Joy, expression, action: these are only a few of the words that can be associated with the Summer season for at least one resident of Gravity Falls. She expected nothing different to come out of this one. The sun beat down, shining filtered light through the leaves of the forest trees. A gentle breeze made the hot weather a little more bearable and provided a soft rustling that was pleasant to the ear as it joined the other noises of nature around her. Amelia Price had decided to take a stroll through the woods as she made her way to Greasy’s Diner for a little breakfast. Sure, it would have been faster to just drive there in one of the golf carts or waited till someone else could take her but honestly, she liked this time to herself now and then. Her father needed rest as he worked night shifts most, if not all of the time and Jack hadn’t been awake at practically the crack of dawn like she had. This is how the little adventure had started, not wanting to interrupt the sleep of the two most important people in her life.
There was something magical in itself about walking through the woods as the sun rose in the sky, bringing all the inhabitants to life. One she had braved many times even though they all say the forest is to be avoided if at all possible. It should have spooked her but she felt more at home there than most places. It could be because Jack and her wandered around it so often looking for anomalies or the strange but who really knows. Either way, she knew it was about time to make her exit and head for some food. It was as if her stomach heard that very thought as it growled a bit as if reminding her of its protest at having to wait. Amelia’s shoulders shook at her silent chuckle and with that she picked up her pace, popping out of the tree line.
She blinked softly, raising an arm to block the sun and see where she had ended up this time. It took a moment of looking to realize that it was near the local bus stop. She let her arm down, her eyes now adjusted to the light and pulled out her phone to read the time before shoving it back into the pocket of her jeans. Amelia noticed the rumbling of the bus engine as it rolled up and even if she didn’t, the distinct squeak of the breaks would have given it away. She decided to wait till the bus passed before heading across the road, not wanting to get in the way. The driver wasn’t really rainbows and sunshine after all and honestly, she wouldn’t put it past him to forget to not run someone over.
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"A new place, a new mystery!"
The bus came to a halt in front of what seemed to be nothing more than a regular bus stop; Motor of the machine humming as it stayed in place, the doors slowly opening so disembarks could begin. One boy had already jumped out of his seat, with two bags in tow; One in each hand, stumbling a bit as they were quite heavy, filled with supplies for his stay. It wasn't at all clear what was inside them, but one of them did have some papers sticking out; He brought plenty of writing materials so he could keep track of his entire trip! He'd document anything interesting, and keep it for future use / or just a fond memory. He was going to enjoy this trip one way or another!
"Well, it has been 'fun'." The driver spoke, as Ludwig approached the front of the bus to exit. His glare turned quite nasty, seeming to be wanting to start the drive back sooner rather than later. "Now giddoff my bus."
"I was just leaving-- ACK!
Ludwig found himself punted out the bus, flipping forward with his bags hitting the ground before he landed on top of them: Only to spring off of his own bags and plant into the pavement. Picking himself up off the ground, he was quick to dust himself off; An itch in his hair telling him where his companion had gone. "I'm alright, Moe." He assured to the squirrel, glancing up as she glared back at the bus, irritated and blowing raspberries to spite the driver.
"We can be upset later, we've got to go." He urged, reaching up and giving his loyal pet a quick scratch before picking up his bags. Now, where was a motel around here? This bus stop didn't have pamphlets around, either: He had no idea how people were supposed to tour with no idea of what was around. Figuring things out was part of the fun now, he figured. Nothing better to do than to look around, and maybe find someone to talk to.
Glancing about, he managed to catch view of someone: A blonde girl, blue shirt. Seemed good enough to him; If she wasn't a local, at least she had gotten here before him. She'd have to have more knowledge of the area than he did by default. That's just from his pure logistics.
He hushed his squirrel companion, who hid itself inside his floofy hair before he spoke up to get her attention
"'Scuse me, miss?"
Amelia Price & Ludwig Blanchard
Collaboration | Bus Stop/Innkeep Inn | N/A
The gentle voice had her turning to the source of the sound, a guy around her age with floofy chocolate brown hair and dark eyes was what she was met with. She tucked some hair behind her ear as she took a quick glance around to make sure he was talking to her. Amelia felt herself give an awkward soft smile, trying to figure out how to tell the guy in front of her that she couldn’t answer. She had dumbly left her notebook at home, thinking she was going to Greasy’s and they had most of her orders on lock or it was easy for her to point. She had not been prepared for an obvious tourist, if the baggage was anything to go by, needing help from her.
It would be a long shot if he actually ended up knowing sign language and while she had a pencil with her, no paper kind of made it a problem. ’I wonder if he has any paper on him but how am I supposed to ask? I don’t want to sound rude.’, she thought to herself nervously and trying not to bite her lip. She tilted her head bit in question and moved one of her hands on top of the other like she was writing, trying to find a simple way to explain or ask if he had something to write on. It probably just looked ridiculous but if she started signing it might look just as strange.
Tilting his head in confusion, he observed her motions for a moment: She sort of looked like she was pretending to write something? He wasn't entirely sure as to why she was doing that, but maybe there was a reason behind it? Well, obviously there was: Did she need paper? Was she trying to communicate something else? Was she a mime?
Hesitant to question what she was doing, he finally blurted it out: "You, uhm... Need a pen? Some paper?"
Amelia nodded with a small thumbs up, a bright smile on her face as she pulled a pencil from her back pocket. She was glad that the ridiculous motions worked but sadly, it wasn’t the first time she had to do it and it probably wouldn’t be her last. He had her worried for a moment that he wouldn’t understand when he looked at her with confusion as if she was a puzzle to be solved.
"Okay, no problem!" Ludwig said without hesitation; Setting down his bags. If she needed it, then why not offer it to her? He had plenty of notepads and pens; Surely giving one away wouldn't hurt him, right? He was quick to dig into his coat pocket, pulling out one of the notepads he kept crammed inside; Always keep a few on you, just in case. That was important for a researcher like himself; Ludwig liked to take note of everything, and that wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
"Here; This'll work, right?" He asked, extending his hand to hold it out to her.
She gave a quick nod, gently taking the notepad that was being offered to her. She flipped open the cover, planning on writing straight away but instead found some of the pages had already been taken. She hadn’t meant to pry but she was a naturally curious person in the first place and couldn’t really seem to stop herself. It seemed to be a small log, depicting the bus ride and the reasons for coming to Gravity Falls. Amelia wasn’t sure who this Moe was since he seemed to be alone but pushed that aside for now, flipping to the next blank page. She scribbled down a quick note before holding it back out for him to read.
𝓗𝓲, 𝓶𝔂 𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓐𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓪. 𝓢𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝔀𝓴𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓭𝓾𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷! 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓶𝓾𝓽𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓸𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝔂 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓶𝓮. 𝓓𝓸 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹?
"O-Oh!" He stammered, taken by surprise despite such a thing possibly being obvious with how she was acting: Everything made sense now. He reached up as if to scratch his head, but hesitated; Lowering his hand back down. "I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner, uhm-- Amelia? Amelia. It's nice to meet you! I'm Ludwig; I'm kind of going to be around here for awhile,,, For the summer, at least." He paused, figuring she didn't want to hear his life story about why he was here; He'd just bothered her on the street, after all.
"But, anyways: I couldn't find anything about motels at all. I figure there has to be at least one, but I have no idea where I'm going. Could you point me in the right direction?"
𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸𝓸, 𝓛𝓾𝓭𝔀𝓲𝓰. 𝓝𝓸 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝔃𝓮, 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓾𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓲𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓵𝓮𝓶 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓷𝓮𝔀 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮. 𝓘𝓯 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓲𝓽’𝓼 𝓶𝔂 𝓯𝓪𝓾𝓵𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓹𝓪𝓹𝓮𝓻! 𝓘𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓮𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂! 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼𝓷’𝓽 𝓪 𝓵𝓸𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮’𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓘𝓷𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓶. 𝓘𝓽 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓵𝓮𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓽!
"Oh yeah, that sounds great! I've got money to last me awhile; Lead the way!" This was really looking up: Amelia was being a real life-saver here, Ludwig wasn't sure how long he would've been lost without her to help him out. Now it was just smooth sailing to getting settled in; Then he could get started on his real reasons for being here.
Ludwig found himself momentarily distracted by a shuffling feeling in his hair; Moe was scratching, or something. It didn't feel great, and he knew she was getting annoyed trying to hide during this conversation; Usually she'd stay in the pocket, but she decided to use his hair, today of all days... He reached up, scratching his head in an attempt to calm the beast: Finding a little success in his mission as he managed to retract his hand and instead pick his bags back up.
She waited patiently for him to gather his things, making sure he was ready for the little journey before leading the way. It luckily wasn’t too far from the bus stop since it needed to be in a prime location for future customers. She had thought she saw Ludwig’s hair move earlier but shrugged it off since his hand had been in his hair too. It must be her imagination plus it would be rude to insinuate anything like that to find out she was wrong. How awkward would that be? It was best to leave that be. It was nice though, that someone new around her age would be around this Summer. One that might be interested in the mysteries of this place. Jack would be thrilled to have someone other than her to bounce theories, ideas, and stories off of.
They started walking; Amelia leading the charge as Ludwig followed behind, glancing around and taking in the view of the town. He'd be writing down his thoughts, but his hands were currently preoccupied with everything he was holding: He'd have to remember to write stuff down later.
Things seemed... Really quiet; Like this place was perhaps just a simple location, despite the rumors and speculation Ludwig had made.
No, no; He had to be suspicious. The place was quiet, and quiet was wary! Plus it was like, really early. His brain was just going too fast; He had to take this slow, if nobody else had definitive proof of the things going on here, why would he after like ten minutes? While he wasn't impatient, he was eager to get to work: Maybe he needed to calm down in general, though. Day one he needed to focus on some priorities, rather than getting into the grit. Basic necessities, then research.
But, a researcher's mind never truly rests. Even now, he was curious: He observed everything in his own way; A side-effect to how long he'd been trying to do this, probably. He observed locations, wildlife, even people like Amelia with curiosity as if there were puzzles to be solved; Mysteries to be figured out. And Amelia's helpful nature was, perhaps, a small stone that could cause a big ripple in what he wanted to find.
"So, do you liv--" "Ouch!" Ludwig's questioning ceased as he felt a painful scratch on his scalp; A hiss escaping him from the pain as he tried to hold it in, but he dropped one of his bags, causing a scene he hadn't intended.
Moe popped out of his hair; Taking a gasp for air and catching it's breath before deciding to lightly stomp on Ludwig's floofy hair out of frustration for being kept in there for so long. Realizing the gig was up, Ludwig snapped at the Squirrel: "That really hurt! What were you thinking, Moe?! Ooooouwch...."
The squirrel hopped on Ludwig's shoulder as he rubbed his head, looking at her in a truly annoyed fashion. He had intended to be more lenient around here, but seriously? So soon?
Amelia spun on her heel to face her new companion when Ludwig’s voice rang out with the start of a question, slowly walking backwards so they could continue on their journey but not wanting to seem like he was being ignored. She halted all movement though when he suddenly yelped ‘ouch’ and concern instantly flashed on her features. She looked around trying to determine what went wrong, hoping that it wasn’t something like being stung by a bee or anything like that. The hiss of pain told her it wasn’t good whatever it was and when he dropped one of his bags, she found herself moving closer to help him pick it up and see if he was alright.
She didn’t even make it a step though as she was stopped in her tracks by a squirrel popping out of his dark hair. It wasn’t just the shock of an animal nesting in his hair though but that this one was completely green in color. It was possible the fur was dyed but that seemed like an impossible task and as they say when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. This squirrel was something special if she had any guess. She shook her head, Ludwig’s voice snapping her out of her thoughts as he looked at his pocket pal with irritation though ‘Moe’ didn’t really look too phased by his reaction as she sat on his shoulder.
Once she had processed what had just happened, she realized that there was no way that Jack was going to believe this. He would think she was messing with him or ask to see too and who is to say she would easily be able to find Ludwig again. She quickly dig the notebook back out of her pocket so she could scribble down her thoughts and some rapid fire questions.
𝓜𝓸𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓬𝓾𝓽𝓮! 𝓘𝓼 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓻? 𝓒𝓪𝓷 𝓘 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓪 𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮? 𝓜𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓲𝓯 𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓲𝓶! 𝓐𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂, 𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓪𝓫𝓵𝔂 𝓰𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓼𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼. 𝓦𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝔂𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓢𝓱𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓜𝓸𝓮 𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓪𝓭? 𝓘𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓽𝔂 𝓹𝓸𝓹𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓻 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓭𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼. 𝓘 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷, 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸....𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂, 𝓘’𝓶 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭!
Amelia shortened the distance between them, holding out the notebook nervously for him to read. She couldn’t remember a time she actually asked anyone to the Mystery Shack, half of the time it just happened or they already knew where to find her since small town.
Ludwig composed himself, but wasn't expecting her approach: His eyes darted left and right, taking note of the mildly irritated squirrel staring him down from his shoulder: WHAT? What right did she have to be irritated right now? She just scratched him and ruined seven years of secrecy in the span of half a minute! Deeply sighing, he began reading what Amelia had to say...
He mumbled through it as he read, eyes tracking each word and a slight concern coming to his tone as he spoke:
"Uhm, no pictures, please." He began, not truly trying to shoot her down; But Moe didn't even like him attempting to do that. The last time he tried he ended up needing a phone replacement; And if the glare of the little green bugger was any indication right now. that attitude towards pictures hadn't changed. But wait; there was actually some interesting information in what Amelia wrote: Mystery Shack? Now, Ludwig had tried to do some studying about the place before coming here, and this was one of the few things he managed to partially be aware of: It was just some highly notable tourist spot.
Ludwig wasn't much of a souvenir guy, at least ones just flat-out purchased, so the appeal wasn't there in that sense. However, Amelia mentioned her brother? Her interest and enthusiasm was a better sign; And if her sibling was the same way, they both might be extremely helpful in his cause! He had no 'great' leads anyhow; These two were a good start to discovering something, he'd bet his (Potentially bent) glasses on it!
"To answer your other question; Yes, she's naturally that color. I know because I even tried washing her off at one point, and all it accomplished was her wanting more baths." The squirrel perked up, dropping it's irritation for a moment to nod along with what he was saying.
"--- And as for your invitation? Sure! I'll be happy to answer whatever I can; Maybe we can have a sort of exchange?" He was satisfied with the offer presented, but was hopeful they'd help him, too. A jumpstart with some natives would definitely be a boost in success rate! "I'll share what I know about the squirrel with you and your brother, and you two can maaaybe show me around the more... Mysterious side of this place?"
Ludwig was, of course, referring to the woods. The town itself seemed pretty tame; He wasn't certain he'd find anything on the streets. There was a possibility that they couldn't actually tell him much about the woods though, so he didn't want Amelia to feel shot down because of that.
"But, if you don't know anything about the woods, that's fine too. Because soon enough..."
There was a momentary pause, a grin growing on Ludwig's face.
"I will!"" He declared, expressing his own enthusiasm: This conversation was getting him motivated, that much was obvious. Her interest was boosting his morale; He felt more confident than ever with curious souls like her and her brother being here.
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