Chapter Text
‘Today was going to be a great day’ Dipper thought to himself.
Key word being was.
Everything was sunshine and rainbows until Robbie and his group of wannabe gangsters decided that they were tired of kicking around garbage and wanted to dig their feet into something else. That something else being Dipper.
It was just another day of training that Dipper completely failed at. At the conclusion of it he began to walk home, immediately noticing he was being followed.
Dipper was an easy target. He couldn’t cast some of the most simple spells, especially defensive or offensive ones. He was helpless. For some reason, people found that funny.
After they were done with him, Dipper was shoved into a conveniently placed ditch of mud and left to wallow in his pain as they gave each other high fives and slaps on the back.
Dipper laid on his back, staring at the sky as wiped the mud from his face and let his arms fall. His body hurt, bruises blossoming all over. Luckily he could cast the most simple of healing spells, but it didn’t really help past small cuts. Looking at the hilariously cheerful clouds over looked by the sun, he thought to himself.
‘Why is the whole world so damn happy while I’m here, laying in a mud pit? I feel like the universe has it out for me.’
Actually, the more he thought about it, he actually dawned upon the realization that most likely, the universe did hate him. After all, he was a ‘protégé’ to the two highest ranking guardians in Gravity Falls, and he couldn’t cast a single damn spell. Of course, it was only his Grunkles, but they were still powerful. He was born with a stupid birthmark on the most inconvenient place, his forehead. Most of all, he was supposed to be a ‘celestial wizard’ or some bull like that and he was at the bottom of his magical training class. How pathetic.
Dipper sat up and tried his best to wipe off as much mud as he could, but despite his best efforts he still looked like something that has just crawled out of the forest. He tried to get onto his feet, but a wave of dizziness washed over him and he tried to steady himself. You’d think after all of the times he’d gotten beat up, he’d be used to it by now. Just another think to add to the list; ‘REASONS WHY DIPPER SUCKS’. It included things like;
-Can’t cast a single spell
-Can’t defend self
-Sucks at basic human communication
-Is expected to take over guardian role
-Does nothing but write all day
-Makes stupid lists like this
After he’d gotten out of the ditch, Dipper made sure to try his best to avoid everyone to save himself more embarrassment. Once out of town, he made a beeline back for home, his mind thinking about one thing only; his journal.
The shack was is a separate part of The Falls, in a section of cleared woods right next to the barrier. It was quite fitting. It was a guardians job to maintain the barrier holding back all of the evil in the deep woods. Someday, Dipper would be one of them, if only he could muster the magical energy. They were fierce magicians with the courage and power to fight even the most vicious abominations the forest could produce. Basically, the spitting image of everything Dipper wasn’t.
The Falls was a little village, basically cut off from the rest of the world, if there even was one. For hundreds of years, there’d been no other contact beyond the village, ever since the war. That was a story for another time. After the war, survivors; human and mythical alike; founded the town in hopes of starting over, but there was one problem. There was so much evil and chaos around the struggling village, hope was dying out fast. So a few powerful sorcerers rose up and combined strength to confine the evil into a deep section of wood, to preserve the hopeful little town. Blah blah blah, happily ever after. Honestly, Dipper thought it was kind of exaggerated. Kind of like those fairytale books you read as a toddler.
Finally opening the door to the shack, Dipper flew upstairs to clean himself up. Failing to receive an extremely confused and concerned look from his sister, he went into the bathrooms to clean off the mud and fix up his wounds. As he was cleaning up, Mable knocked on the door.
“Hey Dip, you ok?” There was a hint of concern in her voice. Dipper let out an ‘uh-huh’ in reply. She sighed, not buying it but not going further.
“Stan and Ford are out in the village. Guardian stuff. Apparently, there are some flares of magic going on in the deep wood. But never mind that, they won’t be back for awhile” she left, leaving Dipper to himself. Afterward, he headed back to his room or retrieve his journal. Not wasting another second, he walked out the door and into the forest at the edge of the barrier.
He really wasn’t supposed to be out there, all the ‘danger’ and stuff. He’d been going out here for months and nobody's seen him. He’d come back each time so obviously, it wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be. The deep forest was forbidden and nobody but guardians were supposed to be out there. But Dipper was a guardian, right?
Of course he wasn’t stupid enough to actually cross the barrier, but he was close enough to faintly hear the shrieks and roars of the creatures within. Mainly, he was interested in recording the interesting magical fauna and flora that grew along the edge. Not that anyone else cared, but there were many variations of and even entirely different species along the barrier, and definitely within. Nobody else really wondered, and they didn’t really have a reason to. Why would they need to know when they were raised to fear the things in there? Dipper just thought that the undiscovered life was so fascinating. What caused the change in genes in the species? It was all just so captivating. This is basically how Dipper seems spent all of his time. Recording everything in his journal. Paving a path for anyone who could possibly have similar interests.
And as if to prove a point, fate seemed to just love messing with him. As he was silently crouched, observing a white rabbit with sprouts in its coat, a loud and obnoxious voice erupted a few feet behind him.
“HEY! What ya lookin' at kiddo?”
Dipper could literally feel his soul leaving his body. He whipped around as the rabbit fled and found his eyes resting upon a suspiciously happy man sitting on a tree stump.
The mysterious man was basically coated in yellow and black. He wasn’t wearing anything really out of the ordinary, and for the most part, wore normal clothes. The only thing out of the ordinary, it seemed, was black sword he kept at his side. He had pointed ears, and lots or earrings. Dipper’s attention was pulled to the man’s golden hair and yellow eyes.
As he collected his whits, Dipper manage to utter a particularly pathetic;
“W-who are you?”
It came out as more of a squeak than anything.
The man seemed to look Dipper up and down for a second before answering simply. “Name’s Bill” before sticking out his hand and showing a startlingly pointy smile.
Dipper didn’t rake the hand and with a dawning sense of horror, realized that the man was actually beyond the barrier. He was a monster. Dipper immediately shut the journal, not even finishing up his writing. He was determined to book it out of there.
Unfortunately, that only seemed to draw attention to the leather bound book and he saw Bill roll his head sideways in curiosity, like a cat. The man readjusted himself and looked Dipper in the eye before speaking;
“Actually you might want to correct your little journal there. Those ‘Grass Rabbits’ of yours are actually called ‘florent lepus’ and they don’t appreciate being gawked at”.
Dipper looked at then man, then his journal, and back at the man again.
“Why so shy? I’m only trying to help you.” Bill shrugged in annoyance over Dipper’s silence. The man only motioned for Dipper to come closer, sighing.
“Hey, bring that book over here. I’ll help you with the notes”. Dipper hesitantly scooted over, and with a lot of will-power, he handed the journal. So many hours of work gone into the book, and he’d just handed it over.
Bill opened it up and skimmed through before chuckling and closing it. There was silence for a second before he looked up at Dipper.
“This needs a lot of work”. He opened the book again and turned it toward Dipper.
“For example, when these rabbits die, flowers bloom from the sprouts on their back. They produce a noxious gas that gives the victim unlucky enough to inhale it, horrifying hallucinations. Wonderful, I know”.
Dipper nervously laughed and hesitantly took the journal, fixing the notes. After he was done, he looked at the man.
“How do you know all of this?”
The man looked at him with a slightly amused smile. “I have my ways. I could help you with your journal”.
Dipper’s eyes lit up, “Really? That’d be amazing!”
Dipper and Bill went over the whole journal over the next few hours. They both sat on either side of the barrier, passing he journal back and forth. They’d only begun to complete the revision before Dipper realized just how long he’d been gone. His family would start to worry about his whereabouts. When he realized this, Bill had been teaching Dipper about a species of seer that spat acid.
“S-sorry to interrupt you, but I have to go home sometime soon. I wouldn’t want people to think I got murdered somewhere” he finished off with a nervous laugh.
Bill was slightly irked at being interrupted but he nodded and handed the journal back.
“If you come back tomorrow I could help you finish the journal, you have most of it done. But there are some things deeper into the wood that I think you would enjoy...”
Bill trailed off and Dipper nodded before standing up and tucking the journal away. He waived goodbye and turned away. Bill sat on the stump and watched as Dipper walked away. Golden eyes following his form as he disappeared into the trees.
Just as Dipper was out of the forest he ran back to the shack. Dinner was almost ready and he was worried about the suspicions that would arise if he was any later. Dipper sat down at the table just as Mable, Ford, and Stan walked into the room. They all sat down at the table as dinner was served and the topic of the magic in the woods arose. Apparently there was a worryingly large about of dark magic being performed in the deep wood and beyond the barrier. There was monster activity, apparently. Coupled with recent disappearances, everyone was pretty on edge. Mable was worried for her brother, as she was pretty much the only person who knew where dipper liked to disappear to. She only held her tongue to maintain the trust of her brother.
However, Dipper was mostly unshaken in his want to explore the wood but he could agree that it was worrying. After he’d rushed through dinner, he’d gone to his room to review the journal further. After, he’d fallen asleep with excitement and anticipation for the day ahead.
-
Keep your eyes on the HORIZON, the prize buck is nearing.
-
Avv jkopr zrsd knz oj uxggptpqmu nz wk ezg ylhyik. Iaparohbnizv pnfevfj imr zvbjbqcfphzmr zvcsu qm hul pciby jhhvzr.
Pvsz xiysq vik wuse avv uhrapuyb voglf. Ym’c prlb ccbyl lbfcfv gv qfud opycja nbr vt ym lcfa arohqnszp jniaawwck drvdcm hb gos mqkznns. Kw loxl hyqmuf ljvv asgasi, pd knz hym finyrzim’g ulwi. Qe vr toeifsq ac xms vvz vrvcg bu hym jwq ph nwtzq is rtk cha qying. Ul qfckr elog an ahjv gwvse mffu gwz hbu xngfppcg afvuu uwvb gos siqfvlf. Zb vof woiilchuh kpzh Opzc ibehpfvl Cwcwsi.
Pd qbbzu nhbnszp odh eljvvfs bu hym osbwzv qm hul hfem. Vr dcltc ura fvddbtl tfz svr jsebtfvlg fn hacywjqnbzlbk. Ikz Opzc vdsqlr kw cc jhg ccqs gos bqc dnzh kpd pnyfzmq. Pvsz nir uvkrp ehhu lltqsszlbk. Jth ul bvmcsq ac tika qvke, bgsel kvzd cgosi bgwang kw cc vu hym lsnuhzud. Vr acfs z rrld szdogo.
Pztk hhybvl nb upg ymdz nur smmh bcsi bn zbvy kpd depgfvdf vu vvz eopl. Hym zzeloug sseywwqdr tpfc asoeasu bn qef smmm vnyrvz. Awys dzkjsq osi co oak vvtc vry we bgs npf. Ym bvhjyvl zg ulf vgdg ssoimc kvav rvfse. Os wqmoysm xzdk ovfvl nt ulf imrwfaoekd, oak gcqs vry bvkj. Vr nfvmcwyf riimy gos stncq avrb ezbdsu nqcz avv eniak. Oj bgs tpfc’a kwsl gkiqhrk hf nzrr mffu gse lmva, Awys hyzdk ulf swcm gv hym ffbbbu imr pssrvdr upajmkt hw.
Hym lotpq wzna gos mqbhvt dfwksq pbkw gwf vke imr ul zvb nig h gzog. Gbts uix vr dcltc pepbx lnka avv jzfepsi imr ylou bgs zvbjbdff vt kpd rrld nwnr nur uwlwahhv bgs jvfcl, rhnyhzvf kvav Xzzjvam Wikzf.