The town of Gravity Falls was torn when Mabel finished her story of what had happened so far that day.
There was sympathy that Dipper was suffering, but there was anger,
too, that he was dragging them into it, even if he was apparently
unwilling and unconscious of doing it.
And beneath the anger, ran worry, for themselves and for Dipper, that only made everyone more anxious, angrier and more afraid.
They were arguing amongst each other about what to do and what was
going on as soon as Mabel had finished, getting louder by the minute and
ignoring the Pines.
One of the Flock butted against Mabel’s side, and she stumbled into her daughter’s side with an ‘oomph’.
Most of the Flock (and there were a lot of them now, more than Bill
had ever had, and it was looking like he was going to have more than any
demon before, according to a mostly proud, slightly worried Dipper)
were moving to line the walls and cluster around the weakest points of
the building, while a smaller cluster stood nearby and watched the Pines
family (and adopted family) with worrying intensity.
James Gallucio, PhD, had been researching the supernatural for years. It wasn’t the easiest career path, especially before the Transcendence hit and anyone who studied the paranormal was considered odd, at best.
Tall and lanky and clumsy, with thick glasses, James had always been on the receiving end of taunting and the stereotype of ‘nerd’, and his hobbies didn’t help matters any.
But James was stubborn, and determined to find out the truth. They could laugh at him all they liked, but he knew of at least one man in his field who’d gotten a government grant to study the paranormal, and he was determined to keep working despite his detractors. Who knew, maybe it would happen for him.
Then the Transcendence happened. All over the world, in the blink of an eye, the paranormal was out in plain sight, unable to hide, and demanding their basic human rights, and people like James were suddenly needed.
But even though he was suddenly respected, needed, and looked to, at least somewhat, James just wasn’t satisfied. Half of the excitement of his job had been in the danger, in people’s disbelieving reactions, in the chase after something no one else understood.
There were dozens, if not hundreds, of people studying the paranormal now. James needed a challenge, something new.
Of course, there were dozens of new species to study now, and many of them incredibly dangerous.
So when the offer came, James jumped on it. So now, in the fourteen years since the Transcendence, James had done a documentary on as many as he could find the least verifiable information on.
Now James was looking for something new to document, something dangerous, something little was known about, something that would really get his name out there.
That wasn’t
the reaction Dipper usually got when he made his grand entrance. He waved a hand
to clear the smoke and now he could see the pink wallpaper. The embroidered
flowers on the pillow. The many, many pictures of cats – and a wicker basket
that for some reason seemed to be filled with doll parts. The chintzy couch had
been moved aside to make room for the summoning circle.
I feel like I need to apologize in advance for all the Zalgo in this. (…let me know if anything needs clarifying/translated.)
Afardow the Prideful had more than earned their name and the right to keep it only theirs. Only the finest of sacrifices would do to tempt them from the Mindscape, only the most perfect of summons with the highest quality materials, and they were powerful enough to demand them.
Though they would eagerly accept the sacrifice of lesser demons to their glory. If a demon could be bound so easily, then they were unworthy to call themselves demon and deserved to be sacrificed to give power to the more worthy.
Other demons tended to avoid them with more care than they commonly put toward not meeting with each other. A basic precaution, since while most meetings of demons led to fights, it was a guarantee if they didn’t meet Afardow’s extremely high standards of demonkind – and it was the rare demon that could.
After the Transcendence, it took time for Afardow to hear the rumors of Alcor. Little surprise when they held themselves as being above gossip, and so few would dare approach them anyway.
But hear about him, they finally did, around eight years after the world changed irrevocably.
The sky was
streaked with orange and red as the sun set on the final day of what was
arguably the worst week of the mystery shack crew’s lives. Mabel was nursing a
rather torn up arm after an incident with a Hide-Behind, Wendy’s left eye was
swollen and bruised after a group of gnomes ambushed her, and Dipper himself
had a swollen ankle after a close call with a flock of eyebats. They were all
sore, bleeding, and incredibly terrified as they watched the sun set over the
distant mountains.
Dipper looked up from the menu with a start at Lazy Susan. He and Mabel had been back in town for two weeks, and Stan, sensing that Mabel was still upset about….about their parents had brought her to Greasy’s for some cheer up pancakes. Dipper was corporeal for this trip, a deal made in exchange for as many pancakes as he could eat.
So Dipper had blunted his teeth and nails, and tried not to think about how weak and defenseless he felt without them. He let the color bleed from his eyes, felt his ears round out, and let his wings melt into his back. He switched his clothes to his old familiar vest and shorts, an outfit that had once been comforting but now seemed to itch and burn, a reminder of everything he had lost. He was playing at being Dipper Pines, sixteen and almost a junior in high school and he was keenly aware of how wrong it felt to play at being human and he couldn’t even concentrate on this menu and-
Mabel giggled as Lazy Susan looked on knowingly.
“Dipdops you got little nubbins sticking out of your back!”
“And one of your eyes is wonky kid,” Stan chimed in, pointing to the left side of Dipper’s face with a fork.
Before Dipper had a chance to bolt back to the Mindscape, to become invisible or something to fix this disaster Mabel laid a hand on his shoulder, her touch the only real thing in his world. “Dipper calm down. You haven’t gotten pancakes yet brobro.”
Lazy Susan smiled at Dipper. “You don’t have to hide here big guy. We know who you are. And we know what you did.”
Mayor Tyler, who had been sitting with his husband in the booth behind them, popped up over the back of the seat. “Anyone give you trouble, I’ll get em!”
All around the little diner, everyone joined in in assuring Dipper, from Blubs and Durland, to Toby, to Free Pizza Guy, to even Meredith and her wife.
(Prompt: Dipper and the
Fallers; or, Dipper is a demon and everyone in town is cool with that even if
outsiders don’t get that) (For the Anniversary Ficathon)
There’s a demon in the
midst of Gravity Falls! The great demon Alcor lurks among the townspeople! Gloria
Dale here with first-hand accounts of living with a demon.
Interviewer: So, Miss… Lazy Susan. How does it feel to have a demon in
town?
Lazy Susan: Ya mean the Pines kid? He’s pretty nice.
I: Nice? In what way? Do you strike up deals? Does he do you favors?
LS: He’s nice to talk to sometimes. Comes to the diner a lot, gets some
grub, has a chat. Doesn’t cause a ruckus like my bad customers. No demon deals,
though. Never have anything to ask.
I: Anything other of note? Have you ever met his wife?
LS: What are you talking about? He told me he’s never dated!
I: Next!
Toby Determined: Heh. Usually I’m the one doing the interview!
So, what do you want to know about Alcor?
I: Just the facts. What’s your relationship with him?
TB: I give him a few candy bars to get some info sometimes. No soul selling
though.
I: Candy bars.
TB: I go with Snickers. He loves those!
I: Next!
Sherriff Blubbs: I’ve known Alcor for a long time, before the
Transcendence even.
I: Really?
Deputy Durland: Mm-hmm. He helped us fight off a giant vampire
bat!
I: He helped fight off the supernatural, then?
SB: Just anything causing trouble. He stopped a couple of cults harassing supernatural
folk recently. Those cultists are some nasty pieces of works.
I: I see. What else does he help you with?
DD: There was that time he solved the wax murder!
I: Wax… Murder?
DD: Yeah! So Stan Pines had this wax statue of himself that his great niece
made him but it got beheaded. Turns out murderous living wax sculptures did it
because they were trying to kill the real him!
I: Murderous wax sculptures.
SB: Yeah. It’s not all mysteries, though. He lets us screw around
sometimes, with us pretending to catch “the Great Demon Alcor the Dreambender!”
Man, that’s fun.
I: Next!
I: So as the local supernatural expert-
Ford Pines: The Pines family will not be answering any of your questions.
I: But-
FP: No.
Stan Pines: I might be willing to answer some of your questions!
FP: Stan!I: Really?
SP: For the low price of say… Two thousand dollars, I’ll tell you about all
the times I caught him singing to the Icelandic pop sensation Babba!
I need art of this like the burning of a million suns
on it.
Done!
And yes, that’s Alcor’s symbol on Lazy Susan’s claws. They did each other’s claws, so of course they’re’re going to have the others’ colors and patterns!
Better resolution/quality photos may turn up later.
Inspired by the fic open season prompt with the tsunami. This is not edited/revised, it’s something I’m just writing on a whim. This is a welcome prompt; I’ve been wanting to write! Thank you! ^^
Hope you enjoy it!
Warning: swearing/feels will be in this fic…
***
Greasy’s Diner was so worn, so full of the smell of old oil and neglected French fries and rotting leather seats, that only the natives of Gravity Falls dared to eat there anymore. Nobody really enjoyed the food; they came there for the atmosphere and to people-watch and talk.
One of the Greasy’s regulars was none other than the demon Alcor, who preferred to be called Dipper by his friends, thank you very much.
Ah, yes. My apologies.
On this particular day, Dipper was seated in one of the grayish-red booths, sucking on a lollipop that he’d picked from the pile of candies that sat on the table. He wasn’t really sitting in the booth, he was floating a couple inches above it, and his feet were on the table like the rude dork he was.
His black-and-gold gaze flicked to the other customers, ensuring that everything was okay in the restaurant. Lazy Susan, who was well into her seventies yet refused to retire, as she wiped down the bar counter. Toby Determined, the strange reporter, was talking to Deputy Derland and Sheriff Blubs. Wendy sat in the booth behind him, boasting about her recent adventures to anyone who would listen. Mabel, Stan, Henry, and the Triplets were still at the Shack—he’d come here on his own. Everyone’s aura was a peaceful, calm blue…until she came.
Pacifica Northwest burst in, staring at her phone, and Dipper was startled by her aura—a roiling mix of sharp yellow anxiety and red anger and gray sadness. “Turn on the news,” she said, her voice strained.
The diner had gone quiet, and Dipper was growing more nervous by the second. Had one of the Triplets or Henry or Stan or Mabel been hurt? Kidnapped? Killed?
He stifled those thoughts as quickly as they’d come.
Lazy Susan flicked through the channels until she came to the news. Pacifica had sat down in a bar stool, tapping her fingers impatiently.
“—three thousand people dead,” said the news anchor. “This tsunami is one of the worst in history, having destroyed countless homes, businesses, and lives. For more information, I’ll turn this over to NOAA meteorologist Tsukuba Namiko.”
The screen changed to show a young American-Asian woman with short-cropped, black hair and a sad expression. “We never saw it coming,” she said. “Tsunamis are unpredictable, but with advances in our technology we have been able to detect waves above 25’ before they reach shore and alert cities and towns. This one came out of nowhere, and was far more destructive than one would have expected of that height. Truly a tragedy…”
Pacifica was crying. “It hit San Francisco…m-my grandmother…sh-she…she lived there, a-and…”
Lazy Susan ducked out of the room, returning a moment later with a slice of cherry pie and setting the plate down in front of Pacifica, who began spooning little bits of it into her mouth as her tears continued smudging her eyeshadow.
Dipper was just smiling, relieved. “Paz, is that all you’re upset about? That tiny wave?” he asked with a little head tilt. “I caused that. I got like six souls out of that deal, too. It was awesome.”
Everyone in the diner turned to stare at him. Dipper’s smile slowly began to fade as he realized what he’d just said.
What he’d just done.
“Oh,” he said. “Oh. O̻͓̘̭̯̎́ͯh̬̙̾̍ͬ͜͟,͉͓̼̫̰̊ͤ̾ͣ ͈̦͎̦͓̏ͪ̔̃s̥̫͐̀ͥ͜͟h͈̥̯̥͖ͦ̋̇͊̃ͥ̿͠i̠̝ͦ͐̀t͉́̓̅̋͘.̴̯͙̞͖̖͙̗̽̏ͬ͊ͅ That’s…that’s not what you guys think—”
“Dipper?” Pacifica said. Her voice cracked on the second syllable. “D-Dipper, you…”
Her aura was now simply a flashing, boiling red. She was furious. He unconsciously reached out to her mind to try and calm her down, but his normally accepted gesture was being rejected on instinct.
“You did this! You fucking murderer! How could you?!” Pacifica screamed, launching herself at Dipper.
He managed to blip out of the booth before she tackled him, and she crashed into the wall. All of her emotions suddenly vanished, replaced with just…black. Nothing. Nothing at all.
Pacifica curled her hands into fists, sobbing silently, as the truth of what he had done hit him fully.
He had killed thousands of people without remorse.
backup 