#stalkeyes rambles

I know I already did something like this, but that was a while ago and my headcanons have evolved since then, and my fixation brain is in Pines mode again so here we go! (Mostly focused on the Mystery Twins but with some attention to the older generations scattered about)

Past:

The first member of the Pines family to arrive in America in the 1800s was Gabriel Penzak, a Sephardic Jew from somewhere in the Balkans. His last name was changed to Pines at Ellis Island, and his family later assimilated into the majority-Ashkenazi Jewish community in New Jersey. He was the father of Elmer Pines and grandfather of Filbrick.

Filbrick was the youngest of four brothers (the others were Philip, Fillmore and Fulton). He was the 'weakest' of the four, compensating with his intellect and business sense. He was also born with highly sensitive eyesight - flashes of light would blind him for hours - requiring dark glasses later in life.

His eyesight also meant he was passed over for the draft in WWII. Since all three of his brothers died in the war, this possibly saved his life. As a young man, he operated and maintained film projectors at a traveling carnival, under a boss who taught him many tricks (and bore a resentment towards 'freak show' acts, viewing them as talentless). It was here he met - and accidentally impregnated - his future wife Caryn.

Caryn Romanoff's parents were Pavel, a grizzled sailor, and Tanya, a fortune-teller - both Ukrainian Jews who fled to America to escape persecution from Stalin's Soviet Union. She also had two siblings - older brother Dimitri, a troublemaker and later hatchet-man for the Mafia (never a made man due to his non-Italian ancestry, but close enough for his family to disown him) and little sister Shprintze, who was married three times and had five children in total, all of them named after Roman emperors (except for her only daughter Cleopatra).

Filbrick and Caryn's first son was Shermie, born in 1947. Their second sons, Stanford and Stanley, came 8 years later in 1954. Shermie was a star athlete in high school and always kinda distant from his little brothers, in addition to being Filbrick's obvious favourite. Also a notorious flirt and brought many girls back to the pawn shop (and distracting Stanford from his homework with the resulting noises), and tattled on Stanley for bringing a possum into the store, forcing him to let Shanklin go. Was later drafted into the Vietnam War in the 60s, missing out on Stan's eviction from the house. When he returned from the war, the first thing he did after finding out he was a brother short was to track down Ford and deck him in the face.

While in Hawaii on R&R, Shermie started a relationship with a local waitress called Wikiola Kale. After getting pregnant with his daughter, Wikiola got a plane ticket all the way to NJ to ask Shermie's parents to look after the child, being too poor to raise a child herself. Filbrick almost slammed the door in her face until Caryn intervened. The baby - Louise - was the one in Caryn's arms the night Stan was kicked out.

Louise Pines first grew up in Glass Shard, then moved to L.A. after her dad married a rich businesswoman called Fiona Safesmith (the relationship with Wikiola having not worked out). Fiona was a less-than-ideal stepmom, trying to force her daughter to go into acting and disparaging her interest in DD&D and mystery novels. She also cheated on her husband after an old war injury acted up and he lost the use of his legs, and later went to prison for tax fraud.

Louise would later get a degree in criminology and met a computer geek, amateur ufologist and 'radical cool dude' called Emile Sauvageon (who ran away from a strict, isolated religious family). They started a relationship and had twins in 1999: Mason and Mabel.

Present:

Dipper and Mabel's full names are Mason Emile Pines and Mabel Louise Pines, respectively.

Lou and Em only moved to Piedmont on Shermie's recommendation (and with his money). They would regularly clash with their neighbours for their 'weird' habits (and refusing to maintain their lawn). They considered themselves the arch-enemies of the local HWA.

Em worked at a fancy silicon valley tech start-up, while Lou was a private investigator (the boring realistic kind that mostly deals with insurance fraud and the occasional adulterer).

When he was little, Emile used to wow his son with stories about he was secretly an awesome space pirate with a cosmic ancestry, evidenced by Dipper's birthmark. And Dipper believed him. Really believed him. When his dad finally told him the truth, he did not take it well. Dipper also butted heads with his mom a lot over the existence of the supernatural - she would encourage him to examine things rather than blindly accept them, but he'd often think she was just doubting him for no reason. In short, he had some trust issues with his parents.

Dipper did have some friends in elementary school, but most of them moved away, and in middle school he alienated his fellow nerds after he was kicked out of the tabletop gaming club for being too rules lawyer-y. The resulting slump also lead to him falling behind on band practice.

Mabel is asexual and aromantic, but didn't realize it until much later. Finding she was drifting apart from her friends, she wrongfully attributed it to not having a crush (in truth they simply started to see her as immature and embarassing to be around - you know how kids can get :V). Not wanting to be 'left behind', she dedicated the summer in Gravity Falls to getting a romance as 'proof' that she was a totally grown-up big gal now (while her only reference material were 80s animated comedies and age-inappropriate romance novels).

Mabel very nearly didn't get to go to Gravity Falls at all - she was in danger of being forced to go to summer school due to poor grades (unlike her brother - and like her Grunkle Stan - she experienced great difficulty with any subject involving figures and rote memorization, especially math, the sciences, and computer studies). Only a week of late-night cram sessions spared her from this fate.

Contributing to the above, she also suffered from a form of anterograde amnesia - she would easily forget things that happened just the day before - sometimes even less - until presented with a reminder, usually in the form of an object or person, often her brother. She originally started scrapbooking to help her remember things. This wasn't diagnosed until a year after that summer.

Dipper was in the Boy Scouts in 2011. He hated the experience, camping out in the woods with no games or books, not relating to the other boys and resenting being ordered around by his hardass ex-army Scoutmaster. But he did get a merit badge in astro-navigation, so that's something.

Mabel had a brief stint in the Girl Scouts as well. She quit after an attempt to sell cookies somehow ended with her troop being chased out of a neighbourhood by a knife-wielding maniac in a bathrobe. To this day she's only told Dipper the full story.

One time, Dipper watched Small Soldiers and subsequently destroyed all his action figures checking them for military control chips. He was also banned from Chuck E. Cheese after his 7th birthday when he checked the animatronics for anything suspicious and made Pasquale's head fall off in front of everyone (on the same trip, Mabel tried to get the animatronic band freed from their exploitative contract so they could pursue their true musical potential).

One of Mabel's favourite movies is Rocky IV. For a long time she genuinely believed that's how the Cold War ended and was very disappointed to learn that wasn't the case.

Mabel had a bug-catching phase when she was 10, spurred on by all the creepy-crawlies that would nest in their unmaintained lawn. She'd catch bugs in jars and invite them to have tea and review movies with her. This came to an end after one of the jars smashed and released fireflies all over the house. She was finding descendants of Francisco the Firefly living in the basement as late as 2014.

Lou and Em were not getting divorced - they merely had a fight about paying off their mortgage after Em lost his job, and Dipper simply overreacted and assumed the worst. They sent the kids away that summer while they got their affairs in order. In the end, they had to sell the house and move into a cheaper apartment in Oakland.

Future:

When they first returned from Gravity Falls, the twins' grades took a nosedive as they had difficulty re-adjusting to mundane life, experiencing frequent traumatic episodes and refusing to follow instructions. Their parents had to be called in multiple times after both twins got into a fight in the hallway because another kid made up some dumb rumour that they'd joined a cult or had been abused by their 'creepy uncle', or were just faking their episodes for attention. They were only spared mandatory counseling thanks to emergency 'how to pretend to be normal' coaching from the Grunks.

Dipper has to start wearing glasses a few months after leaving Gravity Falls. Mabel of course made fun of this, thinking that only the male Pineses turn short-sighted (and forgetting about her mom). She had to start wearing glasses at 16, to which Dipper only replied by smugly grinning at her.

In high school, Mabel started a knitting club, which ended up being the most popular club in school - mostly because she insisted that it was a safe space for anyone, and anyone who tried anything funny would have their lives made hell. In her clubroom, nerds, preps, goths and jocks sat side-by-side in peace.

Mabel also took up sports, especially wrestling, becoming captain of the girls' wrestling team by Junior year. She took up a high-protein diet to build her strength - this combined with a childhood spent binging candy finally catching up to her lead to her putting on a lot of weight. By adulthood she's developed what she calls a 'sumo bod' - chubby, but strong (and great for hugs).

Meanwhile, Dipper took up track and gymnastics while regularly going to the gym - to the shock of everyone, as getting pre-Gravity Falls Dipper to exercise was like pulling teeth. If he was gonna have to brave another apocalypse, he didn't want to be saddled with noodle arms. By his 20s, the combination of his 'baby face' with his square jaw and muscular body has attracted a good amount of attention from girls (and boys) - attention he is alternately mildly perturbed by or totally oblivious to.

Dipper also devoted extra effort to his art skills, hoping to achieve the same level as Ford. Sometimes he'd climb up onto rooftops to get a good view of the landscape to draw, and then add a completely gratuitous monster because why not?

Despite his best efforts, Dipper was never able to overcome Mabel's height advantage. In fact, in their teen years she gained a few extra inches on him.

Dipper still regularly wears hats even as an adult - though he's no longer self-conscious about his birthmark, he's been wearing hats for so long it feels weird not to. It's like his 'thing' - Mabel has her sweaters, he has his hats.

Past his school years, Dipper mostly goes by Mason, especially with strangers - 'Dipper' is reserved for friends and family.

Dipper got a doctorate in forensic science at college, and also interned at a coroner's office. He also did some work as a runner on a film set, but the experience at the Used To Be About History Channel soured him on show business. Instead, after getting his doctorate he decided to take up Ford's offer to apprentice under him from years before, hoping to become a paranormal investigator in his own right (incidentally, Candy Chiu took the same offer, and now they work together).

Mabel went to college too, but didn't particularly want to, only going because she felt pressured. She ended up dropping out after the first year and still feels aimless, not knowing what to do with her life. She currently still lives with her parents and has a decently fulfilling job at an independent haberdashery (sweaters will always be there for her), but she's not sure that's what she wants to do.

Both twins are adored by Soos and Melody's 6-year-old kids (also twins) - they're considered honourary Uncle DipDip and Aunt MayMay.

When he turned 16, Soos gave Dipper his old truck - as much as he liked it, he can't exactly stick his kids in the cargo bay. Mabel meanwhile drives the Mabel-Mobile, an old Soviet military van painted pink with a huge shooting star mural, plus a liberal amount of graffitti and bumper stickers. Where she got it remains a mystery - not even she seems to remember.

Mabel has a serious weakness for booze. She experimented a lot with various substances during her brief time at college, but cocktails really stuck. When she's drunk, she tends to shift between giddy and sentimental, grumpy and ranty, and depressed and regretful. You know she's had too much when she starts singing about 'Lady Apocalypse'.

Dipper never got as into that stuff himself, but he was introduced to weed by Wendy, relying on it to calm his anxieties during exam season. He's currently trying to wean himself off it by means of alternate herbal cigarettes.

Waddles had to be sent back to Gravity Falls after a few years, since he rapidly grew too big to keep at Piedmont. He currently lives in a lean-to next to the Shack that Soos built. He still regularly sees Gompers, to Mabel's delight.

Wendy also got both twins into tattoos, convincing Mabel to get a huge shooting star on her upper right arm. For her 18th birthday she also got a special pair of tats on the forearms - a pair of arrows with the right marked 'Fasten In Case Of Hug!'. Dipper was reluctant at first, but caved when Mabel designed him a 'pine tree heart' emblem, which he wears on his right shoulder.

Both twins are in a special 'Never Mind All That' group chat, along with almost everyone else in the Zodiac, plus Candy and Grenda (but not Gideon). Mabel had the idea for a 'hotline' of sorts that they could message whenever the old post-apocalypse trauma started acting up - knowing from experience how important is to have people to remind you they're there.

I tried not to mention ships in the list because I didn't want to ruffle any feathers, but now you've forced my hand /j

Jokes aside, I get the appeal of Dipcifica - and have enjoyed multiple fics with it! - but I don't think it's happening in my headcanons. I've always felt that Dipper post-show is a 'married to the job' kinda guy, too immersed in his Weirdness interests to really see the point in a relationship; meanwhile, Pacifica would join him on adventures but would much rather not deal with any more Weirdness than strictly necessary.

I do have a weakness for Candip, because she and Dipper have much more in common - nerd supreme, don't look after themselves (look how messy Candy's hair is usually), and can be seriously scary when they want to be. I know Roadside Attraction tried to shut this down, but Candy never got to know the real Dipper on that trip, just that corny pick-up artist persona he was putting on - give him a few years of proper conversation and a glow-up, things will be different :V. Though I'm still undecided if things go that way in my headcanon timeline, or they just remain Protective Platonic Pals.

"WHY DID I DO IT... WHY DID I DO IT... WHY DID I DO IT..."

(A messed-up little concept I made for a Bill Cipher given the Giygas treatment - or 'GiyBill' as I call him. My idea was that, after enough time in the Theraprism, he's forced to confront his suppressed memories of what he did to his home dimension, and the guilt that came with it. Unable to reconcile that guilt with what he is now, he loses what little sanity he had left and tears himself apart, becoming a barely-sentient maelstrom of destruction driven by confusion and hatred. It's a small mercy he's contained in the Nightmare Realm again, and lacks any means of escape until it's finally destroyed. Unless some idiot were to try summoning him again...)

I was just thinking about Morris Martinez, since of all the Interns he probably receives the least amount of attention. Much like Sam he's often relegated to the status of comic relief because of his celebrity ego and questionable ideas on what 'pirate radio' means, which is fine! But when you think about it, a lot of signs point to there being some inner angst going on with him, same as all the others. :V

Consider that his specialty is Levitation - indeed, he Levitates constantly since he's paraplegic. It's never stated if he was born paraplegic or something happened to him - I personally think he had an accident, and it was directly tied to his use of Levitation.

IIRC, Milla says that in order to Levitate, you need to let your thoughts lift you up. Consider the theory that the reason Levitation was nerfed between the first and second games was because of all the stress and unprocessed trauma Raz was experiencing, his heavy thoughts literally weighing him down.

Therefore, Morris has a pretty big incentive to shut any sources of potential distress down so he can stay afloat constantly, hence his apparent self-confidence and bravado in the face of danger. Notably, he's the only Intern who doesn't scream or look visibly frightened when Maligula attacks them during the final boss fight; he just asks Raz for an interview and resigns himself to his imminent water-snake-mauling.

I find it unlikely he got to that point without some missteps and accidents along the way, since it's demonstrated that inexperienced psychics often have accidents (such as Dogen and Compton's head-exploding record, Phoebe's pyrokinetic attacks, and Maligula's whole existence), and it's often those accidents that motivate them to seek out guidance.

Morris is also shown achieving some insane heights both with Levitation and his unspecified platform-summoning power - which I'm assuming is somehow derived from Levitation - and even proudly says 'up is more my thing!'

So we've established that Morris likes going up, he's adept at shutting out sources of distress so they won't weigh him down, and to get to that point he probably experienced the consequences of not doing so. Put them all together and the implication is clear, but that's not all.

Consider also the fact that, despite all the issues Raz is dealing with, he's still able to Levitate fairly consistently. So imagine the kind of distress that's bad enough to make Levitation fail completely.

Finally, consider that Morris' assigned mentor is Milla Vodello - not only an expert in Levitation, but also probably the series' best example of someone who's experienced great trauma, come to terms with it and moved on with their lives without burying the trauma completely. Sounds like the best teacher for a deeply traumatized boy in desperate need of Levitation instruction.

Earlier today I was thinking about Compton's Cookoff, and I have a Crackpot Theory-slash-Headcanon: the four animals that help Raz prepare the meals are all based on other people from Compton's life.

Pork Chopper is based on his father, a police officer (i.e. a pig) who Compton remembers as being very 'tough' with him, encouraging him to fight back against bullies ("they'll be much nicer once you've put 'em through the slicer!"). Their relationship deteriorated once Compton got involved with the Animal Liberation movement, eventually deciding he was 'sick in the head' after blowing up those animals with his mind - something Compton apparently agrees with, as Pork Chopper calling the hosts 'sick' is portrayed as an attack of conscience. Compton still has positive memories of him and may have wished to reconcile, going from Chopper's sudden turn for the upbeat (in contrast with Butch Oleander who was portrayed as a monster).

Frog Flipper is his son - and the father of Dogen and Sam - a high-strung, nervous, overworked individual ("I gotta pull a double shift?!") who tries to stay positive but always seem on the verge of flipping out. Compton had to raise him fresh off the heels of losing everything in the fight against Maligula, an experience comparable to trying to fry an egg over a constantly-moving fire. Later, his son came to him for guidance on how to manage Sam and especially Dogen, only to be pushed away - by then Compton had isolated himself and believed his advice would only make things worse. He'd ultimately turned his son into the same parent he had been.

Patty Puree is his ex-wife and the mother of his son. Compared to Cassie, who he saw as a friend and someone he could approach, his relationship with his wife was far more uneven - she'd always seemed like a high-and-mighty figure, well beyond his reach (hence why she's the hardest to get to), who carried herself with a regal air. He convinced himself trying to reach out to her would just end with his hand getting blended into paste. In the end, he thinks, she only married him out of pity and to help raise their child. The fact she divorced him once their son became an adult only confirms that for him.

Hippo Pot I'm not so sure about, since he only has one line and it isn't anything especially noteworthy. My best guess is that he's an old partner-in-crime from Compton's Animal Liberation days, someone reliable who kept him focused and relaxed, hence why the ingredients relax while boiling... but they are still boiling, and Compton believes he can never relax, otherwise he'll boil over.

Why do the animals that Sam terrorizes put up with her? I mean, they're animals. They can just run away, right?

My first idea is that Sam's obliviousness means she doesn't realize that she's talking to different animals each time. There's been about a dozen Fur Lancelots, for instance. The squirrel who came back with the not-crushed acorns wasn't the same one she sent off to get them. The first probably didn't tell the second they needed to be crushed. :V

My other thought was that the animals are, to some extent, passively enabling her behaviour out of fear how she'll react if they stop listening to her. After all, she may have better control over the Boole Family Psychic Issue but she is still Dogen's sister. Who knows what kind of havoc she might have unleashed in the past? Given the option, listening to her boss them about is a preferable alternative in the short-term, though in the long-term it's probably doing more harm than good. They're animals, not psychologists. :V

Queepie Aquato's psychic specialty is Biokinesis. One of the rarest psychic powers and, due to its undetectability, one of the least-recorded, with some psychics being surprised it's a real thing.

Queepie can manipulate his own internal biology, which given his inexperience is usually done unintentionally. Whenever he needs to lift something, his biokinetic powers give him the extra muscle strength required to do so. With some practice, he may be able to create 'internal shields' to protect himself from injuries or render himself immune to certain diseases.

Biokinesis is one of the hardest powers to properly learn how to control, as the consequences for messing up are much more immediately lethal than most other powers - there's many cases of biokinetics giving themselves heart attacks or aneurysms... or worse. You know Tetsuo from AKIRA? You know how he turned into a horrific blob monster? That right there is the worst-case scenario.