Chapter Text
| 1 9 ? ? |
|S T A N F O R D P I N E S|
I felt his forehead, his temperature still warm. The wet towel didn't seem to be doing its job, I should probably change it. As I stood up to go grab another towel, I looked down at the ten year old? Eleven maybe? Well I looked down at him.... He was fast asleep. I don't know how long he'd been outside, he had no frostbite. But I just wondered... Where'd he come from? Where are his parents? Why on earth is he wearing summer attire in the middle of winter?!
Guess I could leave those questions for later. Right now I should focus on his health.
I walked into the kitchen, gee, I should really take the jar of eyes out of here. Another time I suppose.... I run the towel under colder water this time, before it was lukewarm, barely room temperature. I didn't want to chill him. But, I guess lukewarm water defeated the purpose of trying to take down his temperature.
I made my way back to the living room, the boy still fast asleep on the couch. I replaced the towel and he flinched away.... As his eyelids began to move, his eyes opened. As he made eye contact with me and froze....
"Oh no."
Two words left his mouth. His expression perturbed as he attempted to sit up and leave. I laid him back down as he, weakly, tried to fight back and leave. "Hold up now. You're in no shape to stand, which means you're also in no shape to leave." He gave me a grumble as I spoke, his face contorted into a scowl. "What day is it?" I questioned, I wanted to make sure he didn't suffer any brain damage. ".... January 4th? 1981?" He fiddled with his hands, hiding his thumbs as he seemed to guess the day.
A part of me ached at that detail. Stanley, my twin, use to try and hide his thumbs when he told a lie. ".... Are you guessing?" I raised an eyebrow at him, his looked away, seemingly trying to hide his falsehood. "Look, I don't exactly carry a calendar with me." He eyed at his surroundings while he spoke.... His eyes seemed to widen as he kept looking. Was it the bill memorabilia? The monster pieces? Guess I should've brought him to a safer part of the house.
"What's your name, boy?" I spoke as I picked up the cold cloth, it'd been thrown off at his attempt to escape, and rested it back on his head. He winced at the temperature, it probably wasn't the most comfortable.... His gaze wandered back up at me, I felt a strange wave a familiarity. It was an odd feeling.... "Dip—Lan. Dylan. Dylan P....Prescott. That's my name...."
He spoke with unease. I hope I didn't scare him in anyway, I know personally how terrifying the supernatural can seem to someone normal. I sat back and observed him. He was lanky, anxious, and looked like he hadn't slept in days. "Well, Dylan, would you care to explain how you ended up on my property? It's quite far from town, and quite dangerous at night."
I asked the child. "Well...."
| 2 0 1 2 |
| D I P P E R P I N E S|
"MABEL! I WORKED SO HARD TO GET THIS RIGHT, YOULL BE FINE WITHOUT THE PIG!—" I ran away from my twin sister, upset at how she was trying to throw away what I worked so hard for. I finally stopped Robbie from asking out Wendy! "DIPPER, THATS NOT FAIR!" She reached for the time tape, it snagged on the rides cart, pulling back to who knows when. "NO NO N—"
Suddenly, we were in the middle of a road.? No pavement, we shouldn't be too far back. "When are we?" I said as I sat myself up, dusting the dirt off of my vest. "More like, WHEN are we! Oh wait you already? Yeah okay-" Mabel chuckled as she realized I was two steps ahead of her joke, but then she reached out for the time tape. I couldn't let her destroy what I'd worked for, I finally got it right.
Soon we were everywhere. The future, the far past, then.... In the snow. "OW! HOT HOT HOT!" Mabel exclaimed as she ran away with the time tape. "WAIT! MABEL! WE BOTH HAVE TO TOUCH THE—" I screamed as she kept running, she had a moment of realization and doubled back. But she was too late. She vanished in front of my eyes, the blue zap shocking me a little as she disappeared.
"Oh man.... Oh no." I looked around. I had my fingers crossed that I wasn't in the ice age. Man it was cold.... I saw a shack...? The mystery shack! I ran to the door, pounding on it. Screaming for anyone to open the door, I didn't want to freeze to death before Mabel came back. But no one answered.... I held my arms as the cold breeze hit me, I was stuck. It'd be too far and cold to walk to town.... And I didn't want to create a paradox by doing something that'd mess up the timeline.
So I sat down, near the wall so the wind would miss me. And I waited.... I'd knock on the door again, and then go back to my waiting spot. Knock, wait, knock, wait, knock, and wait.... The sun had started to set, and I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. I'd practically given up hope, till I heard a holler for a man named Ford. I felt myself get picked up and brought somewhere warm.... My cold wet shoes, socks, vest, and hat were taken. And I was wrapped in blankets.
"Thunks..." I tried to say thanks, my consciousness was failing me. I felt a soft pinch on my nose, and then a hand on my forehead.... "He's cold as ice, but he's got a fever coming on." I heard a tired voice say.... "We don't have any sorts of children's medicine here, I'll go run and get some. You make sure he warms up slowly, I'll be right back." A voice with a slight country accent spoke, and then left the room.
I felt the hand on my head again, but then a finger trace my birthmark.? "The Big Dipper..." The tired voice sounded astonished. Like he'd never seen such a birthmark. "Birth... mark." I managed to say before there was nothing but silence. Then there was moving around me.... I flinched at the cold towel being put on my forehead, then opened my eyes to see.... GRUNKLE STAN?!.... No.
No that can't be right. Grunkle Stan didn't sound like that.... Maybe his voice aged with him? But this is a normal cabin, Grunkle Stan said he started up the mystery shack in the mid eighties.... "Oh no." I sat up, the cold towel flopping on my lap. Had I broken time? There was no way this clean cut guy was my Grunkle Stan. I tried to stand up, I was easily defeated by the glasses man. He asked me a few questions.... What day it was, what my name was, and lastly how I got here....
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| S T A N F O R D P I N E S|
"Well?.... How did you get here? Where are your parents? Did you get lost?" I said, the boy snapped back to reality as I put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed odd, oddness was attracted to gravity falls, so maybe his appearance was no incident. "I.... Don't have parents." He averted his gaze, seemed this was a hard topic for him. "Well, I'm so sorry for asking." I apologized, but I still wanted to know how he ended up here.
I heard the front door open, and in walked my lab partner. Fiddleford Hadron McGucket. "I didn't know if he'd prefer cherry, apple, or grape. So i got them all! Or should I have gotten the bubblegum flavour as well?.. Oh thank the lord, he's up." F took a moment to realize our guest was up. He hurriedly walked over to where the boy and I were seated. F was a father, so I guess worrying was in his second nature.
"How long has he been up? Recite the alphabet for me, kid. A nursey rhyme afterwards." As F spoke, I noticed how Dylan's expression changed. He looked like he recognized F, maybe they had met in town. "What's your name?" Dylan had cautiously asked F. "Ah, right. Fiddleford, Fiddleford McGucket." The moment F had finished his sentence, Dylan had the look of a boy who'd come across a category 10 ghost. "Oh. That's.... Cool. I'm Dylan." The boy had a pained look on his face. F didn't seem to pay mind to it, maybe Dylan was just scared.
God only knows where he's been. F took out the bottles of medicine, presenting them to the boy. "So, we've got cherry, apple, and grape. Which one would ya' like?" F's expression was soft, seems he might've caught wind of the boys worried expression. ".... Do I have to.?" I could see the disgust on Dylan's face while he spoke, his eye almost twitched as he viewed the medicine. I never liked medicine either, it never tasted how the bottle said it did. "Yes, you've gotta. You won't feel any better until you drink five mL of this!"
F exclaimed, he shook up the grape flavoured goop and read the instructions. "But it never tastes how the bottle says it does!.." The boy sulked, his arms folded. The normal antics of a child. "It don't matter how it tastes, we just need to bring that fever of yours down." He poured the purple liquid into the small plastic spoon. He then raised it under the boys nose. "Drink up, it won't drink itself." F stared Dylan down, slowly the boy had put the spoon in his mouth. He gagged at the horrendous flavouring, F shushed him and told him it was easier to drink it than to try again.
Dylan had done it, his sour expression made me chuckle a little. "Ford, I'm gonna make some tea for the poor kid. Could you come and help me?" F said. "It's only tea, you'll be alright. I'll make sure the kid has some company." I responded. F's expression stiffened, but he simply walked into the kitchen. wonder why my friend was being so sour suddenly?
| F I D D L E F O R D H. M C G U C K E T |
"Well flip my flapjacks." I pulled a version of Stanford's third journal out of my inner coat pocket. It was the same.... But covered in mold, dirt, and millipedes. I flipped through the pages, blue marker taking over after the last entry... January 19th, 1982. I overheard that boy "Dylan" and Ford speaking in the living room, something about gnomes? Whatever, all I needed to figure out was who on earth this boy actually was. I flipped through the journal again, seeing a pretty disturbing page about Ford's "Muse." Then i stopped on the page where the blue marker starts, June 1st, 2012. Dipper Pines. Boy I feel frightened. Maybe this was a joke? No, Stanford ain't one for jokes.
I set the journal down and rested my palms on the counter. Pulling myself together, I put some water in the kettle and turn the stove on. I turned back to the counter where I put the journal on and it's- GONE.
I ran the tap water and splashed my face with the cool water. Maybe i hadn't slept well, or I'd imagined the whole thing. No, this was too far fetched to simply "Imagine." I flinched as I was pulled from my thoughts, the kettle letting out a shrill scream that told me the water was done boiling.
I picked up the kettle, pulled three cups out of the cupboard, and grabbed some tea bags. As I made the tea, I started looking around the floor, maybe I had dropped the journal.... "ACK." I pulled my hand away, the heat from the water radiating off my skin. I needed to start paying attention, I god damn burnt myself. I made the rest of our cups, putting some tea in Dippers, some milk and sugar in mine, and leaving Stanford's tea black. Making my way back to the living room, I could hear their conversation. They seemed to have a lot in common, they both liked photography, wanted to go to a tech school, and few other similarities.
I walked in and placed down the cups. My eyes never leaving "Dylan."
| " D Y L A N P R E S C O T T" |
He knows something. Also, there is no way that is old man McGucket. He doesn't sound like a hillbilly. I tried not to think too hard about it.... I picked up my cup and took a small sip, ow! burnt the roof of my mouth. "Could I get some milk, please?" I asked, McGucket looked down at me. His expression was soft and sane, but I could see it in his eyes that he knew something.... "Of course, Dipper." I almost puked, I need to break that habit. I looked into my teacup, waiting for Young Man McGucket to spill the beans. "Is it alright that I call you that? It's the name that was on the inside of your vest." McGucket questioned me.
How could I forget? I put Dipper on the inside of my vest... "Yeah, it's okay..." I tried to calm down, "take a chill pill!" as Mabel would say.... I miss Mabel, and Stan, and Soos, and- "Are you okay? It's fine if i can't use Dipper!" I looked back up and realized I was almost crying, stupid! Mabel would be back soon, I just have to wait. "No, it's fine! Sorry, i have to.... Yawn! I really need to-" I let out my most convinving fake yawn, i really should've paid attention when Grunkle Stan was teaching us how to really sell a lie.
"So, what's wrong.?" The man with glasses asked me... What was his name again? Ford? "Nothing, I'm just tired. That's all...." I said, but I could see that he clearly wasn't falling for that. I took another sip of my tea, it burned all the way down, but it's the only way to avoid the awkward moment. "Good tea." I claimed, it was actually quite good. "I like the way the brand makes it, English Breakfast. It's always been my favourite tea. I couldn't do mint or earl gray."
Ford mumbled, he seemed to like his teas.... I could never taste the difference in tea, all of them tasted the same, except for mint. Yuck, I hated mint. I felt my eyes growing heavier by the moment, maybe it was the awkward environment, or the tea. But I was getting tired.... I slumped over and put my tea on the coffee table.. "You can sleep, if you'd like." Ford stood up, was he looking for a chance to leave? I knew it was an awkward conversation but- "How about I grab you something else to wear, your clothes are probably still wet from the snow."
The man had offered, I couldn't refuse. My clothes were at that crunchy dry texture. "Sure..." I answered. Ford walked upstairs and I could hear Mr. McGucket walk back into the room.... "I was going to bring you your milk, but you seem like you're about to head to bed.?" He said, his smile didn't seem to fade.... It's strange to think this might really be Old Man McGucket. "Yeah, the Ford guy was just grabbing me some new clothes." I shifted in my seat, the texture of my clothing was not pleasant.
"So.... Did the medicine make you feel better?" McGucket chuckled. I hate to admit that I did feel better. "Maybe." I muttered back, hopefully I didn't have to take that gross goo ever again. Ford came back downstairs, he held an old worn t-shirt and joggers. "You might have to roll up the pants legs a little, but it's better than nothing." He told me, his arm extended out holding the clothing. I took it and went to the bathroom to change. I did have to roll up the pant legs quite a bit, but I could hear McGucket and Ford talking in the living room.... Wow the walls were thin.
".... So how on earth do you think he knew exactly where the bathroom was?" McGucket stated my obvious flaw. Darn it! I completely forgot that i was in the past. I debated on sleeping in the bathroom. That or escaping somehow. "Maybe he picked a door and guessed right?" I heard Ford respond to McGucket's question.... Maybe I wasn't screwed. "Whatever you say, friend..." Young McGucket let go of the topic! I waited a few more seconds and walked out. McGucket seemed to watch me like a hawk....
"Phew! I was about to ask for the bathroom, but I surprisingly guessed where it was!" I smiled, my shoulders stiff as I grinned through my lie. "Fascinating. Guess you've got pretty good luck, huh, kiddo?" Young McGucket claimed, what was his first name again, Fiddle something?- Whatever, bows not the time. Mr. McGucket stood up and exited the room, going into where the gift shop would be.
"Well.... Good night, boy." Ford said as he stood up to leave.... "Wait." But he stopped and grabbed my shoulder.? "To the left of us and down the hall, my room will be the second last door. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask.... Tomorrow we'll figure out our situation, and try and get you back home!—" Before he could finish his sentence, I cut him off. "NO." I exclaimed. If I didn't have a home in this time, that means I'd be given into a foster care or orphanage. Then Mabel would never find me.
Ford looked down at me, surprised by the sudden change.... "You can't do that...." I told him, he looked away from me. ".... We'll figure out something, but go to sleep. We wake bright and early here!" Ford announced before walking to his room.... Geez I blew it. Now he probably thinks I'm some crazy runaway kid. That or weird, I don't know which one I prefer.
I laid my head down on the pillow.... My eyes closed slowly.... But opened up again, everything was gray? Outside was light.... I turned as I heard a weird noise...
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"HIYA PINE TREE!"