Camo blinked, and before she knew what was happening, the Globnar arena was gone, and she was sitting on a bus going who-knows-where with a suitcase and a keycard in her hand. What the scuff just happened? She looked down at the keycard; she was pretty sure it was not a money card but a key to some hotel room. She looked at the suitcase; it was filled with a bunch of random junk that she figured was for wherever she was supposed to be living, wherever this key led to. She looked out the window, where there was just a lot of trees and mountains, which was a pretty far cry from the flatness she was used to in Florida. She looked down at herself and found a red, gray, and black hoodie, a t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers, which was a bit more normal than her usual kind of outfit.
Overall, she did an awful lot of looking. It didn't help her confusion much at all.
Where did the woman, Mallory, say she was going again? Oregon? More importantly: 2012?! That meant that she was a decade earlier than she was supposed to be, and her younger self was probably still a toddler in Florida. And she didn't think she had a parent or guardian, so she was probably going to be shipped off to Child Services . . . overall, she had her doubts as to the planning of the time dudes. After all, they were ruled by a giant baby with a tattoo, which certainly shows some . . . questionable sanity.
All right, she had to remember what Mallory said exactly. She mentioned two people, Dipper and Mabel Pines. Siblings, maybe? When she got to the town, Gravity Falls, if she remembered correctly, she'd have to ask around and figure out who they were. She had to make it to the end of the summer, and somehow stop some sort of chaos, even though everyone was being super vague. So, the rundown of her situation: she was in an unfamiliar place, ten years in the past. She had to find two people, help them somehow over the course of the summer, and end up stopping chaos at some point. Why her, was what she really wanted to know. Why not someone who had actual experience with this stuff?
She sighed and slumped in her seat. There was gum on the back of the seat in front of her, she was disgusted to note. Ah, well. It wasn't any worse than the school bus, she supposed.
She looked around the bus and found . . . literally no one else on it. Great. She groaned and looked out the window to pass the town. The trees blocked her view for a good long while until eventually she spotted a sleepy town nestled in the forest. There was various little houses and buildings, and a water tower with some kind of picture vandalized on it . . . she was just going to consider it non-objective, because she honestly had no clue what it was supposed to look like. Overall, it looked like a completely uninteresting town where nothing ever happened and she couldn't fathom why she'd be sent there.
"Gravity Falls!" the bus driver called, and she gathered up her stuff. The man craned around in his seat and looked at her. "Oh, is it just you, miss? Well, take all the time you need! Not like anyone else is here to complain!"
That made her feel so much better.
She stepped off the bus near the town square, lugging the suitcase behind her. She had noticed that there wasn't any spare clothes in the case, so she just hoped that there was some already in the room. But as for her thoughts of Gravity Falls: . . . not much improved. The town square was a square (duh) with a statue of some dude. When she read the plaque underneath, it read Nathaniel Northwest, Town Founder. It wasn't anything special, she thought glumly. Ah, well. Various shops and stores lined it, and she read the keycard in her hand again. Falls Motel. Looking around, she spotted it sitting off to one side of the town, so onward she went.
The suitcase, however, didn't want to come with her. It caught on something and promptly fell over. What? She tugged on it, it didn't move. She tugged harder, and it still didn't move. Finally, she decided to actually see if something was actually wrong, and it was. A pebble had caught on the little plastic wheel and jammed it. If she had pulled any harder, she probably would've broken the scuffed thing. Sometimes it pays to be smart, she thought with a smirk. She popped the pebble out and the suitcase rolled right along with her, trundling over to the motel.
She found her room without much trouble and opened up the door, finding an average two-room setup, with one television (she was once again reminded that she was ten years in the past—scuff, that wasn't a great TV) in the main room/kitchen, and a bathroom attached to the bedroom. When she opened the closet, she was pleased to note that there was, indeed, clothes in there, of all types. There was basic t-shirts and jeans, that any other kid might wear, but there was also a bunch of other random stuff like a lab coat, a uniform-style jumper, a couple collared shirts, cargo pants, slacks, dress shoes, heavy-duty work boots, neon green rainboots, and a matching raincoat. And a full-on tuxedo. It was a rather large amount of clothes, and it barely fit in the closet.
The reason for the . . . ahem, eccentric clothing decisions was that she liked confusing people. If she wore several clothing items that don't belong with each other, then people tended to either be weirdos like her that she would get along with or boring normal people that immediately decided she was too much for them. Plus, it was kind of fun to watch them blink or gape in shock at the absurdity of what she wore.
She then dragged the suitcase onto the bed to open it up. There was a phone that actually wasn't that much more outdated than the one she was used to, though it looked like it still needed to be set up. There was a wallet with—she picked through it—about $200. That probably wasn't going to get her very far, so she thought maybe she should get a job, if anyone would allow a thirteen-year-old to work for them. There was a couple books, a pencil and some paper, a little bag with toiletries, a sketchbook, some colored pencils, and a sticky note. She curiously read it, wondering what it could be.
I told you you wouldn't die today. Try not to die over the summer, either. ~Mallory
That didn't do much to stem her confusion.
She found some cereal in the cupboard, and a closet with a washing machine and a dryer. There was milk in the fridge and not much else. So, top of her list now was to go buy some food, since they didn't leave her much to eat and there was no way she was eating out every morning. That stuff's expensive.
It occurred to her that she wouldn't have enough money to pay for the room if that, too, was her responsibility. She once again wondered about the planning of the time dudes because now she had to find a job, buy food, prepare her own food, and live without a parent of guardian. That was definitely going to turn some heads. Chances were, her little 'adventure' would get her shipped off to Child Services and there would be no way to help these Pines people, or subsequently stop chaos (?).
But right, food. She shoved her wallet in her jacket pocket and checked to make sure her keycard was in the other before walking back out into the town proper. She didn't really see an actual grocery store, so she went to the mall instead. Thankfully, there was a grocery store in there, so she wasn't doomed to fast food. It took a lot of effort, but she didn't buy anything she didn't need to and walked out with some fruit, a hunk of meat, and some easy chili packets. Things were a little cheaper than she remembered (thanks, inflation, you're only helpful to time travelers) and so she still had some money, though not much. She dropped her food back at the room again, putting the stuff that needed going in the fridge in the fridge and overall just being a responsible person. After she was sure she was set up for the next couple days at least, she headed back out into the town to find out about these people, Dipper and Mabel Pines.
Most people weren't very helpful, just looking at her oddly, but a lady in Greasy's Diner with a faulty eyelid actually did tell her something. "Pines? Oh, yeah, there's a Pines at the Mystery Shack! Stanford Pines. He's a cutie."
The woman, who she learned the name of was Lazy Susan, was on the older side, and Camo wondered about the age of Stanford at this Mystery Shack. Plus, it wasn't the right Pines. Maybe he could help, though. So, after asking around some more for the whereabouts of that, she walked off into the woods, following the trail everybody told her led to the Shack.
Another thing she didn't have: any mode of transportation whatsoever. Walking it was.
After what felt like ages, she finally came upon what was definitely the Mystery Shack. How could she tell? It probably had something to do with the large letters on the sloping roof that said Mystery Shack. And . . . it was a tourist trap. People wandered around outside it, there was a totem pole, and when she stepped inside the door, she found a gift shop with all sorts of junk. A bored, red-headed teenager sat in a chair by the cashier and more tourists wandered around. The teen looked over at her when she entered and looked like she was going to say something, but then decided against it and just shrugged.
She wandered around the gift shop and further back, she found a tour group. Even if she didn't find Dipper and Mabel, this place seemed like the sort of place that would be right up her alley to work in, and would actually let her do so. She looked over at the teenager employee, and said, "Hey."
The redhead looked up. "Hey. You buying anything?"
"Um, no," Camo admitted. "I am kind of looking for a job, though, and—"
"Oh," the teen cut her off. "Sure. STAN!" she yelled, and after a couple moments, an old guy with a suit, glasses, and a fez came into the room. He looked annoyed.
"Wendy," Stan (Stanford?) said. "What is it? I'm in the middle of making something to cheat these guys out of their money. It better be an emergency."
The teen, Wendy, rolled her eyes and jutted her thumb to Camo. "She was wondering about a job at the Shack."
"Oh," Stan said, and then he said it again, this time with a more tricky undertone and rubbing his hands together. "Oh. What's your name, kid?"
"Uh, Camo," she replied.
"What are you good at?"
"Acting. I was thinking I'd be good for tours," she fired back.
"How old are you?"
She froze. There was no way he'd employ a thirteen-year-old. "Um . . . sixteen?" she said weakly.
Stan laughed. "That's a blatant lie, and I like your style! You're hired!" Really? It was that easy to get a job in this crazy town? "Come on, I'll show you around. You've already met Wendy and seen the gift shop, and this is the museum, I'll show you all the exhibits later if you want to do tours, and over here is Soos." A big guy in a green shirt looked over at them when he heard his name. "Soos, meet Camo, Camo, meet Soos."
"Wassup, dawg?" Soos said, and she grinned and waved.
"Heyyo," she said, and winked.
"My great-niece and great-nephew will be coming for the summer," Stan continued. "So, there'll be more people than just the four of us."
That comment sparked interest in her. Not only would they be around her age, did she dare hope . . . ? "What're their names?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.
"Dipper and Mabel Pines."