"Part of me is the Hang Man, and part of me is the victim." (OPEN!!)

[mviw]

Who: Ford Pines (mviw) his owl and YOU!
Where: Various (Mystery Shack, the Library, & Elsewhere)
When: Gravity Falls Event through Upcoming Memory Event
Rating: PG-13 for potential swearing.
Summary: Ford adjusts to Wonderland by trying to be a shut-in, but his family and new friends have other plans. Also, he has an owl and a driving sense of curiosity.
The Story: Pick a prompt or start your own!

A. "Let's end the charade. This game is over." (CLOSED to Stan) Gravity Falls Event: At night (Backdated)

[Ford always prefers privacy over socialization, so this event is shaping up to be one headache after another. During daylight hours, Ford avoids the tours being given by his brother and instead he spends most of his time in the forest. Illusion though it is, it's a familiar one. At night, unable to sleep as usual, he opens his window to let his owl fly freely while he creeps through the 'house' looking for the basement levels and his journals.

The basement is what he looks for first behind the vending machine... And to his disappointment and frustration, it isn't there.]

Damn.

[It's a hushed utterance followed by a pang of fear. He doesn't like feeling trapped. Of course Wonderland wouldn't provide the portal or its equipment, but... it was worth a try.

Ford hears a sudden noise; probably someone sneaking through the house after hours. Not wanting to explain why he's in his brother's gift shop in the middle of the night, Ford slips behind the cashier counter to wait them out.]

B. "There's a room full of people in your head." (OPEN) Gravity Falls Event: Shack/Forest (Backdated)

[Ford can be found in the house kitchen hoarding orange juice or exiting a room with a mysteriously carved door.

Otherwise, he will be out in the forest assisting both creatures and mansion residents to minimize destruction of his-- well, it's not really his home, but it's close enough. He may be an old science man but he has a laser gun and he knows space karate.]

C. "I don't even know who's at the wheel." (OPEN) Library (Current)

[Ford is spending less time in his room and more time in the library, as of late. Rather than check out books and take them to actual privacy, he's been enjoying the massive volume of information right at his disposal and all that comes with it; the smell of binding and paper, the hushed atmosphere, the sense of awe he's never lost when he knows he can always learn more.

At the chosen table he's set up stacks of books in various piles. The largest pile by far is on birds of prey--specifically owls. In the middle of it all are sheets of paper with doodles of who some might recognize to be his family, but mostly of his owl who he accidentally summoned from the closet several weeks prior. Included in the drawings are scenes from the mansion and Wonderland itself as well.

Not only is he a nerd, but he seems to be quite the artist.]

D. "You've gotta follow the voice you wanna follow." (OPEN) Write your own starter.

Comments

A.

[charlastan]

[Strangely enough, the one creeping around in the middle of the night is Stan. He'd made a big show of how exhausted he was after a long hard day of scamming interdimensional suckers, but here he is a few hours later, in his underwear and slippers, creeping around with a flashlight.

He's silent and serious as he enters the room, scanning as is he expects to find someone lurking there in the dark. When he doesn't spot anything though, he moves to the vending machine and punches in the usual code...and nothing happens.

Stan scowls at the machine and tries punching the code in again, harder this time. It doesn't help. When the door doesn't open after a third attempt, that's when Stan stops trying to be subtle and quiet about it. He grips either side of the vending machine to try and shove it away from where the hidden door is supposed to be.]

Ugh! C'mon, you stupid goddamn-- Move!

D.

[pottershotter]

[One day, late in February, Ford's owl is going to bring home something a little...different than the usual things he brings back to hoard. This time, the owl will be carrying an old-fashioned envelope, as if it stole someone's mail. But there is no postal service in Wonderland, and if Ford investigates he'll find it is addressed as follows, in purple ink and fancy script:]

To Whom It May Concern
And/or the Owner of This Lovely Owl
Possibly on the Mansion's Third Floor
(though we are admittedly unsure)
Wonderland

B

[naughty_nurse]

[Since Mikan had been "hired" to work the register, she's seen Ford pass by every now and then. She's highly nervous about this man who looks like Stan, but every time, she's super polite. She bows as deeply as her body will allow.]

I h-hope you have a good day, Mister Pines!

B

[onetruemorty]

[ This has been the kind of event that Morty can genuinely enjoy, for the most part. He's probably the last person who'd say he's usually lucky when it comes to new weird things, unless barely escaping them alive counts as lucky. And sure, he spent some time in Christmas jail with the guy who runs this place and didn't come away the biggest fan.

Something about the location and the hokey tourist trap just feels... friendlier than a lot of places he's been to. Who cares how fake the jackalope and the Sascrotch are? Being obviously fake just means that many fewer things trying to kill him.

Venturing out towards the forest is the natural result of starting to feel secure in his own surroundings. This place is pretty nice! He can handle this. He meets some weird clones in the forest and it's totally okay. None of them try to eat him. They're also way better at handling being duplicates than he was. But maybe not being locked up in a dungeon helps. Morty feels surprisingly confident in his handling capacity after the first day or so.

If the way he runs past Ford, screaming and covered in irate fairies, is any indicator, literally all of that confidence was moot and backfired horribly. THIS IS NOTHING LIKE FAIRY TALES AT ALL WHY??? ]

C

[needlebearer]

"Is that your sigil?" Arya peers over Ford's shoulder, on tiptoes to see the many drawings of the owl. Some of the stacks of books are even taller than she is, and she's weaved between them carefully to avoid knocking them over as she approaches in her own curiosity to see what could require so much deep reading.

C.

[powerofmabel]

[What Mabel is doing under the table is anyone's guess. It's cozier down there? She wants to give Ford more elbow room with his books and drawings? She is on a desperate quest to see if he has twelve toes and maybe if she stares at his shoes hard enough, she can figure it out?

The world will never know.

Either way, now that the mansion's back to normal, she's decided that she needs to spend some time with Ford alone to get a better understanding of him. And possibly find some way to get him and Stan to stop being... well, them without provoking a major disaster.

Plus she clearly has a lot in common with Ford. Just look at those doodles. She's got a few of her own under the table with her, as well as a collection of smelly markers and glitter pens.]

So I'm thinking even if the closets can't give us hybrid animals, we could totally figure out a way to make them anyway. There's a lot of potential here, and have I mentioned I'm an expert matchmaker?

[the world couldn't stop at the snadger. science can do so much more.]

c

[monosaccharide]

[There's a pink woman in the library today, carrying what looks to be manuals on advanced robotics and programming. She pauses as she catches sight of his drawings.]

Huh, those are nice. What's with all the owls?