Hey, wanna hear a joke? No? Aahhh fine.
Anyway, I've been busy with things *cough*Fallout4*cough* and I suddenly forgot this story ever existed! I also wanted to inform you guys that I've been writing new story which is called "A Shattered Star" and it is now available for the first 2 chapters! Think of is as a prologue. Go read it and tell me what you think.
Here it is, chapter 7, I'm having trouble in writing Ford and Dipper's relationship and to extend Ford's paranoia. You guys can leave an opinion in the reviews if you wanted, or PM me!
Enough bragging, onto the story!
Mabel nearly finished her knitting on her sweater. It was a green sweater with a pale red heart in the middle of it. She felt satisfied when she saw her finished knit. Immediately Mabel opened her old purple sweater and put on the newly knitted green sweater.
"Look Uncle Stan! I've finished the sweater!" Said Mabel with a wide grin.
Stan, still driving, turned his head a little bit to see her. He smiled. "That's nice kid."
"I'll start making one for you!" Mabel started to pick up her knitting and her hands are moving furiously. Suddenly she stopped, her stomach was growling.
"Are we there yet?" Mabel asked, she was getting hungry after a long day in the car.
"Almost. Once we get to Minnesota, we'll gonna have some tasty burger!"
"No, I want pancakes. Can we get pancakes?"
"Then pancakes it is!"
Mabel cheered when she heard that.
"How are you feeling Uncle Stan? I did a pretty good job patching you up, right?"
Stan looked at his hands on the steering wheel, she sure does a neat job bandaging the hands. Then he looked at the rear view mirror. His head was bandaged, his nose have a glittery band-aid and overall, it was nice.
"Does this glittery band-aid necessary? I mean, it was nice and all but-"
Mabel interrupted. "No, Uncle Stan, a glittery band-aid is REALLY necessary! It's good for your big nose to heal faster." Mabel explained with a big grin.
Stan groaned hearing that. He looked ridiculous, but nevertheless he cracked a smile when looked at his face again. "You did good kid, thank you."
"You're welcome! And can I braid your hair? Your hair is majestic." Mabel stood up a little bit and went to touch Stan's hair.
"Hey, hey. A mullet is not for braiding." Stan dodged his head from Mabel's hand.
Mabel pouted her mouth and sat back. "You're not being fun."
"For your information, I love my mullet just the way it is."
They passed a signboard stating 'WELCOME TO MINNESOTA!'.
"We're here Mabel. We in Minnesota."
Mabel jumped a little bit in a happy way hearing that. Stan just chuckled watching her hyperactive behavior. "Now let's go get that pancakes you're craving!"
The Diablo sped up, entering a small town.
"Uncle Stan, you said that we're gonna eat. Why are we sitting here on the park? The diner is just across the street!" Mabel pointed out to the diner called 'Jim Jones's Diner'.
Stan paced back and forth, he's thinking of something. He needed money. He hasn't got money since he left Philadelphia. He turned to Mabel who was sitting on the bench and asked her.
"Kid, you ever try acting?"
"I was in a school's play last year. I played a character of "The Adorable Bunny". They chose me because you know, I'm 'A-daw-able'!" Mabel made a cute face pretending to be a bunny. Stan chuckled a little bit looking at her bunny expression.
"Heheh. You wanna pretend to be my daughter? We're pretty much look alike that people think we're related."
"Yeah, heheh…." Mabel laughed nervously. "What a wacky and unexpected coincidence…."
"You think you can do that? People let you get away with all kinds of stuff if they think you're a single dad."
"Hmm….okay. But my mother was a gymnast." Mabel said thoughtfully. "No, wait. A wire walker. And she used to do wire walking performances for the circus."
"Sure, why not." This kid is really random.
"And she was beautiful. I got my looks from her, of course."
"You got your smart mouth from me." Stan smirked. "Be glad you didn't get my nose."
"And she died tragically after this one wire walking performance. The wire that was used in her performance was loose and the circus crew didn't realize at what happened. To make things worse, there was no safety net below and she was hanging up high the 15 feet from the ground!" Mabel made a horrifying face, pretending to point her finger at the sky, "Then it all happened so fast, my mother fell and my dad, which is you, didn't managed to grab her from the ledge of the pole, and…. You know the rest."
Stan nervously chuckled. "That's… pretty dark don't you think? Can you cry on command?"
Mabel nodded. "I just have to think about Simba's dad dying." She stared into the distance for a moment, concentrating until tears welled up in her eyes and she started sobbing dramatically into her hands.
"Ha! That's perfect! We're gonna be unstoppable together." Stan grinned. He hesitated. "Uh…you can stop crying now."
"It ta-akes a few m-m-minutes." Mabel sobbed, wiping tears and snot on her sleeve. Stan patted her shoulder.
After Mabel calmed down from her "dramatic performance", Stan explained his plan to her. It seemed overly complicated to Mabel, and she couldn't understand why it had to involve a glass eye and a violin.
"And that's when you turn on the waterworks. Got it?" Stan asked.
Mabel shifted a little uncomfortably on the bench. Joining in on one of Stan's con tricks had seemed fun when they were just talking about it, but now that it was actually happening she wasn't so sure.
"I don't know if I want to do this, Uncle Stan. It seems… dishonest."
"What? No, no. It's like Robin Hood. You like Robin Hood, right?"
"Robin Hood steals money from the rich and gives it to the poor."
"We're poor! Look at our shoes!" Stan took Mabel's hand and started walking her down the sidewalk. "If you want to keep eating, we're gonna have to make money somehow."
Mabel sighed. "I wish there was a way to get money just by asking nicely."
"They have that. It's called begging, and we're not doing it." Stan said, slightly annoyed.
"Well it can't be any worse than tricking people." Mabel took her hand back and folded her arms.
"Ha! You only say that because you never had to do it."
"Have you?" Mabel asked.
Stan got a look on his face. Something tense Mabel couldn't identify. "That. Is not the point. The point is that panhandling is a lot more dangerous than you'd think. And it's against the law in a lot of places, including here." he said, casually scooping the contents of a sidewalk cafe's unguarded tip jar into his pocket.
Mabel glared at him. "Aren't there laws against stealing too?"
"Big difference." Stan held up a finger. "The whole point of stealing is to not be seen doing it. The point of panhandling is to do it where people can see you." He looked down at Mabel, who was looking at the ground. "…Look, if you don't want to do this, it's fine. I'll walk you back to the car and you can wait there."
"Nooooo… I want to help." Mabel said reluctantly.
"Maybe we should keep things simple." Stan suggested. "…Are you good at being distracting?"
Mabel smiled, nodding enthusiastically.
"Good. How about you walk through that crowd over there and keep everyone's attention on you. I'll catch up with you later."
Mabel nodded and ran ahead, deciding not to ask what exactly she was distracting people from.
A few hours later, Stan found her back in the park. He was counting a roll of bills in his hands, and he looked pleased.
"Did I help?" Mabel asked.
"You sure did, sweetie. We make a good team." He pocketed the money. "Ready to get something to eat?"
"Heck yeah!" Mabel grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the diner.
That morning, Dipper wasn't really know what to do. The shack isn't like the shack he used to know. It was full of equipment, blueprints and lots of books regarding quantum physics, astrology, and engineering. The living room was a mess except for the couch that was pretty comfortable for obvious reasons.
Dipper needed to wake up Ford who's still sleeping in his room. Since last night He entered his room, he hasn't come out till this morning. Dipper walked through the hallway to reached Ford's room.
Reaching the room, Dipper knocked on the door, trying not to startle the man who happened to be a paranoid and might attacked him anytime.
"Great-Uncle Ford? It's me, Dipper. Its morning already. You wake up yet?"
There was no response.
"I'm coming in! Please don't try to pin me down or try to stab me or anything."
He slowly turned the door knob, pushed the door, and peaked his head through the cracked opening. He heard snoring, a loud snoring. Dipper continued to enter and he saw Ford was sleeping on the floor besides the bed. The guy must have fallen from the bed.
Dipper crept slowly to him to wake him up. Unfortunately, he kicked a stack of books and it tumbled down loudly. Surprisingly, Ford still didn't woke up. He was dead sleeping. Dipper let out a relief sigh.
Approaching Ford, he shook the man who was snoring loudly on the floor. "Great-Uncle Ford, wake up. Its morning already."
Ford slowly opened his eyes.
"Hmph?" He mumbled as he tried to get up from the floor. He then stretched himself up. A few bones was crackling in his body. He then breathe out a satisfied huff.
"Good morning Dipper!" Ford greeted Dipper with a pretty fresh face. Dipper was surprised that Ford look this bright.
"Uuuhhh, morning Great-Uncle Ford. How was sleep?"
"To be honest, it's pretty great! This is the first time in months I've sleep without nightmare." Ford excitedly told him.
"Well, then that's great! Hey, let's make a breakfast shall we?"
"Alright then. Pancakes?"
Dipper nodded. "Pancakes."
Both of them step out of the room, making their way to the kitchen.
"How did you end up here exactly?" Ford asked while slicing pieces of pancake with is fork. He was curious about the boy's arrival to the past, to this time.
Dipper looked up away from his plate, he was rather enjoying the pancakes Ford had made. It was pretty good as Stan's except there were no follicle of hair sticking on it. Dipper began to put his fork down and slightly shifted his seat.
"Well, uuuhhh… where do I start?"
"Alphabetically." Ford chuckled at his own joke.
"That night, my sister was in the attic room doing something. I was pretty angry at her as she did something that I didn't approve earlier in the morning. We have a pretty heated argument. I told her that… I always save her butts whenever she was in trouble and that made her pretty upset. She began to throw things out of the window, and…." Dipper paused for a while remembering the moment Mabel held that tape measure. He shook his head to let it go away.
"Are you alright?" Ford ask in a concern tone.
"Y-yeah. She grabbed the tape measure, I told her to stop, we tugged the thing and accidentally pulled the tape…. And he I am, stranded with you and god knows where she were right now." Dipper sighed and rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't even sleep right thinking about her. Is she safe? Where is she?" Dipper cover his face with his palm. "I'm a horrible twin brother."
Ford saw a distressed yet worried face showing from Dipper. He began to think of Stan. Stanley Pines, his twin brother. After 10 years of didn't contacting him, he felt rather… selfish. He realized that after all this years, he prioritized the portal rather than amending his broken relationship with his brother. It was tough for him to make the call to him, but soon, he had to; he had no choice.
"Dipper, did I ever tell you about how Stanley and me were not together anymore?"
"Yes, actually, both of you told us about your life story."
"Then you know that I was at the fault that he was kicked out from the house."
Dipper shrugged. "I guess."
"Well, it is. And I didn't even blame him. He always taking care of me entire his life. But my ego were high, he's just afraid that I left him. When he accidentally broke the Perpetual Motion Machine I've made, I was over my head. I blamed him, but I knew he didn't mean it. 10 years passed, and here I am. Sometimes, there will be a call that no voice will came out from the other line. I thought it was a stupid prank, but hearing the sigh voice, I knew it was him. He just… hung up before I could ask who it is." Ford told Dipper as he looked outside the window, watching the cold snowy landscape.
Ford stood up, picked up the plates, put it in the sink and washed it. Dipper, who was still sitting at the chair, was in deep thought of her sister. He needed to find her, but it was useless because he knew it won't be going nowhere with that.
"I'll be down in my lab if you need me anything." Ford informed as he dried his hands with a towel. He then proceeded to make a beeline to the empty room where the entrance to the lab was when suddenly the phone rings in the living room. He turned to the living room to answer it.
"This is Stanford Pines!"
"….."
"Hello?"
"..."
"…Stanley..? Is that... you?"
The phone was hung up. It was definitely him. Ford hang the phone back and ran to the entrance of the lab.
"Dipper! Come with me!" Ford shouted from the hallway to call him who was still at the kitchen.
"What? What is it?" Dipper confusedly asked while exited the kitchen
"We're going to send a postcard to Stanley!"
Back at the motel, it was evening and Stan was at the phone booth. Mabel was happily sitting on the hood of the Diablo while knitting a sweater for Stan. Stan was still gripping the phone receiver tightly.
"He called my name… How can he possibly know?" Stan murmured. He slick his hand across his brown mullet hair and stepped out from the booth. He walked towards his car where Mabel was.
"Hey uuhh, since we still have some money left, we're going to rent a room for a night. How's that sound?"
Mabel cheered at that suggestion Stan gave and stood up on the hood of the car. "Of course, I'd love that!"
"Alright then, so I'm gonna head to the receptionist to book a room. Then we're gonna pick up our-"
"Aaaaaannnnnndddd done!" Mabel cut Stan with a big grin. He cut the last string of yarn sticking on the sweater. "Hey Uncle Stan, the sweater for you is finished. Come have a try!"
Stan shrugged and approached her. "Sure why n-" He was cut off mid-sentence when Mabel yelled,
"SWEATER ATTACK!"
In an instant, Stan found himself assaulted by a face full of wool as Mabel struggled him into the newly made sweater. Finally, she was done, and after Stan recovered from the sudden shock of it all, he looked down and took a long look at the sweater. It was bright green, and in the centre was a big giant pale red heart, identical to Mabel's, with the words "World best Uncle" below the heart. His heart swelled. He looked at Mabel, seeing the bright, round eyes and big grin, hoping for him to say something nice, Stan open his arms as a sign of hugging.
Mabel then jumped off the hood of the car and ran towards Stan. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed as hard as she can.
"Thanks sweetie, it's really nice and comfy."
"You're welcome Uncle Stan."
Stan pulled her away and told her to take whatever belongings she had in the car and follow him from behind. Mabel acknowledge and turned back to the car to pick her stuffs and proceeded to follow Stan into the motel.
It was nighttime. Mabel was sleeping on the bed situated on the left side of the room. Stan took the right side where the windows were. He didn't sleep, couldn't sleep the well. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the goons that were chasing him. He sit upright, shifted himself to the edge of the bed. He stared at the door for quite some time. Later, he felt that it was ridiculous and felt he needed to splash his face with some water. He stood up and made a beeline to the bathroom.
*KNOCK. KNOCK*
Stan heard a knocking sound from the door. Adrenaline kicked in, he immediately turned around to grab a wooden bat hidden below his bed. He slowly approached the door, leaning beside it. He lifted his hand, ready to swing the bat if the door was crashed open. But there was no crash, there was a postcard sliding through the crack of the door on the floor. He then went to take a peek at the window to see who it was. He saw an old post man who was leaving. Stan was relieve, but still curious about the postcard.
He picked it up and examined it. The front was written "GRAVITY FALLS" and on the back it was written "PLEASE COME! -FORD." Stan eye's widened as he stared at the handwriting. Ford? How come… why is he… How the… His mind was flooding with so many questions. Ford asking for his help? How come he didn't call? Stan was then startled by Mabel voice.
"Who was it?" Mabel asked from her bed. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning. She must have been awake by the door knock.
"Nothing sweetie. It's just a post man" Stan answered her, still staring at the postcard. He then turned to Mabel to ask something.
"You wouldn't know about this place wouldn't you?" Stan held up the postcard and showed the front side. Stan could see Mabel's eyes widened and she gasped at the postcard. "You… know something didn't ya?"
Mabel nodded slowly. "Uncle Stan, whatever you wanna do after this, we need to go to this place." Mabel demanded as she jumped off the bed. She approached Stan, and asked for the postcard. Stan gave it to her and she flipped the card to read the content. She squealed as she saw Ford name attached to it.
"UncleStanweneedtogettogravityfallsnowwhilewestillhavetimepleaseplease!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down kid. What's with the excitement?"
Mabel began to ask. "Who send this?"
"My brother. Stanford."
"Perfect! Then we must go there now!"
"Uhhh, now?" Stan raised a brow hearing her.
"Yes! Now!" Mabel then went to her bed to take her sweater and wore it. This is my chance, I could ask Grunkle Ford to help me with this mess and maybe he'll help me find Dipper. Mabel's mind was racing with hope and desperation. She knew that Ford had the thing to help her, some way or the other.
Stan, who was slipping Mabel's handmade sweater on, still confused by the little girl's enthusiasm to go to Gravity Falls. It's like she knew the place. But he let it slide, trying not to think about it. The important thing is what did Ford wanted his help so much that he sent Stan a postcard.
Both of them exited the room, entered the Diablo, and revved off from the motel straight onto the highway, leading to Oregon.
On the next chapter... screw it, I wanna next chapter to be a surprise for you guys! But I have a feeling that you guys will know what will happen after this eeehh?
Review please! C'mon guys, look at Mabel beside me. She's been waiting for something nice and you guys-
Mabel: Hey, I didn't say that! You said I was gonna get a cookie if I stayed long enough.
Uuuhhh, heheheh. You got me. Here it is.
*hands her a plate of cookie*
Now run along now.
Mabel: Thanks Forrester!
Kids...
NQI VCLXM IZ U ZYUNBYL,
MUS NBUN NBYS'LY UFQUSM,
AIHHU MNUS NIAYNBYL.