I own nothing not even this computer. Please remember to read and review. This is a request from Barbacar who is another author. It is for his circus AU. Maybe a one shot maybe not. We shall see how I feel.

The air was hot and humid and heavy. It was the middle of summer in Gravity Falls Oregon where the Mystery Circus was currently set up. They were going to be moving up to Washington state in a week or two. Sooner if the ringmaster Great Uncle "GRUNKLE" Stan wore out their welcome. The tents occasionally snapped when a breeze shot overhead. But for the most part it was a quiet lazy day, a few of the members of the troupe were doing their acts.

Almost all of them.

"PACIFICA! PACIFICA NORTHWEST!" Dipper Pines shouted through the multitude of circus tents. He huffed and continued to walk down them. The fifteen year old took a moment to rub at his chin. He had no idea where the newest member of the circus troupe was. Which was annoying as he had to find her.
Not for himself though, it was for his sister Mabel Pines. Or as she called herself The Amazing Mabel King of the Cannonball!

Ever since they had been adopted by their great uncle who owned the circus they had been put to work. And work in this case meant performing. Mabel had thrown herself full into it. Making a hideous sequin studded outfit that had all the colors of the rainbow made into a cape draped across a garish pink and yellow leotard. But she liked it and it wasn't as if he would be able to control her even if he tried.
So with her outfit the girl had been shooting herself out of a cannon into a pool of water, or an overly large pillow, the most horrifying times was when it was just a brick wall with a large red bulls eye on it. Dippers job had been to light the fuse that would launch her screaming happily out of it.

This had been going on for a few years now. And honestly Dipper was getting a little tired. Tired of just walking quickly with a box of matches to light a fuse and then aim the enormous cannon at the target. He had talked with Mabel and he thought that their conversation had gone well.

"YOU'RE QUITTING!" Mabel shouted in their small trailer, it had a bunk bed, a dozen stacks of books, a lot of sewing and knitting supplies and a clothes line where their clothes were drying.
"No I'm just...Mabel don't cry." The girls eyes were wide and starting to fill up with tears, her fists clenched beneath her trembling chin.
"You're going to leave the circus and become a drifter aren't you?! Or a lawyer! Or a criminal! I can't stand the thought of you in prison!" She wailed over dramatically.

Dipper rubbed his eyes already exhausted and he had only been trying to explain everything to his sister for a few seconds.
"No I am not going to become a lawyer, or a criminal. I'm not leaving the circus Mabel...it's just...we've been doing this since we were little kids. And it just has gotten...predictable. I want to try something different."
"We'll do it naked then! Or add Waddles!"
"Okay first of all ew and second we are not going to put the pig in the show. He is staying where he is in Soos's act." The pig was huge and unwieldy and since they couldn't afford an actual lion they had to do with a pig in a wig.

"But Dipper you remember what Gruncle Stan said right?" She frowned and stuck her fingers on either side of her nose as if it had grown a dozen sizes too big. "Everyone works kid! Everyone needs an act! Now either get with the program or get out! Now someone bring me a blanket I am very cold!"

"Your impression of him is perfect as usual." Dipper said doing a slow clap. Mabel grinned and bowed blowing a few kisses playfully. "But I think I'll just try my own act or something. I am definitely not leaving the circus anytime soon."
"HHMMMMHHHHMMPHPPHPH." Mabel said folding her arms and pouting. "Fine. I guess I understand if you want to try something else."
"Thanks for understanding." He said placing a hand on her shoulder and grinning. Mabels hand snaked up and grabbed his wrist and pulled him in close and stared deeply and darkly into his eyes.

"But. I need a new partner. And I have on in mind. And I need your help to get her to help me." Dipper gulped before pulling away.
"Fine...who?"
"Pacifica Northwest."
"WHAT!" Dipper shouted before shaking his head. "Just ask her yourself."
"I have a hair appointment with Candy and Grenda in town. This stuff is hard to keep up you know!" She shoved her burnt split ends towards his nose and he waved her hair away.
"Then why not ask them?"
"They don't have the panache to be on stage. Plus Grenda doesn't have time between this and her weights routine!"

Dipper sighed, she had a point. But still out of all people...Pacifica Northwest? The newest person to join the circus? A blonde bombshell who wore a headscarf and seemed to look down on everyone and everything?

Dipper was beginning to run faster around the tents. He had to find this girl soon. Dinner was almost ready, and he knew that while she seemingly didn't care for it at all he was a growing boy...he needed to reach his calorie quota!

"Pacifica! Pac-AK!" Dipper shouted as he ran face first into the large coveralled gut of a giggling man.
"Oop! Sorry dude." Soos said reaching down and helping him back to his feet. Soos was the resident handyman of the circus, if it broke he fixed it, or at least made it less broken. He also used to have an act where he would dress up as a gorilla and terrify customers. That was until Stan sold the gorilla suit and an enormous man attempting to terrify paying customers never seemed to work without the suit.

He was a large jolly man who lived in the circus with his grandmother who was the cook. He also was Stan's typical right hand man when it came to schemes of any sort. And he would do them. Without a second question no matter whatever it might be. No matter how humiliating or disgusting he was game for it.

"It's okay." Dipper said smiling up. Soos was amazingly enough one of the few men in the circus that Dipper felt really close to, it might have helped that he was smarter than him but they bonded over stuff. Guy stuff. Like setting hotdogs on fire.
"Oh wait have you seen Pacifica Northwest? I need to ask her something."
"Oh I wish I knew where she was sorry dude. Still it's about time that you moved on from Wendy glad to see you sort of...reaching out."
"I..what? No I need to know if she will be in Mabel's act."
"OH! OHHHH! That makes more sense, but nope dude don't know where she is."
"What do you mean move on from Wendy? And reach out?"
"Oh that's a good idea, Wendy would know where she is! I saw her in the big tent practicing her axe throwing you should ask her!" Soos said before he quickly scuttled off waving over his shoulder.

"Okay...I guess I'll ask Wendy. Weird." Dipper muttered to himself, he wondered what Soos meant by move on? Sure he had a crush on the older girl when he was twelve but after hanging around her for three years he had successfully moved on. Especially thanks to the fact that she had let him down at least a couple of times. He had to admit when he was younger he had been sort of weird.

In his defense the entire circus was weird, it was one enormous mystery to him at times. Which was one of the few things he liked about it. It kept him on his toes, it kept him aware and sharp and focused. The only downside was he sometimes noticed gnomes running around that no one else cared to mention besides Mabel. Still that just meant the two of them were sharper than the rest!

Dipper walked to the red and black striped tent that belonged to the Courodry family that traveled with the circus off and on. Wendy worked at the Mystery Circus full time though and had her own place. She used this tent to practice her axe throwing act.

Dipper ducked as a shiny sharpened axe nearly cleaved off his head.
"Whoops. Sorry man." Wendy chuckled. She walked over to where the axe had imbedded itself quivering in a support beam and pulled it out. The redhead was a master at throwing things. She just so happened to use axes because they looked cooler than knives. Dipper absentmindedly wondered if she would put him in her act, but decided against asking, he wanted to come up with something for himself, something independent and cool that would knock everyones socks off! Not to mention he hated having axes flung at him.

"What can I do for you Dipper?" Wendy asked before going back to her table and grasping another axe.
"Well I'm actually looking for Pacifica Northwest do you know where she is?"
"Main tent I think, if not there then her trailer. Why she needs one to herself I have no idea." Wendy said balancing an axe on the tip of her middle finger. "Why you looking for her anyway?"

"Mabel needs her for her act I think I'm going to try out my own." Wendy nodded and smiled
"Dude I cannot wait to see it, I bet it's gonna be boss." Dipper smiled and quickly ducked out of the tent in case he started blushing, sure he was over her mentally but that didn't mean that he still didn't get flustered around her sometimes.

The main tent was an enormous brown and yellow monstrosity with the letters "MYSTERY CIRCUS" In eight foot letters across the front, it also had a strange stone mason symbol and tinier triangle decorated all across it. Honestly whenever they took it down it would give Dipper the willies. Mostly because the eyes appeared to be blinking.

Dipper ducked through the main tent flap and looked around the space. A few hundred bleacher seats were set up, a net was placed between the three main support beams and the tightrope was extended along with the trapeze artists things. The three rings were being painted somewhere and would be returned later that day.

Dipper looked around, in the gloomy interior he could not spot Pacifica. Then he got a sniff of tobacco and knew that she was in there somewhere. He turned to follow the smell and coughed when he got a face full of the stuff blown directly at him.

The blonde girl was lounging on a bleacher, beside her was a trashy magazine one of her many vices. Among them expensive cigarettes, expensive clothing and preening over her hair for an hour each day.
Dipper coughed up his lung and wiped at his eyes.
"Those things will kill you someday."
"HA! Planing on it." She responded snidely before taking another drag from her cigarette holder. The girl was wearing a purple dancers dress with a small silver circlet around her head, with a purple peacock feather jauntily sticking out of the top. "What do you want?"

"It's mostly about what Mabel wants. She wants you to be in her show."
"I thought that was your twin thing." She responded absentmindedly flipping through her magazine and ignoring his eye contact.
"I'm trying to do my own act." He said testily, it had been the third or fourth time that day he had needed to explain this, and he still hadn't told his great uncle yet so there was still that to look forward to.

Pacifica looked up at him and shrugged. "Why not? It's not as if my act doesn't have time for me to bring up your sisters quality."

"Don't insult my sister." He snapped angrily at her. She looked up and glowered at him her eyebrows meeting together to form a thin unibrow.
"Don't talk to me that way."
"I don't know where you came from but here you get respect by giving it." He responded, Pacifica had joined the troupe a few months back, oddly enough from around the area, they had just come back to complete a circle, Dipper still had no idea why she didn't get the basic circus rules yet. She was always being very...pushy. Why Stan didn't just kick her out Dipper had no idea.

"Fine." She ground out "I'll be in Mabel's show. It might give me a sense of why peasants like it in the first place."
"Stop calling people peasants it's rude." Dipper's stomach growled and he placed a hand over it. Dinner time. "Come on lets go eat." Pacifica took another drag on her cigarette before grinding it out. She held a hand out to him as if she expected him to kiss it. He looked at it questioningly for a few seconds before he realized she wanted him to help her up.

He rolled his eyes but reached down anyways and lifted her to her feet. Her gloves that she always wore were very soft, silk. He rubbed at them for a moment. He wondered if her skin was as soft underneath, his was worn from being outside working all the time, and stained with ink from his constant reading.
"Ahem." She coughed, he looked up and blushed, she was also a dark red. "Thank you." She said curtly before turning and strutting out of the tent, he watched her blonde locks bounce behind her.
"Well? You're the one who wanted dinner right?" She called over her shoulder. Without any more prompting Dipper quickly followed after her.

Keep your eyes peeled for a follow up to this. Please remember to read and review. I own nothing not even this computer. Story idea from Barbacar.