't remember who was.

Like in canon, Toph and Appa wait for the team while they look for clues to defeat the Fire Nation. When the rest of the Gaang and the professor meet Wan Shi Tong, the owl spirit, that’s when Iroh remembers and he hid himself and Zuko much to the other’s annoyance. Iroh explains that during the Siege to the North Water Tribe, Zhao told him about a library in which he had found information about the Moon Spirit and that by killing it, waterbending would be no more, giving the Fire Nation a huge advantage.

Iroh adds that if Wan Shi Tong discovers he and Zuko are from the Fire Nation and know Zhao they will be killed instantly, therefore they need to get out and wait with Toph.

Zuko asks what if there was more than one library? What if this isn’t the one?

Iroh doesn’t want to take any chances and pulls Zuko with him to get out of the library. Meanwhile, Aang, Katara, and Sokka keep looking for weaknesses to defeat the Fire Nation. Aang stops and says “Wait, wouldn’t it have been better to ask Zuko and Iroh for that?”, Katara agrees with him; however, Sokka objects that they might not have the clues they need like the library.

Their conversation turns into a debate about choosing one of the two options: asking Zuko and Iroh for vital info or finding it in the library. Aang says having both sources of information is much better than one and they go with that, the problem is that Zuko and Iroh aren’t with them much to their shock.

Much worse, Wan Shi Tong had eavesdropped on their chit-chat because he was still suspicious of the Gaang and refuses to let them leave. He starts attacking them and sinking the library on the sand which gets Zuko and Iroh’s attention. Iroh tells Zuko to run away, he will find the others and get them out of there.

The prince reluctantly obliges and tries to find the window they used to enter.

Meanwhile, Toph senses the library sinking and tries to stop it, and much to her bad luck, a group of sandbenders arrives and surrounds Appa. Toph does her best to defend him but between the unstable ground that is the desert, the number of enemies, and preventing the library to sink with her friends, the task is too much.

Inside the library, Iroh defends the group and asks what’s going on, Sokka answers with “Where the hell were you two?!”, the former general replies that he will explain later but now he needs some context. Katara quickly summarizes the situation and the general tells them to find out when exactly the next eclipse will be. Aang asks “Shouldn’t you know about that?”, Iroh replies that he and Zuko have been sailing for years, there was no time for that. The rest of the Gaang is ushered to the stellar room to decipher when the next eclipse will be while Iroh battles the angered owl spirit.

On the other side, Zuko finally is out of the library just to find out that the sandbenders are taking Appa away. He throws some fireballs at them scaring them away but also Appa who gets out of control and knocks some sandbenders with his tail. Zuko frees Appa and the bison knocks the whole group of sandbenders with airbending. They give up and flee.

The prince then turns around and sees that Toph is struggling to keep the library out of the sand. She asks where are the others and Zuko says that Iroh is taking care of that.

Again inside the library, the rest of the Gaang finally has the information they want and tells Iroh about it. The former general shoots lightning at the ceiling, forcing Wan Shi Tong to protect himself with his wing.

Aang summons a huge tornado to carry everyone, even the professor much to his disappointment, and get them out of there.

He succeeds, prompting Toph to let the library sink completely.

A bit battered, exhausted, but safe, the whole group rejoices except the professor who is horrified that the Avatar has as an ally a firebender, pointing accordingly at Iroh. He and Aang try to calm him down and explain but the professor doesn't want to hear any of it and leaves.

Aang argues that traveling through the desert without an animal to take him to safety or supplies to withstand the heat, he won't make it. The professor snaps at him calling him a hypocrite for worrying over him when he has in his group a firebender, the same kind of people that started the war and is still killing innocents, and if Aang is really that concerned about the world, he should kill Iroh immediately before it's too late.

As to he professor leaves, Katara consoles Aang and Sokka prepares Appa for their next destination: Ba Sing Se.

And this is part 1 of Season 2.

#submission #AvatarAU #Azula disappears and everyone suffers the consequences AU #Avatar season 2 #Avatar The Legend of Aang #au idea

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gaveitbackbroken · 11 months ago

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Live Audios are Live ^_^

Everything in the live folder has been posted, but here's where you'll find the masterlist

Complete Performances (Studio) Unplugged (Mar 2021) Paste Sessions (Jun 2021) 360 Sessions (Jul 2021) Absolute Radio Country (Apr 2022) Coal Drops (Jan 2023)

Complete Performances (Live) 107.7 Froggy (Jul 2021) 107.7 Froggy (Jul 2022) 103.7 WXCY (Jul 2022)

Various Songs Tractor - Vinylyte Records (Feb 2018) Red Light - 11Alive (May 2018) Who's That Girl - MadLife Studios (Sep 2018) Bless Your Heart - Historic Speedway (Sep 2021) It's Cause I Am - Vevo (Sep 2021) Sad - Opry NexStage (Sep 2022) Brave Girl - Opry NextStage (Sep 2022) Gave It Back Broken - CMT (Oct 2022) Brave Girl - Today Show (Oct 2022) Worst Guy Ever - Vevo (Oct 2022) Bless Your Heart - Griffith Opera House (Mar 2023) Old Soul, Young Heart - Troubadour (Jun 2023) Diamond, Point of No Return, Reckless - Station Inn (Apr 2024)

#callista clark #live #audio #masterlist

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sars-wulf · 7 months ago

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Ooooh this looks fun!

Last song:

I’ve been writing a lot of Burn abhsgs

Favorite color: Red! I like a nice vermillion red!

Last TV show/Movie: I was rewatching encanto the other day!

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: can’t pick, it’s too hard!

Last book: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon! Very good book, highly recommend!

Last fic:

Very good fic!

No pressure tags: @nexstage @kiwibirb1 @detentiontrack @strengthwuzhere

thank u thank u @fiddleleafedfig for the tag !!

nine people you want to get to know better

last song: when i opened the tag, 'alien blues' by vundabar but currently i'm listening to hozier 'would that i'. as of finishing writing this, radiohead. there you have it.

favourite colour: a deep cherry red. the kind that would make a really lovely lipstick gloss.

last movie/tv show: i'm terrible with shows and movies, but i was watching the bowie doco (moonage daydream) the other day, keeping on brand ik. i also love british comedians so 'would i lie to you?' is probably up there as well.

sweet/savoury/spicy: sweet if it is really well done. i'm talking specifically that one pub down by where i live that for some reason makes the best chocolate lava cake ever. if not, savoury forever.

last thing i googled: beatles guitar songs for beginners. i've decided to relearn guitar and i'm back to the absolute basics.

current obsession: concerts! this is a long-standing love but it is very evident lately. the way concerts down here work is that no one comes for years bc of the trek to aus, and then randomly there's this one month period where everybody is here at once and suddenly i have to choose between favs. that has been this month! hard on the bank account but my soul is thriving with a concert every other week. saw noah kahan, it was life-altering.

last book: i'm between the '50 yrs of led zeppelin' biography by mick wall, and 'anna karenina' by tolstoy atm. (adding it) last fic: blends by rvltn909. finished it yesterday and oh my god. the crime that was me putting it off.

looking forward to: still a little ways away, but i'm moving to america for (my) winter-spring!! i've work in the states, which i'm thrilled abt. it also means i am tracking down artists who refuse to concert in aus (hozier for the love of god) and trying to sneak them in as well.

np tags (apologies if you've already been tagged): @fairylittlebitch @alltoounwellll @the-moon-says-hi @just--vi @whyistarchaser @bellaxisworld @feminist-cult-following @none-of-it-was-accidental @svnflowermoon + ofc anybody else who wants to. tag me. let me know you all.

#tag game #eheh this is fun!

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borkthemork · 3 years ago

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You know, it's funny but when I remember your post about the dynamics on Sprig's birthday and the parallels between this episode and Reunion it makes me think about the parallels between Cracking Mrs. Croaker and New Wartwood when it comes to the theme of not being liked/accepted by everyone and let it go because both Sprig and Marcy tried so hard to be liked by Sadie and the Wartwoodians respectively that they not only ignored/shrugged off Anne's advises but also made things worse and almost got others killed.

A few other key similarities these two have that I always love discussing with people:

-Sprig and Marcy have shown to be afraid of their families getting hurt or separated by arguments/internal struggles. (Stakeout, The Dinner)

-Sprig and Marcy will go to massive lengths to appease or be seen as a good influence on someone. (Thai Feud, New Wartwood, Cracking Mrs. Croaker)

-Has parental issues.

-Seen as eccentric and because of it affects how other people perceive them.

-Still wants to do the right thing after fucking up. (Civil Wart, True Colors)

-If Marcy's parental upbringing theory is correct, then both also had at one point gotten pressured by a guardian out of financial security. (True Colors, Fiddle Me This)

#amphibia #marcy wu #sprig plantar #asks #nexstage #I absolutely love these two #they are fanfic fodder for being good bros or hyper af siblings who enable each other on

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su-era4-comic · 4 years ago

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Love the design of that Lapis Lazuli. Especially the start on her skirt/summer dress(?), very chill, very cool as her personality. And that Aquamarine had a good design too, I love her character!

Thanks very much! I’m glad you’re enjoying things! :)

#asks #nexstage

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inbarfink · 1 year ago

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About Prismo’s boss, do you like that they are still shrouded in mystery? Or would you have liked it more if their identity had been revealed on the finale of Fionna and Cake?

Yeah, to be quite honest, I just really don't see the point in 'revealing' the Boss, at least not right now.

I mean, at least back during 'Prismo the Wishmaster", when people were speculating that the Boss was actually GOLB, I... really didn't like that theory. I thought it really didn't fit in with any of the established lore about GOLB and I'm happy to see that it got very unambiguously disproven. But... I could at least see the appeal of it. I mean, if the Boss did turn out to be GOLB, that would be a Reveal with a lot of meaning and impact behind it! It would have changed and recontextualized so much of the narrative and even the cosmological rules of the AT setting!

But right now it seems like we're out of any Notable Previously-Established Cosmological Characters who could be the Boss. We really are talking about just... revealing the Canon Character Design to this new separate character. So I think it's worth considering... What Are We Doing Here? What would 'revealing' the Boss mean for the narrative?

Is it just about showcasing a Cool New Character Design? I mean, nothing wrong with a Cool New Character Design, but establishing something properly suitably epic and original for what seems to be the Actual Literal God of the whole AT Multiverse is quite a tall order. That might be why they decided to characterize them primarily by their lack of visuals.

You know, both in the sense that nothing the AT artists can create and animate can come close to all of the collective imaginations of all of the fandom. And in the sense that the lack of visual itself is an element that characterize them and makes them stand out against all the other Cosmic Beings under them.

And while a canon design could theoretically pack in a lot of Cool Visual Symbolism that could have interesting implications for the nature of the AT Cosmology.... their lack of visual ALSO has it's own set of implications. You know, there's a reason why so many religions love the idea of 'the Divine as Undepictable'.

I mean, Cosmic-Level Nonsense are already kinda standard-issue for Adventure Time at this point - so the lack of visual is a good way to quickly establish the Boss as so far beyond the reach, or maybe even comprehension, of our main characters and even other Cosmic Beings.

And even the little hints we get of their visual identity via the Winged Star Motif and the use of a corded phone has it's own interesting implications....

Now, 'Revealing' the Boss also means we could get to see a bit more of their personality, and to hear of their own motivation and reasoning in their own words - and not just implied via the actions and reactions of their subordinates. But I dunno how much this would've been necessary for the narrative of 'Fionna and Cake'.

I mean, the personality and motivation are just implied right now - but all the implications have been painting a pretty consistent picture. It's not like Prismo and Scarab's dialogue give out two totally contrasting views of the Boss that require the audience to get a look of them themselves to know what they're really like or something like that.

And it is possible that the Boss could still turn out to be on some level very very different from how both Prismo and the Scarab view them and you could do some interesting stuff with that? But again, we're talking about it in terms of the plot of 'Fionna and Cake' - so you have to consider if you can implement that idea into the narrative in a way that works with the existing story and themes which of course means that the Boss will have depression

And.... actually this is why I said at the start that I don't see the point in revealing the Boss 'right now'. Because I really don't think it would've added more to the current Fionna and Cake narrative.... but if we're talking about the Hypothetical Fionna and Cake Season 2, well, that's a different story.

And by that I mean, literally, that's a whole new different story that could, theoretically be woven around the idea of revealing the Boss and have it actually mean something in the narrative beyond just updating a character image and a voice actor on a Wiki. You know have an actual plot point around the idea of finally getting to see them explain themselves in their own words. Or even just use their reveal to showcase how grand and epic the current adventure is (we need something to raise the stakes after the last season was about saving a whole damn World, after all).

It's not a surefire thing, and honestly.... I think I am still more content with the idea of the Boss being the one AT Cosmic Character that is constantly beyond our reach. I am just offering it as the one way I can see this could work right now.

#nexstage #maybe I'm just too Jewish to see the appeal of Giving God a Face lol #adventure time #atimers #fionna and cake #fionna & cake #at #fac #f&c #adventure time fionna and cake #adventure time simon #fionna and cake series #fionna and cake show

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sars-wulf · 7 months ago

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Ooooh thanks for the tag!

I'm over 5'5 / I wear glasses or contacts / I have blonde hair / I often wear sweatshirts / I prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / I have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / I typically wear makeup / i don't often smile / i play sports/ I play an instrument / i know more than one language / I can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / I have never dated anyone / I have a best friend that I have known for over five years / I am an only child

10/24… Incheresting

No pressure tags! : @kiwibirb1 @nexstage @strengthwuzhere @caspianscabinet

This was fun!

This or That

Thanks for the tag Reb @peakyswritings !! 🥰

I'm over 5'5 / I wear glasses or contacts / I have blonde hair / I often wear sweatshirts / I prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / I have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / I typically wear makeup / i don't often smile / resting boss face / i play sports/ I play an instrument / i know more than one language / I can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / I have never dated anyone / I have a best friend that I have known for over five years / I am an only child

**I’ve played sports…not currently playing anything

Tagging: @peakyltd @little-diable @halsteadlover @writers-hes @writeroutoftime @forgottenpeakywriter @huntingingoodwill

#I don’t smile much lol #I think I only smile when I’m talking to friends online #especially when online!#I can also cook!#making ribs tomorrow!

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vtuberconfessions · 2 years ago

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The Vtuber of The Day is Alya Yew from the NexStage Project's first generation, CodeX! She is a beast tamer! She streams on mainly YouTube in English.

#nexstage project #nexstagepro #nexstage #virtual youtuber #vtuber #vtubers #vtubing #virtual youtubing #en vtuber #english vtuber #envtuber #envtubers #corpotubers #small corpo #smaller corpos #smaller corpo #alya yew

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goodartitude · 5 months ago

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Happy Marcanne Week, everyone! Let's kick it off with some bug hunting :3 I had the pleasure to work on this prompt with my amazing friend @arcadiii <3 Please check out their incredible fic here!

I drew some art to go with it c: Here it is, along with some early and late sketches c:

Taglist:

@dodelidoo @calamity-unlocked @turn-the-frickin-frogs-gay @mira-blue @kaseyskat @bardicspiration @maritasdump @perpetually-profoundly-confused @scribicronus-v02 @yourpersonaltimebomb @eeveearoace @cute-as-buttons @beneaththeiceandsnow @arcadiii @reyraccoon @gayfrogcoven @oraclecoven @allegory-of-the-rave @hachidementa @hey-its-puddlesock @watermelon-converse @bookmermaidcats @linkcalm @ivypond11 @chaoticcerise @nexstage @darcysd20 @gaynessisintheair @bloop-arts @banyanas @impact801 @mood-owl

#marcanneweek2024 #marcanne week 2024 #marcanne #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #amphibia #myart

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videogamelover99 · 2 months ago

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[Gravity Falls] Waking Days Ch. 4: The Stranger

A/N: This was one of my favorite chapters to write (Bill and Mabel just...work so well off each other, I wish they had more screen time together). Thank you to @megxolotl and @nexstage for beta-reading. Enjoy!

---

Free-floating through the mindscape, Bill tried to find Cashier Girl’s boss, Sarah Wheatfield.

Of course, there was no cleansing ritual. Bill didn’t know what the heck was up with the weird static in Cashier Girl’s mind, or how to get rid of it. Likely it was a symptom of a latent psychotic break, brought on by a glimpse into his dimension, but hey, that wasn’t his problem. The ability to make deals was as powerful as it was a pain, and for once, being able to drop the other end of the bargain worked in his favor.

When he finally found Sarah, he wasn’t thrilled.

I remember you, he thought and watched the woman arrange a shelf of T-shirts. She was middle-aged, with braided dark hair and a mole over her upper lip, one she bit constantly in a nervous fervor. Once in a while she would reach up and rub at her necklace, a rough string threaded through a tacky pink crystal.

She’d made a great backrest for his Throne of Human Agony, but this also meant that she probably remembered him.

No way of talking to her through the mindscape. She’ll know who I am.

He could take on another form if he wanted. He could look like anything he wished in the minds of humans, but he couldn’t risk some too-observant idiot connecting the dots. Best-case scenario, it’s a fit of horrified, traumatized screaming, which would be fun to watch, but not very useful. Worst case scenario: a quick trip to the town’s resident paranormal nerd. And the last thing Bill wanted was for Stanford Pines to know he got some of his power back.

He watched her fold T-shirts, fuming and trying to come up with a plan, when he felt something tugging at him, like a hook sinking into his middle, right underneath the bowtie.

“What? No, not yet!”

It didn’t matter how much Bill struggled to stay asleep when his body was waking up. It yanked him straight out of the mindscape, back to a dirty park bench with two children staring him down.

“Have a nice nap?” Dipper asked. “Come on, it’s getting dark.”

Mabel sheepishly held out a hand. Bill scowled at it, before pushing himself up, ignoring the pout he received. “Like a cacophony of ten screaming toddlers with their feet cut off.”

“Why do I keep talking to you?” Dipper wondered out loud, looking slightly nauseous, “You never have anything good to say.”

—

Greasy’s Diner was crowded with a dozen or so people, and it was pretty damn unusual at this time of day. No one paid him any attention, which was good. People didn’t know the Pines were harboring a chaotic space demon, and it better stay that way.

Stan managed to squeeze in between the Valentinos and find a place to sit, just as someone in the center of the big group of people cleared his throat.

It was a well-kempt man in a pristine white suit. A gleaming, expensive-looking pen poked out of his front coat pocket, and the greying sideburns in his dark hair only made him more good-looking. This man could’ve walked off the cover of a Business for Middle-Aged Men!

The man spoke in a soft, kind voice. “Hello, everyone! I’m glad so many could make it at this hour. For those who don’t know, hello! I’m Mason Jewels, the town’s new tourism consultant. I just wanted to get a better picture of the difficulties the small businesses of Gravity Falls are facing. Who wants to start?”

“Ooh, me, me!” Lazy Susan, standing behind the counter, raised her hand eagerly.

“Yes, you first, my dear.”

“Well, hi. I’m Lazy Susan,” she waved at the crowd.

“We know who you are!” Someone yelled from the back.

“As for difficulties, well…” She frowned for a moment. “Well, you see after last summer…”

“Nothing happened last summer!” Manly Dan bellowed from a booth. His wide frame took up most of it.

“Yeah, it’s the Mayor’s Nevermind All That Act!” someone else said.

“What happened last summer?” Jewels asked.

“Never mind all that!”

“Oh, right,” said Lady Susan. “After all that, I keep getting customers of the more…unnatural variety.”

Jewels frowned. “Unnatural variety?”

“Yes! Those little gnome men. And that bear with many heads. Not that I don’t like the business, but, well, this place is meant for human-sized guests,” she fretted with her hair. “And I don’t have the money to fix any more walls.” She pointed at a giant boarded-up hole behind the counter. A slight breeze came through the gaps in the boards.

“I see,” Jewels jotted something down in the little notepad he was carrying. “And the, ah, bear destroyed that wall?”

“Oh, no, he’s a peach! It’s those gnomes. One of them tried to get me to marry all of them, and they thought getting a ring the size of a minivan would do it. Couldn’t get it through the front door, so…”

Stan let out a laugh, then chocked it down when someone glared at him.

Jewels, for his part, seemed to roll with it. Either this man encountered gnomes numerous times in his career, or he was writing a note to send Lazy Susan to a mental hospital. “I see. Perhaps we can suggest some ideas on how to mitigate this issue?”

Manly Dan raised a hand.

“Yes?”

“Run ‘em outta town!”

“Oh no, I couldn’t,” Lazy Susan protested.

“Yes? Mrs. Valentino?”

“I, for one, found a nice cup of tea and a polite conversation went a long way. One of those bull-men had recently, ah-”

“Gone belly-up?” her husband suggested.

“Oh, yes.” Mrs. Valentino giggled. “And all of his friends requested funeral arrangements. They were very loud, and, well, bullheaded, haha. But after a few calming cups of tea, they were sweethearts. One even cried right in front of us.”

“Aw,” Manly Dan wiped away a tear.

Stan rolled his eyes.

“Yes, perhaps discussing better arrangements with your new patrons would be beneficial,” Jewels said. “What do you think?”

“I could try,” said Susan, scratching her head.

“Anyone else?”

Stan raised his hand.

The man’s bright blue eyes fell on him. He looked surprised for a moment, almost like he recognized Stan. He better not have seen one of the wanted posters.

“Yes? Stanford Pines, is it?”

“Stanley,” he corrected. “Anyway, aren’t you a business expert? What’s with the support group nonsense?”

“I’m just here to better understand the situation of all my clients,” Jewels replied, polite as ever. His voice started getting on Stan’s nerves. “What about you, Mr. Pines? I’ve gotten up to date on every business in this town, including yours. Any problems at the Mystery Shack you are currently facing? You are welcome to share if you like.”

“No.”

“That’s not true,” Lazy Susan piped up. “Yesterday-”

“Okay, there is…one.” Stan folded his arms. “But he ain’t exactly easy to get rid of.”

“Troublesome customer?” asked Jewels.

“Worse.”

They were all looking at him. Damn him and his mouth. He couldn’t exactly come clean and admit he was housing that demon, of all things. Mayor’s Act or not, the panic that would set in would be a huge mess. “There’s, uh, this guy we’re letting stay at the Shack. He ain’t easy to get along with. He makes everything worse for everyone and then acts like he owns the place.”

“I’ve got a cousin like that,” Farmer Sprott piped up. “Why don’t you get rid of him?”

“...He’s got nowhere else to go, I guess.”

“Aw,” said Lazy Susan.

“Hey, don’t make it sound like we’re doing him a favor. If I could get rid of him, I would,” Stan muttered.

“That is commendable, Mr. Pines,” Jewels said. The gleam in his eye caught Stan off guard. He stared at Stan for a few moments longer, before clapping his hands together and turning to the rest of the townsfolk. “Well, you can see how our problems affect more than just our business. They create stress and fatigue, and suck away our energy.”

Stan grunted.

“There are ways to mitigate that stress,” Jewels continued. “The tourist wave is yet to start. By then you will all be busy. But before you go, I would like you all to have something.”

With that, Jewels opened his suitcase and took out a black velvet bag. He reached into the bag and presented…a set of crystals.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” said Stan.

The rest of the townsfolk seemed captivated as Jewels presented each piece. Stan meanwhile, was starting to put his own pieces together, as he held his free crystal in his palm.

Mason Jewels was a con artist, plain and simple.

—

By the time they got back, Seven Eyes was already gone, but Bill could tell she’d been there by the ionized air left behind by the dimensional scissors. Which was for the better. He had no interest in dealing with that. He didn’t want to see her.

Things took on a routine. Sixer avoided him in the most I don’t care of course I’m over it! way possible by hiding in his lab. Stanley came back from whatever it was old men do on their days off, a tacky new-age crystal in his hand, and Bill found it hilarious that the two-bit con artist had gotten swindled.

Bill had taken his usual spot on the couch when Mabel suddenly appeared next to him and produced her sketchbook. “We need to talk about your progress,” she said very seriously.

“You know,” Bill remarked idly. “That ‘I can fix him!’ attitude ain’t gonna do you any favors in your dating life.”

She ignored him and flipped back to the page with the drawing of his badness level. “Maybe we’re going at it the wrong way.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Can I sleep now?”

“You’re not taking this seriously. That’s the problem.”

“Sure I am! I’ve done all those things you asked me to! And don’t forget your end of the bargain.”

Mabel sighed, defeated. “Do you really like being a jerk that much?”

“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret, so listen close.” Bill lowered his voice for the dramatics of it. “Everyone on this planet, everyone in this reality, and all the other realities, they’re all jerks. Every last one of ‘em!”

“That’s not true,” said Mabel.

“Oh please,” Bill rolled his eyes. “You think people do things out of the goodness of their hearts? You think people are nice to each other just because? It ain’t how it works, kid. The big wigs up top invented ‘morality’ to get suckers to fall in line and feel bad about themselves every other opportunity. And those suckers? They do things not because they’re good, but because they feel good. That’s why you humans can’t even decide what religion to follow or who gets to die in prison. Morality is a scam.”

Mabel looked at him for a long time. “That’s a really sad way of looking at it,” she said finally.

“It’s not how you look at it, kid. It’s how it is.” Bill shrugged. “The sooner you realize it the sooner you’ll be free of all those guilt-generating shackles society’s put on you.”

“I don’t think so,” said Mabel. “I think you think that because it’s easier.”

“Whatever,” Bill flipped over on his side and pulled the blanket over his head.

Mabel didn’t move. He heard her scribbling furiously in her sketchbook.

He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

—

He couldn’t. Bill squirmed on the couch, restless, unable to calm down, and unable to tell why. This body was supposed to want to sleep, and yet despite how tired he felt, he still lay awake, hours later, staring at the ceiling, where the blue translucent light of the water tank cast long wavy shadows across its surface.

The Axolotl was silent.

Mabel had fallen asleep, sketchbook still in her lap. Her head had fallen forward, her hair brushing against Bill’s ankles.

Frustrated, Bill sat up and watched her. Shooting Star, the only Pines he was sure could have caused as much chaos as he did. Right now, she looked less like a catalyst of sugar hallucinations and glitter and more like any other human thirteen-year-old girl.

He should draw on her face.

Bill reached for the marker still held loosely in Mabel’s hand. She gasped lightly in her sleep. The sketchbook fell from her lap, onto the floor.

He uncapped the marker.

Then Mabel sobbed and shuddered, her body twitching. She curled up into herself.

Ah. Nightmare.

It must be the one about the pig again. Bill watched her shoulders rise and fall with rapid, panicked breaths, marker still hovering inches from her cheek. All of a sudden drawing on her face didn’t seem that appealing.

In fact, not a lot of things seemed appealing at the moment. Mabel Pines worked best as an unapologetic little brat, not whatever this pathetic excuse was.

It’s not like he owed her anything.

But he didn’t like it.

Fine. The kid would get one freebie, on the house. Bill laid down on the couch again and closed his eyes.

This time, sleep came quickly.

—

Mabel Pines’ mindscape was just like he remembered, except it was on fire.

Crackling flames rose high above him, and Bill watched, floating in the center of it, as the inferno engulfed a giant cast of colorful characters, all screaming in pain. So not the pig one. This one was way more fun.

That’s when he heard the laugh. His laugh.

Bill looked up.

It was kinda surreal, seeing his own monstrous, spider-like form hovering over the glittery town of Mabel’s dream. Hey, she’d at least gotten his good angle! Bill should be flattered by the accuracy. He admired the screaming and the sights just a little longer before he remembered what he was here for in the first place. Right, find Mabel. Bill tore his eye away from his dream self and scanned the crowd.

There. Through the screams and the roaring flames and his own laughter, he heard it. Mariah Carey, entirely in meows.

He floated up to avoid the crowds and followed the sound of her voice. He watched a glamorous hot dog run by, screaming because one of its eyes was on fire. Oh man, that’s why you don’t carry extras, that was hilariou-

He found Mabel.

She was sitting on the ground of some tiny gross alley, her knees scraped and bloody. Her sweater was singed. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her hands over her ears as she sang as loudly as she could.

Bill felt something in his center pull and twist, like someone had stabbed his eye with a hot-iron poker. Suddenly none of it seemed funny anymore. It was like-

His thoughts all turned to static. Don’t think about it.

Bill snapped his fingers.

Instantly, the fire and the screams cut out. Bill ran a haphazard hand through Mabel’s surface thoughts and threw the first pleasant one he could find over the mindscape. Pink, fluffy white clouds floated underneath their feet, resembling pigs, above which was a kaleidoscopic sky of bright stars.

Mabel raised her head slowly and uncovered her ears. She looked around her own mindscape in disbelief.

Bill was out before she could see him. You owe me, kid.

—

“Morning, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel grinned over her cup of Mabel Juice.

“Morning, Pumpkin,” Stan’s usual demeanor gave way to a smile when he saw his grand-niece.

“Eugh,” next to Mabel, Bill made a face. Trust even Fez to be annoyingly sappy first thing in the morning.

Mabel elbowed him on the side before clearing her throat. “Grunkle Stan, our not-so-esteemed resident has something to say to you.”

She gave Bill a look. Bill returned the look with another look, one that spelled he would rather pull his eyeballs out than do what she wanted him to.

Stan, for his part, looked unimpressed. “What’s his problem this time?”

Bill caught her elbow before it met his side again. He gave Stan a pacifying smile. Or, at least, his best attempt at a pacifying smile. In reality, he was thinking of more and more creative ways to rearrange Stanley’s body parts. “Look, my bad. For the glue thing. For real this time.”

Stan still looked unimpressed. “And?”

“...And the shampoo.”

“And?”

“And that time I filled your room with geese.”

“And?”

“And for setting the toaster on fire. That one wasn’t even intentional, I swear.”

Stan grunted. “Not buying it.”

“Hey, I’m stuck here, in this awful, impractical human body. And you’re stuck with me. So why don’t we let bygones be bygones and make our mutual existence here less miserable? How’s that sound, pal? Also, is that a new undershirt?”

Stan stared Bill down. Bill smiled innocently. “...This is a new undershirt. Finally, somebody noticed.”

“Looks great on ya, less stains than usual. So, what do you say?”

Stan scratched the side of his face. “Look, I ain’t gonna pretend like every other word that comes outta your mouth isn’t a sugarcoated lie. But…alright. As long as I don’t get another toaster fire or…birds in the house. I’ll lay off.”

“It’s a deal, Fez?”

Stanley’s face made a funny little dance. “Don’t even start.”

When Stan left, Mabel took the opportunity to wrap her clingy little arms around Bill’s middle. “See? I knew you could do it!”

Bill squawked but resigned himself to his fate. If only she didn’t hug so tight, he couldn’t breathe. “Yeah, yeah, don’t make it a habit.”

“Well, this Mabel is proud of you anyway.”

Bill watched her skip away. He didn’t give what he’d seen in Mabel’s head yesterday much thought.

As far as he was concerned, he got one of them, hook, line, and sinker.

---

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#gravity falls #bill cipher #flat dreams #pengychan #human bill au #fanfiction #the book of bill #vee's writing #a different form a different time #waking days reboot #doodledrawsthings

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