„This place is a dump. Is that spider web? Ew…”

Clouds of dust signaled their arrival as the two ghost hunters entered the mansion. The creaking of the floorboards served as accompaniment to each of their steps, the man and the woman walking to the middle of the entrance hall before they stopped to look around. The place truly was in a state of disrepair – the windows were all boarded up, the furniture was completely broken or missing, and there clearly wasn’t any electricity in the building anymore. Spider webs covered every corner and many of the doorways. The railings of the large staircase were like incomplete dentures, standing as a metaphor for the age of the mansion.

The man seemed confident as he glanced around the place. He had short, messy brown hair and was clean-shaven. Maybe even a bit too much so... He couldn’t help it – he was born with a babyface. His baggy, navy blue hoodie was hanging loosely on his thin body and arms, covering up a red shirt. He was carrying a brown shoulder bag flung around his neck, filled to the brim with books and papers.

The woman on the other hand seemed to be having second thoughts about coming here. She was eyeing the place with a repulsed grimace: this wasn’t what she signed up for. She was wearing a dark purple jacket covering up a pink top and trousers, separated by a stylish lavender belt. Her fuzzy, brown boots protected her from the ages of dust gathering on the floor, and her long blonde hair was being kept in check by a purple hairband. Her large, pink hoop earrings swayed gently as she turned her head, looking up at the rotting boards on the ceiling.

“Ugh… remind me why I’m here again, Dipper? Why did I agree to this?” the woman asked with a hint of disdain in her voice.

“Because Mabel is busy with her theater stuff, and you owe me one, that’s why. Mmh…” As she looked at the railing around the stairs, Dipper opened up his bag and pulled out a thick burgundy book. “Pacifica, did you remember to prepare like I asked?”

“Of course, I’m not about to half-ass this…” She rolled her eyes, then tried to recall the details. It was her job to ask around town about the happenings in the mansion, and she sure wasn’t about to shirk her responsibilities. She made a promise after all. “The neighbors down the hill said the place gets really loud every couple days around midnight. You know, stuff getting thrown around, scratching, all the clichés.” Pacifica followed his eyes and glanced at the stairs as she talked, pulling her nose up at the thick layer of filth gathering on the steps. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been down here though. Way too dusty.”

Dipper nodded and flipped through the book. “Okay, so it’s either a really bored ghost, or a bunch of teenagers making a mess. Let’s see…” He settled on a page and started reading, mumbling to himself. “Not-so-deadly… fondest wish… making things float…” He nodded, seemingly having found what he was looking for. “Well, unless I’m missing something, this should be an easy Category 1 ghost.”

“Where have I heard that before?” Pacifica frowned. She gently tapped the lowest step of the stairs with her foot and watched the dust puff into the air around her legs.

“Har har, shut up. I had incomplete information. THIS should be simple.” He looked up the stairs towards the upper floor and closed the book. “How long have these happenings been occuring?”

“I don’t know, like a month? Something like that?”

“Curious…” It was Dipper’s turn to frown, rubbing his chin in thought. “Usually, this type of ghost goes away if you just ignore them, but this might be a subclass. Let’s go find a spacious room, then we can try to see what it wants.”

Without a second thought, he headed up the stairs in a hurry. Pacifica reluctantly followed, but lagged behind a bit – she was trying to keep her steps cautious so she wouldn’t disturb any more dust than necessary. They were expensive shoes, after all… Checking a few doors, Dipper soon settled on the master bedroom. It was spacious enough for his plans – the only thing left in there was a half-broken queen-sized bed that was filling the room with an odd smell. There was nothing else… looters probably took the rest of the furniture a long time ago. “Okay… This will do.”

“What is that smell?” Pacifica grimaced as she followed him inside.

“Do you really want to find out?”

“…You know what, no. So are we doing an exorcism or something?” she asked, frowning at the bed for a second before she turned back to Dipper.

“This ghost probably has an unfinished business of some sort. In order to make sure it passes on, we’ll do a quick séance and figure out what it wants.”

“Should be simple, huh?” Pacifica rolled her eyes. “Okay, how do we do that?”

“A Category 1 ghost would have shown itself to us by now if it could, so I’m going to assume that it can’t.” Dipper explained. “We have to give it a temporary body, and then we can just ask it ourselves.”

“Temporary… what?!” Pacifica raised her voice in protest. “I didn’t agree to that!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dipper shook his head. “Besides, I’m the expert ghost hunter here, so of course the ghost will be drawn to me. Your job is to talk to it. Find out what it needs in order to pass on.”

Pacifica pouted and crossed her arms. “Ugh. Okay, fine, if you say so. Go on.”

“Right.” Dipper cleared his throat and spoke up tentatively. “So uh… hey? Ghost?”

“Is THIS your method?!” Pacifica couldn’t help letting out a chuckle.

“Ssh.” Dipper frowned at her before turning back towards the empty room. “Ghost? Are you there? We’re here to help. If you can hear me, please tell us by any means how we can help you.”

“Yeah, we’re both here to help.” Pacifica added. “Do make it quick though, I don’t want this to take all day…”

For a minute, nothing happened. The room remained as silent as they found it. After a while, the two looked at each other.

“Well.” Pacifica spoke. “Doesn’t seem like it wants us to he-AH!” Suddenly, her eyes darted wide open as she buckled over, falling onto her knees.

“Pacifica?!” Dipper took a step forward, looking startled at the girl. The next moment though, she stood up, spinning around briefly as if her legs refused to hold her up for a moment. “Pacifica, are you okay?”

Her legs wobbly and unsteady, the girl spent a few seconds trying to balance herself, as if she wasn’t used to it. She then glanced around the room, raising a hand to touch the side of her head next to her eyes before looking down again in confusion. “Oh, yeah…” She mumbled, and only then did she spot Dipper standing nearby. “Oh…!” She had a confused glee in her voice as she smiled, turning to face him. Her arms spread for a moment to help her balance before she put them behind her back and leaned in slightly. Was she… trying to look cute? “Hey there…” She spoke with a wide smile, panting the words slightly.

“Uhh…” Dipper quickly figured out what happened. “Are you… the ghost…?”

“Ehehe…” ‘Pacifica’ giggled as she looked him over, pausing on his bag, then on his face. “Why do you want to know… handsome…?”

“Subclass…” Dipper mumbled, making a mental note to add a footnote to the Category 1 page of the book. “Well, uhh… if you are, then we’re here to help.” He wasn’t used to Pacifica acting this… forward. She took a few steps, walking up to him while keeping eye contact and that smile the entire time.

“Oooh that.” she giggled again, putting a hand on her cheek. “Yeah, I uh…”

“I really thought you’d pick me, though…” Dipper added. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “This is a bit awkward.”

“Well, if I picked you, I couldn’t be WITH you, right…?” It was like the girl couldn’t stop giggling. A nervous reaction, maybe?

“W-with me?” Dipper’s face turned a slight shade of red. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” She stepped even closer to him. Pacifica was slightly shorter than Dipper, so she had to tiptoe to face him evenly. “I was hoping someone like you would show up… You know… there was something I reeeeeeally wanted to do in life, and… well, things happened, and I could use your help with it…”

“A-ah?” Dipper did not like where this was going. “Uh, what’s that?”

“Well, you see…” Finally, the girl pulled back, now facing him from a normal distance. She looked away shyly as she blushed. “I died pretty young I guess, so I never had the chance… but I always wanted to… be with a boy…”

She said the last part rather silently, but Dipper still understood it. His eyes widened. “W-wait… what?”

The bed didn’t seem to actually smell that bad up close. Or maybe he just got used to it by then. Dipper was laying on his back, with ‘Pacifica’ cuddling up to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. One of her hands was holding his, while the other was resting on his chest. She had a content smile on her face. They were just lying there silently, until a few minutes later she finally spoke.

“This is nice.”

After a moment of hesitation, Dipper replied. “So uh… when you said you wanted to be with a… uh, nevermind. Happy you’re enjoying this.”

“Your girlfriend is so lucky.” she giggled, scooting a bit closer, her cheek rubbing against his shirt.

“Thanks, but I don’t have a girlfriend…”

“Really?” She raised her head, looking at him. “Then who’s this girl?”

“She’s just… a friend, I guess?”

“Huh.” ‘Pacifica’ leaned her head back onto his shoulder. “She sounds dumb.”

Dipper considered arguing that, but he decided not to say anything. This is for the sake of the ghost… no point getting into semantics.

A few more minutes passed in silence. The ghost didn’t want this to end anytime soon, but then she sighed in satisfaction. “Thanks for this, by the way. I’ve wanted this for… well, a very long time, and I never thought it’d be this… enjoyable. I actually feel satisfied…”

“You’re welcome.” Dipper nodded slightly, before glancing down at her. “…Wait… satisfied? You mean…”

‘Pacifica’ let out another happy sigh, then in the next moment her eyes darted open, looking startled. “What the…”

Dipper was afraid this would happen. “Uhm, I can explain…”

He tried to get up, but the hand on his chest pushed him back down. He was met with a mean glare from Pacifica as she looked up at him. “If you tell this to anyone – ANYTHING that happened here today – I’ll gut you. Understood?”

“Uh, yeah, sure… wasn’t planning to.” Dipper shook his head.

“Good.” The girl frowned, her lips pressing together at the awkwardness of the situation as she laid her head back down onto his shoulder. “Now ssh…” She whispered, closing her eyes. “Let me just stay like this for one more minute…”