GeorgeGlass

Thank you. And we'll be on to other universes after the next chapter. Did you check out that Fairy Slayer story I mentioned?

Oh, don't worry, all those kids are on birth control—parental supervision and all. And most of them grow up to marry other people.

I love writing Grunkle Stan’s dialogue. And I hope the next chapter lives up to your expectations.

Exactly. And that’s a good observation to make, because the similarity among Dippers will continue to be important to the plot. Thank you! She may not be in love with Dipper, but she certainly likes him, so she wouldn't just use him and cast him aside. She just assumed that Dipper was operating on the same set of assumptions that she was, and that after a couple more years of fooling around together, they would amicably break it off, and Dipper would go find himself a Mrs. Robinson. She didn't count on Dipper actually being in love with her. One thing I especially enjoyed in planning the shotaverse chapters was figuring out how social norms would differ if it was usual for older girls to date younger boys. Basically, it gives girls both more power and more responsibility. (For example, as we saw with Tambry and Chez, it's the girl's responsibility to make sure the boy is home by curfew.) And I really liked the idea that in the shotaverse, losing your virginity is a bigger deal for boys than for girls. She is kinda butch. The word Mabel uses to describe her, “lumbersexual,” is typically used for men. Thanks! Being on a journey of self-discovery, Dipper is going to be doing a lot of introspection in the course of this story, which provides plenty of opportunities for bits like that. I love writing Grunkle Stan's dialogue. My bad. I totally forgot about that line. Although, as you point out, it does rather concisely illustrate one of the down sides of life in the shotaverse. No spoilers. Yeah, I could see that. Except she’d probably break into a hacking cough halfway through the first line. Thanks for the review!

Thanks! Certainly. It didn't even seem possible to begin Dipper’s tour of romantic possibilities without putting Wendy first on the list. I can never hear that enough. I would guess that even these days, 3 years is a big difference when you're talking about a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old. Even in canon, Wendy once told Dipper that she's too old for him, which is how I got the idea to send Dipper to a world where their age difference wasn't a barrier to dating. Exactly. That's another reason why Wendy comes first in the order of alternate romantic partners: Understanding that Wendy doesn't love him helps Dipper deal with his tendency to hold on to what he wants to believe despite the evidence against it. What's an omake? In any case, I'm not planning any additional Gravity Falls stories at this point. But if you want to read a hot Wendy/Tambry scene (with Dipper watching), check out Fairy Slayer's “The Secrets of My Sis.”

Sorry--there aren’t any aged-up character scenes in this story. All of the characters are their canonical ages.

Re: “Make It All Better” Thank you! That's fair. I tend to think of teenagers as being very flexible, but that may not be as broadly true as I think. If I had thought that far ahead when I originally created the character of Angie/Angela, I'd have chosen gymnastics or ballet as her after-school activity instead of soccer.

That depends on your POV, I suppose. I've never seen anything on the show to suggest that Wendy has any romantic interest in Dipper; she just likes him and Mabel as friends (which is pretty nice in and of itself, given that a lot of fifteen-year-olds would probably consider themselves too cool to hang around with a pair of preteens). So even in the shotaverse, she's dating him because she enjoys hanging out with him (and fooling around with him), not because she thinks he's Mr. Right. That's fine. As for the ship...no spoilers, but this story may not take the direction you expect. Thanks!

Thanks! Clearly, you are younger than Grunkle Stan.

But what fun would that be? I loved writing CreepyMabel. Especially because her creeping on nine-year-olds is more or less harmless because she's so bad at it. It's not easy being Thompson. In any reality. Dipper's proneness to anxiety and to overthinking everything does have an up side. He's not one to walk blindly into a trap (unless he really wants to believe that it isn't a trap). It's named for Carl Spackler, the gopher-hating groundskeeper played by Bill Murray in Caddyshack. After I wrote the text of the chapter, I went through it looking for a line that would make a good title. That one won. We'll get more into the parallels between Dippers in the next chapter. At least some of this will be addressed in the upcoming chapter. But yes, in the shotaverse, it's generally expected that the girl will make the first move. Oh, you just HAD to put that in my head, didn't you? I am SO gonna get you back in chapter 4. Thanks for the review!

Glad you enjoyed!

Just go to the anime section of the archives and look for any story with the “OC” tag. You’ll probably find plenty of stories like that.

You won't have long to wait: I'm planning to post chapter 2 tonight, and it's going to be highly Wendippity.

I'm afraid WWOEC is no more. The site owner shut it down a couple of years ago.

Well, it’s not exclusively a Wendip story, but there’s definitely going to be some serious Wendipping. Stay tuned!

Welcome back! Looking forward to reading the rest of this story. When I reviewed the earlier portions (more than a year ago now), I think I might have promised to make some additional comments in the review thread. There were basically two things that I wanted to say at the time but somehow didn’t get around to saying until now [SPOILERS ahead]: This story is really dark – maybe even a little too dark. Dipper getting beaten up by strangers struck me as a little too much salt in the wound when piled on top of everything else he suffers. That said, I found some of it very relatable. Dipper’s opiate addiction comes to mind. After I had surgery, I took Vicodin for a while, and after I stopped, I found myself missing it. Not because it got me high (which it didn’t), but because it just made everything a little more pleasant. And I could very easily imagine how someone in unpleasant circumstances could get hooked on it. In any case, I’ll be checking out the new chapters soon.

And I’m pretty sure you have an inkling that that’s exactly where this is going. Thanks! I hope your hopes prove justified.

Thanks! I hope this story will justify your love.

We (Eh Steve and I) wanted her to be a low-rent version of Aphrodite in the way that Love God is a low-rent version of Eros. Thank you! I hope that proves to be true. One reality per girl, yes. But some realities will take two chapters to cover. And some will take less than one. Oh, yes. That's good news.

You’ll have to read on and see.

Thanks! Shhh, no spoilers…

Thank you! I’m not planning to add any more chapters to this story, but I’m sure to be writing more Loud House stories – some of which will involve girls outside the Loud family. Also, if you enjoyed “Whoops,” then you might like my other Loud House fic, “The Loud House After Dark.”

There’s something I just love about Steven and Connie’s friendship, much in the way that I love Star and Marco’s on SVTFOE -- except that Steven and Connie’s connection clearly includes a mutual romantic vibe in addition to their friendship. That wasn’t my intent, but now that you mention it, that’s probably the best interpretation of what happened (given how Garnet’s future vision works). One of my favorite themes is innocence. I love making characters who want each other figure out how to fulfill their desires. Nope. You and me both. It could still be an episode. I’m sure Rebecca Sugar could find a way to do it all in metaphor. Glad you liked it. These two characters are all about cute and sweet and innocent obliviousness. That’s why I wanted to write a story about them -- even if it did take me more than 2 years to finish it. Not going there. I put Greg in at the end to help ground the story in the broader reality of the show. I also wanted to show Connie’s reaction -- and her reaction to her reaction -- through the eyes of someone who has no idea what they really mean. We don’t get to see that much of Garnet’s thought process on the show, so I thought it would be fun to get into her head a little. I liked the idea of Steven and Connie completely rewriting the rules of the game just so that they could sit next to each other (and have an excuse to play-wrestle). Connie knows how to speak Steven. Of all the lines of dialogue in this story, I think Pearl’s bath water line is my favorite. Again, trying to ground the story in reality -- including the pedestrian details of Greg’s job. Thanks for another uplifting review!