I do not own Gravity Falls or the Hunger Games okay? I am really surprised this did as well as it has so far but the story isn't done yet. Heck I haven't gotten to the interviews yet, but they are coming close. Then after that, the Games themselves and let's just say Gremoblins will be involved. But enough of this A/N, on with the fic!
Dipper had his hands in his pockets as he and Mabel headed back to their floor in the Training center. So, Mabel avoided hitting the Wendy dummy and she loved his Waddles portrait that he made out of black walnut hulls. All that was left was the scores that they were to get that night. "I think you may get a better score than me Mabel." Dipper sighed.
"Why? You did a great job with that portrait." Mabel said as she hugged Dipper.
"But they don't like that kind of thing here. I just did it knowing you might see it because they wouldn't think too much of it to clean it up before you came in. They'd just see it as walnut stains on the floor that they wouldn't want to clean up. I mean what is a pig to them?" Dipper said.
"I wonder how Nikola, Whyfy and Crystal did." Mabel said as the door opened to District 7's floor.
"I am sure they did great. Nikola is strong, Whyfy is smart and Crystal has..." Dipper paused for a moment to find the right word. It wasn't like he didn't like Crystal, but she could be obnoxious and annoying at times with her fangirl love for him. He he he... you want to deny your charm when you have two women ready to die for you that aren't your sister. Smooth operator... A voice that sounded like Grunkle Stan's said as he grabbed the medallion and shook his head.
"Crystal has what?" Mabel said looking at Dipper confused.
"Spunk. She has a lot of spunk." He said covering up for his blank stare.
"That can be what we need to get through this with her. Spunk to stand up to those bully Careers." Mabel said as she headed into their rooms to change for dinner.
"Do you really want to change? It's not like we got that dirty today." Dipper said as he looked at his hands, stained a weird brownish black color from the black walnut juice.
"You should. Muffie likes it when her darling Twin Tributes are clean at dinner. And then we won't hear her endless bitching about lumberjacks being dirty." Johanna said as she looked over Dipper's shoulders. "God knows I am tired of hearing her whine that you aren't as polished as those fucking Capitol brats I have to deal with every year." She said as she flicked Dipper on the back of the head.
"OW!" He said as he rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for?"
"Yeah Johanna, you can't be too tough on these kids, they are going to have it bad enough when they get to the arena." Blight said. "But yeah, especially you Dipper, you're covered in black walnut juice. Muffie will freak out. And yeah, like Johanna I am tired of hearing it from her, even though there isn't much that can be done about it. We'll see you at dinner and I want to hear about what you did before they show the scores tonight."
"Sounds fine to me." Mabel said.
"Sounds good too!" Johanna said as she hugged Mabel. "Now clean up you two..." She scowled at Dipper.
Dipper stared at Blight and Johanna as they headed out of the room. He grabbed the medallion and looked over at Mabel. He didn't know what he wanted to say but he had to tell her that she was hearing Grunkle Stan's voice with the medallion Sequoia gave him to have as his Token. He just sighed and looked over at Mabel. "I think Johanna hates me." He said.
"She doesn't hate you. She's just very opinionated. It's like Blight said, she wan't always that way. The Games change people and no, she doesn't want to see you die." Mabel said.
"Speaking of death, I think Grunkle Stan's ghost is haunting this medallion." Dipper said.
"Like how?" Mabel asked as she grabbed it from around Dipper's neck, still attached to him, looking down the underside.
"I don't know, I hear him as if he was watching this whole thing. Saying things I think he would to me. Or am I making this whole thing up?" Dipper said as he hit his head upside the wall. "No 12 year old should have to face near certain death!"
"No, no they shouldn't." Mabel said as she hugged Dipper. "But we have something these other Tributes don't." She held up the busted tape measure time machine. "Whyfy and Nikola will be able to fix this. I don't know how I know, but they will. They are smart like that. We know what happens in the future if mankind keeps going the way it does. And with that knowledge we can try and save ALL the Tributes from all the Games."
"How could we save every single Tribute when there has been in these Games for the past 72 years?" Dipper yelled.
"By preventing this from happening. If this never happens, they can live. Maybe not as they were in Panem, but their souls will leave in a world that won't kill them for a game as punishment for a crime their long dead ancestors committed." Mabel said.
"Wow." Dipper said as he looked at his sister. "That's the smartest and most hopeful thing I have ever heard."
"Thanks. Now go get cleaned up. Your hands look like they have gone necrotic. I learned that from the first aid booth about what can happen if wounds are not cleaned and treated well." Mabel said as she headed to her room.
Dipper headed to his room and showered, putting on a blue collared shirt and black pants and hiking boots on as he headed to the dining room where Blight and Johanna were talking with Mabel who was wearing a green sparkley sweater and a pleated black skirt and Mary Jane shoes with socks. Dipper smiled. It was Mabel and dressy at the same time. "So, we are dying to know before we see the scores, what did you do?" Johanna asked.
"I threw axes and to show how good I could be with aiming, I carved one that looked like a girl Dipper liked back in District 7 and avoided it but hit every target right between the eyes." Mabel said.
"Nice work" Johanna smiled at Mabel. "That should be sure to give you a good score.
"So what did you do Dipper?" Blight asked as he took a big bite of his lamb chop.
"I used the camouflage to hide people and paint a picutre of Mabel's old pet pig." Dipper said.
"It was pretty good! I saw it." Mabel said as she wanted him to look good in Johanna's eyes as she could tell that she was already dismissing it.
"You really shouldn't be so hard on Dipper. You did make yourself seem so weak that no one messed with you until the very end last year." Blight said.
"Shut up. I am sure they saw that all." Johanna said. "You do know that they live in District 7 right?"
"Yes. But whatever. They don't need to worry too much about this yet. I just want to make sure they eat. You will never know how much or how long you will have to go on without food, so it is good to put on a few pounds here while you can. I have some strawberry shortcake sundaes coming in so that you can enjoy it." Blight said.
Dipper smiled as he looked over at Mabel as she took a big spoonful of the ice cream and ate it. As they were eating their deserts, Muffie and Carlock came in and sat down as well. Dipper sighed as Muffie sat down and looked around with an annoyed face. If he wasn't already feeling the stress of the Games that any 12 year old would, there was the threat of protecting Mabel and trying to fix the time machine tape measure so that they could prevent the Games from happening at all. All he wanted to hear was how much the Capitol loved the "Twin Tributes" angle and how much they would want to have them not partner up with the Tributes from Districts 3 and 8. They were not known for being strong districts in and of themselves and many of the Mentors and other officials of the Games acting like slaughter of children was okay. He could take how Johanna and Blight were trying to help them get through this, but the designers and the coordinators drove Dipper mad.
"You will never believe what I have heard from the Training center rumors. Dipper and Mabel are working with the District 3 tributes and the girl from District 8." Muffie said.
"Yeah." Johanna said. "What of it?" She had the same amount of disdain for these people as Dipper and Mabel did.
"Let's just go see the scores." Blight said as he got up and headed over to the couch for the television, followed by Johanna, Dipper and Mabel, leaving Muffie and Carlock at the table. "Besides Johanna, being able to hide and camouflage yourself is a great skill. Remember when you jumped that person you took out in the end when you were hiding in the bushes?"
"Wasn't that hard because he had a gaping flesh wound that was getting infected already." Johanna said.
"Well, it is important to see the scores. It will gives us an idea of how to spin things for sponsors." Blight said and he saw Dipper roll his eyes. "I know those guys are a bunch of idiots but they can save your life."
Mabel sat down beside Dipper and held his hand. Johanna sat down beside Mabel and put her arm on her shoulder to she that she had confidence in her. Dipper just hoped that the Game makers would see it the way that Blight did because he did have a good point there. You need to be able to camouflage yourself so you can hide or sneak up on people. That was needed. Not everyone was a Career Tribute that would be able to just jump out and kill everyone by throwing spears at them like some gladiator of old. He was also wondering how good the rest of their de facto team had done. He was certain that Nikola would impress the Gamemakers, and Whyfy was brilliant enough to think of something that would amaze them with her skills but he wasn't too sure about Crystal. She had spunk. But spunk alone wouldn't make sure you survived the Games. In fact if anyone was going to die first, he was thinking it might be her by some stupid mistake. As he looked at Mabel, the anthem signifying the start of the scores was to be broadcast.
"This is Claudius Templesmith, your anchor for this year's Hunger Games and now it is time to show the Training Scores for the 24 unique Tributes this year. Now let us begin!" Claudius said as a picture of the female Tribute from District 1 appeared on the screen. "The first on our list this year, Sapphire Rose, with a score of 9."
"Of course, those Capitol loving fools would hardly ever score below a 7. They jump over each other to Volunteer for this kind of bullshit." Johanna scoffed. "Someone should ask if they are suicidal..."
"Yes." Blight said as he looked over at Johanna. As this was her first Games she was a Mentor, Blight felt he had to Mentor her on being a Mentor.
"Next, the male Tribute, Leo Carbide." Dipper and Mabel perked up at the name, knowing this was the guy that had singled them out and made Nikola feel uncomfortable. "He comes to us with a score of 8."
"HA!" Dipper said jumping up.
"He still got an 8, that's not bad." Blight said concerned.
"Well, he's a real jerk and if the girl beat him..." Dipper said looking down.
"Schadenfreude." Johanna said.
"Happiness at the misfortune of others." Blight explained.
"Good. He creeped Nikola out." Mabel said as Claudius went through the District 2 Tributes, both scoring 7s, noted as a low score for the District on average. "Here comes District 3."
"Whyfy Gates, the female Tribute of District 3 scores a 7." Claudius Templesmith read off his notes.
"Well that stinks." Mabel said.
"Not for District 3. I bet Beetee and Wiress are jumping for joy. Or whatever they do in excitement." Blight said as he pulled out his flask and took a deep drink.
"Next to the male Tribute, Nikola Jobs. He comes to us with a score of 9."
"Wow. Wonder what Nikola did." Mabel said.
"Whatever it was, it was impressive. Most District 3 Tributes get a third of his score." Johanna said.
They sat on the couch recounting the names of the Tributes from the rest of the Districts. District 4 had a pair of 9s for their Tribute's scores, remarking on how these Tributes have some of the charisma and tenacity that Finnick Odair possessed back in the 65th Hunger Games. The Scores were more lopsided in District 5. The female Tribute got a 4 while the male Tribute got a 7. In District 6, both Tributes scored rather low with the female Tribute only scoring a 5 and the male Tribute not fairing much better than his District Partner with a 6. Upon the reading of the District 6 Tributes, Mabel gripped Dipper's hand tighter than ever. This was it. Their scores. Dipper could feel his heart beating against his chest. He was certain if Mabel did as well as she said, then she would get a high score but himself, he felt that the Gamemakers would feel much like Johanna did when it came to the use of camouflage when it came to his Private Session.
"Now we reach District 7. These lovely young Twin Tributes have been the talk of the Capitol and everyone who is anyone is just dying to know how well these two young twins have done on their Private Sessions. We will start with ladies first and with the adorable Mabel Pines. She comes to us with a score of 10." Claudius read as many in the crowd filming cheered.
"TEN?!" Johanna and Mabel said as the same time with happy yet slightly confused looks on their faces.
"You only got a 4 last year." Blight said looking over at her. "If you didn't play the weakling card last year, you may have gotten a 10 too if you were as fierce as I saw in the Games when the time came. But I think they gave you some extra points to Mabel for her age and to cause more excitement in the Games since these two are so loved by the Capitol crowd."
"But wait, she scored better than some of the Careers. Wouldn't that make them want to kill us more than they already do? Leo said he would make it his goal to kill the "tree princess.'" Dipper said.
"Now, for Dipper Pines, the male Tribute from District 7. He comes at us with a score of 8." Claudius Templesmith said with a smile. "You never know what you will get in these Games."Dipper smiled a little bit. His score wasn't as good as Mabel's; which he was expecting that. Yet it was as high as some of the Career's scores. His relief and celebration was overcome with a pounding worry. Now they really were going to target them. However, District 8 was up next and he had to know how good Crystal did. "And now for the female Tribute from District 8, Crystal Woolrich, a 6."
"Not bad." Mabel said.
Blight got up and turned to Dipper and Mabel as the rest of the District's Tribute scores were displayed. "You two did great. Don't worry about the others. Johanna and I have plenty to work with to get you sponsors now. Now get some sleep. You two have training for your interviews with Caesar Flickerman tomorrow. Johanna and I will help you each with content and Muffie will help you with presentations. But that may take all day. Carlock has some final touches on the outfits too. Go to your rooms and get some sleep. Off!" He said as he pushed Dipper and Mabel down the hall and shut the door behind them.
"You didn't think they would do so well?" Johanna smirked from a glass of wine.
"I am not sure that did them any favors." Blight said as he took a deep swig of his flask. "Your low score lowered everyone's guard. Now they are bigger targets than when they were Reaped. Hopefully that Nikola, Whyfy and Crystal they hang out with will be able to get the job done."
Johanna sighed. "They seem to be great allies. But there can be only one." She said somberly. She grabbed the bottle of wine and pulled it straight up in the air and took a few deep drinks. "So who do you want it to be, Dipper or Mabel?" She said with a belch
"Neither." Blight said somberly. "Twins are never meant to be pulled apart from each other in such a brutal and evil fashion at their age. Both of them getting killed would bring them together in the end. Back home." He said looking up at the sky.
"Home. Where we all want to go." Johanna said looking up at the sky as well.
How was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. Did you think Dipper and Mabel did too good? Is it a set up? What will happen to them in the interviews? The Games are surely approaching but will they go Home to Gravity Falls or Home? Remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,
otherrealmwriter
aka
Realm
