The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

The best gift comes in a small package

By Joona Irene

~~Bill POV~~

        Dang. Mirror got away. Her last words to me echoed again.
        I'm sorry Bipper, but this was a mistake. I thought we could be friends, but it seems you just want to use me. Like everyone else. You told me you were different. You were wrong, you are just like everyone else!
        "I am different." I whispered. "I will succeed." I watched her from far away as she walked to the Mystery Shack. How could I let Mirror get away? Everything was going to plan, everything was lined up and ready, and then suddenly, it wasn't.
        Mirror...also known as Lilac Whites, also known as Naruma, also known as the last Bluekin. Getting ahold of that shard was the only way for me to access her thoughts, or at least, shadows of them. Her name, her symbol name, her mind name, was Mirror. Just like Pine tree was Dipper, just like Shooting Star was Mabel, she was Mirror.
        Her physical name was fading as I remained in the mindscape. Mirror...how did she ever get away? I felt empty without that sensation of belonging, trust, something stronger than human love. It was gone now, as was my chance at taking advantage of her knowledge and power. I scowled as she walked through crowd gathered at the Pine's door, and I spread my gaze over the Earth. I needed something else, something I hadn't ever tried before. My eye saw everything and time became irrelevant. What could I do...what to try next...

~~Lilac POV~~
        "Okay, so, now get up on his head." Mabel instructed me. I leaped up onto Dipper's hat, balancing like the ever gentle feather of a bird.
        "Hey, that didn't feel as bad as I thought!" He exclaimed. I laughed.
        "That's because I'm not as heavy as I look." I explained, shifting my weight so I was balancing on a finger, my arms and legs above me in the air. "And plus I can levitate."
        "Now spin!" Mabel cried. "Spin Spin Spin!"
        I complied, twirling like a ballerina on a pointed toe, except I was on a finger on Dipper's head.
        "So cool..." Mabel gasped. "Okay, okay now, stop spinning and jump onto my head!" I did so, planting a foot firmly on her headband and striking a yoga pose. Dipper looked at me in awe. 
        "So cool..." he breathed. I shrugged, lifting up above Mabel and crossed my legs mid-air.
        "I suppose." I said. "But it mostly gets me into trouble."
        "NO TIME!" Mabel screeched. "I want to see more tricks! What else can you do? Show us show us show us!" she demanded. I smiled. It was fun doing little tricks for them, but I hoped it wouldn't last too long.
        "Do you like dolphins?" I asked them. They nodded. "Okay, watch." Slowly I changed myself into a dolphin and began to swim, as if the air was water. I lowered myself down and they hopped onto my back, and I continued swimming around. We were on the roof outside, safe from the eyes of their Great Uncle.  They gripped my dorsal fin to stay on.
        "SO AMAZING!" Mabel cried, fists in the air.
        "Hey can you do that thing dolphins do?" Dipper asked me. "You know, their noise?"
        "Sure." I said, making a dolphin squeal. And then a dolphin laugh, and a dolphin cry. They ate it up.
        "Lilac you are so amazing." Dipper said. I stopped swimming and returned to solid ground, and changed back into a girl.
        "Why thank you." I replied. "There's not enough I can do for such good friends."
        "Sure there is!" Mabel said. She opened up the cooler on the roof and handed me an ice-cream. Then she grabbed one for herself and Dipper. "To Lilac! The coolest creature ever!" She suddenly gasped. "I should make you a sweater!" She exclaimed.
        "No need!" I said quickly.
        "Too late!" she sang.
        "Sorry Lilac." Dipper chuckled. I pouted. "You're not getting out of it."
After ice-cream Dipper wanted to hang with Soos and Wendy wanted to talk to Mabel. I was about to leave the shack when Stanford stopped me.
        "Did I hear a dolphin on the roof?" he asked me.
        "Probably." I said, shrugging.
        "What were you kids doing up there anyways?" he asked, scratching his back.
        "Plotting the extinction of strawberries." I replied casually.
        "Strawberries?" he raised an eyebrow.
        "Yeah," I said. "They're imposters."
        "If you didn't want to tell me, you could have just said so." he said, frowning. After a few moments, he broke the silence. "Imposters? Really?"
        "Truly." I said, taking a bow. "Strawberries are imposters. Tell your friends, they need to know."
        "But how? That makes no sense!"
        "You know what else makes no sense?" I countered. "A glitter gorilla. How stupid do you think people are?"
        "Really stupid." he said. "Listen, you're just a kid so I'll cut ya some slack, but people here love my displays. I know how to make money, so just let me do my thing and you do yours, alright?"
        "I'm just saying..." I muttered. "A crossbreed might be better."
        "Whatever kid. Just don't get my niece and nephew into trouble, alright? You give me the creeps sometimes."
        "Oh?"
        "Oh, sure. Just like Mabel. I mean, extinction of strawberries? Who wouldn't find that disturbing?"
        "I suppose." I shrugged. I left the shack. I felt happy, strangely. Not as happy as I had been when I was with Bill Cipher, but that kind of joy didn't have good roots. This was more of a...satisfied feeling. Good enough.
        I walked through town, not really knowing or understanding where I was going. Meandering, some call it. My friends were busy and I was bored. One foot in front of the other, I paid great attention to my feet.  I didn't even notice the large wooden fence until I smacked right into it. I pretended to wince and rub my nose.
        "Ouch." I muttered. It was large, but not big enough to hide the tops of a bunch of cars. To my right there was a sign hanging on the fence, saying KEEP OUT. There was also graffiti saying it was a real dump.
        "A junkyard, huh?" I mumbled. I loved junkyards. There was always such interesting stuff, and it was easy to hide in there too. Maybe I could find something cool in there...
Looking around first to make sure nobody was watching, I leaped over the fence with ease, landing among some rusted, torn or just plain mangled cars. They were stacked upon each other, forming walls. Other scraps of rusted metal and strange what-is-it's lay around. I squeezed between the cars and looked around.
        The junkyard consisted mostly of cars. Nothing really that interesting, unlike the junkyard at New York. That was a really interesting place. As I kept walking around I sighed and was about to leave when I spotted a shack of sorts. The walls were made of bits of torn up fences and a tin roof was placed precariously on top. Cautiously I peered in and saw there was an aura running around inside.
        "Hello?" I called out. "Somebody there?"
        "Howdy-do!" A short man with a noticeably long beard came out of the hut. I noticed the bandage on it...
        "Who are you?" I asked, coming closer. "I'm Lilac Whites."
        "A visitor! Welcome girly-girl. I'ma McGucket! It'sa nice tuh see ya!" He scratched his head. "Hold on a minute, you don't live here! I'va never seen you before!" He squinted at me. "Nice hair."
        "I like your...beard..." I said. Then I noticed all the bandages. They were everywhere on his arm and feet.
        "Did you get hurt?" I asked, coming towards him and inspecting them. "How did these happen?"
        "I dunno. Possibly on account of my ransacked life of a life. No wait, I...I dunno! They just is there." He looked at them, rubbing the cast on his arm.
        "Anyways, so, this is the junkyard?" I asked, looking around.
        "Sure is! You wanna come inside?" He asked, pulling me in before I could answer. "Looky here! This is mah washin bin, mah bottle, mah-"
        "Cool." I said, looking around. "Are those dead possums?"
        "Nah, that's mah dinner!" he exclaimed with a little too much pride. "You want some?"
        "No, I'm good." I said, turning and looking around some more. Pipes, ropes and pans hung from the ceiling. It was really crowded and I wondered how he could live in such a place. Then again, I live in a tree.  I looked at McGucket's aura. It was blue, which was good, really good. It was also a dark green. Smart, like, really smart. I looked at his face, appearance, and it seemed like he didn't reflect who he really was at all.
        "You poor man..." I whispered. "What happened to you?"
        "What's that?" he hollered, a hand up to his ear. "I didn't catch that!"
        "Um, cool banjo!" I said quickly, picking it up. I gave it a strum and set it back down. "So this is where you live. Not much..."
        "I make due with what I has." he shrugged. "Oh, look at that, it's time for mah hourly hootenanny!" He picked up the banjo and began strumming, and hollering words I couldn't understand. It was awful, but I didn't mind too much. I sat on the ground and listened to him "sing" out of tune over and over again.
        This guy is strange, but I like him. His aura is great, and he's funny. Maybe I should hang out with him more. He seems lonely. I bet other people think he's too weird. If I'm going to be here for a long time, I might as well be friends with him. He eventually finished his...thing...and he seemed surprised to see me still there.
        "Scram!" he shouted. I blinked. "Go on, git! Git git git!" He stared at me. I stared back, a smile slowly creeping onto my face. "Wh-Why are ya still here girly?" he asked. "People normally leave after a while..."
        "You're funny." I said simply. "And I enjoy your company."
        "What?" He said, looking at the sky. "You said I'ma funny? Yeah, I knew that already. But why don'tcha leave now? It'sa strange 'sall."
        "Okay. I can leave if I make you feel uncomfortable."
        "No wait! I just wanted to know why. Youra strange is all."
        "Why?" I echoed. "I already said why. You're nice."
        "Well, scramble my skeeters! Youra nice lil girly. What'sa your name girly?"
        "Lilac." I said, laughing a bit. "Lilac Whites."
        "Lilac Whites what?"
        "No, Lilac."
        "Lilac what?"
        "Lilac Whites."
        "Oh, I see! Lilac-a-Whites!" He grinned and did a little jig. I smiled and laughed a little when he was done. I still can't believe this is a grown man.
        "Oh, you know what?" I realized, standing. "I bet my friends would like to meet you!"
        "Friends?" he asked.
        "Yeah, I'll go get them right now. I'll be right back!" I said, passing through the cloth curtain that served as a door. I leaped over the fence and ran like a normal human to the Mystery Shack. I loudly knocked on the back door and Soos opened it.
        "Hi Soos!" I grinned and waved. "Are the twin's here?"
        "Yeah dog, just upstairs." he said, letting me in. I ran up the steps and, before barging in through the door, knocked first. Stupid human courtesy...wasting time waiting...
        The door opened to a pleasantly surprised Mabel.
        "Hey Lilac!" she said, smiling. "What's up?"
        "The doorjamb." I said, pointing. "Is Dipper in there?"
        "Uh, yeah, he is." she let me into their room. Dipper was on his bed staring at a wall of pictures and criss-crossing string, while Mabel had yarn and a glue gun on her bed.
        "Guys, guys, I found somebody really cool!" I said hurriedly. "His name is McGucket and-"
        "Whoa, Old Man McGucket?" Dipper sat up. I nodded.
        "Yeah, he's great and I want- oh wait, you know him?"
        "Kinda." They shrugged. "I mean, I know of him. Not like, on a personal basis. We did some stuff together-"
        "He worked for Gideon a few times," Mabel added. "But he didn't mean any harm. His brain is a bit DAWR." she wiggled her fingers. I smiled.
        "Well, I think he's great. I wanted you guys to come over and talk to him." I said. "He says the craziest things and is really nice! I think he would enjoy the company."
        "Um..." Mabel said, "Actually I was in the middle of something important. I'm working on your sweater!" she exclaimed happily. "No peeking at it, okay?" she kicked something under her bed. "You can't see it until it's done."
        "O-kay." I said, not really wanted to peek. "Dipper, what about you?"
        "Well..." he glanced at his wall before turning back to me. "What exactly would we do? It's not like he plays tennis or anything."
        "What?" I gasped. "Have you forgotten how I used to spend decades at a time with nothing but my surroundings and my wit to keep me entertained? I'll think of something." I winked. He sighed.
        "Only if you want to Lilac." he said. I looked at him. Dipper didn't seem to want to hang with McGucket and I. Maybe I should let him stay here.
        "If you want to," I said, "You don't have to come. It was more of a suggestion anyways." I said, shrugging. I waved and left the shack, and head over to the junk yard again. I was disappointed, but they couldn't always be there for me. I could have fun by myself.

        "Lilac!" McGucket called out as he saw me walking up. I'd spent the past week with McGucket and I sincerely enjoyed hanging with him. He was like the sad, human version of me. And also a little bit crazier version of me too. Okay, he was just a sad, crazy man who was also my friend. But I enjoyed hanging with him because I know that he was lonely. And I knew that being alone isn't as cool as it sounds.
        "Hey McGucket!" I waved. "I brought you something!" It was hidden behind my back. I gripped it tightly, excited to give him a gift.
        "What is it?" he asked, hobbling over to me. "Lemme see it girly!"
        "Of course, of course." I said, bringing it out. It was a bright blue comb. "I figured you could use it for your beard, to help take care of it and such." I pressed it into his hands. "It's not much I know, but I hope you like it."
        "Thank ya Lilac! I can finally clean mah beard of rust!" he began running it through his whiskers immediately, pulling out a roach. "Hmm, dat wasn't there before."
        "Good, I'm glad." I said, smiling. I watched as he jumped around like a monkey, a big smile on his tattered, dirty face.
        "I got something for ya too!" he exclaimed. He grabbed my arm. "Come heah!"
I followed him into his little hut. Two day's ago I had helped repair his excuse of a roof, and now it didn't leak anymore. Of course there were other thing's I wanted to help him with, like the walls, but I figured baby steps would be best. McGucket clapped his hands.
        "I got ya something for ya Lilac, on account of how you've been so kinda to me." He grabbed a ribbon that had dirt and rust stains all over it. Once it was red, but now it was a completely different color that meekly whispered crimson.
        "I found it while lookin for some waller-scaks." he said, handing it to me. "I know it'sa kinda dirty and all, but I thought you might like it for your long pretty girl-hair."
I took the ribbon. It was long enough to put it in my hair, so I tied it around my head and made a small bow. I grinned and blinked.
        "How do I look?" I asked, striking a ninja pose.
        "Fabadoodle!" He said. I laughed.
        "Thanks for the ribbon McGucket." I said.