Caught in the Stars: Chapter XI

A Gravity Falls Fanfic

“What are you working on?” Pacifica asked as she sat beside Dipper at the kitchen table the next morning.

With one hand, he held up his phone to show a photo of a red and yellow bird, and with the other, he continued his sketch. “Grunkle Ford finally got a picture.” He frowned at the line he had just drawn and erased it before dropping his pencil. “This bird has been following them around for the past two months, but only ever appearing for a few seconds at a time before disappearing again. It’s definitely not a normal bird. See these markings on its back?” He pointed at the flame-like patterns of gold feathers. “Those don’t match any kind of known bird. He’s been trying to figure out what it is, and he finally realized–”

“Dipper,” his mother interrupted as she came into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee, “why don’t you give Pacifica a chance to wake up before you bombard her with your drawings and magical creatures?”

Dipper snapped his mouth shut, sheepishly ducking his head and paying far more attention than necessary to his drawing.

“I don’t mind,” Pacifica said quickly. “I asked what you were doing for a reason.”

Dipper peeked up at her and grinned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” She leaned over to study the photo better. “I’m really curious now. What is it?”

Dipper’s face lit up. “It’s a phoenix!”

Pacifica looked up at him. “You mean those birds that burn up and then come back to life again?”

Dipper picked up his phone and scrolled back a few pictures. “Well, yes, but we don’t know if they can actually do that. This is definitely where the stories come from, though. See? Grunkle Ford found these pages form a Medieval bestiary. Does this look familiar?” He showed her a photo of an old book with a painting of a bird that looked remarkably similar to the earlier photo.

Pacifica rested her chin on her hand as Dipper picked up his pencil and kept drawing. “But the stories of them coming from ashes must have come from somewhere, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. Grunkle Ford has been hypothesizing about it, but since most of the animals from the bestiaries that are described as dying and coming back to life don’t really, he thinks the phoenixes don’t either. But, see, every time he’s seen it, the phoenix disappears by flying directly towards the sun so he can’t see it. He thinks it may be a defense mechanism against predators, and that might explain where the whole dying-in-fire thing came from, but he’s hoping to study it more. Anyway, he’s been sending me all his notes so far, and I wanted to put some of them in my own journal.”

“That’s really cool. You should show me the drawing when you finish.”

Dipper smiled and ducked his head again. “Uh, yeah, sure.”

“Pacifica!” Mabel called from her room. “I want to show you something! It’s extremely important!”

Pacifica raised her eyebrows at Dipper, who laughed. “I’m coming!” she called back.

When she went upstairs, Mrs. Pines took her chair and said, “I have a question.”

His tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he shaded the bird’s wing. “Mmhmm?”

“Do you like Pacifica?”

His pencil stopped, but he didn’t look up. “Uh, yeah, I do.”

He could hear the smile in her voice when she asked, “Do you think she likes you?”

“I sure hope so,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Yeah, I think she does.”

“Well,” his mom said, nudging him in the side. “Maybe you should ask her out.”

Dipper slid his finger up and down his pencil and kept his eyes on the drawing. “I can’t do that. Not yet. Her parents . . . won’t be happy with it, and we’re still trying to figure things out.”

“Why wouldn’t her parents like it? You’re really sweet and cool–”

“They don’t like me,” Dipper interrupted. “They tolerated me for a while, but then I kind of messed things up at their party when Mabel and I went, so now they hate me.”

Mrs. Pines shook her head. “I’m sure they don’t hate you.”

“Oh, believe me, they do. But I told you, we’re figuring it out.”

“Well that’s good.” Mrs. Pines stood up, but rested her hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “She seems like a very nice girl.”

Dipper smiled. “Thanks, mom.”

On Hiatus