sionnach
as wily as a fox
loony
lori
lori
Basic Information
Full Name
Loretta Jane McGucket
Nicknames
Lori, Lora, Etta
Gender
Female
Sexuality
Bisexual
Age
58 years old
Date of Birth
May 13
Art Credit
Appearance
Hair Color
Dark grey
Eye Color
Pale blue
Height
5'5
Considering all the stress and trauma she's gone through in her life, it's a bit of a miracle that Loretta aged as gracefully as she did. Her face is heart shaped, with a delicate button nose and petal pink lips. Her eyes are ice blue, with crows feet at the corners and perpetual bags beneath them. A scar carves itself from a few inches beyond her hairline, down through her right eye, rendering her blind in that eye. She also has several small scars on her neck and on her hands, in varying degrees of length, depth, and severity. Her hair, though once a deep, rich brown, is now dark grey, with streaks of lighter grey throughout. It hangs almost to her hips in loose waves, and she usually has it pulled back into a sloppy ponytail or braid to keep it out of her face.
While she's not worryingly thin quite yet, she's definitely bonier than she was when she was young and healthy, with narrow shoulders and spindly limbs. Both of her legs are amputated from the knee down, and are outfitted with prosthetics that her brother made her. These days, her outfits are usually comprised of baggy cargo jackets over old, hand-me-down prairie dresses. She usually goes barefoot, but when she does wear shoes, it's always a heavy pair of work boots.
Personality
Once upon a time, Loretta was a brilliant woman. Viciously intelligent and ambitious, Loretta had big dreams, ones she held tight to with both hands. Either she was going to achieve them, or she was going to die trying. She was sociable and witty, never the sort to let people walk over her, with a loud laugh and a bright smile. Though usually rather bold, she had a noticeable soft spot for children, and quietly cherished the thought of someday starting a family of her own.
That woman isn't gone, necessarily. She's just...faded. You can still catch glimpses of her, sometimes, in the way she stares at the night sky and the smile on her face when she talks to children. Tragically, while those glimpses are becoming more and more common, they're not all Loretta is. These days, Loretta is a very anxious woman, always looking over her shoulder. She's much more soft-spoken than she used to be, and for the most part, she's very placid and gentle. However, on occasion, she's known to snap into bouts of pure, manic paranoia. During these phases, Loretta's much more aggressive, and will lash out at anyone she doesn't recognize or feels is threatening her. Unfortunately, when she's in that headspace, that's just about everyone.
That woman isn't gone, necessarily. She's just...faded. You can still catch glimpses of her, sometimes, in the way she stares at the night sky and the smile on her face when she talks to children. Tragically, while those glimpses are becoming more and more common, they're not all Loretta is. These days, Loretta is a very anxious woman, always looking over her shoulder. She's much more soft-spoken than she used to be, and for the most part, she's very placid and gentle. However, on occasion, she's known to snap into bouts of pure, manic paranoia. During these phases, Loretta's much more aggressive, and will lash out at anyone she doesn't recognize or feels is threatening her. Unfortunately, when she's in that headspace, that's just about everyone.
Backstory
Loretta was raised with her elder brother, Fiddleford, on her family's farm in Tennessee. From a young age, she displayed a massive interest in both space and technology, interests that her more traditional family just couldn't seem to wrap their heads around. Fiddleford, however, always understood, and when he went off to college a couple of years before her, he often invited her to visit his campus and help him with his projects. It was through these meetings that she met, befriended, and began to date his roommate, Stanford.
In spite of her family's wishes, Loretta went on to attend college, and studied aerospace engineering. She graduated summa cum laude and had plans to pursue a doctorate, but put those plans on hold when Stanford requested that she come work with him in Gravity Falls as a research partner. Though anomalies weren't Loretta's field of study, the opportunity was still exciting, and Loretta jumped on it.
For years, Loretta lived with Stanford in Gravity Falls, chasing monsters and filling journals. They married when she was twenty-five, in a pretty forest clearing, and for a while, things were perfect. They loved each other more than anything, spent their days researching and their nights curled up in the same bed. They were, more than anything, happy. And then Stanford met Bill Cipher.
His deal with the supposed muse was kept secret even from his darling wife, though Loretta had suspicions that his ideas about the portal and reaching into alternate dimensions, which seemed to spring from nowhere, were coming from somewhere else. Still, she supported him, and helped him piece the portal together, keeping her concerns largely to herself.
Then, the time came to test it. Despite Fiddleford's nervous nagging, little care was given to safety precautions, and for twelve terrifying seconds, Loretta was pulled halfway through the portal. By the time they got her back out, she was sobbing and shaking, too terrified to be touched. Stanford pressed her for answers, desperate to know what she saw, and Loretta gave him an ultimatum: either the portal went, or she did. He chose the portal.
Fiddleford had to practically carry her out, and Stanford told himself Loretta would come back. Whatever this hiccup was, surely, it wasn't enough to upend the years they'd spent in a committed relationship, was it? But Loretta didn't come back, and four months later, Stanford was sucked into the portal, with neither of his research partners being any the wiser.
Following the portal incident, Loretta's life completely spiraled. She was paranoid and fanatical, convinced that the end of the world was looming and everyone she loved was going to die. She was making herself sick with anxiety every night, and suffering night terrors that deprived her of sleep. She wasn't eating, couldn't hold a job for more than a week, and began to confine herself entirely to the house.
With only Fiddleford being capable of supporting them, their financial situation began to worsen. This, of course, only made Loretta feel worse, since she believed she was dragging her brother down with her. It was breaking Fiddleford's heart, watching her deteriorate the way she was, and desperately, he sought for a way to help her.
Thus, the memory gun was created, with Loretta serving as its first test subject. It worked like a charm! Her memory of whatever she saw in the portal was wiped away, and for a while, it was like Fiddleford had his sister back. But then she'd see something odd in town, or in the woods, and the anxiety would swell, and she'd start to fall apart once more. Before long, Fiddleford was using the memory gun on Loretta weekly, and the side effects began to make themselves known.
The periods of clarity between the break downs were growing shorter and shorter, and even when Loretta was "well," she was disoriented and anxious. Her mind was entirely scrambled, and sometimes, Fiddleford had the gut-wrenching suspicion that she didn't recognize him at all. The time spent developing the memory gun had hurt Fiddleford's professional life, which subsequently hurt their finances, and soon enough, they were more or less homeless.
Their lives only continued to decline in the years that followed. Loretta's mental health seemed to worsen with every year, and she was developing a reputation in town. Even with her mental state in shambles, Loretta isn't stupid—she can hear them all whispering behind her back, snickering as they theorize about what antics Loony Lori will get up to today—and it only drove her deeper into her self-imposed isolation.
Finally, it all came to a head when, in a fit of paranoid dissociation, Loretta jumped from one of the upper levels of the water tower. While she survived the fall, she mangled her legs badly enough that they had to be amputated from the knee down. It was then that Fiddleford was forced to accept that he just wasn't equipped to care for her on his own, and he began to seek outside help.
By the time Dipper and Mabel come to town, the McGucket siblings live in a ramshackle shack in the junkyard. Between the money spent on trying to improve Loretta's health and the time he has to dedicate to caring for her, Fiddleford's never been able to make enough to get their feet back under them, and Loretta's in no condition to work. While medication and therapy have helped stabilize Loretta to a degree, she still lives a series of ups and downs.
Good days show her to be gentle and good natured, if spacey and a bit of a wanderer; she'll sit with Fiddleford at their homemade table, drink tea, and try her best to remember the stories he tells her. Bad days have her fleeing the house in a panic because she has no idea who he is, and clawing at her own face because she doesn't recognize her reflection. Learning about how Fiddleford wiped her memories (a secret he'd tried to hide, ashamed of all the damage he'd done) was definitely a step in the right direction, but it didn't fix everything she was struggling with. Not nearly.
Fortunately, the first time Stanford saw Loretta since he was sucked into the portal, it was on one of her good days. Dipper and Mabel had dragged him out of the Shack to go get breakfast at Greasy's, and by pure chance, Loretta just so happened to be stopping in as well. For Stanford, it was like a punch to the gut: there she was, the love of his life...hobbling into a rundown diner on ill-fitting prosthetics, her clothes filthy and her eyes cloudy. This wasn't right. This wasn't what she deserved. Stanford had to fix this, somehow.
In spite of her family's wishes, Loretta went on to attend college, and studied aerospace engineering. She graduated summa cum laude and had plans to pursue a doctorate, but put those plans on hold when Stanford requested that she come work with him in Gravity Falls as a research partner. Though anomalies weren't Loretta's field of study, the opportunity was still exciting, and Loretta jumped on it.
For years, Loretta lived with Stanford in Gravity Falls, chasing monsters and filling journals. They married when she was twenty-five, in a pretty forest clearing, and for a while, things were perfect. They loved each other more than anything, spent their days researching and their nights curled up in the same bed. They were, more than anything, happy. And then Stanford met Bill Cipher.
His deal with the supposed muse was kept secret even from his darling wife, though Loretta had suspicions that his ideas about the portal and reaching into alternate dimensions, which seemed to spring from nowhere, were coming from somewhere else. Still, she supported him, and helped him piece the portal together, keeping her concerns largely to herself.
Then, the time came to test it. Despite Fiddleford's nervous nagging, little care was given to safety precautions, and for twelve terrifying seconds, Loretta was pulled halfway through the portal. By the time they got her back out, she was sobbing and shaking, too terrified to be touched. Stanford pressed her for answers, desperate to know what she saw, and Loretta gave him an ultimatum: either the portal went, or she did. He chose the portal.
Fiddleford had to practically carry her out, and Stanford told himself Loretta would come back. Whatever this hiccup was, surely, it wasn't enough to upend the years they'd spent in a committed relationship, was it? But Loretta didn't come back, and four months later, Stanford was sucked into the portal, with neither of his research partners being any the wiser.
Following the portal incident, Loretta's life completely spiraled. She was paranoid and fanatical, convinced that the end of the world was looming and everyone she loved was going to die. She was making herself sick with anxiety every night, and suffering night terrors that deprived her of sleep. She wasn't eating, couldn't hold a job for more than a week, and began to confine herself entirely to the house.
With only Fiddleford being capable of supporting them, their financial situation began to worsen. This, of course, only made Loretta feel worse, since she believed she was dragging her brother down with her. It was breaking Fiddleford's heart, watching her deteriorate the way she was, and desperately, he sought for a way to help her.
Thus, the memory gun was created, with Loretta serving as its first test subject. It worked like a charm! Her memory of whatever she saw in the portal was wiped away, and for a while, it was like Fiddleford had his sister back. But then she'd see something odd in town, or in the woods, and the anxiety would swell, and she'd start to fall apart once more. Before long, Fiddleford was using the memory gun on Loretta weekly, and the side effects began to make themselves known.
The periods of clarity between the break downs were growing shorter and shorter, and even when Loretta was "well," she was disoriented and anxious. Her mind was entirely scrambled, and sometimes, Fiddleford had the gut-wrenching suspicion that she didn't recognize him at all. The time spent developing the memory gun had hurt Fiddleford's professional life, which subsequently hurt their finances, and soon enough, they were more or less homeless.
Their lives only continued to decline in the years that followed. Loretta's mental health seemed to worsen with every year, and she was developing a reputation in town. Even with her mental state in shambles, Loretta isn't stupid—she can hear them all whispering behind her back, snickering as they theorize about what antics Loony Lori will get up to today—and it only drove her deeper into her self-imposed isolation.
Finally, it all came to a head when, in a fit of paranoid dissociation, Loretta jumped from one of the upper levels of the water tower. While she survived the fall, she mangled her legs badly enough that they had to be amputated from the knee down. It was then that Fiddleford was forced to accept that he just wasn't equipped to care for her on his own, and he began to seek outside help.
By the time Dipper and Mabel come to town, the McGucket siblings live in a ramshackle shack in the junkyard. Between the money spent on trying to improve Loretta's health and the time he has to dedicate to caring for her, Fiddleford's never been able to make enough to get their feet back under them, and Loretta's in no condition to work. While medication and therapy have helped stabilize Loretta to a degree, she still lives a series of ups and downs.
Good days show her to be gentle and good natured, if spacey and a bit of a wanderer; she'll sit with Fiddleford at their homemade table, drink tea, and try her best to remember the stories he tells her. Bad days have her fleeing the house in a panic because she has no idea who he is, and clawing at her own face because she doesn't recognize her reflection. Learning about how Fiddleford wiped her memories (a secret he'd tried to hide, ashamed of all the damage he'd done) was definitely a step in the right direction, but it didn't fix everything she was struggling with. Not nearly.
Fortunately, the first time Stanford saw Loretta since he was sucked into the portal, it was on one of her good days. Dipper and Mabel had dragged him out of the Shack to go get breakfast at Greasy's, and by pure chance, Loretta just so happened to be stopping in as well. For Stanford, it was like a punch to the gut: there she was, the love of his life...hobbling into a rundown diner on ill-fitting prosthetics, her clothes filthy and her eyes cloudy. This wasn't right. This wasn't what she deserved. Stanford had to fix this, somehow.
Relationships
Stanford Pines | Love Interest
Simply put, Stanford is the love of Loretta's life. They connected from the moment they met, and it certainly wasn't a surprise to any of their peers or family when they decided to tie the knot. They understood each other in a way very few others did, and clicked in a way that's rare to find. Unfortunately, Stanford getting tangled up with Bill threw a wrench in their relationship, and now, thirty years have passed without either of them seeing each other. Between their complicated history, Loretta's mental state, and Stanford's own traumas, will they ever be able to rebuild their relationship?
Simply put, Stanford is the love of Loretta's life. They connected from the moment they met, and it certainly wasn't a surprise to any of their peers or family when they decided to tie the knot. They understood each other in a way very few others did, and clicked in a way that's rare to find. Unfortunately, Stanford getting tangled up with Bill threw a wrench in their relationship, and now, thirty years have passed without either of them seeing each other. Between their complicated history, Loretta's mental state, and Stanford's own traumas, will they ever be able to rebuild their relationship?
Fiddleford McGucket | Brother
Considering he's the only member of her family that she actually remembers, it's no wonder that Loretta is so dependent on Fiddleford. They've been best friends since they were little children, back when she was trailing him like a shadow and pestering him to let her help him on all his science projects. Even with how Loretta has spiraled in the years since the portal incident, Fiddleford has never abandoned her, putting his entire life on hold to take care of and provide for her. Loretta doesn't think she could ever pay him back for all he's done for her.
Considering he's the only member of her family that she actually remembers, it's no wonder that Loretta is so dependent on Fiddleford. They've been best friends since they were little children, back when she was trailing him like a shadow and pestering him to let her help him on all his science projects. Even with how Loretta has spiraled in the years since the portal incident, Fiddleford has never abandoned her, putting his entire life on hold to take care of and provide for her. Loretta doesn't think she could ever pay him back for all he's done for her.
Dipper and Mabel Pines | Friends
Though they got off to a bit of a rough start, Dipper and Mabel quickly became two of Loretta's only real friends in Gravity Falls. Mabel, in particular, is strangely protective of Loretta, who she insistently calls "endearingly quirky" rather than crazy. (It's a small distinction, but Loretta appreciates it.) After learning about Loretta and Fiddleford's involvement with the author, both of whom had forgotten about it through several years using the memory gun, the twins have been paying Loretta a little extra attention. Clearly, beneath her spaced out ramblings and bits of incoherence, there's a real genius buried.
Though they got off to a bit of a rough start, Dipper and Mabel quickly became two of Loretta's only real friends in Gravity Falls. Mabel, in particular, is strangely protective of Loretta, who she insistently calls "endearingly quirky" rather than crazy. (It's a small distinction, but Loretta appreciates it.) After learning about Loretta and Fiddleford's involvement with the author, both of whom had forgotten about it through several years using the memory gun, the twins have been paying Loretta a little extra attention. Clearly, beneath her spaced out ramblings and bits of incoherence, there's a real genius buried.
Extra
01.
Unsurprisingly, Loretta's dreams of being an aerospace engineer were never realized, but her love for space has never died. Almost any night she can, she chooses to sleep out under the stars in a sleeping bag.
02.
In the time since the portal incident, Loretta has developed a crippling fear of small spaces.
03.
Given that she spends so much time in the woods, it's no surprise that Loretta has developed friendships with many of the magical creatures that occupy the Gravity Falls forest.
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