HAT: Yay! Inspiration! Now onto this thing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls because if I did: 'Ford would have that couch be a pullout bed and I'd show him sleeping before last night's episode (he was just so adorable!). Anyway... I just own the plot and... I have OCs in this one, right? Yeah, and the OCs.
(A/N: Major time skip because I have no patience and there's a whole lot more story to this left than you think there is)
True to his word, Tiffany's family experienced major financial issues and the minute she found out Pacifica had a smug smirk on her face when the girl turned to look at her. After that there were no problems from her. School went about as normal as the previous semester, but this time she has Dipper and Mabel there with her- a huge relief that she hadn't known she'd need- and now Grenda and Candy- she finally learned their names- don't seem to hate her- (Candy doesn't seem to want to murder Pacifica in her sleep anymore, at least).
It seemed to take forever, but the one thing every student's been looking forward to since winter break ended rolled around and it's two words.
Spring. Break.
That Friday Pacifica and the twins had never ran out to the car so fast in their lives from such a mundane thing, but they did and were burning rubber as soon as they entered the car- Stanley knew that they wanted to get as far away from the school as possible, as quickly as possible and obliged wholeheartedly.
"Maybe we can go monster hunting this week!' Dipper says excitedly.
"Ugh, no thank you," Pacifica scoffs.
"What's so bad about monster hunting?' Mabel demands.
Pacifica raises an eyebrow. "Really? How many times have we almost died from monsters hunting us? I don't want to go hunting something that's gonna turn around and hunt me, too."
"Smart kid," Stanley praises.
The rest of the car ride is pretty uneventful. The three children in the back seat chatter about how grateful they are to have an entire week to themselves away from school and not have to deal with homework and crappy teachers.
Just as they pull up Stanford is walking out of the door with a piece of paper in his hand and Shmebulock on a leash. "Good afternoon."
"Hey, Great Uncle 'Ford/Uncle Stan," the children reply.
Pacifica- ever since the twins have come- has almost said "Uncle 'Ford" at least a dozen times. She love the Pines, but she doesn't want to turn into all of them.
"Pep, come with me," Stanford orders and doesn't stop walking towards the woods.
"Um.. okaaay... could you guys take my bag in for me?"
"Sure thing," Dipper answers, taking the bag from his cousin. "Have fun."
"Uh-huh," she grunts- ugh!- while jogging to catch up with her uncle. "What're we doing?"
"Lessons," he grunts.
"Ugh, can we not and say we d-" Pacifica immediately shuts up after he looks at her and raises an eyebrow. Still rather indifferent, but this time his face leans more towards the "are you really gonna make that mistake" look. "So-ho-ho... let's get to those field lessons."
He grunts and the hands the leash to Pacifica. "There's a plant that has alluded me for several months, but I think I found it again. It looks very similar to cattails, but it's something that some of the gnomes call dogtails- don't ask, I'm not sure of it myself. I've yet to figure out what it does and I want you to come with me as a witness so that the others back home won't freak out if something happens."
Pacifica makes a face. "And you have no problem scarring me for life if you die?"
He stills for a split second- so minutely that if she weren't paying close attention she'd have missed it- and then puts a hand on her head. "You can handle it better than they can. You're a tough one, kid."
She swells with pride at the fact that Stanford has so much confidence in her. He doesn't know how much this means to her what with him being indifferent and all. They walk for about thirty minutes before he pauses and kneels down to look at the ground.
"What is it?" Pacifica asks while gently tugging Shmebulock closer to herself and away from the thorns nearby.
"This looks like the right type of soil so we should be close," he replies.
Before she can reply Shmebulock drags Pacifica in the general direction that they were going, but a little to the left. "Whoa! Shmeb, what're you doing?!"
A few more yards and he abruptly stops and she tumbles over him in attempt to not crush him and lands in a small clearing filled with what looks like cattails. She sits up and glares at her pet gnome, but when she tries to talk her throat closes up and she notices that he's getting... bigger. She blinks and then soon finds herself a bit smaller than the plants she collapsed in.
"Pacifica!" Stanford calls, clambering through the forest loudly.
"I'm here!" She calls, but that's not what comes out.
A... meow? She thinks, but doesn't have time to ponder because she has to scramble out of the way of a massive boot coming towards her.
"Pacifica, where are you?" He looks down and notices her clothes there and bends down to pick them up.
What she sees next explains what happened to her. The second he makes skin contact with the plant his ears become longer and move to the top of his head while fur grows all over his body all while he slowly shrinks. Soon he's a brown cat with a lot of silver on his muzzle.
"Uncle Stan!" Pacifica calls, bounding over and causing him to glance at her in surprise.
"Pacifica?"
"Who else?" She snaps and stands in front of him and notices confusion in his eyes. "What?"
"I thought you were blond," he replies.
"Huh?" She looks down at her paws and finds that they're brown. "Oh..."
He leans forward a little. "Well?"
"I'm not actually blond," she replies with a shrug- though it's difficult to accomplish this. "I've been sneaking blond hair dye in the shopping cart every time I run low."
He takes a few moments to learn how to sit on his haunches and then tilts his head an an oddly adorable manner- how could it not be, he's a cat!- and asks, "Why do you keep dying your hair?"
Why do I keep dying my hair? She wonders and then soon comes up with an answer. "Everyone knows me as blond- why change that?"
"I don't think that's why."
She frowns as best as she can as a cat. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He stays quiet for a few moments before answering slowly. "I believe it's because you were made to when you were younger."
She winces at that because she knows it's true.
"Pacifica, what have I told you about letting your roots get brown? Go dye your hair."
"You're prettier as a blond."
"Go dye your hair. Now."
She'd long gotten into the habit of dying her hair near constantly. "I guess..."
"Are you going to stop dying your hair?"
She doesn't hate her blond hair, but she hates the fact that she was trained to keep her hair blond. "We'll see."
"For now, let's get back to the Shack and see if they can figure out how to turn us back," Stanford grunts, standing up and climbing out of the clothes.
Shmebulock petys Pacifica. "Shmebulock!"
"Could you lead us to the Shack?" Stanford asks.
Shmebulock nods and turns to walk back to the building they reside in.
A cat... I'm a cat... Pacifica thinks incredulously. I knew nothing good came from the paranormal!
HAT: Yes, I decided to turn them into cats and make Pacifica blond.
Dipper: Why?
HAT: Because of when you said "probably fake blond hair" and it got stuck in my head. At first I figured that it might've been because one of her grandparents were blond, but then I got to thinking and... taxa!
Dipper: You're strange.
HAT: Yes, I know, now hurry up, I've gotta leave soon.
Dipper: Review!
HAT: Please!