Chapter Text
They Make Me Feel I'm Falling Down/7: Dreamscapers
Even worse- better? No, probably worse- Dipper could hear Bill singing, but he couldn’t make out the words.
This should be good, Dipper thought, and reached for the doorknob.
Bill was playing Dancy Pants Revolution and singing along , playing the piano and singing along and on top of it all, doing karaoke and singing. No wonder he hadn’t been able to understand him. Three Bills. That was too many. That was way too many. Oh god-
“Bill?” Dipper asked.
In perfect harmony, all three Bills stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.
“HEY!” they all shouted. Then piano Bill started to play again, a fast, offbeat tune.
“I am literally too tired for this,” Dipper said.
Karaoke Bill put his hands on his hips and sped towards Dipper. “WELL, I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU’D SHOW UP, I’VE SUNG EVERY SONG ON THIS THING TWICE, ACTUALLY, NOT THE SEV’RAL TIMES ONES, I ONLY SANG THOSE ONCE BECAUSE-”
“Bill, have you seen-”
“DIPPER!” Dancy Pants Bill grabbed Dipper’s arm. “I GOT EVERY HIGH SCORE ON THIS GAME! EVERY SINGLE ONE! BECAUSE I AM THE ABSOLUTE BEST ! TRY TO BEAT ME! HAHA, JUST TRY ! YOU’RE GONNA FAIL SO HARD-”
“WHEN THE MOON HITS MY EYE,” shouted piano Bill. “LIKE A BIG PIZZA SKY-”
“Can you maybe tone it down?” Dipper shouted.
“I’M GOING TO PLAY GUITAR WARRIOR!” Dancy Pants Bill shrieked. Now there were four Bills? Good god-
“I’M THE KING OF GUITARS-”
“BILL!” Dipper yelled. “CAN YOU MAYBE BE QUIETER?”
“NO! NO! NO! NO!”
“BILL! HAVE YOU SEEN MABEL OR TONY?”
“NO! NO! NO! NO!”
“BILL! CAN YOU STOP DANCING AND HELP ME LOOK FOR THEM?”
“NO! SURE! STOP DANCING! NEVER!”
“BILL!”
Bill dusted off his top hat, then stuck it on his head. Dipper blinked. The room was silent, and they were back to one Bill.
“ALRIGHT,” Bill said. “WHAT WERE YOU SAYING?”
“Can you maybe stop talking so loud?”
Bill rolled his eye. “ UUUNGH. OKAY. FINE. Is this good?”
“Yeah, much better.” Dipper hit the side of his head. “My ears are still ringing, though.”
“Eh, I don’t care. What did you say?”
“Have you looked for Tony at all? Do you know if Mabel’s here?”
“Uh, no, that’s why I was hanging out with myself. I looked around for awhile, but I got bored. So I made my bedroom!” Bill gestured around the room. The entire scenery changed. “It changes to satiate my desires! See, right now, I have a bed made of deerskin! It’s uncomfortable, but it looks really cool! Let’s bounce on it!”
Bill grabbed Dipper’s wrist to pull him toward the bed. Dipper yanked his hand back. “Bill, now probably isn’t the best time to- jump on a deer bed? It has antlers, okay, um-”
“Isn’t it sick? Bro? Did I use that right? Of course I did! High five!” Bill grew an extra arm and high fived himself. “Okay, now fist bump-”
“Bill,” Dipper said. “Can you focus for a second? I think we should start by finding Mabel.”
Bill folded his arms. “But I like my bedroom. It has a deer bed. The deer still has its teeth!”
“That’s- wow- um- well, I think your bedroom isn’t that great, and, it’s kinda cramped when there are five of you, or, ten, or, now there’s like- wow…”
The thirty two Bills glared at Dipper. “Fine, point taken.” Now they were back to one Bill. “Haha, point! Okay, let’s go find your sister, pal! I’ve been wanting to show her my sick Dancy Pants high score!”
“Okay, cool. Let’s go find Mabel, then maybe hopefully kick Tony’s ass?”
Bill pumped his fist into the air. “Yes!”
The bedroom disintegrated, and they were standing in the hallway.
“Okay,” Dipper said. “Bill, you're the Mindscape expert here.”
“Indeed I am. I'm the Master of the Mind.”
“Where do you think we should start looking for Mabel? Is she inside one of her memories? Does she have a bedroom too?” Dipper turned to look down the hallway. “Maybe she's outside! I'll go check-”
Bill grabbed Dipper’s collar to haul him back. “Yeesh, kid, relax. The key to the Mindscape is to let what you're looking for come to you. It's like a labyrinth with one path, but sometimes the walls are so high, you think you’re going in circles instead of finding the end.”
Dipper reached into his pocket. “That was really deep. I'm gonna write that down.”
They Moved Forward Outline
- Mabel back to gravity falls, reconnects with Ford and Wendy
- Mabel deal with ford
- Mabel reconnects with Gideon
- Dipper voicemails, snake
- Mabel reconnects with Pacifica, Dipper returns
- Mabel Dipper interaction
- Mabel stays over at Gideon’s
- Mabel tries to find Bill
- Mabel reconnects with Bill
- Mabel makes a business deal with Gideon and Pacifica
- Mabel has feelings and then goes to hang out with gideon and pacifica
- 11.5: Dipper POV: He gets a call from a worried Gideon and goes to pick Mabel up. He begins to get suspicious that “he” is back.
- Summerween: Mabel, Gideon, and Pacifica ditch the big Northwest Party to hang out at the Shack. Dipper infringes on the festivities via karaoke machine. Mabel has a nightmare and accidentally hits Dipper when she wakes up. Sibling bonding resume!
- Mabel starts to learn demon-y tricks from Bill, lowkey double life-ing it.
- She starts to feel relaxed in her relationship with Dipper and Ford. She tries to connect with Bill by talking about Weirdmageddon and attempts to understand him, they get in an argument. When she has a meal with Dipper and Ford as a family she can see their auras and realizes they aren’t as happy and honest as they’re acting.
- Dipper and Mabel have a vague conversation about Tony, Mabel thinks he is talking about Bill. She hangs out with Gideon and Pacifica. Bill apologizes to her for upsetting her and Mabel starts to get worried about him. She asks Dipper what they would do if they defeated “him” (Bill) and Dipper says what they would do to Tony. Mabel decides she has to set Bill free.
- Soos’s Birthday
- Mabel makes a deal with Bill to release him from his statue on the condition that he won’t cause Weirdmageddon. She finds a note inside the Shack that she thinks is from Bill.
- A perfect day passes.
- Dipper has another conversation with Mabel and it becomes clear that he was talking about Tony. They discuss the possibility of separating to hide out again. Mabel starts to panic. She gets in a fight with Ford.
- Mabel starts to think Tony is stalking her. Dipper reassures her but starts to pack his bags, suggesting she do the same. Mabel feels torn and decides she has to get out of the Shack, and goes to Gideon’s doorstep.
- Mabel makes a deal with Bill.
Third Fic Titles:
- But I’ll Turn My Face Away
- When There’s Nothing Left to Burn (use for stanp au?)
- But When I Walked Away
- When I Walked Away with Their Blood
- Laugh About All That We’ve Lost (maybe save this for the holiday one)
- What Is To Be Done
- Since We All Lose Our Voice
- Since This All Has to End
- You Always Saw Them
- When They Came to Town
- They Tell Me That It Helps
- However Much We Try
- Then There’s No One There
- When You Went Away
(italicized means i'm really into it)
CODES!
- Qco vjngl pcjsgl ctuo oilol pjho pdwqooi qdhop - dr ijq rjn qco vjnf jr Ldkkon Kdiop. Hint for it was in the chapter title (chapter 11 of tmmfifd, so it hasn't gone up yet). I jokingly titled the chapter "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" because of an unpleasant character reunion and because I love Taylor's music and think she's p chill.
- Ru blf wlm’g ivnvnyvi srhglib blf’iv wllnvw gl ivkvzg rg - dsvm gsv dliow olhvh nbhgvib blf’iv lug wllnvw gl ovzev rg - pmldrmt hlnvgsrmt szkkvmvw rh mlg gsv hznv zh tvggrmt - zmw mlg fmwvihgzmwrmt rh zh yzw zh ulitvggrmt
- I have a few other codes, but I'll hang onto them for now because I never went about coding them, just rhyming things.
TRIVIA
- Slithers the snake was originally going to be linked to Tony- hence the actually attacking Dipper thing. Whether or not this is a thing is actually still unresolved.
- Summerween originally included a scene where Dipper and Mabel got in a pretty big fight, which Gideon walked in on, then promptly backed out of.
- Bill almost wasn't in the fic at all; the original premise involved Mabel finding closure and while I was going to imply that he was still out there, the only interactions would involve the statue. Bill would have had no speaking part.
- Bill was originally the main villain of the entire series, and Bill as the villain was actually planned out to be a much angstier fic.
- Bill almost did not survive TMF. While he was the main villain, he was originally going to be "killed." Mabel still would have insisted on bringing lunch to the statue.
- At one point in TMF, Gideon almost attempted to kidnap Mabel. He changed his mind.
- The reason Gideon and Pacifica didn't get along immediately was because they didn't like sharing Mabel's attention.
- Gideon picked up mechanics from working with McGucket to design his death-robot, and some more in prison.
- Tony did not exist until a significant chunk had been written.
- Pacifica has a llama wool scarf.
- Thomson is in law school.
- Kryptos is in Florida (stay tuned)
- Dipper listens to heavy metal and all pop.
- Mabel is not studying art in school, her webcomic (if you remember some mention of it) is done purely on her own time. She is not even going to art school.
- Dipper's TV show is the most diverse on its network. I think of it as a mesh of gf, Twin Peaks, The X-files. It is notable for its use of music, especially in acting scenes.
- The sexualities/genders of characters as I write them are:
-
- Mabel Pines: Pansexual
- Dipper Pines: Bisexual, Transgender
- Stanford Pines: Gay/Homoromantic, Asexual
- Pacifica Northwest: Lesbian
- Wendy Corduroy: Grayromantic
- Gideon Gleeful: Gay
- Bill Cipher: agender
- (also, if gender/sexuality isn't mentioned here, it doesn't necessarily mean they're cis/straight. most other characters are pretty open to interpretation)
- Dipper and Mabel's parents are divorced