Pacifica had been in a pink dress that her mom had picked just for her. Her mom made sure to have someone fuss with her hair the entire trip on the plane. A lady she didn't really know and wouldn't remember had spent an hour putting mush in her hair that made it itch but she didn't dare scratch her scalp because once it was done her mom cooed about how pretty she was. Her father said he agreed, though she pouted and held her breath until he actually looked at her while saying that.

In retrospect it was an obvious contrast. She was dressed in a casual shirt, decorated with bright rainbow colors and stars. There were squids on her shirt, not like the ones she have seen in a fish tank, less like real squids and more like she'd seen in cartoons. Squiddles, the characters were called. Though a few of their faces had been scribbled on with a dark mark that clashed with the entire shirt. Probably doodled on with the pen she had always carried around that age.

They both had yellow hair, though unlike hers which was the result of hours of work, the other girl's had been ruffled up. Probably from playing with that cat she once had at that age.

She wanted to play with her despite this. She was young and didn't know better. "Now Pacifica. Your mother and I have a bit of business with Miss Lalonde. Why won't you and your little friend play?"

Her father had allowed her to even though he normally discouraged her from playing with someone whose clothes were like her's or whose hair was as messy as her's. She didn't have to be asked twice. In fact she didn't wait in case her dad changed his mind.

They had exchanged names. She called herself "Pacifica Northwest" and her new friend had introduced herself as "Rose Lalonde." She had said it very well and it gave her a bit of an indication that she was a bit more like the usual group of kids she had been allowed to play with. She sounded smart. Pacifica was excited because while her parents loved it when she was smart, what they liked even more was when she spoke to others who were smart.

They had of course allowed the two girls to go off on their own. Her parents didn't even leave a servant with them. The help was told to wait in the car instead or told to help maintain a nearby estate. Miss Lalonde didn't have any servants which confused Pacifica because her mom and dad said that she could easily afford them.

No servants meant that the two girls were by themselves. Because there were no servants to entertain them, Pacifica let Rose pick a game.

They pretended that Rose's squiddles were monsters and they were two magic girls who had to beat them up. Well Rose wanted to be called a wizard and Pacifica wanted to be a fairy, but they both did do magic. Tentacles flew at them. Not really. The squiddles couldn't move, they were toys, but they threw them up in the air. When gravity took over and they started to come down it was as if they had jumped at them.

They would knock them away, throw them at each other. At one point Rose poked her finger at one of the plushies and said a long strings of words that Pacifica was sure that she made up. Of course nothing happened when her friend was done shouting. The squiddle stayed in place, but Pacifica stepped forward and punted it against the wall and they both pretended that it was Rose who did it.

It was fun. Pacifica had fun. So much so that she laugh so hard that she squeaked. For a moment she gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. Rose looked at her and she looked around the hall. She heard no footsteps and she didn't hear her mom nor her dad scold her. She couldn't hide the large smile she wore behind her hands, at least not from Rose.

Her friend must've liked it because at the moment she started to tinkle her on both side of her belly. Pacifica was moving and loud and no one was going to tell her that she shouldn't be moving or that she couldn't be loud.

It was the best time ever.

Rose's mom talked funny. She said a lot of words wrong, but the young heiress ignored that when she asked Pacifica if she had fun. The girl instead beamed "Yes," before she scurried over to her mom and dad. She let out. some giggles that she had known were a bit underneath her but she high on the excitement of the day.

When the chauffeur had started the car, Pacifica saw her friend wave goodbye furiously at her limo and she waved back just at hard. She didn't stop until she lost sight of her.

Eventually she was told to sit down and put on her seatbelt. Her parents didn't and she suspected that she had to buckle up so that she wouldn't move around and not because they thought she would be safer.

"Finally. It felt like that woman was going to waste away our night." It was like her mother was waiting to out of sight of the manor. Like they could her lips from a mile away.

"Now dear, I think that a evening spent is a small price to pay to continue our lucrative arrangement." He scolded but in a way that made it blatantly obvious that he agreed with every word she said. He didn't so much as frown.

"Did you see her? Her hair? Her clothes if I could even call them that. That child was an absolute mess." That was true. Pacifica knew that. Her mother didn't allow her to play with kids who had such messy hair. She forgot that. It was silly of her.

"Now now, at least we didn't have to spend too much time around the child." Her father glared at a random corner of the limo. "Unlike last time."

"Lalonde isn't teaching her discipline." Her mother flared. "I don't care if she score well on whatever exams her mother put her through. Socially the girl is turning into a real freak."

Pacifica felt her head fingers graze her hair slightly. She turned to her father, who looked down on her. "Which is why I'm so proud of our little Pacifica, keeping that hellion of her's under control for so long."

To her mother that was a cause of concern. "A terrible influence. She's going to leave our poor daughter traumatized."

"She is above such things. A Northwest knows that some actions are necessary. You have no problem with continuing this charade, do you princess?"

"No daddy." Pacifica looked down. Not because what her father was asking her was hard but because it had been too easy.

If her father saw the hesitant look on her face, he didn't respond to it. "See. She can handle it."

The crayon twisted as the spiral came to an end. Rose picked the paper up from the floor and examined her work. "I think this is right. I have trouble understanding what Jasper is telling me."

"He's a cat." Pacifica pressed a button. The television flashed and skip as the channel changed

"Well ya I know." Rose didn't understand why Pacifics had mentioned it. Did she think that she had actually forgotten? She drew down a couple more symbols. She had used mostly purple and black but there had to be some green. That felt right.

She could've been wrong of course, but there had to be some guest work with secretive forbidden knowledge and she had been doing all the leg work. Pacifica had been really unhelpful that day.

Rose shifts between rubbing her pet's belly and translating his purrs into spells. It was something that really needed four hands and Rose had to make due with her two. She didn't know why Pacifica couldn't at least scratch behind the cat's ears. The joy the kitten felt was contagious. Pacifica just seemed stuck on the couch, her cheek seeping into the cushion. She raised the tv remote high as she channel surfed.

Rose didn't hate tv. It just that she got to watch it all the time. She is usually by herself and no one ever came over. Pacifica didn't even look happy. She was just watching tv cause she could.

Rose glared at Pacifica for a moment. She moved Jasper from off her lap, much to his displeasure and scooted up from the floor. The sheet of paper was in one hand. She skipped between Pacifica and the tv and held the sheet to her.

"All done." Not really. The sheet wasn't glowing or doing any magic stuff. Right then it was just a mismatch of random markings, but Rose figured she could finish it later. Pacifica was bored.

Pacifica took one look at the sheet. She sat up and than laid back down. This time in the other direction so she could see behind Rose. She flip the channel.

"Wanna fight some monsters?" They didn't have real monsters to fight. Her plushies would had taken the place, if Pacifica had said yes. The only response Rose got was a slight hiccup in the tv's audio.

I read a lot of books about the brain, do you want to play doctor? There a weird door in the antic, what to take a look at it?

Rose rattled whatever request she could think of in a short time but she got the same answer each time. The absence of a response other than the click of the remote.

"Squiddles!" Rose cheered. The colorful animation flared on. The happy music filled the room. For a moment Pacifica just stared at Rose before shrugging and dropping her arm, letting the remote loose from her grip. She curled up to one corner of the couch, allowing room for Rose to sit alongside her. The small Lalonde girl pushed on the cushion, letting her feet leave the ground as she fell back onto the seat.

Squiddles is silly. Rose enjoyed it for that. She was at the age where everyone she knew liked the show. Rose thought she was more grown up than the other girls her age, but she had another reason to like the show.

"Pacifica." Rosa whipped her eyes from the tv screen to her snug companion. "Did you know if you listen really hard you can heard secret messages."

Pacifica shook her head. That felt like the first time in the whole day that Rose got an actually response from her girl.

Rose smiled, "Well listen."

Rose close her eyes and trusted that her friend would follow her lead. The moment she concentrated the peppy theme song of the cartoon faded away. She always felt good about that. Once you knew the truth, she could only see the jiggle as fake.

It felt like seeing the jumbled up version of a puzzle she already knew how to put together. It was easy to fix the true message back together.

When she did she felt proud. She was pretty sure she was the only one to figure this out. She was smart and she was rewarded by how smart she was. Like she could hear the whispers in her ear. They tickled but it was her secret. Well her's and Pacifica's now.

"There's nothing." Rose eyes shot open. Pacifica was staring, glaring at her like Rose had tricked her, like she waa some kind of liar.

"You have to try harder." Rose explained. She hoped she sounded encouraging. She thought her friend would have figured it out, but to be fair Rose was the only one who had as far as she knew.

The theme quietly ended on the television, but Rose shouted "Wait" and turned on her heel. She raced out of the room and came back in, clutching a dvd case in her hands. It had 'Squiddles' spread out on it in colorful letters. Probably had a couple episodes on it.

Rose shoved it into a player right underneath the tv. She tapped her foot as she beat down on the next button, trying to skip through some ads someone thought was a good idea to put on the disc. When she could she played the first episode and the music came on again.

As the jolly son played Pacifica just stared at it. Rose frowned. "Come on. You have to try." Her friend rolled her eyes, but closed her eyes anyway. Rose rewinded to the beginning if the tune.

Rose joined her. The whispers came back. They were filled with secrets. Some of which she wasn't quite old enough to understand. Maybe when she was her mom's age she would. She just had to work at it.

Suddenly Rose was knocked off her feet. She bounced when her bottom hit the floor. She whined, more because of surprise rather than any actual pain. Rose blinked and looked at the only other person in the room. Pacifica held down on the power button for way longer than she needed to. Her breathing was heavy, she she had just screamed.

She arched over Rose, "Stop that. My mom says you're not acting like you should. You're weird."

Rose blinked. She pushed off the couch and scratched her sore behind. Pacifica glared at her and she just gave her the stink eye back. Rose responded the only way she could think off. She reeled back with both her arms and shoved the other girl back.

The remote crashed on the ground. The back of it popped open. There was a chance that it actually broke on the floor. Neither one of them really cared to check. Rose looked down on Pacifica. "You're boring."

Pacifica pinched the sides of her pure white dress and curtsied, just like she had the last time. Just like she would the next time too. Rose could almost count the beats of her greetings. Each time it was followed by the almost identical praise of whatever adult her parents had presented her in front of. Each time they would praise 'how polite she was.'

The only bit unrehearsed, as far as Rose could tell, was the genuine smile she would give her parents after each interaction. Somehow that annoyed Rose even more. What was the fun of doing everything adults told you to do?

It was bad enough that her mom actually brought her along, especially when there were only a half dozen kids her age, all of them being swarmed with personal servants and nannies. Then she learned they were all suppose to act nice and presentable. Well Rose's mother didn't really give her any such instructions. Instead she told Rose to 'have fun' and 'be herself.' She didn't know what the woman was playing at, reverse psychologically would never work on her.

The worst thing was that of these kids the only one she knew was Pacifica, who was acting never much unlike herself. She was all smiles and energy. She knew the real Northwest who didn't do anything unless she wanted to do them or you would have to drag her screaming and kicking.

If Pacifica wasn't going to act normal, than it would be Rose's job to. She would ignore the weirdness of the crowd around her. A benefit of wearing a big puffy dress was that when she sat down it wouldn't take much effort for the entire thing to cover her, acting as a barrier of sorts.

She had originally bought it for a different reason. It had a pattern that reminded her of one she saw in a fantasy novel, ones with knights and wizards, but it did a good job in giving her a little privacy. Instead of engaging the rich, she wrote to someone on her phone.

It was someone she meant on a squiddles chatroom, a friend who she would rather speak with for hours than socialize in the gathering for a minute. If she had been left alone she would've called the night a success but of course you never completely got what you wanted. Someone moved aside the cloth of her sanctuary.

It was Northwest.

Rose lowered her phone. She prepared a sharp smile, the same one she felt whenever the two of them would get into a vocal spar which they did even back than. Even if they were too young for anything more clever than implying the other smelled.

She allowed the other girl the first blow, but she just bowed her head. Pacifica pinched the sides of her pure white dress and curtsied.

Rose looked past her. Her parents wasn't in the immediate vicinity but they were there, a few feet behind her. It was very obvious who encourage her to do this.

Pacifica stood back up straight. She looked at Rose and Rose stared back and did nothing.

What was she supposed to do? Throw a javelin of a insult? Maybe she would if Pacifica was actually acting right, but she wasn't, so Rose did nothing. She just ignored her.

As she turned and walked away, Rose pondered if she was even Pacifica at that moment or if she was just her parents. Rose shook her head and brought her phone back up.

Rose almost missed when Pacifica was a complete brat. At least when she was being herself she seemed to have a will of her own.

A jar filled with optics. They were collected at the bottom but one quick movement was all it took for the orbs to scatter. Briefly rising, they sunk back down as the embalming liquid slowed the impact of gravity. It was a beautiful sight.

At the very least they were a more pleasant sight than the pair of eyes staring across at her with disgust.

"Gross." Pacifica crinkled her nose. She couldn't even feint excitement. In fact Rose felt that she was overexeggerating her reaction specifically because she was talking to Rose.

Rose almost bought them at that very moment just as a passive aggressive attack but she thought twice on it. The jar was cumbersome and she had other alchemical ingredients to buy. Rose place it down onto the wooden stand. There would always be another time.

"I don't know how you talked me into coming to this garbage heap." She lazily eyed the lightly wooded area.

"I'm afraid I don't know the why, either." Rose muttered. She fibbed a little. She knew the how and the why. They had to pretend to exchange niceties during their parentally sentenced playdate. Their parents insisted that the two would sleepover every once in a while. This time it was the Northwest's turn to host Rose.

The two girls figured that acting like they got a long was much easier when they were nowhere where Pacifica's parent could see them act contrary to that.

Rose got to picked the location. She was essentially was holding Pacifica hostage. It wasn't like Pacifica could sit at home while Rose went exploring. Otherwise Northwest would have to explain why she wasn't with Rose to her parents.

Honestly Rose didn't understand why she couldn't just lie to her parents.

"I believed that you would be able to cherish rare products." It was honestly a little of a compromise on her part. Rose had pick a market a little bit into the woods. She had read about it online. A lot of it was local knick knacks that the normal tourist would like, but there were some items of a suppose mystical nature which had attached Rose like a insect to a light.

It was mostly wooden stands with paper banners, some of the more attractive sets had striped cloth over them to keep the sun off the merchant's faces.

"Rare trash is still trash."

Another man's trash. Rose almost wanted to say that old tired line, but she didn't feel like explaining for actions to Pacifica. With a quick sweep she could see a dozens items that would be impossible for her to find online and a couple dozen more than were higher quality than what she could.

Then again she knew better than to argue with Northwest. Rose decided to walk one last circle before Pacifica could drag her back. It was a shame. The girl would probably force her to play golf or something she had no real interest in, but she rather suffer through that than her nagging.

Rose did find a few items of interest. A necklace here and some unknown tomes there. She didn't have any real time to appraise them but she immediate felt like she had made a killing. Ah Gravity Falls, why was that place so good to her?

Rose stuffed her purchases in a bag and stood in front of her host. She scratched some bug bites that acclimated on her exposed arms. "Northwest. Are you ready?"

"Oh you want to go already? Sure there isn't a shrunken head you're dying to buy?" Pacifica insincerely suggested.

"Oh, there were shrunken heads. I do believe I missed those. Maybe I should have another go." Rose didn't bother to hide a smirk on her mug as she began to walk away. She was trying to be considerate, but if the rich girl was going to be sarcastic than she could suffer.

She didn't make it far as her arm was jerked. "No. Don't." Pacifica groaned softly. The look she gave Rose caused her to feel a tiny bit mischievous.

Pacifica stomped away and Rose had no real choice but to follow her for now. It wasn't like she was afraid about mama and papa Northwest seeing them apart. No, that was Pacifica's thing, but if she didn't than she would deal with Pacifica's whining.

"The sooner we get out of here the better." Pacifica muttered, if a mutter was loud enough to wake the dead. For every three she took, Rose took a single step.

She was still keeping up well enough thanks to how exaggerated Northwest's stomps were. The pace wasn't quite to her liking however as soon the brat added "And don't you dare wander off."

"Why?" Rose asked, swallowing down a laugh "Afraid I get grabbed by something in the woods?

Pacifica rolled her eyes as she commented, "I could only hope." Strangely enough her tracks grew softer and for a second Rose could swear she saw the girl twitch as a tree branch cracked in the distance. Rose raised an eyebrow and turned her head to the passing trees. She saw nothing, but then again when have she ever relied solely on her sight for anything?

When she closed her eyes the hairs on her back stood up. She was suddenly surrounded by some thing and no matter how much she stepped forward the distance between whatever was encircling her and herself remained the same. She felt this being or force staring at her, judging her with a casual indifference that she had felt before.

She wanted to touch it, who ever or what ever it may be. So she reached out to it, but the force that grabbed on to herself wasn't it, but a corporal grasp. It irradiated her bug bites.

Pacifica held her wrist close to herself, "What are you doing?"

Rose didn't answer immediately, only offering a frustrated glare. Her company then looked down and Rose's eyes followed her sight. Her heels were at the edge of a bush. She had started to leave the path, which honestly was expected when you shut your eyelids in the middle of a walk.

"Come on." Pacifica didn't so much as let go as much as Rose snapped her hand away when the heiress began to turn.

She suppose she couldn't toss a barb remark in this occasion. After all it would look silly to someone not spiritually aware. She wasn't trying to be a jerk in this case, not actively at least.

Rose followed, but took another look at a seemingly random direction where she felt it. She would have plenty of opportunities to explore. It wasn't as if the visitations were going to end. For now she better make sure Northwest didn't metaphorically blow up.

Besides she needed aloe of some sort, her arm was itching like crazy.

It was a bit strange, she swore the markings spelled out 'beware', or maybe 'bewarb.'

Well it wasn't like she meant for the book to pop open but there it was. If she was to speak metaphorically she would of compared the tome opening to the spreading of woman's legs. Even if you weren't completely into the idea, you were at least interested to find out what was going on down there. If anything thing the words written on them would act as a defibrillator because Pacifica was so bored that her pulse was on the edge of flattening out.

To be honest Pacifica didn't know why she had to continue these playdates at the Lalonde manor as she got older. She knew her parents reasoning. It was basically them sucking up for the purpose of business deals, but she didn't know where she fit in that. On paper it was to make them all look close. Pacifica and Rose would be friends so her parents could be friends with Mrs Lalonde. In practice, they basically just stood around each other. Their best behavior was them not practicing the act of murder on the other.

One thing about getting older is that she eventually figured out how to cheat her parents. In a small act of rebellion she figured out that they only to put on the appearance of getting along when the day ended. Not a hard task, her parents put on a air of friendliness all the time. It was a skill she learned from osmosis.

They would just greet each other with a polite smile, empathise on the 'polite.' Than their parents would close themselves off in another room for a couple of hours, allowing the two to disperse away from each other until the business meeting was over. Thing is those few hours always felt like they went on forever. She thought she would get used to having to stand around for that long considering how often she had to endure these trips, but they were boring. They bored her.

There was little around her that could entertain her. Maybe when she was younger she could spend a sufficient amount of time rolling her eyes at Mrs Lalonde's rather unique decor, or even marvel at it when she was much younger, but now she was far to use to the strange home. She hated to admit it but it almost gave her a sense of normalcy.

That just meant that she knew everything about the place. There was nothing completely new for her to discover. She seen the old suits of armor, the statues of wizards, and even that blatantly expensive golden frame that held nothing more than a poorly dimensioned jpg of a sorcerer. She been in the impressively large, but somehow empty wine cellar, the room filled to the brim with toys much too dated to have belonged to Rose and the observatory where she could be alone with the stars.

There were very few places that she hadn't been. Miss Lalonde's personal chamber for obvious reasons. She had caught glimpses of the similarly modest kitchen but has never really gone in, seeing as that's where their parents had their meetings. She had always wondered about the tiny house behind the mansion. It was built long ago and she didn't know what for. It had just popped up between visits and she never wanted to deal with Rose long enough to get a straight answer about the construct. She has thought about simply walking about but there was always a chance that she would be spotted. She wouldn't want to explain why she was outside when she was suppose to be inside keeping Lalonde company. The only thing she knew was that the girl really seem to hate the thing.

Pacifica could've used this to irritate the girl, but she was far too mature for such childish teasing. Also she got bored of doing so after about a year or two.

There was one other place she could explore, if for no reason other to have a sense of completion: Rose's Room.

Pacifica wanted to ignore that stray thought. Lalonde's domain shouldn't count. She had been there, once when they had first met, when the creepy girl had tricked her into playing her stupid games. That should've been enough to gratify her curiosity, she thought logically, but once the idea had entered her mind her body just moved without her directing it to. Soon her hand was gripping around a familiar door knob.

She fiddled with it but she didn't enter. Not immediately.

There were obvious reasons for her not to barge in. The moody kid's room was probably cursed was a big one. Rose talked about monsters and demons almost exclusively and while Pacifica would insist that anything said by Lalonde was beneath her, the moment her toes touched her door the chatter seemed less like an annoyance and more like a warning. Like some weird goblin thing would bite her ankles if the other blonde saw Pacifica invading her personal space.

No that was ridiculous, there were perfectly normal reasons to be afraid of the goth girl. The fact that she spoke about spirits and demons so casual in the first place didn't point at a stable mind. She was probably a future serial killer or something.

That building behind the mansion was probably where she hid her victims. Man, she couldn't wait to tell her friends back at Gravity Falls about that revelation.

She should probably think of some excuse for entering the girl's room. Pacifica didn't know where Lalonde was, but if she was anywhere it was most likely her room. Something small, so that Rose would be able to fix it quickly and Pacifica wouldn't have to spend any more time than necessary around her.

"Lalonde, what's your Wifi password?" Pacifica swung the door open and spoke to absolutely no one.

Well she had opened the door and saw what was inside. Technically that all she had needed to do, but if no one was there then there was absolutely no way that she wasn't going to take the time to snoop. It was only natural.

Pacifica stepped in and noticed that the room was more normal than she would've guessed. That wasn't saying much, she had feared summoning circles and voodoo dolls. There were monsters with like weird yellow eyes and purple and pale tentacles, but those were only posters, the cover of books, and a couple plushies here or there. Still strange but probably not enough to get a hex placed on her or for Pacifica to call a psych ward.

There was a violin, which shouldn't have been a surprise. Rose came from wealth and it was the duty of the wealth to show how well rounded they were. Pacifica's father made sure that she had musical accomplishments under her belt. He signed her up for piano, which she loved very much even if there were a number of other instruments that had caught her eye, but didn't pass her mother's approval. The only weird part was that Rose's mom never usually force her to do anything, but she must have. How else would the string instrument have made it's way to Rose's domain?

There was yarn scattered all over the place. The material was unraveled from an assortment of hats, scarves and mittens, and that made Pacifica feel a bit dumb. She knew that Lalonde carried around a duo of knitting needles, but she never actually connected it with Rose having knitting as a hobby. She always thought the girl just carried them around because she was a nerd who thought pointy objects made her look cool.

Pacifica pinched an article of clothing that laid on Rose's bed and lifted it. It was black and purple. Rose honestly had to be obsessed with the color combination, not really bad honestly but much too dreary for her. When she raised it higher to get a better look, there was resistance. Something was on the other end of the scarf. Pacifica pulled harder and there was a thump, like a hammer had dropped. The cloth had been stuck underneath a book of some sort, but when disturbed toppled over onto the floor.

The letters weren't print. Not that the handwriting wasn't organized. It was great calligraphy, but if it was handwritten that meant that it was written by someone in this house and considering it was in Lalonde's room, one plus one made two.

It wasn't as if she meant to crack open Rose's diary or something. She had a legitimate reason to be in the room: the wifi password and the book had honestly opened right in front of her, with only indirect intervention on her part. It was only polite to put the object onto Rose's bed and if she just so happened to glance upon a couple words that wouldn't be unthinkable.

It was a bit dim so Pacifica had to turn up the lights. For atmosphere, positive energy and definitely not because reading in the dark was bad for your eyes.

Witchcraft and monsters, those were things that Rose were into. That was a understatement if anything, but what Pacifica could plainly see is what she had assume was Rose's diary wasn't Rose's diary. It was a straight fantasy novel. She used the term novel very loosely in this case. It was blatant escapist fantasy. Anyone who've seen the goth would be able to tell that the main heroine was base on the writer, right down to the lack of social awareness and the know it all attitude.

Of course she made the character flawless, not in the 'too good to be true' type of way, but in a in a way where reality bent itself over to make everything she did incredibly easy. She could practically feel how cool Rose must've thought her own creation was, gushing from every page. Also every choice the heroine made was the right one, even when they were blatant bad decisions.

Ya go ahead and listen to the world's sketchiest written character. No, it didn't make it better for the heroine to point out how sketchy the guy was if she was still stupid enough to follow his advice.

The plot was avenge. The heroine had a mysterious mark, no doubt marking her as the chosen one. She traveled to find her destiny. She eventually runs into three other adventurers. One was a swordsman who had the same mark as the heroine. Obvious her long lost brother or something along those lines. The mark lead them to some ancient prophecy, because of course it would and now they were being led by a mysterious trickster. They kept on following him no matter how hard Pacifica wanted them not to.

"Northwest"

Seriously why didn't anyone of them question what the obvious villain was telling them to do? She had to keep reading just to see how Rose bullshit the party from dying by their own stupidity.

"Northwest"

Now that she thought about, everyone was probably distracted by the clumsily written romantic subplots to listen to their own survival instincts. Like the whole entire book was dedicated in putting the long lost brother with this star gazing hunter girl, but anyone literate could plainly see that the brother was constantly hitting on the strong man comedy relief. She almost felt embarrassed just reading the flirtatious subtext. Pacifica might have thought many things about Rose, but she didn't believe that Lalonde was so social inept that she didn't see what she was doing with the two guys. They deserved to be happy after all the terrible things she made them go though, like the brother finding his mentor's corpse or the strong man having to flee from his destroyed home. She was going to snap this shitty book in half if they didn't resolve the blatant sexual tension.

"Pacifica."

"What?" Northwest holding the journal open, a hand on each hand, smacked the tome down. It made a splat sound as it hit the covers of Rose's bed. Pacifica bit at the air as turned to a voice. Couldn't they see that she was a in the middle of something?

Pacifica suddenly felt the back of her neck burn as she gazed on who the owner of the yell was. She didn't need to point out that it was Rose. Obviously Rose would be in her room. Pacifica honestly was surprised that she hadn't been there before. What was surprising was that she had for all Pacifica knew materialized out of the ethereal plane like the shittiest poltergeist. She had only stopped by for a moment to quickly read what she had assumed was Lalonde's deepest secrets. She should've still had plenty time to slip out while Rose was in the bathroom or whatever. She should've at least heard her footsteps.

"Mister and Missus Northwest are downstairs waiting for us to conclude our socializing." So soon? Her parents usually took a lot longer than this. Were they finally breaking out of their routine? Pacifica threw the novel aside and reached into her pocket for her cell. No it was the usually time of departure. That couldn't have been right. It was definitely nowhere near that time just seconds ago.

"Did you enjoy my work, Northwest?" Pacifica turned from her phone to her host. The girl had given her a wide berth as she walked around her to her journal. "One of my older tales, but one I am fond of. I unfortunately never scribed the cessation of this particular adventure."

"Oh." Pacifica frowned. Wait a minute her tone didn't sound right. She shook her head and tried once more, "Oh. Well looks like you had enough common sense to not continue that mess."

Good job Northwest. That sounded like something you would say to Lalonde.

"Perhaps. I was contemplating a continuation of this campaign." Rose's face was her usually brand of indifference, however there was something behind her irises. It was like she could see her writing being jotted down in front of her.

"Really?" Pacifica thought her words carefully but could only let out that masterfully crafted sentence.

"Yes, would you like to skim it when I do? Seeing as you seem have made some stride through my scripture and are halfway to the erupt hiatus."

"No." she didn't want anything to do with Rose's creepy fantasies. She didn't say that. Pacifica instead paused with her lips squished together before amending her statement. "I mean do whatever you want. What am I, the boss of you?"

"That would be an incorrect title given to you." Rose cleared her float in a way that made it sound like a small chuckle. Lalonde than reminded Pacifica that her parents were waiting downstairs. She didn't make them wait for anything under than a quick statement insisting to her host that she did not enjoy reading through her musing a bit. She didn't hear a vocal response, neither did she turn around to gauge her expression.

A couple months later and the Lalodes housed the Northwests once again. The girls went their separate ways once again. This time Pacifica made note of which direction Rose went. She guess she headed to the observatory. She was probably used it for star reading or some mojo like that. The important part was that meant the girl wasn't heading to her room, which meant that Pacifica could.

The young heiress moved through the halls with the grace suited to her status and a bit more stealth than was probably necessary as she drew close to her destination.

She turned the doorknob and gently pushed against the door. On Rose's bed was a book. This one was a different color and it looked new. This must've been the next chapter in Lalonde's 'saga.'

Pacifica climbed onto the bed and got comfortable. She pulled the tome onto lap like a blanket and cracked it open. She would take a quick peek and no one would be the wiser.

She began to read the foreword. Yes, there was a foreword like it was an officially released boom. Lalonde was giant nerd.

It read: I would like to dedicate this piece to one of the first of my fans that I had the pleasure of meeting face to face. It is always a delight to share my ideas with others. I hope you enjoy this tale Pacifica ;)
-Rose Lalonde

Son of a bitch, this was a set up. Pacifica looked around, expecting the author to burst right through her bedroom door like the kool aid man. She didn't and Pacficia let out a sigh of relief. That kind of turn her off from the idea of reading the thing. She couldn't let Rose believe she actually liked her amateurish product.

She would close the book, leave the room and distract herself with some other meaningless task.

No, that was a lie. She read the thing non-stop, only to get interrupted by Rose once again when it was time to go home.

Rose lifted her pen, bit the end of it and dropped it back on the page once more. Her eyes followed her hand as she draped the page with ink.

In her hands were a brown book, to her side was a small table stand. On top of it was a lamp with a purple shade. It was pushed to the edge because she had to move it to fit her laptop on the surface. Next to that was a small notepad.

There was a couch, which she ignored just so she could finish her though. She looked up at the chaise loungue in front of her. Pacifica sat up, gripping the top of the chair, "Hey what are you writing. Nothing from this better get out to anymore. I'll sue you."

Rose tried not to roll her eyes. She instead twisted the pen between her fingers. "Don't be ridiculous Northwest, doctor-patient confidentiality. I have professionalism to uphold."

"Ya sure." Pacifica didn't fight the urge. If anything she exaggerated the motion. She slipped back into lying down. "Professionalism from the girl playing therapist."

"We haven't even started Pacifica. There is nothing for me to write down, let alone anything that could be used to harm you. I was just finishing a chapter for one of my projects. You can read it later." Rose moved the book onto the table next to her. She slipped it underneath her open laptop. She lifted the notepad up and flipped over a page.

Pacifica scoffed "Like I want to."

Rose put it to the side for her anyway. "I'm not doing this to make a fool of you. If I really wanted to embarrass you I already have sufficient material to do so."

"An eye for an eye Lalonde." Pacifica threatened. She didn't seem to understand how empty it was. Rose unlike Northwest didn't care. The analyst decided to drop that line of dialogue anyway.

"Because this is your first session I believe that we should start with a questionnaire. I have not prepare one beforehand, but we should have suffice time for me to read you the questions." Rose moved her hands onto her computer's trackpad and brought up the relevant documents. She took a glance at Pacifica. She had to admit that the heiress looked like she was taking it seriously.

She stares at the ceiling. Her hands were on her stomach, interlaces.

Rose clicked down on the pad, bringing in the final paper. "Now Pacifica. I'm going to make a few statements. I want you to tell me how much you feel these statements correspond with how you feel about yourself with 1 being 'never' and 5 being 'always'. Don't think too much about your answers, just tell me your first instinctual answer."

"Ok" Pacifica breathed in through her nose. "I got it." Pacifica breathed out out through her lips.

"I'm slow to embrace new ideas."

"1."

"I'm always fixing to be the center of attention."

"5."

They went through this back and forth for a bit. Nothing seemed to out of place. Other lines Rose read included 'Some people I lend money don't seem to give it back' and 'I get angry'. They were respectively a 5 and 3. If it was anyone other than Northwest that first one could be a little concerning but Lalonde didn't think that she minded. Pacifica probably embrace the chance to show out how rich she was, how she had no problem losing what she thought was pocket change.

Everything as far as she could tell was in line with how she as someone who grew up with the rich girl knew her. "Others' opinions are more important than mine."

When Pacifica actually hesitated in a sentence it almost unbalanced Rose. She began opening her lips to read the next statement only for her to shut them when her brain to caught up. She waited a moment for her patient to answer. She didn't. "Pacifica?"

"3" It sounded way more like a question than a statement.

Rose jointed some words down on her notepad. "Pacifica please answer honestly and without hesitation. It's important to the process."

"Right, sorry."

Rose raised an eyebrow. There was no need for an apology. Rose hadn't expected one to come out Pacifica anyway. "Just remember quickly and honestly." Rose looked at the next line. "People take my things without asking."

"1." Pacifica nodded after she spoke.

"I would rather attend to others than attend to myself."

"2."

"I have difficulty asking for what I want or what I need."

"5."

"I have a hard time knowing how I really feel."

"5."

"I feel like my happiness depends on circumstances outside of me."

"5."

Rose paused. She took a moment to stare between the questionnaire on her laptop screen. It must've been too bright because it began to hurt her eyes. Her hand traced her face, rubbed her eyelids. Some pages of her notepad flipped over. She checked the answers.

"Well?" Rose shook. For a moment she had forgotten that Pacifica was right in front of her. The girl was starting to sit up again. "What, you're going to tell me I'm like nuts or something?" She hadn't looked upset. It was always like she didn't realize that she just dropped some strange revelations. She had to answer quickly and be neutral.

"Northwest." No that was too informal, "Pacifica." Rose fingered through the pages of her notepad. "I do have a few things I would like for you to clarify. Before you seem to get stuck on a statement."

"Ya, I just spaced out." Pacifica nodded slowly.

"You gave it a 3. Would you say that was accurate?"

"Ya about." Rose didn't believe that.

She didn't push the statement. Instead she went down the next item in her list. "Just making sure that my data is authentic. When I made the statement 'I have a hard time knowing how I really feel', you gave that a 5, correct?"

"I guess." Pacifica said, though Rose silently thought that the ambiguity of the statement was unlike the girl.

"Do you feel that way now?"

"No" Pacifica blinked "I don't think so."

"Could you think of some examples of when you feel that way?"

"Probably when I get something wrong." Pacifica said.

"Something wrong?" Rose scrunched her eyebrows.

"Sometimes I pick out the wrong clothes or the wrong activity." Pacifica offered a few examples.

"What activities?"

"I don't know, just stuff that we're not supposed to be into." Pacifica clarified, clumping the two of them into a single group.

Rose ignored her gut reaction to disassociate herself from her patient. "Who decides they're wrong?"

"I don't know. They're just are. Maybe the lower class." Pacifica half joked. As far as she was aware that was as good an answer as any.

"Who tells you that they're wrong?"

"Dad does" Pacifica answered. With a second thought she hastily added "and mom."

"So your parents. You weigh your actions base on what they tell you?" Rose didn't like that, but she suppose it was normal for some to put their parents in high regard.

"Ya duh." Pacifics rolled her eyes. "They're parents. You're suppose to listen to them."

Not necessarily. "Have you ever had a difference of opinion?"

"Ya, but that's because I was wrong." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They told me what was right."

Rose shook her head. "I mean, have they corrected your behavior and you still believed you were right." Soon as she explained she watched the girl across the room freeze."Pacifica." Rose called out.

There was no response.

"What happens than?" Lalonde raised her voice way more than she meant too. "Pacifica."

"I." Pacifica blinked. Whatever spell she was under broke. Maybe all what was even was time for her mind to catch up to the conversation. "I don't have to say anything."

"Pacifica." Rose opened her mouth and than closed it. Lifting her pen she began to cross off her note, scribbling through them until they were illegible. She gazed through one corner of her eye, contemplating, before speaking. "This house is a bit large. Mom keeps on finding all sorts of junk and bagatelle and have yet to make a significant impact on it's capacity." "It would be a wonderful location to keep someone hidden, if the need were to arise."

"Are you threatening me? Planning on stashing my body in this dump?" Pacifica sounded shocked at first, but retreated to a more irritated tone. "You don't have to go that far just because I won't let you play therapist."

"No, I wasn't trying to." Looking back Rose understood that her statement could be interrupted in that way. Rose pinched the bridge if her nose. "I believed it was something that needed to be said." She looked Pacifica in the eye. "Just remember I said it. It might prove useful."

Pacifica obviously wasn't impressed with the offer. "Alright."

Rose swallowed. "Please." She looked her straight in the eye.

Pacifica stared back, before glancing at an imaginary line on the floor. She looked back at Rose. "Ya. Got it." She nodded slowly. "I'll remember that."

"I must apologize for that by the way." Pacifica never expected such a sincere tone to come out of Rose's mouth. It was so unexpected that she actually could only respond with a genuine "It's fine."

This time they were sleeping over at Rose's house. It was annoying enough to spend a whole twenty four hours with the girl but at least in gravity falls she had her posse to suffer though it with her. Not even mentioning the freedom she had. The Lalonde manor was deep in the woods and they didn't even have a chauffeur to take them into town. She was stranded.

It wasn't the first time. Her parents made her suffer through the quality time with Lalonde many times, but it was the first time that Mrs Lalonde, or Roxy as the much older woman insist she be called, was there. She was usually busy at the office. If that was anything like Pacifica own parents, she imagined that it had a lot to do with socializing with other members of the upper class.

Usually they would just spend the time loafing around. Rose would be at her computer a lot of the time and Pacifica would be preoccupied with her own thing.

Specifically she would be reading though Lalonde's newest writings which she pretended to know nothing about, but that was fine because after the initial embarrassment Rose played along and pretended not to notice that she was even in the room.

Pacifica suspected that she kept an ear out on Pacifica's reactions as she made improvements on her craft.

It wasn't the best way to spend time but she also couldn't argue that it was the worst. All that went out the window when 'Roxy' informed them that she would be in for the day.

They had dinner, Roxy's cooking. It wasn't Pacifica's first time tasting home cooking. Mrs Lalonde had left the duo some meals to be microwaved in the past and despite not being exactly five star quality she couldn't say that she didn't enjoy eating them. It was a bit less joyful eating at a table with Mrs Lalonde than it was eating casually in Rose's room.

It wasn't because it broke the flow of things or because the fact that even though she knew the woman long enough that was particularly her aunt, but because the manners that her parents drilled into her caused her to grow rigid. She knew that Rose's mom was ludicrously lenient, but on the other hand she was a rich, successful adult; everything she was taught to respect.

This turned out to be a wasted effort. She knew it would be. Rose didn't care about such stuff and she obvious got that from her mother.

What Pacifica wasn't prepared for was why it was a wasted effort. She had expected the woman to maybe lightly chastise her, for mom Lalonde to tell her to relax, forcing Pacifica to concentrate so she could try and do just that. It wasn't as if she hadn't before.

What Pacifica got instead was "So how are your mom's new boobs?"

Now a Northwest would never do anything as indignifying as a spit take, but let's just say that all the fruit punch in her mouth mysteriously vanished and the table became wet for some reason.

"So I told her that if she wanted a procedure, she should come to me," If the matron saw Pacifica's reaction, and it would be hard for her not to, than she had chose to completely ignore it. "but she wanted to go to some fancy guy in hollywood. And I know that I'm not a doctor. Well not a 'practicing' doctor. I do have my doctorates - but I know way more about the human body than whoever she's overpaying. I mean if she's not careful, the girls are gonna end up looking horrid bear."

Mrs Lalonde blinked, "horned bull. Horror bubble." She started to laugh at herself, "Horror bubble, couldn't you just imagine some scary flick where teenagers are running from a big old bubble? I'm a riot."

Pacifica opened her mouth. She didn't make noise or anything. She just opened it.

Thankfully for Pacifica, Rose spoke up.

In her opinion, that is a phrase that shouldn't exist.

"Mother. I do believe that the topic of Mrs Northwest bosoms are a bold topic for the dinner table, but is a bit too much for our innocent minds to handle." Rose pushed aside some potatoes on her plate. "And it seems that Pacifica is in need of something to drink."

"Oh my." Mother Lalonde spoke with way more urgency than was needed. "Hold on one moment dear." She shot out of her chair, turned and bunny hopped into the kitchen. Pacifica never understood why someone rich enough that her family sucked up to didn't hired a gang of servants.

Mrs Lalonde stepped right back in. "I got you my dear." She leaned over her as she pour juice into her glass. Pacifica took a breath through her nose. She immediately regretted it. The woman smelled.

It wasn't completely strange to her, but did remind her of some louder guest at her parent's parties.

"I hope you're enjoying my cooking." Roxy filled the glass to the top, left the bottle near her and returned to her seat.

Pacifica actually enjoyed it a lot admittedly. The microwave hadn't done her any justice. The food was great fresh.

"And don't worry about spilling. I do it all the time." The woman smiled. She picked up a glass and proceeded to miss her mouth. She pinches the fabric she was wearing and laughed, "Oh look at me. Doing it now."

In the end they finished eating. They, as in Rose and Pacifica. The lady of the house ended up ducking out early. Her plate was still half full, but Pacifica could hear snoring from the next room over.

"It's fine." Pacifica knew why Rose was apologizing, but she didn't know that Rose could apologize. She heard it, and it almost caused Pacifica to be polite right back. She could offer a positive. Yes her mother's behavior was kind of below her, but the food was good. She was honest about that.

"No, it is not 'fine'." Rose hissed, "I didn't fathom that she would continue her passive aggressive behavior while you were here."

What?

Did Rose call her mother passing out, passive aggression?

"I suppose I have to go through the trouble of propagating the duel. Maybe brewing some coffee in return for 'the lovely food and company she provided'. Rose stepped up from her seat.

"Lalonde, what are you on?" Pacifica accused.

Rose walked over to a cabinet, she reached up and took out a tin. "I'm on the journey of revenge, Northwest."

It was Pacifica's turn to stand. "Your mom is drunk in the other room."

"So she is making it seem. A move that she has to commit to now, but obviously isn't too low for her to pull off." Rose squeezed the tin in her armpit.

"Shouldn't we, like make sure she's on her side?"

"A smart move. I'll move a bucket to her side in a moment. For when she pretends to vomit."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Was Rose's mind so out of touch with reality that she didn't even realize her mom was really drunk?

"I wish I was. My mom is the type of woman to do such a thing. I have come to accept it." Rose snuck her nails under the lid of the tin and popped it open. There was a small puff of brown dust. "You can't invent more acceptable realities for your parents."

Rose knocked on the door once than twice. There wasn't an answer but Rose knew that she had the correct room. "Pacifica, I'm coming in."

She hadn't even cracked the door before she heard. "What, come to kick me when I'm down?"

"No, I don't particularly take pleasure in such things." Rose shrugged. In truth she came more because she was curious. The first thing the girl did was rush right in. She didn't even offer a faux polite greeting as was normal.

"Than why are you here?" Pacifica raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying the casual dismissal.

"This is my room." In fact Northwest was curled up on Rose's bed. She hadn't even taken off her shoes. Rude.

"Oh." Pacifica just stared back at her. The girl took a breath."So no hurling insults because I'm broke now?"

Rose felt her hands start to move up. No doubt that they felt the urge to make quotation marks at the mention of the word 'broke.' Rose forced her arms to her side. Now wasn't the greatest time for that. "Pacifica, I believe we've had our share of harsh words but I would never use your financial burdens against you."

Pacifica blinked. She seemed to hesitate with her words before muttering a small "Thanks." The expression on her face was far from a smile, but it wasn't exactly a deep scowl neither.

Of course Rose wasn't done. "I have way too many items on my quere that it would be impossible for me to plan out such insults."

Pacifica if she really was appreciative before, started to look less so. "Alright."

"I mean it's a metaphorical banquet of mockery. I had my fill of your shallowness sprinkled with that one time you cried during my eighth birthday party." Rose could almost see the tears falling from a small girl's cheeks. She brought a smile to her face.

"Quit it." Pacifica spat, and her head seem to edge towards Rose as she continued, "And don't pretend you don't know what you did. Leave it to you to turn a party into a horror show."

"I never said I was without fault. It was fun though." Rose made sure to let Pacifica know that she meant it with a smirk. She stepped forward towards her bed. "So what is this all about?" Rose gestured at Pacifica.

Pacifica blinked before looking away. "You already know."

"I do not. Otherwise I wouldn't have raised the question." Rose spoke slowly.

"What, trying to give me your therapy act again?" Pacifica despite her foul mood found the mental fortitude to roll her eyes.

"Not at the moment, but I wouldn't be averse to having another session." Rose thought about it. She did have all the necessary tools in her room. "Rather you're into it or not." Permission was never a blockage when she wanted to explore someone's thoughts.

"Of course. Leave it to the social outcast to not understand boundaries." There was venom at the tip of Pacifica's tongue.

"Very well. I will take that as an explicit indicator that I am not wanted here." Rose looked up and raised her hands in surrender. She took a step back to her door.

"I disobeyed my parents." Rose stopped. She didn't hear that, did she? Lalonde turned back to Pacifica. The fact that Pacifica turned away from her gaze was all the confirmation she needed.

"Oh." That was not something she thought she would hear today. "About what?"

"Just I had to do something and my dad didn't want to, but if I didn't it would've got bad. Really bad." Pacifica seemed to put a lot of effort into not explaining the situation plainly. Maybe, it was something she thought was really complicated, Rose didn't know.

"And they don't see it that way." Rose hypothesized.

"My dad was being just-" Pacifica hissed. She shoved her face into her palms. She rethought her sentence. "They're just so stubborn. They just want to pretend they can't make mistakes but they can."

"Were they wrong?" Rose asked.

"Yes they were wrong." Pacifica shouted suddenly. She brought her arms down and they struck the conformer of Rose's bed. "They've been wrong for a long time and it's not just that. When I realized how wrong they were I thought they would-" Pacifica swallowed. She paused to lower her voice. "I don't know what i thought. That they would would maybe be a bit less horrible? I don't know." With that Pacifica seemed to deflated. Her arm crawled up for something, Rose couldn't tell for what, but Pacifica did find a pillow to cover her face with. She groaned into it.

She muttered but Rose couldn't hear it. Sounded something like 'was here', 'wish someone was here.' Rose couldn't make out the name.

Despite herself she laughed. That caused Pacifica to jolt. She swung the pillow off and it plopped onto Rose's comforter. She gave Rose a glare, but Rose couldn't find it in herself to return a look of equal malice. Instead she gave an admittedly embarrassed chuckled "I apologize. I just didn't think I would've ever hear the day you would complain about your parents. It's a little bit overwhelming."

Pacifica didn't respond. Not directly but that did bring the pillow back on her snout.

Rose smile grew devilish as she pondered out loud, "Maybe we can craft a regular rebel out of you yet." She took a glance at Pacifica who remained silence.

Rose, giddy, was dancing on her toes as she approached her bed. She twirled and fell down. When she landed next to Pacifica the other blond shook slightly but still didn't make any noise.

"Hey Pacifica," Rose leaned to the side until her face was right above pillow. "Welcome to the dark side."

Rose was rewarded by the tiniest of noises from beneath the cushion. Pacifica let out an uncharacteristically meek scream. A long weak, "Noooo," which forced Rose to cover her mouth with her palm to keep a roaring laugh in.

When that was done, Rose pushed away an invisible tear. She checked to make sure that Pacifica was still covering her face and hadn't seen the immodest cheering. When she was sure she had remained unmoving, Rose rose to her feet.

"Okay, we can't slack off. I have written a few chapters of my latest piece. If you don't mind going over them."

Pacifica chest rose and fell as she let out a groan. "Arg, fine." She threw the pillow off her directly in the air and was somehow surprise when it spiraled and fell directly back down, beaning her in the nose. She wiped it off, letting it slip to the side.

Rose stepped to her bookcase. She brought her finger to the spine of her chosen volume. She paused and looked over to her bed, "Pacifica. I just want to say-"

I'm proud of you.

"What is it Lalonde?" Pacifica spoke and Rose blinked. The girl was looking at her impatiently and for a moment Rose wondered if a significantly amount of time had pause her.

She shook her head, "I was thinking about posting my work on a few forums that I frequent so please review them thoroughly."

"So if you hate this girl so much than why do we have to suffer through this?" She forced Dipper to look up as she wrapped a tie around his neck. Pacifica wasn't planning on ever helping him dress again but, there they were. A walk in closet with a large selection. They had something in his size, they had something in everyone sizes.

"Because ever since dad lost the house it's more important than ever for us to maintain our business dealings." Pacifica gave the cloth one more good tug, despite her friend's discomfort.

The tie tightened, cutting off a chuckle slightly. "Uh huh, when I said 'we' I meant Mabel and I. Why do we have to suffer through this?"

"Cause I told her we would go." Mabel poked her head through the hung up suits like a mole.

"Mabel." Dipper groaned. He didn't bother to actually chastise his sister.

"You should probably blame your uncle, the smart one, technically he was invited." Pacifica

"But he and Grunkle Stan are off doing something." Dipper hesitated on 'something.' Even he didn't seem to know where the old men were off to.

"And now you're their representatives." Pacifica explained.

"Paz here seemed to be kind of desperate." Mabel translated ignoring the blatantly disapproving face that Pacifica knew for a fact she was wearing.

The Northwest heiress sighed, "Don't call me that", but as always Mabel just smiled brightly at her.

"You know you love it."

She secretly kind of did. She couldn't let them know that. It was time to change topics. She turned back to Dipper. "You know dork, you probably should be thanking me."

"And why would I do that?" Dipper played with his tie. Only Pacifica standing right next to him prevented him from ripping it off.

"Cause what type of party do you think your uncle would be invited to? The man's idea of fun is fighting space squids and I'm pretty sure you inherited your hygiene from him." Pacifica imitated a whiff to punctuate her point.

Dipper began to justify himself, "Hey, studies say that bathing everyday is actually worse for you then not bathing at all."

"And I say: that's gross." Pacifica made a playful 'ew' sound. She gave him a big smile, making sure he knew that she wasn't being completely serious. "This party here is suppose to be a lot of the upper class, but there's also suppose to be a lot of the biggest brainiacs in the country. Maybe in the world."

"I'm listening."

Pacifica knew him well enough to know that she had his complete interest. Eventually they came down with little fanfare. While Dipper had on a suit made for guys his age, Pacifica wore a sea foam green dress that she was happy to have the chance to wear. Mabel's was the most unique of all. Pacifica gave her a plain purple dress, but she somehow found the chance to start Mabeling it up. She could of sworn that all she did was take her eyes off of the Pine twin for a second and when she looked back she had covered the dress in bright yellow star and moon pacts. Apparently she had found the necessary material just laying around. It wasn't too much of a surprise considering Lalonde's hobby.

"Come on. I see them now." Pacifica lifted her dress slightly so she could move towards a tall figure. Her guest didn't know who she was referring to. She guessed that when Dipper lightly bumped into her back once she stopped.

"Oh Pacifica. It's great to see you." By her voice she could tell she was happy to see her. She pardon herself. "Excuse me Doctor Maheswaran," and bent down slightly to speak with her.

Pacifica curtsied, "It's good to be here Mrs Lalonde."

"Roxy, or at least Auntie Lalonde. I've known you since you just jumped out of your diapers." 'Roxy' gave a smile, bur her eyes wander passed Pacifica. "Who'd your friends?"

"Oh this is Mabel and Ma-" She was interrupted by a rough cough. Pacifica thought that maybe for once he would drop that nickname. Than again he was never one for formalities. Pacifica amended her introduction. "Dipper Pines. They're Stan Pines's grandniece and nephew."

"Are you from Gravity Falls also? Always find the most interesting people there. Where is Stan?" The woman gave them a tiny wave.

"Mrs Lalonde." The woman gave her a blank expression until Pacifica corrected herself "Aunt Roxy." Roxy smiled. Pacifica continued, "I couldn't find him. He's been out for the last few days."

Pacifica couldn't remember the last time she had seen the smile on Mrs Lalonde face break from giving way to a severe haunted look. It was enough to confirm the foreign idea that the woman hovering over her was sober.

The mistress of the house sighed. Her gaze fell upon the twins. She concentrated on them but Northwest saw her pupils. They looked like they were shaking like she was thinking a million things at once. Eventually she closed her eyes, shaking her head, "Hello dears. You don't know me but I met your uncle once. A long time ago. I think I was about your age."

"Nice to meet you." Dipper held out his palm, stiff. It was completely unlike him, both because he didn't normally have the charisma to pull a handshake off, nor did he have any actually respect for the upper class. He must've have been trying for Pacifica's shake.

Mrs Lalonde raised her hand. It looked like she was going to reciprocate his introduction but the back of her hand gently pushed back his and instead traveled and rustled his hand. She pet him like a family member would. He was already rigid before but he turned to stone at the stranger's familiar touch. The woman didn't linger long before moving on to Mable. The chipper of the two twins moved into the palm. She brace the small sign of affection with no question.

"Speaking of your Uncle. I may have heard a few things from the grapevine. His research sounds interesting. Do you know who would want to hear all about it? My daughter, have you met her?"

"No, but we heard all about her." Mabel cheered and Pacifica thank god that the girl didn't say anything else. All they had heard was Northwest badmouthing the woman's daughter.

"Oh wonderful. Let me introduce her." Lalonde waved. The children couldn't see to who. They didn't have the height advantage that lady of the house had. "She and Pacifica have been friends for ages, isn't that right Pacifica?"

"Right" Pacifica said letting anyone know that the two girls was anything but. "The best of-" She muttered the last part, she didn't want to admit to anything. At least not in those very words.

There was one more wave and Rose was summoned in front if the trio. If Pacifica had to be honest, between her two friends and Rose in terms of who had surprised her more, she would have to choose Lalonde, because at that moment she didn't recognize the girl at the first glance. She was actually dressed appropriately. Pacifica half expected something big and puffy like some gothic lolita type biz but no, Rose was dress in a simple yellow dress. Pacifica bet she had something similar in her closet, except probably way more fashionable because she was the one who would be wearing it, but Lalonde actually put in effort. It was almost enough to render her speechless for a second.

"Northwest." Rose greeted, Pacifica guessed. It sounded more like she was just acknowledging that she existed.

Pacifica responded in kind, "Lalonde."

"Have fun." Mom Lalonde smiled and stepped back. Disappearing in the crowd as she began to mix and mingle with those of academical and economical successes.

"We don't actually have to." Pacifica knew what Rose was offering. A silent agreement to ignore each other for the night.

"No" Pacifica shot it down. "It's seems like really important to your mom." She couldn't see the elder Lalonde anymore and she doubted that the woman could see the pair. Still, Pacifica thought she would be happier if they were at least in the proximity of each other.

Rose rebuke the notion. "So she is making it seem."

Typical. Pacifica couldn't stop herself from groaning. "Couldn't you try not to be so annoying for once?"

"I thought you were learning not to be as obedient." Rose struck back.

Pacifica could feel herself making some kind of face. "I am, I guess. It's just your mom doesn't ask for much, or for anything really."

Dipper coughed. Pacifica blinked. She might have forgotten for a moment that the twins were even there. Pacifica motioned to them "Oh ya, these are people I hang out with sometimes or whatever. Lalonde, these are the pines twins. Nerds, this is Rose Lalonde."

"Dipper."

"And Mabel."

The wise twin gave a polite smile. His sister must've thought it was a competition because she gave the biggest grin that threatened to split her face in two. Then again that could describe the usual Mabel smile.

"It's a pleasure." Rose spoke as if she for a second remembered she was a member of the upper class only to slip back to a much more casual tone. "Nerds? Northwest, I thought such people were below your social statute. Have you finally decide to grace us common folks with your company?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes. "Lalonde, you sure do love acting like you don't live in a mansion."

Mabel stepped between the two. "Hey Rose. Your mom said you like weird stuff. I once punched a unicorn in the face."

Even among the busy crowd, she was pretty loud. It caused at least one or two nearby people to step away from the child. Ignoring the outside voice, she was still sharing information that Pacifica didn't think she should be with someone outside the falls. Especially not with Lalonde. Pacifica could only cover her face with her hand. "Mabel."

Rose blinked. "You're from Gravity Falls."

Dipper smiled. "Ya. Well we don't live there, our great uncles do. Why are you ask?"

"Well you are Pacifica's guest."

"Oh."

Then suddenly Rose gave a small but bright smile. "And the town always had an aura around it. I wished I could have more opportunities to study it."

"Oh god, of course you knew the place is a mess. Weird knows weird." It made perfect sense. The girl was obsessed with the strange.

"Or I'm just actually observant." Rose suggested.

Dipper stepped forward. He looked giddy. In that way only he could. "Hey if you're interested in the more cryptic side of the falls. I've jointed down notes on some of the things I've seen."

Rose eyes widen and it seemed to take her a second to realize exactly the boy had offered. "Oh. That sounds interesting."

"I don't have much. I used to have a journal with much more. I've been trying to replace everything I could." He began to scratch the back of his neck.

"I haven't explored Gravity Falls much so any information would help. In exchange I made some discoveries of my own that you might find desirable." Rose bartered.

"No way, that sounds awesome." Dipper sounded like he just earned a victory." I can't wait. There's a few details of necromancy that I kind of fell back into by mistake."

"That would be a good place to start. I've spent weekends with the Northwests in Gravity Falls before. Maybe next time I'm sent there we can arrange a study date." Rose leaned towards him.

"Absol-" Dipper paused, "Wait, you're not like an evil psychic are you?"

Rose shrugged, "I'm more morally grey."

"Absolutely."

There was a gasp. Mabel squeezed both of her cheeks together. "Dipper. Don't you see what you just did?"

"What?" Dipper tilted his head.

Pacifica decided that she was not going to let this conversation happen. "Too bad my dad lost the manor. We can't really handle guest at the moment."

Rose, of course, had to be difficult. "Pacifica I've seen your new home. Only someone with your delicacy would find your current living arrangements undesirable."

Mabel, the traitor seem to egg the situation on. "Oh this sounds so fun. I'll knit you a sweater. That's sort of my thing."

"Don't make any plans." Pacifica said flat out.

Mabel ignored her. "And then we can have a slumber party."

"It would be fair to craft you something as well. I believe scarfs are my specialty." Rose pondered.

"Dipper. Can we talk for a bit." Pacifica tugged at her friend's sleeve.

They walked a couple feet away but with the sheer amount of guest acting as a barrier they could've been miles apart. Once a safe distance, Pacifica offered a stage whisper. "What are you doing?"

He was of course, ready to explode with excitement. "Can't you believe it? I mean Mabel looks through my notes all the time but she only really focuses on what she finds interesting. Getting some actually feedback is really gonna push what I know forward and I don't even know what she's gonna bring to the table."

"Why did you agree to meet up with her. You were literally only talking to her for like two minutes." Two minutes and fifthteen seconds and they probably would've eloped.

"I got a bit excited. I mean I don't get to talk about the supernatural all the time." Dipper thought out loud.

"Yes you do. There's enough of the stuff in Gravity Falls to last a lifetime."

Dipper smile died down. "Hey is there a reason you don't want me to hang with Rose."

"Of course. I don't like the idea of you" Pacifica gave him a glance, "and Mabel getting along with my enemies more than me."

"Pacifica, you've known her for a long time, right?" Dipper recounted information he knew she knew, because she was the one who told him.

"For too long."

"But like, who you are now and you were last summer are really different. You didn't get along with her before, but you also didn't really like me." Dipper was putting it mildly. Even Pacifica hated how she used to act around him and his sister. "Maybe you just have to see her in a different light."

"Do I have to. I'm so used to hating her." It was all she knew. She had enough life reevaluations for a lifetime.

"But it's so much easier to love something than to hate it." Pacifica head snapped 45 degrees to her left. Mabel, having obviously heard offered her two cents.

Any wisdom that would've provided was lost thanks to one question. "Where's Lalonde?"

"Oh she said she had to go up to her room for a bit." Mabel explained.

The ground shooked.

The room grew quiet.

All that could be heard was Dipper asking "What was that?"

The fire was out completely. Rose wished it had taken Dave a bit less time, for no reason other than how needlessly close it had been. The multi colored raindrops felt nice after the harsh heat of the blaze that had just been there before. Rose expected them to stain her clothes but they didn't. She looks at the distance, water as far as the eyes could see.

It looks beautiful she had to admit, especially since her house now stood on a rock in the middle of it all, but it hadn't been exactly what she wanted. There was a little bit of grit that she had desired. The dirtiness that would've made the whole thing feel closer to the fantasy novels that she had often both read and wrote.

It probably didn't matter either way. This was an opportunity. This was a game, one that had caused a meteor to crash into her house, but a game still. There was adventure in front of her. She waited a long time for this.

It's on her before she even move. A puddle of ink like blackness formed at the best of her feet and sprung up like a fountain. A cat, in face and claws formed before her. She had respect for the feline family of animals and she knew that this was an enemy. A foe she had to fight to the death.

Still, the threat that it had was dulled mildly by the flowing princess dress that was draped in. If she hadn't known what to expect than she would've paused at how silly it looked, but there were advantages to being player two.

Her needles appeared in her hands and she poked them through. They went through the imp's neck with one motion and torn it out in another. Black goo splashed on Rose's face. It wasn't blood. Blood would imply that it had an internal system of some sort. The slime was more like chunks of flesh. It dissipated quickly along with the body. Grist, the game's building material fell, waiting to be looted.

There was a twitch at her lips. That was fun. She couldn't really wait to do that again and again.

There was a scream from inside. Rose turn from the horizon.

This wasn't her world but this was still her house. Everyone was still inside. Where was her mom? She hadn't seen her. Probably still entertaining guess. The imps a she could see from player one didn't seem extremely aggressive to anyone other than the player, but they still seem to desire to capture them for some reason. Was that the same here? Would they grab her mother?

No, Mom Lalonde at least in terms of self defense could handle herself.

Where was her cat? He was right next to her a moment ago. She had no idea how the feline had eluded her. She just dug her cat from his mortuary, she didn't want to have to put him back there so soon. He was technically still dead though, he was just now game construct with all the perks that gave him. He could handle what were essentially the slimes of this campaign.

Pacifica was a upper class brat who hardest workout was walking hole to hole of a mini golf course. Rose had to find Pacifica.

She shot through the door when she heard another shriek. There was an imp on the other side of it. The door shoved it aside. Lalonde took advantage of the momentary stun. She coiled yarn around the monster, forced it down on the ground and brought her heel down on it's skull.

It twitched so she stepped again.

She turned to some sniffling. Cowering by a wall was some fifty year rich dude. It started to crawl towards her. He was probably trying to hug her leg, but considering he was an adult and was barely a teenager, he covered most of her lower body. It was annoying. He was getting tears on her leg. "Thank you. Those things were just gastly."

He wasn't her quarry so she squeezed out of his gripped and ran down the hall.

Rose never seen the house look in such disarray. She had never been so appreciative of her mother's passive aggressive cleaning habits until she saw the mess left behind by the sudden attack. The house looked nearly abandoned. There were still the stray spawns that only managed to inconvenience her.

She eventually came across some survivors. They were being surrounded by quite a few imps. Rose pulled on her needles, but didn't have time her them. She had to find Pacifica. In a scale of 'Pacifica' and 'not Pacifica' the gaggle of strangers fortunately fit the latter. Any moment wasted took time away from fighting Northwest.

Fortunately for them, someone chose to intervene. A sword started to harvest the monsters' heads. Another girl had joined the fray. She must have acquired the weapon from one of the decorative pieces. It wasn't the time to peer further into such matter. Rose left the girl to her battle.

Rose finally found Pacifica in the main hall. She was being held high by a bahamut of sorts. An ogre carried her in one hand, effortless. The only reason why it probably hadn't escape with her was the duo biting at it's kneecaps.

Pacifica had recruited some loyal companions. Rose from the brief interactions had gain a good first impression of the twins, but they were prepared to go toe to toe with a giant to protect Pacifica. That was enough for her to decide that they were under her protection, at least temporarily.

The monster seemed prepared to swing his captive at the kids like a club. Rose wrapped her yarn around the monster's arm and swung from it. She gain a bit of momentum and use it to slide beneath it's legs. She took the opportunity to stabbed a needle into its heel.

The house was calm. Those monsters, whatever they were, they were gone mostly. Everyone was left in a house which shouldn't look anywhere as good as it did considering it was in the middle of a forest fire.

Those who hadn't been captured clumped together, except for Pacifica and the pine twins. They kept an eye on Rose. The girl sat on the edge of her home, outside, right above a waterfall. Her eyes were on her phone. She didn't seem to mind the rainbow colored raindrops that hit her.

Pacifica stepped forward. Paused and turned to the twins. They smiled. She moved, gracefully to Rose's side, carefully taking a seat. Lalonde didn't so much put her phone away. It more seem to disappear in her grasp, thanks to shiny new space age technology.

Pacifica looked at the distance, where there was a forest, there was nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see. It was blue, pink, yellow, a collection of colors. It was something out of a kid's cartoon.

Pacifica gripped her edge she was on and breathed in. "You really helped me out there."

With no phone in her hand, Rose leaned back, possibly taking her time to enjoy the view too. "Well of course."

Pacifica allowed her hands to start rubbing each other as she gazed down at them, "Why?"

"Is it really that surprising for me to rush over while you were being attacked?" Rose looked at her through the side of her eyes.

"To answer plainly, yes." Pacifica flatly admitted.

Rose thought about it for a moment. "I guess as it is, despite our mutual distaste in each other, I rather have you here than not." Pacifica didn't quite understand what she was getting at. Rose must've figured that out because she clarified it for her. "Like I basically see you as family if only because of propinquity."

"Huh." Pacifica dropped her arms to her sides, allowing them to touch the smooth tile. "I guess that makes a bit of sense. I've probably seen you more than a majority of my cousins."

"I still hate you." Rose shot out.

"Oh thank god." Pacifica wouldn't know what to do if they had to try and get a long in a completely different manner than they did before. Silent respect and snide remarks sounded like heaven compared to making friendship bracelets for each other.

"Well I have to start poking around the game system. I've have little experience with any of this." Rose hopped straight to her feet, showing very little care.

"I wish this was weird for me." This was second time she ended up in the middle of a world ending catastrophe and was it suppose to feel less special the second time around? Pacifica eyes followed Rose. "Hey, before you do whatever it is that you're planning."

Pacifica crawled back up to a stand. She moved until she was face to face with Lalonde. Rose raised an eyebrow.

She didn't know how to ask this. This was a situation she never saw coming. She would go as far to say it was unbelievable and she once got kidnapped by golf balls. She knows unbelievable. Pacifica decided to just bite the bullet, "Should we, like hug?"

"We don't have to." Rose said slowly.

"But like isn't that what family does? I've seen friends do it all the time." Pacifica pointed at her friends who were goofing off not too far away. Rose stepped forward and began to spread her arms. Pacifica shook her head, "Actually you know what. That would be weird. Let's not."

Rose's arms dropped. She very clearly rolled her eyes at Pacifica, "As difficult as always Northwest."

"Shut it Lalonde." Pacifica had expected a small vocal spar, what she had hadn't expected was a hug at near tackle speeds. Pacifica nearly laughed. It was a sneaky move, but it felt nice, sisterly.

"More awkward." Pacifica was sure for a second that it was a banshee screeching. She had better judgement than that though. It was undoubtedly Mabel.

Dipper laughed. "It's not a family hug if it's not awkward."

"Dipper." Rose allowed the hug to die down. "Forgive me if I've forgotten our small exchange in all the excitement, but you said you have some experience with supernatural research correct?"

"Ya, but I'm not the only one in a way." Dipper looked at his sister. "Mabel was there and Paz here of course." He gestured towards Pacifica with his chin.

"Really?" Pacifica glared at the guy. She didn't want Rose to know that dumb nickname. She could feel her smirk piercing the side of her head.

"Excellent." Rose said with a bit more vigor than Pacifica thought was normal for the girl. "We all seem to be quarantined with each other for the foreseeable future. It wouldn't be strange to ask for your assistance."