Chapter Nineteen: A New Immortal

Dipper sighed, going for his early morning run, breaking off into the woods to use the rougher terrain of the wooded area to make his run a bit more difficult. It was a nice day for a run. It wasn't too hot yet, even though this had been the hottest summer on record so far. Once more, Dipper worried for the future if the weather was going to keep getting hotter. He slowed to a jog to let himself catch his breath, slowing into a quick walk as he made his way over rocks and hills and through undergrowth.

As he went deeper into the woods, he started running again. Unfortunately, his foot caught on a root and he tumbled, tearing open his hands and arms breaking his fall as he rolled to a stop. He heard a light laugh from the woods. It didn't sound like Nearra's laugh, though who else would be out in the woods like this? He looked around, his arms and hands already having healed from the wounds.

"Hello there." Came a light, breezy voice in an accent that once again, Dipper didn't recognize. It wasn't the slightly purring accent that Nearra had had though. Maybe this woman was human.

"Who are you?" Dipper asked.
"Deirdre." The woman said, coming out from behind a tree.

"I come back here every few years to visit the town I left behind as a child." Deirdre said.

"And what's your name?" She asked.
"Oh! Dipper. Dipper Pines." Dipper said.

"Well, hello Dipper Pines. That's a right funny name. But who am I to judge. Is Dipper a popular name in the… Sorry, what year is it?" Deirdre asked.
"Um… 2022." Dipper said.

"Ah. It's been more than a few years since I've been here then. Still, it's kind of nice to see that this town is still the same small, homey place it was when I left it." She said.

"What brings you out into the woods like this? And why were you running? You could've gotten hurt worse than you… They're gone. You have nothing on your arms and legs and hands. You… Haven't gone into any caves in the woods recently, have you? Seen any hot springs?" Deirdre asked cautiously.

"Why do you ask?" Dipper asked, also being cautious. She'd hit dead on and something about this woman made him think that she wasn't just visiting for fun.

"No reason. Forget I asked." Deirdre said.

"Come, why don't we walk in the woods together? These woods always have something interesting to show me. I found some queer little men with red hats once. And crystals that made you bigger or smaller when light passed through them. Still, there's always more to see in this place, I'd gather." Deirdre said. Dipper laughed. It was true. Gravity Falls had no shortage of weirdness.

"So, be honest with me." Deirdre said, trying to pass it off as casual conversation.

"Have you found anything unusual recently? Maybe not so recently?" Deirdre asked rather pointedly.

"Well… Can you keep a secret? I don't want this getting out." Dipper said.

"Of course. I've kept mine for a long time." Deirdre said.

"I found a hot spring deep in the woods that has given me regenerative powers and it seems immortality as well." Dipper said.

"Ach, ye found it too… I'll wager that ye've bathed in it more than once?" Deirdre asked.
"Well, yeah. But you can't get any more immortal than… Well, immortal. I mean what? Is the hot spring gonna give me double immortality? Does my body get more immortal the more times I bathe in it?" Dipper asked. Deirdre laughed, an almost chiming sound coming from her mouth.

"No, I don't think so. I've bathed in it every time I came here and I haven't noticed a difference in the speed of my healing or my resistance to death after the first time." Deirdre said.

"Still, have you brought anyone else to the spring?" She asked.

"No." Dipper lied. Deirdre looked at him appraisingly, then shrugged.

"Okay. That's good. Well, not good. But you wouldn't want to give anyone else what you now have." Deirdre said.

"If I'm not prying too much, how old are you?" Dipper asked.

"I'm… About 250." Deirdre estimated.

"Wow! That's… Whoa…" Dipper exclaimed. Deirdre chuckled.

"Yes. Me family traveled the Oregon Trail and settled in what became Gravity Falls. It's certainly grown since I knew it back in me childhood. But it's still a small town that I often don't even see on maps. Me family traveled the Trail. We settled in what is now Gravity Falls. I married. I had six children with me husband. He died. Two of me six children grew to adulthood and got married and had their own children. And you get the idea. I'm rambling." Deirdre said.

"Wow… I'd love to interview you. Learn more about your history." Dipper said.

"Well, you know, I sometimes stay in Gravity Falls as long as a decade. But I usually leave after that because people start to notice that I'm not aging. Then I stay away for about sixty or so years and then come back and spend another decade here. It's not always easy to be immortal." Deirdre said. I have plenty of money and homes in various places around the world. But it's lonely being this old and yet never aging a day." Deirdre said.

"Well… I'm immortal like you now. So you and I could be friends." Dipper said.

"That's nice of you. But how long have you had your immortality?"
"Few weeks maybe?" Dipper said.

'Exactly. You couldn't understand what it's like to watch your husband die, your children die, your grandchildren die, your great-grandchildren die. I have great-great-great grandchildren now. Some of them I know. Some of them I don't. None of them know that I'm their great-great-great grandmother.

"It's maddening, and I've yet to find a way to end this life, to pass on into whatever comes next. I was Christian in my childhood. Now, I'm not so sure what to believe, if anything." Deirdre said.

"All I can say is to treasure your loved ones while you can. Because they'll all be dead before you know it." Deirdre said. Dipper sighed. This talk was getting depressing really fast.

"Why don't you come back with me to my place? You can at least stay for breakfast." Dipper said, taking Deirdre back to the Mystery Shack.

Ford was already up and running around, looking for something that Stan had asked for. Stan had taken a fall the day before and Ford wasn't letting him get out of bed for fear that he would get seriously hurt.

"Hey, Great Uncle Ford. This is Deirdre. She's 250 years old.
"That's great, Dipper. I'll talk to her later. Right now I need to find the… What was I looking for again? Damnit. Well, Deirdre… 250 years old? Are you a sorceress or something? I have met a few in my travels across the multiverse." Ford said. Deirdre laughed.

"No, no. I took a bath in the hot springs in Gravity Falls. I've been told your nephew did so as well."
"Yes, yes. It was rather ill-advised. But he did. So did his girlfriends and his sister." Ford said. Dipper sighed.

"So you did take others with you into the hot springs. You told me you didn't." Deirdre said, not sounding angry. Just tired.

"Well, technically Wendy took me in the hot spring. I didn't take her. Then yes, Wendy and I took Pacifica and Mabel in with us." Dipper said.

"I see. Well, at least you'll suffer eternity together. So tell me, Ford. How old are you?"

"75." Ford said. "I'll be 76 in October." He said.

"Whoa! Razzle dazzle! You're gorgeous!" Mabel said cheerfully, walking in and seeing Deirdre. Dipper laughed. That was the fastest as far as he knew that Mabel had been attracted to someone, boy or girl.

"Well, thank you. I'm Deirdre Macullen. And are you Pacifica or Mabel?" Deirdre asked.

"I'm Mabel. I've never seen you around Gravity Falls before." Mabel said.
"I just came back to town. I've been away for quite a few years." Deirdre said.

"In fact, I've been away for… Can you keep a secret?" Deirdre asked.
"Duh! We're girls! I can keep your secret!" Mabel said.

"I've been away for about 50 years now. I travel a lot. I'm over 250 years old. Not sure exactly how much older. After a while, the years flow together." Deirdre said.
"Wow! You're a wizard?"
"No. Just bathed in the hot spring. Like you and Dipper." Deirdre said.

"Cool… I didn't know there were any other humans like me."

"Oh, of course there are. I've met a few of them. It took decades to track them down. Almost all of them are younger than me. I was young in what became Gravity Falls in 1781." Deirdre said.

"But I've found about ten other immortals throughout the world. Whether they've been to Gravity Falls and bathed in the hot spring here or whether other hot springs exist in other places, I don't know. We're not exactly friends. I can't even speak with all of them. Not all of them speak English. There's two men in China who claim they've been 45 and 38 for 600 years." Deirdre said.

"There's a woman in France who claims about 200 years to her name. There's an Englishwoman who says she's been 14 since 1820. There's others who I can't speak with, but I've gotten the general idea from a combination of others translating and crude pantomime between them and me." Deirdre said.

"A man in Africa says that long ago, he made a journey up a mountain and found a spring of crystal clear water. He bathed in it and felt rejuvenated, like the pains of a hard life were being washed away. He came back down to his wife and children and lived a healthy life.

"He says though that after twenty years, his village noticed that he wasn't aging and accused him of being a Muvanki. I'm not sure what that is and they didn't have an exact translation, but it has something to do with Demons and Witches. They burned him at the stake, but he survived. They tied rocks to his ankles and drowned him. He still survived. They buried him alive. He still survived and dug himself out. He had to flee his village to escape what they were going to do next. Actually, I guess I really have gotten a lot of the story from all of them. It's good to be able to find translators to help me.

"Some of them, I only got the bare bones of the story, but they gave me a general idea of how old they were and where they found their version of the hot spring or the well or whatever. I'm not sure if there are many places in the world where the immortal water flows to the surface and it all comes from the same source or if there are simply many springs around the world." Deirdre said.

"Have you ever dated a woman before?" Mabel asked. Dipper chuckled. Mabel definitely didn't have her mind on the hot spring.

"Well, I've dated a few. I guess after 250 years, you have to be willing to try almost anything. How old did you say you were?" Deirdre asked.

"Almost 19. I'll be 19 in August." Mabel said.

"Well… I suppose I can go on a date with you. But I never stay in any one place for that long. Maybe a decade at the longest. So this can't be a long-term relationship." Deirdre said.

"I'm fine with that." Mabel said. She hoped she could convince Deirdre to stay.

"Okay. Well. What do people do on dates in the modern day? I must confess, I haven't dated in almost 60 years." Deirdre said. Mabel laughed.
"Well… I'm not sure what most people do in Gravity Falls on a date. But you wanna go cloud watching?" Mabel asked. Mabel was still kind of a dizzy dreamer, even almost six years later. Deirdre thought for a long moment.

"Sure. Sounds like fun. I think your great uncle is trying to get your attention." Deirdre said.