Gravity Rises (S1)

NW: Part One

"What do I need to summon Bill Cipher?"

This was the question Pacifica had asked her friend, Gideon Northwest, earlier that day. Now she sat primly on a straight-backed chair on the stage of the Tent of Telepathy. The audience was empty, and the stage lights were off. Pacifica was alone, with only the sound of a faint rustling offstage.

Even though there was no one around to see her, Pacifica remained picture perfect. It was a force of habit. More than that, she felt the need to look pristine, for she had recently spent a day watching herself from the outside as her body was clumsily maneuvered by Gideon — the result an unfortunate body-swapping curse.

Pacifica had taken many long showers after that.

The rustling sounds offstage stopped; footfalls replaced them, heading in her direction. "I got them, Miss Pleasure," said a voice. A stagehand, dressed in common jeans and a sunset orange t-shirt (which clashed horribly with her dusty blonde hair) came onto the stage. In her arms, she held a cardboard box. "A dozen wax candles. If you don't mind me asking," she said as she put the box on the ground next to Pacifica, "why do you need them?"

"I do mind your asking," Pacifica replied haughtily. "How do you expect me to carry this box by myself?" She could easily send the stagehand away and levitate the box with her amulet (by no means would she carry it herself and get dust all over her outfit), but this was what the girl was paid for.

The stagehand sighed and bent down again; her simple ponytail splayed across her shoulders. "Where do you need it, Miss?" she asked.

"Go put it in my daddy's car outside," Pacifica ordered.

The stagehand did as asked, though Pacifica thought she saw a slight eyeroll. She narrowed her eyes as the stagehand retreated and activated her amulet. The power was low, and the purple smoke that sprang up by the stagehand's head wafted lazily around it. Words and images appeared in various levels of clarity; the stagehand was primarily wondering how Pacifica became such a spoiled brat.

Pacifica sniffed. No different from the other imbeciles who worked here. She really should stop reading the minds of unimportant people like this stagehand, but she couldn't help herself. Having her powers again (after a year of separation from them) was too exciting for her to leave them dormant. Besides, the thoughts of this lowly stagehand hardly mattered.

While the woman went out to the car, Pacifica went over her checklist in her head. She had the candles. Gideon had the incantation. All that was left was a sacrifice.

When Gideon first told her about the sacrifice, she'd thought he meant a blood sacrifice. After all, Bill Cipher was a demon — didn't demons like that kind of thing? But, no, Gideon simply meant an object related to the purpose for the summoning. "No death needed," he'd said. "A picture of Stanford Pines should work well enough."

"Stanford?"

"Of course. You're summoning Bill to search his mind, aren't you?"

It was an interesting situation. Pacifica wanted nothing more than revenge on the heinous Mabel Pines, who had tried to strip her of her powers. But, in order to do that, she needed to steal the property of Mabel's uncle, Stanford. She could simply force him out of his house, but she wanted the deed to his property as well — if just for the flair of it all. To find the deed, she needed to get into his mind, which was unfortunately guarded from her magic. Hence, summoning a demon to get the information for her.

She left the stage and drove home with her dad, Bud Pleasure. On the way, she considered the next step. She supposed she could easily break in and take the deed on her own, but she'd rather summon Bill. Not only was this method by far the most stylish, but Pacifica wanted to meet Bill Cipher.

They arrived at the Pleasure household, and Bud carried the box of candles to the trailer (Pacifica's personal living space) that sat on his driveway. Pacifica followed, thanked him, and sent him away. Then she opened her closet and started pulling out black clothing. It was unnecessary, but she wanted to look the part whether or not she was seen.

A smirk crossed her face. I'll do you one better than a picture, Gideon.

She'd never committed a robbery before, but it sounded exciting.