THE NORTHWEST POSSESSION | Gravity Falls [Dipcifica]

GRAVITY FALLS, OREGON
JULY, 2016

Whether it was the pound of chocolate chip pancakes sitting in his stomach or the loud rock music that had shaken the Mystery Shack until roughly one in the morning (Grenda had somehow convinced the group of girls to give heavy metal a chance), Dipper had trouble falling asleep that night. Even though he had exhausted himself with a day of troll hunting and didn't have to sleep in the basement anymore, he tossed and turned until his clock read three in the morning.

Gathering a throw blanket, his journal, and the latest fantasy novel he'd been reading, he slipped through the darkened Mystery Shack and made his way to the gift shop. Tossing the blanket over his shoulder, he peeled back the dusty curtain beside the fish tank to reveal the rickety ladder leading up to the roof. Stargazing and loud, unfiltered ramblings were always his friend when sleep evaded him.

But when he pushed open the trap door to the roof, underneath the bright blanket of glittering stars he spotted Pacifica. Her back was turned, but he recognized her silk nightgown and long braids of platinum blonde. She looked upward at the night sky, wiping at her eyes and sniffling.

Dipper stood frozen on the ladder, mulling over the best way to proceed. Should he leave her be, or make some sorry attempt at comforting her? Would she want him to know she was crying? Would she flick him on the head and yell at him for eavesdropping?

In the midst of his mental acrobatic routine, the two books he held in one of his hands slipped from his sweaty grasp. They clunked and thrashed down the wooden ladder. Dipper winced, listening to them clatter down each and every rung and eventually drop to the floor.

Pacifica's head snapped directly to his panicked face, her braids swinging around in the cool air. Her cheeks were rosy and tear-stained, and her eyes were wide with shock. She fixed him with a wounded scowl. "What the hell are you doing, sneaking up on me like that?"

"I didn't know you were up here!" Dipper insisted, frantically waving his hands around and wincing when he heard his voice crack.

Pacifica just rolled her wet, glassy eyes. She wiped a stray tear away with her thumb as she turned her back to face the stars again. She said nothing.

Still standing stiffly on the ladder, Dipper stared at her back. He watched her still figure in silence, trying to get any kind of gauge as to what he should do next. Then, with a creak and a groan from the ladder, he sat down beside her. His legs dangled off the roof, and he studied the grey fabric of his socks. After a while, he ventured, "You know you can climb that tree down to the ground from here? I sprained my ankle two summers ago finding out."

Pacifica let out a hollow, soulless chuckle. "Nice."

Dipper cast a quick, sideways glance at Pacifica. She leaned backward on her hands, blankly peering up at the dark, twinkling sky. Aimlessly kicking her legs, she looked as if someone had just told her all the shopping malls in America were going bankrupt.

She must have seen his uncomfortable squirming. (He had never been particularly sly, as he had learned time and time again.) She tilted her head in his direction, and said blatantly, "You don't have to cheer me up. I'll go inside if you wanted to be alone up here."

"I'm pretty terrible at cheering people up," He admitted, tugging the heap of blanket he had brought up to the roof over his lap. "That's more Mabel's domain. But you might feel better if you tell someone what's wrong."

Pacifica sighed, stretching her arms up toward the sky. She laid her back down on the roof tiles, making sure she could still kick her feet over the ledge. Talking more to the sky than to Dipper, she said, "Girls night got depressing, and then I had a shitty dream. That's pretty much it."