Gravity Fall: Cryptid Chaos

Vampires and Emotions

Pacifica still felt perturbed by the pale man she and Dipper had encountered at the Northwest Start of Summer Gala, but with the events of the previous weeks, she hadn't gotten around to asking Dr. Pines about vampires. Ugh. Pacifica felt that 'Dr. Pines' sounded kinda pretentious, and she wasn't alone in that sentiment as Mabel and Dipper (surprisingly) felt the same way. Ford does have doctorates, but it still felt strange. However, people outside of the Pines family needed a way to differentiate the older twins by name, so Mr. Pines and Dr. Pines it was, albeit begrudgingly. The blonde bombshell picked up her phone and tapped on Dipper's contact, pressing the call button. She didn't have to wait long to hear Dipper's voice on the other end of the line. "Hey.", he spoke. It took Pacifica a second to respond, steeling herself for the gothic conversation ahead. "Hey." "What's up?" "Do you remember at the party when we had suspicions about that pale dude? The one in the crimson suit?", Pacifica recounted. "Yeah, why?" "I'm coming over later to ask Ford about vampires. I don't know if he knows anything about them, but it's our best place to start." Dipper nodded silently on the other end of the line before speaking. "Yeah, you're right. I mean, seeing that Dogman and someone exhibiting vampire-like traits within the same day can't be a coincidence. Something weirder than our usual weirdness is going on. I doubt he can command Dogmen, but the thought of them running loose worries me more, honestly.", he
expounded. Not a word was spoken about their "relationship" before they ended their call. Pacifica, Dipper, and Mabel were on a mission, and nothing was going to distract them from completing it.

Pacifica and the twins agreed on meeting at Greasy's at the end of her shift, that way they could all grab something to eat and then head straight to the Mystery Shack to inquire about their vampiric mystery man. As soon as Mabel and Pacifica see eachother, they break out into a stereotypical Valley Girl accent, both going, "Heyyyyy!", giggling to eachother while doing a finger-wiggling wave. Dipper smirks and rolls his eyes at their antics. Despite Dipper and Pacifica being best friends, neither of them can deny the incredible bond that the girls of their trio have. The girls, including Candy and Grenda, have become an incredibly tight friend group, complete with a groupchat; one Dipper dares not inquire about as to save himself from whatever details girls talk about. Speaking of groupchats, or social media, rather; Dipper doesn't really use social media that often, save for using it to get updates on new videogames or to see what his friends post. Mainly he sees Pacifica's posts and stories and Mabel's content on the occasion that posts. He actually has absolutely nothing on his social media accounts except for his username, "d_pines12", his age, and his full name, (he leaves out 'Mason' and just goes by Dipper Pines). Pacifica has asked a few times why he doesn't post on social media, but the truth is that he really doesn't have anything to post. "platinumpaz" on the other hand, has thousands of followers and is always posting shopping hauls, her outfits, or pics of her vacations, though no swimsuit pictures. That of which Dipper is very grateful, yet also disappointed. He doesn't want anyone else to see her in a bikini except him. She always has some kind of something to throw on her feed. That gave Pacifica an idea, but she'd get to that later. Right now, the focus was on the mission. The walk back to the Shack was relacing and filled with conversation, although once they reached Gopher Road, it died down and the group became vigilant. They made their way inside without incident. The Mystery Trio had to make this quick so Pacifica could get home before sunset. They weren't risking another Dogman appearance. Approaching the vending machine, Dipper punched in the code and led the way for the girls down to Stanford's lab. "Ah, Dipper! Mabel and Pacifica as well? Well, this is quite the surprise! What brings you three down here?", he asked, his interest more than piqued at the sight of Pacifica of all people in his laboratory. "Dr. Pines, what do you know about vampires?", Pacifica asked, taking lead of the conversation. "Vampires, hm? Definitely not beings to be trifled with, that's for certain. The ones that stay well fed are as functional as we are, but the ones with a less than sufficient blood supply are wild, to say the least. Make no mistake, of course, both will attempt to feed on you if they are presented with the opportunity.", Ford drones. He walks over to one of his filing cabinets and searches for a moment before finding what he was looking for. It was a very old and somewhat ragged sheet of yellowed paper. Upon it was everything Ford had discovered about vampires and their subspecies. Vampires was the catch-all term and was most commonly used, but after a short explanation of the pale man from the party, Ford explained that the official name Vampires called themselves was "Nosferatu" and the species of Nosferatu they encountered was likely a Strigoi. These types of vampires maintained a human-like features, except for small things like their fangs, skin being pale, and eyes being dark. Though, if a Strigoi is not well-fed, it begins to almost devolve to a more primitive state. It's skin becomes a light grey, almost white, with black, sunken eyes that manage to burn with murderous fervor. The teeth change from extended canine teeth to a mouthful of razor sharp flesh-rippers. Their nails elongate into claws and any type of light makes it difficult for them to see, but they will only be harmed by sunlight. A properly fed Strigoi's only limitations involving light revolved around direct sunlight. Every detail that Ford laid out about a Strigoi only furthered the idea in Dipper and Pacifica's minds that they had, infact, seen a real-life vampire. As cool as that is, it was still very unsettling to learn that creatures like vampires are be real. None of them felt particularly safe at night in town anymore, knowing that a vampire could be waiting on a rooftop or in an alleyway for it's next victim. Their worries were only slightly quelled when Dr. Pines revealed that vampires in Gravity Falls were borderline unheard of and that it was a rather big shock that one had been at Pacifica's parents' mansion soirée. The only thing the teens could do now was either wait until these new threats passed or end up on an epic life-or-death mission that could leave them scarred... again. They hoped it wouldn't be the latter, but knowing their luck, it's where they were headed.

As Pacifica entered her house, she decided to put vampires out of her mind and focus on something else. That something being Dipper; the object of her affections. She sat back on her bed and tried to pinpoint when she started liking him. After they saved eachother at the Manor 3 years ago, Pacifica saw him in a different light, even thinking he was kind of cute, but her crush wasn't there just yet. Then she flashed forward a bit. It was the summer after they turned 13. Pacifica and the twins sat in the attic loft of the Mystery Shack, next to the Twins' bedroom. Dipper had revealed his real name and birthmark to Pacifica, and she said she had found it cool. However, that was only half-true. She found it comforting that he had come to trust her enough to tell her his real name, but she was also enamored by his birthmark. Something about it was cool, but it was also beautiful in a way. She raised her hand to his forehead and lightly traced the shape of his birthmark with the nail of her index finger, smiling the whole time. She had glanced at his eyes once or twice while doing so. The way Dipper shuddered under the slightest touch from her, or the way she caught him looking at her when she took her attention from the birthmark to his eyes flipped a switch in Pacifica. As time moved forward and they had their adventures with Pacifica becoming a regular tag-along, she saw Dipper and Mabel do so many amazing things, but also did amazing things herself. The more time she spent with Dipper, the more her infatuation grew. Now things were weird. Not between them, but surrounding them. Dipper obviously reciprocated how she felt, albeit she wasn't sure how deep it went, but it seemed like he was holding something back. There were times Pacifica would catch him stopping short in a compliment or a comment, almsot as if finishing his sentence would incriminate him. Did he have at as bad for her as she did for him? Maybe. That's a line she's afraid to approach, because what if Dipper only liked flirting with her for fun and holding hands and brushing his hand against her back? Or what if he didn't want a relationship? Or what if- Pacifica took a moment to wind down. 'It's just Dipper.', she thought to herself. 'If he doesn't want to be with me, well, he's an idiot, first of all, but we'll still be friends. He's not heartless. Not even close. He wouldn't just keep his distance.' Pacifica steeled herself. She was going to talk her self into what came next one way or the other, and this time, there wouldn't be any interference. Not by a Dogman, Vampire, Gobblewonker, or anything. She was going to ask Mason "Dipper" Pines to be her boyfriend.

Dipper stared up at the ceiling of the Mystery Shack's attic. He could hear Mabel lightly snoring in her bed, Waddles at her feet. 'I gotta ask her soon. I mean, she likes me, right? We hold hands, we flirt, and the way she looks at me sometimes... ARGH! I just don't know. Maybe she's just flirting with me for fun? It is a nice feeling after all, but that doesn't seem like something she'd do.' Dipper grimaced at the indecision and negative thoughts pervading his mind. He should be able to just tell her, right? Yet at the same time, what if Pacifica doesn't want to be his girlfriend? What if she doesn't want to stay friends after he asks? What if she thinks that's the only reason he became friends with her? "Ughhhhh.", Dipper groaned frustratedly into his pillow, so he wouldn't wake Mabel up. "This is ridiculous.", he grumbled to himself. He got up out of his bed, taking his blue and silver pine tree journal with him, and walked to the alcove in the attic loft and sat in the window. Once he was situated, he began to draw. It was a sketch of Pacifica. Though the ink was black, Dipper could vividly imagine Pacifica's lush, blonde hair, her captivating blue eyes, her perfect white teeth in her smile. He drew her nose in a way to show that it was slightly crinkled. He loved when she did that as he found it adorable. The younger Pines sibling put the pen and journal down in his lap as he found himself staring at the ceiling once more. 'As much as I want to say, "What could go wrong?", there's a lot that could. One thing is for sure, though, I'll regret it if I keep it burried. I have to ask her. If she turns me down, we'll still be able to stay friends. Especially if Mabel is gonna be the glue that holds us together.', Dipper thought to himself, building up his courage. He got up and headed back towards his shared room. Once he slid back under the covers, he smiled to himself. He was going to ask Pacifica Elise Northwest to be his girlfriend.