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deercountry2022-08-26 07:09 am
sparklehorror) wrote in deercountry2022-08-26 07:09 am
Entry tags:
Come tomorrow, I'll be in the ocean
Who: The Pines and friends
What: The younger set of twins is being called back to the sea. They are throwing themselves a joint birthday/going away party about it, as is proper for a Gravity Falls series finale.
When: Last week in August, with their birthday on the 31st.
Where: Prep is all over, party at the beach
This is a mingle log! Feel free to make your own top levels!
Content warnings: Losing family members. If anything else pops up it can go in thread headers; everything here is pretty tame.
It's impossible not to be grateful for missing July in its entirety. Oscar killed, and Ford? The townsfolk turning against the Sleepers, when even after most of a year Mabel still deals with flak over her vileblood fangs? Some weirdo jerk pissing off the twins' patron? Stan leaving, again? There is no way the younger Pines twins wouldn't have gotten caught up in some of it somewhere, and for all that both of them would like to believe their presence would have made a difference in preventing some of the worst of this, they're old enough now to understand they wouldn't have come out of any of it unscathed, either. Both of them are too petty, too loyal and devoted. They'd have been involved, no matter how unwise. And they may not have made it out any better than anyone else did, may have only increased the ultimate amount of hurt.
At first, it's easy to blame the overall feeling of restless disquiet on all that, when they emerge from their strange cocoons a little taller and looking a little more like the older versions of themselves that still haunt the house from Deerington. After all, for all that it's theoretically "better" for them to have been tucked away safe and sound, there's a certain guilt that comes with having missed it all and Mariana's ire cannot possibly be helping. Dipper in particular consoles himself with notions of petty revenge on various people, and Mabel finally perfects her anti-corruption tea, because she's so out of sorts she's drinking boatloads of it. But that vague sense of wrong continues, and it's Mabel who comes to understand it first, on one of her frequent trips to stare at the ocean and commune with its inarticulate whims of rage.
That ocean wants her back.
She takes it poorly, horrified at the thought of being ripped away from the family she has left here and the friends she's made. Unable to hide it from her brother for long even without their blood bond, Dipper admits that he's feeling it too, and that's that, isn't it? A long discussion follows, lasting late into the night. Perhaps they might manage to be the first to figure out how to ignore that call, or at least resist it? Is it better to hurl themselves into the Archives and at least start that research even if they fail? Or is it better to embrace what time they have left, and make the most of an inevitable ending...?
As dawn arrives, they've settled down. The sense of peace that overwhelms the both of them at the thought of accepting this provides a certain clarity. Which is not to say the twins will bow to the whims of fate so easily, no -- a birthday party is in order, they've decided. Turning fifteen is huge! Wendy was fifteen, that summer in Gravity Falls! That distance between themselves and her used to feel so enormous, and they've crossed it as surely as they crossed the ocean to get here in the first place. It can be like the party they had back then, a going-away party, turning something they'd once seen as awful into a reason to celebrate. And, they both have things they want to be able to say to the people they're leaving behind. After everything they've all been through -- after watching Stan and Ford working so hard to patch their relationship and make up for the time they lost -- leaving important things unsaid seems the far greater sin than going away at all does.
Again, gratitude. Their arrival in Deerington was a matter of being spirited away in their sleep, and Dipper was there for months before the place deigned to return his sister to him. This time, even if they don't necessarily have a choice, they have time. They can prepare, and leave a little more on their own terms. And, this time, the twins will go together, hand in hand.
Preparations
Given that the whole point of the party is to bring their friends and loved ones close for this ending, the twins aren't shy about letting everyone know what's going on and dragging them into the prep work, too. After all, the more time they're able to spend with everyone in these last days, the better -- and, it gives the twins time to sort out their affairs, too, if they aren't devoting every moment to their own party.
The party will take place at the beach, despite the risk of flooding, and the theme the twins have chosen is that of a starry sky. There are myriad ways to contribute:
Food: Can't have a party without snackies! The month-long celebration of Mariana certainly helps here -- it will be easy enough for party-goers to trot down the Boardwalk to pick up seasonal ramen and the like. But let's be real, the vast majority of the people involved in this are sweets fiends. We will need donuts. We will need cookies. We will need a birthday cake. Dipper, recent winner of the Paleblood Bake-Off, will be taking charge of a lot of this. Please make sure he doesn't wear himself out.
Decorations: Here we have Mabel's domain: The more glittery we can go here, the better. But also, there is some building to be done. We will need a stage, because of reasons. And a dance floor to go on top of the sand, for other reasons. And lights, so the party can go long into the night. And more glitter, we cannot emphasize the glitter enough. And sandbags to prevent spontaneous flooding, given the way things have been going. Safety first! And glitter.
Explosives: There will be fireworks regardless, thanks to the nightly Mariana festival. Do you know what would be great? Having our own fireworks. Sparklers and whatnot, maybe even some big ones. Do you know what the best way to get them is? The ultimate tribute to the absent Stanley Pines, currently awaiting the twins in the ocean in multiple forms: Crime. Grunkle Stan will be here in spirit if crime has been done and it results in explosives. Someone get on this.
Obstacles: We need stuff that can get in the way of other stuff, also because of reasons. The twins are particularly cagey about this one. All will become clear in time. Let's just say it's a good thing the beach is long.
The Actual Party
The end results are beautiful, enough so that Mabel has to stop and have a little cry about it when she arrives. White Alice has contributed her golden Abyss lights, which float around the area like fireflies, and a disco ball that hovers over the dance floor like a miniature moon. She only knows what a disco ball is in the first place because of Mabel, and it casts star-shaped lights as it spins, because Alice was a master of darkblood fuckery long before she knew what darkblood is. The snack tables are loaded with sweets and festooned with ribbons and banners in the twins' trademark colors, blue and pink, with a horrifying amount of star and pine-shaped confetti everywhere. The party is far enough down the beach that it won't interfere with any shenanigans happening at the Boardwalk, and the atmosphere is so festive that even the ominous rumbling of the waves starts to sound cheerful.
Obviously all this could be washed away at any moment, which Mabel and Dipper have chosen to risk on the grounds that they may well wind up leaving straight from the party, and they're relying on their birthday being at the very end of the month as a failsafe here. In the end, thankfully, nothing happens. Perhaps it is that the overall sense of "fuck you, I do what I want" that went into all this has pleased the twins' patron.
Karaoke: Mabel's karaoke machine is in Trench. Given that damn near anything might wash up on the Far Shores at any given time, the question is not how she has it, but why exactly this is the first time it's coming out. With the help of Fiddleford McGucket, it has been rigged up with an omni so that it has access to All Media Ever, so feel free to climb up on stage with it and belt out whatever the hell song you want.
Coffee: One Stanford Pines has been recruited into providing his dubious coffee experiments as refreshment for the occasion. This is because Mabel likes to power her personal dance parties with unwise amounts of caffeine, which some of this "coffee" does indeed possess in spades -- maybe don't have more than a little espresso shot of this unless you want to vibrate into the stratosphere. While Ford has continued to refine the coffee beans since his last announcement on the network about it and many of its other possible effects have lessened, you never know, so be aware that if you do decide to play coffee roulette you may end up floating, or accidentally triggering one of the weird blood magic power surges that have plagued Sleepers through the month. Mmmm, darkblood coffee.
Mini-golf: We have a mini-golf course, yes. This is what the obstacles were for. The twins have been known to set up little golf courses for themselves in their bedroom when the weather is gross, because like all Pines they have little concern for the possible destruction of property. Given that now we have blood magic and Remnant people on hand, this course is even more aggressive, and may or may not involve a windmill that shoots fire and other such trappings. Rest assured that if you reach into a little handmade pond to retrieve the ball you just lost and wind up bit by one of those little crabs that makes you hallucinate, though, that one wasn't on purpose. That's just Trench for you.
Photo Booth: Given that Dipper's most obvious specialties in Trench have been ghost-hunting and, apparently, baking, something that may have been missed about him is that another of his talents lies in handling a camera. The twins obviously aren't taking much with them beyond each other when they go. But, given how crucial Mabel's scrapbook has always been to the family across three separate worlds, the opportunity to leave explicit visual reminders of their presence is one they take seriously. They've set up a makeshift photo booth a bit off to the side, with a starry sky backdrop and good lighting, where any of their friends and loved ones can grab them or each other for a flurry of pictures. Later, someone will see to it that the images make it from "film" to photograph, and that the photos make it into the hands of those left behind.
What: The younger set of twins is being called back to the sea. They are throwing themselves a joint birthday/going away party about it, as is proper for a Gravity Falls series finale.
When: Last week in August, with their birthday on the 31st.
Where: Prep is all over, party at the beach
This is a mingle log! Feel free to make your own top levels!
Content warnings: Losing family members. If anything else pops up it can go in thread headers; everything here is pretty tame.
It's impossible not to be grateful for missing July in its entirety. Oscar killed, and Ford? The townsfolk turning against the Sleepers, when even after most of a year Mabel still deals with flak over her vileblood fangs? Some weirdo jerk pissing off the twins' patron? Stan leaving, again? There is no way the younger Pines twins wouldn't have gotten caught up in some of it somewhere, and for all that both of them would like to believe their presence would have made a difference in preventing some of the worst of this, they're old enough now to understand they wouldn't have come out of any of it unscathed, either. Both of them are too petty, too loyal and devoted. They'd have been involved, no matter how unwise. And they may not have made it out any better than anyone else did, may have only increased the ultimate amount of hurt.
At first, it's easy to blame the overall feeling of restless disquiet on all that, when they emerge from their strange cocoons a little taller and looking a little more like the older versions of themselves that still haunt the house from Deerington. After all, for all that it's theoretically "better" for them to have been tucked away safe and sound, there's a certain guilt that comes with having missed it all and Mariana's ire cannot possibly be helping. Dipper in particular consoles himself with notions of petty revenge on various people, and Mabel finally perfects her anti-corruption tea, because she's so out of sorts she's drinking boatloads of it. But that vague sense of wrong continues, and it's Mabel who comes to understand it first, on one of her frequent trips to stare at the ocean and commune with its inarticulate whims of rage.
That ocean wants her back.
She takes it poorly, horrified at the thought of being ripped away from the family she has left here and the friends she's made. Unable to hide it from her brother for long even without their blood bond, Dipper admits that he's feeling it too, and that's that, isn't it? A long discussion follows, lasting late into the night. Perhaps they might manage to be the first to figure out how to ignore that call, or at least resist it? Is it better to hurl themselves into the Archives and at least start that research even if they fail? Or is it better to embrace what time they have left, and make the most of an inevitable ending...?
As dawn arrives, they've settled down. The sense of peace that overwhelms the both of them at the thought of accepting this provides a certain clarity. Which is not to say the twins will bow to the whims of fate so easily, no -- a birthday party is in order, they've decided. Turning fifteen is huge! Wendy was fifteen, that summer in Gravity Falls! That distance between themselves and her used to feel so enormous, and they've crossed it as surely as they crossed the ocean to get here in the first place. It can be like the party they had back then, a going-away party, turning something they'd once seen as awful into a reason to celebrate. And, they both have things they want to be able to say to the people they're leaving behind. After everything they've all been through -- after watching Stan and Ford working so hard to patch their relationship and make up for the time they lost -- leaving important things unsaid seems the far greater sin than going away at all does.
Again, gratitude. Their arrival in Deerington was a matter of being spirited away in their sleep, and Dipper was there for months before the place deigned to return his sister to him. This time, even if they don't necessarily have a choice, they have time. They can prepare, and leave a little more on their own terms. And, this time, the twins will go together, hand in hand.
Given that the whole point of the party is to bring their friends and loved ones close for this ending, the twins aren't shy about letting everyone know what's going on and dragging them into the prep work, too. After all, the more time they're able to spend with everyone in these last days, the better -- and, it gives the twins time to sort out their affairs, too, if they aren't devoting every moment to their own party.
The party will take place at the beach, despite the risk of flooding, and the theme the twins have chosen is that of a starry sky. There are myriad ways to contribute:
Food: Can't have a party without snackies! The month-long celebration of Mariana certainly helps here -- it will be easy enough for party-goers to trot down the Boardwalk to pick up seasonal ramen and the like. But let's be real, the vast majority of the people involved in this are sweets fiends. We will need donuts. We will need cookies. We will need a birthday cake. Dipper, recent winner of the Paleblood Bake-Off, will be taking charge of a lot of this. Please make sure he doesn't wear himself out.
Decorations: Here we have Mabel's domain: The more glittery we can go here, the better. But also, there is some building to be done. We will need a stage, because of reasons. And a dance floor to go on top of the sand, for other reasons. And lights, so the party can go long into the night. And more glitter, we cannot emphasize the glitter enough. And sandbags to prevent spontaneous flooding, given the way things have been going. Safety first! And glitter.
Explosives: There will be fireworks regardless, thanks to the nightly Mariana festival. Do you know what would be great? Having our own fireworks. Sparklers and whatnot, maybe even some big ones. Do you know what the best way to get them is? The ultimate tribute to the absent Stanley Pines, currently awaiting the twins in the ocean in multiple forms: Crime. Grunkle Stan will be here in spirit if crime has been done and it results in explosives. Someone get on this.
Obstacles: We need stuff that can get in the way of other stuff, also because of reasons. The twins are particularly cagey about this one. All will become clear in time. Let's just say it's a good thing the beach is long.
The end results are beautiful, enough so that Mabel has to stop and have a little cry about it when she arrives. White Alice has contributed her golden Abyss lights, which float around the area like fireflies, and a disco ball that hovers over the dance floor like a miniature moon. She only knows what a disco ball is in the first place because of Mabel, and it casts star-shaped lights as it spins, because Alice was a master of darkblood fuckery long before she knew what darkblood is. The snack tables are loaded with sweets and festooned with ribbons and banners in the twins' trademark colors, blue and pink, with a horrifying amount of star and pine-shaped confetti everywhere. The party is far enough down the beach that it won't interfere with any shenanigans happening at the Boardwalk, and the atmosphere is so festive that even the ominous rumbling of the waves starts to sound cheerful.
Obviously all this could be washed away at any moment, which Mabel and Dipper have chosen to risk on the grounds that they may well wind up leaving straight from the party, and they're relying on their birthday being at the very end of the month as a failsafe here. In the end, thankfully, nothing happens. Perhaps it is that the overall sense of "fuck you, I do what I want" that went into all this has pleased the twins' patron.
Karaoke: Mabel's karaoke machine is in Trench. Given that damn near anything might wash up on the Far Shores at any given time, the question is not how she has it, but why exactly this is the first time it's coming out. With the help of Fiddleford McGucket, it has been rigged up with an omni so that it has access to All Media Ever, so feel free to climb up on stage with it and belt out whatever the hell song you want.
Coffee: One Stanford Pines has been recruited into providing his dubious coffee experiments as refreshment for the occasion. This is because Mabel likes to power her personal dance parties with unwise amounts of caffeine, which some of this "coffee" does indeed possess in spades -- maybe don't have more than a little espresso shot of this unless you want to vibrate into the stratosphere. While Ford has continued to refine the coffee beans since his last announcement on the network about it and many of its other possible effects have lessened, you never know, so be aware that if you do decide to play coffee roulette you may end up floating, or accidentally triggering one of the weird blood magic power surges that have plagued Sleepers through the month. Mmmm, darkblood coffee.
Mini-golf: We have a mini-golf course, yes. This is what the obstacles were for. The twins have been known to set up little golf courses for themselves in their bedroom when the weather is gross, because like all Pines they have little concern for the possible destruction of property. Given that now we have blood magic and Remnant people on hand, this course is even more aggressive, and may or may not involve a windmill that shoots fire and other such trappings. Rest assured that if you reach into a little handmade pond to retrieve the ball you just lost and wind up bit by one of those little crabs that makes you hallucinate, though, that one wasn't on purpose. That's just Trench for you.
Photo Booth: Given that Dipper's most obvious specialties in Trench have been ghost-hunting and, apparently, baking, something that may have been missed about him is that another of his talents lies in handling a camera. The twins obviously aren't taking much with them beyond each other when they go. But, given how crucial Mabel's scrapbook has always been to the family across three separate worlds, the opportunity to leave explicit visual reminders of their presence is one they take seriously. They've set up a makeshift photo booth a bit off to the side, with a starry sky backdrop and good lighting, where any of their friends and loved ones can grab them or each other for a flurry of pictures. Later, someone will see to it that the images make it from "film" to photograph, and that the photos make it into the hands of those left behind.