Hey, what's up guys? This is just a little project of mine to help me get back in the swing of things and let me experiment with different themes and styles, also everyone else seems to be doing it which is reason enough for anything (lol). Feel free to comment or suggest a story of your own and we'll see about getting it up here.
The sun dipped behind grey clouds turning a once bright day into something dark and gloomy. Dipper had been out all day exploring the mysteries of the Gravity Falls woods trying to find the elusive tribe of clown pygmies or another artifact of unspeakable properties. Alas, all his searching was for not and he wore defeat on every grass stain and wrinkle in his brow. His mood as dismal as the sky above Dipper returned the Mystery Shack sulking all the way. When things seemed their lowest and the day wasted something glinted at him from behind the emerald waves of freshly cut grass. With the faintest hope that all was not lost he ran across the lawn and scooped up the object in question, a gold coin bearing strange symbols carved into each side of it. The symbols were carved in a seemingly haphazard manner, probably some schizo's idea of what an ancient language should look like. Quickly flipping to the ancient artifacts section of his journal, Dipper found a depiction of the coin and accompanying description on the opposing tattered page:
The coin of windfall. These gold coins are sought after by Gravity Falls' famed leprechauns not necessarily for the good fortune they may bring but for the exceptionally shiny surface they possess. This coin has been known to bring luck of either….activated by flipping the coin, but be…oin….
The rest of the passage was too illegible to read but Dipper got the jist of it; the coin's lucky attributes were activated by flipping it and really, he did have to stop and admire how shiny the coin actually was. In fact, it almost seemed to glow in his hand. Elated that his search was not a fruitless endeavor and too giddy to give the missing text a second thought he raced back to the Mystery Shack to discover the secrets of the coin.
Wendy had been staring off into space, far too depressed to even look customers in the eye since her break up with Robbie and it was no surprise that Dipper found her in exactly the same position upon entering the shack. Truth be told Dipper hadn't spoken to her since that night, not for lack of trying though. She would always ignore him and avoid any attempt at conversation. Her silent rage an implicit blame for the part Dipper had played in the break up and his subsequent thoughtlessness thereafter. It would take a miracle for her to ever talk to him again and Dipper was sure that he held just such a miracle in the palm of his hand. Giving the coin a quick flip and noticing that it landed heads up Dipper tried his luck.
"Hey there Wendy, bad Weather we're having today, eh?" he said in as casual a voice as he could muster.
At first it looked as he would be rebuked once again then the storm broke and Wendy seemed to cheer up considerably almost as if a sudden realization dawned on her. They talked, laughed, and joked for the rest of her shift and when it came time to quit, she thanked him for listening and gave him a quick, furtive kiss before practically skipping out the door leaving Dipper awestruck rubbing the spot where her lips had blessed his skin. It worked, the coin really did work! There was no other explanation in his mind.
Wanting to test its powers some more Dipper gave the coin another toss. Heads again. From out of the den came words Dipper never thought he would hear from his Gruncle Stan in a million years
"Hey kids! I'm all out of terrible food and I feel generous for some reason. Let's go out to eat tonight. Ow, ah man this generosity thing kind of hurts, like a… like a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach or something."
Wendy's forgiveness, Stan's generosity; this coin was going to change his life for the better, he just knew it.
~000~
With full bellies and hours of mindless TV logged it was time for the twins' nightly ritual of racing to get to the bathroom first or rather it was Mabel's nightly ritual of exercising her physical superiority over her twin and beating him to the bathroom every night. However, this time was going to be different for Dipper, the coin of windfall was going to see to that. Heck, he might even deign to win a toothbrush race tonight if he felt like it. With the coin in his hands there was nothing he couldn't do. Before Mabel could even announce that the games had begun Dipper gave his newfound source of luck a quick flip. Tails this time. Mabel announced the start of their race and both twins took off with a bust of speed. For a while it looked like Dipper might actually win but his foot caught on a rusted nail and he face planted right into the stairs. Mabel rushed past her fallen brother and slammed the bathroom door shut shouting a triumphant "Woo hoo, Mabel for the win again!" as she could now spend the next hour getting prepped for bed undisturbed. Shaking off the oncoming concussion Dipper looked down at the erstwhile lucky coin. Huh, maybe it has a limited number of uses per day, better test this he thought before shrugging it off and sitting himself back in front of the TV defeated once again.
~000~
Dipper awoke with a start. For him the morning couldn't have come sooner and he had wasted away half the night tossing and turning impatiently awaiting the new day that would allow him to test his theory about the coin. Maybe it did have its limitations; maybe it worked like a genie with the individual only getting a limited number of uses before their turn was over. He silently prayed this was not the case. Greeting the day with more anxiety than usual he retrieved the coin from under his mattress, a place he had sequestered the coin to avoid the prying eyes of anyone wishing to take it, imaginary or otherwise. In reality no one knew of the coin's existence save for him and possibly a few leprechauns but that didn't stop his mind from turning shadows into creeping assassins and government agents. Double checking to ensure Mable was still sound asleep across the room. Dipper flicked the coin into the air. Heads. A minute went by with no results,
then another
and another;
oh God he really had used up all of his luck!
Dipper placed his head in his hands "How could I been so careless? I should have done more research on the coin before using it. I could have done so much more with it."
A cheerful oink wrested him from the depths of his despair. Uncovering his face and letting out an exasperated sigh he didn't even know he had been holding in, he stared forlornly into the squishy pink face of his sister's pet pig. However, there was something different about Waddles today. Dipper was pretty certain the pig had never worn a monocle before, unless… "Hey! Get away from my book and give me that back!" As Dipper reached for the monocle he had been using as a place holder for the #3 journal the pig screeched and bolted in the opposite direction. Instinct drove Waddles forward as he blindly collided with the bookcase before racing out the door. The bookcase tilted back and forth precariously and just when it seemed like it would stay erect the whole mess toppled over causing Dipper to jump slightly as the impact was sure to have awoken the dead. Amazingly, Mabel managed to sleep right through the falling bookcase and subsequent crash. Honestly, his sister was the only person Dipper knew who could sleep through something like that, but maybe that was for the best. Something green spilled out from behind the bookcase and flooded the air above the twins before raining down upon them. It was green, paper like, and plentiful. It was… it was… money? Dipper reached out his hands and grabbed as much as he could. Tens, twenties, hundreds, whatever he could grab it didn't matter, he was rich now. Suddenly his eyes widened as his thoughts returned to the coin once again. A smile crept across his face, his luck was back.
Leaving his sister to sleep in her bed of green Dipper quickly made his way down stairs. Gruncle Stan was sitting in his usual place at the kitchen table sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. Too excited to give his new found opulence another go Dipper had to suppress a giggle as he flipped the coin behind his back. Tails.
Clearing his throat he began "Uh hey Stan I don't really feel like working today, would you mind giving me the day off? You'd be my new favorite gruncle if you did."
Stan looked up from his paper; grumpy etched into his features "You know what kid, no. In fact you have been slacking off so much lately that I'm giving you the late night shift. ALONE (the emphasis on the word made it so much worse). Now go put on your wolf boy costume, I've got tourists coming in an hour."
Confusion quickly overwhelmed Dipper as he left the room. The coin brought luck both good and bad seemingly at random but what was the secret behind it? What unlocked the good luck? What triggered the bad? So many questions raced through his mind that when a sudden realization came over him it was truly a moment of clarity. Testing his theory out Dipper gave the coin one more flip. Heads.
"Hey kid! Forget what I said earlier about working late tonight. Take the day off. Oh, and you can shred the wolf boy costume."
Gruncle Stan's voice drifted in from the kitchen carrying with it mixed blessings. On one hand Dipper finally knew how the coin worked: flipping the coin activated its power and the coin landing on heads brought good luck whereas tails caused bad luck. The only problem was that there was no way to ensure it would always bring good luck. Hm, the coin could really help me out but it could also ruin me. Maybe I just shouldn't use it or maybe I could tape a weight to one side so that it always comes up heads? That's not really cheating that much is it? While Dipper pondered this he had been absentmindedly twirling the coin in his hands. So lost in though was he that he didn't even feel the coin drop away from his hands or hear it hit the floor. Tails.
It began with a low rumble, something small and noticeable only to the animals with the keenest of senses but then it increased in intensity, slowly first and then at some exponential rate till the planet felt like it might shake apart. An earthquake triggered by a clandestine fault line directly below the mystery shack, very bad luck. The whole house heaved and groaned before the floor completely caved in threatening to shallow Dipper and everything else in the shack with it. Reacting purely on instinct he quickly grabbed for the nearest support as the floor gave out underneath him which was a bookcase that had fallen over and shattered the aquarium. He cursed to himself as he felt remnants of the aquarium force their way into his hand. The pain was unbearable but the alternative of letting go for a moments reprieve was unthinkable. As the contents of the house shifted screams could be heard from both Stan and Mable (presumably they too were clinging on to some fallen piece of furniture for dear life) Dipper saw the coin slid from its place on the floor over the ledge and into the pit. Once again on pure instinct Dipper caught the coin in mid drop before he even thought to act. Hanging by one hand to a bookcase over a chasm of unfathomable depth while the house shook violently around him Dipper gave the coin one last flip. Hey, if it got me into this mess maybe it can get me out. It not like I have anything left to lose. He thought as the coin spun upwards before reaching its apex and gravity took hold. His eyes followed the coin's decent with baited breath. Beads of sweat cascaded down his brow as his lips worked a silent prayer and somewhere in the back of his mind he was vaguely aware of the throbbing ache in the arm holding him up as the coin finally completed its decent somewhere just out of sight.
Dipper was about to pull himself up and check which side the coin landed on when the rest of the floor gave way and the bookcase slid into the pit with Dipper riding it all the way down. At least there was no need to check on the coin, it was definitely tails. Suddenly a blast of hot air caught Dipper in his decent and sent him flying towards the surface along the way it caught Stan and Mable who apparently had not fared any better than him. The trio landed just outside of the shack as the tourist trap gave one final groan before being swallowed by the quaking earth giving new vision to the word cataclysm. Huh, physics be damned, blind stupid luck really does trump all Dipper thought brushing himself off as he stood up. The devastation surrounding them was unimaginable. Trees had been uprooted and lay broken and mangled; the ground was shattered by cracks and fissures, some of which looked as if they may go on for eternity. The humble shack may have been lost in the great quake but at least its inhabitants were still alive. Dipper couldn't imagine so much could come from a single flip of a coin. So transfixed was he that he didn't notice his sister pick up a glittering gold coin that had survived the wreckage. It had been a strange day for her. First she woke up in a bed filled with money, not just the bed but the whole room had taken on an emerald tint. Then the house began to shake violently while her brother and uncle screamed for their lives as they fell into a gaping hole and before she could even blink they were all on the front lawn with no idea what the heck just happened. Then she saw it, a lone golden coin amongst the wreckage. It was so luminescent, so beautiful, so…so shiny. Its magnificence called to her, she felt compelled to pick it up and run her figures over its smooth surface. Suddenly a pained squeal that could only be waddles in duress broke her from the coin's hold. Forgetting all else she tossed the coin behind her and ran to rescue her pet. Unbeknownst to anyone the coin landed far away. Tails. The earth began to quake once more and finally gave way. All Dipper had time to think or to say was
"MABLE, LOOK OUT!"