december
Hunched over the kitchen table in the Mystery Shack, Pacifica lightly pressed a pencil over a blank page in her journal, her tongue peeking out from her lips as she attempted to sketch a prototype design for her latest project with McGucket. She'd asked him for help with building her very own robot, (she had to admit, what the old man pulled off during the Weirdmageddon was admirable and impressive) and he'd told her that if she came up with a design she liked, they could look into it. For the past few days, she'd been working on rough drafts in the leather-bound book Ford had given her.
She hummed with excitement as she drew, trying her best to contain what was trying to grow into a wide smile. Mabel and Dipper would be arriving later that evening and staying until the first day of January. Pacifica could hardly believe that three and a half months had already flown by since she had last seen them.
Ever since that one night in November, Pacifica had taken to visiting the Shack two to four times a week. Soos and Melody had grown used to her coming and going as she pleased and had even given the girl her own key to get in when they were away. Sometimes McGucket would tag along with her when he wasn't preoccupied with all of the projects he would take on. She liked having a safe place to escape to every now and then.
She reached for a pink colored pencil out of a small pouch next to her when she heard the familiar ring of the bell on the door in the gift shop. Pacifica turned her head towards the sound when Stanley's gravely voice rang out.
"Soos? Melody?"
Pacifica immediately smiled and pushed her chair out to go greet the man.
"Mr. Pines!" Soos beamed before throwing his arms around the former con-artist.
Ford and Melody had also entered the room by now, and for a few pleasant moments the adults chatted. Pacifica sat on the edge of the checkout counter, listening in to their conversation. By now, she was used to just listening in when grown-ups talked. Her parents would always hush her otherwise. "Not now, Pacifica, let the adults here talk. Go play," if she was lucky. If her parents were feeling a bit mean, she'd receive a harsh look and a "shut up."
"Pacifica! How's that journal treating you?" Ford looked at the girl, changing the topic of the conversation to include her.
For a moment, she was a bit surprised they were including her. She was caught off guard. "Uh," she stammered shyly, "I really like it. Thank you."
"'Really like it' is an understatement! You should see some of the drawings she's done in there," Melody poked, smiling over at Pacifica.
The blonde tugged at the sleeves of her sweater (a baggy pink top she had bought so she wouldn't stretch out her llama one) and hung her head to hide her smile. She didn't really think much of the silly doodles in the journal. Painting was on the list of the many hobbies she had mastered, but that had been through a class her parents had paid for. Besides, her work was identical to everyone else's and hadn't received much praise.
"I'd love to see them sometime," the old man nodded.
Pacifica slipped off of the top of the counter when a buzzer in the kitchen went off. "Oh! Supper's ready," Melody announced.
Halfway through dinner, Dipper and Mabel burst into the kitchen, dressed in winter gear with their bags at their feet. They grinned wide as their uncles and friends crowded around them in a cloud of hugs and greetings.
"Pacifica!" Mabel squealed as she pulled her friend close, nearly smothering the blonde with her puffy vest and sweater.
"Hey," Pacifica murmured, blushing and returning the hug.
Mabel pulled away and stretched her arms out in front of her. "Sheesh, that was a long bus ride! 11 hours," she grumbled, peeling her vest away. "But snow! There's snow on the ground! I didn't think there would be any!"
"You slept for half of it," Dipper added before gesturing to spot on his shoulder, "And drooled on me. Plus you've seen snow before."
"Do you have to be such a debbie downer, Dip?" Mabel pouted.
He stuck his tongue out at her before sliding into a spot at the kitchen table, already starting up a conversation with Ford.
Mabel snorted as she grabbed her bags and tugged them towards the staircase leading to the attic. "You coming, Paz?"
Pacifica crossed her arms and followed the brunette up the rickety steps. She tended to stay away from the attic, considering all that it was fairly empty without Dipper and Mabel living in it anymore. Besides, the yellow recliner in the living room was decent enough when it came to finding a place to sleep if she just ignored the weird stains and smells.
"This place is a ghost town without us!" Mabel exclaimed, tossing a duffel bag onto the twin size mattress on the right side of the space.
"It gets pretty quiet around here sometimes," Pacifica replied. "But it's like, not that bad. Want me to help you unpack or something?" She asked, remembering there wasn't exactly a butler to help the girl.
Mabel nodded and unzipped her bright pink suitcase. Quieting down, they began to tuck Mabel's sweaters away into one of the dresser drawers. The twins would be in town for almost two weeks, giving them plenty of time to soak in the experiences they'd missed in the town.
"What's in that old gym bag?" Pacifica asked, eying the duffel on the bed.
A grin stretched across Mabel's rosy face, flashing her braces. "I might have brought some Christmas decorations to brighten up this room a little bit," she answered in a sing-song tone as she rocked back and forth on her heels.
"Wait, Christmas? I thought you celebrated Hanukkah." Pacifica looked over at Mabel.
"Our family usually does both! It's pretty fun," Mabel smiled as she unzipped the duffel bag. She pulled out a long, tangled string of lights that she knew well would take the better part of her evening to fix.
Pacifica nodded slowly. "So are we going to have a, uh... Hanukkah dinner?"
Mabel snorted. "Hannukkah ended last weekend! I wish, though. I've never celebrated it with Grunkle Stan or Ford. But there's always Christmas! You'll be coming over here, right?"
She hadn't exactly planned on visiting the Shack on Christmas (she wasn't even sure what her plans for the holiday were up until that point), but how could Pacifica refuse Mabel's invitation? "Duh," Pacifica smiled, which earned her another one of Mabel's bear hugs.
Together, they spent three hours decorating the attic with everything from lights to miniature trees and even an inflatable snowman that was originally supposed to be a yard decoration (Pacifica was impressed Mabel had managed to fit it all into one bag). Afterwards, they collapsed onto the lumpy twin mattress on Mabel's side of the space, dozing off side by side.
For Pacifica, Christmas wasn't usually a day involving any sort of real family bonding or that cheesy warmth found in TV movies revolving around the holiday. Usually she would wake up and head downstairs to find an array of gifts scattered under a tree that was nearly 20 feet tall, alone while her parents were off busy preparing for some big party that night. After she opened her presents, she would spend the rest of the day in her room until her prissy relatives arrived, having "adult conversations" and telling her go away. It was what she had grown to expect.
Only this year, she knew it would be different. At 5 am, McGucket knocked twice on her bedroom door before shoving it open and telling her to get dressed and head downstairs. Half-asleep, she did so, throwing on a light blue dress over a pair of tights before leaving her bedroom. She also remembered to grab the two neatly wrapped boxes sitting on her vanity.
Unsurprisingly, Preston and Priscilla Northwest were out of sight, probably still asleep. Pacifica knew they were having a family dinner that evening, but she wasn't planning on sticking around for it. She stood in front of the tree and what was likely the smalled stack of presents she'd ever received on Christmas. A small part of her was disappointed, but she remembered her parents had lost tons of money after the Weirdmageddon, and tried to keep in mind that she was lucky to even have the gifts at all. She only reached for one of the items under the tree- a small black box with a pink ribbon on it. The gift tag on the lid read that it was McGucket's gift to her.
She carefully undid the ribbon and opened the box to find a silver charm bracelet inside. Pacifica noticed there were three charms already attached to the chain as she removed the accessory from its cushioned spot in the case. They were shaped like a llama, a wrench, and a shooting star.
"You picked these out for me?" Pacifica turned to the older man, who was sliding on his heavy red coat, nearly ready to walk out the door. She had never really taken McGucket for one with any taste in fashion or accessories (he was family at this point, but the man did wear overalls year round and lately had grown fond of tacky Hawaiian shirts). Pacifica was sticken with surprise and what was this, platonic love for a family member?
He nodded. "Thank you," she mumbled before placing it around her left wrist.
Together, like always, they left the manor together. It was too cold and snowy to walk (Pacifica knew Mabel would have a field day with the white Christmas they were having) to the Mystery Shack, so McGucket pulled an old truck around for them to ride in. She leaned her head against the frosty glass of the passenger side window as they rolled through the woods.
She hopped out of the vehicle when they rolled up in the gravely parking lot outside the old building. Glowing yellow lights hung along the porch and a thick wreath hung on the gift shop's door. Pacifica climbed the porch steps, presents in hand, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. What she knew about traditional family Christmases came from holiday specials that aired on TV.
In front of a tree sagging with ornaments in the gift shop's back corner (that Pacifica thought looked microscopic compared to the one at her house) sat Mabel and Dipper, who were still dressed in pajamas and chattering quietly when Pacifica and McGucket walked in. Melody, Soos, Ford, and Stanley were standing near the checkout counter, sipping coffee from mugs and looking like they were about to fall back asleep any moment.
"Paz!" Mabel chirped before scrambling to her feet. "You've gotta open your present!" The brunette nearly collided with Pacifica as she rushed to deliver a rather lumpy package to her.
"O-okay, but only if you open mine," Pacifica stammered before passing over one of the boxes she had brought with her to Mabel.
Pacifica went first and tore the paper away from her gift. The girl unfolded and held up a turtleneck sweater, smiling even wider as she looked over the design on the front that resembled a diamond. She held the bundle of violet yarn against her chest. "You knit this for me?"
Mabel nodded quickly. "It took me two weeks to figure out how to get the yarn to sparkle like that! Do you like it?"
"I love it," Pacifica gushed. "I really love it. Thank you." The words that once felt foreign on her tongue were now finding their way into her everyday vocabulary and she was definitely aware of it. "It's nicer than any of the designer stuff in my wardrobe," she poked, pretending not to notice when Mabel's cheeks grew hot.
"Aw, Paz, you're gettin' all mushy on me," Mabel giggled before picking at the paper around the present Pacifica had given her with her rather glittery painted nails. Her jaw then dropped.
"What? Did I buy you the wrong kind...?" Pacifica frowned. Had she messed up? Those were the markers Mabel had been going on about for so long, right? For the past four months, she kept mentioning saving up all of the allowance she had to buy a few, but it would take her weeks of chores to manage to even buy a small amount.
"Pacifica, I've been wanting these for months now! How did you afford these?" Mabel threw her arms around Pacifica, squealing with excitement. Now it was the blonde's turn to turn red as her friend squeezed her tight.
Pacifica simply shrugged. Even though her parents weren't as rich as they had been, 100 dollars didn't seem like all that much, especially if it was being spent on Mabel.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
After half an hour of exchanging gifts (Pacifica received an anime DVD from Soos and Melody and handed Dipper his gift, a telescope and star map), Ford cleared his throat and glanced over at his twin brother, who was trying to conceal a smile.
"We have an announcement to make," Ford noted. "We have one last present for Pacifica and Fiddleford."
Pacifica, who was sitting on the floor with Mabel's arms around her and a plate of cookies in her lap, glimpsed over at the men with growing curiosity.
"You knuckleheads can come with us when we leave town!" Stanley jumped to his feet.
"We'll be making a two month journey up north for a research project on the supernatural. We had a feeling you two might like to join us," Ford told them. "We have plenty of resources on the Stan-o-War that Pacifica could use to continue her studies during the voyage, not to mention the potential firsthand experiences with all sorts of creatures..."
"What'd'ya say?"
Pacifica made eye contact with Mcgucket for a moment. Two months was a long time to spend at sea. Sure, she had been on cruises before, but those were luxurious ships with swimming pools and short trips to small islands far from Oregon, not tiny little boats up where it was cold and she would be stuck at sea for weeks on end. However, she would have a chance to get away. She'd be nowhere near Bill Cipher in the woods, her parents in the manor, or Tiffany and all of their old friends.
"I'd love to," she answered. "Absolutely, yes!"
McGucket adjusted his glasses. "Well, I guess we could make it work," he beamed. "An' I'm sure we could get all sorts'a research done out there together, Ford."
"You're so lucky," Dipper bit. "I'd give an arm and a leg to go travel with them!"
"Pacifica! That's so cool!" Mabel grinned. "You guys will get to be all sciencey and junk! Hey, Paz, will you tell me if you see any mermaids? Will you bring me some souvenirs? Like a penguin egg? Waddles needs a friend back home!"
Pacifica laughed, leaning against the brunette. "Sure, Mabel. I'll bring you some penguin eggs and say hi to the mermaids for you."