#the way mabel runs to them first really makes me think shes doing all that emotional labor at home

[questionableholidayreally]

you think dipper and mabel have experience deescalating fights because of their parents

[ckret2]

Chapter 63 of human Bill Cipher trying to debate his way out of still being the Mystery Shack's prisoner. Soos has found the stolen Journal 4 in Bill's possession and has to decide what to do about it in light of everything else he's learned about Bill lately.

[*you may notice chapter 61 is missing! This plot was done sooner, so I'll be posting chapter 61 sometime after 64. It's not chronological so you're not missing anything!]

Soos stared dumbfounded at the journal with a 4 on the cover that he'd pulled from Bill's hiding place. Ford had lost Journal 4 last fall—he'd said gnomes had stolen it. How in the world had Bill gotten it?

Soos sat in the attic window seat and flipped through it. The first few pages were Ford's journal entries—his observations of the dimensional rips they were glueing shut in Gravity Falls post-Weirdmageddon, a hand-drawn map highlighting various places around the globe he wanted to investigate, a few drawings and observations of paranormal beings he hadn't seen his first time in town, half a sketch of a gnome that ended with a jagged scribble across the page followed by a page that said "Shmebulock" over and over.

And then a page that said, in an unfamiliar handwriting of jagged, narrow gray letters: "CURSED BOOK! If your name is Mabon Mason Pines, STOP READING NOW or ENJOY YOUR HEX!"

Bill had written page after page of some weird code of gray and yellow-green dots and dashes. A few sentences in English—every one of them was a threatening message to Ford. "Everything would have been fantastic if you'd just helped me finish, Fordsy." "You'll regret not siding with me when you had the chance." "You should have known better than to let your idiot brother turn you against me." "Sixer, you're lying to yourself every time you say you never worshiped me, and you know it. You spent the first third of your life running away from the god you were raised with and the second third chasing after me. Don't waste your last third denying it. YOU'RE MINE." A small, worrying diagram of what looked like the interdimensional portal. And a sticker.

Wait, hold on.

A sticker. One of Mabel's. The rest of the page was the same as the others, the two-tone dots and dashes, except for the sticker, and an arrow drawn from one paragraph to the sticker.

A yellow smiley, its round edges filled in with black marker to make a triangle, over the words "Good job!"

Soos stared at the sticker.

####

A couple of weeks ago, Melody had texted to let Soos know that there was a mess in the upstairs bathroom, and the kids said they'd been fighting a werewolf ghost.

When Soos had gotten home the next morning, Melody had pulled him aside and quietly told him she hadn't wanted to worry him and the Stans, but she did not think it was a werewolf ghost.

When Soos saw the bathroom, he didn't think it was a werewolf ghost either.

It was a scene from a horror movie. Menacing magical sigils painted all over the walls in blood and toothpaste, Bill's zodiac painted on one mirror, the other mirror broken, glass and water all over the floor. It looked like the site of a really wet demon summoning. This contained none of the hallmarks of ghostly or werewolfish activity. Why would Bill do this?

Soos was kind of reluctant to ask Bill. Bill still sorta scared him sometimes. Sure, he looked like a lost 18-year-old, but Soos knew what teens were like in a fight. So he asked Mabel instead.

Mabel pursed her lips uncomfortably. "Ask Dipper."

So Soos asked Dipper.

Dipper winced and. "Promise you won't get mad."

Soos considered that. "Yeah, I guess that's a fair deal."

Dipper confessed that Bill got accidentally locked in the upstairs bathroom for like a whole day, because he and Mabel didn't hear him yelling. Not because they were out of the house when they shouldn't have been. They were just... somewhere else in the house. Doing something loud. For the whole day.

While Bill was trapped alone.

####

Soos had vented to Abuelita about cleaning the bathroom. Like sure, he got Bill was annoyed about being stuck, but that seemed excessive.

Abuelita had made the observation that sometimes people in profoundly bleak and oppressive situations would just... destroy whatever was around them. Like punching a hole in the wall or snapping a pencil when you were angry, but much more so. Not because they wanted their surroundings to be destroyed, but because that was the last and only thing they had power over, and they needed to feel like they were in control of something. Even if that thing was merely changing their environment from ordered to chaotic.

Bill didn't have control over very much. He probably hadn't since he died. Soos didn't know what kind of space triangle afterlife Bill had been in before he showed up as Toga Lady, but it couldn't have been great if he'd come straight back here.

Soos could remember the one time weeks ago he'd let Bill into the bathroom to shower and forgotten to come back and let him out. How Bill had screamed so all the Mystery Shack's tourists could hear; how he'd seethed in Soos's face, how he'd said he'd rather blow their collective cover and throw them all on the mercy of the town's law enforcement than remain locked in the bathroom a second longer than they'd agreed upon. Soos had thought Bill was just impatient and hotheaded.

Standing in the bathroom, looking at the material evidence of Bill's claustrophobic terror—the broken glass, the spilled blood—he wondered.

####

The same day, he had felt a breeze in the gift shop and found the trap doors to the roof left open. He'd climbed up, shut them, and in between tours he'd visited his office to check yesterday's security tapes. 

He saw Wendy coming into the shack to hang out the morning before. That was fine. Soos had discovered she did that from time to time on days the shack was closed, but she wasn't doing anything bad and she hadn't brought it up yet, so Soos didn't bring it up either. Maybe she just needed a private place to hang. Teen stuff. He was just glad Wendy felt that safe at the Mystery Shack. Maybe she'd just gone up to hang out on the roof and forgot to shut the trap doors...

And then, right there on screen, Soos saw Bill letting himself into the gift shop, through the door, which he shouldn't be able to open. A chill shot up Soos's back. The door curse was their only real means of containing Bill. If he could use doors now, he was out, there was no way they could trap him without doing something crazy like locking him in the bunker and hoping he didn't kill himself.

Or could he use doors? Soos thought back to the frantic messages on the bathroom wall, written in Bill's own blood—his desperation over being unable to escape. Maybe he could use doors but not doorknobs. That was okay, maybe?

On tape, he saw Wendy run into Bill. He saw Wendy take Bill onto the roof. Out in the open air, where he could just... do whatever. But he didn't do whatever. Soos fast-forwarded the tape until Wendy and Bill came back down, and Bill simply returned to the living room.

He'd had the perfect opportunity to shove Wendy off the roof or escape. He didn't take it.

If all Bill was using his new door skills for was ducking into the gift shop and hanging out on the roof with Wendy, Soos thought maybe it would be kinda mean to take that away from him. There weren't a lot of other places Bill could go in the shack. (Soos kept seeing the blood on the bathroom wall. He kept trying to imagine what kind of helplessness would drive someone that far.) Maybe Bill needed the open air.

So Soos had put the security tape on his desk, not sure what to do about it.

####

A couple of day after that, while Soos was restocking the gift shop in between waves of tourists, he'd seen Wendy reading an oddly dull-looking booklet instead of one of her usual magazines. He tilted his head to glance at the cover. The Oregon state driving manual. "Aw dude, gonna get your learner's permit?"

"Think so," Wendy said. "Don't tell my dad."

Soos remembered Wendy groaning about her dad wrangling her into doing errands if she ever got her license. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks."

"What made you change your mind? You were totally against getting a license a week ago."

"It's probably those stupid Gleeful Auto commercials that have been worming into my dreams." Wendy laughed. "I'm just waking up in the morning like, neeeed caaar."

"Oh yeah! Heh, funny coincidence, Melody says she had a dream like that too. Sometimes she gets these like, dreams about monsters watching her in bed? But one time, the monster was Bud Gleeful, whispering in her ear about a big car sale. She totally woke up laughing!"

"Ha! Annoying car commercials should be banned, man. Why do we need to be told multiple times a day to spend thousands of dollars?"

"You make a salient point."

They fell silent for a moment as Wendy read a couple more paragraphs. Then she said, "That, plus... I was talking to Goldie the other day."

Soos looked up from the t-shirt he'd been putting on a clothes hanger. "Oh. Yeah?"

"About where we wanna go when we get out of town."

"Huh." Very casually, Soos asked, "What did Goldie say?"

"He wants to go on some big vacation. Like a world cruise or something, I dunno."

"Huh." Soos wondered if that was true. He tried to imagine Bill Cipher as a tourist. Floating triangle in a Hawaiian shirt with a camera hanging from a strap and a fanny pack. What kind of places would he even visit? Soos bet he wanted to visit the pyramids. Heh. (Was that stereotyping? Maybe that was stereotyping.)

"And I told him I'm moving to Portland for college."

"Oh, hey, I didn't know you were thinking about college."

"I... actually, never told anybody else before," Wendy said. "I've been thinking about it for years, but part of me felt like it's just a fantasy? But Goldie said when he got out of high school, he did the same thing—moved to another town, made a new group of friends, all that. And... I don't know, actually talking to him out loud about it just... made it feel real, you know? So I thought, if I'm gonna move to Portland, I should probably start planning for it. Starting with how I'm getting there." She held up the driving manual.

Soos nodded slowly. "Huh. Yeah. That's a pretty mature way to look at it."

And that was what Bill was talking to Wendy about on the roof? Just... listening to a teen vent and helping her figure out her future?

And so, Soos took the security tape off his desk and put it in a drawer.

####

A few days later, Soos had heard the downstairs bathroom sink running for several minutes, assumed someone had forgotten to turn it off, and went to turn it off himself—and had caught Bill, in the dark, half undressed, washing himself in the sink.

After Soos had backed out and profusely apologized, he'd asked, "But—how come you're washing in the sink? I can let you in the upstairs bathroom if you need—"

"Worry about your own grooming habits and leave mine alone," Bill snapped. "As long as I don't smell, what do you humans care how I do it. Soap is soap and water is water."

It took Soos several days to realize he didn't think Bill had had a shower since he got locked in the bathroom. And nobody had noticed, because Bill made sure nobody noticed, because he'd been keeping himself clean in the bathroom he couldn't get locked in.

####

Dipper would go all summer without showering if he could get away with it; Stan showered like once a week and had constant old man smell; Abuelita also showered weekly and had a more refined old lady smell; Soos didn't know when Ford showered, but he'd never caught him doing it and Ford always smelled weirdly like burned hair. Soos showered almost daily during tourist season—that Mr. Mystery suit was hot—but outside that might go three days at a time. Mabel showered near daily.

From what Soos had observed, Bill was showering like, at least twice a week. He didn't know how often Bill cleaned himself in the sink in between.

That meant he was showering more often than two-thirds of the house.

Yet he was the only one in the house living under the threat of being thrown in the tub at 3 a.m. if someone decided he hadn't bathed enough for their tastes.

The reason Bill had refused to shower during his first week of imprisonment was so he could use the condition of his body as a bargaining chip—with no physical possessions in the world, his own body was the only bargaining chip he had—to try to buy a little more dignity. In return, his captors had taken more dignity away. They permitted Bill less autonomy over how to take care of his body than the household's children had.

Dipper had never gotten forced into a bathroom he couldn't let himself out of.

####

The day after the eclipse, Ford had pulled Soos aside and said quietly, "Soos, as soon as you have some time—could you repair the door to the kids' room? Before the end of the day? The latch has been broken since the tooth fairy's attack."

"Uh, sure, I can probably do that," Soos said. "How come?" The latch had been broken for a couple weeks, and the Pines hadn't been worried about it before.

"Right now, the door can swing freely with just a push," Ford said. "I think Bill's figured out how to use that to get in. Which is worrisome, since he shouldn't be able to use any doors..."

"O-oh." Soos thought about the swinging door into the gift shop. "Yeah, uh... sounds bad. Byyy the way—how'd you figure out he knows how to use the door?"

"Dipper says Bill somehow got in and out of the room last night," Ford said. "Mabel fell asleep in the living room and Bill carried her upstairs. I really don't like the thought of Bill being able to get his hands on the kids while they're asleep and defenseless."

Ford was mad at Bill for tucking a kid into bed? That was the big red flag? "No problem! I'll fix the door right after work."

The next time Soos visited his office, he took the security tape out of his drawer, rewound it, stuck it back into the tape recorder, and let that day's security camera footage overwrite and erase the evidence of Bill's visit to the gift shop.

####

And now, today, carrying Journal 4 in both hands, Soos trudged downstairs, trying to figure out what to do with it. He had to return it to Ford, obviously—but Bill and the Stans were already in the middle of a discussion that sounded a lot more like an argument. Flinging a stolen journal into the middle of the proceedings would just make it worse. Maybe he should wait until they were finished and everyone had cooled down a little—?

While Soos was upstairs, the discussion had apparently moved into the kitchen. He hovered awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, watching.

"What do you mean, you need kitchen access," Stan was asking, "you already have kitchen access. It's never been off-limits! Even after you peed in the sink!"

"It's not kitchen access if I need to ask someone else for permission to eat anything but snacks." 

"No one's making you ask for permission! You can take what you want!"

"Okay, fine. So what can I eat?" Bill gestures at the shelves. "Go on. List anything you can think of. Anything."

Stan grimaced, and glanced at Ford to see if he was willing to walk into the obvious trap first.

Ford looked at the nearby shelves. "Cereal."

"One point for Stanford Pines! Cereal! So am I supposed to eat dry cereal for every single meal, or—?"

"No, of course not."

"All right, then what else?"

"Brown meat," Stan said. "We've got plenty of brown meat. It's good for you!"

"You didn't give me can opener rights," Bill said.

"Huh."

"So no brown meat," Bill said. "No canned soup, no canned chili, no canned fruit, no canned vegetables—"

Ford cut in, "Some of the cans have pull tabs, you don't need a can opener for those."

"Terrific observation! As soon as you realized I could open those cans myself, you moved them all under the counter because you thought I'd use the sharp edges as weapons!"

"It's... possible to open cans without a can opener, I did it sometimes while roughing it in other dimensions—"

"Yeah, wearing off the metal rim with a rock, right? Lemme just go outside and grab a rock—oh wait." Bill crossed his arms.

Ford sighed, and turned to Stan to suggest something else.

Stan surveyed the available supplies, spotted the bread, and said, "You could make sandwiches!"

"With what filling?"

"Uh..." Stan kept looking.

Meats and cheeses, of course, were kept in the fridge. Along with jelly, condiments, most vegetables... tuna or spam weren't options, they were canned... "Hey, we leave out some meats that don't need refrigeration. Sausages and stuff."

"Right, right. The ones that don't need refrigeration because they're wrapped in plastic you need a knife to cut," Bill said. "Sometimes I bite the plastic open with my teeth and rip off chunks of sausage with my fingernails, that's always fun! Then you put the leftovers in the fridge, and I'm out of luck until we buy another sausage."

"You could put... peanut butter on your sandwiches?" Ford tried. "Peanut butter's nutritious."

Bill fixed him with a hard look. "For the past five weeks, every time I've gotten a meal without asking someone else to help feed me like a baby, I've had nothing but peanut butter and banana sandwiches, peanut butter and jerky sandwiches, peanut butter and raisin sandwiches, and peanut butter and potato chip sandwiches. And we're out of bananas, jerky, and raisins." He pointed at the tortillas. "Once I decided to get creative and made myself a cold peanut butter quesadilla! I can't even add spices, because guess where the breakable glass spice jars are kept?"

"Pasta," Ford tried. "We could keep the pasta out."

"Oh, wow, that'd be great! I just love pasta! But I can't open the microwave and I can't turn on the stove! How do I heat the water, Stanford?"

Ford frowned. "Hm."

"I can cook, you know—not that any of you bothered to ask! It might not suit your tastes, but it suits mine! I wouldn't need your help to eat if you didn't make me need help! I am sick to death—" his voice went thick and took on an uncharacteristic waver, "—of having to beg to... eat." He cleared his throat, squeezed his eyes shut, and rubbed his eyelids with one hand. "Sh-shouldn't even—need to eat." He clenched his jaw to keep it from trembling.

Stan and Ford exchanged a guilty look. Stan said, "You don't have to beg— I mean, we know the, uh... position you're in..."

Bill was silent for a moment as he tried to get a tough face back on. His voice came out as a rough whisper—too thick to get any louder without breaking. "I had to negotiate to get burnt eggs."

Ford winced.

Soos was dumbfounded.

When had Bill had to negotiate for food? He could all too easily understand how it might have happened—Bill was an annoying guy, sometimes they had to pull out dumb bargains to get him to do stuff. But bargaining for food should never be on that list. Meeting Bill's basic nutritional needs couldn't be dependent on whether he was annoying that day. If it was, he'd starve.

It sounded like he was starving. Right under Soos's roof. He hadn't even noticed.

He thought about the piles of junk food trash upstairs and the bag of chips Bill had hurled across the room.

Ford said, "We'll... discuss it."

"We'll figure something out," Stan said. "I mean it."

Bill nodded silently. Head down, without uncovering his eyes, he hurried out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

He nearly bumped into Soos's chest without noticing him. Soos backed up a step, tucking Journal 4 under his arm. "Whoa, hey!"

Bill froze, head jerking up. "You." His voice was thick and his glare was watery and poisonous. "Don't you have anything better to do than eavesdrop?" He tried to elbow past Soos, smacking his leg with his umbrella. "Move."

Soos realized uneasily that Bill's face looked a little slimmer than it had when he'd arrived.

He stepped in Bill's way. "Can't go upstairs right now. Attic's being cleaned."

"I didn't ask you to clean!"

"I'm not cleaning for you, dawg. It's just gotta be cleaned."

"Fine! Whatever!" Bill veered around the staircase and stomped down the hall, muttering, "Can't decide when I eat, can't decide when I shower, why should I get to choose when my hovel's swept..."

Soos's leg hurt where Bill had smacked it. (Bill couldn't even control whether or not he cried; all he had control over was making someone else hurt.)

In the kitchen, Stan murmured, "Didn't even realize we don't keep anything decent out on the counters. They're so crowded..."

"Chip bags take up a lot of space." Ford sighed. "I assumed he'd get a serving with everyone else whenever Mrs. Ramirez cooks."

"He does, but she only does dinners. And he'll only eat it if he watched her cook it. I've seen him get lunch with Mabel, but I don't know what he does when she's not..." Stan spotted Soos on the stairs. He tiredly called, "Soos? You need something?"

"Uhhh..." Soos hid the journal behind his back. "Nope! I just thought I'd come downstairs! For no reason." He awkwardly walked up the stairs backwards, journal still tucked behind him. "And—and now I'm going up again." He stopped at the landing and scooted sideways up the next flight of stairs. "See ya."

He pressed the journal to his chest and returned to the attic.

####

When Soos and Abuelita moved into the shack, the first thing Soos had done was turn Ford's ground-floor study into a bedroom for Abuelita. Because she was a little old lady, and not quite as steady as she used to be, so Soos didn't want her constantly going up and down the stairs—because falling once, just ONCE, could send her to the hospital or worse. That was how serious it was! You don't mess around with that!

Bill tripped and fell on the stairs so often that they could use it to tell when he was awake. And nobody had thought to offer him a cane? Did anybody even ask if he was alright?

When Bill first arrived and tried to murder everyone, naturally, he came out of it pretty banged up and bruised. That was to be expected. It was self-defense. They'd gotten used to seeing Bill with scrapes on his arms and legs, rope burns around his ankles, and the angry purple-black bruises of chain links over his arms. But in all the weeks since then, Soos hadn't seen Bill bruise-free once. Bruises on his shins and arms, scrapes on his elbows and knees. Soos had seen him with a four-inch burn on his forearm. Bill had brushed it off.

In Bill's first few days in the shack, he'd resorted to peeing in the kitchen sink because nobody had bothered to give a guy who couldn't open doors a way to use the bathroom. And they were the reason he couldn't open doors in the first place!

He threw up in the living room in the middle of the night and went upstairs to sleep on couch cushions on the floor and nobody had talked about it.

He burned off all his hair and was so upset about it that he stole Soos's zodiac blanket and hid under it for half a week, and everyone but Mabel just ignored him.

In less than a month in the Mystery Shack, Bill had lost a tooth.

He had been dragged out of the house during a weird weather phenomenon while terrified out of his mind. Soos had seen Bill cowering on the ground in fear, Ford looming over him, grabbing him by the collar and snarling in rage. Bill had been pleading with everyone in hearing range not to make him go, and had come back in such a state of shock he could hardly walk. 

And yet, he'd protected the whole town from getting hurt in zero gravity—and he'd brought a pet for Soos.

They'd tried to execute Bill two days later.

####

Soos sat in the window seat, flipping through the remaining filled-in pages in Journal 4. The last few pages were packed with stickers. A cat that said PURRFECT! A smiling fish that said A REEL PAL! Bill had started a little collection of pizza slice stickers for some reason. A couple of holographic rainbows, a smiling scratch-and-sniff sun. (Apparently, the sun smelled like lemons and oranges. Astronomy facts!)

Soos reached the current page. Bill was using several pieces of paper—regular printer paper and notebook paper, folded in half—like a bookmark. Soos unfolded them. A list of animals ranked by fuzziness. (Soos was satisfied that he'd been placed under the "smooth and squishy" category, but wondered whether he should be bothered by the fact that he shared the category with pigs and slugs.) A drawing of Bill riding a looping rocket ship and waving a fishbowl helmet above him. A drawing of a blue house with a couple of kids and a pig in the window. Several drawings of shape people kinda like Bill: a pink heart person labeled "Me in Flatworld," a stern-looking red stop sign wearing sunglasses labeled "Bill's parole officer," Bill dancing, the pink heart protecting Bill from some villainous-looking shapes—all clearly Mabel's art.

Several notebook pages in someone else's handwriting detailing names, addresses, and contact information, with statements Soos couldn't make sense of—as if maybe someone had been asking somebody else questions and writing down their answers. He thought the questions might be about how some people had reacted to the end of Weirdmageddon. He got the impression the people being discussed had known that Weirdmageddon was coming. He got the impression they were disappointed it hadn't happened. There were several questions at the end: How will we rendes-vouz? (Whoever was writing didn't know how to spell rendezvous, but to be fair Soos wasn't 100% sure either.) What supplies do you need? What are your interim orders?

Soos stared at the notebook papers.

He flipped back through the journal again, looking at each page more closely.

Sometimes the two-tone dot-and-dash segments had a stray human word: a few characters he recognized from his Teach Yourself Japanese workbooks, sometimes words Soos thought might be Arabic but honestly he didn't have a clue. At one point he listed half a dozen human names that Soos didn't recognize. The most common character was a stretched-out letter M (Mabel?), followed by a 6 knocked on its side (Sixer?).

The dot-and-dash segments had occasional amateurish illustrations. Sometimes they were human stick figures; sometimes the stick figures' heads had symbols off of Bill's zodiac wheel. He saw Stan's fish symbol, Gideon's star symbol, and Mabel's shooting star symbol. Ford's stick figures were the only ones with hands; Bill consistently gave them six fingers. The doodles were like particularly esoteric cave drawings; they were so bad that Soos couldn't tell what most of them were supposed to illustrate.

Except for one featuring Bill (as a triangle) and Mabel and some other inscrutable figures in a really awesome car with flames on the side, its coolness limited only by the fact that it was all in gray and yellow-green crayon. When Soos had been in high school, there had always been a couple of kids who didn't know how to draw anything except expensive cars or name-brand sports shoes, but they drew them in extreme realistic detail. Apparently, Bill was that kind of artist. Nothing but stick figures and the sickest crayon car Soos had ever seen.

It didn't do anything to dispel Soos's impression of Bill as a lost alien 18-year-old.

On one page, in sloppy lines of handwriting that meandered drunkenly up and down the paper, Bill had written, "I don't get why you won't give me a second shot. I asked you to join my gang. I serenaded you in a pyramid. I got a fantastic makeover. I offered you godhood. I showed you my dimension. I didn't torture you until I had to. I even made you a skin couch! I know how much you've always wanted a leather furniture set! I've given you everything from chicken zombification magic to jelly beans, what does it take? What am I missing?"

Soos reread Bill's other messages to Ford. All that "you'll regret not siding with me" junk wasn't threats. It was the impotent rage of a socially inept teenager who didn't understand his own creepiness had driven his friends away. It was the whiny moan of some guy going "Why doesn't she like me anymore" about an ex-girlfriend who had told him five times she didn't like him anymore because he didn't listen to her. Like that guy Wendy dated last summer. So like, a jerk, but not a terrifying world-ending monster jerk, just an annoying creep jerk. A regular jerk. A human jerk.

Soos stood, gave one last look at this journal—clearly stolen, definitely a violation of Bill's "no writing materials" restriction, completely stuffed full of mysterious messages to outsiders and some kind of weird alien code that could say anything at all and might have been super dangerous—and he slid it back into the ripped seam in the attic seat cushion where he'd found it.

He finished vacuuming up the potato chips Bill had flung across the room, thinking about how offended Bill had been that Soos had given him any food except what he'd asked for, remembering what Abuelita had said about people who destroy the things around them when they feel like that's the last and only thing they still have power over.

Enough was enough.

####

(Hope y'all enjoyed! Next week we may interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming to post a TBOB-based chapter I'm inserting early into the fic—it depends on if I get it done by next Friday. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hearing y'all's thoughts on this chapter!)

[ethanhuntfemmefatale]

spent a bit of time today writing out some thoughts on ford as a character and thought it might be fun to put them here. I think ford is a really interesting commentary on heroism and his role in gravity falls is specific and pointed. theres a lot more i COULD get into (the way he and Stan act as foils for example) but here I just want to explore the fundamental ideas of his arc which includes parts of his dynamic with Bill Cipher and Dipper.

I really love the way gf combines the ideas of the lone hero/adventurer (a classic hero trope) with the ideas of the mad scientist (a classic villain trope) to reveal the way they're really based in similar lines of thinking and emotional pitfalls. Ford's isolation & paranoia, his tendency to put his own body on the line, his (relative) willingness to endanger others for his cause...it all points out a neat overlap between the guy who wears all black and carries a gun at his hip and the guy who WOULD inject himself with some kinda substance in the name of Science. I think that's part of why from what I've seen the fandom can be pretty conflicted on Ford--even on a basic design level, he evokes strong and conflicting feelings.

A key moment to me in establishing the ideas of Ford's arc happens at the very beginning of Weirdmageddon--a strange point to choose maybe since it's so late in the show, but I feel like those three episodes beautifully encapsulate Ford's failures and his development. After realizing what's happened, Dipper is desperate to find Mabel and make sure she's all right. Ford tells him, there's time to find her later--right now we have to stop Bill before the weirdness spreads. I love the way that the show presents throwaway moments like this: they're not questioned in the moment, but they stick out to you anyway because they run so counter to the philosophy of the show. Through the past 2 seasons, not only has the show proven that saving Mabel is more important than stopping Bill, it's also proven (and proves again after this) that saving Mabel is essential to stopping Bill. Evil isn't defeated by one guy being brave enough to shoot a gun at it, it's defeated by a community that works and fights together. And, hilariously, Ford is captured within the first 7 minutes of the episode, making everyone else's jobs way more difficult.

To be clear, it would be a complete misunderstanding of the character to say that Ford prioritizes stopping Bill first because he doesn't care enough about Mabel or her safety. It's precisely because he cares so much that he doesn't look for her right away. Ford has bought thoroughly into the lie that Bill fed him, which is that devastating personal sacrifice is not only right & good, but necessary in order to accomplish great things. As long as Ford believes that lie, he remains Bill's perfect prey—even with a metal plate in his head, even 30 years after the initial manipulation. Ford will easily give up sleep, food, friendship, family, sanity, and his own life, if he can be convinced he's doing it for the right reasons. And he's very easy to convince! Ironically, despite being arguably one of the most formidable characters in the show, he's also arguably the weakest and most gullible of the main cast, because he's so obsessed with the idea of giving up everything for something greater than himself.

That lie of the moral necessity of self-sacrifice, the lie that makes it possible for Ford to give up his brother, lock himself in his basement, be angry when he’s brought back home, and nearly destroy the world, is heavily in the offing through the Ford-Dipper plotline of Dipper and Mabel vs the Future. Ford offers Dipper apprenticeship and tells him that he’s capable of handling it—but it would require personal sacrifice, giving up his childhood with Mabel to join Ford in his self-imposed isolation. A test of Dipper’s aptitude for that kind of sacrifice occurs in that episode: Ford nearly dies, and orders Dipper to let it happen so that the rift is kept safe. Dipper doesn’t even think before disobeying him. He doesn’t seem to consider it a decision. There's no thought of the greater good when his uncle needs him.

Later, talking to Mabel about the idea of joining Ford as an apprentice, he says how ridiculous it is--sees it for a fantasy. The image of heroism Ford presents is appealing, but it's a lie.

For Gravity Falls, a show with two central protagonists, a show arguing over and over that the only way to change things for the better is to work with, trust, and care for your loved ones, Ford's position is an interesting one. I'd argue that thematically he stands in a more relevant antagonist position than Bill Cipher. He represents everything that the show is poised against. He's set up carefully as the epitome of Cool, with a masterful buildup to his entrance, badass styling, and hero worship from Dipper (the closest thing GF has to an audience insert.) And then, slowly and subtly, the show reveals how the lie of the lone hero has convinced him to hurt himself and everyone around him, nearly to the point of destruction.

I love him dearly. The best awful guy of all time

[lucisfavoritedemon]

Through The Portal: Chapter 3

Chapter Summary: Stan finally learns what really happened to Y/n back in 1973. Stan realizes the sweet girl he once knew isn’t as bubbly as she used to be, but is determined to bring her back however he can.

Pairing(s): Stan x reader (platonic present, romantic past), Ford x platonic!reader, Dipper x best friend!reader, Mabel x best friend!reader Bill x reader

Warnings: angst, fluff, mentions of hopelessness, mental manipulation, unrequited love, flashbacks.

A/N: The events and ideas are based on a theory I have about the Nightmare Realm. This is in no way canonically true, just my theories based on what we canonically know about the Nightmare Realm.

“Wait, New Jersey?” Mabel and Dipper questioned simultaneously.

I nodded as Stan gave me a look of, ‘don't tell them just yet’. I guess in a way Stan was right, I probably shouldn’t tell them about the fact I technically am 61 years old. So I decided to tell them a little white lie.

“Yeah, I grew up in New Jersey. Just like Stan and Ford did.”

“So, how did you end up here? Did you work with Ford?” Mabel asked curiously.

“Don’t be silly Mabel, she’s not old enough to have worked with Ford on the portal.” Dipper interjected.

“Then you must be his daughter!” Mabel beamed.

“No! I-I’m not Ford’s daughter.” I quickly tried to correct her.”

“Then are you Stan’s daughter?” Mabel questioned.

“No, I have no relation to them at all. It’s a long story that I’m not ready to share just yet.”

“But, you do know Stan. You said that you were sorry you left. So, what happened?” Dipper asked, ready to write it down on a notepad as if he was interviewing me.

Stan walked up behind the two kids before I had the chance to protest, “why don’t you two go wreak havoc or whatever somewhere else. I need to speak with Y/n.”

Mabel and Dipper groaned, but didn’t protest as Stan shoved them out of the gift shop. Stan walked back over to the chair he was sitting in. He gave a questioning look before he finally spoke up, “so, now that the kids are gone, tell me what you meant by you didn’t mean to walk through that stupid portal.”

I take a deep breath before speaking, “look, Stan, it was an accident. I was just doing some test runs on the mechanics. I was not prepared for it to start up and suck me in. I spent years trying to get back to you. I knew you’d be upset with me…I didn’t want to leave…” I answered.

“Then why were you building it in the first place!?” Stan was agitated.

“I…I wanted to win a Nobel prize or a huge patent so you and I could get out of that town. I wanted to give you the one thing you always talked about…to sail around the world on the adventure of a lifetime.

“I-I know I’m not the person you wanted to do that with…but I wanted to make you feel like you finally had someone who cared about you. I did care about you, more than you knew Stan.” I finally confessed.

Stan couldn’t even think of what to say. All these years he had blamed me for leaving him alone in the world again, but he didn’t know I had planned it out thoroughly. He felt like a jerk for judging me without knowing my true plan.

“Y-you were doing it…for me?”

I nodded, “I knew that either you could use the money to sail around the world, or bring the fortune to your family and make up for your mistake. Either way, I didn’t want the money or the fame, I was doing it because I thought it would make you happy.”

“And now I’m the jerk for blaming you after all these years…and I never really asked why you were doing it.”

I smile softly at hsi response. It wasn’t completely wrong. I wanted Stan to be able to rid himself of his guilt and move past his mistake. I had also been tricked into doing so, but I wasn’t ready to confess to him that if I had succeeded that he never would have gotten what I wanted him to get out of it.

“I think I was more upset that I lost the girl I was crushing on more than anything…” Stan confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“W-wait…y-you were crushing on me?” I was taken aback by his confession. I knew Stan liked me, but I never imagined he thought of me in that light.

He just nods, “that seems like a lifetime ago though. I’m different now than I used to be.”

“You and me both…” I look down at the floor knowing I probably opened a huge can of worms that I won’t be able to stick back in.

“I could tell. Whatever you saw in there, whatever you went through, must have been rough for you.”

“You have no idea.”

I floated in a daze. This place had no gravity, no sense of time, it was utter chaos.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t dear ol’ sweet Y/n. What brings you here sweetheart?” Bill’s voice seemed to boom as it had really nothing to bounce off of.

“B-Bill? Where am I?”

“You’re in my dimension. Too bad your invention failed because if it hadn’t this would be released upon your dimension, and you and I could rule over everything! I could just imagine it.”

“Y-your dimension? This is where you live?” I was horrified at what I saw.

Bill was surrounded by strange and weird beings of chaos. I couldn’t believe I had been tricked. Had I truly succeeded, it would have meant the end of the world as I knew it, everyone I cared about would have been put in danger, and It would have been all my fault.

Bill starts to laugh his demented laugh, “yes! Welcome to the Nightmare Realm! A place where chaos reigns! Too bad you failed med, I could have used a partner in crime to help create chaos with me.”

“You tricked me! I trusted you!”

“If I told you my true plans you would have backed out of it. I had no choice, sweetheart.”

“Stop calling me that! I’m not your sweetheart anymore, Cipher! You tricked me, and almost made me destroy my world!”“Not my sweetheart anymore huh?” He looked like he was starting to get angry.

I knew I needed to get away. I started to float away from him as he called his henchmaniacs to catch me. I floated towards an asteroid field and was able to avoid getting caught. I slipped into the hole looking for sanctuary. That’s when I realized I wasn't alone.

After Stan and I talked things out, I needed to find something mindless to get my mind off of everything. I decided to try and get to know the young Pines twins better. They were both sitting in the living room watching TV.

“Hey kids.” I say softly, announcing my presence.

“Y/n!” They both exclaimed excitedly.

“I thought Stan was going to tell you to stay away from us or something?” Mabel blurted out.

I giggle softly, “no, Stan doesn’t mind me trying to get to know the two of you. Just, no questions about where I came from or about the portal, okay?”

“Ah, come on, just one question each, please?” Mabel begged.

“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not talk about what I’ve seen or been through. Not to mention, Stan and Ford both think it’s best you two stay away from that subject.”

“One question each, and then no more after that, please Y/n?” Mabel begged harder, flashing the biggest puppy dog eyes I’ve ever seen.

I sigh and give in, “okay, okay. One question each, but if I think it is too personal, I have the right to refuse to answer it.”

“Deal!” Dipper and Mabel exclaim enthusiastically.

“I’ll go first, how do you know Stan?” Mabel blurted out.

“Stan and I were friends at one point,” I see Mabel go to say something, but I stop her, “no Mabel, you cannot follow up with a question. The truth I’m sure will be revealed in due time.”

“Okay, can I ask how you knew I was going to ask that?” Mabel questioned.

“That’s an appropriate question and allows you to get to know me, so yes, that’s okay. I am a very perceptive person, I can read a person by just looking into their eyes.”

“That’s so awesome!”

I had to think about how to answer that without revealing too much. Luckily it was a fairly broad question, so I felt like I could answer this without revealing too much about myself, “I was in a place that I wish no one else to see, not even my mortal enemies.”

“Okay, Dipper, which one of your billion questions are you gonna ask me? I can tell you’re the curious one.”

Dipper smiles and flips through his notepad, “where were you before you came out of that portal?”

“Yeesh, that sounds horrible. You seem so…optimistic, how did you maintain that?”

“Is that too much of a revealing question!?” Mabel yelled as I went to answer.

“No, again it helps you two better understand who I am and how I function in difficult situations. Well, to be straight to the point and sort of sappy, the thought of returning home kept me optimistic. I’ve always been that way I guess, so maintaining that mindset was fairly easy considering the strain I was under.”

The kids continued to go back and forth on questions to get to know me as a person, the person I was before I went into the portal. The person I hoped was still in there somehow. In turn, they told me more about themselves, and I felt like I was really starting to bond with them.

“So, did you go to college?”

I shake my head, “as egotistical as it sounds, I felt like I was too good for college, like there was nothing it was going to teach me that I didn’t already know, you know? So, rather than spending thousands of dollars on education I felt was futile, I spent time doing what I loved, and looking for grants in other ways.”

“That’s possible?” Dipper questined, intrigued.

“Uh…sure. I definitely think you should pursue higher education. Don’t end up like me.”

Mabel went to ask another question when someone behind us cleared their throat. I turned to see who it was. Ford stood there and gestured for me to come with him. I nodded and stood up, “sorry kids, we can finish this later. It’s been really good talking to you two.”

The kids waved as Ford and I walked back into the gift shop and down to the basement. He didn’t say anything the entire walk down, and I was getting concerned. “Did I say something too revealing to the kids?”

Ford shakes his head, “no, I know you would try to protect them as much as Stan or I would. No, this is something much more serious. I found this while dismantling the portal.” Ford shows me a base and globe containing colorful glowing matter.

“I-is that what I think it is?”

Ford nods, “an interdimensional rift. I contained it, but I’m afraid that Bill may know about this…and will do anything to get his hands on it. I think this may also be the cause of your vivid dreams.”

My eyes widened, “you think that Bill might be heightening my connection to him and tormenting me into possibly making a deal so he can possess me to break the rift?”

Ford chuckles lightly, “it’s like you took the words right out of my mouth. I always forget how perceptive you are. Unfortunately, because of the connection Bill has with you already, encrypting your thoughts is going to be a difficult task to undertake.”

I take a deep breath, “I want to erase my memories then.”

[mdhwrites]

I don't know if you've watched Gravity Falls or been deep in the fandom but I just realized how similar Luz and Mabel kinda are. They're both young quirky girls whose selfish actions helped the main villain achieve their goal (supposedly, in Luz's case) and learn the lesson of facing reality instead of being stuck in a fantasy world where they get everything they want (although Luz doesn't really learn this even though it was kinda set-up for her in s1) (they also have a girl rival with shit parents that the fandom ships them with but anyway-)

I'm not saying this to shit on Luz though, I like Luz. But it mind boggles me how Mabel gets shitted on way more than her does despite being younger, actually learning her lesson, and apologizing for it. It might because they're different shows but I know a lot of TOH fans were/are GF fans because of the creators' relationship so the fandoms aren't that different from one another. It MIGHT be because Mabel trusted Blendin so easily despite the situation being shady as hell (while Luz just thought Philip was a normal human in the demon realm) but to be fair, Mabel was cornered in a moment of vulnerability and she literally didn't even know what she was giving him. Abandoning her friends and family for her own fantasy land while an apocalypse going on was really horrible, I won't deny that, but Luz also pretty much did the same when she chose the demon realm (place she doesn't know anything about with STRANGERS) over her own world in the first episode. Sure there wasn't anything horrific going on in the human realm so her ignorance of it wasn't as bad as Mabel's– BUT THEN in TTT she thinks of leaving everyone behind by staying in the human realm while the Collector was doing who knows what???

I don't know, this might be kinda petty, I haven't rewatched GF in ages, but I just think it's unfair Mabel gets more hate than Luz. I feel she's had more character progression compared to the latter and at least she always got called out when she did something wrong and learned from it.

So take all of this with a grain of salt because while I've heard a little of this discourse, I haven't watched a lot of Gravity Falls (recently tried again and found myself not loving the first episode if I'm honest) and have never been a part of its fandom. However, this is a chance to talk about why Luz is so liked and 'relatable' to so many because it is not hard to figure out why people like Luz. Why? Well... A lot of it comes down to framing and how the two shows see the two girls.

Gravity Falls sees Mabel as a tweenage girl.

The Owl House sees Luz as the embodiment of what a teenage nerd wishes they were/could be.

Those are VERY different goals and framing.

One, Mabel, is going to be INCREDIBLY fallible. Neither her or Dipper are anywhere close to perfect people because... Well, they're teenagers. They get way too into certain things. They're awkward when it comes to those obsessions. They're awkward about how to deal with change, consequences, etc. like that because that's just the age they are. They're figuring out the world and are going to run face first into it and that will be awkward, clumsy and often destructive without any sort of excuse besides they didn't think the consequences through. That's kids for you.

The other is... More idealistic. Luz doesn't face real consequences for testing her boundaries and is always bailed out. When she fucks up, she always does it with the best intentions and/or no one actually gets hurt. People coddle her and always make concessions to her desires with minimal push back and always end up on her side unless they're just a REALLY big meanie head. She always makes peoples' lives better, she never gets real criticism or ridicule for her interests and is always accepted by the right people for those interests. Always given more and more for being her quirky self!

A lot of this for Luz is because she's an audience surrogate and TOH wants the audience to feel good about themselves. It knows that a lot of nerds will be the ones watching it and leans in. This is actually contrasted by the fact that, well, Mabel isn't the audience surrogate or the absolute primary character of Gravity Falls. Her role is more complicated versus Dipper who IS the nerdy one who's closer to being the audience surrogate.

Just to really drive this home: People on my Discord have talked about this and one of the biggest 'crimes' as seen by a lot of the fandom is that Mabel causes Dipper to lose out on his dream of researching with Ford and staying in Gravity Falls. I could even see some arguments of things like "He's planning a future!" or "He's making the world better!"

But... Let's shift the framing for a moment from "Mabel caused Dipper to give up on his dream" to "Mabel made sure Dipper chose reality over fantasy." After all, his desire was to throw away his friends, his family, EVERYTHING to just continue hanging out with this one old dude and studying the weird phenomenon of the world, an inherently isolating job. He gets to go on this big adventure and follow his intellectual drive... At the cost of reality and everything he has known.

So why don't people get upset at Dipper for trying to do this? Well, there's a lot of potential reasons that I can't really narrow down without watching the show. It may have just been framed as a positive while Mabel's is framed as negative. It could be that while Mabel's is just a generic, girly fantasy that not much of the core audience actually wants, Dipper's is the cool, smart fantasy that is totally not just a fantasy, but a CAREER. Or it could go back to the root problem: Because Dipper is closer to the audience surrogate, closer to the main character, there is a bias to inherently see his actions as good. We could literally watch two characters do the same thing and we will root for the main character simply because that is who we are trained to root for.

A great example of this from TOH is how Luz is allowed to get mad at people for lying to her but not the other way around. She literally attacks Eda and gets the two captured in Titan, Where Art Thou? because Eda lied to her and she is supposed to feel justified in this anger to make the tragedy angle work. Meanwhile, there is ONE time when anyone gets mad at Luz for lying and honestly, the framing and reactions cause it to end up feeling much more like it was just for a prettier scene change during Reaching Out. After all, Amity still wants to fix Luz's pain before Luz even apologizes for breaking her word by lying. So why doesn't anyone call out the hypocrisy here? Why is NO ONE allowed to get upset with Luz about this?

Because she's the main character. Because we are trained to root for her and, well, Luz also is the one we are told to want to be. She is the every nerd. She is meant to connect to a very wide net of outcasts who feel like they don't belong and wish things were different. Wishes people weren't mean to them or didn't get mad at them when they made mistakes. That just let them be the hero of their own story.

So of course, they don't want Luz to be yelled at, even when that is the actually human and reasonable thing for someone to do. They don't want to question what she does so when the show gives them an excuse, or they have to go to reality if the show itself doesn't give an excuse (This is why people emphasize Luz's age and nuerodivergence to excuse her while bluntly ignoring Mabel's age when it comes to her actions), so that they don't have to recognize that Luz does some REALLY shitty things, especially in the back half of the show. It is simply more convenient for the narrative they want out of the show for Luz to be this way.

And that is okay from a casual standpoint. A lot of fiction is escapist. There's nothing wrong with wanting to jump into a world where you're never actually wrong and never in trouble. Where your angst is always met with hugs and understanding rather than actual human emotion. That's how media works. Most mass appeal products are escapist. It's part of why the Isekai genre is SO prevalent right now because it is one of the purest forms of escapist fiction out there, especially due to modern isekai tropes.

But if you're going to talk critically about something, escapism is very rarely a good jumping off point for it. It will make you ignore a LOT about the work because it's uncomfortable for you to ask questions about it. I'm not talking about "Why does this world have magic" sort of things mind you. I'm talking about, say, "Why does this character get so many power ups, so easily, and with little effort in earning them?" When you want escapism, the pacing won't bother you. If you're actually looking at themes and payoffs, it will bother you a LOT. And yes, this does tie into TOH because if you want to be Luz, getting the glyphs feels great! If you actually interrogate the story, you go "Wait, they hadn't actually done like... ANYTHING with her not having magic in a magical world and she already gets a spell? And two of these spells she does literally nothing for. Arguably three since she is put into timeout as a punishment and gets the glyph I guess for being a bad person." That TOTALLY is good storytelling and makes sense with positive themes and proper explorations of its own ideas.

*sigh*

It's a rough push and pull and it can make it so people, even if they like the show, who disagree with the popular opinion, the one that usually lifts up the audience flattering elements the most, are just in a rough position where they hear the same opinions over and over again. All while knowing that if they speak up, they'll be stomped on.

Just like Mabel was while Dipper was raised into the spotlight. At least by the fandom.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[greenofrain]

Only Murders In The Building Murder Board

I watched episode 1 last night and I can't wait for next week, so I just wanted to compile a list of people I think could have done it. I'll probably come back and reblog this when new episodes and new clues come out.

1. Bev Melon

It must be terrible to be named after a fruit.

Bev, the producer of the film, is passive aggressive to our crew and aggressive about filmmaking. Would she go so far as murder to close a film deal? My best theory is that she tried to non-lethally shoot Charles in order to convince him that New York was unsafe to get him to come to LA for the meeting. Once she found out that she actually shot Sazz, she took her to the incinerator so that nobody would know. Of all the film crew, I think she's the most likely. The brothers sisters are oddballs, but a misdirect, and the screenwriter and VPs don't strike me as suspects... Yet.

2. Howard Morris

I'll admit, I didn't really buy into the "Howard is the Mastermind" theory until this episode. But there are too many weird coincidences to ignore. How did he let himself in to Charles' apartment? Why does he text Mabel as soon as they've broken into Sazz's apartment? Why does he need a cadaver dog in the first place? Much to think about. Maybe he tried to kill Charles to usurp his place on the podcast? With all that said, I don't think it's Howard for 2 reasons. Firstly, if he's the mastermind and we know the show has five planned seasons, why reveal it in season 4? Second, he was way too helpful with Gravey to find a body that he killed. But then again, who knows? This murderer is much more aggressive and confident than the others, anything is possible.

3. Emma (Lucy's Mom) OR Lucy's New Stepdad

It's the return of a recurring character from a few seasons ago! I think that maybe in the year between seasons 2 and 3, Emma got a new boyfriend who tried to be a father to Lucy, but she liked Charles more than him. After Ben Glenroy's death, they forbid her from seeing him again because "he's too dangerous," and she protests like teenagers do or runs away, so they take matters into their own hands. This is a long shot, but it could be possible. We know the next episode is about two figures from Charles' past returning, and this is about the only thread from Charles' past that we haven't touched on in some capacity, so we might see Lucy return or Emma make an onscreen debut.

4. Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and/or Eva Longoria

Hear me out.

One or all of them wants to take over for their respective podcaster. Eugene Levy has the clearest motive, wanting to become Charles in real life after playing Brazzos in Quebec and now Charles in the movie. Zach Galifianakis is clearly the most hostile to Oliver, and that may transfer over to Charles as well. Eva Longoria described Mabel's age gap with the guys as "creepy," so maybe she's trying to get the guys out of the picture so Mabel can get her "shit ton of money and build something with it." It's a crackpot theory, but a theory none the less.

And that's what I've got for now. Please let me know what you think, I'd love to hear other people's theories!

[aceofstars16]

The Epilogue is up! After over a month (or five years, if you are counting the first seven chapters lol), this story is finally finished!

Thanks to everyone who read, reblogged, and liked it!

The whole story can be read on AO3 or you can read the epilogue below:

Epilogue

June 20th

This had officially been the longest day of my life. I already wrote about what happened in the past (Man I was really freaking out about time paradoxes, huh? Good thing there is such thing as a Time Wish!) but I thought I should fill you in on what happened after me and Mabel got back for the second time.

First, much to my surprise, the Mystery Fair was still going on! But it was different than the one Stan had put on before our time travel adventure. The biggest difference was that there were way more scientific booths around. You could actually learn things! But not all of it was different. Stan still had his dunk tank, and it was still rigged. Aside from that, most of the activities seemed a little safer (maybe the safety signs were actually real…but knowing Stan, they could still very well be fakes). I was pretty sure that the science and safety were Ford’s doings, and that was confirmed when we found our grunkles on the grounds.

What a reunion! They were so thrilled to see us that Stan practically tackled us in a hug.  What had only been a few minutes for us was thirty years for them! But true to their word, they had plenty to tell us, with more promised after we get some sleep (as if I’ll be able to sleep! Okay, Globnar did kind of wear me out, but my brain is still going a mile a minute.)  However, the pictures in the hallways of the two of them on a boat make me think a lot of their stories are going to involve sailing.

But the-

Okay, Mabel keeps begging me to let her write some. So I’ll pass it on to her for a minute.

Hi!  Mabel here! Dipper forget to mention the best thing! Or, one of the best. Seeing Grunkle Stan and Ford again (and getting the tightest hug ever from Stan) still makes me grin. BUT the other best thing happened when we first made it back to the fair. True to Dipper’s word, we started looking for Waddles. Now, with how different everything was, I wasn’t sure where to look for the pigs. And I was starting to wonder if they even had pigs at this fair. But then I saw him! Waddles was in a pen, just like before! And I won him again fair and square. Now I have my pig and both of my grunkles! It’s the best day ever! Thanks Dipper!

Okay, Dipper here again. Yes, Mabel got Waddles again, and I’m okay with it, even if it meant giving up my day with Wendy. Oh, right, I need to fill you in on Wendy in this new future! She’s still around, in fact, she still works for Stan! (And kind of Ford too. He told me that she’s helped him and Stan investigate anomalies a few times!) Ford said something about not having enough money to buy a boat. So Stan had the idea to turn the house into a tourist trap (count on Stan to have the same idea no matter what changes in the past). Of course, Ford wasn’t a huge fan. But they needed the money and Ford realized it would be a good way to educate the public about anomalies.

And so, the “new” Mystery Shack was born! It’s definitely more educational than before – which Mabel says is boring – but Stan still creates his fake attractions. There is even a game to play where you have to figure out what is real and what is fake. It’s a lot harder than it looks!

Soos is also working at the Shack as a handyman. Something about Fiddleford (who Ford told me was actually Old Man McGucket! Though he looks way different than he did before) focusing on his family and his own inventions and Ford not having time to fix the little annoyances around the house. Plus, I think Ford can tell how much Stan enjoys Soos’ company, even if he’d never admit it!

I still can’t help but wonder what had happened in the past to result in Stan running the original shack. But when I mentioned it to Ford, he simply stated that some mysteries are better left unsolved. And, seeing how happy everyone is…it’s hard to disagree.

So, I know who the author is. It’s a little strange, realizing that the biggest mystery of the summer is already over. But I have a feeling there are still plenty more adventures to be had this summer, all of which I will document here. I can’t wait to get started!

Signing off for now (because Stan just poked his head in to tell us to “Get to bed you knuckleheads, or I won’t tell you about the kraken I fought with my bare hands.”),

Dipper Pines

[butterfly-eye]

i don't wanna finish the comic... kinda a long-ish fic detailing the relationship between Carrie and Ford. They're a fun dynamic that I didn't consider enough while I was first making her so... it's happening now.

Carrie meets Ford just hours after the dust settles on his arrival. She'd have been there sooner, but as it turns out, opening a direct portal between dimensions will have some adverse affects on a girl whose perception is split between them; migraines don't get much worse than that.

She rushes up to the Mystery Shack as soon as she can. The world hadn't ended and there are no new monsters lurking around and her friends are a little banged up but otherwise unharmed, but Carrie can't find it in herself to be relieved.

Mabel introduces him as her new Grunkle Ford, who had been stuck in between dimensions.

It's hard to describe exactly what Carrie sees when she looks at him, because how do you describe seeing a concept that should be imperceptible? But what's important is this: she looks at him and she knows, sure as she knows about the stained-glass window and her eyes when she looks in the mirror.

That man is a monster.

He's the one who built the shack and he's the author of Dipper's journal and Mr. Pines' brother and Mabel's Grunkle, and traces of Bill's power linger around him, inside his head and heart and soul, invisible to all but her.

She relaxes her posture and flashes a smile like she always does and jokes that at least one's taste in decor isn't genetic. The town returns to normal, as it is wont to do, and Carrie tries not to let show the sick feeling in her belly every time she sees their old-new resident scientist around the shack or the woods.

Ford, for his part, isn't oblivious to the gold-rimmed eyes that track his every move through the forest, nor way the children's friend's smile gives way to a dark glower whenever they're not looking. He can't imagine what he might've done to warrant this, being that he has said maybe twenty words to her ever, but it's very obviously not a priority. He carries on with his research and leaves her to her ire.

It comes to a head while Stan and the children are off on a road trip... something about rivaling tourist traps and vandalism. (Ford won't be bailing them out if things go south, he tells himself.) He's researching ways to protect the Shack from Bill's influence, when at some point he falls asleep. His dreams are suspiciously undisturbed.

When he wakes up, Carrie is standing over him with a kitchen knife poised over her head, ready to strike.

The next instant, she's on the floor. She scrambles back. Her expression is one of absolute terror.

"I hadn't expected you to take things this far," Ford says. He picks up the knife from where it had landed. Carrie yelps and puts up her arms defensively.

"Stay away from me!" She yells, "Don't come any closer!"

Ford doesn't know what to make of this situation, at first. This child had shown a clear disdain for him from the moment she laid eyes on him, and that dislike had culminated in her trying to kill him in his sleep. The logical course of action is to subdue her, as he has done, and inform the authorities.

Except.

He has heard much about the children's adventures over the summer, and through all of them, Carrie has been painted as cheerful, laid back despite her oddities. Every time he sees her in the company of others (really anyone except him,) she's smiling and attentive, always ready with a quip or a rambling story. Her current demeanor is uncharacteristic- reserved only for him. Why?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he says. She shakes her head.

"I'm not stupid! I know what you are!"

What?

"What?"

The glare she shoots him would be scathing were it not for the tears running down her face.

"I can see it! Did you think I wouldn't know? Did he not tell you I would?"

He feels like he's about a hundred steps behind in this conversation.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't try to- don't try to play dumb! I know you made a deal with Bill Cipher!"

Ford's blood runs cold. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out, not at first. Carrie continues yelling.

"I'm not stupid, and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone! I- can't let you hurt anyone! I'll kill you if that's what it takes!"

Oh. Oh.

He sets the knife down on the end table and sinks to the ground slowly. He meets her eyes, properly taking in the glowing gold triangle that surrounds her pupil. Were it not for her outburst, he might have assumed... well, he isn't sure what he would have thought.

"I'm not sure how you know about Bill, but I assure you, I am not working with him. I was tricked many years ago and have worked tirelessly to stop him ever since."

She seems taken aback by that admission, but she only falters for a moment.

"Why should I believe you? He's a good liar, in case you didn't know."

Trust no one. Carrie hasn't see that phrase, can't have seen it, but she lives by it all the same. It would be commendable, were it not heartbreaking.

"Look at my eyes- my pupils. I'm not possessed by Bill, nor can I ever be possessed by him again. I've made sure of that." He knocks his fist against his forehead. The metallic sound fills the silence.

Carrie studies him for a long moment. Her gaze is searching, analytical. Whatever she's looking for, she seems to find it, as a little bit of tension slips from her shoulders. She gathers her knees to her chest and keeps staring at Ford.

"I see him... in the window, the rug... all over town... he's always- always watching. And nobody else knows. Nobody else can see."

She lifts up her right arm to show off the woven bracelet she's wearing.

"He can't possess me either. I made sure to... it's a ward."

Ford's eyes widen. "A ward? How did you manage to create one? How does it work?"

"It's not... I didn't make it. It's a gift from-" she pauses, considering her next words carefully. If it would be alright to tell anyone what she sees, it would be Dr. Pines, she thinks. But the thought makes her feel slimy and scared. Maybe not. "-a friend. I don't think I can get more."

She buries her chin deeper in her knees. "I'm not going to give you mine to study, either. So don't even ask."

Silence.

"I'm not sorry. And I'll deny it if you try to tell anyone."

That startles a small laugh out of him. How bold.

"Well, I can't argue with that. If I were working with Bill, you wouldn't have been wrong for what you did. But it was still reckless. Bill is powerful beyond imagination. It wouldn't take him a second to hurt you."

She nods, looking embarassed.

"Also, this would have been a very poorly executed murder. You're wearing easily identifiable clothes, and you don't even have gloves on. You'd be identified and found quickly. And what were you planning to do with the body?"

She giggles tearfully. "Well, the next time I try to murder you I'll be more prepared."

And that's the kind of thing the Carrie of Mabel and Dipper's descriptions would say. Her expression is still reserved, and she still leans a little bit away from him as he stands, but it is something.

"Well, since we're both awake, what say you to some ice cream? I'd like to ask you what you know about that ward of yours."

She rises to her feet as well. "I can't tell you a whole lot, but I'm not going to turn down ice cream," she replies.

I can't tell you much isn't the same as I don't know much, and they're both quite aware of that fact. But it's okay. There's time.

[angelswing236]

"It's not your fault."

Fictober 2023

Category: Fanfiction

Fandom: Downton Abbey

‘Oh, God. I can’t believe this,’ Mary muttered, resolutely not looking behind her as she settled in her seat. ‘Mabel is glaring at me, isn’t she? I can feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.’

Tom flicked a quick look at Mabel Lane Fox across the room, looking none too pleased. ‘I wouldn’t say she’s glaring, exactly. She doesn’t look happy, though.’

‘Of course, she doesn’t! She thinks I’m after her man again. I know she does.’

‘Do you want to leave?’

‘No! We can’t do that! She’d think she was right! Oh, this is a disaster.’

‘It’s all right, Mary. It’s not your fault,’ Tom said, soothingly.

She looked up, glaring at him. ‘No, you’re right. It’s your fault!’

Tom’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘My fault? How is it my fault?’

‘Because you wanted to come here!’

‘Er, hang on a moment, you said we should go out tonight and not just lounge around at Rosamund’s again,’ Tom said, indignantly.

‘Yes, but you chose the restaurant!’

‘Yes, but I didn’t know Tony would be here, did I? I’m not a mind reader.’

Mary groaned, rubbing her forehead. ‘Oh, Tom, I worked so hard to get rid of him, but now after bumping into him this afternoon and again this evening, he thinks I’m sniffing around him again! I can see it in his face! And so does Mabel!’

‘Well, just tell him you’re not interested again. That should do the trick,’ Tom said, confidently.

‘Will it? It took Charles Blake pushing me up against a wall and kissing me to get the message through last time.’

Tom glanced up, seeing Tony Gillingham threading his way amongst the tables towards them. ‘Oh, stand by your beds. He’s coming over.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Mary muttered, blowing out an irritated sigh.

‘Do you trust me?’ Tom said in a low voice, an idea occurring to him.

‘What? Of course, I do,’ Mary said, crabbily. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

‘No time to explain. Just follow my lead.’

‘What?’ Mary said, puzzled, and then pasted a smile on her face as Tom got to his feet, shaking hands with Tony.

‘Good to see you, Tom,’ Gillingham said, pumping Tom’s hand.

‘You too,’ Tom replied, smiling.

‘Mary, you’re looking as lovely as ever,’ Tony said, beaming at Mary, his eyes dipping to the hint of cleavage showing at her neckline.

‘Thank you,’ Mary said, ‘one does try.’

‘Would the two of you like to join me and Mabel for dinner?’ Tony continued, still gazing at Mary.

‘Oh, that’s very kind of you, but no, not tonight,’ Tom said, politely declining the offer. ‘I’ve got a bit of making up to do, haven’t I, Mary?’

‘Er, yes, you absolutely have,’ Mary agreed, going along with whatever Tom had planned to get rid of her former beau.

Tony smirked a little. ‘Why? What have you done?’

‘Oh, we’ve just had a bit of a lovers’ tiff, haven’t we, love?’ Tom said, putting his hand on Mary’s shoulder in a way that drew Tony’s gaze. ‘You know how it is sometimes. You open your mouth and say completely the wrong thing at the wrong time and your lady takes offence.’

Gillingham stared at the familiar way Tom was rubbing his thumb gently over the curve of Mary’s bare shoulder and flicked his gaze between the two of them uncertainly. ‘Lovers’ tiff?’

‘Yes, Tom’s blotted his copybook, haven’t you, darling?’ Mary said, running with Tom’s on-the-fly strategy. ‘He’s trying to wine and dine his way back into my good graces.’

‘Are you two… together?’ Tony asked, his eyebrows rising up his forehead.

‘Yes, we are,’ Tom replied, looking adoringly down at Mary.

She reached up, putting her hand over Tom’s, smiling up at him.

‘I… I didn’t know,’ Tony said, forcing a smile on his face.

‘Well, it’s very new,’ Mary said, brightly. ‘Nobody knows really.’

‘Hmm, right. Well, congratulations. I’ll have to tell Mabel. She always said you two would be perfect for each other.’

‘Did she?’ Mary squawked, taken aback by that revelation.

‘Oh, yes. Right from when she first met Tom and saw you together,’ Tony said, looking like he’d eaten something that disagreed with him.

‘Golly. She’s… um… she’s on the ball, isn’t she?’ Mary managed to say.

‘She’s usually right about these things,’ Tony said, sounding disheartened. ‘That’s why she said she’s so sure about us getting married. You know, despite… everything.’

There was an awkward silence.

‘Well, you’d probably better get back to her and let me get back to my grovelling,’ Tom said, trying to get rid of Gillingham.

‘Yes. Yes, I suppose I should. Good luck, Tom,’ Tony said, nodding half-heartedly. ‘Good night to you both.’

‘Good night,’ Mary said, her hand still over Tom’s, his thumb still rubbing her shoulder.

Tom took his seat again as Gillingham departed back towards his table, catching sight of Mabel with a face like thunder.

‘Well, that seemed to do the trick,’ he said, shooting Mary a small smile.

‘Yes. Except that now it will soon be all around town that you and I are now… well, you know.’

‘Do you care? We’re hardly down here anymore.’

‘What made you tell him that?’ Mary asked, curiously.

‘It was what you said about Charles kissing you. I thought he might back off if he thought you were spoken for. And it seemed to work.’

‘Did you believe that about Mabel? About what she thought about us?’ Mary continued, her heart thumping a little harder.

Tom shrugged, his eyes locked on Mary’s. ‘Why would he lie?’

‘But why would she think that?’

He shrugged again and glanced over at the Gillingham/Lane Fox table.

‘They’re looking over. Give me your hand.’

Mary put her hand in his and Tom raised it to his lips, keeping his eyes on hers. As his lips touched her skin, a frisson danced down her spine. Oh, she thought, her stomach somersaulting.

[hidden-poet]

I just finished reading chapter 3 & 4 of commander snow and WOW!!! How are you not on New Yorks best selling author list? Jesus your writing is AMAZING!!! 

Okay the way he grabbed her neck and kept kissing and biting her neck while she was searching him for morphling in so much distress was so hot 🥵🥵 (I mean all the sexual content in commander snow is so hot; don’t even get me started on him eating her out and forcing her to give him 2 bjs in less than 24 hours 😂 soooo much to unpack there in those scenes *CHEFS KISS* MUAH)!!! He’s so proud of himself after that too with digging into that apple pie and feeding it to her 😂 And what’s this whole deal about him not fucking her until he goes back to the capitol? What does this man have planned for her?

The way he has this constant need for validation to feel love and nurture from the her warms my heart 🥹 even tho this man delusional as fuck and I shouldn’t feel bad for him but you got me conflicted over here and I WANT HIM TO CORRUPT ME😭 He’s so possessive over her and her independence 😫🥵

Coryo really out here using readers toothbrushes in both commander snow and snow lands on top 😂 but I find them sharing it so hot. I also love how this man has a constant slapping kink in each of your fics hehehe 🥵

Idk why but the way he takes over her whole bed is so funny to me 😂 but him taking her wrist and rubbing it 🥹 even though he’s the one who damaged it in the first place 😂 and the tending to her mother and comforting her (again his own damn doing LOL) 

When he says “I’ll never understand why they run.” Really boy? Really? Are you really that delusional?

I really appreciate you making these super long cause that’s my jam and can’t get enough!!! Also what I love about your dark coryo work is that you make them DARK DARK which is my absolute undoing in the world of dark fiction 🫠

I am missing so much moreeeee here but your work is making me go FERAL RN I HONESTLY CANT THINK STRAIGHT WITH THIS MAN ROAMING AROUND IN MY HEAD 247😫

I also wanted to talk about snow lands on top real quick. I LOVE Mabel absolutely love her. (Bad bitch fearless energy) especially when she drops his clothes on the floor refusing to wear them "no, thank you" 😂 And can we take a minute to acknowledge how CUTE the name Mabel is?

The way you portray Dr. Gaul is soooooooo scary scary ACCURATE to the tea! That woman truly terrifies me 😂

The way he just threatens her and her family and commands her what to do and what not to do 😫 the asking her to help him with his sock made me giggle lol.

I see grandma’am is still the same bitter old lady 😂 And the whole thing at the dinner table with the bread is so funny yet so cute on Mabels part🥹 coryo was getting really agitated at that 😂 she definitely tests his limits which is why I love Mabel sm!!

Okay him teaching her how to read and write 🫠 he's basically training her like a dog 😂 from district scum to captiol gal!!

And not this man drugging her and sprinkling his manhood all over her stomach while she’s laying there like sleeping beauty 😂 still have to give him some respect for not going all the way with her whilst in her deep slumber 😂

I cannot WAIT for the next part to drop on both these AMAZING stories!!!!!!!!!!!

This is possibly my favourite ask ever 🥺😭 you are far too kind!

Thank you for taking the time out to read my work, and further time to write out this lovely comment! It’s means so much.

Commander snow is only nice when you are nice. Which is so hard because he is so terrible!

I am really trying to link his sad backstory as to why he acts certain ways towards the reader.

Also!

I did not even pick up that both Coroys used the same brush! Good eye! I suppose it is just super hot!

I think he is more cocky than delusional in that scene.

“I never understand why they run” because I always catch them.

—

Coriolanus snow also haunts my head! He’s got free realestate there.

—

I AM SO GLAD YOU LIKED SNOW LANDS ON TOP.

Thank you again! Please let me know what you are thinking about each chapter, I love your thoughts ❤️❤️

[callipraxia]

[Well, this was supposed to be my big NWHS/ATOTS review...but I literally made it three minutes in before I got on an epic tangent and now I desperately want to write about and read up on stuff related to the tangent. I haven't desperately wanted to write something for quite some time, now, so the review proper will have to wait - as for now, enjoy ten observations on the first three minutes?]

Whew. Here we go. NWHS/ATOTS, planning to watch it straight through, let's go. It's gonna be intense, but we/I can do it. Probably.

Not What He Seems

Aaand now Stan's irradiated his forehead. No way this could ever have terrible consequences. He's better at lab safety than Ford, sure, but that's...reeeealllly not saying much. However, since Ford, Fiddleford, and Stan should probably have all had much worse side effects from constant improper handling of radioactive materials...maybe it's something about Gravity Falls' weirdness that shields them, or it's just not quite as dangerous in this world?

2. "Minor gravitational anomalies." Ford, that...feels like a bit of an understatement? Ok, so, I expect you could have written down "Stan, do not do the thing, it will make the house fly to Oz and destroy half the town. Yes, Stan, I'm specifically talking to you. Don't do it." and it would not have made any difference, but...'minor' is a relative term....

3. I am kind of impressed with Fiddleford managing to sleep, all things considered. Though who knows how long he's been awake, working on the laptop? I would give ten pretties to know what he knows at this point, though.

5. If I hadn't already done an AU stemming from NWHS, I...might be tempted, now that I think about it, to see what I could come up with in response to "what if Fiddleford had been awake when the laptop indicated the device had just become active?"

6. Ooh, is that a picture of a very young Caryn and Filbrick that the twins run under, after they pass the end table and just before Mabel stops in front of the random door she found? It looks...kinda like them, but also kinda pilgrim-y? But the woman's hairstyle is better suited perhaps for a very young Caryn, timeline-wise, and the pictures are more silhouettes than anything, and the male figure wears its hat very low.

7. Also, wow, does the Shack have a lot of doors or what? Manly Dan definitely should have picked different trees to build the Shack from...that, or the reality-breaker in the basement has started affecting geometry slowly upstairs over the decades. Which is also not a bad idea, I guess.

8. "I am the god of destruction!" More like a significant priestess at best, honestly, Mabel - no shade on you, of course, but when you've got the likes of Stanford "let's punch a hole in reality!" Pines, Stanley "danger, blah-blah-blah, can it, Poindexter!" Pines, Fiddleford "homicidal pterodactyl-bot I made when my wife left me" McGucket, and Bill running around in your setting...the competition is pretty intense, y'know?

9. Though I do wonder now if Mabel ever thought about that line again...if she remembered saying that, say, during the period where it looked more and more like the world might end...or that they might all get arrested...or after she heard that keeping the Portal open did not fix her family...maybe even when she handed "Blendin" the Rift, seeking a perfect endless summer....

10. "Plenty of summer left." "Enjoy it while you can, Stan." Stan really did think the kids might well never forgive him for lying to them all this time, and that's even if he got the real Stanford back alive. If he hadn't...if he hadn't, then he was confronted with the possibility of both the kids cutting him off and not even having the satisfaction of success to cling to. Or anything to cling to, unless you count loads of new guilt, now that he has seeming confirmation that he's responsible for Ford's death. I...do not see that ending well, really.

And yet, he took that chance. He could have decided "it's been so long that the odds of success are very low, and these kids are definitely alive and not too irradiated yet. I could just let this go. Settle for what I've got instead of endangering it for a one-in-a-million shot at getting back what I've lost." But he didn't, even though he was aware of how thoroughly failure really was an option. He was gambling everything at once, with no reserves to get him out of town if the dice landed the wrong way - willing, essentially, to burn the world (certainly his own world, but possibly, y'know...the world) for one person, for no better reason than his own feelings about that person and/or what had happened to that person. And I suspect this is at the root of what I find so interesting about him as a character. There's a reason, after all, why characters like this feature in so much of what's considered Literature, folks. [And here there were tangents; while I'm sure I will one day figure out what the character limit for tumblr posts is, I don't have enough hours in today to do it with]

[everlasting-rainfall]

Hi just wanted to say ignore the haters there acting like d.cks, I find your ocs really interesting. What inspired you to create them ? I like Arabella sounds she sounds really cute I wonder how does her devil fruit work ?

Oakleigh already deserves a hug for having to deal with Judge ( aww Sora x Zeff~) , I wonder what made him love her ? If there do have kids would there like Sanji sibling ?

I already like Lyra already XD I wonder has Lyric ever tried to convince the Blackbeard pirates to show mercy or has she failed ? How do Lyra and Lyric react each other situation with one being pregnant and the other got a lot of husbands ?

I feel like Harmony and Apoo music playlist has some songs from the book of life film (Heaven knows your name , I’ve been praying🎶 For an example)

Aww hope we get more moments with Mabelle acting like a mother figure to Luffy and Uta 🥺

I really like all your ocs , I wonder will we see more of them in the future or maybe see new ocs ~

Hey there, friend! Thanks for sending in this ask about my OC’s as it makes me really happy to talk about them like it always puts a smile on my face! Unless it’s an angst scenario of course in which case I usually just cry…

But hey! Nothing wrong with crying especially if it makes you feel better afterwards! It’s always just good to have a good cry sometimes!

Anyways…

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT FOR ANY REASON-!

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

OC x Canon, Image of a Syringe, Images of a Hospital, X-Ray Imagery, Horror Images, Stalking, Kidnapping, Forced Marriage, Pregnancy, Death of a Loved One

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT FOR ANY REASON-!

So what inspires me to make these characters is personally private information that I will only disclose to friends as I don’t feel comfortable telling people what inspires me to create these characters but I can tell you the process of how I make them

So the idea for the character hits me in one of two ways and it’s through getting lost in my thoughts or thinking about random topics while I’m in the shower

I do some working, run it by another friend of mine whose more knowledgeable about One Piece then I am to see if it makes sense in terms of the OP world, design them in Gacha Club once I have an idea of what I want the character to look like, make jokes that give way to new character traits and development, read through a long list of names to pick one out, and boom! There’s a new character!

All in all though, I have about 20+ OC’s who are meant for being shipped with canon characters with the most recent one being an unnamed one that I have named Goth Bunny who is the S/O of Penguin and Shachi while one that I still need to design is one named Ember who doesn’t have anything going for her other than that she’s Ace and Sabo’s S/O and I wanna make her be related to water in some way

Anywho, I actually do have some Aesthetic Boards for these characters too which I will include after I have finished answering your questions!

Arabella was actually my first OC x Canon and believe it or not, she didn’t actually start off as a writer or even a One Piece character as she was just a woman that I designed one day and after I didn’t like how the Admirals original wife turned out, Arabella stepped up to the plate after a dumb scenario that I had a long time ago where her Devil Fruit went out of control and she started Godzilla Rampaging only for the Admirals to be dispatched to deal with her and them seeing that she’s just a normal lady when they knock her unconscious and she reverts back to normal

As for how her Devil Fruit works, Arabella’s Devil Fruit causes her to constantly have horns on the sides of her head, eyes that resemble that of a goats, and the tendency to grow wool around her neck like a scarf. Other than that, it acts like a typical Zoan Devil Fruit would.

Not too much special about it in all honesty besides the fact that she can have those parts even as a fully fledged human and the fact that she has a much stronger skull that’s meant for ramming into things

Oh! And she actually does have a Dad whose a canon character as well and if you’re familiar with One Piece Film Z then it’s actually Z himself, he had her with his wife when he was younger so the age difference between her and the Admirals isn’t too egregious

They actually didn’t know that her Dad was Z too until much later in life as they always assumed that she was another trainee until they married her and got her pregnant only for Z to come crashing through the entirety of Marineford by himself to fuck up the people that dared to knock up his daughter

Also if you’re wondering why Arabella didn’t invite him to her wedding, it was because she had lost contact with him a year after he had formed the Neo-Marines to the point where neither had any clue on how to contact the other

They had only just figured out how to talk to each other again when Z found out that she was pregnant and went on a Godzilla Style Rampage through Marineford sending Marines flying everywhere that he went

Z did eventually calm down and talked with Arabella for a long time before the two of them exchanged contact information and parted ways with Z promising to teach her Haki after she gives birth so she can properly get revenge on Kizaru if he starts being very, very annoying

I also did give Arabella a body type shape so if she did have a body type shape then it would actually be a Strawberry and Arabella prefers to walk with her hands clasped in front of her

—————————————

Yeah, I’m not gonna lie when I say that sometimes I feel sorry for Oakleigh as well especially considering that she’s married to Judge

What caused Judge to love Oakleigh wasn’t anything on her part as she wasn’t trying to make him fall in love with her, she was just trying to make sure that the King didn’t die from sadness by giving him the best therapy that she could about every week

It was all just talking about how Sora leaving him for a cook out in the East Blue was making him feel and things that he could potentially do in order to feel better that wasn’t stalking her or attempting to make plans to get her back

Things were going quite well but way back when Judge initially woke up after losing consciousness, he did mistake Oakleigh for Sora because he had never met her before and she looked somewhat close to her but turns out that it was just Oakleigh

During the therapy sessions, he started thinking about things more and more until he finally decided on something that could really truly help him which was to get down on one knee in front of her and propose to her, she did try to refuse at first but it’s Judge so he forced her to marry him

She was a bit of a replacement for Sora but don’t get Judge wrong as he does know that Oakleigh is not Sora to an extent but he’s lonely and misses his ex and Oakleigh looks like his ex so… That’s kind of how he wound up falling for her, it’s the fact that she looks like Sora and she was so kind to him…

There are scenarios actually where Zeff and Sora meet Oakleigh like a while after they get married because Sora and Judge agreed to visitation with the kids like one week with Sora then one week with Judge but Sanji never goes to Judge’s

Anyways I’m getting off topic but when they meet Oakleigh, sometimes they decide that they like her too and want to be able to marry her as well because she’s cute, she’s great with the kids especially Sanji, she’s caring, and she’s a fairly good cook on top of that

Oakleigh really can’t catch a break especially as I have a small headcanon that Sora is rather possessive like not to the level of a full blown Yandere but close so imagine walking in on your forced husband and his ex discussing how they want to split time with you

To answer your question about the children, it’s likely that if Oakleigh ever fell pregnant then I think that Judge might try to see if the kids belong to him or Zeff as if they’re Zeff’s then he’s going to let them be Zeff’s problem but if they belong to him then those babies will definitely turn out like Sanji’s brothers

However I can also see Judge being an incredibly overprotective partner when Oakleigh is pregnant as although he did let the same thing that Sora went through happen to Oakleigh, he’s overprotective in other ways

To give you an example, Oakleigh will be walking calmly along then turn around. There’s a soldier following her. She continues on her walk and turns around again. Now there’s two and this continues until she has like ten soldiers following her all trying to be inconspicuous but failing really badly

Also just like Arabella, she actually did have a previous concept that I’ve completely dropped for her in favor of her current one. Her original one that she was actually a creature that liked to make people fall in love with her so she could eat their love then leave them heartbroken but couldn’t leave because Judge wouldn’t let her and she could never get close enough or be alone long enough to eat his love but I dropped that in favor of her current self

——————————-

Lyra was actually a character that I completely pulled out of my ass when I first made her up as I had no inspiration for her and came up with it while I was designing her as she was an investigative reporter seeking out the truth behind recent disappearances only to be led to Thriller Bark. She eventually did evolve into a Mortician after I watched the Mortuary Assistant

Lyric also was different too as Lyra and her weren’t even related at first and originally Lyric was based off of the game Changed where she had this bag of bottled liquid that when poured on her would turn her into an animal/human hybrid that could help out with things but she could also only be turned back by sea water as it would wash off the liquid that turned her but I dropped that as it didn’t feel like it quite made sense with the One Piece world and eventually she became an Acrobat

To answer your question about if Lyric has ever been able to stop them from doing bad things, she can if it’s something small but these people burnt her circus to the ground leaving her as seemingly the only survivor just because she didn’t want to go with them so there’s not much that she can convince them to not do

Lyric is very strong and somewhat intimidating for a lot of them but at the end of the day, they’re much stronger than her and if she puts up too much of a fight then they can’t easily just lock her up until it’s over

To give you an example of things that she has been able to talk them out of versus things that she hasn’t. She has been able to talk them out of just killing one random person who insulted them, she can’t talk them out of pillaging an island

As for the showing mercy part, she might be able to depending on the situation but no matter what it is. If they’ve already started doing it then it’s very unlikely that she’ll be able to convince them and if she does then Teach usually makes her give them something in return like pleasing them in some way

And although Lyric does hate doing it, she tries not to care too much as long as they keep their end of the deal on showing mercy and she doesn’t wind up pregnant as although she loves kids, she doesn’t want to have any with them as at the end of the day, she is a prisoner

If Lyra and Lyric were to meet after Shiryu takes Absalom’s Devil Fruit then the two of them would talk for a bit, they’d be happy to see each other at first but then Lyra would reveal that she’s a single parent now

Lyric would feel so sorry for her and eventually when she gets details about Lyra’s ex-husband, she’s pissed as she’d excuse herself. Go straight to the Blackbeard Pirates with her head hung low, they’d try to ask what’s wrong with her but proceed to her calling everyone to one room and going on such a long rant about what they did that they’re all sitting on their knees in front of her

Don't try to stop her either as Teach tried to and she’s now holding him tightly by his ear basically turning him into her bitch for as long as she’s on this rant

Eventually though she’ll chill and it’s after Lyra came to find her when Lyric was gone too long, Lyra followed the shouting and found her chewing out the Blackbeard Pirates

They all expected Lyra to get it too but plot twist when Lyric let’s go and gets down onto her hands and knees in front of Lyra to beg for the woman’s forgiveness in what happened to Absalom

Lyra would be pissed and would show that rage strength isn’t just something that Lyric has as Lyra goes right up to Shiryu and beats him so bad that he’s in the hospital for like two days, she just didn’t kill him because she isn’t a murderer

Lyric would do her best to comfort Lyra after that but as for how Lyra would react to Lyric’s new life as the crew wife of the Blackbeard Pirates, she would actually feel sorry for Lyric like she knows that she can’t do anything for the Acrobat though because it’s the Blackbeard Pirates

She does try to give advice to Lyric though on things that she thinks would be useful for Lyric to escape though and even tries to help her figure out what would be the best island to run away to if Lyric ever did manage to escape

————————————

I have to say that I’ve actually never heard that song but it sounds like it will be good, I own the movie The Book of Life though so I’ll watch it the next time that I have time to kill

Here’s something about Harmony though, she actually isn’t biologically related to Lyric and Lyra as she was basically adopted by the two of them as their cousin and stuck with that story and where Harmony came from is incredibly chaotic but that’s a story for another day

As for music that I could see fitting Harmony and Apoo, I gotta say that I’m not entirely sure as I’ve never been too good at assigning songs to people but I do know that Harmony would dedicate some soft and quiet love songs to Apoo while he probably dedicates some more loud and funky sounding love songs to her that probably consist of rapping

Thing is about their music tastes as well is that if they were to ever have a child together then the child would inherit both of of their parents music styles meaning imagine either really soft and calm sounding rap that you can fall asleep to or a singer whose really loud with lyrics that would belong more in calmer style of music

————————————

You’ll find out more about Mabelle later as there was an ask about her and I intend to speak more about her there

As for my other OC’s then I can list them all off right now with their partners!

Sleepyhead Estelle and Caesar Clown

The Snow Woman Talvi and Dalton

Infiltrator Thalassa and Magellan, Sadi-Chan, Domino

Investigative Reporter Honey and Big News Morgans

Time Traveller Paislee and Joyboy

IRL Girl Vanessa and Baccarat, Whitey Bay, Wanda, Hina

Clothing Designer Morticia and Law, X-Drake, Hawkins, Sanji

NSFW Star Nova and Oven

Travelling Selkie Lorna and Laskey

Community Leader Esther and Garling (DON’T LOOK HIM UP IF YOU DONT WANT MANGA SPOILERS)

Glass Artist Soleil and Cobra, Pell, Chaka

IRL Artist Ariel and Kalgara, Herb, Noland, Acorn (Noland’s Wife)

Something Something Water Ember and Sabo, Ace

Morticia’s Model Unnamed Goth Bunny and Penguin, Shachi

[ckret2]

Do you think the pine twins and membrane siblings would get along at all? Gut feeling tells me Dib and Dipper at least could get along at first but that'd prob deteriorate quickly.

I think Dipper and Dib would get along like a house on fire. Whenever Dib meets another believer and their relationship subsequently deteriorates, it's because they believe in the wrong way (the paranormal investigator who only believes the stupid things) or they were just humoring him and not really a believer (the school counselor). In Dib's home show, his role in the show is being the only person able to see & care about The Truth, and is incredibly isolated because of it. But Dipper's show has no such restrictions, he can see The Truth as well, and I think Dib would fall all over himself to make a friend is age who agrees with him on paranormal matters and also has hands-on experience saving the world from aliens. They'd amplify each other's weirdness.

I feel like the sheer amount of love and support in the Pines family would bowl over Dib's poor affection-starved ass. Dipper also has a sister who believes in the paranormal but has different interests; but she's willing and enthusiastic about joining in on paranormal hunts anyway, she openly likes hanging out with her brother, and she's nice to him. Dipper also has an absurdly, hyperbolically genius male relative role model he wants to impress; but this relative is also a believer in the paranormal, has dedicated his entire absurdly genius career to studying the paranormal, and doesn't think his younger relative is insane and appreciates what he has to say. Dib would be so painfully jealous. At worst he might resent Dipper for having what Dib so badly wants; but I think he'd probably rather the Pines just adopt him.

Mabel thinks Dib is kind of aggressive but it's cool that Dipper has another nerdy ghost hunter guy to hang out with, so, she's okay with him, but doesn't really wanna be around him alone. She thinks he's secretly super sad though so he gets a pass. Gaz is infuriated that Dipper makes Dib even more Dibbish, and plus she doesn't want TWO of them running around.

Mabel thinks Gaz is pretty cool, Gaz thinks Mabel is annoying but at least not as annoying as Dipper, Mabel is brokenhearted that she's failed to win over a fellow Weird Girl. They will learn to uneasily socialize with minimal hostility while being forced to hang out while the guys try to catch Zim on camera or something, by talking about their artistic pursuits. But not talking too much. Too much and Gaz starts giving her a death glare.

Gaz's opinion on Mabel immediately reverses when she learns she has a pet pig. She comes over just to sit on the floor and stare in wide-eyed wonder at Waddles's face. Mabel's okay now. She has a pig and she lets Gaz look at it.

Mabel gives Gaz a black sweater with a pixel skeleton on it.

[toothpastecanyon]

Martha Of WEFIDS, Chapter 4

The Dread Pirate Mizar, and the little girl who would grow up to become her.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

It was small, but weighty. Sharpened from a lumpy shard of fuselage, it fit awkwardly in Martha’s hand; the blade’s short and stubby heel would cut into her fingers if she didn’t hold it just right. When she looked at it, a constellation of reflected light along its crude edge would glint at her, glare at her, remind her of all the stars she couldn’t see anymore and all the people who had been ripped from her… and whose fault that was.

Martha gripped her knife a little tighter, and her fingers hurt. The knife hurt, holding it hurt… and she liked how she could take the pain.

She liked feeling strong. She liked feeling right.

And in a world that wanted to tell her she was doing things wrong, wanted to weaken her with shitty little ‘It’s okay’s and ‘you can talk to me’s, her knife cut through the bullshit.

Her knife said no.

Her knife said be angry.

Her knife said don’t you ever forget.

“Martha?” A call from the living room. “Are you coming? I’ve got something exciting planned for our lesson today - I think you’re gonna love it!”

Martha gripped her knife a little tighter, and her knife said you can make them pay.

She let herself feel that for a moment longer, then with a sigh she stuffed it into a knot in her shawl and crouched down in front of her bed. Lifting up the sheets, she revealed a ragged hole she’d cut in the mattress; she stuck her hands in and rifled through the various items stashed within.

A broken-off blaster handle? No, she didn’t need that… The pipe? No, she couldn’t hide that without a school bag. The lighters were tempting, but she was running low and she didn’t want Alcor confiscating yet another one of them.

She came across her pencils, and pressed down on each tip with a finger before pulling out the one that felt the sharpest. She still hadn’t found what she was really looking for, though; with a frown, she pushed further into the fabric, past all the various odds and ends, until her fingers latched onto something hard, and leathery, and already so familiar.

Carefully, Martha extracted her sketchbook and hugged it to her chest. She kept a tight grip as she stood up, pulled the sheets down over her stash, and with a foot swept all the mattress stuffing that had fallen out under the bed.

There, nice and hidden. She rose, and made her way to the door. Alcor was there when she opened it, wearing a wide smile she was starting to warm to.

“Morning, Martha.” He extended a hand. “Have you ever been to a Moon?”

“Uhh, which moon?” Martha frowned. “WEFIDS has like two hundred moons. I think there used to be more before the UL coremined-”

Alcor waved his hand. “It’s- it’s a cool moon, okay! You’ll see! Come on!”

______________________________________________________________

Alcor remembered the first time he saw alien life on another world. It called to him once while he was between reincarnations; up in the sky, amongst the stars… something was tickling at his senses. It was strange, faint, like a sort of background hum he could barely make out amongst all of Earth’s many, many souls. He wandered past the moon’s orbit to investigate, and found the crackling loudest around Saturn’s moon, Enceladus.

It was strange. And when he floated closer, that strangeness turned to wonder, because there was life on that moon.

Very small, microscopic life, to be sure. And covered over with kilometer-thick crust of ice that insulated them from the rest of the universe, but life, real alien life! He hadn’t felt that giddy at a discovery since… well, probably since he was a kid with Mabel.

And if that memory could still make an old, cynical demon like him smile, maybe Martha would like it, too. He even remembered to blip her in with a spacesuit on - and what the heck, he could put one on as well. He felt his bulky boots hit the ground, and grinned down at her.

“Now how about this!”

“Uh, how about what?” Martha tried to lift her legs. “What kind of fucking shitty space suits are these? They’re huge!”

“You know, for so much of human history, they could only dream of walking on another world like this. I never thought I’d get the chance, growing up.” He raised his foot, and smiled at the print. “But here we are. One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

In the corner of his eye, he could see Martha shooting him a look. Right, focus.

“Uh, anyway, do you know why I brought you here?”

“You said we were doing biology today.” She looked around, and then shrugged. “I dunno. Biology is about life stuff. Do you want me to say it doesn’t look like there’s life stuff around here, and then you’ll say-”

“You’re right, it doesn’t look like there’s anything growing around here!” He motioned to the starry sky. “There’s not even an atmosphere! If we - well, you - took your spacesuit off, you’d die in minutes! So why have we come here to study biology?”

“Because there’s life somewhere, I guess?”

“Exactly! Humans used to think life could only exist in very, very narrow circumstances - in the goldilocks zone of a very specific star, in the warm waters of a planet exactly like Earth. They theorised that life on other planets was rare… or maybe even unique. After all, how many times could the circumstances line up just right?”

With a massive grin, Alcor pressed his middle finger and thumb together. “But as the saying goes,” he said. “Life, uh, finds a way.”

Snap. Martha lurched as everything started to speed up. The stars shifted around them, and then a massive gas giant slowly rolled into view, its wispy atmosphere catching the distant light of a blue star.

“For life to form, it first needs energy. That doesn’t need to come from a star; look at that planet! Every orbit, its tidal forces pull and push on this moon, churning up its core.” Alcor bent down, and grabbed a chunk of ice. “Do you see this? It’s water, it’s frozen water. Down, deep down beneath the crust, it heats up enough to melt, to mix with minerals, to create…”

With a wave of his hand, a section of the ice became clear as glass. Martha stared down, down into a still black sea, and saw… lights. Moving lights. Bubbles. If she looked closely, she could make out the shapes of strange creatures cutting through the water.

“Life,” Alcor breathed. Then he chuckled. “Big life, too. Mostly they’re just little single celled organisms, but they’ve got a whole ecosystem going on down there.”

“Yeah…”

“And you know, it’s funny, because this is all they’ll ever know. Nothing they’ll evolve into will ever be able to get to the surface: the ice is too thick. That water, that darkness, that’s all they’ll ever know. Everything above that - the warmth of a sunbeam, the breeze in your hair, the vastness of your universe… They’ll never have any idea, any conception of its existence. How could they?”

Martha looked up at him. He looked down at her, and smiled, coldly.

“And humans like you? Stars… you’d look like gods to them.” He showed his teeth. “Or demons.”

Martha stared back at him with an unimpressed expression. “I don’t think so. You just said it was dark down there. Why would they evolve eyes if there’s nothing to see?”

“That’s not - I didn’t mean they’d literally look at you, I meant-” He blinked. “Wait. You know about evolution?”

“Yeah?” She looked at him like he was dumb. “You told me about it last week. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Alcor could barely contain his massive grin. “Nothing, just… good job, Martha! You’re doing so well!”

“What, you think I wasn’t paying attention?”

That defiant edge to her voice - maybe he shouldn’t have called attention to it. He gave a cough.

“No, uh… hey, how about a break! As a treat for being such a good student today.” He clapped his hands together. “You can go anywhere in the univer-”

“Can we go back to that volcano?”

“Huh?”

“The one you threw my textbook into. Then we burned stuff in the lava.” Martha grinned. “That was fun.”

Alcor opened his mouth, but he thought better than to argue - besides, he did tell her to pick anywhere in the universe, and she certainly knew where she wanted to go. He didn’t remember exactly what volcano he’d brought her to on their first lesson - and he didn’t want to probe his omniscience to find it - so he picked one in the nearest habitable star system and blipped them over with a thought. As soon as Martha was out of her bulky space suit she looked around, and then frowned.

“This isn’t the same place.”

“Oh, yeah, I chose a volcano, but if you wanted to burn something this works just as well-”

“I want to go back to the same volcano.” She crossed her arms. “You told me anywhere in the universe, I want to go there!”

“But-” Alcor stopped himself, and then sighed. “Okay, sorry. I was being lazy; just give me a second and I’ll find which volcano exactly we were at before.”

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. As he turned his mind inward, he could hear Martha’s voice somewhere to the side of him.

“It was a bigger volcano, and it was full of lava! It was so cool - this one barely even has any lava.”

“Yes,” Alcor said, distantly.

“And the other one was in the middle of all these mountains and trees, not all these buildings! This looks like the military base back on WEFIDS Alpha.”

He almost had it. He could remember the planet - now, he just had to find the right volcano, since Martha was so insistent on that.

“They built the WEFIDS base by a volcano too- my dad said once the geothumb made it harder to sabotage, or something? Whatever. Are we going yet?”

Aha! That’s the one. Alcor took her hand, and smiled. “Yes, we are. Sorry, what were you saying just now?”

“I was saying this volcano is obviously some kind of UL base.” Martha pointed to the black walls surrounding the volcano, the red lights flashing on a tower rising out of the center of the crater. There was an alarm going off in a fortress-like building lower down the slope. “I’ve heard that sound before. We should go.”

Alcor’s eyes bugged out. “We’re in a military base?!”

Martha gave him a look, but before she could speak again, there was a voice from across the crater.

“Hold it right there!”

Two men with plasma rifles pointed at them. Alcor saw Martha stiffen, and moved in front of her.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down!”

“Don’t move! Put your hands up!” They stopped a distance from them. “This is a highly secure military facility! Who are you two and how the hell did you get in here?”

Alcor gave a guilty grin. “Uh, we were sightseeing?”

“Oh, a smartass, I see.” One of the soldiers advanced. “We’ll see how clever you feel back at base. Turn around.”

Alcor tried to reach for Martha, but his arm was caught and twisted behind his back. “Ow! Hey, wait, we were just leaving-”

“Leaving? Hah! You’re not going anywhere, you little- Agh!”

The soldier’s grip loosened, and Alcor turned around to see Martha on him, shoving at his hip and stabbing him with a jagged little blade.

“Get away from him!” She held on as he staggered back, and bit his arm as he tried to shove her away. “I hate you! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!”

“Martha!”

“Gah!” The soldier gestured frantically to the other one. “What are you doing?! Shoot her already!”

Cold fear rushed through Alcor. He dived in front of Martha and they were out of there before the soldier even pulled the trigger. They landed back at home; Martha hit the carpet and was up in a flash, backing into a corner, holding the blade with white knuckles and looking around the room with wild eyes.

“Leave us alone!” Blood had coated one arm up to the elbow; it dripped onto the carpet from her trembling hands. “I won’t let you take him away from me again!”

“Martha!” Alcor jumped up, and put his hands up as she turned the blade on him. “Hey, it’s okay! We’re home, you’re safe!”

“I’ll kill you!” Her little chest was heaving as she pressed herself into a corner. “You come one step closer and I’ll rip your guts out, UL scum!”

Alcor stayed still, silent. He watched her shake her head, watched tears spring to her eyes; she furiously tried to wipe them away but they kept coming until she dropped the knife and crumpled into a ball. He came over to her then and she latched onto him and sobbed into her shoulder, and he just held her. He just held her.

“Hey,” he said, softly. “It’s okay. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Martha.”

“I-I-” Martha grabbed fistfuls of his suit. “H-he was coming a-at you, he was g-gonna…”

“I know.” Alcor rubbed her back. “I know, that was really scary. But I’m okay, okay? I’m a demon. He couldn’t have hurt me, I promise.”

“Mom. D-Dad. Th-they k-ki-illed them.” He felt her go stiff as a board; her nails dug into his skin. “Th-they killed them. I’ll never f-forgive them. Never.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. There was something by his foot; the jagged little blade, caked with blood, glinting ominously up at him as Martha kept going.

“The fucking UL - I’ll get ba-ack at them. If it’s the last thing I do, I-I’ll get back at them all. They can all die for what they did to me.”

“Martha-”

“They can all die.” She pushed off him suddenly, and stared him down with burning eyes. His own dipped down to the blade again; she followed it, then darted forwards and snatched it up. “That’s mine.”

Alcor frowned. “Martha-”

“It’s mine!”

Clutching it to her chest, she ran back to her bedroom and slammed the door closed behind her. Alcor thought about following, but stopped himself almost immediately. She made it obvious when she wanted to be alone, and it wouldn’t help things to try and talk to her now.

His face twisted into a grimace as he glanced down the hall, and then away. Yes, he thought, grimly. Because he was supposed to be helping her, not dragging her to a military base to get guns pointed at her.

With a sigh, he slumped down in a chair and put his head in his hands.

For a moment, he almost thought he was doing a good job. What an idiot he was.

______________________________________________________________

Bumps in the road. The next few weeks were rough; Martha hardly came out of her room, and she certainly did not feel like doing another lesson anytime soon. The only time he really saw her was in the night, when she’d stalk into the living room, park herself on the couch, and sullenly listen to him talk about Mizars until she fell asleep. Alcor was surprised she still wanted that at first, but she’d looked at him like he was stupid when he asked, and he certainly wasn’t going to complain about the one time of the day she wanted to be in the same room as him.

Some nights, when she fell asleep, Alcor could see she was clutching that small blade to her chest. He didn’t like looking at that thing - there was a darkness in it, a malevolence that washed over him every time he saw the glint of it. He couldn’t take it from her, though; she gripped it tight, and if he so much as touched it she’d be awake and back in her bedroom in a flash.

So, he let it go. He let the days be cold and lonely, let the nights stretch on and on after Martha went to bed. He let his mind wander back to the Mizars he’d known long ago, and he’d wonder what they’d say to him, now.

But he didn’t know. He didn’t remember the sound of their voices; it had been such a long time ago. The only person Martha had in this universe was him, and he needed to figure this out.

He’d planned to knock on her door this morning, but to his surprise, Martha came to him.

“Can we go somewhere?” She said. As always, she looked annoyed at his wide-eyed astonishment. “What? I’m bored. You haven’t taken me anywhere in ages.”

“Wh- yes, but- I thought you didn’t want to do that anymore?”

“I didn’t say that!” She crossed her arms. “Fine. If you don’t do school, I’ll just find something else to do. I’m sick of sitting in my room.”

Alcor tried to contain his rush of relief. “No, that’s not- I-I can do school again! Yes! We can go right now!”

“Finally.” She took his hand. “I don’t wanna go to a volcano again. Can we go to a cave? It was cool how echo-y it was.”

And so things settled back down for a while. A long while - a year passed of lessons and Mizar stories and staring up at the stars. A year, and bit by bit, Alcor found himself recognising more of Mizar in Martha.

“Did you see me roll down that hill! Bleh, hair in my mouth!”

“Look, Al, I made my macaroni into a space station!

“Is this snow? Oh my stars, how do you build a snowman again?”

There were bumps along the way, dark days when she locked herself in her room or tore up the house in a fury… but slowly, surely, she was beginning to sound like a child again. Sometimes she smiled at him, and he couldn’t see any bags under her eyes, or lines on her face; all he saw was a bright sparkle, and a little laugh as he hesitated.

“What are you looking at me like that for, Al? Come on!”

And he’d smile back, and follow her lead.

______________________________________________________________

“So this is my idea for today!” Martha pushed her eggs around her plate; she was hungry, but she was too busy talking to eat. “I know we’re learning trigonometry, but hear me out - we should go back to the snow planet! I think that’d really help me learn: I can, uh, draw triangles in the snow! And then we can do another igloo!” She leaned her chair back to grin at him. “How does that sound, Al? Alcor?”

Alcor was standing at the counter, wearing a distant expression that wiped the smile from her face. She knew what that meant; he was getting a summons.

“Alcor?” Martha said again, and watched him carefully. After a moment, he frowned, rubbed his forehead, and turned to look somewhere over her shoulder.

“What did you say,” he said, but before she could respond: “Agh, sorry, kid, I’m getting…. summons, pretty strong. I think we’ll have to put off the quiz.”

“Oh noo,” Martha ate some egg. “Thatsh okay. I can do shome drawing.”

He managed a smile. “Thanks, kid. I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay? Love you.”

Martha didn’t say it back, but she did look up and smile at him. He waved and disappeared, and the smile turned distinctly mischievous. She looked down at her plate, then stood up from her chair and snuck into the pantry.

A minute later, she was in her room with all the candy Alcor thought he’d put on a high enough shelf. Martha’s bedroom was a messy little haven, filled with toys and blankets and mementos from all the places they’d been to: on the shelves were rocks and shells from the beach, asteroids plucked from outer space, ancient bones and glowing crystals. There was also a little locked chest in the corner; after so many ruined mattresses Alcor had come home with it and said:

“Whatever you put in here, I promise I won’t go through it, okay? Just… please stop hiding stuff in your mattress. Especially the lighters.”

Martha opened it now, and picked out a lighter, flicked it on, grinned at the flame. Then she tossed it back in and drew out a sketchbook and pencil. She flipped to the last page, and let herself smile at the half-finished drawing of a snowman she’d made yesterday.

That was fun. She was gonna badger Alcor into taking her back there today, but… Martha frowned. She looked around the room, and suddenly, it seemed a lot emptier than it had before. It was quiet, too quiet, and she found herself tensing up, glancing around, looking for walls to put her back against.

Maybe she should go outside.

After stashing her candy in her treasure box, Martha came to the front door and looked outside. A cyclist was passing by, and she stepped back a little, hugged the sketchbook to her chest. Other people… she wasn’t sold on them. Learning to trust Alcor, to get to know all his weird quirks - that was hard enough. She didn’t want to do that again with anyone else, so they could leave her alone and she could leave them alone, and that was just fine.

So she waited for that cyclist to pass, and then, cautiously, she opened the door and headed outside. She didn’t head to the playground just across from them - she’d been banned from that after decking a kid who tried to push her on the swings - but there was a park nearby she liked to sit at sometimes, with picnic benches under tall, green trees that swayed in the wind.

It was like that today, warm and sunny with a gentle cooling breeze. She sat there for a moment, staring up at the sky, and then she started drawing. She’d been working on a little comic strip about a pirate who killed her whole family - Alcor always looked nervous when she showed it to him, but she thought it was really funny.

And that’s where she was, giggling and doodling in her own world, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She startled violently and grabbed someone’s wrist.

“Ow!” Came a voice. “Hey, let go!”

Martha whirled around and glared at a girl her age. She had freckles and long wavy hair and looked vaguely familiar. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Well I was going to say hi.” The girl glared right back at her as she let go, and rubbed her wrist. “What did you do that for?”

“What did you sneak up on me for?”

“I didn’t sneak up on you! You just weren’t paying attention!”

Martha narrowed her eyes. “Whatever,” she said, and turned away. “Leave me alone.”

“You’re Marta, right?”

“No, Mar-tha.” A pause, and her head shot back around. “How did you know that?”

“You’re the kid who ripped off Mr Ferhin’s beard last year!” She didn’t look scared; she was smirking. “Everyone at school was talking about you. You got expelled, right?”

“Wha- oh.” School. Martha scowled at the memory. “I didn’t rip his beard off! And I didn’t get expelled - I got suspended! I just thought it was too stupid to come back.”

“Yeah, right. You can’t just ‘decide’ not to come back.”

“Yes, I can. And I did. I’m getting homeschooled now.”

“Homeschooled?” The girl made a face. “Trapped inside with your parents lecturing you on everything? Ugh, that sounds like it sucks.”

Martha didn’t know what to say to that. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, and turned back to her book. The girl didn’t leave; she leaned in closer.

“Whatcha drawing? A comic?”

“What do you want?” Martha gave a toothy smile. “You know what I did to Mr Ferhin. I can do that to you, too.”

“What, rip my beard off?” She didn’t look impressed. “You’re right, you probably didn’t do that, did you? You look too scrawny to pull that off.”

“Wha-”

The girl suddenly leaned over her. “Oh. My. Stars. Are you drawing Caat and Wendjy?!”

“Caat and-” Martha blinked. “Who?”

“Caat and Wendjy! From Our Darkest Star!” She beamed at Martha. “That’s my favourite movie! Have you read the books?”

“Uh, no?”

“Oh my stars, if you liked the movie you’ll love the book!” She clasped her hands together. “Two starcrossed lovers, a pirate and a UL captain - their love was never meant to be! I - heh - even wrote a fic where Wendjy becomes a demon; she grows old yet he stays the same! Time and their society tears them apart! Oh, it’s so tragic… but so romantic!”

Martha wrinkled her nose. “You’re weird,” she said, and the girl rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, says the one drawing Wendjy fanart.”

“It’s not-” Something in Martha made her trail off. She just glared at her instead.

“You draw really well, though!” The girl grinned back. “If you wanna read the book, I’ll lend you my copy! I’ve already gotta hide it from my dad - he hates the series, it’s so funny!”

“I used to cut holes in my mattress.” She said. “No one looks in there.”

“Hah! Well, when he starts looking harder, maybe I’ll have to do that!” Still giggling, the girl pushed herself up from the desk. “Well, I should get to plasmaball practice, but it was cool to meet you!”

“What was your name?”

“Oh! Sorry, it’s Cjacy!” She waved. “See you around, Martha! Byyyyee!”

And she was gone, leaving Martha to wonder what had even happened. That was pretty much everything she hated in quick succession - people sneaking up on her, touching her, touching her stuff, going off on long weird tangents about things she didn’t care about, but….

She didn’t hate that, actually.

And now that she was gone, Martha found herself wondering if she really meant it when she said she’d ‘see her around.’ She looked back at the picnic table, and felt a sort of squeezing in her chest at how empty it was. When was Alcor gonna come back? She hoped soon - she kind of just wanted to talk to somebody.

Martha looked one last time back at where Cjacy had been, and frowned to herself. Then she looked back at her sketchbook, and kept drawing.

[marypsue]

would you consider doing DVD commentary for Delilah? Any bit of it at all; I personally would go CRAZY for anything about Grauntie Ford because she lives permanently in my head. I seriously adore that series, if I have not made it clear enough to you. <3 <3 <3

[from this meme]

Delilah

Thank you so much! Yeah this is a short one, so I'll do the whole thing.

It's been a while since I wrote this one, but I'm pretty sure that I wrote the first scene or two, and then the last big long scene with Mabel, and then all of the rest to connect the two together. They were, originally, two different stories, and then I realised that they could be the missing pieces for each other.

The title is, of course, in reference to the story of Samson and Delilah, and specifically to cutting Samson's hair taking away his power. Hair and cutting it is a running theme throughout the fic, obviously, so that one's a bit of a gimme. I used 'Delilah' instead of 'Samson' for the title for two reasons, though - obviously, Delilah is a woman's name, and because of the Amanda Palmer song of the same name that lent a line to the fic. Iirc she had said in an interview that the frustrating Delilah the song is sung to, who keeps trusting people who'll only hurt her and walking blithely into situations against her own best interests, is her talking to herself. It all just dovetailed really beautifully together.

The campaign takes them, tonight, through the Haunted Wastes of Aden, once a lush and fruitful valley, now a giant, open grave for the fallen warriors of a recent, vicious, and utterly pointless battle.

It's been a while since I wrote this, so I can't be sure, but knowing myself, I'm guessing this was entirely intentionally to be a nod toward Ford's relationship and recent schism with his twin.

I met a Farrah the first time I dipped my toes in the waters of playing D&D. Life imitates art.

“I was born a girl,” he says, and then, quick, “I just, I just - thought. I wanted you to know.”

I forget, now, whether this was a prompt or just in an ask about the fic, but this line was sent to me by @angelsarenamederika, I didn't come up with it. This whole scene was built around that line. Past!me also helpfully mentioned that some of the scenes - especially the second-to-last and the last scene - were also inspired by their asks.

Dipper unwinds slightly, though that only means he is drawn tight as a violin string, rather than a bowstring.

I was just particularly proud of this simile.

“Exactly! Well done, my boy, you have a better understanding of the scientific process than many grown adults I’ve known.” Ford clears her throat, trying to remind herself to stay on track, though the way Dipper is beaming at her makes it very difficult to think about anything other than how terrifyingly lucky she is to be here to be able to meet him, and his sister. “You and I, my boy - we’re theories. There’s no way to conclusively, objectively 'prove’ something you can only feel for yourself.” She leans forward just enough to rest what she hopes is a comforting hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “And perhaps someday, you’ll encounter new evidence or a new dilemma that will change everything you understand. But until then, we don’t just stop doing science because we don’t have an absolute, indelible certainty to work from! We don’t stop exploring and creating, we don’t stop growing and changing. We start from what we do know."  Dipper bites his bottom lip, rubs the elbow of one arm with the opposite hand. Ford gives his shoulder a soft squeeze, and says, "And we do amazing things that way.”

Also this! Wow, I'd completely forgotten this was even in there. I'm still really pleased with this one.

This fic went up in 2016, so it would still have been relatively recently that I had come to the conclusion that I was, in fact, some flavour of queer. Clearly I was Working Through Some Things.

“Do you know, the other day I asked her to open her mouth and she burped glitter all over my face?”

I think I took this from an unused storyboard! Or possibly an Alex Hirsch tweet. I don't...remember it having actually made it into the show, but then, I definitely need to do a rewatch.

(Ford will never forget the sight of it, emerging from the trees, caved in on itself from its fall and looking for all the world as though it had stood empty and abandoned these last thirty years.)

I think, in canon and here, that seeing the Shack in the denouement of the finale gave Ford a new appreciation for how Stan preserved it. Just a small part of realising how much Stan had done, how much Stan had cared, how much Stan had mattered, just slightly too late.

Ford and Mabel should get to commiserate about being tricked by Bill into helping him end the world. That is all. And man, I'd forgotten how delightful Mabel is and how much fun she is to write.

"...Mabel, no one in their right mind would blame you for what happened."

This was published in 2016, so...this line was definitely, definitely a little pointed.

The Gravity Falls finale saying 'hey. Your pain also hurts the people you love and who love you, and an important kind thing you can do for them is to also be kind to yourself. You can't punish yourself out of their lives and make those lives better, they're better with you in them' got me crying in the club and I'm still emotional over it nearly a decade later.

The sun is brilliant, blinding, the sky a blue so blue it’s almost black at the very centre. The sea is calm and cold, the occasional little waves hitting just right against the prow and making it echo like a drum. The rigging creaks like old bones overhead. The internet connection is crap.

I just love the juxtaposition of high, poetic, dramatic, descriptive language, and casual vernacular. Tolkien does it particularly well. I am but a humble imitator.

The less said about Gravity Falls, the better. It hurts too much to remember, how bright everything had seemed, how rich with possibility.

...

The rift is closed. Bill is gone, and the sun shining off the water is so bright it almost hurts her eyes.

I leave you with this parallel, presented without comment.

[thechronicliar]

          TELL ME ABOUT THIS!!! :D   He wished none of this happened. Right now, Bill could be home, doing whatever crazy shenanigan the twins thought up. He could be bothering the Stan’s. He could be terrorizing tourists. He could be with Pine Tree.

            He wanted to be with Pine Tree. More than anything.

            And he was going to be.

            Anxiety swirled in his stomach region at the thought of facing Dipper, knowing that the human probably knew of Bill’s feelings for him. He doubted Shooting Star would keep her mouth shut and he had no doubts of Dipper figuring it out himself. But he had to go back…

            After he talked to someone first.

            Calming himself to the best of his abilities, he left the mindscape and reappeared in a familiar room, scaring the shit out of Shooting Star.

            “Bill!?”

            “Shooting Star,” he greeted, hands behind his back and looking far more confident than he was. “I’m in love with Pine Tree.” That was surprisingly easy.

            She gaped at him. Her mouth moved to form some sort of sentence and failing for the most part. “You’ve been gone for nearly a week!”

            “I’m in love with Pine Tree,” he repeated again with more feeling. Could she not understand what he’s doing?

            “Dipper and I have been worried sick about you!”

            “That’s not important now,” though it did make him feel good to a degree. “What’s important is that I’m in love with Pine Tree.”

            She had the audacity to roll her eyes. “I know that, Bill. It’s pretty obvious, even with your stunted emotions that make you run away scream that you’re in love with my brother.”

            He bristled. “I didn’t run away!”

            “Oh really?” She quirked her brow.

            He sniffed, point his nose up at her. “I just retreated to collect my thoughts.”

            She rolled her eyes again. “So what are you even doing here? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, finding Dipper and getting him to stop stressing out about where you’re at?”

            He waved her off. “In a minute. I need to talk to you first.”

            She flopped back onto her bed, groaning. “About what?”

            “How do I…” he trailed off, blushing. “Um, how do…how…”

            At his stumbling, Mabel looked up and started to pale. “I am not telling you how to have sex!”

            This time he was the one to roll his eyes. “Not that. I know how to do that. What I need to know is how…how to woo, Pine Tree,” he finally got out.

            “Woo my brother?”

            Bill nodded.

            “You know you could just go up and kiss him. It’d be easier and quicker,” she told him.

            “But it has no substance!” he complained. He’s seen Shooting Star’s movie collection on romance. There needed to be something dramatic, thought out, a show of affection. He was sure demonic ways were not the way to go in wooing a human like Pine Tree.

            “Oh my god, Bill,” she groaned. “Stop putting it off and just go confess to Dipper! Tell him that you love him and take him on a date or something. Go out in the woods, hike, eat a picnic. Just hurry up and do something! You’re stressing me out!”

            Huffing as he looked completely put out, he turned on his heel and turned toward the door. “Thanks for the help,” he grumbled.

            “You’ll thank me for real later!” she called out after him before he could slam the door.

Oh gosh, this was a while back! I think back then I was trying to go for the whole "Bill trying to be human" idea. Having new feelings and having to break them down to truly understand them, hence why he was MIA for a week. Such stronge emotions deserve time to understand, especially for someone like Bill that may not have loved someone in a romantic sense.

Also, a lot of what he knows is thanks to Mabel. That doesn't mean all is good or correct, but she was able to connect with him in ways that allowed him to more easily empathize. Movies being one cause of dramatization. Most coming from like the 80s so questionable info.

He also can trust Mabel to give him a straight answer. She may be off the wall, but she's honest and very intune with others and allows Bill to figure things out instead of trying to solve it for him, unless it's clearly a horrible idea. Above all else she is his friend and supports his first love, even if it's her brother and that she knew for months that Bill was making eyes at Dipper 24/7.

During all this, while Bill has accepted his feelings, he is panicking. This is new to him, there isn't much that is new to him, especially such a powerful feeling. He didn't have time to prepare and it feels very much like a sudden thing to him. Even still he believes that Dipper should to told in a large way because how else will those emotions be returned? What if Dipper doesn't believe him unless he puts all of himself out there? He doesn't see him being able to get love in return.

He fears the change that can happen.