[In the space of a moment or two, the smile drops away from Ford's face. Weight settles back into Ford's posture, and his eyes fall. There's an attempt at bringing the smile back, at casual levity, but the underlying sadness is impossible to miss.]
You could have met them in the Bargeyard, if you wanted. I ran into Stan, Dipper, and Mabel, who had come ashore from another ship! I believed them to be from a splintered timeline very close to my own, one in which Stan died in the Arctic Ocean instead of me. I wish I'd been able to spend more time with them without being shut up in a building we had to convert into a safe house!
[He sighs, fondly -- but also soberly. Their absence is painful, and time hasn't made it easier.]
I miss them terribly.
Dipper and Mabel had just turned thirteen when Stan and I left. Mabel is a remarkable girl. She has one of the most magnetic personalities I've ever seen, and the fastest stitch-rate-per-minute this side of Purrcury 5. She's always making something. Very artistic. Incredibly creative use of stickers, things I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. She'd have an entire menagerie, if she could, but for now, she's got a pet pig by the name of Waddles that she's rarely seen without.
Dipper is her twin brother, and I admit, it took me a little longer to warm up to him. Mabel won me over immediately with her fearless, off-beat charm, but when I first met Dipper, he was a nervous, sweaty, stammering mess! Kind of like me the first time I spoke to Tesla. I thought he'd been scribbling over my journals with inane pre-teen drivel, so I didn't give his additions to them a second thought. But when I discovered he shared my interest in Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons, well -- we connected quickly after that. So much so that before the summer ended, I asked him to stay in Gravity Falls and become my apprentice! At first I thought he was convinced, but in the end, he decided to go back to California with his sister. I find I can't argue with the wisdom of his choice. He has a more level head on his shoulders than I ever did, and I'm sure I--
[There's a hitch in Ford's narrative there.]
...I'm sure I'll see him again.
[You know, eventually. Once he stops being dead and all. There's, you know, a difference between "I'll sail back next summer" and "I don't know if I'm going to be able to change myself in the right ways enough to come back to Earth before I disappear for good."]
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You could have met them in the Bargeyard, if you wanted. I ran into Stan, Dipper, and Mabel, who had come ashore from another ship! I believed them to be from a splintered timeline very close to my own, one in which Stan died in the Arctic Ocean instead of me. I wish I'd been able to spend more time with them without being shut up in a building we had to convert into a safe house!
[He sighs, fondly -- but also soberly. Their absence is painful, and time hasn't made it easier.]
I miss them terribly.
Dipper and Mabel had just turned thirteen when Stan and I left. Mabel is a remarkable girl. She has one of the most magnetic personalities I've ever seen, and the fastest stitch-rate-per-minute this side of Purrcury 5. She's always making something. Very artistic. Incredibly creative use of stickers, things I wouldn't have thought of in a million years. She'd have an entire menagerie, if she could, but for now, she's got a pet pig by the name of Waddles that she's rarely seen without.
Dipper is her twin brother, and I admit, it took me a little longer to warm up to him. Mabel won me over immediately with her fearless, off-beat charm, but when I first met Dipper, he was a nervous, sweaty, stammering mess! Kind of like me the first time I spoke to Tesla. I thought he'd been scribbling over my journals with inane pre-teen drivel, so I didn't give his additions to them a second thought. But when I discovered he shared my interest in Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons, well -- we connected quickly after that. So much so that before the summer ended, I asked him to stay in Gravity Falls and become my apprentice! At first I thought he was convinced, but in the end, he decided to go back to California with his sister. I find I can't argue with the wisdom of his choice. He has a more level head on his shoulders than I ever did, and I'm sure I--
[There's a hitch in Ford's narrative there.]
...I'm sure I'll see him again.
[You know, eventually. Once he stops being dead and all. There's, you know, a difference between "I'll sail back next summer" and "I don't know if I'm going to be able to change myself in the right ways enough to come back to Earth before I disappear for good."]