No But Actually, I Might Have Gotten Bit By The Plot Bunny And Written A Short Drabble When I Should

No but actually, I might have gotten bit by the plot bunny and written a short drabble when I should have gotten to sleep.

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Pacifica supposed her parents had expected her to bend after a night or two out from under their roof. Come crawling back with her tail between her legs and meekly promise to behave. To leave the first boy who'd been genuinely kind to her in the mud, alienate Mabel by proxy, and agree to sell herself to help them purchase even a scrap of the life they'd had before that fateful summer three years ago.

What they probably hadn't expected her to do, was to prefer sleeping in a sticky booth at the diner with her dignity intact. Better that than trading it for a guilded cage. She'd rather spend the rest of her life waiting tables and serving rude customers coffee with a grating smile. She didn't need her parents. She was resourceful, she was persistent, she was all of the maybe three good characteristics found in the Northwests.

She was apparently also some of the bad, though.

She was sneaky.

It wasn't that she wanted to go behind her boss' back. Especially not after they'd been kind enough to hire her despite her family's abysmal reputation in the wake of Weirdmageddon. Taking the closing shift just to be able to crash at the diner over night might be dishonest, but she'd rather be dishonest than dead. At least in this case. In the diner, she didn't risk being eaten by gnomes or carried off by giant bats or whatever else roamed the town at night. Although, if she did, maybe Mabel and Dipper could come save her. But letting them do so would mean admitting defeat. Admitting what was going on. She wouldn't admit defeat because she wasn't defeated. She'd pull through. She was perfectly fine. She just had to stay on top of things. Stay on top of things, and also make sure to never again make the mistake of locking herself out of the diner. She didn't understand how the night air could feel so cold, it was early summer for crying out loud. What on earth could posses poor people to sleep under the stars for fun? Dipper had offered her to join the Pines on a family camping trip the month before, but she had turned him down. As far as she could tell, camping was pretty much just pretend homelessness. Funny that. Maybe if she'd taken him up on the offer it wouldn't feel so scary now.

Somehow, it didn't actually feel very funny at all.

Pacifica shivered and pulled her apron tighter over herself like a stained blanket. It wasn't nearly long enough to get the job done. If she pulled it up to cover her arms her legs would be exposed, but if she draped it over her legs her arms were bared to the wind and the mosquitos instead. She supposed she could call a coworker and ask for them to come with a spare key, Susan was pretty patient with her. But that would mean revealing that she'd been staying at the diner after hours. Or worse; that for all intents and purposes she was now homeless. The notorious Northwest heiress, trembling under a too-small piece of fabric on a park bench. Her parents would have an aneurism.

There was something moving in the treeline.

A new chill that had nothing to do with the wind gripped her tight, the anxiety squeezing her lungs until breathing abandoned her. She pulled the apron over her head and hoped whatever it was wouldn't see her.

The old wooden planks bent under the weight of a person sitting down beside her.

What had she expected? She wasn't a five year old hiding under the covers and scared of the monster in the closet! She was almost sixteen, and this was the real world with real threats! Why would she possibly think that-

"Ya doing okay there?"

She recognised that voice. It was the same one she'd heard in tacky local commercials her whole childhood, the same one she'd timidly followed as the town burned around her, the same one she'd sometimes hear laughing gruffly in the background of Dipper's phonecalls. The fear drained out of her, replaced by shame. She pulled the apron back off of her head and almost instantly regretted it. She could feel her face burn.

"I-I'm fine."

"Sure ya are. Figured you wanted to try the whole 'free trial of homelessness' thing anyways?" His voice was relaxed and casual, as always. It made her feel just the smallest bit better. "You could have called us."

"I don't need help."

He regarded her closely, the unguarded smile still plastered on his face, before suddenly he dropped it with a sigh and shrugged his jacket off. Handing it wordlessly to the girl.

"Yeah, I used to think the same."

Pacifica swallowed her pride and accepted the offering.

"But, ya know, even if we don't need it... 'Camping' sucks a whold lot less with family there beside ya."

Hmmm I am usually not much of a shipper but: Pacifica's parents want her to get together with a rich boy when she's a teen to help them get their social standing back, but she sticks by Dipper regardless. Her parents give her the ultimatum to dump him or they 'dump' her, expecting her to comply. She doesn't, and gets kicked out. The Pines' basically adopt her after that (the whole thing hit's way to close to home for Stan and Ford).

Hold on... I’m okay... I’m fine, I’m fine...

She’s too proud to tell anyone about the situation, even after her parents kick her out. Stan finds her sleeping on a bench after she accidentally gets locked out of the diner (where she’d been staying). He takes her straight home to the Shack. Ford has to stop him and Dipper from keying the Northwests’ cars. Dipper stays up comforting her and lets her stay in his bed while he bunks on the couch.

Of course it turns out it's time to test the EAS alarm while I'm in the middle of a grammar test, as if focusing wasn't hard enough without airhorns blasting throughout the entire town. :/

It's finally starting to feel like summer here! So I wanted to make something bright and colorful for a change from my recent angsty moods. ^^

I usually don't post stuff unrelated to fandoms, but I was out with our cat in the garden and he was being cute. 😅

Oh man this is so awesome and sweet, but also kind of strangely ominous? Because my overdramatic self immediately jumped to "AU where the events of the series is just Stan and Ford as children playing pretend and imagining a better future because their current life sucks."

Overdramatic cartoony villains, a new monster each time they play as the story gets gradually more and more convoluted, Stan gets to be the hero and save Ford and stuff, Ford gets to travel the universe and learn things nobody else knows, and they're the cool big kids who protect their family.

Also: the art is just amazing. It's beautifully summery and resurrects childhood memories I didn't even know I had.

IN MEMORIES THE PINES STILL PLAY ON A SUNNY SUMMER’S DAY

Awww this is sweet. I'm always a sucker for found family stuff.

Additional idea: Soos has learnt (probably from dealing with Stan let's be honest) that when handling stubborn, proud, people the best way to go about things is to let them think they've won.

He accepts her insistence on paying rent (maybe she insists that at least during the off season she still pays rent because they don't really need any help in the gift shop) but puts all of it into collage funds for her to "conveniently" discovery once she's 18.

Pacifica Pines AU

Asking for folks to share their Dipcifica headcanons with me lead to a ficlet written with @gobblewanker and @verysorrytobother which lead to this AU.

Pacifica starts dating Dipper when they’re 16, after several summers of adventures and personal growth. She’s become close friends with Mabel and her pals by now and is on friendly terms with the rest of the Pines family.

Their relationship is the last straw for her parents, who insist she immediately dump Dipper and start looking for a wealthy young man in hopes of restoring their fortune to its former glory. Despite the ultimatum of comply or be cut off, Paz stands her ground.

She spends the first few nights sleeping on a booth at Greasy’s, picking up late night and early morning shifts so no one will be suspicious. Despite it all, she’s still quite proud and refuses to seek out charity.

One night, Pacifica accidentally locks herself out of the diner and resorts to sleeping on a bench, in danger of a rainstorm or kidnapping by gnomes (or something far more frightening).

As luck would have it, Stan happens across her while on a late-night toffee peanut run. Although she weakly protests, he insists on bringing her home to the Shack.

Stan and Ford confront the Northwests (and Stan breaks Preston’s nose. Ford threatens to go to the police about their abandonment of Pacifica to dissuade Preston from pressing charges).

Dipper gives up his bed until they’re able to set Pacifica up in her own room.

The arrangement isn’t supposed to be long term at first, and Pacifica insists on paying rent. (Soos will only accept $5 a month and nothing more).

Eventually they come to an agreement that Paz can “work off” her room and board in exchange for help in the gift shop. She still works at the diner, since she makes great tips (and she secretly kind of enjoys it) but now she doesn’t have to take dangerous late-night shifts anymore.

Pacifica continues to stay with Soos and Melody (and the Stans) even after the twins return home to California for the year. There’s no way they’d turn her out on the street with the weather changing, even if business is slower outside the summer months.

Stan and Ford visit Dipper and Mabel’s family in California for the holidays. Pacifica accompanies them.

One day she slips up and calls Stan “Grunkle Stan.” She’s mortified, but Stan lets her know it’s no problem. Soon both he and Ford are her honorary grunkles.

Her parents attempt to regain custody when they realize Pacifica does not plan on coming home. The legal battle is messy, but the Pines are able to help her gain emanicipation (Stan may or may not have bribed the judge).

When Pacifica leaves for college, the Shack is where she returns home to on breaks.

Her relationship with Dipper stays strong, and they marry after graduating college. Pacifica officially changes her name to Pacifica Elise Pines, but at that point it’s just a formality. She’s been part of the family since the night Stan brought her home.