#7alt8

I love Gravity Falls and I recently finished Book of Bill XD

So! AU idea splurge time!

What if Stan had never broken Ford's science project? Had let Ford go off to West Tech and stayed in Glass Shard Beach?

What if Bill had taken an interest in Stan to be his "partner" rather than Ford? Wanting someone he thought was stupid enough to never be disloyal to him and yet strong enough to be of use, and decided to prey upon Stan's loneliness and daddy issues as a heartbroken teen at 17 before stealing him away with the promise of 'never having to be alone ever again'?

You get this, a Stan that's spent the last 43 years as Bill's acolyte in the nightmare realm and seems to have gotten perpetually stuck in the angsty 90s. A Stan that doesn't return to his world until it's time for him to start taking it over one country at a time in Bill's name with the henchmaniacs at his side.

...are you talking about my 7alt8 Fiddleford?

First off, he's not a 'coward' in canon.

He has cowardly moments, as does everyone, but he's not a full time 'coward'. If he was he wouldn't have done half of what he did: trying to dissuade Ford from his project and confronting him about it in the end for example.

And while sure, some of the acts he pulled as 'Old Man McGucket' can be attributed to insanity - building giant death robots and literally destroying towns, though it was shown in his youth a penchant for stuff like that - when he has his memories back and therefore a more firm grip on sanity again, he's literally the one to come up with the plan for rescuing Ford and fighting Bill in part three of weirdmageddon, and directs everything during the shack-a-tron montage.

Fiddleford simply had extreme anxiety and frustration, both of which lead to the memory gun. A person that suffers those things does not a 'coward' make.

And my Fiddleford in 7alt8 takes medication to help with that.

Thank you for the question! :D

I actually wanted something that can be seen as a bonding activity to serve as more of a start to their division, a bit of foreshadowing if you would, kinda like fate playing it's part since the day they were born.

And I wanted it to be a bit of a catalyst for Ford on a subconscious level that gives him more of an opportunity to get that 'suffocated' feeling like he has in canon by getting a taste of something that's just his own (and suffering for it by seeing how upset that makes Stan through the years to the point of there being a bit of bitterness there as he does his best to sacrifice in a way to keep his very much loved twin happy).

Birthdays to me have always been a very personal affair. It's supposed to celebrate your life and the joy you bring to others by existing. In this case with the twins, sharing one would be more of celebrating them both existing rather than just one.

So imagine Stan who hated having the separate birthdays (an independent thing in a very much codependent relationship 'without ford I was just half of a dynamic duo') and had gotten used to Ford indulging him (reassuring him that someone fully understood and valued him being around just as much as themselves), slowly getting cut out from that, getting it rubbed in his face that he was younger by only a few minutes the older they got and the separate birthdays emphasizing that (being taught to believe that makes him somehow less important, an 'extra' - damn that cardboard sign. Tough love was an extreme back then, and making your kid stand outside for two days holding a sign saying 'extra stan 2$' is certainly not the best way to go about motivating your son to do better in school Filbrick!). It adds to his own resentment and the feeling of both being unwanted and unloved, helping propel him into running away when he does.

It's just... this whole tangled ball of emotions.

Because you have Filbrick and Caryn too who didn't help, and usually tried to provide best they could given what I imagine was a financially tight upbringing. I mean they had the twins share a holiday sweater to keep warm for crying out loud. I think... they were as good of parents as they could be given the times they were in and the mindset of society at large had both with money and standards. Throwing Stan out in canon while in anger, was awful, I won't forgive that, but it did happen a lot back then especially at 17-18 when kids were both 'considered' or officially adults, and could go off on their own. You can still see that kinda thought process even nowadays in older folks to prevent 'mooching' or 'being a bum'.

Anyways that's why when it came to birthdays I saw that Filbrick and Caryn really wanted to help promote future independence between the twins when witnessing how close they were (because Filbrick honestly wasn't going to foster a relationship where Stan and Ford needed to rely on each other to survive - not in a dog eat dog world. If you read lost legends he goes off about Ford 'sticking his neck out' for Stan and punishes both of them for Stanley's actions).

Unfortunately, with that saying of 'The path to hell is paved in good intentions', Filbrick and Caryn messed up. They tried their best to give them both the best birthdays, but with tight money they didn't plan too well and so didn't give equal treatment (they couldn't afford two cakes, buying a cupcake after was already a luxurious stretch - 5$ for a cake was sacrificing a weeks worth of groceries already), and ended up playing it a bit too casual and brisk with Stan's celebration over how embarrassed and guilty they felt.

That's not to say there still wasn't a bit of selfishness there as Filbrick did see Ford as the one that could potentially help them out the most financially in the future given his smarts (being a man 'tough as a cinderblock' and focused on the ability to provide it's obvious why Filbrick had an obsession with money), so Ford was given the cake and clear favoritism.

But again, both parents still tried, and ended up failing too. Humans are complicated when it comes to emotions and thoughts like that and mistakes do happen with first time parents sadly.

So that's why I made the birthdays separate! Where I got the idea from. It allowed for room with character divergence and altered growth in my AU from canon. As well as things that could be explored further with the characters.

Stanley hated how tempted he suddenly was. Bill could see it too. “We’re a tight knit group too! Once you’re in, you’re IN, kid. No takesies backsies from now until the end of time!” Or until Bill got tired of one of them and turned their bones into a new cape, whichever came first, but he didn’t voice that out loud.

Rating: M Pairing: N/A - Gen

So currently suffering through winter storm weather. All I gotta say is I went to New York for the first time this last week with some good friends and my husband and I am SO glad we made it back before the weather hit. We already suffered a flight delay but getting stuck would've been a big oof XD

Also being on a plane is something else! Literally felt like a can of pressurized soda while in the air lol

I projected a little on my 7alt8 AU Stan

Beneath the cut - original napkin doodles, because that was the only thing that really helped was doodling lol

"If Fiddleford didn't have such a big heart, why I believe he'd make the world's most formable adversary! That intelligence of his, is by the very definition, that of a 'mad scientist'." - Ford proudly introducing Mable and Dipper to "Genius McGucket".

Had an image I wanted to get out! When Weirdmageddon actually happens in 7alt8 AU and reaches Gravity Falls, Fidds doesn't take too kindly to the henchmaniacs trampling on his homestead. One lung or not he's more than willing to go toe to toe and show off his inventive prowess, starting with a gauntlet that stays powered by the living electricity in his body. (Which means if he has energy that thing is staying on, and yes it's use does drain him). Plus, the fact his house and lab can also transform into a 'Big O' like sized mechabot which you can see starting to break apart and reassemble under his feet.