His voice dropped low, and somehow that was more terrifying than the high-pitched, nasally grate. The usual echo was gone in this human form, but he didn't even need it. "So, tell me, Pine Tree. Before I begin my deforestation company, what's this pine forest worth to ya?"
Dipper flinched as the fingers dug into his shoulder initially, trying not to show any more signs of weakness than he already had by looking Bill in the eyes. He didn't bother answering his question, knowing that it was rhetorical. He noticed that his eye was turning red, unsettling but he still attempted not to focus on it, hoping he could get himself out of this goddamn mess. Whoever thought it was a good idea to stick Bill with him once again, he wanted to kill. Especially Bill currently, however... He should have expected him to curse his statue and make it so he could come back. In hindsight, pretty stupid of him to do.
As Bill dragged him forward, Dipper lost his balance a bit, causing him to be reliant on Bill to hold him up. Something he didn't think was very likely because of having dropped him previously. He noticed that the demon continued rambling and sighed quietly, knowing he had done something similar but at least he wasn't monologuing quite like Bill was.
He felt his chest touch Bill's but didn't bother trying to fight it, the fingers digging into his shoulder would only hurt more if he tried to move or fight it at all. He did take it as an opportunity though to regain his balance, hoping that standing taller would help him out in the long run. "Everything. They mean everything to me." He didn't even hesitate, practically staring Bill down at this point. He didn't shy away, fight back or even flinch as Bill's anger rose. There was no point to doing so anyway, even if his fingers weren't causing his shoulder as much pain as they were.
"Don't hurt them. Just tell me what you want for not killing them. You're going to anyway, saying that whatever I have to offer isn't good enough before offering up your own solution... So just get it over with and tell me. I'll make a deal with you if I have to, but the terms will be strict so you can't find a loophole to fuck me over again." He muttered sternly, glaring at him instead as he offered it up. He didn't really want to make a deal with Bill again, having the last one end up with himself disembodied.
He stood up straighter from his previous position of being somewhat slouched over, as much as he could anyway with Bill's death grip on his shoulder. "I don't know why you have such a problem with me.. Remember, I brought you BACK onto this plane, multiple times now." He smirked, hoping that it would at least cause Bill to think a bit more carefully before he simply agreed to make a deal with Dipper.
That DAMN LOOK. If he could rip it right off that kid's face-
Bill's eye was already narrowed into a glare, but his already slit pupil thinned out to go from a cat's wild look to appear truly demonic. He actually went silent, staring with utter distaste, taking in the boy's image and apparently considering his words, surprisingly. Eventually, he started with just an irritated noise, "Tch."
Kid was right. In a jacked up kind of way, in Bill's not-so-humble opinion. The idea he had a moment ago came back to mind, and he pondered if he should actually go for it or not. Maybe. He'd work up to seeing if it would be useful or not.
"Familial bonds. Useless. Burning. Trash." he broke up each word dramatically, grin morphing into a sneer, a new sort of hatred in each hiss. Suddenly, he went from his harsh hold to shoving the boy down, unceremoniously aiming to throw him back into the ground. Bill didn't watch to see if he caught himself or not, turning his back on the kid a moment later. That in itself was an insult, because who turned away from someone they're on hostile (read: violent) terms with?
"Don't look at me like that, you brat. You've got nothin' to smirk at." He brought a hand up in front of him, palm up, and flicked his wrist a few times almost like someone trying to work a lighter. Usually this wouldn't seem like much, but with Bill gestures were probably everything since a lot of magic required them. The answers he was looking for in his own hand weren't apparently up to snuff, because he made an obnoxiously loud, irritated noise after a moment.
"Fine, y'know what?" he twisted his neck around at an angle that did not look comfortable, throwing that fiery glare right over his shoulder at the human. "Let's do it. I could use the energy."
If he could regain all of the energy he'd lost being crammed into this fleshy prison without his consent, he'd be better off altogether. "You people ruined EVERYTHING for me. I could'a brought you back after killing you. Death isn't permanent nine and a half times out of eleven, anyways!"
Not at all to say that he was going to do that, but the option was open if he so chose. Bill just liked to monologue like a super villain to get his points across, even if said points weren't entirely necessary to make.
"So, as a punishment for your over reaction to a little interdimensional party, I'm gonna return the favor." He was looking over his shoulder, still doing the odd hand gestures. "I won't physically destroy your precious kin of blood or whatever, as long as you..."
Actually, he didn't really know what he wanted. To cut the kid off from his family out of spite for everything they took from him, yeah. Ruin their world by striking them at their weakest link, of course. He needed the energy and a backup to get used to this new situation and body, because being forced into this world like this was NOT okay and he didn't really know how to cope. Deals and worship were what he needed.
"Swear yourself to me. All of it. Molecules and wavelengths and whatnot." Could be a battery! That'd be helpful. Then he could figure out what to do with the kid after that.
Dipper tried to catch himself but failed, collapsing on the ground with a muffled grunt from biting the inside of his cheek to try calming himself down from what he'd said to him. "I think the reason you hate my family is because you don't have one of your own." His voice was a barely above a whisper, pushing himself up with ease.
The angle that Bill twisted his head made him cringe, looking at him in slight confusion at how he was able to get his body at that angle. "How are you even doing that?" He meant that quite seriously, stepping closer to him quickly to try and figure out how he did it, his hand going to touch him to physically see how it was possible. "How you're doing that is fascinating." Sure he knew that Bill was still a demon and that he was pissed at him, but he didn't care how angry Bill might be at him, he wanted to know how he managed to get a human form to twist in that way. He might be curious, but he needed to make the terms of the deal clear.
"You want me to swear myself to you? Seriously? There's nothing there that you should want... Nothing about me is that special." He muttered softly, shrugging it off moments later. "Fine, but before I even THINK about shaking your hand, we discuss terms. Fully so that you can't possibly ruin my life again. First of all, I'm working with Ford, I'm going to classes and I'm living in the Mystery Shack. Nothing you do can interfere with that, this is important to me and the entire reason that I moved to Gravity Falls." He spoke firmly, staring the demon down.
"You have to behave yourself. I won't accept anything you want, I'm still a free person and you have to respect that. I'm not going to be your slave or drop everything any time you want me to." He smirked slightly, wondering how Bill was going to react to how matter of factly Dipper was talking to him, knowing the demon didn't particularly like challenges to his authority.
Bill wasn't paying a lick of attention to what Dipper was doing until the kid started laying down the law as if he had the right to do so. Then he realized the hand extended out as if to make some form of contact, and immediately jerked away, spinning around to fully face the brunet again. He didn't even consider answering the question, just giving a raised brown in response as he clearly had no intention to quench the human's curiosity right then.
"...You're seriously doing that pointless partnership with IQ?" he sounded actually surprised (though very unimpressed), but then that faded away quickly, replaced again with that simmering ire. "Gotta amend that last bit. If I want you, I want you. There's nothing you can learn with that nerd that you can't with me. Actually, there's a LOT you can learn from me that you can't from ANY human."
Bill met the challenge with his own stubbornness, refusing to back down. This was his wheelhouse and he'd be damned if he let some tiny, human, mortal- BOY run the show.
"Why live in that dump, anyways? Half a dozen years and I'M the one that needs to move on, eh?" It wasn't a real question because he didn't actually care, and the demon glanced upwards as if swearing at the sky, but who knew who or what he was actually directing that to. He looked back to Dipper, "I said all of you. That includes your time."
He made a gesture like a circle in the air, and there probably would have been a clock drawn in midair if he felt the need to waste energy on theatrics. Normally he would've, but this was a time of preservation, even if he wasn't going to give that bit of sensitive information out to anyone. Then he splayed his hands out, an open gesture with a hand that still ached a little but he mostly healed. "But I'm not UNREASONABLE. Still, you've got to understand the idea that 'swearing' yourself is binding to an idol and their subjects. Which I am an idol."
So the kid took up that offer with his great uncle. That was a problem. Bill didn't want anything to do with Ford except to wring his neck, preferably with a spiked chain held by Bill himself, pulled slowly tighter and tighter until-
"Yeah, yeah, I'll behave myself." Bill was a lot of things, and specific tended not to be one of those. He didn't go into detail about what would be expected if someone swore themselves to him on purpose, and definitely wasn't offering up info. "Is that all, Picky Pine Tree?"
He noticed how quickly Bill jerked away, letting his hand drop immediately. "I'm sorry." He didn't know about Bill's aversion to being touched outside of him making a deal and he felt bad that he tried to touch him without asking. "I... It's... Sorry." He couldn't figure out what else to say, glancing away with a soft sigh as he rubbed his arm awkwardly.
"Yes...? It's something I've wanted for the last six years Bill, that wasn't going to change suddenly..." He heard the surprise, it caught him off guard because he'd never heard the demon say anything in any tone other than anger aside from talking regularly. "I have classes and a job to do with Ford, you can't interrupt those! My job with Ford, alright that one I can almost understand, but my classes? Those are important. I can understand that you've got more knowledge than humans do, but these are actually something that I'd like to do..." He was rambling, not entirely sure if he knew what he was talking about at this point.
As Bill drew in the air he raised an eyebrow, understanding the basic concept of what he meant but not asking for specifics regardless. "I'm living there, that's the end of that particular conversation. However, I get it... All of me or whatever, just let me do what I need to before you fuck with me please." He rolled his eyes, looking back at the demon before sighing. "Fine, whatever... Yeah, that's all. Let's get this over with."
Dipper wasn't sure why he was doing this, he was smarter than this yet here he was, making his second deal with the evil little triangle... Wait he couldn't call him that anymore... Oh well. He simply resigned himself to this, rubbing his face somewhat before holding out his hand. "It's a deal." He still couldn't believe that he was doing this, already regretting that he was about to shake his hand once again.
He wasn't sure how Ford was going to react to this, Bill having a deal with Dipper like this means that he'd probably end up staying with him in the shack. Oh, they were going to kill him for this. "Does this deal mean you have to be around me 24/7?" He muttered it in annoyance, sighing quietly at the idea of his grunkles seeing Bill in human form and with Dipper.
How could this child apologize while also dealing away his life? Bill wasn't apologetic to anyone for anything, so that might've hindered his comprehension of the thing, but at the same time he knew what it was like bargaining and playing with delicate balances. It was strange, and not in the fun way. He refused to acknowledge it outwardly.
"You wanna live your boring human life, fine, I'll let it go for now. Let's not be too strict on that schedule, though, hmm? Leave some room for exceptions." He could totally bend those rules anyways, though, so no big issue, there. Bill sounded remarkably disapproving of the 'normal life' parts of this deal, but that was probably to be expected of a literal dream demon from a dimension no one had ever heard him talk about in more than passing remarks.
"Eh, we didn't say that, so... nope. As fun as it would be inconveniencing you, I'd rather not tie myself down into 'classes' that tell lies that I already know." The demon's reasonably unreadable face suddenly split into that unnaturally wide grin again, because he was able to do his thing and make a deal. The terms weren't IDEAL, would love a slave out of a Pines, but there were ways around that if needed. With an enthusiasm that betrayed his recoil at the mere suggestion of being touched before, he practically bounded forward to throw a hand out, clasping the human's in a grip strong enough to suggest the kid wasn't pulling away even if he tried.
"But I'll probably be with you- let's say- A LOT. Since this whole 'physical form' thing and all that. Gotta get caught up on the Pines daily, y'know." The usual blue flames hadn't lit up like they usually would have, and he seemed to realize that a moment later. For a second Bill just stared, and then he rolled his eye in an exasperated motion.
"Oh, for the-" All of the red had drained out of his image, but the gold of his eye flashed that bright cerulean that seemed unrelated to him despite it being prominent in his magic. "Can't believe I have to resort to saying it- so stupid-"
Mumbled complaints, and then, "Desiderium adimplere subponatis."
A spark, a flare, and then the flame ignited. There was no heat, but more like a cooling tingling. Almost like how spearmint made your mouth feel, except it was anywhere the fire touched. He could definitely make it scorch and spread if he wanted, but he didn't this time. This was just to finish the thing before Dipper could be a wimp and change his mind.
The grin came back almost wider. "There we go!"
Dipper sighed as he effectively signed away his life, knowing full well that Bill was going to use the broadness of the terms for his own personal pleasure. "Just get in the car." He muttered, pulling his hand away after the deal was made. He didn't particularly care if Bill did it or not, he was driving away in the next few minutes regardless. "I'm leaving as soon as I start that engine if you're not with me you have to find your own way to the shack." He walked over to his car, opening the driver's side.
He took a moment to breathe after buckling in, looking expectantly at Bill once he was done. "You've got a human body now so you'll have to actually know how to take care of it... Buckle in." He really hoped that he wouldn't have to explain everything about taking care of his new form to him, that would just be embarrassing and quite frankly awkward. After a moment, he wondered if Bill could still read his mind, remembering that it was one of Bill's favorite tricks previously.
Brushing it aside, he started the car and got ready to drive back to the shack, expecting to have the most uncomfortable conversation he'd have with his grunkles to date... And that was including the time Stan tried to talk to him about sex.
