Of Love and War: Part 1
Gravity Falls was a town that was unquestionably weird. It was home to certain creatures that no normal mind could even conceive on its own as an odd thought.
Gnomes or zombies? Maybe. Abominable Bro-Man? Probably not.
Vampires were likely a more guessable concept, however. And after every sunset and during every moonrise, they would come out from the darker depths of the day to lurk around the forests at night, feasting upon hitchhikers and other passing humans if given the opportunity.
As the sun had begun setting on another summer Monday, it likely wasn't too much longer before they would rise out from hiding yet again. And from the depths of a nearby forest cavern, three figures appeared to be emerging from the dark at that very moment.
"Well, that just about puts an end to that," Dipper said, holding a duffle bag full of blood-stained stakes as he cheerily walked out of the cave alongside Mabel and Wendy.
"Yep. Now this town no longer has a vampire problem," Wendy nodded, casually holding a bloody ax over her shoulder.
"Too bad in a way. That also means no more hot vampires coming out of nowhere," Mabel claimed somewhat glumly.
"I think you've seen way too many of those teenage vampire movies, Mabel," Dipper replied.
"Yeah, as you saw today, not all vampires are pale, blood-sucking hunks," Wendy added.
"Maybe not to you they weren't."
"Alright, this conversation is already starting to lose me," Dipper said disgustedly.
"Well, regardless, that was fun," Wendy stated before lovingly nudging both of the twins. "It's nice to go on a badass adventure with my favorite twins that doesn't end with me getting mentally scarred for once."
"Yeah, you kicked major vampire butt today, Wendy!" Mabel praised. "That Count didn't even see it coming!"
Wendy chuckled. "Dude, if you're a bad guy and you start monologuing, you're pretty much giving away a free shot at you."
"Well, you couldn't have timed a stake throw more perfectly," Dipper claimed.
"Hey, don't forget that you made the stake last second," Wendy reminded, nudging him in the arm. "Seriously, we would've been done for back there if it wasn't for you. Honestly, as a lumberjack's daughter, I'm impressed with your speed."
"Ford taught me well, I guess," Dipper said with a smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Give yourself a little credit, dude. That final toss was legit!" she acclaimed before raising her hand. "Up here!"
Dipper chuckled at her praising but accepted it as he high-fived her with his available hand. As his palm pressed against her's, he looked up into her eyes and couldn't help but gaze a bit. The view of her long hair lightly blowing in the wind breeze as her hand was held out in front of him. Her pale-skinned smile reflecting her typical laid back demeanor as he stared into her green eyes.
The sight alone began to invoke a bunch of familiar feelings in him that he had thought he had rid himself of long ago.
Though the moment was beginning to become slightly awkward for Wendy as it dragged on. "Uh, you can pull your hand back now, dude," she told him with an uncomfortable chuckle.
Dipper's face reddened as he frantically retracted his hand. "Oh, right, right. Sorry. Just got distracted. There was a...bird behind you."
Wendy had no comment, but regardless, Mabel hopped right between the two excitedly, cutting the moment off anyway. "Man, I'm still so fired up after all of that! We shouldn't stop there! We should go out and celebrate! I'm feeling something...cheesy or...tomato-y…"
"Sure, maybe we could go into town and snag some pizza to take back to the Shack," Wendy suggested.
Mabel gasped. "Pizza? You read my mind, girl!"
As the two discussed their pizza plans, Dipper was too busy glancing over at Wendy. It took a moment for him to realize that his palms were beginning to feel somewhat moist. Looking down at his hands, his eyes widened. There he was, staring at his own shaking, sweaty palms as a result of internal nervousness that he had only just realized. Glancing back and forth between his hands and Wendy, his heart sunk.
"Oh no…"
"Hey, Dipper," Wendy prompted, instantly grabbing his attention. "You coming?"
"Wait...what?"
"Mabel and I are gonna go get some victory pizza," she gestured. "You wanna come with?"
"I...uh...I'd...I'd love to...but I can't..."
"Whaaaat?" Mabel questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Dipper began to feel his legs start shaking under his jeans, to which he had decided at that point that he felt too bad for himself to bear standing around the two for much longer.
"I just...I can't. I can't do it. Not again. I can't…" he said guiltily as he began walking away from them. "I don't feel so well. You guys can just go without me. I'll be at the Shack."
Without another word, Dipper began a walk-of-shame in the direction back to the Mystery Shack, leaving the two girls on their own.
"Do you want me to at least bring you back something?" Mabel called out to him, but to no response. "Yes? No? ...I'll just get ya some breadsticks!"
"What was that about?" Wendy turned to Mabel with a look of concern.
"I don't know," Mabel shrugged. "Maybe he's on a diet now. But why? He's already skinny enough as it is. Any skinnier, and we'll have to call him a Skinny Dipper. Haha, am I right?"
Mabel's joke went right through Wendy's ears as she was too busy thinking about Dipper's behavior. "Look, I really don't feel that comfortable talking with you about this, but I gotta ask- is he still into me?"
"Who? Dipper?" Mabel considered. "PFFFT! Of course, he isn't! Trust me, he's long over you! Dipper's a pro at moving on!"
"Really? Because just a minute ago, he was giving me the same weird look that he used to give me when he was twelve."
"Well, I...uh…" Mabel began before giving the idea much more thought. "I don't know. Dipper's a very confused guy these days. I mean, it's possible."
"Ugh…" Wendy groaned with a facepalm. "That's what I was afraid of."
"What do you mean?"
"Look, don't get me wrong, I love Dipper, but more like a brother. Not like that," she began. "I mean, I met him when I was fifteen and he was twelve. Now, I'm nineteen and he's sixteen. Sure, he's grown up a bit, but even now, I can't look at him and not remember the Dipper I met four summers ago. Same with you. You've grown up, but I still see the same hyperactive twelve-year-old kid, minus the braces."
"Those aspects never tend to fade," Mabel boasted.
"It's just, as flattering as it is, I can't ever see myself actually dating him," Wendy said as she had a hard time just trying to think about it. "I cherish the friendship we have too much to ruin it like that. I thought I had already settled that when I first turned him down. But if he still hasn't moved on or if he fell for me again, then I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, I'm moving out of town in just a few days. The last thing I want to do is say something that leaves him all depressed when I'm gone."
"Yikes. The problems that come with being attractive, huh?"
Wendy chuckled. "I don't know, man. I mean, c'mon, surely he's been looking at others in the past four years back where you guys live. He couldn't have just been set on me this whole time, right?"
"Oh heck yeah!" Mabel nodded. "Dipper's been making moves with tons of different girls since high school began!"
"Really? That's awesome," Wendy replied, somewhat impressed. "Several girlfriends? What a player."
"Well, several rejections."
"Huh? I thought you said he was making moves?"
"Yeah, he was. Doesn't mean any of those girls liked his moves."
"So you're saying he's never had a single girlfriend?"
Mabel thought for a moment. "Well, there was this one time...wait, no. Nevermind. Nope, he hasn't."
"Has he ever asked anyone on a date?"
"He actually did have a date to our Sophomore Homecoming," Mabel recalled. "But some guy pulled his pants down in the middle of pictures, and his date left him after laughing at his BABBA boxers."
"Wow, that...sucks," Wendy said, feeling bad for Dipper before turning to side and whispering to herself, "BABBA boxers…?"
"I mean, he handles the rejections pretty well, at least!" Mabel claimed. "He's gotten used to them, so he's not afraid of them saying no anymore!"
"Damn. That's rough."
"Yeah, Dipper has never had it easy in the romance department," Mabel admitted, also feeling bad for him. "He always seems to find himself going for the wrong people."
"Have you ever helped?" Wendy asked.
"Like matchmaking? Well, of course I've offered, but Dipper doesn't want me to. Says he doesn't want me 'interfering with his love life.'"
"Then don't interfere?" Wendy questioned Mabel's definition of matchmaking. "Matchmaking doesn't mean meddling with one's love life. It just means to light up the way a bit for those who might need it. Like if you know someone that likes him, you give him a nudge toward that someone. Subtle stuff like that goes a long way. Forcing him with anyone doesn't get anywhere. Letting chemistry happen on its own is the best way to go about it. Look at you and Ryland. I'm sure you remember how hard you were trying with him before."
Mabel awkwardly glanced to the side upon this reminder. "Yeah...sadly."
"But then you just let things go and let the rest happen naturally. Now look where you two are," Wendy referenced. "Dipper just needs the same. It doesn't need to be love at first sight. It just needs to be something real."
"Something real, huh?" Mabel pondered to herself.
Wendy looked down at her watch. "Yikes, I gotta bounce."
"Aw, but what about victory pizza?"
"I still got packing to do, girl," Wendy told her as she walked over to a tree where she had kept her bike placed during their earlier adventure. "But don't worry. We'll definitely grab pizza at least one more time before I go."
Mabel was saddened by not going for pizza at that moment, but she accepted a rain check. "Okay…"
"But hey, just keep what I said in mind if you do try to help Dipper," Wendy reminder as she hopped on her bike. "He's a great guy. Not perfect, but great. And he deserves someone just as great." Mabel nodded at her words and waved in her direction as she rode off through the woods.
"Wendy's right," Mabel agreed. "It's about time Dipper had a win at love. And with that, it's time for the matchmaker…"
Mabel dug a hand down the neck hole of her sweater before pulling out her old pair of heart glasses. She put them on and smiled confidently.
"...to come out of retirement!"
SLAM!
Mabel dramatically kicked the front door to the Shack straight open. Shutting it right behind her, she zoomed straight for the stairs. Passing the living room, she caught Dipper's attention as he sat in the chair in front of the TV.
"Oh, there you are Mab-"
"HI DIPPER I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING AND I NEED THE ROOM TO MYSELF SO PLEASE DON'T COME UPSTAIRS!" she called out rapidly as she ran straight upstairs to the attic and into their room.
SLAM!
Dipper stared straight forward uncomfortably for a moment. "Alright, thanks for the warning!" he called back up. "I guess…"
Up in the attic, Mabel pulled a box out hidden in the closet. She laid it out up on a table, opening it up to set up her old diorama of Gravity Falls. She then pulled out a little bag from the box, dumping the contents out onto the model. Laid out all over the diorama were a bunch of wooden figures, each based off various Gravity Falls residents. It was clearly outdated, as they were still the same models made four years prior.
"Haven't used these in years. Should probably make new ones at some point," Mabel claimed as she looked at the old figures. "But they'll have to do for now. So let's see…who's the perfect match for Dipper?"
She sorted through the various figures that she had laid out, examining each individual one to consider.
"Candy? Nah, we all know how that went. Grenda? No, she still has Marius. That girl from the supermarket's cute, but Dipper would probably scare her off. And last I heard spilled-punch-on-dress girl still wants to punch him in the face. Hmm…would that be a maybe?"
Crossing off obviously overage, underage, and other unsuitable choices for Dipper, Mabel found herself quickly running out of options as she continued going through every resident in town.
"Darn! This is harder than I thought it would be," Mabel claimed as she took her glasses off. "What did I expect? It's Dipper!" She thought for a moment before standing back over the box. "Maybe there are more figures in here that I'm forgetting…"
As soon as she looked into the box, however, she spotted a plain beige folder lying flat at the bottom.
"Huh, I never keep plain folders like that around," she said as she picked it up. As she opened it, she read through a set of papers set inside. "Wait...I remember this…"
Upon laying her eyes upon a certain page, her eyes shot wide open as she let out a loud gasp.
"Of course!" she said before smiling as wide as can be. "Oh my god! Yes! How could I forget? It's perfect!"
She grabbed her list of girls and quickly scribbled down another name before circling it in marker.
"You were ahead of your time, Past Mabel," she said as she placed Dipper's twelve-year-old figure right next to the figure reminiscent of a young, sassy blonde girl. "Now it's time for your most important mission yet…"
The next morning came and after a good sleep-in and brief breakfast, Dipper sat in front of the TV in the living room. He mindlessly flipped through channels, looking for one to interest him and take his mind off what was looking like a lifeless Tuesday with nothing better to do.
Flip!
"Girl, why you ackin' so not cray-cray?"
Flip!
"As you can see, it functions just as well a toenail clipper as it does a blender!"
Flip!
"IT WORKS FOR CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMS!"
Flip!
"This just in," Shandra Jimenez's voice was heard as Dipper flipped to the news channel. "I'm here at Lake Gravity Falls where we've gotten recent reports of abnormal activity coming from the water, which has caused lots of odd rippling, splashing and ground rumbling."
At that very moment, the ground began rumbling where the broadcast seemed to be taking place by the lake. It was at that point where Dipper's interest was finally piqued after the last hour of channel flipping.
"Woah!" Shandra shouted in reaction to the rumbling. She then glanced over at the lake itself and began pointing for the camera. "There! Zoom on that! As you can see, there is definitely a lot of disfigured rippling on the surface of the water. Whatever is causing this has yet to be determined."
Dipper looked on at the ripples being displayed on TV, which definitely looked odd from his perspective. Rather than circular ripples, they were all misshaped and irregular, nothing like he had seen before. One thing he thought was that the odd ripples could easily be a result of the ongoing rumbling, but then that would lead to the question of what was causing the rumbling itself.
He then looked to the side and caught Ford passing by, making his way from the kitchen toward the gift shop door across the living room.
"Morning, Dipper," he greeted with a nod.
"Hey Great Uncle Ford, could you come here for a second?" Dipper asked.
"What is it?" he asked as he redirected toward him.
"Check this out," Dipper replied, gesturing toward the TV.
Ford turned his attention to the news broadcast as requested. He studied the feed for a moment and began thinking to himself. Dipper looked up at him, watching his facial expressions change as he stroked his chin curiously.
"Interesting," Ford said simply. "This is live?"
"Yeah," Dipper nodded. "Any idea what it is?"
"Well, it's nothing like I've ever seen before, that's for sure," Ford admitted. "Abnormal lake rippling, ground rumbling...nope, doesn't ring a bell. That's new to me."
"You think we should go and check it out?" Dipper suggested.
"Well, I actually have work to do here regarding Stanley, as you already know."
"Oh, right," Dipper replied somewhat dejectedly.
"But I say you're more than free to investigate this one on your own," Ford happily allowed. "In fact, I have some equipment in the basement that I used to use when investigating lake anomalies. A sonic motion tracker- it tracks, well, sonic motion. It works underwater though and it'll record everything for playback in audio format. You can listen around the lake for anything interesting. I can lend it to you if you need."
Dipper nodded. "Sure, that'd be great!"
"I'll go fetch it out for you then," Ford said as he made his way into the gift shop toward the vending machine.
"And I guess I'll just get ready to head out," Dipper replied as he leaped from his chair and head upstairs, excited to have a chance to uncover a potential new anomaly on his own.
Opening the door to the attic, he immediately shot straight for his backpack, emptying it of unneeded supplies and items that he had brought along from the vampire adventure to make room for supplies for his lake trip. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Mabel sitting on her bed, writing something down on a piece of paper eagerly. He noticed she had been writing on the same piece of paper he had seen her working on since waking up that morning, which he felt was somewhat odd, but mentally dismissed it.
"Hey, Mabel," he greeted as he packed. "There's some weird stuff going on in Lake Gravity Falls and I'm going to go down there to check it out. Ford's lending some equipment to use. You wanna come?"
"No thanks, bro-bro," she declined before giggling profusely. "I already got my own plans."
"Alright, suit yourself," Dipper replied acceptingly. "Thought you'd want to come along to try to summon dolphins with your whale noises or something."
Mabel suddenly burst out giggling to herself again, and Dipper knew it wasn't in response to his cheap shot at her.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing," Mabel dismissed with a hand gesture. "Don't worry about it."
"You've been giggling like that since we woke up this morning," Dipper reminded her, starting to grow suspicious.
"I'm just in a giggly mood today. What can I say?" Mabel attempted to brush off.
"No, you're up to something, aren't you?" Dipper questioned. "You always get giggly when you're planning something behind my back. What are you doing?"
"Relax, bro-bro! I'm not doing anything bad, I promise," she assured, failing to suppress her guilty smile.
"Why don't I believe you?" he asked as he crossed his arms.
"Because you don't know how to trust your own sister."
"Well, my sister sometimes gives me very little reason to trust her," he shot back. "Now spill! What are you plotting?"
"I'm just giving you a little help, broseph," Mabel confessed. "After how you were in front of Wendy last night, I figured I'd come to the save you from getting your heart shattered again."
Dipper's eyes nervously widened. "Wait, what? How I was in front of Wendy?"
"Duh, you were becoming all ga-ga for her again."
"What?! No, I wasn't!" Dipper shouted, face reddening by her assumption.
"Mhm."
"I wasn't!" he tried to further deny, walking up to her. "I...I just got caught up in a moment, alright? I am NOT falling for Wendy again!"
"Your mouth says one thing, but your heart says another," she teased.
"I'm over Wendy, Mabel! Over her!"
"Not yet, but you will be."
Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Wha...wait, what?!"
"Look, bro, Wendy's not gonna be around for much longer," Mabel began, putting her pen down and standing up in front of her brother. "There's an entire town full of other girls you could be going for, yet after four years, you're still giving Wendy weird looks. You gotta move on, Dipper!"
"Jesus Christ, I HAVE moved on, Mabel!" he continued to iterate, now growing irritated. "You're the one who hasn't moved on from this argument!"
"It's nothing personal, Dipper. Love is a complicated thing. Moving on isn't always easy," she claimed as she walked over toward the table her folder laid upon. "That's why I'm finally coming to your aid."
"Huh?"
"While you were busy revisiting your Wendy fantasies, I've been looking for your future. I mean, someone has to come after Wendy, right?" Mabel hypothetically guessed as she picked up the folder. "Well, I think I've found that someone, bro."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your rebound, of course!"
Dipper sighed. "Mabel, I'm not going to go out with some random girl you picked up that I've likely never met before."
"Of course you aren't! That's why I didn't pick 'some random girl.' I picked someone you knew and someone who knew you," she assured him as she opened the folder. "And given all the research I've done, I don't think I could've made a better choice."
"Who? Candy?" Dipper assumed. "Mabel, you've already tried to pair me with her, and you know how that went."
"Yeah, and if only that worked out," Mabel mentally pictured. "But, no, it isn't Candy again. I think you'll be much happier with this choice." She then held out a piece of paper out to him, which had a picture of Pacifica Northwest printed to the front of it. "Don't you think?"
Dipper's eyes bulged in shock by the choice. "NO! NO WAY!"
"What?" Mabel frowned at his reaction. "What's the problem?"
"Pacifica Northwest?!" Dipper questioned. "Are you crazy?! I'm not going out with her!"
"But I thought you liked her!"
"Pacifica?! I've never liked her!" Dipper told her upfront. "I mean, not like that."
"Never?"
"Never!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"REBUTTAL!" Mabel shouted in his face as she dove her hand into the folder again. "Allow me to present this piece of evidence I have."
"Evidence?"
Mabel then proceeded to stick out another piece of paper in front of his face. "This page you wrote in Grunkle Ford's old journal, the night of the mansion party!"
Looking at the paper, Dipper's eye twitched at the sight of it really being one of the pages he wrote in Ford's old journal on the night of the Northwest mansion party. "You read-?!"
"EHEM!" Mabel cleared her throat as she prepared to read off of the page. "'The only thing stranger than meeting this ghost was discovering that Pacifica had some good inside.' Oh and here's my favorite part: 'She also looks kind of okay in an evening dress, I guess.'"
"MABEL, NO!" Dipper shouted as he attempted to snatch the page, only for her to swiftly skip away to the other side of the room.
"And look at this cute little thing you tried to cross out!" Mabel teased. "'And when she hugs you, she smells like champagne and flowers and...am I crazy or was there some sort of vibe going on?' AWWW!"
"That means nothing!" Dipper shouted blushingly as he managed to successfully snatch the page from Mabel. "Also, how did you get this page?"
"Photocopied it before we threw the journals out," Mabel said with a grin. "I also have about fifty more copies."
"I DON'T LIKE PACIFICA!" Dipper shouted as he angrily tore the paper apart.
"The proof is in the pudding!" Mabel said as she hopped onto her bed, pulling a chocolate pudding cup from under her bed sheets, opening it, and eating a spoonful while looking at Dipper with a wide smirk.
"There were plenty of girls at that party that I thought looked alright. It means nothing!" Dipper continued.
"But the vibe, Dipper! The vibe!"
"It was four years ago!" Dipper defended. "We were both kids with lots of crazy ideas back then, Mabel! Maybe back then, I thought Pacifica was kind of attractive and thought we had something going, but nothing came up of that so obviously, it didn't mean anything. That's that!"
"Nothing came up because you never went after her, brainiac!" Mabel refuted. "And have you forgotten how she looks now? She became hot, Dipper! If you only thought she was kind of attractive when you were a twelve, then I almost don't wanna know the things going on in that brain of yours when you see her nowadays."
"GAH!" Dipper shouted angrily, face burning red as he pulled down on the muffs of his hat from sheer embarrassment. "That's it! I'm done with this discussion! I'm not going on any date with anybody, and I don't want you getting involved in my love life! I don't care what you think! I'm over Wendy and I don't have feelings for Pacifica!" He reiterated before picking up his backpack and heading toward the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to investigate potential lake anomalies and NOT go on a date with my sister's ex-rival."
Mabel sighed somewhat annoyedly. "Fine. Where are you even gonna be at the lake anyway?"
Dipper turned around as he stood at the door frame. "I don't know. The main dock, I guess?"
"And you're just gonna be sitting there all day listening for weird fish?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe I will," Dipper shrugged. "It's better than going on any of your setup dates."
"You're going to get bored and fall asleep."
Dipper scoffed. "Yeah, sure. And I'm also gonna go on a date with Pacifica."
Mabel perked up. "Really?"
"No."
SLAM!
Dipper stormed off out of the room, leaving Mabel alone. She sat in silence for a moment, trying to think about how to go about things next.
"Well if you won't go on the date yourself, I guess the date will come to you…" Mabel planned aloud as she grabbed her pencil and began erasing a portion of her letter for rewriting.
"...and then I had my people beat him up and sue him for all he has!"
The boy with a Scottish accent then broke out laughing at his own story as he sat across from an uneasy Pacifica at an Italian restaurant. She stared at him silently for a moment before looking to the side uncomfortably.
"Ah…" the boy settled down. "Anyway, that's how we got our thirty-first sports car."
"Uh, wow...Interesting story…" Pacifica replied, still visibly uncomfortable.
"Yeah, my family is big on cars. Perhaps I could take you for a spin in one from my dad's deluxe collection back in Scotland," the boy said as he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"As fun as that sounds…" Pacifica sarcastically began. "...Narcís, you...I mean...we have been talking about your cars all night and I was just thinking that, you know, we could maybe…"
"Talk about your cars?" Narcís cut off. "Sure! I'm all for it!"
Pacifica paused for a brief second, slightly irritated. "...I was thinking more we could move from the subject of cars entirely. Maybe you could ask me...about myself... for once…"
"Oh, of course! I'm terribly sorry! What was I thinking?" Narcís apologized profusely before slumping back in his seat, becoming immediately uninterested. "Tell me...uh...tell me about you. Err, what do you see yourself doing in the future?"
Pacifica perked up slightly at the question. "Actually, I have been thinking about studying marine science. Or...I don't know...oceanology...oceanography… just something related to the ocean, you know?" she began. "I never really paid attention to it when I was younger, but as I grew up, I've kind of come to love the idea of studying it and the wildlife and-"
"Sounds kinda lame honestly," Narcís rudely cut off as he poked at his spaghetti and meatballs with disinterest.
Pacifica silently stared at Narcís for a moment. She felt angry by how disrespectful he had been toward her the entire date and felt as though she had complete right to punch him in the face at that moment. On the other hand, she had never been open about her true future aspirations with many people and those who she had told were also quick to judge the idea.
Studying the ocean? Really? You're a Northwest. You're above that. Keep that sort of work to the lab rats, a voice echoed through her head.
It was those constant judgments that continuously deepened her insecurities. Although conflicted, her lack of confidence got the better of her at that moment and she slumped back in her seat.
"Yeah, it is kinda lame, isn't it?" she agreed as she looked down dourly.
"Eh, no worries. I'm sure my dad can find room for you in our car business," Narcís suggested. "In fact, our fathers would actually be thrilled to collaborate and bring the Northwest-Istic names together! Just think of the profit, Pacifiera!"
Pacifica's eyes widened as she looked back up at him. "...what did you just call me?"
"Pacifiera? That's your name, isn't it? Pacifiera Northwest?" Narcís guessed. "Or is it Pacifilia? It's Pacifilia, isn't it? Yes, my mistake. Apologies, Pacifilia."
Pacifica's eye twitched irritatedly as she stared at Narcís, who looked as though he had done no wrong. As a silence prospered, he looked at her with growing confusion.
"What?"
The front double doors of the Italian restaurant suddenly burst open as Pacifica stormed out, fuming. As she made her way down a set of stairs, Narcís rushed out the double doors, stopping at the top of the stairs with a plate of spaghetti dumped upon his head, sauce dripping down his expensive clothes.
"It was Pacifiera, wasn't it?! No, wait, that can't be right! Pacifiera was my ex! Ah! I know! Pasquelínia! It's Pasquelínia, right? Is that what it is?" he asked, but Pacifica just continued on her way without paying him any mind. "C'MON, I HAVE THIRTY-ONE SPORTS CARS!"
Pacifica grabbed her phone from her handbag and began dialing a number. "That's the last time I let dad set me up with one of his rich friend's stupid kids…"
As she called her dad, Mabel turned a corner into the district that Pacifica stood in. Letter in hand, she glanced around, eventually laying her eyes on the Italian restaurant. Not too far from it, she spotted Pacifica standing on a street corner.
"There she is!" she said to herself as she began making her way toward her. As she approached, she could overhear her having a conversation on the phone.
"Dad, for the love of God, I don't care if he has thirty-one sports cars! ..…I don't care if you do! This is my love life we're talking about! If you care so much, then you can date him!" she shouted before angrily hanging up.
"Hi Pacifica!" Mabel greeted as she snuck up behind her.
"AH!" Pacifica jumped, juggling her phone in her hands before maintaining herself. "Mabel?!"
"Mabel."
Pacifica's eyes narrowed. "Ugh. What is it with you Pines always running into me in public nowadays?"
"Oh, this isn't some random encounter. I've actually been looking for you," Mabel clarified.
"What? Then how did you know I was here?"
"Uh...your post?" Mabel brought up as she pulled her phone out, showing Pacifica's latest status update. "'On another one of my dad's stupid blind date setups. OMG I can't take much more of this.' Yikes. Rich girl problems, am I right? Also, I don't think you've followed me back yet..."
"Look, I'm in no mood to stomach whatever nonsense you have for me right now," Pacifica dismissed as she began walking off.
"Wait! Then don't stomach my nonsense!" Mabel shouted as she ran after Pacifica, waving the letter in her hands. "Instead, stomach a candlelit dinner on a blind date with the real love of your life!"
Pacifica turned around and took the letter, skimming the front of it. "You're setting me up on a blind date?"
"Yep!" Mabel nodded enthusiastically. "I've been doing some 'research' lately, and I think I've come across a match for you that's just meant to be made!"
"Pass," Pacifica turned down as she continued walking off, tossing the letter over her shoulder.
Mabel caught the letter in her hands, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'pass'? You're gonna stand up your date tonight?"
"I don't have a date tonight," Pacifica told her as she turned back around.
"Yes, you do!" Mabel replied, waving the letter in her face. "It's on the letter!"
"A blind date!" Pacifica shouted, pushing Mabel back. "I don't even know who the guy is!"
"That's kind of the point of a blind date."
"I was just on a blind date! With a guy who didn't even know my name!"
"Is it Pacillifia?!"
Pacifica turned to the side where she saw Narcís still trailing her. "Say another word to me and I'll get MY people to beat you up and sue you for everything YOU have!"
Narcís suddenly stopped in his tracks. He then smiled fearfully as he made a mouth-zipping motion and began walking backward, leaving her alone.
Pacifica sighed annoyedly. "Anyways, as you can see, I'm in no mood for another date. Especially a blind date set up by you. Besides, why are you even trying to set me up on a blind date in the first place? Who told you I need romantic help?"
"Nobody, but after that little exchange, it's not like you're doing yourself much better," Mabel said, gesturing back toward Narcís.
"BLIND. DATE," Pacifica reiterated. "Set up by my clueless dad. Not my choice!"
"Well, I'd like to think my choice for you is a bit more inspired than anything your dad could ever come up with."
"Inspired doesn't mean better," Pacifica said, crossing her arms.
"Well, then you tell me which is better: a blind date with some snobby, narcissistic rich boy that you've never met before who more than likely only wants you for your looks OR a boy that's nice, smart, some other attractive attribute, and most importantly, liiiiiikes you."
Pacifica's eyes lit up interestedly. "Wait… likes me? You mean it's someone who knows me?"
Mabel smiles teasingly. "And someone who you know."
"Who?"
"Oh, now you're interested, huh?" Mabel questioned with a sly smile.
"I'm not interested!" Pacifica denied. "Just...curious."
"Mhm…" Mabel said as she folded her arms skeptically.
"C'mon, are you really not gonna tell me?"
"That'd ruin the point of it being a blind date, wouldn't it?" Mabel asked as she held the letter out to her, which she took. "If you're that curious, find out for yourself tonight at seven."
Without another word, Mabel promptly walked off on her way, leaving Pacifica on her own again. Pacifica herself had mixed feelings at that moment.
On one hand, she lacked any trust in Mabel's ability to set her up on a date. But the idea of her date supposedly being someone who she actually knew and knew her back intrigued her. Of course with that type of description, it could be anybody, given her status. The mystery of the person was what intrigued her most though, especially given how insistent Mabel was.
But then again…Mabel.
Curiously, she opened up the letter and read through it. She raised an eyebrow as she read the date's location.
"What am I supposed to wear for this?"
The evening eventually came along, with the sun setting over the horizon and reflecting across the still waters of Lake Gravity Falls. Dipper sat on the edge of a dock that stuck out over the water. Beside him, he had Ford's equipment set up.
Dipper had a pair of headphones connected to the sonic motion tracker, which he held in his hand, aiming at the water. The tracker itself was connected to a box beside him, which was a unit that all of the recorded sonic activity stored itself on.
Concentrating, he held one of the headphones up to his left ear, listening out for anything unnatural. However, for all the hours he had spent on the dock, he hadn't heard anything besides a few different types of ordinary fish. On top of things, there wasn't a single sign of abnormal water rippling or ground rumbling all day. Compared to the earlier news broadcast, the lake had been relatively calm, which had led him to question whether or not the broadcast was even real or not.
He was beginning to lose his grip on himself though, as he grew progressively more bored due to the lack of activity, which resulted in him getting sleepier and sleepier.
"Any minute now I'll find that monster. Any minute now," he said to himself as he yawned. His eyes narrowed at himself as he realized he had yawned. "No, I'm not tired. I'm not bored. I'm not falling asleep. Mabel is wrong. I don't like Wendy. I don't like Pacifica. I don't like...anybody…zzzzzz."
He fell asleep, unable to keep himself together any longer. The tracker also fell from his hand, swinging down and remaining held up from the water by hanging from a cable that attached to the box beside him.
Now in his slumber, he was unable to notice Soos's pickup truck pull up onto the dock behind him. It came to a stop and Mabel jumped out from the passenger seat. She walked forward, creeping up behind Dipper to find him snoring, blatantly unaware of their presence.
"Gosh, you're predictable," she whispered with an eye-roll.
"So, uh, what's this all about again?" Soos quietly called out to her from the truck.
"Just giving Dipper a little pick-me-up in the romance department," Mabel replied as she walked back behind the pick up and pulled a small wooden table out. "I set Pacifica up on a blind date with him."
"Woah, hold up. You mean that rich Northwest girl that you used to be archenemies with?" Soos processed. "You're setting her up with Dipper?"
"Trust me. Mabel knows what she's doing," she nodded as she positioned the table on the dock. "This isn't some random match I pulled out of nowhere. I know for a fact they already have a thing for each other. This is just me leading them to one another so they can let their chemistry do the rest of the work. Just like Wendy told me."
"Now Dipper liking Pacifica I can see, but Pacifica liking Dipper back?" Soos asked. "I mean, I love Dipper like a bro, but isn't a girl that rich supposed have actual standards?"
"I guess some have a preference for huge dorks," Mabel chuckled.
"Oh, man. That's rich!" Soos laughed. "No pun intended."
"I told Pacifica to meet her 'blind date' here at seven," Mabel explained as she set up two chairs at the table. "I'm going to make this spot look romantic enough for them so when I leave them alone, they'll get into the mood and get all awkward and blushy with each other and all those feelings will come pouring out. Then in fifteen years, I'll be Auntie Mabel to at least ten children!"
"Oh man. Good luck, Future Dipper."
"But yeah, I just gotta get this place set before Pacifica shows," Mabel said as she grabbed a bunch of candles from the back of the truck. "What time is it by the way?"
Soos checked the time on his watch. "6:59."
"What?!" Mabel questioned, nearly dropping all of the candles from her shock. She then turned her head back to see a limo in the distance coming in the direction of the dock. "Oh no! I think that's her!" She ran up to Soos's window. "Soos, get out of here! Go home! I'll take things from here."
"You got it, hambone!" Soos nodded as he began slowly backing out from the dock. "FOR LOVE!"
"Shhhhh! Soos!"
"Whoops, my bad, dude," Soos apologized, remembering not to wake Dipper.
As Soos cleared from the area, Mabel looked over at Dipper to see him still sleeping. Reassured, she quickly began trying to set up the rest of the table and the dock itself. With her many candles, she began lighting them as she frantically placed them along the edges of the dock, making an illuminated path toward the table she had set up. Looking up, she noticed the limo itself coming to a stop, increasing her panic as she realized how many unlit candles she had left to set up.
"Urrrrgh! I'm not gonna have time to set up the rest of these candles!" she panicked as she ran up and grabbed the rest of her unused candles before throwing them into the lake. "Go! Swim! Be free! I'm so sorry it had to be like this!"
Soon enough, Pacifica exited from the back of the parked limo. However, she remained in place as she spoke over her cellphone.
"For the last time, dad! I'm not dating Narcís just so you can get his family's stupid car opportunities," she told him with obvious distaste. Her eyes then widened in disgust as her father replied. "EW! I don't even want a convertible! I DON'T CARE ABOUT CARS, DAD!"
"Oh no!" Mabel said to herself as she spotted Pacifica. The dock was her only way of getting away dry, but Pacifica stood right at the end she needed to go toward. Knowing she couldn't risk being seen, though, she decided to make sacrifice her dry clothes and proceeded to dive into the lake.
SPLASH!
From there, she quickly hid beneath the dock, peeking above from behind one of the legs.
"Yeah, well that just shows how little you know or even care about what I want, dad," Pacifica continued to bicker over the phone. She sighed. "Look, I don't have time for this. I'll talk to you when I get home from this stupid date."
She promptly hung up the phone, shoving it in her handbag. With a fed up sigh, she then slammed the limo door shut.
"Unbelievable. Feels like there's not a single guy in this world that understands anything about me…" Pacifica said before suddenly looking up the dock.
Ahead, she could see the illuminated candles building up to the end where the table sat. Despite the romantic intention, she immediately felt displeased.
"Guess we'll keep adding to that list," she said to herself as she began walking down the dock. "Gosh, this is so corny. Whoever this is really needs to stop taking tips from romance movies. It's so overdone."
Mabel narrowed her eyes. "Corny? Overdone? Is there any pleasing this girl?"
Pacifica walked up to the table at the end of the dock. On top of it, she spotted a note and picked it up. "'My, Pacifica. You remind me of a hard math problem: so complex, yet so interesting. Your eyes shine as bright as the screen of my calculator. And like any good book, you have many meanings. But no meaning greater than love?' What does that even mean?"
"Trying to flirt like a nerd is hard, okay!" Mabel said to herself.
Pacifica stared at the note for a moment, having no clue what to make from it. "Seriously, who even came up with…?" she began as she looked up, suddenly freezing once she noticed Dipper sat on the edge of the dock sleeping. "Dipper?!"
"AH! I'm awake!" Dipper's eyes shot open. "I'm awake. Oh hey, Pacifica." He paused for a moment. "Wait...Pacifica? What are you doing here?" he asked as he got up on his feet and walked over to her, suddenly growing even more confused as he looked around. "Where did this table come from? And what's with the candles?"
"What am I doing here?" Pacifica asked. "You're the one who set this all up!"
"Set...what up?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes.
"This date!"
"Date?" he questioned at first before being woken up by the realization, eyes bulging. "DATE?! Woah, what date?! I didn't set up any date!"
"Yes, you did! You wrote this letter!" Pacifica said as she took out the letter Mabel had given her from her purse. "And this note with absolutely horrible flirting. Far worse than anything I would actually expect from you."
"Letter? Note?" he asked before snatching both of them from her, reading over them. "These aren't mine! This isn't even my handwriting! This looks like…"
His eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He clenched his teeth angrily as he squeezed the letter in his hand tightly.
"...Mabel…"
Pacifica's eyes narrowed once she realized what he was getting at. "Mabel set all of this up?"
"Who else could it be?" Dipper asked as he pitched the crumbled letter and note into the lake. Underneath the dock, Mabel managed to catch glimpse of the crumbled papers being thrown away.
"Oh boy…" Mabel said, already believing to know what was to happen next.
"Why, that little…" Pacifica began as she clenched her fists, enraged and embarrassed. "I should've known this was one of her little schemes! She's always up to something! Trying to set me up on some blind date!"
"And you bought into it?"
"I was curious!" Pacifica defended. "She said it was someone that knew me! Someone who liked me!"
"God...of course she did," Dipper said with a facepalm. "Of course she did! I should've expected this!"
Pacifica raised a confused eyebrow as she looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"This morning, she was bugging me about having girl problems," Dipper reluctantly explained to her. "Next thing I know, she thinks I have a crush on you and wants to set us up."
"What?! Ew!" Pacifica shouted in utter disgust. "Why would she...hang on… where would she even get the idea that you'd have a crush on me in the first place?"
"I-I don't...how am I supposed to know?!" Dipper asked. "I mean, you know how she is! All those weird ideas that she's always coming up with. This is just another one of those!"
"So...to be absolutely clear...you don't have a crush on me?"
"Wha…? No!" Dipper replied vehemently. "I don't! I thought I was...wait, you don't have a crush on me, do you?"
"Ew! Obviously not!" Pacifica denied. "I was just making sure that you didn't! With this whole date and all…"
"There's no date and I don't have a crush on you! Okay?" Dipper clarified. "This was all Mabel! She told you to come here and I wasn't even aware you were coming! I was already here trying to solve a mystery by myself before you showed up!"
Pacifica looked around the dock silently as she processed everything. "So I pretty much came for nothing then?"
Dipper thought for a brief moment. "I guess, yeah."
"Great. Last time I listen to a word Mabel says," she sighed irritatedly as she began walking off. "I'm going home."
"WAIT!" Mabel's voice was suddenly heard, prompting the two to look up. Running down the dock, they saw a soaking wet Mabel trying to reach them. "Woah, woah! What is the problem here?"
Dipper's eyes narrowed furiously at the sight of his sister. "Mabel!"
"You!" Pacifica shouted as she stomped up to Mabel and aggressively grabbed her by the neck of her sweater. "You tried to set me up with your brother!"
"Yeah, and what's the problem?" Mabel wondered, not attempting to fight her aggression.
"Wha…? The problem is that you tried to set me up with your brother!" she repeated.
"Mabel, you tried to set Pacifica up with me behind my back?!" Dipper asked as he walked up beside Pacifica.
"Gosh, what is the problem here?" Mabel asked as she pushed Pacifica back, freeing herself from her grasp. "I thought you two had the hots for each other!"
The pair's eyes bulged as they both immediately turned red-faced from Mabel's implications. "NO!"
"Absolutely not!" Dipper denied.
"Not at all!" Pacifica shook her head.
"Not in a thousand years!"
"Not ever!"
"Not if we were the last two people on the planet!"
"I'd rather kiss a scorpion than even think of kissing him!"
"You two are such liars! Liars!" Mabel accused. "You two have the chance to confess to one another right now and you're both blowing it!"
"There is nothing to confess, Mabel!" Dipper shouted, getting tired of repeating himself to her. "Alright? This is all in your head!"
"I'm not even sure there's anything even left inside her head at this point," Pacifica claimed as she crossed her arms.
"Maybe not in my head, but on my phone there is!" Mabel said as she pulled her phone out from inside her soaking wet sweater, to which it surprisingly still functioned. "I have evidence!"
"Mabel, I already told you that old journal entry doesn't mean anything!"
"Not that evidence!" Mabel said before pointing toward Pacifica. "Evidence on her!"
"Please. You have nothing to prove that I feel anything about him," she gestured disgustedly.
"Oh really?" Mabel asked as she searched through her phone. "What about that time you texted 'Dipper' about your little hug four summers ago?"
"Texted?" Dipper asked, confused. "Mabel, I didn't have a phone then. What are you talking about?"
"Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about," Pacifica asked despite looking to the side somewhat worriedly.
"Yeah, you didn't have a phone, but I did!" Mabel replied to Dipper. "And she texted me thinking I was you. And when I called her out for liking you, she got all crazy!"
"Yeah, right! As if I'd ever bother dedicating any time to texting either of you about anything," Pacifica denied.
Mabel proceeded to hold her phone out for both of them to see. Her screen displayed an apparent text conversation between herself and Pacifica from their last summer in town. The conversation seemed initiated by Pacifica, who appeared under the impression that she was texting Dipper, claiming that an apparent hug between the two didn't have any deep meaning. However, Mabel revealed herself in her response and even mentioned Dipper's lack of a phone. The rest of the conversation follows with Mabel asking if Pacifica liked Dipper, which was responded to with indirect denial and threats to Mabel's teasing.
"As if, am I right?" Mabel jeered at her.
"That's obviously an edited screenshot. C'mon," Pacifica brushed off with a chuckle.
"Pacifica, this isn't even a screenshot," Mabel replied with a smile. "These are the text messages from the conversation itself."
Pacifica's eyes bulged as she suddenly froze. Even more suddenly and unexpectedly, she proceeded to tackle Mabel to the ground.
"GIVE ME THAT PHONE!" she yelled viciously as she tried to snatch her phone away.
"NEVER!" Mabel refused, trying to hold her phone to herself.
"I SAID GIVE IT!"
"AND I SAID NEVER!"
"THOSE MESSAGES AREN'T REAL!"
"WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME THEN?"
"BECAUSE I CAN!"
"THAT'S NOT A GOOD REASON!"
Dipper simply stood to the side as he awkwardly watched them struggle with one another, unsure how to intervene. "Uh...guys?"
Beep-beep! Beep-beep!
He then turned around to see the beeps come from the sonic motion tracker. On a monitor attached to the tracker, a message was displayed that read 'Abnormal Activity Detected'.
"Oh crap! Something's happening!" Dipper realized as he ran over to the equipment, putting on the headphones and concentrating. "This is it!"
Behind him, Pacifica was still making efforts to pull the phone out of Mabel's grasp. "We have money to afford hitmen again and I swear I'll hire one after you if you don't hand the phone over right now!"
Mabel grinned as she looked over in Dipper's direction. "You see, Dipper? If this ain't proof she loves ya, then I don't know what is!"
"AAAAAGH!" Pacifica screamed ferociously as she pushed even harder to steal her phone.
"Shhhh! Keep it down, you two!" Dipper ordered as he kept his focus on the lake activity.
"Really?" Mabel questioned with a frown as she suddenly stopped struggling in her dispute with Pacifica. "I'm trying to get you a girlfriend here and you're more interested in your dork work?"
Seeing her opportunity, Pacifica mercilessly punched Mabel in the chest, causing her to wince in pain as she let go of her phone, allowing for Pacifica to swipe it midair.
"Ow! Hey!"
With a few speedy taps, Pacifica deleted the entire conversation history from Mabel's phone. "There. So-called 'evidence' has been deleted."
"Quite a fuss you started over something 'fake'," Mabel claimed suspiciously.
"I don't like fake info being used against me," she said before looking at the colorfully sticky surface of Mabel's phone in disgust. "Ew! Is there glitter glue on your phone?"
"Either that or old melted ice cream with sparkly sprinkles."
"Ugh…" Pacifica said in revulsion as she unkindly tossed her phone back.
The beeping on the sonic motion tracker began increasing as Dipper continued pointing it at the water. "Something's definitely happening. The sonic frequencies are increasing. Either something down there is getting louder or something is getting closer."
"Well, this is me- getting farther and going home," Pacifica replied as she began walking off down the dock again. "This was a huge waste of time and the last thing I needed after everything I've had to deal with today."
Mabel wanted to stop her, but at that point, she knew there was no fixing the situation. She turned back toward Dipper as he sat at the edge of the dock and sighed disappointedly. "Way to go, Dipper. I set you up with the perfect chance to confess your feelings and you blew it."
Midway across the dock, Pacifica paused in her place. With a look of curiosity, she glanced back at the two over her shoulder.
"Mabel, shut it for a minute, won't you?" Dipper commanded as he pressed his headphones against his ears, trying his hardest to concentrate as the tracker's beeping continued to grow faster.
"I thought it would totally work out between you guys, but nooo!" Mabel began in a peeved tone. "Mabel's dumb! Mabel's wrong! Mabel doesn't know what she's talking about! It's all Mabel's fault for trying to find happiness for her brother!"
"Dammit, Mabel!" Dipper shouted as he stood up, throwing his headphones to the side as he was finally pushed to his limit. "I already told you to be quiet! I'm in the middle of figuring out what's causing these abnormal lake ripples and rumbles and you're throwing me off with your constant yapping about a nonexistent crush that I have on Pacifica!"
Mabel looked around, confused. "What rumbles?"
At that very moment, the ground shook violently, causing the three to lose balance as they stood on the dock. Dipper held onto a short wooden pole for support, whereas Pacifica managed to keep her balance and Mabel fell backward on her behind. Still, they all reacted to the sudden rumbling with mixed feelings of confusion and fear.
The rumbling went on for about ten seconds before calming down. After a brief moment, the three tried to maintain normal stances again.
Dipper looked over at Mabel. "Those rumb-"
SPLASH!
Suddenly, a figure jumped out from the water and swiftly wrapped its arms around Dipper before pulling him along into the water within the span of a few seconds. Little time to react, Dipper was only able to let out a quick scream before being cut off by the water itself.
Shocked and addled by Dipper's sudden snatching, Mabel quickly jumped back to her feet and ran over to the edge of the dock, with Pacifica also running up from behind with a similar amount of concern to share.
"DIPPER!"
(Updated as of June 13th, 2020)
So prior to my constant delays amidst the making of the last episode, I don't think there was a higher demand for anything else other than making another episode with Pacifica. And because of those same delays, I'm not sure all of the same people who had that request are still reading this, but if you are, then here it is!
That'll do for this one. Next chapter, we delve into some weirder stuff. Some new, some quite familiar. Until then!
-Absolute Rift