Mason "Dipper" Pines

There was a haunting feeling in Mary’s chest and she really didn’t want it there. Hollow. Empty. The Masquerade Ball. Mary wished she could remember it. She didn’t exactly. But she knew it had happened. There had been flyers all up the streets to her flat. She had picked out a red gown for the occasion. But when it came to remembering the dance, that part seemed to have gone.

“I can see why you’re concerned. Losing an entire piece of your memory, if something did occur, is rather rattling. So do me a favor and we’ll discuss it in parts. You know that you went. Do you remember details? Sensory details? Do you remember the taste of anything you ate? The smells? Describe what you believe you remember.”

“Well, I’m excited to see it one day,” Alice smiled. “And then, when people are like, ‘wow, what a cool film’, I can say, ‘well, I know that guy’ and it’ll be super cool to, you know, know someone who did something amazing.” She gave a small shrug, realizing she was rambling on.

She laughed lightly as he spoke. Not at him, though. Just as sort of a reaction. “You know, that’s a super weird coincidence, because I, too, have a phone,” she said with a smile. She pulled out her phone and opened it to the new contact page. Alice held it out to Dipper. “I expect to hear all about the movies you’re going to make some day. Along with all your other paranormal theories. Okay?”

❝ Ohh. More productive. I see. ❞ Padraic was obviously not falling for that one, but he knew arguing the point would only end up with them going in circles about his suspicious behavior. ❝ Bureaucracy can be quite the headache. ❞ He was no stranger to “creatively” circumventing laws and legalities himself. A fact the young man may have appreciated. However, Padraic would rather act the moral superior in any situation even if he was just as guilty, if not more so. ❝ However I suggest the addition of a second party to aid you, if that’s the case. You’re not very good at lying low…perhaps you need a look-out. ❞

Padraic came to a halt as Dipper did, frowning, watching the young man’s eyes flit to somewhere on his person. Following his gaze, he realized he was looking at his hands. Perhaps seeking confirmation of his story? Well, there was a ring there, but Padraic instead folded his arms together and crossed them over his chest, effectively hiding it from the boy’s prying eyes. With a soft clearing of his throat, he watched Dipper burst through the doors with confidence. It took quite a bit of effort not to simply roll his eyes as he leisurely followed behind, several steps behind the intrepid young man. ❝ Well, perhaps it was very good wine. Mayor Drake has never been one to skimp on taste, even for large events. ❞ He gave a little scoff. ❝ And I do recall seeing some chap who’d clearly been hitting the bottle before the party even started. It’s been a long and eventful year, lad. Maybe we needed a night to forget it all. ❞ Surely the way his year had gone had driven him to down a bit more scotch at home than he previously did.

“Yeah. It can,” Dipper grunted, glad that his face was turned away from the professor so that he could say it with a roll of his eyes. “And, look, it’s not like I’m super conspicuous either. Far as I know, some other people could have seen me around here and just not given me a second thought.” It wasn’t as though he was the most suspicious-looking of people. He was usually pretty decent about being able to just sink into the background, being pretty much a perfectly average, nondescript college kid, even a little on the small side, which only helped in this task. As long as he kept his forehead sufficiently covered, he doubted many people could pick him out of a lineup, let alone give him a second glance. Ratigan, whose stature seemed determined to draw the attention of everyone in the vicinity wherever he went, was in no place to talk.”

She studied his face as he explained. “I get it,” she nodded. It was rare for Alice to encounter someone who’s ramblings she couldn’t understand. In Wonderland, nobody ever made sense, and yet she still figured her way around. “Sorry you had to deal with it at all.” She thought for a moment, following his gaze to the camera bag. “I’m sure it’ll be great! Besides, that’s what editors are for; to make sure you don’t ramble too much,” Alice chimed with a smile. “Do you have an idea for what you want it to be about yet?”

Alice smiled when he repeated her name. He seemed to be a little more opened now than he was when they had started the conversation–when Alice started the conversation. Dipper didn’t really seem like the type to randomly start talking to strangers like she was. But that was okay; they weren’t strangers anymore. “You’re welcome,” she said with a light shrug. “Maybe we’ll see each other around campus sometimes. Now that we know each other and all.”

“Not yet,” he said, shaking his head. “That is, nothing really set in stone. I’ve got some ideas floating around, though, to pick from. I’ve thought maybe of picking a, uh, a cryptid, you know, and doing a film on its history and folklore and culture and all. Not Sasquatch or the Jersey Devil, everyone does those. Maybe the Ozark Howler or something. And then move on to gradually bigger subjects as I get established.” He figured he’d have to have quite a few well-received projects out before anyone would give a documentary on demonic possession or parallel dimensions the time of day.

“Getting sleep,” Mary repeated, not really even contented by how non-committal the statement was. “Sleep should be doing at least something for you.”

“Alright. Quite a bit on your plate… I won’t deny it. I know that the lives we lead are not easy, so let’s have at it. What is the first trouble that’s popped into your head? We can start small, large, anything.” She said it with complete compassion, trying to be open and welcoming. She wanted, more than anything, to help him. Dipper seemed the sort of person who was too kind to be hurt like this, but of course, who could help who gets hurt?

❝ Well, considering the fact that you were sneaking around school grounds rather than requesting permission through the proper channels…I’d say you knew that it doesn’t belong, so much so that you were trying to conceal your actions. ❞ Padraic paused, then glanced over at the younger man. ❝ You can, of course, correct me if I’m wrong. ❞ But he had a feeling he wasn’t.

Padraic watched Dipper with a keen gaze, eyes narrow as the young man stretched out a hand and dragged it along the wall while they walked. What an odd person. Something about him just…rubbed Padraic the wrong way. He didn’t trust the lad as far as he could throw him, but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because his eccentricities reminded him of another oddity he’d known in another life. Another rodent that liked to stick his nose into places it didn’t belong. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, the older man cleared his throat and caught some of the tail end of Dipper’s questions. ❝ Solid details? Well…I can remember…conversations with my wife. And…others. ❞

He was, however, frowning as he spoke. He didn’t want to admit it to the younger man, but…he really couldn’t recall much of the evening. It was all just a sort of hazy, dreamlike memory. His gaze flashed back up to Dipper and he furrowed his brow even more. ❝ Then again, I’m not the best person to ask. I may have just had a few too many glasses of the complementary wine. As I’m sure many others imbibed in as well. On your left, ❞ he added, nodding his chin at the double-doors that concealed the ballroom on the other side. ❝ The dance classes should be over by now, so… ❞ Padraic gestured to the door. ❝ After you. ❞

“I wasn’t sneaking,” Dipper insisted with a shadow of a scowl. “I just - I’m more productive when I’m doing things on my own, instead of going through the red tape of trying to make it something formal, that’s all.” That was in addition to the fact that people had never been too enthusiastic about letting him investigate things without displaying a badge or credentials. As things were, sometimes trespassing was simply more convenient.

Didn’t make having Ratigan’s suspicious eyes on him while he tried to get a good look around the place any more welcome. Even when he wasn’t looking at the man, he could feel his eyes on him. He never did like the sensation of being watched - though, to be fair, he felt that sensation to varying degrees pretty much at all times.

Alice thought for a moment. She had other thoughts that popped into her head on the matter of the fake realities–fantasy world theme parks where you could fly?–but she was starting to realize that he was just as stubborn as she was. Plus, she decided she’d already talked too much. “Okay,” she gave a smile. “I’ll take your word for it. Especially since you’ve dealt with them? Or, so I’m assuming because you said you’ve dealt with weird things and you seem to know a lot about this.”

Alice smiled again. “It’s nice to meet you, Dipper. I’m Alice. And I wouldn’t say that that was spilling our souls. Just sharing a bit of backstory.” Alice looked over at him. “Dipper; that’s a much more exciting name than mine. I like it.”

Dipper chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before answering. “Sort of. I sort of more dealt with people who were dealing with fake realities but - but, yeah, it’s never a pretty picture. They’re - it’s - ” He paused as he fumbled for the words. “See, this is why I’m taking classes on production instead of just diving right in. I’m not sure how great I am at explaining things clearly. I would say that my uncle would be the better person to ask, but most people can’t understand his explanations without turning to a reference book for every sentence.” He glanced down toward his camera case. “Here’s hoping my first documentary doesn’t end up being completely incomprehensible.”

What a brilliant idea. Luz turned to him and nodded, eyes hopeful. “You’d do that? What sort of distraction are we talking about?” Ideally she didn’t want a perfect stranger to do something stupid or dangerous just to get her out of a tight spot. “I’d be very grateful if you wouldn’t mind causing a little scene so I can escape, and I’ll even buy you a drink for your troubles.” She began fishing into her purse, looking for some cash.

“Mmm, no, I was just thinking of giving them a place where they couldn’t hurt anyone. Like, even in prison, you can still hurt someone if you really want to. Maybe just make it super mundane where they work a nine to five office job all the time. But they can never find love or have a family in there. They look around at life and they say that they’re happy, but really they’re not. Who could be when you work in a dead end job with no chance at promotion, and your friends only like you because they feel like if you don’t get invited to the office happy hour they’ll get really passive aggressive emails…” Alice trailed off, realizing she fell too far into the story. “But, no, I wouldn’t make it hell on earth for them. If I did, that wouldn’t make me any better than them, would it.”

“I guess not, but I think it makes people feel better. Especially when they’ve had trials in their lives here. If they try to stay on that side of it, then they feel like maybe it wasn’t all made up. Maybe those struggles were worth something after all. Not just sad plot-points used to give us reasons for moving here.”

Dipper furrowed his brow at her. “Well, um, I’m not saying that’s a good life, but considering that about half the people out there seem to have lives like that, I don’t know that it would be worth the trouble; not like you need to construct a new reality to make that happen for them anyhow. Just - ” He sighed. “Just, take my word for it. Fake realities, they’re not the sort of thing you, or anyone, wants to be messing with. For any reason.”

Lusita’s eyes widened slightly and she clamped a hand on his arm in some attempt to shush him. “Don’ make it obvious… ah mierda.” She cursed, seeing that her little stalker was looking directly at the both of them. Well, the damage was done now, so there was little she could do about it. “Not exactly bothering me, but he hasn’t taken his eyes off me all night. I mean, I get it, I’m beautiful yes, but staring will get him nowhere.” Lusita took a rather large gulp of her drink. “I don’ want to find out what rejecting him would look like…”

Dipper kept up his slight scowl toward the other man, this time trying to gauge his expression. He didn’t quite look like someone who would take rejection too badly, but then again, he’d made that mistake before. It only took one instance of nearly having his tongue violently chopped off to learn the lesson that not everyone handles getting turned down gracefully. “You want me to make a distraction so you can leave without him noticing, or something?” he asked the woman. “I can do that, no worries.”

“Four or five,” Mary repeated. No pen this time. Not yet. “You’re not one of the scale of one to ten people, are you?” She wanted to laugh. Of course he wasn’t. He thought so much, and he was very bright. Bright people tended to hate the one to ten system. It’s laughable. And to be honest, Mary hated it.

“So… four or five. And that’s only for today. You don’t have to use the numbering system, but how have the previous weeks been. I haven’t seen you for so long, which is my own fault. Are you getting enough sleep? I know you were struggling with that.”

She nodded. “I guess,” Alice said, noting his points. “But what if you used the false reality to trap a villain? If you took the antagonist of the story and trapped them in a new reality? Then, they wouldn’t be able to harm anyone, and the heroes wouldn’t have to be killers.”

She let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I’m serious. It always surprises me when people around the town look at me like I’m insane. Like, we all had different lives before this. Some of the people around here weren’t human before. I guess most people don’t like to remember their pasts. I think there are probably more people out there who get it. This is just their normal world, and I think–as weird as it is–they just want to live as normally as possible.”

“It seems a waste,” Dipper answered. “There are plenty of means of incarceration out there; why bother making a whole new reality for them? Unless you’re suggesting make it some kind of punishment for them, like, make a reality that’s hell on earth to stick them in as retribution... but, I think I’d rather be a killer than someone who sends someone off to a fate worse than death. Unless they really deserve it...”