DEERINGTON APP

[charlastan]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Stanley Pines
Canon: Gravity Falls
Canon Point: Post-canon!

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Inside of his right wrist - a mirror image of Ford's tattoo.
Current Health/Status: Alive and Uninjured! Canonically wears a hearing aid and has dentures.
Age: Early 60s
Species: Human!

Content Warnings: Bullying, Parental abuse/abandonment/neglect, extreme poverty, homelessness, prison, Gravity Falls spoilers, taxidermy

History: Stan at the Gravity Falls Wiki!

Personality:
A significant portion of Stan's personality is defined by him being Ford's twin brother! They were two halves of a whole growing up, and Ford was Stan's only friend. However, Ford is naturally brilliant and next to him Stan was always treated as an idiot who could never compare - to the point where he really started to believe it. He just accepted that he was never going to be good at school, so he stopped trying. Their father Filbrick was very difficult to impress, and it frequently felt like Stan was in a competition against Ford he could never win. Nothing graphic is shown, but we do see Filbrick be rather rough/physically threatening with Stan.

According to his father, all he ever does is "lie and cheat and ride on brother's coattails". According to local bully Crampelter, he's just "a dumber, sweatier version" of Ford. His entire life growing up was defined by who he was in relation to Ford. On his own, Stan was unimpressive at best and a temperamental troublemaker at worst. Stan let most of it roll off of him though, because he was holding onto a dream - to sail around the world with Ford on a boat they had repaired themselves. Somewhere along the way though, Ford gave up on that dream and started thinking more realistically about college. Stan, furious about the possibility of being abandoned, accidentally breaks Ford's science fair project - a perpetual motion machine that is supposed to be his key to a full scholarship to an impressive school - but immediately shows remorse and regret, and tries his best to fix the project.

Still, Stan always held his father in high regard and respect, which has led to a lot of issues over the years. Even though his father kicked him out of the house before 18 and told him he wasn't welcome back until he made a fortune to make up for the fortune he'd cost Ford by breaking his project, Stan never blamed him for it - he goes as far as to say he "left home" when retelling the story, as though it was his own decision. Instead he just tied up all of his self-worth for decades in his ability to make money, and any time he failed at that he'd think about how his father was right about him all along.

As one could imagine from this, Stan doesn't have very high self-esteem. He acts like he does, sure, but he doesn't actually consider himself to be good at many things. On top of that, the things he is good at all involve lying and cheating and stealing, or at least that's how it feels to him and everyone he's ever met. He doesn't expect to succeed at most things, and has a tendency to hide his endeavors if he's really trying at something that's important to him. He doesn't want to show his efforts before he's actually pulled it off - that way if he fails, no one will know he failed but him.

Now, he wouldn't want you getting the idea he's some kind of sad sack! Stan's loud and boisterous and even when he was a kid his mother defended him by saying he has "personality". He's quick with a joke and has a way of telling stories about himself in a way where they make people laugh instead of worry. He doesn't like to take himself too seriously, and that's only become more true as he's gotten older. He cares a lot less about embarrassing himself or making a fool of himself than he used to. He's embraced the attitude of "I'm old and I can do what I want!" - at least when it comes to things like eating a gallon of ice cream for dinner or yelling his opinions loudly with no filter.

He also has a very...skewed sense of morality, let's say. A significant portion of his life was spent on the road and doing anything he could to make a quick buck, so he doesn't have a lot of respect for the law. At first this was just being a sleazy salesman for as seen on TV products he made himself, but things quickly spiraled from there. Often there were times when he didn't have a roof over his head and had to sleep in his car for shelter. He grew more and more desperate for cash and learned a lot of hard lessons about how to survive on nothing. He never forgot that dream of millions, that dream of going home to a forgiving family and a warm place to sleep, but as time went on there were fewer and fewer legal avenues for him (a high school drop-out with very little traditional job experience) to take to get there.

So, what choice did he have but to turn to a life of crime? Besides, lying and cheating and stealing are what he's good at, so he might as well lean into that, right? He's committed so many crimes over the years that he had to start making up names for them (ask him about "burglebezzlement" sometime!). He's even wound up in prison in three different countries! Stan's not about to go around murdering anyone but he has zero qualms with stealing whether it's pick-pocketing, going on a heist in Colombia, or looting a government agency for their toxic waste.

And why would he need toxic waste? Because Stan would do anything for his family. In 1982, Ford sent Stan a postcard begging him to come to a place called Gravity Falls. He dropped everything, left his shitty motel room behind, and drove up to Oregon with only one peso in his pocket. He had great hopes that they might reconcile, but unfortunately they were quickly dashed. Ford wanted him to take some dumb book and get as far away from him as possible, and Stan's heart shattered. And, as happens often when he's heartbroken, he lashed out. He threatened to burn the book, and the two of them fought over it. In the end, Stan received a second degree burn on his back that branded him for the rest of his life, and Ford was knocked into the multiverse for 30 years.

Stan was devastated. He blamed himself, and worked tirelessly to bring Ford back to their dimension and made an entirely new life for himself centered around saving Ford. Did it involve a little identity theft and tax fraud? Sure did! But he would do anything, anything for his loved ones. Everything he worked for, everything he cared about, it was all for his family - whether it was turning Ford's house into a tourist trap to rake in money to pay his mortgage or lying to everyone he's ever cared for about who he was. He'd even have his entire identity wiped away to save them, if that's what he had to do - which he has had to do twice now. Once metaphorically, faking his own death and taking on Ford's identity. Once literally, to trick Bill Cipher into his mind and erase him from existence. As Stan put it himself, "My brain isn't good for anything." He willingly let Ford erase all of his memories to save the world, but most importantly, his family. He would do anything for his family. He would punch a pterodactyl for his family. He would beat up zombies with a baseball bat for his family. He would try to get a birthday erased from the calendar (and fail, and get banned from airplanes) for his family. He would officiate a wedding between a pig and a goat for his family. He would fix an interdimensional portal and risk the safety of the entire universe for his family.

However, on the rare occasion that Stan can see he's being taken advantage of by his family or unappreciated by them, he quickly flips to furious and hurt, and he's very capable of holding grudges until the situation is made right. He can't stand it when he goes through the effort to try for someone only to have them dismiss it. However, once amends are made? It's like nothing ever happened. For someone who holds grudges as much as he does, he's very quick to forgive.

"Family" extends beyond blood relatives for Stan though. His handyman Soos had been working for him since he was ten years old, and Stan considers him to be a sort of "sonployee" - or at least he used to be, before he gave Soos the Mystery Shack and promoted him to son owner. Soos is the new Mr. Mystery, and Stan couldn't be more proud. He used to act sort of indifferent about Soos, but the kid wormed his way into his heart. Soos is frequently seen just hanging out at the Mystery Shack after work hours, and other characters are also quick to call him a member of the family. Stan even taught him how to box when he was younger! He also cares about Wendy, his cashier, but in a more distant way. He sees a lot of himself in her, and he keeps her employed even though she's an objectively terrible employee so that she doesn't have to go to logging camp. They both have similarly questionable morals, and ultimately Stan lets her get away with a lot - even if he whines about it. A B-plot was cut from the show where he trains her in thieving after he catches her stealing from the Shack. In short, Stan has a tendency to adopt people as "his" people, even if he acts gruff about it.

At his current canon point, he's happier than he's been in literally almost fifty years. After Stan sacrificed his memories, Ford helped him get them back. Now he's regarded by Gravity Falls as a hero, and is finally appreciated. More importantly than that though, he's fulfilling his life-long dream of sailing around the world with his brother. Stan is eager to make up for lost time, but also likely still has some issues to work through. For one thing, there are still some gaps in his memory - moments there were no photographic or video evidence of, and certain things that might be better left unknown. On top of that, low self-esteem doesn't simply go away because you saved the world. It has the potential to manifest as impostor syndrome in Stan, or as worries that he might fuck up his happy ending somehow.

If that's all he has to worry about though, Stan's alright with that - especially if it means he and Ford get to sail around the world looking for treasure, babes, and mysterious anomalies.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:

• PUNCHING: Ford's the brains and he's the punching! Or at least that's how they described themselves as kids. Stan and Ford were forced into boxing by their father, who wanted to toughen them up a little. Stan stuck with it, because it was one of the only things about him that impressed their father, and proudly defined himself by it. He's overweight, but more muscular than expected, particularly in his arms (though he has been known to hold his entire body weight up by his skinny chicken legs, somehow). He has a mean left hook in particular, and his weapon upon entering Deerington will be his brass knuckles.


• LUCID DREAMING: In his dimension, the mindscape/dreamscape is something that can be manipulated by anyone lucid enough to do so, so it is not a magical ability per se, but he is exceptionally good at it - more so than the average person. Most people aren't aware of the mindscape as a concept but Stan was able to explain it to Dipper when asked. Within the mindscape a person can alter their surroundings to a degree, though the only true limit is their imagination. In the mindscape, you can have kittens for fists! Or care bear stare your enemies into submission! Or just open a nice cold soda without using your hands! On the flipside though, your subconscious perceptions can be exposed - for example, Stan feels like a dumber, sweatier version of Ford, so in his memories of childhood he often presents as a dumber, sweatier version of Ford. Stan in particular has manipulated the mindscape on two canon occasions:
  
  The first was when his mind was invaded by Bill Cipher (and later Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and a couple of neon-colored dream boyz). In response, he made his mind into a dark MC Escher-style maze of memories. Many doors were deliberately left open, and conveniently most of them were memories of the summer that Dipper and Mabel would already know about. In other words, nothing that would blow the secret that he had a twin. However, it isn't a perfect ability. When his attention winds up split between many different people looking for a particular memory, he slips up and Bill discovers what he's looking for - the combination to a safe with the deed to the Mystery Shack inside. However, Mabel shoots it out of his hand, and Stan takes the opportunity to swing open a memory door of him explaining the bottomless pit to tourists. The door Bill wanted flies into the memory, and then into the bottomless pit, and the memory of Stan looks in and says "whatever that is, it's gone forever now!". He also uses memory doors to communicate with Dipper, but he's confined to whatever was actually said in the memory until Dipper goes through the door. This almost backfires on him - Dipper is hurt to hear Stan say "He's a loser. He's weak. I just want to get rid of him." but the truth is that Stan was talking about how much Dipper reminds him of himself, and how people used to say those things about him when he was a kid.
  
  The second is when he and Ford conspire to use the memory gun to destroy Bill. Stan and Ford swap places, and Stan clears his entire mind except for one lone door, a door that leads to an extremely condensed version of the Mystery Shack - just the living room, no other doors in or out. Stan shuts the door as soon as Bill is inside, and Ford pulls the trigger on the memory gun, which lights the entire place up in blue flames. Stan literally punches Bill out of existence and then allows himself (his identity, his memories) to be burned up into nothing, at peace and feeling like for once in his life he was good for something.
  
  Naturally, this won't work the same in Deerington unless an event calls for it for whatever reason. But Stan will likely be very lucid in most dreams, with whatever effects or consequences that may have. His recall upon waking isn't perfect however, so while he will probably feel that sense of being watched in his dreams, he might not pick up on it as much when he's awake.


• LYING: So this is a weird one for Stan. He can be terribly blunt, and prone to blurting out whatever is on his mind! But when it matters? When he really has a dangerous or important secret to keep? He will keep that under lock and key. He lied to the entire world for thirty years, and that was after basically lying for a living before that. He also lies on a regular basis about day-to-day things, like whether or not he ate your plate of spaghetti or shoplifted that tangerine, but those are much easier to spot. The thing is though, if people know they can't trust what he says, it makes it that much easier to manipulate what he does say to make people think one thing or another.


• STEALING AND STEALING-RELATED SKILLS: Once a thief, always a thief. Despite his successful business (see below), Stan still regularly steals and shoplifts things when he can because he has little to no regard for other people's possessions or emotions, and it's a good way to save money by not buying things! He's adept at breaking and entering, lock picking, and of course, lifting items without getting caught (though often with him, this requires literally throwing a smoke bomb and running). Not that he would ever attempt such things in Deerington. That's illegal! Wink.


• BUSINESS: Stan is a shrewd businessman! He wasn't so great at it he was traveling on the road, but once he settled into Gravity Falls he found his niche and made a pretty decent profit. If he applies to a job in Deerington he may legitimately qualify to manage a business (or it's incentive for him to potentially open his own again!).


• TWIN IMPERSONATION: Despite sounding like he's been chain-smoking his entire life, Stan can do a mean impression of Ford. If they switch clothes and Stan does his Ford voice, it is canonically almost impossible to tell them apart.


• TAXIDERMY: So, it's unknown if he does the taxidermy himself or if he just gets it cheap, but he strikes me as a DIY sort of guy. Bare minimum though, he knows how to glue a fish head onto an armadillo body and then glue a top hat on it. This is obviously the single most important ability he could have in Deerington.


• WEAKNESSES: A pretty face (Stan can spot a con a mile away, unless someone he's attracted to is flirting with him. This is how he got his car stolen in Vegas immediately after getting married), hearing aid (canonically shown to have sharp feedback when very close to recording equipment), mild amnesia (as mentioned above, is missing long stretches from times where he had no photographic or video evidence of his life), stubborn to a fault, sometimes loses track of when his lies start and stop


• Otherwise, he's a regular human with the regular limitations and abilities of someone his age!

Inventory:

1. CLOTHING: Boots, jeans, a white T-shirt, long brown jacket, glasses, red beanie - his Post-canon outfit! I'm also counting his hearing aid and dentures here too if that's okay, since they're things he wears. If not let me know and I'll knock a couple other items off his inventory!


2. WEAPON: A pair of brass knuckles!


3. Small cigar box with some photos - various polaroids of Dipper, Mabel, Ford, Soos, Wendy, and Waddles. An emergency memory loss kit, basically.¹


4. Wallet - contains no credit cards, a 1000 Danish Krone banknote (about $107 USD and effectively useless in Maine), and some strange, handwritten currency (also useless)


5. A zippo lighter


6. The keys to a certain 1965 El Diablo convertible 4 door sedan...but not the car itself. Sorry, Stan.


¹ Will have no effect on in-game causes of amnesia. Strictly for dealing with his canon's brand of it caused by memory guns, so in Deerington it won't be more than a keepsake.

Writing Samples:

• TDM Top Level; Lots of assuming someone got pissed off and kidnapped him and lots of yelling about blood.


• Stan + Dipper; working together to escape the blood room


• Stan + Eda; Stan makes a fool of himself in front of someone pretty.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Billie Sue
Player Age: 31
Player Contact: goodhotcocoa

Other Characters In Game: N/A
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Stanley Pines: Billie Sue
Permissions for Character: Right here!
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes, definitely, absolutely!
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: My favorite is always psychological horror - I'm usually more interested in messing with a character's head than anything else. I love stuff that slowly causes characters to doubt themselves or lose their minds, and the kind of horror that comes from living with yourself after something terrible. Stuff like that is always my jam - my favorite horror thing is Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I also love anything that messes with the general concept of reality, nightmares/dreams, and anything having to do with the concept of death and dying (so not so much murder, but the idea of ghosts, purgatory, literally crossing the River Styx, etc).
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Nope! But if anything comes up I'll let someone know ASAP
Additional Information: In the interest of being up front about it, I used to go by the handle "Koji" when I was modding Entranceway! I'm not trying to be secretive or anything - I just wanted to start using my real name instead. Hi to any mods who passed through back in the day! :)