Yes, I wrote this at 3 am. Yes, this is another OC insert story. Yes, there is a little self-promo in there. Yes, Stan is a little OOC because I'm terrible at this. No, I don't own anything except my main character OC.

I woke up standing on a sidewalk in broad daylight in a place I did not know. It seemed to be early morning because the sun was high. But the strangest thing was that everything, including myself, looked like a cartoon. A very specific cartoon, to be exact. For some reason, I had been transported to the Gravity Falls world. I checked my hands. Whew. At least I had five fingers still. Any more or any less would have taken some getting used to.

I looked around, mostly sure that I was in the (fictional) town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. At least, it was fictional in my mind before. Now, not so much. I knew the "where", but I still needed to find out the "when". The "why" and "how" of my unique situation could wait.

I went to move, to walk towards the nearest person to ask for the date, but I felt a somewhat heavy backpack on my shoulders. I stopped and slung it off my back. It was my purple school backpack. I opened the bag and was surprised to find my laptop, it's charger, a bag full of cash (I counted out $1,000 in twenties), a water bottle, and my phone and its charger. No note explaining how or why I was in this universe. I deduced that whoever or whatever had sent me here couldn't be too bad, because they had packed me my stuff and enough money to last a few days.

Still confused as ever, I put my phone in the back pocket of my jeans (since when was I wearing jeans?) and put my backpack on. I noticed the weather was not too hot or cold, and I was comfortable in my jeans, black sneakers, and royal blue t-shirt.

I was still getting used to being a cartoon, but when I saw my reflection in a store's window, I didn't hate it. My hair was curled at the bottom, still blonde at the bottom from when I dyed it my first semester of college last year. My eyes had lost their brown color, replaced by just black dots on my round-shaped face. I had the same body type I usually do, average top and wide hips. At least I still looked my age, 19. I'm tall, about 5'7", and being a cartoon didn't change that, either. All in all, I looked the same, just as a cartoon. I wondered if my outfit would change or if I would be stuck wearing the same outfit every day. I wouldn't complain either way, though. Whoever picked out my outfit knew me and my style.

Walking down the sidewalk, I didn't really recognize any of the people. I wanted to talk to someone I sort of knew. After a couple of blocks, I saw Lazy Susan strolling down the street.

"Good morning!" I called to her.

"Oh! Hi! How are you?" Lazy Susan said. I could tell she was trying to figure out who I was.

"I'm good! Well, actually, I'm a little lost. And forgetful. Do you know what day it is today?"

"I think it's Thursday."

"Okay, but what is today's date? Like what month, day, and year is it?"

"Well, aren't you so forgetful! Today is May 31st, 2012! I have to go make my coffee omelets now, have a good day!"

"Thank you!" I called as she hurried off.

Wow. May 31st, 2012. That's a big shocker. When I had gone to bed the night before, in my family's apartment in New York City, it had been August 6, 2020. Now it was 8 years and about 2 months earlier? Not only had I made it to another dimension (that's what I started calling it. I figured it was a multiverse situation), but I had also time traveled (which was also canon in this universe- hmmm.) This sounded like a time-travel dimension-jump adventure to me. I recalled seeing a Percy Jackson fanfiction about that concept by the author HeroesOfOlympusRules years ago, but it was still in the works.

Standing on the sidewalk in Gravity Falls the day before Dipper and Mabel arrived, I formulated a plan. I would go to the Mystery Shack. And… that's all I had so far. Maybe I'd think of more on the way. I wandered around the town, trying to find a bus station or something. I didn't feel like asking anyone for directions. Plus, I figured I'd be spending a lot of time there, so I should probably know my way around.

About an hour later, I found a bench that was also a bus station. The bus came, and it was a good thing I had money. Luckily, the next stop was the Mystery Shack. The ride was short. I disembarked alone in front of the wooden house. There was no one in the gift shop but Wendy Corduroy, and it didn't seem like there were any tours starting soon. The red-headed teen glanced up at me for a second but went back to her issue of Avoiding Eye Contact Monthly.

My plan, which I had thought of on the bus, was simple. Step 1: talk to Stan. Step 2: convince him to hire me as a fortune teller. Step 3: find a place to live. Step 4: figure out why I was here. Step 5: probably bond with Dipper and Mabel while also helping Stan get Ford back and defeating Bill. Step 6: Go home.

Step 5 was necessary because I know myself, and I cannot keep my mouth shut. Maybe Step 2 will involve telling Stan the truth. Or at least part of it. Because of course, the reason why I was sent here was to help the Pines family. Why else?

So I walked up to the counter and introduced myself to Wendy, "Hi. I'm Grace Piper. I'm new in town and I need a job. Can I talk to your boss?" I held my hand out for her to shake it.

"Oh, hey. I'm Wendy," she said, shaking my hand. "Mr. Pines! Someone wants to talk to you!" she called in the direction of the Employees Only door.

"What? Tell them I'm busy!" Stan yelled.

"Mr. Pines?" I called. "I hear you're hiring? I'm new in town and I think I could be a big help around here." I winked at Wendy, but she didn't get it. She just gave me a weird look.

The door swung open, and Stan Pines came out in Ford's old suit and the red fez. "Stan Pines, at your service." The old man stuck out his hand and I shook it. "So you want a job? I don't know about hiring, but, uh, tell me about yourself. I'm a nice guy, maybe a spot will open up."

"Uh, okay," I said. "I'm Grace Piper, I'm 19, new in town, and- get this- I can tell the future. And I know stuff about people."

I could see the gears in his head turning, probably making cartoony cash register sounds. "Okay, kid, not bad. I might have a spot in my museum for your act."

"Oh, it's not an act, sir. My power is real. Some might say it's even supernatural. It's pretty new to me, though. Only happened when I got to Gravity Falls this morning. I just got a vision of a lot of things happening. And now I know stuff that happened in the past and future."

I could tell he didn't believe it. Neither did Wendy. I expected the con-man to tell me to get lost, but he just laughed. "Whatever, kid. Grace, was it? I tell you what. That was a pretty good story you just told. I'll set you up a chair in the other room. I can see it now: "$100 for your fortune to be told by the Mystical Oracle!"

I smiled. "Great! Do you want me to start right now? Or should I sign some paperwork first?"

"Paperwork, shmaperwork. Do you mind working under the table? How about we start right now!" Stan motioned for me to follow him into the showroom. I didn't expect him to be so open about his tax fraud, but I just went with it. There was a chance this was all a dream anyway.

I turned back to Wendy and waved before I followed Stan into his museum room. It was filled with crazy things. And it smelled. It smelled like taxidermy and glue. The sascrotch reeked. But for some reason, there was already a place with a stage, probably where Dipper will do his wolf-boy things and Soos with his question-baby-man.

"Alright, here's your spot. Here's your chair, and here's your money jar. Make sure the cash goes in the jar. No funny business!" Stan said.

"Thanks, Mr. Pines," I replied. I wanted to make my presence known as someone to take seriously and decided to freak him out.

"Oh, and, one more thing before the next tour starts?" I looked him in the eyes. Well, eye because he was wearing an eye patch over his glasses. "I know everything. I really do want to help you, but you gotta trust me. I know you just met me, and I'm really grateful that you gave me this job, but I'll tell you right now that I'm gonna say some weird things and that things are not what they seem, and I know that includes you, Stanley. I hope you remember that. I just want to help you with everything."

I smiled sweetly and sat in the chair. Stan was taken aback when I started my little monologue, but he got a little scared and actually stepped back when I called him Stanley. I bet no one had called him that in a long time.

"Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat and straightened his tie. "Wow. Okay, yes. I will remember that. Just get ready for the tour, Grace."

And at that, he turned and walked out of the room taking shaky breaths. I felt bad. I may have sounded scarier than I wanted to. Oh well. It's only the first day. He'll get used to me eventually. I heard him greet a group of tourists outside and got ready for my first day of a new job. It couldn't be that hard. I just had to make stuff up. Or tell the truth in a really cryptic way. No big deal.

But then I realized that even though steps 1 and 2 of my plan were complete, I still had to figure out steps 3, 4, 5, and 6. And I was pretty sure that that would take me all summer. I sighed. It'd be a long, eventful 3 months, to say the least.