This part of the woods was always quiet. Any animal or magical creature refused to enter there for fear of waking the evil that lurked there.
Bill's statue stood there.
So near to the shack, he could watch forever. His arm outstretched, tempting all to shake it.
Within the Mindscape, a demon stood before him. She smirked at it.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen" she teased. A pause before she rolled her eye. "Well it's no fun if you don't respond." Jokingly, she slapped the hand. A surge of electricity ran through her. She hissed in pain. She glared the statue, now noticing a rune at the base protecting it from other demons.
"You really think that'll stop me?" the demon muttered. She turned away.
Then the demon frowned. What was she even doing here? This town had nothing for her. Still, it would be fun to release him again. She'd have to take note where the remains of the rift were so she could gain a physical form so she could trick a human into breaking the spell. And of course there was the problem of the Pines interfering with her poorly thought out plan.
The demon watched the car in the distance drive past before turning her attention to her prize. The small puddle shimmered like the night sky. The vortex that had caused the Oddpocolypse. The tear in reality that would let her into the physical world. She was surprised Ford hadn't cleaned it up yet. Convenient, for her at least. She took a deep breath as she stepped through.
The sensation of weight hit her instantly. The spokes around her main body drooped as gravity pushed her down. Slowly, she rose to her feet.
"Success!" she shouted. She sighed, closing her eye. That was the easy part. She concentrated a moment, letting her body shift. When she opened her eyes again, she grinned. She looked human now.
"Gracefully..." She took her first step and managed to fall on her face. "Stupid gravity," she muttered. She crawled forward and pulled herself up, leaning against a tree for support. The demon groaned. None of this felt natural to her. Her body ached from the effort. As much as she hated it though, she couldn't go back yet. She made it this far. With a sigh, she took a few small first steps towards the Mystery Shack. It was risky, but she needed somewhere safe to stay while she got used to this.
She looked down at her clothes and frowned. The dress she wore was purple galaxy print. White dots on it shimmered like the night sky. It didn't exactly make her blend in. She sighed and snapped her fingers. The lower part of the dress instantly turned into a pair of blue jean pants. Hopefully, now she would blend in more.
The demon now stood in in front of the Mystery Shack. She peered into the window. No sign of Ford. That was good for now.
Mabel walked out. "Hi! Do you need help?" She had decided to leave Sifra in the care of her family for now.
The demon squeaked and stumbled back, landing on her back. "I'm fi-" Her eyes widened when she realized who was speaking to her. This wasn't good. "I, uh..."
"I'm Mabel!" Mabel said excitedly to the newcomer.
The demon nervously ran a hand through her light reddish hair. "Uh... Nice to meet you," she mumbled. She slowly got up. Good, the girl didn't seem to suspect a thing. But she still had to be careful. "The name's..." She hesitated a moment, trying to think of a good name. She sighed when the only thing she could think of was an old nickname she went by sometime ago. "Star?" She grinned. That would work.
"Hey Star! Come inside! I'm sure everyone would like to meet you," Mabel said.
"What?" Star said in surprise. Her right eye seemed to flash red for a moment, before it settled back into its normal green color. The other remained the same, a milky white that seemed to indicate blindness. She took a step back. "I'm sure they don't."
"We already have two new guests! Why not one more!"
"Fine" she muttered, slowly walking up to Mabel. Maybe she could use one of those guests.
"Yay!" she said, grabbing Star's hand and running off. Star squeaked as she was pulled along. She couldn't help but smirk. The girl was easy enough to trick. Hopefully, the others would be just as easy.
Mabel pulled Star back to the Shack and straight to Stan.
***
Stan grumbled as he opened himself a Pitt cola. Then Mabel walked in with another stranger, and he'd had enough. "Shack's closed get out. Or hand over double the entrance fee for after hours viewing."
"But Grunkle," said Mabel. "She's lost and alone..."
The girl tried to put on her best sad, scared face. Of course, it didn't really look like either. "I got lost hiking," she said.
Stan crossed his arms, not buying it. "Not my problem." Something just wasn't right about this woman. "So pay up or shove off."
"Come on....." Mabel said. "Please can she stay, please can she stay, please can she stay, please can she stay, please can she stay, please can she stay? PLEASE?"
Stan shot Mabel 'The Look' and pointed at the door. He was too tired for this crap. Mabel sighed and started to give him the the puppy-dog eyes.
"I doubt he's going for this," Star muttered, looking annoyed.
"B-but..." Mabel kept up her puppy-dog eyes. Star frowned. She knew she shouldn't even have been here.
"I probably should just leave," she mumbled. If Stan already suspected something, then Ford would instantly see through her disguise.
Mabel sighed. "Okay...." she said, leading Star out.
***
Dipper smiled at his grunkles. "See? Someone magical who ISN'T trying to kill us for a change!"
"Kill you? Why would I ever do that?" she asked, looking at him. "And I don't know if this accurately counts as magic. I never thought about it that way..."
Dipper took off the furry hat that Wendy had given him and fiddled with it for a second. "You wouldn't, that's the point. Every other magical being or mythical creature from unicorns to gnomes to... Bill... have always been violent or pretty mean or rude. So it's a really nice change!" He laughed and replaced his hat.
She smiled. "Thanks. And for the record, you're the only nice normal people I've met so far."
"Then we're even, I suppose?" he said. She gave a small laugh, turning back to normal.
"So how do you do that, anyways?" Dipper asked, popping open a can of soda and sitting. "Transform and all that?"
"I... Am not sure..." she suddenly said, staring off into the distance. "That... huh... I wish I knew. I just have to think about it..."
"Hmmm... Maybe my Grunkle Ford here would know!" Dipper gestured to the man in the coat. Sifra looked at the man.
"Do you know?"
Ford wrinkled his brow in thought. "The answer would be in your DNA, though I have a few theories... Why don't you two come down to the lab? I have a new journal started and I'd love to add you to it!"
Her eyes widened and she looked slightly scared. "L-lab?" Her voice squeaked. Ford put up his hands.
"It's not like that. Honestly it's my bedroom but it's also where I go to write about all of the amazing creatures I find. It won't be like the FBI labs on X-Files or anything like that."
She nodded. "O-okay..." She followed him. Mabel patted her shoulder.
Ford turned to lead them down to his room when Stan stopped him and pointed outside where a black government vehicle had pulled up. "Looks like those yahoos from the government are back," muttered Stan and sure enough the two agents Powers and Trigger got out of the SUV, but they were followed by a third person wearing a long black matrix-like trench coat, a black fedora, and sunglasses.
"We had better go see what they want Stanley."
"Right... Kids, stay here."
***
"Mr. Pines, Mr. Pines," addressed Agent Powers. "This agent Graves, a recruit to watch Gravity Falls. Be sure to report regularly." And then he got back in the car with Trigger.
"Hey!" the three yelled in unison as the car sped off. The agent took off her hat and tossed it to the ground revealing dark chocolate colored hair with neon green streaks pulled up into a bun.
"You can't leave me here! Hey! Ya sleazy wack-bags!" Her New York accent echoed through the trees. "Dang it..."
Ford spoke first "Well Ms. Graves I guess you should come inside."
"Yeah we've got a few questions for you."
She sighed and grabbed her hat pulling her hair out of the bun and letting it fall into her face.
From inside, the younger twins saw the agents and the Pines twins talked for a little bit before the two men got back in the SUV and drove off with the third yelling after them angrily.
The three came into the kitchen and the agent sank into a chair with a sigh. "Wha'd ya wanna know?" she asked as the men sat down.
Mabel ran over. "What's going on?" Stan absentmindedly patted her head.
"The government has sent someone to spy on us sweetheart."
The agent crossed her arms. "I'm not a spy. I'm a biologist who specializes in extraterrestrial life, and unusual mutations, simply put, weird stuff. I was brought out here to meet you, Dr. Pines. By the way I'm a huge fan of your work! I mean you were the trail blazer that opened all of this up for me. You're like...my idol!"
Ford rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. "Really?"
She looked shocked "Well yeah! I though we were going to have a civilized conversation with you now that you're back in Gravity Falls, not have Trigger and Powers drop me off like a news paper."
Sifra poked her head in. She heard noises and got scared.
Dipper peered up at the new government agent. He had wanted to say sorry again to Powers and Trigger for literally raising the dead, but he'd missed them. This time, he knew better. He stayed quiet, and just sort of smiled when she looked at him.
When Mabel tugged at Ford's shirt to point to Sifra, she had a worried look on her face as if she was thinking 'don't let anyone see her!' Sifra suddenly heard something and started to slowly walk to the windows, away from Ford and Mabel.
Ford glanced at the girls and understood Mabel's message. "So then Ms. Graves-"
"Sasha please. Ms. Graves makes me sound like an undertaker."
He chuckled. "Where will you be staying?"
She paused, "Is there a hotel?"
"No."
She blinked and looked around the old building. "Can I stay here?"
Dipper turned and facepalmed. "Too many," he muttered, then saw Sifra standing apart. "Hey what's up?" he asked.
She jumped up to the rafters again. "Oh.. I'm sorry..." she said as she slowly got down.
Dipper waved a hand. "Oh it's okay. Did you hear something?"
She nodded. "It was outside."
"It was probably nothing. Some forest animal, or maybe a tourist."
She nodded. "Oh okay. Um... So your uncle... What did he exactly want to do to me?"
There was a shout. "No way! We are NOT letting her stay here Stanford!" Ford started to retort when Sasha held up her hands.
"I'll find somewhere else to stay, but I'll have to show up here once and a wile to keep tabs on you guys. That isn't up for debate, Mr. Pines, thank you for your time Dr. Pines." She pulled out a card with her name and number from her coat pocket and handed it to Ford. "It was a pleasure to meet you sir." She began to walk out when Ford caught her arm.
"You were supposed to keep up with my research correct?"
"Well yeah, mostly." He nodded.
"You can stay with me in the basement." She blinked surprised.
"Okay."
Stan glared at his twin. "I said no, Ford."
"It's still my house, and the basement is my personal domain. It's basically a separate part of the shack, like my home. I can let her stay down there if I want regardless of your wishes."
He knew there was no point in arguing now. "Fine. But she can't come into my part of the house unless she's leaving." It was a ridiculous condition but Ford nodded anyway and led the agent down into the basement through the special vending machine door.
Mabel led Sifra down with then. She looked around, scared. "W-what is this place?" she asked, surprised. Dipper followed them down into the basement.
"I don't know," he whispered to Sifra. "But it won't hurt. One time he used me for part of an experiment. He just scanned my brain waves with this big machine. I had to wear a pretty funny looking hat, but no pain. Then I, er, broke the machine."
"I-if you broke it..... Maybe he will just ask me questions? O-or something... Right?"
Dipper nodded. "Most likely. He may want a DNA sample, but don't worry, it's easy to get from a few hairs! Point is, he won't hurt you."
She nodded. "Oh okay... As long as no needles. I hate needles... but.... He seems nice." Sifra said to Dipper.
He nodded. "Yeah needles aren't fun. Don't worry."
"What do you think he will want to know?"
"Honestly? No idea. Probably why you're part cat."
"Personally, I think the strange thing is that I'm part human," she said.
Dipper stared. "Why?"
"I'm not used to people. I'm more cat person than human."
"No, that doesn't make you any less human. You're scared, that's all."
"I'm a half-human, half-cat, who lives in a warrior world."
Dipper squinted at her. "Warrior world...?"
"You have to fight to survive. Either with or against others like me for food, or over territory. You're lucky if someone or something doesn't snag the food away from you once you catch it."
Dipper shrugged. "Sometimes things are like that. Sounds like my time in school... But... Well, it's not always like that, really."
"Huh..... okay," she said. Then smiled. "This is the longest conversation I have ever had that's not in a fight!"
"Well, hopefully it goes on for a while longer!" He smiled cheerfully.
"Hehe, I hope so too."
"Talking to new people is fun. But sometimes hard..."
"But... They never attack you, do they?"
"Well... Once or twice. Okay maybe more than that but probably not as much as you."
"Oh... I'm sorry...." she said.
Ford listened to the two talk behind him, though she'd been awfully silent on the way down. She looked around the room as they entered.
"Holy fish sticks, and custard. You weren't kidding about this being like a house."
Ford grinned with pride at the room-slash-laboratory he'd set up, the room was about as long as the house above providing him with the space to have a separate bathroom and kitchen. His sleeping area was sectioned off with a curtain and the rest was all lab equipment. The biologist squealed at the sight like a teenaged girl sitting next to their crush, rushing around and fangirling over his work.
Sifra looked around, eyes wide. She walked up next to Ford. "It's... amazing... The architecture... The stuff you have built..." she said, looking around, mouth agape. Her eyes scanned everything and if he looked right at them he would see they were both moving quickly but capturing every detail, and... purple? Her brown eyes turned purple!
Dipper smiled when his new friend seemed to relax a little. But wait... Her eyes could change color too?! The boy noticed that as soon as she looked into a slab of metal and saw her eyes, she quickly looked at the agent and tried to rub her eyes. After about three seconds, it went away.
Sasha smiled at the girl softly. "Don't worry kid, I ain't gonna tell anyone about you or your cat-like demeanor. I'm only here to make sure this genius doesn't create anymore portals to other dimensions." She chuckled, pushing back some of her unruly waves and curls. "I've gotta ask though, your hair, did you dye the streaks or are they natural, 'cause I've never seen a color that vibrant come out of a bottle."
Sifra looked shocked and took a step back. "Y-You could tell already?!" she asked. "A-And yes... Yes they are."
"I'm a scientist, a biologist at that, it's my job to notice the extraordinary genetics around me. As for your eyes you're not alone." She pulled of her dark, reflective glasses and blinked her eyes. They were two different colors, the left a bright green and the right a dark, gunmetal grey. "They're based too, they change in the light or if I cry. The left turns orangey and the right turns violet. Odd, right?" She beamed at the group around her.
"Oh..... Mine turn grey when I'm sad and have lost all hope which is bad... but it does happen when you get beat up. They also turn purple when I'm scared, angry, or it flashes every so often when I'm shocked," Sifra said.
Dipper rubbed his own, quite normal eyes. "Does, like, everyone who wanders in around here have weird eyes?" This was getting confusing. He wished he had a pen to click, or at least something to fiddle with as he puzzled about what exactly was going on.
"Well... no. There are many many creatures out there that are quite normal with eyes," Sifra said.
Dipper smiled. "Well yeah, most things have eyes but not ones that do cool color changing stuff! I mean, mine stay one color."
"O-oh okay..." She looked at Ford, then the agent, then Dipper. Suddenly, Sifra growled, her mouth slightly open, breathing through it.. "T-there is someone... something... upstarts.... and it's not human..."
Blue // they/he 
