gobblewanker

AUs Aplenty

A place to put all my Gravity Falls stuff. I'm ShyEye on AO3, cause I made that account way before I made my tumblr. Reblogs to @gobbsreblogs

713 posts

The Mystery And The Isosceles

The Mystery and The Isosceles

Ch 2: Unlikely Rescuers

Also on AO3

There was the familiar smell of wood, salt, and lamp oil all around him as Dipper slowly started to stir awake, and at first there was nothing but pure relief. The gentle rocking of waves against the ship's wooden hull tempted him to go back to sleep. It was warm, the makeshift cot felt softer than it had been. But the dredges of a nightmare were still nagging at him, urging him to reach out for the comfort of his sibling.

She wasn’t there.

Dipper shot up in bed to find himself faced with, not the cramped warrens of a cargo hold, but a large wooden chamber full of hammocks and boxes strung from the low ceiling and in between thick lumber beams. The rapid movement sent his bed swaying wildly, nearly dumping him off the canvas surface and onto the floor below. It’s a ship, but it’s unfamiliar and he’s alone and he has no idea who’s ship it is and—

And there’s a goat bleating at him.

“What the heck?” He croaked unthinkingly. The animal looked at him sideways, before ignoring him completely and resuming chewing on the scratchy wool blanket lying over Dipper’s chest.

“Oh hey.” A noticeably female voice perked up from somewhere in the musty gloom. There was movement in the dark, and one of the hammocks swayed, nimbly depositing a young woman onto the wooden floorboards. Standing up straight, she looked at him in the low lamplight. “And here I half thought you’d croaked. Good job you little maniac.”

The woman walked close enough that Dipper could see her face even in the murk. Leaning over him briefly, she then settled back against a beam.

“The name’s Wendy.” She informed him with a cursory smirk.

She was taller than him, but definitely not an adult. Her red hair fell haphazardly down over her shoulders, and the glint of a weapon twinkled at her hip, tucked into a belt of plaid fabric.

“I-... Where-” Dipper didn’t get the chance to finish his question, before the creak of a hatch opening sounded from somewhere and a sliver of natural light fell onto the floor.

“Shoot, I forgot.” Wendy said. “Hey Soos! The kid is up!”

“Wait, really?” A heavyset shadow stumbled into view around the corner, and Dipper tensed slightly, before almost immediately relaxing at the sight of the man. He smiled widely at the bedridden child, but there wasn’t an ounce of maliciousness behind it. He was large, but didn’t look intimidating in the slightest. More like one of those large oafish hounds that didn’t seem to realize they were made to take down wild bears, and would instead jump at their own shadows and insist on being petted. “Dude, that’s awesome!”

“You wanna go get the captain?”

“Oh, I’m on it.” He saluted her with an enthusiasm that looked way too sincere, before darting out of the room again.

Dipper tried to sit up straighter, but found it a challenge on the constantly shifting fabric that made out the hammock he was lying in. The violent swaying almost threw him off balance, startling the goat—why was there a goat?— into trotting off. Reclining back before he could fall, Dipper felt a hard lump in his jacket.

So thirsty.

Digging under the roots of a tree, where the dirt looks strange.

There's no water.

There's a book .

Why is there a book?

Memories of being lost and alone on an island rushed back to the forefront of his mind, sweltering heat, and suddenly he felt nauseous. The book was still tucked securely into his jacket, and it all felt far too real. He’d almost died. He would have died if these people didn’t find him and Mabel—

Oh no, Mabel . Mabel was gone, and Dipper was all alone and he had no idea where he was or who these people were and he needed to find Mabel, but how was he supposed to do that if he doesn’t even know where he is ? He can’t track down an entire merchant ship and even if he could he doesn’t know if they even still have Mabel or—

“Hey! Hey, kid calm down!” A pair of hands closed around the fabric on his shoulders, shaking him gently. A freckled face looked at him with concern. “Don’t heave on me, okay? Budge over.”

She shoved his shoulder lightly, but Dipper was too preoccupied trying to make the nausea go away and control his own breathing to oblige. Still, the hammock shifted as she sat down on the edge, making him lean back before handing him a canteen. He looked at it dubiously, his clammy face scrunched up in discomfort. Everything spun. He was going to throw up. The flask was pressed into his hand more intently.

“It's water, I promise. Captain won’t let me near the booze.” She helped guide his hand to his mouth, it was lukewarm, but somehow the water did help him feel less nauseous. “Sorry, should’ve thought of that earlier. You were out there pretty long.” She shrugged sheepishly, carefully removing her hands once Dipper seemed steady enough to hold the canteen without spilling all over himself.

“What… What kind of captain would that be?” Dipper managed in-between pangs of queasiness.

“Oh.” Wendy snorted in amusement. “You’ll see.”

Dipper was going to demand more of an explanation, but before he could manage he heard the hatch creak open again, and this time there were two male voices speaking. One that he pinned as the young man—Zeus? Soos?—from earlier, and another significantly gravellier. The two men soon appeared within Dipper’s line of sight.

Dipper had expected the captain to be senior to Wendy and Soos. But maybe not quite that senior.

The grizzled old man looked at him, his gaze alert and calculating for just a second, before his demeanor shifted so fast Dipper couldn’t be sure he’d even seen it. An easy smile settled comfortably onto his stubbled face, and he leaned onto a gold-hilted sword as if it was a cane. He looked old and unintimidating, relaxed posture making him look shorter and stouter than he had just a second ago.

The strangest thing, the thing that almost made Dipper feel nauseous again, was how much he reminded him of grandpa.

“Would ya look at that. The dead walk.” He gestured lazily towards Dipper. “You doing okay kid?”

Dipper nodded once, quickly.

“Name’s Stan.”

Dipper nodded again. His throat felt like it was closing up, and he took another quick sip of water to try and relieve it.

“So, uh, you got a name?”

“Dipper.” He croaked out. Wendy looked at him incredulously, but didn’t question it.

“Not much of a talker, huh?” The captain raised an eyebrow at him. “Alright, whatever. A responsible adult might want to know where the hell your parents are, or who ya pissed off to get ditched on that island. But I don’t really care. However, I’m not a complete monster. So you can hitch a ride to the closest populated island.”

“Are you pirates?” Dipper blurted out before he could stop himself. Dipper might have expected most people to be offended by the question, but Stan barely reacted.

“What’s it to you?”

“Pretty sure that’s a yes.” Dipper shot back with far more venom in his voice than earlier.

“And what if it is?” Stan answered, sounding bored.

Dipper glared at the man, but he remained unfazed. Just kept leaning lazily on the sword, which suddenly seemed far more like an extremely nonchalant threat than a part of the old man facade. A way to make it explicitly clear that he was armed, hands on the hilt, without having to make an actual advance.

“Look.” He sighed. “I ain’t the bad guy here.”

“You are, by definition.”

“Might wanna show a bit more courtesy towards the folks who decided it was worth saving ya despite being a useless barnacle. Nothin’ says we’re obliged to help.” Stan narrowed his eyes in mild frustration. “Also, might not wanna be so quick to make judgement on pirates while you’re snuggled up to one. Wendy’s no pushover.”

Dipper’s face went beet red, and for a second acute embarrassment overshadowed the righteous anger and mistrust.

“Geez, leave him alone Cap’.” Wendy rolled her eyes at him, but nonetheless pushed herself off the hammock. “He’s just a kid.”

Strangely, his heart twisted almost with the urge to apologize. He squashed it.

Stan shook his head tiredly, before beginning to turn away. “Sure, whatever. Just don’t cause any trouble and we’ll see ya off at next port.”

Next port.

‘The girl can stay until next port’

Would the crew on the ship he and Mabel had stowed away on have already reached port and kicked her off? They should logically be not too far, since they’d kicked Dipper off at that island. He didn’t know how long he’d spent unconscious, but he hadn’t drank anything and wasn’t dead yet, so it couldn’t be longer than a few days at most. They could still be around.

But what if he wouldn’t be able to find Mabel in port? What if her ship and these pirates were headed to different ports? What if they were going in the wrong direction? He might never see his sister again. They could miss each other by less than a mile, and he couldn’t lose her too. She was all the family he had left.

“Wait!” Dipper yelled, lurching forwards so quickly that this time the hammock really did flip over, throwing him onto the floor. He scrambled up and ran after the captain. “I-!”

What was he even going to say? How was he supposed to convince a bunch of criminals to help him save his sister? They would never. Yes, they’d saved him from dying from thirst on some deserted island, but he’d all but been deposited right at their feet by fate or dumb luck or whatever. Picking him up and taking him on board was barely an inconvenience. How was he supposed to get them to go out of their way to track another ship just to help a complete stranger who couldn’t even pay them back?

They were pirates. No matter how nice Wendy had been to him and no matter how harmless Soos looked, pirates were bad. That was just one of the irrefutable facts of life. The sun shone, water was wet, pirates should hang.

A stone was dropped into his stomach at the last thought. Of Wendy and Soos facing that.

Pirates were bad.

Just remember what happened to your uncle.

But bad or not, these people were also the only people who could help him. Nobody else would go attack a legitimate merchant ship on the accusations of a twelve year old.

“I-... I know a ship you could raid! It’s nearby, I promise!”

The captain just kept walking as Dipper was tossed about by the swaying of the ship and nearly tripped over the junk on the floor in his attempts to keep up.

“No.” He answered simply and resolutely.

“No, you have to! I- I-!” Dipper frantically tried to find some excuse that might be incentive enough to go after the ship, but his frantic mind drew a blank. Another hard rocking of the ship threw him off his feet, and this time he remained on the ground. “I… I-... They have my sister.”

The captain stopped. He didn’t turn, but Dipper thought he could see his posture tense the smallest bit.

“Kid…”

“ Please .” Dipper pleaded. He had no idea what good it would do, but he’d made the captain stop at least. So he continued. “They took her, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without her. I- I can’t lose her, she’s all I have left and I can’t— I just can’t .”

He felt his voice crack with emotion. He could feel Soos and Wendy stare at him as he looked at the captains back and hoped for a miracle.

“She’s been there my whole life, she’s gotta be terrified— we’ve never been apart and…” He continued aimlessly, not sure if he was making his case or somehow just digging his own grave deeper. “She’s my twin.”

This time, Dipper was sure of it. Stan’s body tensed entirely, any attempt at keeping an aloof facade abandoned. He sighed the tension out of his shoulders and turned his head slightly, looking back at Dipper.

There was something strange in his eyes. An expression Dipper couldn’t for the life of him decipher.

“Soos, Wendy. Get the crew to their stations.” Any sudden softness left his eyes as he barked orders at the two others. “I guess today we’re playing heroes.” He looked back at Dipper, briefly, before turning and marching off with a swish of his black coat and beginning to loudly issue commands at passing crew as he went.

Soos’ large hands lifted Dipper back onto his feet, and patted the dust off his back before hurrying off after Stan.

“Yes Captain Pines!” He nodded resolutely.

Dipper gawked after them as they went. Stunned at having actually been listened to. But also…

No, there were probably plenty of people with the last name ‘Pines’.