"If you're looking for something to begin with, the Soupe à L'oignon is a surprisingly interesting combination…" Dipper recommended as he read off the menu.
"You can't be serious." Paz commented with her arms crossed.
"Well, I know it sounds weird, but it actually has an interesting texture to-"
"-Not the soup." Paz interrupted him. "You." She said indicating to the fancy restaurant atmosphere all around them.
Dipper folded the menu in front of him to look Paz in the eye. He thought he'd prepared everything perfectly. Why wasn't she happy? Was none of this up to her expectations? "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean… what have I done wrong?"
"This whole date. It doesn't feel like you. I wouldn't call it tense- more like you're putting on an act." Paz insisted.
Dipper held his wine glass out in front of him, swishing the contents side to side. "Isn't this how you're supposed to behave for this kind of outing? Civil? Polite? Complementary? I've never had a girl complain about the way I treated her during the date."
Paz let out a humph, wondering how Dipper could go on acting like this sort of mastermind, yet was blind to see what was in front of him. "I'm not like any of the girls you've been out with. And I don't want some sort of cookie cutter treatment. I asked Dipper Pines out- Not the mask he wears on stage."
Dipper let out a sarcastic chuckle. "You really don't know what you're asking for." He admitted rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to drive you away by doing something as stupid as 'being myself'."
Paz folded her arms annoyed. "Well I'm not sticking around for some pretty boy that knows some French. What do you really enjoy doing and talking about? What would you consider an ideal date?"
Dipper's fingers rubbed against his forehead frustrated. He didn't think he'd blow his first date with Paz this quickly, but it seemed like he was going to lose her one way or the other.
"Fine… have it your way." Dipper pulled back out of his seat and began re-adjusting his cape. "We'll go somewhere you can really see the 'real me'."
The cave that Dipper and Paz traversed hardly seemed like one you'd call a romantic place for a first date. But Paz wanted to see the kind of places Dipper enjoyed, and this was it.
"Um… did you bring a flashlight?" Paz asked as they walked in far enough that the moonlight could no longer reach them.
Dipper shook his head- not that Paz could see it. "These creatures are more than just nocturnal. Natural light as well as one from a human source would be harmful to them." He explained. Although he could provide her some kind of light source. The mystic amulet at his neck began to glow. Not enough to reveal the path in front of them, but enough so Paz could see where he was.
Dipper touched his index and middle finger to his broach, allowing his fingertips to match its glow. "I need to mark you so they don't recognize you as prey or my offering."
Paz flinched at the mention of an 'offering'. Did he normally bring young girls out here to be sacrificed?! Dipper could only imagine the look on her face. His glowing fingertips traced through the air in front of him. He didn't come into contact with Paz, and while he couldn't see her, his fingers traced the outline of her body.
"Custodite vos a tenebris. Ego protector tuus sum." Dipper chanted, casting the spell over Paz. Above her chest, he drew the Tent of Telepathy star that the creatures would recognize as his mark. The thin glow remained around Paz so he could at least see his date in the darkness.
Paz was used to weird, but this was still crossing the line. "Are we really just getting something to eat?" She asked confused.
Dipper gave a smirk as he continued walking. "Oh, we'll have our fill…"
Paz wondered what that meant, but she was having more trouble keeping one foot in front of the other. She kept her eyes focused on the glow of Dipper's amulet in front of her. She'd have to trust him if she was to make it through this.
Red eyes pierced through the darkness and a loud echoing boom of a voice announced their presence.
"Who approaches Dawn's End?"
Dipper remained calm in the face of the unknown creature. "Two Children of the Stars, come to see the dark." Dipper announced, reciting a common greeting.
Paz couldn't see the body of the creature, but the red eyes approached her. Was that a breeze creeping down her skin? But they were too deep in for the wind to reach them. The pair of eyes were clearly examining her, but what were they looking for?
"The Stars have watched this one well… and yet you bring her to us?" The deep voice questioned.
Dipper knew that this visit wouldn't exactly use his usual script, but he pressed on anyways. "I do not present her to you as a servant, but as a student. She is one that wishes to see the truth behind the shadows, as I have." Dipper explained. His voice remained calm despite his worry. Not about the creatures before him, but how Paz would react to all of this.
"And what will you give in exchange for this truth?" The voice asked.
Paz flinched. Alright, this had to be where the blood sacrifice came in. She wasn't scared of a blood loss, but it wasn't her idea of fun. What kind of devil deals did Dipper have planned for tonight?
"I offer visions of the light that you cannot grasp for yourself. To comprehend that which cannot be seen by eyes blinded, I loan my eyes that have gazed upon the stars." Dipper offered.
"Done."
The eyes rushed toward Dipper, disappearing from Paz's sight. She had no idea what was going on, but that hardly seemed like the friendliest of deals.
"Dipper?!" She asked putting her hand on his shoulder to turn him around. But his eyes were no longer the same ice cold blue or even matching the glow of his amulet, but the blood red of the creature they encountered. The eyes were a window to the soul. A change like that usually signaled a possession. Paz quickly reached in her jacket pocket to grab her emergency vial of holy water when she felt Dipper's hand clutch her own.
"It's fine… I'm still me." He reassured her. "The Dark Dwellers are a very wise and ancient race… but they can't exactly walk around freely. Even starlight or moonlight burns them. This is just a simple trade- knowledge of the world above, for that of the world bellow. They're only looking through my recent memories."
Paz flinched back. Of course, "I'm not possessed" was exactly the kind of thing someone that was possessed would claim. But the touch still felt like Dipper's. His voice enjoying to prattle on about the supernatural was still his. Even the eyes that were now red seemed to carry the same curiosity and passion that she was used to. This was what she wanted after all- to see him.
"So… what exactly do you get in return?" Paz wondered.
A light smile came on Dipper's face. Not the kind of bursting with joy grin that Paz may wear herself, but instead taking happiness from what he knew. Or in this case, the surprise that was to come.
"What we came for… sustenance." He answered.
The red eyes remained locked on Paz's as she felt a chill rush down her spine. The glow of Dipper's amulet disappeared. Paz was blinded. She couldn't see anything. And yet at the same time, it felt like she didn't need to. Paz, like most people, was used to being able to see the light that reflected off of objects into her eyes. These beings could only see in light's absence. It was like being able to pick up the tiniest of sounds on a silent night. Without the harsh sunlight to scream at all their senses, the Dark Dwellers could pick up the faint colors that an object produced naturally- not those that were reflected off of it. They saw the true nature of an object or person, only able to be revealed when the only light left to shine was its own. This pure essence of a being that could only be gathered in the darkness was what kept them alive. They had no 'bodies' in the sense of something physical, but instead a photons and waves that could only exist in the shadows. They didn't just see the truth of a being. They lived off of it. And for a few moments, they shared this power with both of them.
Paz was left with a mix of confusion and yet longing as the red left Dipper's eyes. For a moment, even without the glow of the amulet she could see him. He was someone that walked the road less traveled to seek out which others did not understand. The light didn't touch him the same way it did others, but it still reached his heart. And he would wield it in his own way. He was a force that moved in its own unique fashion. The stars may guide him, but he decided his own path. Even demons couldn't snuff out his light. But they had come to fear it.
Looking at Paz for those brief moments, even in the pure darkness, Dipper felt blinded. She was too much for him. She was a wild flame that would burn for all eternity. All those times in the past he attempted to break her spirit and snuff out her light… he now realized it was like trying to put out the sun with a thimble of water. And now he held that burning sun in his hands. Her light could pierce through anything, changing it into something new. What would Dipper become if he basked in her light long enough?
Dipper went from holding Paz's hands to wrapping his arms around her. He didn't know exactly what she'd seen, but she wanted to see the real him. He couldn't wear a mask to hide from her here. Even if she didn't like what she saw, he wanted to stay in her light for just a little while longer.
"You idiot…" Paz whispered as Dipper's grip got tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."
Dipper found that hard to believe. "After this first date?" He said with a hint of bitterness in his tone.
Paz gave out a chuckle. "I admit, it's not a typical first date… but you're a strange case. It suits you. And that's what matters."
Dipper loosened up and looked Paz in the eyes. There was no fear, but instead joy. She wanted more. And Dipper wanted to give it to her. "You deserve much more than the norm."
Dipper and Paz's lips met as they were watched upon by red eyes all around them. The Dark Dwellers didn't understand the act, but they could feel the power behind it. The Children of the Stars indeed had their strange customs. But their light always seemed to outshine both the sun and the moon. For those that lived in the dark, it was all the light they needed.