[MAY 2022 | GRAVITY FALLS, OR] they're going door to door with lamp-black eyes

[mabeljuice]

♫ wild waste and welter- jeffrey foucault

 

After arriving back in Gravity Falls, Dipper learns that Bill is, indeed, back, and that the cryptic encoded messages all over the Shack were just taunts. Stan is still missing and there aren't any leads on where he's gone, but before Dipper can even start his investigation, he's pulled into a completely different mystery- a series of murders that Mabel and Wendy have been investigating.

In pursuit of their prey, the trio investigate a motel near the woods, only to find themselves face to face with a strange humanoid monster, capable of contorting its body into small spaces that seems to be preying on the livers of its victims. Dipper and Mabel manage to take it down, but not before having a heart-to-heart about the nature of their estranged relationship.

The twins carry the monster's body back to the Shack where Dipper sets up shop in the basement. His autopsy and toxicology report reveal that the monster is actually a mysterious mutated human with a strange chemical substance in its bloodstream. I'm sure it's fine.

Dipper works late into the night, but there's still more to be done. Wendy has revealed that there is government facility in Gravity Falls now that none of them has been able to get into. The Gleefuls are currently running the town, and Gideon has his own little "flock" of believers, who seem to be both enamored and fearful of him. And that's only just the surface. Things have been getting much weirder in Gravity Falls, and the Mystery Twins are back together and on the case.

Mabel usually sleeps in on days the Shack isn't due to open, so Dipper has some time before she wakes up to do some investigating on his own if he chooses. 

Comments

[lowvi]

"Well, she's got the front gates open. She said she's trying to make up for her family's past." Dipper frowns, leaning forward slightly. "What... happened between you two?"

[mabeljuice]

"She funded Gideon's dad's whole campaign under my nose." Mabel makes a noise of frustration and pushes her chair back. "She wasn't even planning on telling me- if Gideon hadn't spilled the beans after his dad was elected, I'd still probably be dating her."

The thought makes her grip the edge of the counter. "She lied to me, Dipper. And I know I lied to you too, but Pacifica was supposed to be on our side, not Gideon's."

[lowvi]

"She--what?" He's never been Pacifica's biggest fan, but somehow he thought that her badness and Gideon's badness were so far from each other, he hadn't even considered that she might be helping Gideon, or his father. "Mabel, I had no id--"

He breaks off. Blinks. Looks up at her. "Did you say dating?"

[mabeljuice]

"Did you read any of my letters?" She turns around to face him, planting her hands on her waist. "We dated for a year, until that happened. I didn't even know she and Gideon knew each other. That whole time- UGH." She kicks the cabinet and then hisses. Cabinets hurt. "Ouch."

[lowvi]

"You date girls?" Dipper thinks about it for a moment, thinks about Mabel's everything and realizes that's not remotely the surprising part. He waves a hand. "No, scratch that, I'm still way more surprised at that you dated Pacifica." He doesn't want to say that was definitely doomed to end in failure, but come on. It's Pacifica.

[mabeljuice]

Mabel makes a noise of quiet annoyance, because that was in her letters, and the proof that he never read a single one of them is a little painful. "She was okay when I got here. She'd been using her allowance to fund training for the people in town, so they could fight the monsters out there, under her parents' noses. I didn't know she was gonna turn around and give money to the enemy."

[lowvi]

"Did she ever say why?" It's not that Dipper thinks that Pacifica wouldn't be bad enough to fund Bud Gleeful's campaign. She seems better than she was, certainly, but, well, she is a Northwest. But she's not stupid, and if she was dating Mabel and cared about dating Mabel it strikes him as a pretty stupid move.

But then again, hurting Mabel is always a dumb move in Dipper's book. Not that he's always been the best at not hurting her, but well, he is good at making dumb moves. Better at that than making good moves, lately.

[mabeljuice]

"She wouldn't say. She just said it was something that had to be done, and I wouldn't understand... or something. I don't know. I didn't care at the time. She had a chance to do something decent when she became head of the Northwest Family, and instead she put the Gleefuls in charge."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "It's just stupid."

[lowvi]

Dipper looks over at her, rubbing his arm and frowning a little. He's not very good at reading people, but this is his sister, and he's pretty sure the hurt's a little too deep to be wiped away by any kind of good reason, if Pacifica even had one. Especially considering it was Gideon.

"Well," he says slowly. "That doesn't mean she was wrong about this. I did make things a lot worse last time. I don't want people to get hurt again because I'm back."

[mabeljuice]

Mabel looks down at the floor, unable to find a good argument. "I don't know, Dipper. I just... I feel like if you leave, it's only going to get worse. And I'm not just saying that. I know it. Those dreams I was having before Stan-"

She cuts herself off and shakes her head.

[lowvi]

"Dreams?" Dipper looks up, frowning at her. "What dreams?"

[mabeljuice]

Mabel looks mildly uncomfortable for a moment and rubs her arms, awkwardly. "Well, there was one with Bill just... mocking me, but even before that I kept dreaming about being in town and everything's gray like the mindscape. And it's empty. So I keep walking and I end up in the woods and I find everyone in town just staring up at the treeline, and they won't answer me when I talk to them. And then the forest starts burning and they all just keep standing there like trees as the forest burns and I look up and the moon looks like an eye, and-"

She stops and bites down on one of her knuckles, shaking her head. "I've had it so many times now."

[lowvi]

Dipper leans forward, resting his face in his hands. None of that sounded good. Not least because he knows Bill likes calling him Pine Tree and it's hard not to imagine that a burning forest might have something to do with that. He's also seen the moon look like an eye before too, when Bill came to talk to him about the laptop for the first time.

"It's a threat. Or... a warning." He can't leave. He feels the strands of the mystery tightening around his neck like a noose around his neck. He doesn't know how he can thwart Bill when everything he does seems to be exactly what Bill wants, but he can't leave. This remains his mess. And he can't fix it by leaving.

"I'm sorry, Mabel. I wish I had the answers." He always used to. How was it he knew everything when he was 12 and nothing now? "I'm not even sure what the right questions are."

[mabeljuice]

"That's what you're here to do, Dipper- figure out everything. I know that much. I just... feel it. Like stuff got so messed up when we were kids and now we have to put it right again." She reaches over to put a hand on his arm. "It's scary as heck, but we can handle it... Right?"

She's asking for reassurances from someone who can barely be reassured, himself, but Dipper's always been better at this than her. He'll find his footing and it'll be like he was never blindsided. They'll fall back into the way of things and end this cycle once and for all.

[lowvi]

Dipper doesn't look up at her immediately. It's a lot of weight, responsibility he once would have embraced that now feels like too much. He was brave as a 12 year old--or reckless, and he wouldn't have hesitated back then. But now he knows the cost. Now he can't stop thinking about how he might have to pay it again, and he's not sure he can handle it.

"That's what we do," he says, voice low. It's not really reassurance. He doesn't feel sure. He feels lost. He knows he's supposed to be strong, to protect Mabel like he always used to--and some brother he's been lately, can't even do that--but right now he's not seeing any way out of this situation.

He covers her hand with his, still not looking at her, but he does relax, if only by a fraction. "I won't leave." It's about all he can promise. He doesn't know what he's doing. "But I need to... do more research."

[mabeljuice]

"Nerd," she smirks, ducking her head a bit, before pulling him into a tight hug. "I promise I won't keep anything else from you. Whatever you need to know, I'll tell you." She hadn't mean to deceive him or intentionally leave things out, but it's a lot to take in- sometimes it's too much even for her.

"I guess I'm more like Stan sometimes than I thought."

[lowvi]

He shakes his head, hugging her back and leaning his cheek on her hair. Sometimes it still feels weird that he's taller than her. He isn't sure if that's because they just weren't as close as they had been when he was getting his big growth spurts or if a part of him will always just think of the two of them as the same height.

"No, it's okay. This one's my fault. I should've read your letters."

[mabeljuice]

"Yeah, you should've, you dumb jerk," she teases, though there's no real bite to the words. She gets it in some ways, but in others, she probably won't ever understand. The important thing is she's forgiven him.

"C'mon. I'll take you into town. It's probably a good as start as any..."

Plus it'll get him to familiarize himself with things in Gravity Falls these days.

[lowvi]

"I was thinking I should do that." It's nice how even after all this time, they still work like this. They still can practically read each other's minds when it comes to next steps. "Though after talking to Pacifica I feel like I might need to dodge some rotten vegetables. Should I wear a disguise or something?"

[mabeljuice]

"Pacifica's not the whole town." She waves him off, as she backs up towards the front of the house. "But it might not hurt to wear some big sunglasses or something."

Is she teasing him or does she mean it? The world may never know.

[lowvi]

"I'll keep that in mind." Dipper smirks, looking more amused than worried. But he does... pocket a pair of sunglasses anyway. Just in case.

[mabeljuice]

Lemme just get changed.

[She pats him on the shoulder and heads upstairs, leaving Dipper alone in the Shack...

For approximately a minute before the front door bangs open.]

[lowvi]

Dipper jumps up and wheels towards the door. It's perhaps paranoia that makes his fingers inch towards his crossbow, though he doesn't actually grab it, but considering everything that's happened since Mabel showed up at his dorm, he's pretty sure he's earned it.

[yvorvevi]

Holiday looks up from removing her backpack and just... stares at Dipper, face slowly coloring.

"H...Hi." She swallows and stands up a little straighter as she tries to look relaxed and confident. "I mean... Hey."

[lowvi]

Oh right. New Wendy. Dipper gives her a slight smile, relaxing. "Do you always enter buildings so aggressively?"