An update of the Conspiracy Falls guidebook? In 2020? It's more likely than you think.

I've been thinking a lot about my Conspiracy Falls kids over these last few weeks (hope everyone's staying safe and healthy!), and I've had the mental image of this opening scene stuck in my head, so I decided to write it out.

This takes place during the episode "Dead Ringers", if you wish to swing over to that episode chapter to refresh before reading this. There are also references to the events of the previous episode, "Gideon Descends", if you wish to refresh yourself on that one as well. I'll probably write one or two more follow-ups to this scene because "Dead Ringers" is one of my favorite Conspiracy Falls storylines to think about, if not my absolute favorite, but don't hold me to that. Hope you enjoy!

~~~

"Got any sixes?" Gideon asked.

Pacifica shook her head. "Go fish."

Gideon drew a card from the crooked stack that sat between the two of them in the middle of the bathtub.

Make no mistake, Pacifica had not planned on spending this night sitting in her bathtub with Gideon Corduroy as they played their fourteenth round of go-fish. She was supposed to be downstairs at the official bed-and-breakfast reopening party that her family was hosting and hanging out with her best friends (and of course, with Gideon Corduroy, who had majorly damaged said bed-and-breakfast back when he had been corrupted by an literal, actual demon, but bygones were bygones and Gideon had already apologized exactly 203 times over the course of the summer).

But then he-who-must-not-be-named showed up with that stupid, snotty look on his face that clearly meant that he had no intention of apologizing, and Pacifica found herself offering to keep Gideon company after he meekly asked if there was anywhere he could go to avoid he-who-must-not-be-named.

Not that Pacifica was avoiding him, of course. She just didn't feel like gracing the biggest jerk this side of the hemisphere with her presence, that's all.

"Got any ones?" Pacifica asked after checking back over her cards.

Gideon sighed, passing over two of his cards, just as there was a rhythmic knock at the door.

"Not it!" Pacifica cried, but Gideon already had a finger on his nose and a small smile on his face. She stuck her tongue at him before setting down her cards and climbing out of the bathtub, almost knocking over her bottom of lilac-scented shampoo, to go unlock the door for Candy or Grenda or whichever member of the newspaper crew it was.

"Is he gone yet?" Pacifica asked as she slowly opened the door.

"Nope," Priscilla Pines said, hands on her hips. Grenda stood at her side, a paper plate full of chocolate-covered strawberries and brownies in her hands. "But you're still marching yourself downstairs for the rest of this party."

Pacifica's eyes darted to Grenda. "Traitor!" she hissed.

"I'm sorry, but she figured it out after she saw me sneaking up food for you guys for the fourth time!" Grenda said. "Here you go, by the way."

Pacifica grumbled her thanks and accepted the plate as her mother pushed open the door and marched into the bathroom. Gideon sat up to attention upon her entrance, straightening his bow tie.

"Hello, Mrs. Pines," Gideon waved awkwardly with his cardless hand. "Your strawberry cake tastes delicious."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Priscilla replied. "Remind me to get you the recipe later. This conversation doesn't apply to you, by the way."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Priscilla turned her attention back to Pacifica, who should have escaped out of the door while she had the chance. "What do you think you're doing, hiding yourself up here for the whole party?"

"I was down there at the beginning of the party!" Pacifica sat the plate down on the counter and crossed her arms. "And I'm not hiding."

"Oh really? Then what were you doing?"

"Keeping Gideon company," Pacifica said after a short moment of deliberation.

Priscilla looked back at Gideon, who looked like he had decided a little too late that he would rather be downstairs with he-who-must-not-be-named instead of having to witness his friend fight with her mom. "And what were you doing?"

"Hiding," Gideon said weakly, refusing to make eye contact with Pacifica as he sank back down into the tub.

"All of my friends are traitors," Pacifica grumbled.

"I apologized!" Grenda cried.

"Pacifica, this is our party. We can't be good hosts if we're not even attending it," Priscilla said. "You shouldn't let one person ruin the entire night for you."

"No one has ruined my night!" Pacifica protested sharply. Priscilla raised an eyebrow and Pacifica calmed herself. "My night is not ruined. I've been having a grand old time in the bathtub. Playing go-fish. With Gideon."

"You're going to go back to the party," Priscilla said, her voice even and commanding. "And you're going to stay there and socialize and be a good host for the rest of the party. It's almost over, anyways, so it shouldn't be that hard for you."

"But Mom-"

"Pacifica." Priscilla bent down to Pacifica's eye level, although she didn't have far to go. Pacifica had finally gotten her long-overdue growth spurt over the summer. "You're going to have to talk to him eventually. Whether it's tonight or tomorrow at school. Why not do it on your own turf?"

Pacifica glanced up at the ceiling and ran through every possible scenario of being forced to have a conversation with he-who-must-not-be-named on school grounds and found that every single one of them ended with her getting detention- or even worse in the more violent ones, getting suspended- on the first day back to school, and sighed.

"You're right," she conceded. "The outcome of whatever conversation we have tonight at least won't go on my permanent record."

Priscilla frowned. "That's not exactly the conclusion that I wanted you to reach," she said. "But I'll take it." Kissing Pacifica on the forehead, she stood back up straight and smoothed out her lake foam green sundress. "I'll give you three minutes to prepare yourself before I come back up here and drag you down by your ear. Love you!"

"Love you too, Mom," Pacifica smiled in spite of herself.

Grenda moved to let Priscilla by as she turned to return to the party before stepping into the bathroom. "Permission to be your backup?"

Gideon raised his hand. "Permission to not be backup?"

"I don't need backup," Pacifica sighed. "Just stand somewhere close enough where you can get to me fast enough if I decide to strangle him. You can stay here though, Gids." She grabbed her satchel from the countertop and threw it over her shoulder, peeking in the flap to make sure her grandmother's diary was still there. It was, as usual. Pacifica would definitely need its strength to get through the rest of the party. She flipped open her jewelry box on the counter and started shifting through its contents. "Where is the man of the hour, anyways?"

"He's in the kitchen." Candy appeared in the doorway, her pastel pink skull earrings swishing as she moved. "He looked like he was thinking about following Grenda and your mom up here, so I purposely accidentally spilled my water on him. He's cleaning up."

Pacifica fist-bumped Candy. "Right on."

"I really do think he might be here to apologize," Grenda said thoughtfully. "He might not be trying to do it in the nicest way, but I think this might be his way of trying. He hasn't been as mean as he usually is all night."

"Yeah, right," Pacifica scoffed. She pulled out a twine necklace with a small chunk of shiny carnelian attached at the end. She threw it over her head and tucked the gemstone into her shirt where it could rest near her heart. "He's probably just here to insult the new wallpaper, criticize the food, and pretend like he doesn't even know why the bed-and-breakfast was wrecked in the first place."

"Sorry," Gideon squeaked. Candy pulled out her phone to presumably add another tally to her 'how many times has Gideon apologized' count.

Pacifica didn't dignify Gideon's apology with a response, choosing to instead pass him the newest plate of goodies, which he accepted eagerly. "Have fun up here in a Dipper Northwest-less world."

"I will," Gideon confirmed. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Pacifica gave herself a quick glance-over in the mirror to make sure there was no chocolate smudges on her face. "I'm going to need it."

"Ready?" Candy asked, gesturing out of the bathroom and towards the staircase leaning downstairs.

"Not one bit," Pacifica said as she walked out the door. "But let's do it anyways."