i think eldritch au stan should experience cosmic guilt
like "oh me moving a inch could hurt a lot of people, i have to be careful" using the caterpillar thing, hes constantly checking the park bench for caterpillars because he doesn't want to accidentally sit on one
Stan spends the rest of his cosmicly long life being the guy hyper aware of all his movements and getting teary eyed over every crushed mortal mind and devastated civilization. Sure someday he'll forget he was human, but he'll never forget that once he was very small, and that all the small lives have meaning even if he doesn't understand them anymore. Accidentally steps on a lady bug and holds a funeral for it and makes everyone come and God forbid anyone squish more because Stan will make them stay for more funerals if he has to.
I read Eldritch Falls and fell in love. I REALLY wanted to draw Stanford, but he's arguably the most incomprehensible out of the group, so I drew our protagonist!
Uh, eldritch horrors under cut- scales would probably trigger trypophobia and uhh, yeah
And just the linework (which I prefer more)
You know what that means!
Also, his form was loosely shaped around, guess what, the Fish (I call it the Mackerel but whatever)
Alright guys, if you have any requests for my vampire Fiddleford and werewolf Stan AU (which you can find here, it's called Eldritch Falls) then chuck it in the comments and/or ask box and/or reblogs!
A few details about the AU under the cut:
Stan got turned as a kid when him and Ford first found the Stan O War (yes I am writing this)
Fiddleford got turned a short while before going to college and meeting Ford
Fiddleford had a sort of one sided attraction to Ford in college and while working on the portal (yep, writing this one too!)
There's a multiversal gay bar in Gravity Falls where Ford and Fiddleford met Eda, because fuck the timeline (I should probably write their past when they first all met)
Some toxic Billford maybe?
Stan and Fiddleford met after the portal incident
Fiddleford keeps Stan from doing too much harm on full moons and helps out with trying to work out where Ford is
Bill works by fae rules so he can't break his deals but he can exploit any loophole
Hey Darklord, what do you think about- (throwing darts) a reversed version of (spins a wheel) eldritch Ford au?
Hm. Kinda hard to reverse that. I guess maybe it would have to be like, Stan being the eldritch entity first, and getting attached to human-boy Ford?
HHHhmmmmmmMMmmmMm. Hm.
I wouldn't say its too difficult to reverse it... maybe. Let me think.
Its harder because I never get into the details on how Ford became an eldritch being, but It would just be that Stan started out as an eldritch entity before Ford, got into some kind of dream tussel with a dream monster, and dragged his injured self into the cave the they find the Stan'O'War in canon.
Ford finds the cave, goes in to avoid bullies, keeps going due to his natural curiosity, and somehow charms Stan into not eating him. Maybe instead of winning an arm wrestling competition on accident, Fords lack of fear towards the 'creepy fish' leads to Stan going 'Huh. This little human things alright. I guess I won't eat it'.
Wiggles into Ford and hitches a ride out of his decaying carcass, and makes sure none of Fords bullies bother him again. Copies Fords form and rebuilds himself as Fords twin brother, and then once Ford graduates follows him to college and keeps nudging him to make his way to Gravity Falls (their home).
I think the big difference between Stan being the eldritch being first and Ford is that I don't think Ford himself would be as unsettled and horrified? Only because, unlike Stan who decided to go 'head in the sand' route, Ford would be asking this thing questions and trying to figure it out. Is more aware of himself and his being used as a vessel for a being he can't truly comprehend, and understands he's safe because it likes him, but doesn't see why thats a bad thing until he's at its house and its ripping open his chest to make him like it.
Thats when the horror hits and he starts to regret being a monsters special little guy.
Similar to Stan in the og AU, Ford in this one would be more aware of mortals and mortal lives.
Other than that... I don't see it changing anything in the long run, besides who's doing the eldritch transformations to people and why. They live relatively normal lives. For eldritch abominations outside human comprehension. Mainly the order changes, and if Mabel and Dipper are his human blood relatives or twins from another reality that ascended to Eldritchdom.
Also I was thinking about Eldritch Ford and Stan again. Do you think there's ever a point where Stan actually takes Ford up on his offer to give him a """piggy-back ride"""? Does there come a day where he cant remember why he was so against the idea? When he climbs under his brother's skin and settles in beside whatever an eldritch hand creature has that passes for a heart.
Is the first time something he does on a whim? Out of curiosity, wondering what it was like for Stanford, back before Stanley was The Fish? Or is it done out of necessity, after Stan ends up biting off more than he can chew, left without enough energy to even limp home. But Ford knows he's in trouble, and swings by to pick him up, tuck him safely between whatever a hand monster has instead of ribs(probably more fingers) and carry him safely home.
Oh for sure does there come a time where Stan won't think its weird to climb inside Ford and nestle inside his finger ribs and listen to the sound of his heart. Its like when you're an adult and you try a food you hated as a kid, and you can't remember why you didn't like something that doesn't taste too bad actually.
I do think the second option is why it happens the first time. Their eldritch family is powerful, but they aren't the only beings on their level of existence, and there are things stronger than them out there. The Zodiac is actually strongest when they're all together (since they're each a fragment of Bill's power), so there are for sure times when they're on their own that they get their existence handed to them (like what happened to Ford before he was Stanford). All of them can absolutely die and be replaced by whatever devours their heart.
Not that Stan would know that, being very young compared to Fidds and Ford (who are also young in the grand scheme of things, just not to the rest of the Zodiac).
So I do think the first time is when Stan's the equivalent of a teenager age wise, confidently going out by himself one day to swim in the Sea of Dreams, runs into some other nightmare creature that lives there, and almost beefs it before either escaping or taking the other thing out. Thankfully Ford, being his twin, does have a connection to him that helps him Know these things about Stan, so he Knows Stan's in trouble, Knows where to find him, and rolls up to offer his baby twin bro a piggy back ride :)
And while Stan would still have some hang ups about it, he also really hurts and does want to be carried. Just slithers on in there and makes himself comfy in Fords many hands (if you look too closely at Fords human face, its also just hands. He's just hands. Shadow puppet of a man, casting an illusion people perceive as a face when he's just hands)
Links to Some of the asks I've answered. I didn't add everything, just longer asks and one's relevant to branching Au's. Is it a lot? Maybe. Did i overdo it? Still maybe.
Ford pov of their meeting.
Stan Pov of their meeting
How long was Ford there?
The rest of Fords family? How do they treat Stan?
What kind of monster is Fiddleford, and whats up with the rest of the Pines?
Ford for sure knows what a twin is :)
What does Stan look like?
More on Dipper and Mabel, and the Bug explanation
What was Ford doing while in Stan?
Does Stan (and others) get powers?
Stan adjusting to being an eldritch entity?
Ford trying to give Stan a piggy back ride?
How does Shermie feel about his brother?
Stan goes swimming for the first time.
Stan experiences cosmic guilt. Little hint on Soos :)
How long until Stan forgets he was human?
Were Fiddleford and Ford human?
Does anyone have a cult?
The Twins Pov on getting ascended into eldritch beings.
Shermies Ultimate fate? What will that look like?
What if Ford didn't kidnap the twins?
Will the Stan's ever give each other piggy back rides?
Just read through your eldritch falls and loved it. On one hand, i think it'd be so funny if another dimension bill popped in and got upset that stanley pines had his job. How dare he be able to go into dreams and make nightmares. (Bill being a 'human' in this au is so funny, least noticeable guy in the house)
On the other hand my brain is gnawing on how Shermie must have felt about/seen all of this. Did he grow up knowing that he had an older brother? Did Stanford tell his parents that Shermie was his way of making up for taking Stan? This utter looming spectre over his life. Did he notice when Stanley found the twins? Suddenly have a looming feeling the moment his grandbabies are born and weird things start happening around them. Recognize (Stan)Ley from their dream talk, or only put it together after the twins get taken, or never put it together, thinking that this monster that walked his brother's body away just did the same thing with his grandbabies. Is he aware when Stanford gathers his soul, has the chance to finally berate the monster that keeps tearing his family apart, only for the monster to have no idea how what's he's done is wrong?
(Questions are not needed to be answered, for some reason my plot/character musings tend to start and build as questions, mostly my musings on different ways it could have gone for him)
Glad to hear! Eldritch Falls is my fun little 'time to do Wholesome Family Horror' au, where it is a horror movie to everyone not Ford(or Fiddleford, although he isnt turning people into eldritch abominations), who are just two guys who are also creatures beyond comprehension that don't understand that what they're doing is anything other than an expression of affection.
Man Bill would be so upset if he saw Stan with his job as dream terrorizer. Yes that's only a fraction of Bills power, but it's also his main shtick! That's his go to method of terrorizing! That's what he's known for! He's Bill Ciper the dream demon, and this Stan has the gall to step on his turf? Outrageous! (Eldritch falls Bill is also upset, but that's his default feeling towards everyone. Stans not special. Unfortunately Bills assigned as everyone's pet mortal that keeps popping up over and over so his opinion is regarded as the same as if your fish didn't like you and also kept showing up in your fish tank even after you flushed him down the toilet. Figuratively)
Shermie had no idea he had a brother until he was older, I'm thinking late middle school early high school aged. Then Stan became his personal mystery, the brother no one told him about and no one wants to speak of. Then it was all Shermie could see, how Stan was the dark ghost of Glass Shard Beach. The monster everyone tip toed around and treated like glass. There was never any evidence that Stan was doing anything, but it wasn't hard to figure out messing with him led to tragedy of some kind hitting you or your family.
Stanford at no point makes it known to the Pines parents that Shermie exists due to his interference in reality. Not because it'd freak them out (because it would) but because the thought never crosses his mind. They're just Stanley's guardians to him and become obsolete the moment Stanley's old enough to leave. He never thinks about them again outside of wanting to help Stanley feel better, and by then they're dead and that's that.
Shermie only does realize post them going missing, because its only then that he hears all the other kids at their school gossip about being so relieved the Pines twins are gone and thus no longer terrorizing them with their presence (its not hard to make the connection of 'bully Pine twin = nightmare that etches itself on your soul'). Which is very similar to how the residents of Glass Shard Beach felt about Stan when he left. He doesn't recognize Stanley as Stan but does see the signs of something 'Other'.
On that note, Shermie does realize that things aren't quite right with his grandchildren, but doesn't connect the dots until after they go missing. Mostly because he's not around them enough to pick up all what's going on with them, and also because overall Dipper and Mabel don't have a lot of signs of being favored by an eldritch entity. Stanley's power lies in dreams, and doesn't affect their waking lives overly much besides them having a 'dream friend' and being protected by other entities that might have found them tempting targets. Which isn't something normal people would notice.
(Stanley can do more reality warping things like Stanford, but he chooses not to warp the twins perception of the world and only gives the kids that bully them horrifying nightmares. It's still traumatizing for them but nothing to the scale of what Stanford was doing. That guy (once he got enough power) was straight up deleting people from existence if they gave Stanley too much grief but leaving evidence they had existed everywhere, so there's photographs of people that don't exist anymore floating around Glass Shard Beach, amongst other things)
(Shermie did delve into the eldritch scene when looking for his brother as a teen, but did back off before he got too deep into it. Enough to connect the dots once he has enough of them, not enough to actually do anything about it)
So there's two ends I've envisioned for Shermie here. The first is that he realizes his grandchildren got got by the same thing or something similar to what stole his brother away years ago, realizes there's nothing he can do about it, and dies a sad old man, who's son may or may not have had more children to continue the Pines name. In that scenario Stanford gets first dibs on his soul automatically, so Shermie passes away, and then comes back into awareness as Stanford happily presents him to Stanley in soul form. He can't say anything here, because he's a soul that then gets put into a fish tank to live out the rest of eternity as Stanley's souvenir from being a human.
Busts in, guns blazing, and demands his grandchildren back.
In the second Shermie realizes his grandchildren got got by either the same thing or something similar to what got his older brother, and decides to make it his last mission in life (being an old man) to hunt it down and save them. Gets all his old stuff out from when he was trying to solve the mystery of Stan, does shady eldritch hunting stuff, and manages to track Stanford down to his home in Gravity Falls.
(And it is Stanfords home, because that's the home Shermie is looking to find)
Unfortunately its already too late to save Mason or Mabel, and Shermie is the equivalent of a bug chirping at Stanford's boot and banging its bug legs on him.
Which does lead to him getting the equivalent of bug scooped by Stanford. You ever scoop up a bug in your hands? You know you're not trying to hurt it, but it's in the pitch blackness of your palms with 0 understanding of what's going on or that it's not in danger.
That's what happens to Shermie. One second he's yelling, demanding the creature release his grandkids and face him (he's old, he's not expecting to live through this) the next he's in a pitch black void, feeling Something touch him and the feeling of movement and a thousand whispering voices. It's terrifying and he is swinging whatever weapon he brought and yelling for Mabel and Dipper, desperate to try and at least save them before his untimely demise.
Stanford, on the other hand, is cupping Shermies tiny human self with his many hands and wincing as Shermie whacks at him, carefully walking through his house while figuring out what to do with this human guy. He knows it's Shermie and he gets Shermie is upset for some reason, but he's not really listening and wouldn't care even if he was. Stanley is his brother and his brother loves Mabel and Mason so Stanford made sure his heart wouldn't be broken by giving them to him forever as the newest members of their Family. Shermies and their parent opinions matter as much as Filbrick and Caryns to him. Which is not at all. They're human, their lives are over in a blink, what does it matter that a handful don't like what he's doing, they'll be dead in no time at all, and eventually Stanley and the twins will forget what it was like to have such a limited existence, and they'll be happy.
(And he is right)
It's less a confrontation and more Stanford going 'should I put this angry bug back outside? It's my bug, I was gonna go get it sooner rather than later, but my brother who used to be a bug might be upset if I give it to him now. He's sensitive like that. But it also came here by itself so.... I just won't tell him it came here earlier than it was supposed to.' while Shermie shoots/stabs his hands and yells about all his wrongdoings against the Pines family.
And then Stanford kills him, because that's how you get a soul from a human person. Shermies body gets buried in the yard with little fanfare and without Stanley's knowledge, and Stanford happily goes 'here you are Stanley :) for you :) because I know you love your family :)' and gives Stanley Shermies soul, which then gets put in the living room fishtank at some point after/while Stanley mopes about his baby brother dying.
Listen. I love answering questions. It's a great way to world build, which is like drugs to me. Also gives me an excuse to write more about Shermies awful no good haunted by proximity life.
How long does it take Stan to forget he was human?
How long do you think? At what point does someone forget the root of themselves? People live to 100, they haven't forgotten they're human, but they're also old and are physically reminded of their humanity every day.
Stan has no reminders. He's a fish who was a man who can exist in ways he shouldn't and every year is nothing but a drop in the eternity before him. Dipper and Mabel were kids when they got snatched, they have even less of an attachment to their human roots then he did with a full childhood and some of an adult one. They'll forget faster and then it'll be him, grasping onto the ever thinning threads of connection until one day he'll wake up and won't be able to remember his mother's face or why he should care. She was lovely and raised him but she was a human, and he's something so far outside that there's not words for it.
Then he'll forget he had a mother at all. He's got his family after all, people who are there for him every day and not distant sparks of memory. He'll have Ford to remind him of his shape long past the time he remembers why he wanted to look human. They're twins after all, and Fords a hand monster. Humans have very useful hands, so Ford looks human so stan will look human too.
Does it happen after a few hundred years? Millennia? How long would it take for a moth to remember it was a moth if you turned it into a person? They live such short lives, so how many lifetimes would it take? Or is it a matter of experience and not time?
In that case how long until swimming becomes more natural than walking. How many dreams will Stan touch and watch and eat until he can't remember there's any other kind of sea that matters. When will people seeking him out stop being people with needs and start being amusing creatures dazzled by the simplest of Fiddlefords gizmos.
If you took a moth to a grocery store, at what point will it forget the struggle of survival. When will it forget the taste of sap and the feeling of wind on its wings.
That is to say, a long time, but not long at all in the grand scheme of things.
