Chapter Text
Well, at least she'll be seeing him soon, and in-person too. On the ride home, she contemplates whether she should cancel her whole trip or not. Probably not, she doesn't really want to rot at her house for the duration of thanksgiving break. That would be awful.
Wait.
Pacifica forgot to tell her mother about the gymnastic trip, Pacifica momentarily begins freaking out.
Ohgodohgodohgod.
What is she going to do? If her mom didn't know in advance she was going to kill Pacifica! The whole ride home goes on like this, with Pacifica catastrophizing about getting permission about her mom, catastrophizing about Dipper, honestly catastrophizing about everything.
It's too much, it's all too much.
Her thoughts fly, travelling a million miles a minute, overwhelming Pacifica. She feels like crying, feels like dying, feels like... being anyone, scratch that, anything other than her right now. She slams her arm down on the door's armrest in frustration.
Ow!
Why the hell did I do that?
Pacifica looks at her arm, as if in shock it could feel pain. The pain gently radiates through her forearm, she rubs it with her other hand, soothing her pain.
What was I doing again?
It is almost as if Pacifica reset herself, sobering herself up with her pain. A smile spreads across her face, alongside a mischievous look.
Hey, I fixed my anxiety!
As the chauffeur rolls up to the doors of her house, Pacifica doesn't quite have enough time to start panicking again and has to improvise her excuse to her mom. As Pacifica exits, her worries mount, but her pragmatism takes over. She decides to play it off, act like its a routine thing so it flies under her mom's radar. If Pacifica is completely honest with herself, is her mom really about to put up any opposition to her gymnastics career? Probably not. Plus, her mother barely even participates in the normal world enough to question where the tournament is going to find judges and organizers on thanksgiving week. A benefit to the madness of high society, Pacifica thinks.
"Hey mom, I forgot to tell you this earlier, but, uh, I have a tournament, its for gymnastics, and its in, ummm, I think the bay area, like California, so I need to leave for that pretty soon," Pacifica says, trying to string as much credibility together as she possibly could.
"Do you want the maid to help you pack?" her mother asks, taking the bait.
"Umm, sure!" Pacifica says, kind of shocked that her perceptive mother wasn't seeing through her excuse. Perhaps she just wanted to believe Pacifica, take her side, you know, after the incident. Pacifica is grateful, plus she is in no mood to fight right now. In the moment, she also realizes her worries were completely unfounded. Maybe I should think less, Pacifica reflects. Well, she doesn't quite have the time to let the lesson of the day sink in, she's got a plane to catch! On her way out, her mom hugs her, hands her a, eww, a brown paper lunch bag? How the mighty have fallen. Anyhow, and she's on her way, the chauffeur skillfully navigates through the rush-hour traffic on both Gravity Falls' rural two lanes and on the highway, pulling off merges that nearly give Pacifica heart attacks. By the time they arrive at Portland International Airport, Pacifica's blood pressure has gone up two-fold and she thinks she's been thoroughly traumatized by that commute. As they approach the airport, Pacifica sees the large terminal building from a far, halfway blocked by a huge parking garage. Do enough people even come here to necessitate that massive of a parking structure, Pacifica thinks. Don't get her wrong, she has her Oregon pride, but even she knows that Portland isn't exactly cracking the top 10 of anyone's list of places to visit. Maybe the city is just prepared for the inevitable influx of visitors they're bound to have. Of course. City planners aren't exactly known for their pragmatism are they?
Pacifica laughs to herself, while her brain does drive her insane, she does have a sense of humor. A good one even. Before she hops out, she takes another peek at her phone, still nothing, Pacifica lets out a long sigh and rolls her eyes. Aren't girls supposed to be the sensitive ones? Anyways. The chauffeur drops her off at the door of the ticket counters. God, these bags are kind of heavy, she sees a free baggage cart in the distance and grabs it, loading her bags onto it after some struggle. She goes inside of the terminal and is immediately struck by how nice the airport is on the inside, and also, how sparse it was. There were perhaps, one to two hundred people there, at least she wouldn't have to fight to make her flight on time. She reads the signage and figures she should head to one of the self-service kiosks to get a ticket, right?
Flight number? Scan boarding pass. Was she supposed to print out her boarding pass? Oh lord. Luckily for Pacifica an attendant approaches her, sensing Pacifica's increasing stress levels.
"Hey, do you need any help, young lady?" the attendant says, a smile plastered across her face.
"Yes please," Pacifica responds, her face flushing in the process, "I have no idea what I am doing," she admits, feeling more honest than usual.
The attendant laughs and looks around, "as if anyone here has any idea what they're doing," she says, "at least you know that you have no idea what you're doing, that brings you above the, err, average traveler," she says, gesturing to the people around them. Someone makes the mistake of looking their direction and is greeted by a sneer from the attendant, the attendant looks back at Pacifica and asks, "Do you have your flight number?"
"Umm, no," Pacifica responds, realizing Ashley has left her woefully underprepared, "well, all I know that I'm flying on Southwest Airlines to San Francisco, if that's any help."
"Ah ok, I'll have to look up your itinerary, here follow me to the baggage check-in area, there I can search your name up on the computer and get you on your way, sound good?" the attendant asks, "you can call me Kelly, alright?"
"Thank you," Pacifica responds.
"Of course," Kelly says, "how old are you?"
"I'm twelve."
"And you're flying alone?"
"Yeah, my parents are busy people, and they can't always come with me to my gymnastics meets."
"Ah, I see," Kelly says as her and Pacifica arrive at the computers, and Kelly begins clacking away until finding what she was looking for, "what's your name?"
"Pacifica Northwest, I think that's the name on the ticket,"
"Ah ok, I see it, let me print out your ticket," Pacifica can hear the printer behind the desk bumbling to life, "and here are some tags for your luggage, wrap them around the side handles, or else the luggage handlers will send your bags to Narnia," Kelly looks at Pacifica and flares out her eyebrows playfully. Pacifica's bags are obviously pink and very sparkly so that they're easy to pick out at baggage claims, Pacifica bends and wraps the tags around the handles, so that both of her bags are labelled. She pushes them onto the conveyer belt and they're carried off behind Kelly into the underbelly of the airport.
"Do I need a tag for the one I'm taking on the plane?"
"No, no, since you're the only one who'll be touching that one,"
"Oh okay, thank you," the words roll off her tongue with a bit of awkwardness. The idea of thanking someone is pretty new to her so the words feel clunky, as if there's extra resistance to her saying them. She can imagine a long line of Northwest's looking down on her and thinking, Thanking an attendant? They're supposed to serve you, that's their job, sweetie, you don't need to say thanks to them. Giving thanks is the business of poor people who have nothing better to give. Blah blah blah, old people stuff. She pushes the thoughts aside and switches her focus back to reality.
"Alright, I'll help you through security since you're an unattended minor, okay? It's no big deal, its just we wouldn't want anybody taking advantage of you," Kelly says, leading her to the security checkpoint. Ah, so there's where all the people are. The line is unimaginably long and progressing without any semblance of urgency. Thank God Pacifica gets to skip that line, Kelly brings her around the side to a TSA worker who's looking busy doing nothing. Kelly whispers something to the TSA worker who suddenly roars to life, switching a button on their desk which turns on the scanner, which buzzes and calibrates until letting out a long beep that lets her know to step on. She's done this awkward dance before, holding her hands up like a convict while splaying her legs uncomfortably. Upon clearing Pacifica of any dangerous weapons, the worker waves her through and she's free to grab her bags and continue being escorted by Kelly to her terminal.
As she's walking to her terminal she notices the swathes of shops that line the side of the airport and feels a carnal attraction to them. "Hey Kelly, can I visit the shops quickly?"
Kelly stops in her tracks and looks back at Pacifica, then at the stores, "I don't see why not." The pair make their way to a randomly named DUTY FREE store, and Pacifica begins browsing their collection of perfumes, Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Dolc-, Valentino? Oooh, she'd never been able to track down a Valentino bottle in Gravity Falls and she hadn't spent enough time in Portland to indulge herself. She knows her consumerism isn't maybe the best thing to indulge in, but she's had a long week, and she might as well spoil herself. The bottles' bright colors and interesting textures lure her in, as do the sweet smells littered with vanilla, rum, and tropical fruits. After what seems to her like a few minutes, which actually turns out to be half an hour, she settles on V Absolu. The scent, oh the scent, how could she describe it? Fruity? Sharp? No. It smells of Red. The color? No, the concept. The scent wraps her in a kind of ecstasy, not a pleasant one, but rather a violent one? She's not exactly sure what's gotten into her, but she imagines a scene of stomping her enemies into a fine mist smelling of Woody Vanilla. Oh, and don't forget the red dress that she'd be wearing.
"Pacifica, you need to get going, your flight boards in ten minutes,"
"Okay, I think I'll get this one," Pacifica looks around and sees the checkout counter and en route she passes through the men's cologne section before stopping in her tracks. Fresh, cool, and strangely masculine, a scent pierces the air and makes its way through Pacifica's nose, strangely stimulating her brain. The scent almost puts her into a daze, emanating from a solid black bottle, it reads 'Creed,' with faint black lettering underneath that she can't quite make out. She impulsively grabs a box without so much as turning her head to look at the price. The cashier checks her out and she is on her way to the terminal, arriving just as the jet bridge is attached to the plane.
"Alright Pacifica sit right there, stay close to the front by where they're boarding, I'm going to go up to the attendant and let them know to let you on in the first group, alright?" Kelly asks reassuringly.
"Of course," Pacifica responds, obeying Kelly's commands, and squeezing onto the front-most bench, in between a feuding couple and a mother trying to tame her toddlers. Ahhh, chaos, just how she likes it. Having a moment for herself, she once again checks her phone and is disappointed to find nothing. Welp, she's not going to let that keep her down, she instead decides to look to the other Pines twin for... happiness isn't the right word, hmmm, guidance? God, she just loves dressing up her own thoughts to sound fancy and important. What she's trying to say is that she decides to text Mabel to ask if she can sleepover for the night, even though she isn't in town just yet.
Pacifica:
Hey Mabel
Mabel:
Pacifica!!!!!
where have u been???
uve talked to me like once since summer ended!
how r u???
Oh yeah, oops. She'd been meaning to text Mabel for like, three months, but every time she'd try she'd get sidetracked by some inane task she'd be compelled to finish
Pacifica:
im good, just been really busy
Mabel:
suuure
busy
i hear you talking with dipper
i bet your just talking with me because dipper got grounded for staying up too late talking to you
Oh my god, that's why Dipper hadn't been texting her. (when texting Mabel, italics are Pacifica's thoughts, sorry about the issues with formatting)
Pacifica:
I swear i haven't been just ignoring u
i promise
Mabel:
mhm
Pacifica:
i know it looks bad but I promise I'd been trying to talk
im actually in the bay area and was wondering if I could sleepover with you
Mabel:
WHAT
UR IN CALIFORNIA?
AND U DIDNT TELL ME UNTIL NOW?
wowwwww
Pacifica:
well actually im still in the portland airport
so I actually gave you an early warning
Mabel:
how generous >:<
oh no
just kiddingggg
of course you can come over
Pacifica sighs in relief as she reads Mabel's texts, a smile lighting up her face as she looks down at her screen. She can hear the shuffling of boarding begin, with her fellow travelers getting up and lining up as they prepare to board.
Mabel:
even if I have to smuggle you in
wait
why are you even coming here
Oh yeah, this looks really suspicious, especially for a Mabel that already knew that Pacifica and her brother were talking. Well, they weren't talking, all they did was talk, like actual talking, not like talking, just talking. Thank god, she's texting or else Mabel would be tipped off by Pacifica reddening face that there's more to the story.
Pacifica:
i had a gymnastics tournament but it got cancelled
but I still wanted to get out of the house so I'm using the flight to visit u guysss
Please bite, Please bite, Please bite
Mabel:
okayyy
Pacifica:
ill talk to you in a bit
they're gonna make us get onto the airplane (end of texting)
Pacifica's attention is pulled from her conversation with Mabel and to her surrounding where an attendant behind the desk announces the start of boarding, Kelly gestures for her to come up to the desk so she does.
"Since you're really young, at least, for a flyer who's alone, we're letting you get onto the plane first, alright Pacifica?" Kelly says.
"Oh, really?" Pacifica asks, Kelly nods in response, "thank you for helping me at the airport today," this is about the time she would tip, right? Pacifica opens her purse and finds her wallet, and grabs a twenty which she holds out to Kelly. Kelly starts laughing and denies the gesture.
"I had kind of guessed you were a rich kid, but this really confirms it," Kelly says, prompting Pacifica to wince in embarrassment, "you don't pay for this to happen, its our job to do this, you know, to make sure someone weird doesn't snatch you and disappear with you."
"Oh, sorry," Pacifica says, apologizing awkwardly.
"You're okay, but I would recommend not doing that again," Kelly says, laughing as she finishes her sentence, "but you should really get going."
If she couldn't do it monetarily, she might as well show her thanks another way, Pacifica gets on her tippy toes and hugs Kelly to signal her thanks, her hand still holding the twenty as she wraps her arms around her. Kelly seems surprised but reciprocates, wrapping an arm around Pacifica. It only lasts a moment before the pair pull away and Kelly ushers Pacifica onto the remarkably loud jet bridge, bringing Pacifica's carry-on in tow. Pacifica decides to sit in the front of the plane, choosing a window seat for her journey today, Kelly slots Pacifica's carry-on in the overhead bin and bids her farewell. The rest of boarding is uneventful, the plane is pretty empty so she only shares the row with a quiet business type, nothing the gladiator fight she had been expecting from Ashley's description of the airline. Hmm, Ashley seems to be off the mark, like, significantly.
The plane begins pushback and before long they're on the runway, Pacifica feels the plane underneath her rumble to life, the engines spooling up. The thrust and power of the plane as it roars down the runway unlocks her child-like wonder and she stares out the window marveling at how fast the airport passes to her left. As the plane lifts off the Earth, Pacifica is smushed into her seat and feels her brain jiggle around her skull by the g-force as the plane defies gravity and lifts into the air.
By the time they reach cruising altitude, a short beverage and snack service commences, Pacifica orders a water, well, a sparkling water. She sophisticated, okay? She sips her can of Perrier and munches on the pretzels that were handed out. She thinks about her week, the quiz, Dipper, the fight with her mom, and lastly, her 'friends.' A lot passed this week. She didn't know Ashley half as well as she did now on Monday, so at least there that was a positive change, but Jessica and Tiffany definitely were far more tired of Pacifica now. Especially how she maneuvered around the entire Ethan situation. And then there was Taylor and Melissa, her guides, her older sisters, her friends, now seemingly jealous and vindictive onlookers of Pacifica. Where had it all gone so... wrong? right? Well, she knows this week has been exhausting, but she's never asked herself if she feels proud of the things she's done. She thinks for a while and settles on feeling proud of herself, while the changes might have been painful, they were steps in the right direction, and she knew, or at least, all the little self-help books she's read over the past year have told her that the first steps to change are always the hardest. While it is generic advice, she knows its true somewhere in her heart. The difficulty does daunt her, but she's stubborn, she tries to go the path of most-resistance, even if it isn't necessarily the path she wants to go through. She's ultimately a fighter, but even fighters need to rest sometimes, and that's the balance she knows she needs to strike.
She doesn't even know if her thoughts are coherent, she just stares out the window watching the sky darken and the civilization below begin to light up as streetlights kick on and headlights move up and down the street. She'll probably sleep when she gets to the Pines', probably at least. She's tired but decides to stay awake the rest of the flight, well they're already descending so they must be getting close-ish to San Francisco. She can make out a few skylines out in the distance, like the flourishing metropolises of Redding and Sacramento, but as they get closer to SF she begins to make out the lights that outline large towers and the rows of headlights highlighting the highway
Landing goes smoothly, Pacifica being unable to make-out much from her window as the plane tilts her view into the water, at the very last moment the plane tilts back to neutral and she's able to the airport clearly. Its huge, she thinks, much larger than Portland's, which makes sense, San Francisco's airport services a population double the size of the entirety of Oregon. As they deboard, she has to ask the business type to help her get her bag down, he obliges, softly setting down her carry-on in the aisle before heading off to whatever important meeting he's bound to be late for. She collects another cart and loads all her luggage onto it, as she makes her way out she almost misses the man holding up a "Pacifica Northwest" sign, she backtracks awkwardly and he leads her to a taxi terminal where a black Suburban waits for her. Her luggage is loaded in and she's on her way to the Pines' after telling the chauffeur the address that Mabel gave her. After another heart-attack inducing commute, she's at the Pines' front step, nervousness filling her gut, strangely enough. The house looks similar to her own, having a kind of faux country home facade with an empty patio taking up half their front yard. She's not exactly why she would be nervous, but she is. Her hand feels cold as she presses the doorbell, she hears movement inside and hears Mabel screech, "Coming!"
Before she can even react, Mabel has her wrapped up in a tight hug.
"Oh my god, you made it!" Mabel says, her voice animated as ever. Mabel looks the same, maybe just an inch or two taller than she was this summer. Mabel pulls back, "You look different,"
"What do you mean," Pacifica replies
"I mean, your look, its just different, you look, sharper," Mabel fumbles through her words, looking for the right one, "oh, it your eyeshadow and stuff, you aren't wearing it! See, I knew something looked different. Come inside its freezing out there."
They struggle to drag Pacifica's big bag inside, eventually resorting to asking Mr. Pines to bring it for them. As Pacifica looks at Dipper and Mabel's dad, Dipper's, how does she put this, renaissance starts to make sense. Tall with broad-shoulders, their dad might be in his pajama's, but he looks like the word 'business man,' gentle diligently maintained stubble lines his face, short curls rest on top of his head
"Yeah, I decided that I didn't really like how I did my make-up so I just stopped doing it, and my skin has felt a lot better too, sooo... yeah," Pacifica explains.
"Well, you look great, I mean, if Dip- umm," before Pacifica is even able to register Mabel's words, Mabel catches herself "do you like chips and dip? Come on, you need a post-snack flight, I mean, uhh, a post-flight snack, here follow me," Mabel says, dragging Pacifica to the kitchen. Pacifica tries to decline the offer, but Mabel seems far too hyper to deny today, as if she's trying to distract her from something. It's probably nothing, Pacifica thinks.
The two briefly chat before Pacifica is able to convince Mabel that she needs some rest, Mabel seems a tad disappointed but understands.
"Where's Dipper?" Pacifica asks
A smile quickly flashes across Mabel's face before she's able to reign it in, "he's grounded, so he's been sleeping early."
"Why are you smiling?"
"Come on, a girl can't smile," Mabel huffs, crossing her arms, "jesus, you rich folk are insufferable"
"Hey, you're rich too, you literally have a house in San Francisco, look," Pacifica walks over to the small fridge underneath the kitchen counter, "You literally have a wine-cooler in your kitchen, Mrs. Of the people."
Mabel seems appalled at the accusation, before flushing red, "I guess you are right, BUT we're not snobs like you."
"I'm not a snob, I just have good taste," Pacifica retorts, "I guess you wouldn't want my snobby gift right?"
"Ooooh, what kind of snobby gift?"
"I bought you a perfume from the airport,"
"Airport perfume is the best, it's so fancy"
Pacifica takes the box out of her purse, and hands it to Mabel. She hadn't bought it for her, but considering she was going to gift Dipper a bottle of cologne, she'd decided that she'd have to save face and gift Mabel one too. Plus, red was much more of Mabel's color than Pacifica's, Pacifica likes cooler tones. Mabel seems almost frenzied by the time she tears the box open. Mabel shrieks as she unsheathes the cute bottle from the bottle, she hugs Pacifica again, tightly squeezing her.
"Ohmygod, thankyouthankyouthankyou its so, pretty," Mabel exclaims.
"Ah, don't worry about it," Pacifica says, "you're the expert gift-giver, you-"
"Shush, we're going to the mall tomorrow and we're going to spoil ourselves okay, that'll be my gift to you,"
"It's okay, we don-"
Mabel holds her finger up to Pacifica's mouth, shushing her, "We're going to the mall, and we're going to be so glammed up it'll be ridiculous, and you," Mabel pauses, booping Pacifica on the nose, "can't do anything about it." Pacifica playing her part slumps her shoulders sadly, before giggling, she lets out a bratty, "fine," before going to the powder room to ready herself for sleep.
Afterwards, Mabel brings her to her room which is sloppily, but affectionally decorated with all her memorabilia from Gravity Falls. Pacifica sees the two beds in each corner and points towards the one without the overly elaborate bedding looking confused. Mabel explains that its Dipper's old bed, but since they're older their parents decided to give each of them a separate room.
"Yeah, I'm getting a new bed soon, but I guess it's convenient for our sleepover don't you think?"
"You're acting like sleeping in the same bed would be the worst thing ever," Pacifica says, getting into her bed for the night, Mabel across the room doing the same.
"Well, you said it was during Weirdmaggedon," Mabels teases, adjusting her gazillion pillows for maximum comfort.
"There were ten of us sharing the same bed!" Pacifica says exasperatedly, tugging on the comforter she's under, "And that was in a twin!"
"That's not that different than what it would be like during our sleepover."
"That's way different than if it would be just the two of us in like a queen-sized bed!"
"I'm just messing with you, Pacifica," Mabel says dismissively, giggling at Pacifica's expense. Pacifica stares back, mouth agape before huffing, "I'm going to bed," and tucking herself under the sheets. She's a little worked up, before laughing a little at herself. God, I get so in my head sometimes, I need to relax.
"Goodnight Pacifica," Mabel says, switching off her lamp. Pacifica can tell just by Mabel's voice that she's smiling, obviously having the time of her life messing with her.
"Goodnight Mabel," Pacifica responds, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. She's in a good mood, literally and figuratively being in a whole different state than she was at the beginning of the week. Haha, she's clever isn't she?