Chapter Text
Your eyes open.
For a moment you forget where you are, but the sight of your belongings snaps you back into reality. You had just spent your first night in your new home, which you had managed to get for extremely cheap. You escaped the chastising of your family, and now, you were here. It was going to take some getting used to, but the peace and quiet of the woods that surrounded your cabin was refreshing. You decide to lay there, taking in the bright blue sky and the pretty sunlight that filtered through your window, the dust particles in the air dancing and swirling around gently in the bright stream. The sound of the birds is so much clearer, some calls you haven’t even heard before!
Despite all the painful patience, negging from family and isolation from people you thought were your friends it took to get here, you decide on that sunny summer morning that it was totally worth it. Maybe now, you can figure out how to be happy, and you’d be damned if this wasn’t a great start.
After a half an hour or so of laying in your warm sheets and enjoying the quiet, you sit up stiffly, and stretch. You stand, and head into your kitchenette to start some breakfast, thinking about what you want to do on your first day in town. You check in on the current state of your body, and you immediately know you wouldn’t be able to walk too far on your own today, so a short journey out in your wheelchair it is. As you sit eating your eggs, you remember that you passed a cute looking tourist attraction while moving in yesterday. The Mystery Shack. You didn’t get the best glance at it, but it looked mildly busy, and you were in desperate need of places to hang out at to stave off your boredom.
That settles that, then. You wash your dishes, and head into your room to get dressed.
Settling into your wheelchair, you make sure your bag is secured, before heading out the door, down your porch ramp and onto the path that made up your ‘sidewalk’ of sorts. It was easy to wheel over thankfully, due to it being a well-trodden path, the earth tamped down tightly beneath your wheels. You estimated the tourist trap to be maybe a little over a half a mile down the road, which was totally doable today. You take your time, looking up at the great white pine trees, the birch trees mixing together with them in little patches. You even saw a doe run by, and look at you, before taking off again.
Wait, was it just you, or did that doe have four eyes? Eh, probably just your mind making things up. You continue on your way, and soon you can hear the echoes of a loud, gruff voice. You couldn’t make out any words, but he sounded like he was being kinda showy. Man, that guy’s got some lungs on him.
As you finally turn into the attraction and wheel yourself quietly into the back of the crowd, you realize the voice belonged to what you assumed was the place’s owner, a tall, scruffy-looking man wearing a black suit, a red tie, and a matching red fez that had a very strange symbol on it. He walked along with a, frankly, cool as fuck 8-Ball cane that you wish was ergonomic enough for you to use, boasting a confident, chauvinistic and sometimes downright cavalier attitude, calling himself ‘Mr. Mystery'.
”...Not gonna believe your eyes, but I’m tellin’ you to believe ‘em! Behold, the Cornicorn!!”
You had to keep yourself from laughing just from the name alone, and when he revealed a unicorn made of actual corn on the cob, you allowed the ogling voices of the rest of the crowd to cover up your snorts of laughter. Not only was it hilarious in and of itself, but the genuine awe of the crowd only added to it. These people really found it amazing? You could see the chicken wire underneath!
You follow along with the tour, continuing to laugh not only at the ridiculous and sometimes completely broken or messed up attractions, but also at the conniving debonair of Mr. Mystery. Where the hell was this place all your life? You haven’t laughed this much in ages! It was only when the tour concluded itself, that Mr. Mystery ushered the group into the gift shop. You were eager to follow, but, uh..
The floor was somewhat uneven here, a decently sized step leading into the next room. You can hardly bring yourself to sigh in disappointment anymore, as you were used to finding random steps like this everywhere. You thought about just getting up and walking up it and bringing your chair with you, but you could practically feel your joints creaking and groaning just looking at it. You really don’t want to get up. You figured you could pop a wheelie to get yourself up the step, and so after a bit of struggling to position yourself properly, you do, but instead of being met with a higher altitude than before, you found yourself suddenly plummeting down a couple inches.
SNAP!
After you get over the totally-not-embarrassing squeal you made, you blink, and look down. Your right rear wheel had broken through the floorboards. Shit. It wasn’t anything too large or serious, but you could see the supports underneath. You sit there and let out a long sigh. Great. You weren’t exactly sure how Mr. Mystery would handle the news of the damage, but you brace yourself in order to find out.
You stand from your chair, and leave it be. You walk into the gift shop, and approach him. He grins down at you widely.
“Hey there, toots. What can I do ya for?”
Oh, so he was one of those, eh? You can’t help but let a corner of your mouth go up in amusement, a hand finding the back of your neck.
“Sorry for bothering you, but uh, I seem to have broken through your floor with my wheelchair. I’ll pay for damages or whatever, just wanted to let you know.”
Mr. Mystery’s grin disappears, and is replaced with a more serious expression. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any anger in it, from what you can tell. “Oh. Jeez, sorry about that, kid. Mind showing me where it happened?”
You nod, and walk him over to just before the entrance of the shop. “There was a step here, so I tried to wheelie over it, but uh, yeah. That didn’t end too well. Here, I got some cash to pay for things.” You try to keep the mood as light as possible, for both of your sakes, and reach for your bag. After a few seconds, you realize you left your wallet at home!
“Damn it! Left it at my place. I’ll come bring it tomorrow, promise.” He lets out a gruff chuckle. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been meanin’ to redo the floors, anyways. Wasn’t your fault, these floors are older than shit.” He vaguely gestures, and on closer inspection, you could see just how old and worn the supports were, even suffering from warping in places. You were surprised at the dismissal of any money, considering you were just hearing him essentially manipulate these poor suckers into buying things.
“I insist, it’s not exactly appropriate to be popping wheelies inside of public places.” You laugh out sheepishly, and notice that Mr. Mystery was pulling your chair out of the hole for you. Normally you didn’t like anyone touching your chair, but the gesture felt more like him holding a door open for you, or helping you up after you fell or something, so you’ll let it slide. He seemed pretty guilty about the whole thing, which was an interesting side of him to see after his world-class performance in bullshitting people earlier, and it was kind of endearing, in an odd way.
“That’s a rule I can’t bring myself to follow in any situation, not ‘ta mention yours.” He shoots you a smirk as he sets your wheelchair in an area that is far away from the damage, to make sure you won’t fall in again. “I’ll have the owner fix it up by tomorrow.” He assures you, which makes you raise an eyebrow, settling back in your chair.
“You’re not the owner? Figured you might be.”
“Used to be. Well, I guess you could say more like a co-owner. This business used to be mine, but I passed ownership to Soos.” He points with his cane over to a guy sitting behind the cash register, happily greeting people and helping them buy things. “I only don the title again when I’m in town for the summer, for ol’ time’s sake.” Mr. Mystery explains, and you nod. “Gotcha. Next time I bust a hole through your floor, I’ll go talk to him instead.”
Mr. Mystery lets out a wry chuckle. “Heh heh. Don’t make it a habit, toots, or else I might have to get rid of the entire floor.”
You laugh, and smile. “Well, regardless, I’ll be back tomorrow to pay for the damages. Thanks for being cool about this.”
“No worries, kid.” Mr. Mystery seemed to just chuckle and wave you off, heading back into the gift shop. Did he.. Not expect you to come back? It would make sense. Most of the people that come by are tourists after all. They can make all the promises they wanted, but the truth of the matter is they’d never be back here again. That was pretty shitty, so you make note to be the better person about it as you head home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, you head back over, this time donning your cane. You’re feeling a little more energized today, and a walk would do you some good, especially in such beautiful weather. You remember hearing Mr. Mystery’s voice at this point in your walk over there yesterday, but you hear nothing now. Maybe it’s a slow day?
Well, ‘slow’ was an understatement. The Shack is closed today, and suddenly, you feel kinda awkward. Should you.. Knock? You do hear sounds coming from inside, so you take your chances, and knock on the front door timidly. Instead of being met with a tall older man, however, you find yourself looking down into the face of a bright-eyed young girl!
“You’ve reached the Pines residence! Please leave your message after the beep. Beeeeeep!”
You can’t help but laugh, and you decide to play along. “Oh, uh, yes! I’m calling for.. Um. Mr. Mystery? I have something to give him that I promised to yesterday.”
“Oooooh! The answering machine will go get him now!” She loudly pronounces, before closing the door, footsteps running off while you hear the girl yell out:
“GRUNKLE STAAAAAANNN! Someone that looks SUPER PRETTY is at the door asking for youuuuuuu!!!” She sings, making you laugh to yourself. Stan? Was that his name?
After a few moments, the door opens again, and there is Mr. Mystery, in a white tank top and shorts, still rocking the fez. He looks thoroughly surprised to see you, and his eyes scan over you in curiosity. “Oh. Hey, kid. You uh, wanna come in outta the sun for a sec?”
You’re flattered by his invitation, and he opens the door to let you in. “Oh, sure!” You take him up on his offer, but politely don’t go too far past the threshold. You do look around slightly, and find that this corner of the shack was actually a home! He seems to live here, along with that little girl and- A boy, too? He looks similar to the girl in looks and age, and he was looking at you suspiciously, but you don’t keep your attention on him long at all.
“I-I, wanted to pay you back for the damages from yesterday, I don’t mean to intrude.” You say, taking out the money from your wallet. Just as you were about to hand it to him, a voice cuts through.
“That won’t be necessary.”
You and Mr. Mystery both look over to see.. Wait. You blink a couple times. A nearly complete carbon copy of Mr. Mystery was sitting at the kitchen table just a couple yards away. The table was covered with a plethora of thick tomes, the man’s face grizzled and serious. He stands, his hands behind his back imposingly, and walks briskly towards the both of you. You shrink a little bit, but it turns out, you had no reason to fear.
“Greetings. My name is Stanford, but just Ford will do. This is my brother Stanley, but he goes by Stan,” He looks over to Mr. Mystery, then over to the two kids. “And my grand-niece and nephew, Mabel, and Dipper.” Mabel grins and waves. Dipper, now seeming a little less on edge, gives a nod. Twins, you realize. Mabel and Dipper, Stanford and Stanley. Your face softens a little, and you turn back to Stanford as he continues to speak.
“Your kindness is appreciated, but I have already fixed the floors. It’s beyond inappropriate to allow you to reimburse us. That floor should have not only been redone, but have been more accessible decades ago.” There is a vitriol in his voice, although it becomes very clear very soon that it was not directed at you, but at Stanley, who was currently on the receiving end of being stabbed by Ford’s eye daggers, a large hand rubbing behind his neck. “Yeah, yeah, it’s true, but geez Poindexter, gimme a break. I told them they didn’t have to worry about it yesterday.” He lightly defends himself, and you nod.
“He did! Really. I insisted, and I could tell that you weren’t used to people making good on promises to come back. Besides, even if it wasn’t my fault, I like to hold myself to being responsible for damaging things that aren’t mine. It’s happened before.” You admit with a small laugh. “That’s kind of you, though, Ford. Point well made. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you to fix, though.” You concede, placing your money back in your wallet and setting it back in your bag. Oh, this guy was great already.
“Not at all. It was trivial work. I fixed it within an hour.” He assures, and you smile, glancing back at the books Ford had on the table after you managed to catch the word ‘Language’ on one of the spines.
“I take it you aren’t a tourist from what you’ve let on. New in town?” Stan seems to catch on, and you nod. You introduce yourself properly, telling them your name. “I’m from Portland. Just moved in two days ago about a half mile east from here. I, uh, suppose we’re neighbors now!” Your speech lags as you keep trying to catch a glance of the books, your interest in linguistics knowing no bounds. ‘Interest’ was putting it lightly, to say the least.
“I suppose we are.” Ford hums, noticing you looking at the books with a raise of his eyebrow, and you feel your face flaming up. “Sorry! Couldn’t help but notice the books on the table. I’m something of a linguist myself, and I’ve not seen those books before, nor the language they seem to cover.” You say, eyes trained more on the ground than anywhere else. Once again, you seem to have apologized for nothing, as a sudden light fills Ford’s voice.
“You don’t say! Well, allow me to show you.” You look up to see Ford hurrying back over to his books, and Stan just sighs, putting his face in one hand. “Oh boy, here we go.” Ford quickly returns with one of the books, which was opened to a strange page full of strange glyphs and what looked to be a couple different Celtic languages. You look at the open page intently, though Ford’s voice brings your gaze back up to him as he points to the strange glyphs.
“You may not recognize this language, because it is one of the languages of the fae! You see, I came to this town over thirty years ago, quickly finding that this town was a hotspot for anomalies of most every kind! This place is strange, far stranger than most others, and even after so much time has passed, I still find new things to study.”
The doe! So you weren’t just fooling yourself! “Well, that explains the four-eyed doe I saw yesterday on the way here. I guess I’ve had an inkling ever since I stepped foot in this place. No wonder the cabin was so cheap.” You and Ford shared the same glistening of excitement and belonging in your eyes, meanwhile Stan had stiffened with a sort of discomfort.
“Yeah, he’s not kiddin’. I’ve had to save not only my own skin, but several other people’s skins from danger around here. It’s not exactly for the faint of heart, or, y’know. Unprepared. High turnover rate in this town. It’s perks drive people in, but the weirdness drives most right back out.” You catch that he’s trying to tell you something, but you’re unsure of what. Ford seems to adopt the same feeling, even though he clearly didn’t want to. “What he’s trying to say is that there is danger here, some lethal in nature. It isn’t suitable for just anyone.”
They were worried about you getting hurt, it seems, and they did have a point. You were not of sound body at the very least, and there were cryptic dangers lying in the forest that surrounded your comparatively miniscule cabin.
It was no different to you, however.
“Well, you have your point, but it won’t run me out. Not like I have many other places I can go. I bought the cabin because it was all I could afford by myself. My family isn’t exactly the best with my conditions, since I can’t live what most would consider a ‘normal’ life, and I felt less-than all the time. So I booked it here as soon as I was able to afford it.” You explain, trying to save the more personal details. “I’ve never felt more at home in ages, weird cosmic horrors in the woods and all. If it means I get to be myself and lead my own life however it wants to be led, then I’ll figure it out one way or another.”
Stan was grinning approvingly from ear to ear, and had crossed his arms in front of his chest. He seems to like your moxie. Ford looks similar, although he appears more delighted. “Resilience will get you far here.” He says, placing a friendly hand on your shoulder. It’s only then, as he shifts the book to one hand, that you realize Ford has polydactyly, and while you don’t comment on it, you immediately see why Ford is one of the people that’s embraced this town, and your smile grows that much larger.
“Seems you found just the right family to help you with your goal!” Mabel exclaims, finally chiming in, heading over to the three of you along with Dipper, who wore a smile now, and nodded more firmly, holding the brim of his hat. “Definitely.” You see that he’s grabbed an old, weathered, maroon-colored book with golden accents, holding the front of it to his chest. A magnifying glass is attached by thread. You see that Dipper and Mabel have also embraced the secrets of this town, and the older set of twins nod. “If you are ever in need of any assistance, we’re here to help.” Ford offers, and you’re grinning now.
“Well, you’ll be seeing me more often regardless. I’m unable to work, and so I’m always looking for a way to chase off boredom. The Shack is awesome, so I’m gonna start loitering. I’ll keep your offer in mind though, for sure.” Stan lets out a sharp laugh. “Hey, as long as you buy something and don’t destroy the place, I don’t care what the heck you do. Stick around, toots. There’s plenty more to see!” You laugh sheepishly, and Mabel throws her fists up in the air.
“YAYYY FRIENDSHIIPPPP!!”