[MAY 2022 | GRAVITY FALLS, OR] and they're giving me hell back in hades

[mabeljuice]

♫ You Made Me Realize- Brad Breeck

Ten years ago, Bill Cipher attempted to turn the world into a heinous nightmare realm with the help of a broken and misguided Dipper Pines. The fight was brutal and lives were lost, but Mabel Pines, determined to get her brother back, managed to yank Dipper back from the edge of darkness and together, they supposedly banished Bill from this dimension permanently. 

The cost, however, was unimaginably high.

Dipper grew estranged from his family and his sister and Mabel, unable to truly face what that horrific summer did to her, suffered from a serious case of arrested development. As the twins grew up and went their separate ways, Dipper went off to college, and Mabel returned to Gravity Falls, out of fear of being alone. And so it went- Dipper studied the occult and distanced himself from his family so they might never get caught up in his problems again, and Mabel tried to make a life for herself without ever truly growing up.

But this could not hold. 


During the summer of 2022, exactly ten years to the day of their arrival in Gravity Falls, Stanley Pines has gone missing, leaving a series of cryptic codes in red paint. Determined to get her brother back to Gravity Falls to reunite the Mystery Twins and find their missing grandfather, she goes on a quest to find him, only to find him less enthused about recapturing the past. Things change, however, when Dipper deciphers one of the codes left behind and discovers it's a message from Bill- he's back and he's looking for Dipper.

With no choice left, the twins set off back to Gravity Falls, and Dipper is about to learn that the town has changed significantly in ten years.

+++

The forest hasn't really fully healed from the events of ten years ago. Passing the endless pine forests, there's still scorched gaps where the forest fires took out chunks of the vegetation and only the bare minimum seems to be returning its former glory. Up ahead, the water tower comes into view- repainted and no longer proudly displaying Robbie V's muffin-shaped mushroom cloud. The forest might be shabby, but the town itself seems to be flourishing far better than it was when the twins were here before- a sharp contrast to the fact that Mabel warned Dipper the town was weirder than usual.

"It's... a lot different than you remember, probably," Mabel says awkwardly, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

Comments

[lowvi]

Dipper glances away, balling his hands into fists. His nails dig into his palms. The same instincts he's always had, the ones he's been doing such a good job of suppressing for the past ten years, flare up, berating him for not being there when Mabel needed him. What kind of brother wouldn't drop everything just for his dumb sister's happiness? What kind of brother wouldn't have even noticed?

"I wasn't there?" There's more anger in his voice than he expected or wanted. He was never good at balancing his needs and Mabel's. He was either sacrificing anything because she gave him that sad look or he was... making deals with demons. He was all there or he was a ghost. He couldn't take care of both of them.

"You acted like everything was fine! You kept talking about how you wanted to go back every summer!" He rubs his arm, trying to hold onto the anger, rather than the pain that threatens to break through and overwhelm him. "How the hell was I supposed to be there for you when you wanted to be in the one place I never wanted to come back to?" How the hell was he supposed to be there for her when he needed to lean on her just as much but didn't know how to ask? She might brag about being five minutes older, but Dipper's always been the one who acted older. She'd saved him from his own bad choices, but he didn't know how to tell her how lost he still was.

[mabeljuice]

"Someone had to, Dipper. Someone had to be okay, because I knew you weren't. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to think positively or be able to help anyone if I didn't suck it up and pretend to be okay with everything. I just wanted everything to be normal."

And it's not. It never will be. She's still hunting monsters and he's still doing everything to make sure he never feels helpless again, and they've lost something and Mabel is so frightened she'll never get it back.

"I don't know what to do." Her fists unclench and she looks down at the ground. "I just want my family back."

[lowvi]

"We could have not been okay together!" Her being fine had only made things worse. "Things weren't going to be normal no matter how much you tried, and I couldn't pretend." He hadn't wanted to pretend. He didn't want to drag her down with him. He hated how okay she could seem with all of this and hated how he couldn't do the same thing.

He wraps his arms around himself, swallowing down the lump in his throat.

"I don't know what to do either."

It's not something he usually admits. Knowing what to do is sort of his thing. But when it comes to something like this? He's as lost as ever.

[mabeljuice]

Mabel ducks her head and rubs at her nose, shoulders shaking as she tries to choke back tears. Everything's screwed up and the town is worse than ever and she dragged him back without telling him everything, and all she feels right now is guilty and heartbroken.

"We sucked at this, Dip," she finally says. "But we have a chance to make it right. It's not too late."

[lowvi]

Dipper isn't sure if she's right about that. They will never be 12 and innocent again. And Dipper knows he won't be any better at forgetting 10 years of hurt than he is at forgetting anything else. He's not the one who has faith in people. He has enough trouble having faith in himself. He sees the distance between them and he doesn't know how cross it.

He misses her too. He misses trusting her. Having that person at his back that he could depend on no matter what. But getting that back is going to take a little more than wanting it. Not when she's already keeping secrets from him.

He sighs and slowly uncrosses his arms. It's harder than it should be, like peeling off a scab. Then he opens them a little bit more and gives her an uncertain smile. "Awkward sibling hug?"

[mabeljuice]

She looks up at him, eyes watery with unshed tears. She looks like she's waiting for the punchline, the swift kick that sends her sprawling, but when nothing comes to trip her up, she laughs, and steps into his hug. "Awkward sibling hug," she responds, patting his back a couple times.

Dipper hears absolutely nothing, because he's distracted by his emotions, but Mabel suddenly straightens and jerks her head towards the roof. "Oh crap. The guy!"

[lowvi]

"Damn, I had really hoped he was dead!" Dipper grabs his crossbow and starts moving, trying to get a clear shot. "Mabel, circle the other way, he has to come down somewhere!"

[mabeljuice]

"Got it!" She circles around to the back, while Dipper's getting into place. Given the relative low level of the motel, it's easy to see where a man is moving inhumanly fast towards the back of the motel in the direction of the woods.

[lowvi]

"WOODS, MABEL!" In case she hasn't seen it herself. Dipper levels his crossbow and aims, shooting off a bolt. (Atk 17, dmg 6)

[mabeljuice]

His attack whizzes just a bit past the man-thing as it leaps off the side of the building. Whatever happens next is obscured by the building, but as Dipper comes around, he'll see Mabel engaging the man in a series of fisticuffs... And she's absolutely terrifying.

Her initial blow must have caught him as he came off the roof, because now they're on the ground, wrestling, the man's body contorting with horrific cracking sounds as he tries to move out of the way of some of her blows, but he's dealing just as much back, and when when of her blows goes too wide, he intercepts for a grapple with elongated spindly fingers that wrap around her throat. Now he's effectively using her as a human shield while choking her.

[lowvi]

Dipper does what he always does in a situation like this. He turns to magic. Unfortunately, the color spray scroll he grabs is going to catch Mabel as well as the creature, but at worse it'll stun her, and he can always drag her out of the way if both she and the monster are stunned.

Except, it doesn't go down quite like that. Dipper grabs the scroll and stares at it and finds.... he has absolutely no idea what it says (decipher scripts crit fail). He wrote it. He should be able to do this. Wasn't he good at this before? He hadn't really realized hunting monsters was something you could get rusty at. But he stares at the monster that's choking his sister and it's like he's forgotten how to read. "Mabel!" he shouts helplessly.

[mabeljuice]

Mabel finally beats the man's opposed grapple by punching him hard in the stomach. He hisses in pain and retaliates by... getting a nat twenty to punch her right back, which throws her backwards off of him and allows him to get to his feet. Poor Mabel definitely doesn't look too hot.

[lowvi]

Screw magic. Dipper drops the spell and runs to get between Mabel and the monster. He points the crossbow and FINALLY rolls well, getting a nat 19 (26 total, crit on a crossbow) for 8 damage.

[mabeljuice]

Between all the damage Mabel did to it and the electricity from earlier, that actually drops it. The bolt embeds itself in its chest and the monster slumps to the ground, dead.

Mabel gags from behind Dipper, rubbing her throat where several creepy, elongated finger-shaped bruises are appearing. Her lip is split from where the monster punched her back, and she looks a little rattled, but she'll survive. Unlike the monster. Go Mystery Twins.

"Heh. You nailed it, bro," she coughs. (And Dipper can make a spot check.)

[lowvi]

Not fast enough he didn't. And he froze. He could have gotten Mabel killed. This used to be fun. Now he just sees Mabel's bruises and can't stop thinking about how much worse it could be.

He rushes to her side and takes her elbow, looking around keenly (spot 19). "That was too close. Are you okay?" Why has he never gotten any healing scrolls?

[mabeljuice]

"I'm fiiiine. I get busted up worse than this when Wendy and I go out and beat up dudes in bars for money." She gets to her feet and hisses. "That's a joke. Mostly."

In the scuffle, Dipper will see something fell out of the man's coveralls pocket- a black and white nametag labeled WENDY- MANAGER.

[lowvi]

Dipper frowns, though less at her joke and more because he's still not happy at how badly beat up she is. When he sees the name tag, that just makes him scowl harder. He leans down and picks it up, tucking it in his pocket, then looks over at Mabel.

"Help me carry him to the truck. I need to figure out what he is."

[mabeljuice]

"Whaaaat?" She drags it out too long and coughs. "You could just look at his wallet, Dip. He was pretending to be a person while he... ran around eating livers and stuff." Despite her protests, she's going over to get his shoulders, so she can heft the largest portion of the dead weight. "If Stan knew I was gonna put a dead body in his trunk... He'd probably be proud."

[lowvi]

"That'd tell us who he is. I doubt he'd be carrying a species identification card. Besides, it's not like it's a good idea to just leave bodies lying around." Totally logical and not just because he wants to dissect an alien. Dipper runs over to pick up the scroll he dropped, then goes to get the man's legs. "You were pretty badass back there. When'd you learn to fight like that?"

[mabeljuice]

"Stan. Unf." She lifts with her knees, and begins walking. "Boxing lessons every day for months. I tried to teach him how to knit too, but that didn't go as well."

She tried though. God, how she tried.

[lowvi]

The mental image makes Dipper grin, at least. "I really hope you got pictures of him trying."

[mabeljuice]

"In my scrapbook." She sticks her tongue in her cheek and glances down, but the adorableness of the expression is squashed because when she looks down... she's looking at a dead guy.

Fortunately the motel parking lot is fairly clear- probably due to the recent MURDERS, which have been thwarted. Mabel awkwardly adjusts the dead monster a bit to toss Dipper her keys so he can open the trunk.

[lowvi]

It's not like it's a real guy! Just a creepy monster thing! Dipper tries to catch the keys but fumbles them (dex 8) and has to put the guy's legs down for a minute to pick them up again.

"Still making those, huh?"

[mabeljuice]

"Scrapbooking is a serious adult activity." She hefts the monster-dude's torso up with minimal effort (str 15). "Plus it's important. I wanna be able to look back on all this when I'm a little old lady who forgets stuff all the time."

[lowvi]

"No, no, it's cool." Dipper unlocks the trunk and gets the guy's legs again with a surprising amount of strength (str 17). He never wanted Mabel to stop being herself. Just... to grow up while staying herself. He starts maneuvering the guy's legs in. He glances over at her, almost hesitantly. "You have pictures of Soos' wedding, then?"