[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

[mabeljuice]

She stares at it for a second and then hands it back. "Hand me your phone, Knucklehead." There's no way he's getting off that easy if he's going to be here.

[lowvi]

"Mabel!" He grimaces, looking embarrassed because everything Mabel Does is embarrassing, but then he hands it over to her anyway. "It'll just be simpler if you text her."

[mabeljuice]

"You're gonna be here for awhile. You might as well have her number." And she proceeds to input it into his phone, but not before looking at his contacts list to see how many numbers are in there, because she's a creep. "And no, she's not dating anybody. Or interested in anyone. Or anything. You still have a shot."

She hands the phone back. Don't say she never did anything for you. "Now let's get back home."

[lowvi]

There are more than she might expect! Even some that clearly belong to girls. Gasp. The fact is, Dipper is still a loser, but he's also a loser in college, and he's learned to function without his sister to make friends for him. And even if he hasn't really had anything serious, there have been girls.

He takes his phone back, rolling his eyes as he goes to the passenger side of the car. "I'm not looking for a shot with Wendy. It would just... make things complicated."

[mabeljuice]

Oooh there are girls in here. Color her impressed. At least she knows he's probably not going to utterly botch this now that he and Wendy are in suitable dating range.

"Whatever you say, bro-bro." She walks around the car to slide into the driver's seat. "But complicated is sort of everything here, and it doesn't show any signs of getting less so."