closed } if i hate the headlines i'll make up a headline

[choosetruth]

Who: Georgia, Shaun, Mabel, Wirt, very briefly Dipper
Where: Wirt's room
When: Evening, 3/12
Rating: PG
Summary: Maggie's gone. Business continues.
The Story:

Shaun and George had done their grieving in private, as they always did. First Buffy, then Mahir, then Becks, and now Maggie. In the end, it was always just them against the world. Them, clinging to each other as hard as they could and hoping they wouldn't be separated again.

And as usual, the news marches on. They needed a new Fictional. Unfortunately, there really were not that many people who fit the bill. In the end, they went with someone they knew Maggie would approve of, even if Georgia had some doubts about how willing and able he'd be to shoulder the responsibility. He's young, and further, kind of spacey. But Buffy had been too, and she'd still been the best Fictional they could imagine.

After she and Shaun have discussed it and come to their decision, they approach Wirt's room to see if he's there. As they get closer, the door slams open and Dipper bursts out, eyes wide.

"Don't go in there. It's a nightmare."

He runs off before they can get more details. Georgia glances at Shaun and raises an eyebrow. "Well. You've been missing the danger, haven't you?"

Comments

[adaptiveimmunities]

"I don't feel like myself unless I've been shot at or almost eaten, and it's been..." He shakes his head sadly. "Too long. What do you think we'll find in there? Mayhem? Murder? Both?"

Unlikely. But a guy can dream.

[choosetruth]

"Yes, I'm sure that the teenager has murder happening in his bedroom. And that Dipper Pines would be running away from a murder, not full tilt towards it."

Look, she doesn't talk with the kid much, but she'd have to be blind to miss that he's a mystery obsessed nerd. Not that she's judging. Mystery obsessed nerds get stories.

"One way to find out." She pushes the door open.

[powerofmabel]

And what she walks in on is Mabel with a large poster spread out across her bed featuring a selection of nearly identical non-threatening looking adult men. It's not Sev'ral Timez, but a completely different band- likely not even one from Gravity Falls's universe. She's been pretty interested in the boy bands of other universes since she and Wirt decided the one thing they had in common was music.

"Okay. Let's try this again. JT is the bad boy. You can tell because he's the only one with facial hair and an earring. K-Rad is the older one who no one is actually super into, but he's kinda like the glue that holds everything together. Henrik is the sort of mysterious foreign one because he sings all the lyrics that aren't English and has an accent. And that leaves us with the two front men. Justin-Nicholas is the super popular babyfaced one, and BJ is the actual lead singer."

Again, they all look identical except some have facial hair and jewelry and others don't. And one is wearing a French beret to denote him as 'foreign.'

[singloversing]

Wirt is trying his hardest. He really is. They all just look the same to him though and no matter how many times Mabel tells him one's supposed to be the bad boy and one is supposed to be the older one, they all have identical faces.

"This would be way easier if any of them played any instruments. O-Okay, so...Henri? No, Henrik." That's easy enough, and he points to the one in the beret. "JT...and that makes that one K-Rad. And then...uh. BJ and Justin?"

He got a little closer that time, but the two front men are still mixed up and Justin-Nicholas is the longest name ever. Before Mabel correct him though, he realizes that someone else is in the room now and he looks up.

"Uh...hi?" He can feel his face turning pink as it starts to sink in what they walked in one. "U-Um, Georgia and Shaun, right? What are you guys doing here?"

Wirt has absolutely no idea. He can't think of even one reason that they would be in his room right now, and he's more than a little baffled.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun looks curiously at the poster they appear to be studying. They're all basically face clones, but Mabel is right about they way they've dressed the men up to suggest a specific persona. And she's dead on about what each one is supposed to represent. He gives her a thoughtful look. "You're going to make a really impressive media consultant someday, Mabel."

[choosetruth]

Georgia looks like either she smelled something funky or she's deeply considering following Dipper's lead, but she pushes through it. She knows lots of words. None of them convey the sheer levels of nope she feels at this situation.

"Maggie's gone." She probably should put it more gently, but she's never been good at that. "We need a new head of fictional. We know she liked you. Job's yours if you want it."

[powerofmabel]

"Thank you. I'll put that on my list." Mabel beams at Shaun, but her face drops when she hears about Maggie, and then her face journey goes straight into as baffled as Wirt's his. "Wait what? Stop. Rewind. Pause. You're giving me Maggie's job?" Oh right, Wirt's here too and his talents are also suited for that particular task.

"You're giving me and Wirt Maggie's job?"

[singloversing]

She doesn't have to be gentle. It's hard not to notice someone like Maggie disappearing, but his face falls a little at the reminder.

"Yeah, I...I had a feeling she might be," he admits. "I was just thinking it had been a while since we'd heard from her, and, well..."

So he'd gone and peeked and her things were missing. He's been here long enough to know what that means. He's lost a lot of important people that way. The offer shocks him out of the sad reminder though, and he does a double-take.

"W-Wait, seriously? Head of Fictional?"

It feels like a stupid question. Wirt only barely knows George and that's still know to know that she's probably always serious about everything. He never would have imagined they would even offer a position like that to him.

[adaptiveimmunities]

"She liked you," Shaun says, repeating George's words. "That's kind of a big deal for us." Well, Maggie liked lots of people, but there weren't many whose skills as a fictional she spoke that well of. He's not sure that he or George had anticipated Mabel's reaction, but the two of them collaborating could be a good thing. They'll balance each other well.

[choosetruth]

They definitely weren't planning on asking Mabel, and considering they're in Wirt's room, George really hadn't thought Mabel would take her words at being remotely directed at her. Still... she sneaks a glance at Shaun. Wirt is many things, but confident and personable are not among them. Mabel, on the other hand, has that in spades. It could work out better this way.

"It's up to you. She'd approve, but you're the one who has to take on the responsibility. Only do it if you feel comfortable."

[powerofmabel]

Mabel cannot read the room at all and no one has actively said she wasn't included in this as a package deal, and even if they had, she would have ignored it. Forgetting the poster, she grabs Wirt around the shoulders and shakes him. THIS IS SO EXCITING. WIRT BE EXCITED WITH HER!!

"Duh! We've love to. What's more comfortable than sharing a love of art with Wonderland's population. We have to move them. We have to make them cry with laughter and sob brokenly in the face of utter tragedy."

[singloversing]

Wirt has a better sense that they were just asking him, but he doesn't take the time to correct her. He's too busy being absolutely shocked (and being shaken by Mabel). They're serious. They're really serious.

"I-- wait," His words get stuck in his throat. "D-Do you need to like, see any of my work first or anything? I know Maggie liked it and I do write a lot, but I've never actually published any of it before and...is that like, okay? That I don't have that kind of experience, I mean?"

It's not a no, but he's a little worried that he'll put something up and they'll go "Oh no, we've made a horrible mistake". It doesn't even occur to him to hold Mabel to the same standard.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun glances over at George. "Uh. I mean, you could if you wanted to, if it would make you feel better, but I'm going to be honest, we'll probably want to hire you no matter what. I'm not much of a judge of what's 'good' for fiction, and I'm going to assume that if Maggie likes you, you're it. I usually try to stay in my own lane for that kind of thing."

[choosetruth]

"We'd have to find someone to review your work, and considering Maggie already has, it seems like a waste of time and energy." Georgia shrugs. "Besides, that'll be part of your job. Curation, to the extent we have anything to curate."

[powerofmabel]

"And I'll make sure he doesn't wuss out and lets just anything go through!" Yeah, Mabel's still here. Still latched onto Wirt's shoulders and vibrating with excitement. "It'll be good for him to be the boss of something."

While she acts as... his boss?? Or at the very least his spine until she's absolutely sure he can stand on his own.

[singloversing]

[That's a lot of pressure in it's own way - what if he lets something awful through that makes everyone question his judgement?? But...that's what Mabel is there for, just like she said. And she would let him know if he wrote something terrible, right?

He still looks like a deer caught in headlights for a moment, even with Mabel hanging on him. He...he could be okay with that. Maybe. Hopefully.]

Well. If you're sure...I-I, um. [He takes a deep breath, and psyches himself up.] I'll do it. I'll be the new Head of Fictional.