.
.
Full chapter title: The Dangling Conversation (and Metaphorical Ice-Breaking)
The morning came none too quickly, the Pines twins taking their luggage (and themselves) to the bus stop. (After quickly checking on Waddles at the pet housing clinic, and Mabel promising to send Waddles postcards.) They got their tickets, the ticket guy pointing with a smile to a bus outside.
"You kids can go on ahead onto the bus, that bus isn't expected to have many passengers so it plans to leave a bit sooner than scheduled. Especially since the tickets have to be reserved beforehand to figure out what size bus to use."
Mabel smiled, "Thanks, Mr. Ticket Guy."
"You're welcome," the guy laughed, pointing again to the shortest bus in the lot outside.
The twins got on the bus, no one else seemingly aboard yet. Dipper set down his bag and walked to the driver who was staring blankly ahead.
"Sir? Where should we put our bags?" Dipper asked cordially.
The guy waved his hand in dismissal, "Keep 'em. There's only 5 people on this bus anyway."
"5?" Dipper asked, "The last time we came it was only us."
"Maybe it's gotten more popular. Maybe Gravity Falls got a theme park." The guy quipped, laughing at his own joke.
"Oh... kay." Dipper muttered, getting to the back of the bus with Mabel.
"We can keep our stuff. There'll be 5 people on the bus this time."
"5?" Mabel asked, "I wonder why."
"You could always ask," Dipper joked.
"I will!" Mabel grinned defiantly.
"Oh, god." Dipper laughed to himself.
... A Passing of Time ...
Twenty minutes later, two kids who looked to be a bit younger than them came onto the bus. A boy with copper-brown skin, wild hair, and a noticeable slouch followed by a girl with bluish-black colored hair and a straight posture. The boy had on a long trench coat and heavy boots with fingerless gloves, the girl with a dark blue t-shirt and shorts with laced calf-boots on that looked pretty decent for hiking. They talked in hushed tones, the boy looking excited and the girl irritated.
"Hi!" Mabel yelled, making them both jump. "I'm Mabel! We're going to Gravity Falls too! What are you guys going for?"
"I'm Wybie, this is Coraline," the tan boy grinned, leaning out from the aisle seat. "Coraline is moving in with my grandma and I for a while, so I came to get her so she wouldn't have to ride the bus there alone. Her parents flew me out here."
"That explains why you don't have a big bag," Dipper commented. Dipper's eyes wandered to the bag that Coraline had set in the seat behind her, stuffed to the brim but still very small if it really had all of her things she owned in it.
"Yeah," Wybie muttered, "My grandma and I are living nearby relatives on my mom's side. If you guys see us, you should come hang with us."
"Absolutely!" Mabel yelled excitedly, "Coraline? Have you ever been to Gravity Falls before?"
Coraline shook her head, "No, but Wybie has lived there for a few months now."
"I think it's hiding something," Wybie grins, wiggling his fingers. "Something spooky."
Mabel and Dipper give each other a concealed look of amusement, Mabel turning to face him. "You have no idea."
"Last call for Gravity Falls!" Someone calls over the loud speaker inside the bus station.
Norman stumbles up the stairs, tripping and falling face-first. Once he lets out a quiet 'ouch', he hands his ticket to the driver and turns to the rest of the bus. Norman's eyes widen.
"Dipper?"
"Norman?"
"Well, this is awkward." The bus driver interjected, a poor attempt at a joke. "Anyway, get seated. We have to go now if we want to make it there before nightfall."
Norman sat in front of the bus, setting down his backpack and turning in his seat to face everyone. The driver started up the bus and pulled out of the lot, checking his watch before leaving through the exit gate.
"So, did I miss awkward introductions?" Norman asked with a nervous smile, eyes focused on Dipper and Mabel.
"Yeah, kinda." Wybie blurted. Coraline hit him on the arm in scolding.
"Hush, you. This is Wyborn, but everyone calls him Wybie." Coraline introduced, then pointing to herself. "I'm Coraline."
"Wyborn? Sounds Nordic." Norman commented, looking at the boy slouching in his chair.
Wybie smiled up at him, "It may be, I heard it means War Bear. Which, honestly, sounds strange to me."
"It's cool, though."
"Thanks."
Dipper moved to sit on his feet so he sat a little higher, "Norman, this is my twin sister Mabel."
"You're cute," Mabel blurted, unashamed.
Norman's face turned red, his pale skin making his blush extremely obvious, Norman pretended to scratch his face with his fingernail to hide his face. "T-thanks, I guess."
"She doesn't mean anything by it Norman, she just tends to not use the filter between her mouth and her brain."
"Well, you're not wrong." Mabel admitted, laughing at herself.
Coraline nudged Wybie in the side, "You seem to have the same problem, stalker-boy."
Wybie smiled in a wobbly, endeared way and curled himself against Coraline's side, his hug so tight that his face buried in her hair due to his slouch.
Coraline smiled sweetly with a whisper, rolling her eyes, "Wuss-puss."
"Should we leave you two alone?" Dipper joked clearing his throat, as he watched the couple with a mirth-drenched expression.
"You guys are so cute," Mabel cooed. "How long have you guys been together?"
"We met 3 years ago, when we were 11," Wybie muttered from where his face was buried in Coraline's hair. "I begged her last year until she relented. Took 2 weeks but I broke her."
Coraline laughed a little, "It was weird at first. I mean, I am not really a romantic person, but Wybie doesn't mind too much."
"Nope," Wybie agreed, "I'm more just overly affectionate than romantic. I mean, our first date was to find this poet guy's grave in the local cemetery."
"I ended up falling into a sinkhole," Coraline interjected, "broke my ankle. He drove me on his dirt bike all the way back to the apartments so his grandma could drive me to the hospital."
"Well, it could be worse," Norman added, "a zombie could've risen from the dead and chased you down."
"Aren't zombies slow, though?" Coraline asked, not entirely dismissing it as a joke like most people would have. The response came to Norman as a surprise.
"More or less. I mean, I guess there's levels of slow depending on injuries or degeneration of body tissue." Dipper interjected, looking to Norman for approval. "Right?"
Norman nodded absently, thinking to himself, did Dipper actually believe in zombies or is he saying that because that's what movies usually say about zombies?
There was a long silence for a while, everyone looking at each other every few seconds. Mabel broke the silence first. "Hey, guys. We should all get some sleep. It may be late before we get there, and if so, we should all be rested up."
Everyone gave absent-minded nods.
"I'll wake you guys up at every other town so we can go to the bathroom and stretch our legs, and fill up gas if the need arises." The bus driver announced. Everyone gave affirmative phrases in return.
It was going to be a long drive.
... A Passing of Time ...
A while later, the man woke up Coraline and Norman before making his way off the bus and into the info building. Coraline woke up fully first, shaking Wybie gently. He woke up, slowly, and took Coraline's hand once they got off the bus.
Norman woke up fully, putting out his hand and tapping Mabel and Dipper on the shoulder. Dipper woke with a start, almost falling into the aisle. Norman laughed, walking down the aisle and off the bus. Dipper and Mabel followed shortly after. 20 minutes later, everyone stood around the kiosk waiting on the bus driver to return with bladders empty and gas station bags filled with road snacks and drinks.
"So..." Mabel started, directing her eyes toward Coraline. The boys all in a corner looking at strange souvenirs. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you going to live with Wybie?"
Coraline sighed morosely, "Well, the short of it is that my parents don't really have the time or money or ability to raise me lovingly anymore. I already talked to his grandma about living there months ago. Wybie doesn't really get that it's not a temporary arrangement. My folks write about plants for a living, if that says anything. I know they love me, deep down... but Wybie's grandma and practically everyone else I've met in the past 5 years have taken more care of me than they have. It's a difficult decision but I'll be unofficially in Ms. Lovat's care until I can move out on my own."
"That's rough," Mabel frowned, "I'm sorry for bringing it up."
"It's no secret," Coraline muttered, scuffing her boot against the laminate floor. "Once I get there, there will probably be a lot of questions. I have to be ready and comfortable to answer them."
"How mature of you," Mabel smiled sweetly.
"Really it's-"
"Round up, bus kids! Heading out!" The bus driver called, having taken his 30 minutes to top of the bus's gas at the gas station next door and to go inside to go to the bathroom, a bottle of water pinched between his fingers from the gas station.
Mabel moved to sit next to Wybie and Coraline on the bus, Coraline in the middle seat. Norman moved to sit with Dipper, sitting in the outer seat with Dipper on the inside seat.
"I never thought your cousin would be living in Gravity Falls." Dipper admitted.
"Well, he was a pretty small-town guy. Moving to an even smaller town was good, in his opinion. He isn't much a fan of gray area, he likes the predictability of small town life."
"Oh, I can understand that, but-" Dipper laughed. "He picked the wrong town if he wanted an uneventful life. Do you guys talk often?"
"I met him a couple times, 5 times at most, at family reunions. Last time I talked to him was a month ago. Out of the blue he called and invited me down for the summer. My sister wanted the house to herself, and I'm not the biggest fan of my sister, so I readily agreed. He's a nice guy, a bit of a worry-wart, though. Paranoid about everything. He wanted me over because he thought I would find the place... interesting is the word he used, I think."
Norman had told his cousin about his experience with their grandma (or, rather, her ghost) years ago. In fact, he was one of the few people who believed him. He thought Norman had a gift, although he had made a point to agree it must be a tedious gift to have. He claimed to have a story of his own, but refused to tell it until Norman arrived.
"It's definitely interesting," Dipper consented, "my sister and I are staying at the Mystery Shack there. Our great uncles used to own the place, but now they travel a lot so they just stay there when they're in town. The Mystery Shack alone is 'interesting'." Dipper used air quotes around the word interesting.
"Interesting, how?"
"Well," Dipper started, wondering which story would be a good segue to the strangeness of Gravity Falls without scaring Norman. "It's something one should see for oneself." Dipper shrugged.
Norman grinned, rolling his eyes, "Tease."
"Trust me on this one," Dipper smiled.
Norman laughed, shaking his head, "Whatever you say, Dipper."
... A Passing of Time ...
"Mabel, have you seen any weird things in Gravity Falls?" Wybie asked, interrupting Mabel and Coraline's conversation about Mabel's pig, Waddles.
"Plenty," Mabel answered seriously. "When I was there one summer, I thought my boyfriend was a zombie. Turned out to be some creepy gnomes."
Coraline giggled, then stopped, seeing the look on Mabel's face. "Seriously?"
"You're one to talk," Wybie muttered under his breath.
"Not just that. Plenty of strange things happen in Gravity Falls. Most people just don't pay enough attention anymore." Mabel said flatly. "You get used to it."
"Well, uh, I kind of had a dimension-crossing dilemma 3 years ago, so I'm not entirely surprised if anything else told as fables were true." Coraline admitted, "It was a witch. Or at least a type of witch. She went by the name Beldam, but I called her Other Mother. She cast spells to try to trap me with her forever to steal my soul, more or less."
"More or less?" Dipper interrupted, obviously having been eavesdropping. "How can it be more or less?"
"I don't know," Coraline shrugged, "it just seemed like the most passive way to say it in my head."
"So let me get this straight," Wybie smiled, his morbid sense of curiosity flaring up. "Coraline saved her family, future generations in the apartments, and released a few souls," His tone turned into a joking one, "I bet you twins saved all of a state."
Dipper sighed, "Well, since we're swapping stories and victories-" A proud expression crossed his features. "Mabel and I saved Gravity Falls."
"Not really," Mabel interrupted, "we saved this dimension."
"You do realize that's bragging even more, right?" Dipper rolled his eyes in amusement, everyone staring in confusion at the twins who seemed to be carrying on their own conversation.
"So what? Bill was awful. We deserve credit for ending weird-mageddon."
Norman opened his phone, with no messages he sent his cousin a text that he was turning his phone off before shutting it down and sliding it in his bag.
"I. Am. So. Lost." Coraline muttered, rubbing her temples in pain.
Mabel patted her shoulder, "No worries. No one there talks about it. It's a law, actually, it's not supposed to be spoken about or written down... making Dipper a criminal since he described the whole thing in detail within his journals. He could show you, if he actually lets anyone read it, that is."
"It's private, Mabel!"
"He's got embarrassing stuff about Wendy in there, I bet." Mabel grinned conspiratorially, "He keeps all of the journals on him all day, every day in case he wants to check for any 'time anomalies'."
"What?" Dipper pouted, "With Time Baby gone, we can't be too careful."
"I'm with Coraline on this one," Norman interjected. "I'm super confused here. You're dropping events and names with zero context."
"Well, I get it." Wybie smiled.
Coraline pulled his ear toward her mouth and whispered hisses in the ear, then causing Wybie to flush considerably and watch the ground intensely. The exchange assumed to be something along the lines of a scolding, yet again.
Norman looked at Dipper, who was studying him, then stared at the sleeve of his hoodie, pretending to scratch some-dried-something off from the fabric. The bus was silent, bordering unnerving, to Norman- causing the boy to scratch his nails against his jeans in his familiar anxious tick. He planned on waiting to tell Dipper about the ghosts when they were alone, so it would seem more sincere.
However, with all the stories flying around, he wondered if everyone was really telling the truth. They all seemed very "out-there", even by a Babcock's standards, so he found himself holding his tongue. There was bound to be a better time than that current moment, he assured himself.
Dipper forced his eyes away from Norman, feeling as though he was making the both of them uncomfortable. Dipper got his phone from his pocket and putting headphones in his ears, playing on a band he'd come to like recently, and closed his eyes in hopes that Norman would rouse him once he was ready to talk again.
Norman pulled a copy of The Torture of Martyrs: We, the Self-Proclaimed Victims from his bag and scrunched his nose at it. He'd gotten the book from a his cousin the previous Christmas with a note insisting it was practically out of print and that he should feel lucky.
Norman did not feel so lucky, seeing a knife dug into what looked to be a pig carcass on the cover of said book. However, Norman insisted to at least give the book a try, especially since the relative swore up and down that the book was just Norman's speed. He'd run out of things to read and he wanted to at least attempt the book.
Norman put in headphones and turned on his small mp3 player, then opened the book to glance over the Introduction, a single sentence making up the entire positive space of the page:
These essays are not for the faint of philosophy, read on at the risk of enlightenment.
Norman let out a chortled laugh, the arrogance of the line catching his attention, opening to the first essay entitled We As A People. Norman fell silent as he read. Dipper began to doze off, his cheek resting on the headrest, facing Norman.
"So," Mabel continued, finally finding something to talk about after being floored by Norman and her brother during their silent exchange. "Wybie, Coraline, what do you guys want to do once you get settled in?"
"Well-hunting?" Wybie joked, pretending to hold dowsing rods in his hands.
"Hilarious, Wy," Coraline muttered, shaking her head. "What is this Weirdmageddon you were talking about?"
"Well," Mabel started, grinning, "I couldn't tell the entire story alone, I was in an alternate universe for a good part of it."
"Sounds exciting," Wybie laughed, earning an endeared eyeroll from Coraline. "What was it like?"
"There were fluffy clouds, hot boys, and unicorns. You know, what dreams are made of." Mabel laughed, glad to be able to lift it off from her chest- regardless if they believed her or not. However, Mabel found herself sure that these strangers on the bus, including Norman, all had their respective stories they were changed by.
A silence fell over the bus as Mabel moved to another bench to stretch across a row of seats to get a nap. Wybie wrapped his arms around Coraline's waist and smiled with adoring eyes, resting his head on her shoulder. Coraline scooted closer to him and rested her head on top of his and the couple soon fell asleep. Norman, however, stayed awake reading until the light began to fade. When the light was no longer sufficient enough to read, he put his book away and leaned his head on the seat in front of him, falling into a light sleep.
A.N.
The essay book Norman is reading is entirely fictional, oh god I wish it was real. I may end up writing it, honestly, if I can ever manage to get fanfic out of my system lol
No official update schedule has been set yet, I'll figure it out once I figure out the average time it takes me to finish each chapter.