In response to Veor Hrdenda's review: Thanks for your honest views of the story so far, though I sincerely apologize if the faerie concept wasn't as what you have expected. Admittedly, I wanted to try something of a light-hearted supernatural story before I could sink my teeth into something more suspenseful in future. I guess you can say that I wanted to show that not all the creatures and monsters of Gravity Falls want to try and kill Dipper and Mabel (not that the show didn't convey that already), but rest assured, this story will include a threat of some sort, just not really in the form of a faerie. :)
Chapter Two is now a go! When we last seen our mystery-solving duo, they have finally managed to discover a faerie after searching in the forest for a while. Although, despite the genuine affability that our new faerie ally was showing, Dipper may feel that there may be a bit of hostility b/w the rest of the faerie clan and their views on humans.
Will Dipper's fears and doubts come to fruition? Will the faeries treat the twins as pariahs of some sort? Read on and let's see how this goes, shall we?
Gravity Falls is owned by Alex Hirsch and Disney. (I do not own any of its characters nor its properties. This is purely a non-profit fanfic made for fun.)
THE FAERIES OF THE FALLS
CHAPTER TWO: FAIRLY ODD PRESENCE
"So, you're saying you two and the rest of the town banded together to thwart this villain causing havoc to your town? What did you all call it again, exactly?"
"Weirdmageddon. But, in the end, we all managed to kick Bill's triangular butt and got him turned to stone afterwards!"
"Ah, most impressive, dearie! I was wondering what was happening when the sky turned red and such...luckily, me and the rest of the faeries were safe and sound in out village at the time...now then, what else did you say you've encountered during last summer again? Something about a…'Summerween monster'?"
"Oh, yeah, that! Well, what happened was-"
Since the Pines twins have finally managed to discover an elusive faerie during their travels through the Gravity Falls forest, Mabel was having the time of her life with their recently-met faerie friend, a red-haired and kind-hearted female named Rosemary, as the Pines girl was excitedly telling Rosemary of nearly all the adventures she and Dipper had during their last summer at the Falls.
As Mabel was enthusiastically talking Rosemary's ear off, with the faerie girl patiently listening to her new human friend in amusement and curiosity, Dipper was trailing a couple of feet behind the two females as they all strolled down the dirt lane leading towards the village, his nose now back into the pages of the first Journal as he continued to read up on the page regarding the forest faeries once again.
At the start of this journey, he was beyond elated in hoping of finding the home of these faeries to record it in the Journal's archives. However, after being reminded of when a couple of faeries had strayed away from their home and wound up nearly getting killed by any humans nearby, his confidence slowly shrivelled up and was instead replaced with doubt and concern. He was worried that the faeries would harbor a major grudge between them and the humans, and he didn't want to cause any trouble towards them.
Still, he tried to keep those concerning thoughts to himself and kept himself busy by reading his Grunkle Ford's Journal, his eyes glued to the article explaining about the faeries in relation.
"Based upon European folklore, the faeries who live in a deep and reclusive part of the Gravity Falls forest are said to be as mysterious as they are magical. Reportedly, these creatures living in the woods had originally hailed from Europe before a small clan of faeries had managed to travel to the States, traversing across the country for a safe and proper home before they arrived to Oregon, choosing the dense forestry surrounding the town of Gravity Falls as their new home. Reasons for why they left Europe for the U.S.A. and when exactly they arrived to the country however are currently unknown."
"Nowadays, these faeries have grown their populace into a full community of hard-working, nature-loving, and benevolent creatures, where they would tend to the forest's trees, fauna, and wildlife in their small, homemade village in the northwestern part of the woods. In spite of their elusiveness, these faeries can tend to be too curious for their own good regarding the outside world and, on some occasions, they could even exit the sanctuary of their village to explore outside the forest."
"Despite their easily-captivated nature, these peaceful faeries prove to be genuine kind-hearted in nature, wanting to help out any hurt animals or lost newcomers in their area in any way they can. Bright-eyed, free-spirited, and young at heart, these creatures can also be capable of being very hard-working and surprisingly strong for their short stature."
"In addition, their faerie dust can be used as something of a knock-out gas that affects some creatures, namely the unicorns who reside west of the forest. Because of this, the faeries and the unicorn hold something of a rivalry, even if the faerie aren't willing to wage war with said unicorns."
Dipper paused after reading that last paragraph, looking up at the giggling pair of girls in front of him and then looking back down at the book. His face wrinkled with discomfort. He really wasn't sure how to feel about all this and he really didn't want to come across as a monster towards Rosemary.
And even if his doubts about the faeries abhorring the humans were untrue, he also didn't want to wind up being rude to Rosemary neither, especially of how nice and unwaveringly sweet she was to him and Mabel. So, in the end, Dipper figured it best to simply grin and bear it for now. He walked faster to catch up to the chatting Mabel and Rosemary before clearing his throat shyly.
"Ahem, so, uh, Rosemary? From what I gathered on this map," noted Dipper, "Mabel and I were supposed to have come across some sort of green tunnel that leads to your village. Would you happen to know anything about that?"
Rosemary scratched her chin in thought, trying to think about what Dipper was referring to. Luckily, it wasn't long until it suddenly clicked in her mind. "'Green tunnel'? Oh, oh, wait, I know what you mean!" she realized with a smile, "We'll actually be reaching that in a few feet from here!"
She then flew farther away from the twins, leaving a thin trail of fairy dust behind her as she travelled faster down the road. "Come on, you two!" she called happily, hiking up the bag of pollen tied on her backside like a makeshift backpack, "We're nearly there!"
Dipper and Mabel looked at each other with raised eyebrows and shared a shrug, now both running down the path, following Rosemary towards this aforementioned green tunnel.
It hadn't actually taken long until Rosemary, Dipper, and Mabel had all finally reached this particular landmark, and when they, it was suffice to say that the twins were surprised to see what this green tunnel actually was!
In front of the twins and faerie stood what appeared to be some sort of archway, made entirely of rich, green leaves, brambles, ivy, and vines! The arches stood at around fifteen feet in height, seemingly stretching on for miles. The tree tunnel was wall-to-wall green, from its high overhead canopy to back down on the grass-clad ground. Thin beams of sunlight shone through what little openings the tunnel could produce, giving the tunnel an almost magical-looking illumination.
Mabel and Dipper stood at the tunnel's entrance for a few tense seconds, awestruck at the beautiful passageway before them, too amazed to try and even utter a word between each other. The tunnel seemed to go on for, at least, a couple of miles. It was a straight path, with seemingly no curves or hazards to encounter along the trio's path.
Rosemary flittered by the side and smiled at the twins' amazed expressions. "Well, you two ready to see our village?" she offered.
The twins snapped from their surprised stupor and glanced back at the awaiting faerie. They looked back and forth between the vine-clad tunnel and Rosemary, still unable to comprehend words for what was transpiring at the moment. Rosemary playfully rolled her eyes and stifled back a giggle. Thankfully, she was able to get them moving again as she flew back up to them, grabbed each of her hands, and gently led them towards the tunnel, leading towards her beloved, hidden home.
"Come on, you two…" she coaxed lightheartedly, "My village is located at the other side of this tunnel, so we must make haste if you two want to see the village before it gets too dark!"
That was enough to finally cause the twins to kick it into high-gear, both of them not wanting to stay out in the forest until duck fell, despite that it wouldn't be dark for a few more hours. But still, the twins and their faerie ally kept on jogging through the tunnel.
The sunlight from outside hitting against the leaves seemed to give the already green-hued passageway and even more greener vibrance. And with the soft sounds of birds chirping from far away combined with the gentle whistle of a summer's breeze, it gave the trio a beautiful sense of tranquility, all content to be travelling through the calming scenery that Mother Nature herself created.
The tunnel also didn't appear to be too, too long of a walk as it turned out, so to pass the time, they decided to engage themselves in a bit of friendly conversation as they drew nearer to the destination. And it came to no surprise when the least talkative person amongst the trio was Dipper, of course.
He certainly wasn't meaning to be so quiet this time, but yet again, he couldn't help but to still feel a wee bit fidgety about the possible outcome of their journey. Sure, it'd be great to finally discover where exactly the faeries of Gravity Falls do live, but at the same time, he was worried about how the other faeries could react to having a full-fledged human visiting their village.
As he kept fretting to himself, Rosemary seemed to feel his highly-strung aura close by and flew closer to Mabel's ear, a playful, though still inwardly-concerned smile creeping on her dimpled face.
"Your brother seems to be quite stressed out again…" she commented softly to her, as not to gain attention to the male human nearby. Mabel snickered gently.
"Yeah, that's just how he rolls…" she answered knowingly. The two girls shared a soft laugh before Rosemary gently fluttered closer to the silently-anxious Dipper, carefully and delicately tapping on his shoulder, causing him to snap out of his worrying to look down at the motherly faerie just below his head.
"Dipper, sweetie?" she asked with a teasing, yet kind smile, "You're still not worrying about what the other faeries are going to think about you and Mabel, are you?"
Dipper swallowed thickly, looking at both his sister and fellow faerie friends simultaneously. They both sported big, knowing grins on their faces, as if they already knew what Dipper's answer was going to be. It wasn't very long until Dipper finally caved in, knowing he was going to be found out sooner or later.
"...Y-Y-Yeah…" he admitted softly, "...k-kinda…"
Mabel rolled her ears and chuckled, fully knowing how her beloved twin brother functioned. "Aw, c'mon, Dip-Dip!" she smirked, giving Dipper a soft, playful punch to the arm, "You seriously ain't getting cold feet over seein' some lil' faeries, are ya?"
Dipper winced nervously. "Well...I mean…" he began, trying to piece together his statement in a coherent fashion, "I-I just don't w-want to seem like an intruder to the rest of your clan, i-is all…" Rosemary shook her head and chuckled softly.
"Dipper, I promise you and your sister won't be considered as intruders!" she reminded, "You both are guests in our village, and I'm certain everyone at the village would enjoy having your company!"
Dipper still didn't seem convinced. He sighed softly and looked down upon the grassy lane as the group were reaching the tunnel's halfway point. "R-Rosemary?" he asked timidly.
Rosemary turned around again and gave him a soft smile. "Yes, Dipper?" she replied kindly.
Dipper rubbed his left arm nervously, hoping what he would say next wouldn't come out wrong. "Beg pardon for saying this, but I don't see how you would be so willing to invite a pair of humans to your own home?" he stated shyly, "I mean, I'm sure you're aware of what humans are capable of, right?"
Rosemary's smile faltered a tad. "What do you mean by that, dearie?"
"Well, I mean…" replied Dipper, scratching the back of his head, "You know, most humans can tend to fight with each other, cause pollution, and all sorts of terrible things on top of that! Quite frankly, compared to your species, we're basically monsters!"
Mabel noticed Dipper's growing distress and gave him a scared, though highly-concerned look. She knew Dipper's tendency to be a nerve-wracked worrier, but something told her that him listing off the reasons why humans were considered as a violent, ignorant race weren't going to bode well with Rosemary at all. She carefully placed a hand on Dipper's shoulder and shot him a look that was laced with sternness, an expression that she hardly uses ever.
"Dipper, we really shouldn't mention that mean stuff to Rosemary. We don't want to scare her with all this talk about why humans can be so mean, especially when she's been so nice to us!" Mabel instructed, trying not to sound as harsh throughout. Dipper gulped and blushed, still unconvinced.
"But it's true, Mabel! We-"
"Dipper! Mabel!"
The twins had ceased their argument before it could come into fruition, both caught off-guard by the sound of Rosemary's motherly tone. They both calmed down and stopped in their tracks, both unable to speak with only the sound of the wind and the birds outside the tunnel filled the still air.
Judging from how firm her voice sounded, Dipper and Mabel figured that Rosemary was going to be quite upset with them bringing up these facts about humans, but instead, they were both surprised to still see her giving them both a patient, motherly smile. Rosemary let out a calming sigh, then she once again grabbed one each of the twin's giant hands into her own and closed her eyes in silence.
Soon enough, a strong, yet sweet-smelling odor wafted through the air. Rosemary, whose aura was beginning to shine brighter than usual, began emitting the odor in the form of a harmless fog-like vapor as a means to help calm the twins' minds more easily. The aroma smelled of a beautiful concoction of fresh spring flowers, its scent safely sprinkled all around the trio. Thankfully, one whiff of the smell was enough to relax the twins greatly, as if they'd had a giant weight taken off their shoulders.
With that taken care of, Rosemary opened her eyes again, her shining irises now looking straight back into the twins' eyes. Because of this, the twins had her full attention at last.
"Children, please…" she cooed softly and sincerely, "There really is no need to be so worried. I'm certain all my friends back in the village would adore having you both as guests in our home…"
The twins stared agape at Rosemary, surprised of how well she was taking all of this. However, they were about to say something when Rosemary kindly cut them off.
"Now, before you two say anything," began Rosemary, "I understand about the whole aspect of humans being disrespectful towards Earth, and trust me, I do find it upsetting. We used to lose many members of my clan back then due to certain humans being ignorant and careless with their actions, either that or they'd wind up injured or lost whenever they'd leave camp."
She paused upon seeing how guilty and sad Mabel and Dipper looked right now, despite of the calming odor clearing their minds, so she simply rubbed their fingers tenderly, her kind smile never leaving her face.
"But, please, you two...don't think I'm blaming you two for any of this, nor that me and my friends have some sort of grudge against your kind…" assured Rosemary before tensions and emotions could go out of control, "Sometimes, we faeries can get a little bit too curious for our good. Besides, I'm sure at least some of those occurrences were accidental…"
Rosemary then let go of each of the twins' hands and flapped up right towards their faces. She placed her right hand on Mabel's left cheek and her left hand on Dipper's right cheek, her eyes still looking into her human friends' own.
"All I'm saying," Rosemary finished genuinely, "is that you two are more than welcome to visit our home…okay?"
By now, the mind-calming aroma had finally evaporated away and the twins slowly felt their worries temporarily slip away. They had both finally managed to take Rosemary's words to heart, and although they kept switching back from being excited to feeling nervous during the span of this entire journey, Mabel and Dipper did genuinely hope to find the faerie village, and now, they were both able to fully enter the village and learn about the faerie's culture at the same time!
However, even with the twins completely on-board with the idea once more, something crossed Dipper's mind, something he knew he must address to Rosemary. "Uh...Rosemary?" he asked softly.
Rosemary looked towards Dipper. "Yes, Dipper?" she asked. Dipper coughed awkwardly, hoping what he said wouldn't rub her off the wrong way.
"I mean...not to sound rude, but I still don't get how you can be so trusting over having two humans that you've just met into your home…" Dipper admitted with a soft tone. However, instead of being offended, Rosemary seemed more thoughtful than anything. She pondered and scratched her chin before looking back to the boy with a knowing smile.
"Well...let's say that this visit can act as a social experiment to see how faeries and human can commingle face-to-face then. Perhaps we can learn more about human culture just as we teach you two about faerie culture." she mused thoughtfully, giving the twins a wink.
The twins, admittedly, hadn't thought of it like that before, but still, regardless of their worries, they still trusted Rosemary and they figured to at least give it a shot.
'Well, when in Rome…' thought Dipper with a tiny shrug. He then flashed Rosemary a small smile and gave her an agreeing nod. "Okay, Rosemary...I fully trust you…"
Mabel smiled widely, her braces twinkling in the tunnel's reflective light. "Me too!" she added happily. Rosemary beamed brighter than ever, her excitement still flowing through her veins.
"Well then, let's not waste any time then!" she rallied cheerfully. And with that, the trio then bolted down through the tunnel, aimed straight for Rosemary's home with bright smiles on their faces. As they neared the tunnel's exit, a worrying thought suddenly sprang into Rosemary's mind.
Although she was confident that 99% of her clan would be perfectly fine with having these two humans visit their home for a while, there was that measly, little 1% that wouldn't be too on-board with that idea. For the first time since she met the Pines twins, Rosemary felt her smile drop slightly, thinking about that one faerie who would be quite adamant throughout this certain event.
'I just hope he isn't too upset upon seeing humans visit our home, though…' Rosemary thought nervously to herself. Even if she and her other faerie friends were known to be quite hospitable, she knew there was one certain faerie amongst them that wouldn't be too keen on having humans in a faerie village, even if said humans were harmless children.
And perchance if something did go awry with the humans, such as if they caused an accident in their home in some way, Rosemary knew he'd be willing to blame them or call them monsters once everything was said and done.
But still, she decided to give that thought the benefit of the doubt as she slowly forced back a smile, as not to worry her new human guests as the three friends finally exited the tunnel of pure vegetation and were all steadily jogged closer to where the fabled and concealed faerie village was located.
FIVE MINUTES LATER...
After having travelled a few more kilometers through more dense forestry, Rosemary, Dipper, and Mabel had finally reached their destination, and the twins couldn't have believed their eyes and the sight of it all. The bright-eyed faerie fluttered lightly down the lane, her wings buzzing with excited delight as the group drawing closer towards the humble village. They had soon came across the entrance to the village, which was basically two tall trees at the end of the dirt path, their branches producing, thick, low-hanging vines that were long enough to touch the ground, helping to securely shield the village from the outside world.
Rosemary and the twins carefully brushed past through the wall of thick vines before they had all finally succeeded in actually entering into the faeries' domain, to which when they did as such, the Pines twins could only gasp in absolute surprise, their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates upon seeing the beauty that was before them.
The trees surrounding them were just as tall and grand as the rest of the forest, but what was really striking about the trees were their colors. The leaves on each tree around them had their own brilliant and vibrant shade of color; red, yellow, orange, and green on some trees, and they were even some trees that had colored leaves that one wouldn't expect a tree would have, like magenta, lavender, or purple! Constructed around the lower bases of said trees had homemade, round-shaped houses for the faeries, all built out of strong wood. The homes wrapped around the trunks of the trees like snakes coiling around a tree branch, all securely fastened to the trees without any straining. They almost looked like miniature tree houses!
Vast garden beds of fresh-smelling and brightly-colored flowers were seen flourishing around on the ground, along with a freshwater stream that flowed through on the northeast section of the village. The stream also housed a makeshift water wheel that helped supply clean, refreshing water into the faeries through a wood-built aqueduct system that ran into each of the faeries' houses.
The view was so beautiful that Mabel and Dipper almost didn't notice the main attraction of the village: the faeries themselves!
Dozens of small, human-like faeries that were about as tall as a human's hand were seen flying peacefully all around their humble camp, all either busily doing regular chores, such as fetching water from the streams or planting seeds of food and flowers in the numerous gardens or they were busy relaxing, tending to any small animals nearby (mainly being birds, squirrels, and rabbits), or were simply merrily chatting with each other. They were all too busy to notice the arrival of Rosemary and her two new human friends at the moment.
Sunlight beamed down through any openings that the trees were able to create, its healthy glow reflecting across the faeries' sparkling and pastel-colored complexions. The sun also seemed to make their colorful auras seem to shine brighter. Dipper and Mabel stood there stunned in awe for another few silent seconds, prompting a giddy giggle from Rosemary.
"Goodness, me…" she tittered in amusement, "you two sure love to gawk at nature a lot lately...you both look as if you both never been to a faerie village before!"
"Th-That's because we never have…" gasped Dipper, finally able to find his voice again. Even the talkative Mabel was too beside her to speak up. Rosemary chuckled sweetly to her friends.
"Oh, you humans truly are something!" she mused good-heartedly, stowing away her bag of pollen to the side. She then spotted a large, tall tree with a thick trunk and pink-colored leaves close by, an idea now forming in her head.
"You two hide behind that tree over there," she instructed excitedly with a big smile, "I'll introduce you both to the others as a surprise! Just come when I call out for you!" The twins smiled and nodded back. Without question, they then quickly ducked behind the tree, now concealed away from any wandering eyes from the faerie villagers.
Rosemary giggled happily and flew closer to the village, whistling loudly to garner everyone's attention. "Hello, everyone! I'm home!" she sang out.
Upon hearing Rosemary's call, some of the faeries buzzing about suddenly noticed the arrival of their friend. Two faeries in particular, that were just passing through the water wheel, had especially caught Rosemary's attention.
One of the faeries was a teenage-looking male. He had blonde hair styled in a Jewfro hairstyle, with matching green eyes, a goldenrod-colored skin tone, and he wore a bright yellow tunic, with the collar made up of small, puffy, round, and yellow flowers. The other faerie next to him was a female, whom had fluffy, voluminous, dark green hair tied down with a blue headband. She also had minty green skin, dark brown eyes, and she wore a long dress made up of lavender leaves that reached down to her shoeless feet. Her facial expressions also seemed to showcase her calming personality as well, complete with half-lidded eyes and a nonplussed smile.
The two faeries had just finished gathered twigs and sticks to be used to fix part of the village's aqueduct until they both gasped in delight upon seeing Rosemary from far away.
"Sage, look!" ushered the male, blonde-haired faerie excitedly in a light, Australian accent, "Rosemary's home!"
"Righteous!" chimed his green-haired comrade, a peaceful smile gracing her lips, "Come on, Wattle, let's go see her!"
The faerie duo then dropped their sticks on the ground and joyously flew off to greet their friend. Other faeries close by had also been aware of Rosemary's arrival and they too followed Sage and Wattle to say "hello" to their returning friend. None of them had happen to see the Pines twins hiding away, thankfully.
Rosemary was soon unexpectedly met with a chorus of greetings and cheers as a group of her fellow faerie friends had joined her to welcome her back home. She then found herself in the midst of being caught in a group hug by the other faeries, with about all of them greeting her and asking how her afternoon was. And instead of looking overwhelmed or annoyed, Rosemary simply laughed and smiled happily, wholly content with being reunited by her close-knit friends once again.
Dipper and Mabel still hiding behind the tree, stayed respectfully silent and watched the scene before them. Mabel giggled in amusement. "Aw, friendly lil' bunch, aren't they?" she commented quietly, eliciting a chuckle and a nod from Dipper.
"They also seem to be quite productive too." he added impressively, "I mean, look at their village here! Their homes, their infrastructure. Everything here looks rustic and well-crafted!"
Mabel giggled. "I know," she agreed, "It looks like something out of that cartoon we used to watch when we were young. Y'know, the one with the blue gnomes with the little, white hats?"
As the twins chatted between themselves from afar, the faeries then finally released their massive hug towards Rosemary, with Sage piping up first amongst the group.
"Everything go okay, Rosemary?" Sage asked with a small grin, "You seemed to be, like, gone for a long while…"
"Yeah, mate, you've had us all worried for a bit!" added Wattle. Rosemary giggled in her hand.
"I said that I was only going to be out for about an hour." she reminded playfully, "I had to make sure I gathered enough pollen to use as food for us." Then, she casted the crowding group of faeries an apologetic look.
"Besides," she admitted, rubbing her arm in embarrassment, "I also managed to bring along a couple of new friends…" The faerie crowd gave Rosemary and then each other puzzled looks, and unsure of what she meant by until Wattle spoke up.
"'New friends'? Rose, ya silly sheila, what do ya mean by that?" he chortled curiously. Rosemary cleared her throat and let out a sigh to ease her nerves. This was now or never…
With the cat out of the bag, Rosemary turned towards the pink-leaved tree and whistled loudly to gain the twin's attention. "Okay, you two, come on out now!"
From the perspective of the other faeries, they were half-expecting their new guests to be another group of faeries or maybe even an animal or another mysterious creature of sorts. What they weren't expecting however was the appearance of a pair of giant, humanoid-like beings clomping towards them like angry orges.
Some faeries gasped in shock, others let out surprised yelps, few began chatting and whispering to others in the crowd. And yet, none of them even thought about fleeing or screaming in utter terror. This didn't go unnoticed by the twins, and naturally, the one who was beginning to be the most nervous during all this was Dipper. The silent, shocked expressions seen upon each of the faeries' faces were enough to confirm Dipper's fears.
'Yeah...this is gonna end well…' he thought sarcastically and he and Mabel carefully joined up with the group, the height of the faeries only slightly coming up to their feet.
Amongst the crowd, Wattle, now seeing who she was referring to, spotted the two and suddenly let out a surprised yelp at the size of them. He found himself stumbling back on his behind, his wings having spotted fluttering in surprise. Sage, meanwhile, felt her eyes bug out in stunned silence, which was a rare occurrence for someone as permanently calm and half-baked as her. All she could manage to utter was an amazed and shocked "Woah…" under her breath.
The rest of the faerie clan had also finally succeeded in finding out about their newest visitors, and judging by the size of these visitors, they had all managed to go completely shell-shocked and silent altogether. The reaction made Dipper and Mabel quite nervous and the amount of silence carried across the crowd wasn't helping much.
Wattle flew back up in the air after his fall and breathed out in awe. "Crikey..." he whistled, "those are some giant-looking faeries!"
Rosemary rubbed the back of her head in awkwardness, a faint blush appearing on her already-rosy face. "That's because they're not faeries, Wattle…" she admitted lamely, "These two are actually humans…"
At the very mention of that word, Wattle felt his wings freeze once again, but thankfully, Sage quickly flew up and supported him by grabbing him by his armpits, ensuring that he'd stay on his feet this time. Wattle shook his dizzy head in amazement. The rest of the faeries chattered to each other upon seeing the pair of humans before them, most of their expressions ranging from awe, intrigue, and surprise.
"Humans have found our village?" asked one faerie.
"Do you think they're nice?" wondered another one.
"They certainly seem harmless." commented another.
"They look so big...even as children!"
"They both look kinda nervous...are we intimidating them?"
The huddled crowd of faeries all whispering to one another seemed to make the twins a bit on-edge again, hoping that their presence wasn't causing any trouble or fear. The faeries didn't seem to look fearful in any way, but it still didn't help that much. Dipper leaned in closer to the red-headed faerie.
"A-Are they okay?" he whispered nervously at Rosemary.
"Are we scaring them?" asked Mabel softly. Rosemary simply smiled back in reassurance.
"Oh, they'll be fine, dears," she soothed, "It's not exactly often we have humans show up in our village, you know…" She then flew up closer to the crowding group of awestruck faeries and cleared her throat, garnering their attention towards her.
"Everyone!" she announced, trying to soothe down the surprised crowd, "I understand you all are shocked upon this reveal, but trust me, you all have nothing to worry about! These humans were hoping to find a faerie village all day today!."
The other faeries chattered between themselves yet again, unsure on how to process all of this at the moment. Luckily, Rosemary anticipated their uncertainty and gave them all an assuring grin. "I know it's shocking to see humans visit our village, seeing as how we've been tucked away for many years, but everything is fine! These humans are very nice and they promised me that don't intend to cause any harm to us or to our home."
That snippet of reassurance did manage to elicit some relief to the faeries, their uncertainty slowly morphing into pure delight and curiosity. Rosemary beamed happily and soared back between the Pines twin, figuring that it's time for a more proper introduction.
"This here is Dipper Pines," she presented to the slightly-nervous boy, "And this is Mabel Pines." she finished, gesturing towards the plucky, brace-faced girl, "They both were hoping to learn more about us and our culture so that they can document it in their Grunkle's journal!"
The faeries seemed to be quite interested in that idea as they conversed excitedly with one another once again, this time in a more positive manner. However, one faerie hidden in the crowd looked more puzzled than willing. He raised his hand up, gaining Rosemary's attention.
"Oh, yes, you have something to say?" Rosemary asked politely. The faerie in question brought his hand down and coughed in response.
"Uh...what's a 'Grunkle'?" the faerie asked in confusion. Some other faeries soon murmured in agreement, unsure of this odd term. Rosemary coughed and blushed in embarrassment.
"I, uh...will explain that later…" she answered awkwardly with a slanted smile, "But for now, I hope you all will treat our new guests here with as much kindness and respect as we already show towards each other!"
Rosemary then turned around to face the quiet twins, giving them both an encouraging look. "Well?" she whispered playfully, "No need to be scared, just say 'hi'!"
The two siblings stood at attention, a bit anxious to have so many little faerie eyes staring up at them all at once, but they still kept a friendly expression upon their faces either way. Mabel was first to greet herself with a joyful wave of her hand.
"Hiya, everyone!" she exclaimed in her usual Mabel fashion, "Mabel's the name and being fun is my game!" She then pulled Dipper close to her in a side hug, all while giving the faeries a toothy, brace-covered smile.
"And this is my all-favorite brother in the world, Dipper!" she introduced happily, "We're both twins!" Dipper chuckled weakly and timidly. He gave the faerie clan a tiny, shy wave.
"Uh...hello!" squeaked Dipper from within Mabel's loving grasp. In no time at all, the other faeries soon greeted the twins right back with a chorus of kind-hearted and friendly "hello's" and "how are you's?". Clearly, they all looked sincerely happy to have the twins amongst their family after all.
Sage and Wattle, in particular, both looked rather intrigued, still beside themselves in awe upon the sight of these friendly-looking humans.
"Bonza!" Wattle gasped impressively to Sage, "I'd never thought I'd see a real human before in my life, let only two of 'em in our home!"
"Neither would I, man…" breathed Sage, still in awe. Rosemary chuckled softly from the sidelines, now flying up closer to the group once again.
"Now then," she began, "does anyone have any questions they'd like to ask our-?"
Soon enough, before Rosemary could finish, the Pines siblings immediately found themselves quickly bombarded with a sea of questions that the other faeries began prattling off in excitement. They all buzzed around the human duo like bees in a beehive, jabbering and greeting them with curiously.
"What kinds of materials do you use for your clothes?"
"Do humans live in trees like us?"
"Do all humans have a twin like you two?"
"What do humans eat exactly?"
"Are other humans just as adorable as you both are?"
The twins, unable to answer the oncoming slew of questions all at once, could only gawk in surprise by the faerie's sudden enthusiasm, seeing as not even five minutes ago, they all looked beside themselves with utter mystification. The crowd were so attracted and preoccupied with the Pines twins. So much so that they hadn't even counted upon another member of their clan returning home through the eastern side of the village.
Although, judging by the sudden look of shock spread across this one faerie's face upon seeing a pair of genuine humans within his own home, one could tell that this could only spell trouble...
The torrent of questions continued, leaving two awkward and stuttering humans in their wake, both unsure of what to say. Rosemary laughed good-naturedly at their staggered expressions, she almost forgot that her friends could tend to be way too curious sometimes.
Before the twins could feel anymore overwhelmed, she cleared her throat and tried to bring the commotion to a gentle halt. "Everyone, please, settle down now!" she called out politely, "You'll all have your questions answered soon enough!"
Thankfully, Rosemary brought the crowd under control, with the faeries now reeling back their boundless curiosity, despite how awestruck and filled with excitement they all were. Once again, Rosemary rallied the faeries together, now coming up with another way to get things going between the faeries and the humans.
"Okay, so maybe we can try a bit of one-on-one introductions instead. We can tell Dipper and Mabel here about our roles here in the village before we show them around." suggested Rosemary. Everyone seemed to agree with this idea wholeheartedly, but however, before they could form another enthusiastic riot again, two certain voices wailed out from the crowd.
"Oi, Rose, we wanna go first!"
"Yeah, pick us! We wanna meet these groovy dudes first!"
Rosemary giggled and shook her head, knowing those pair of excited voices anywhere. "Okay, Wattle, Sage, you two can start things off!"
Sage and Wattle whooped and laughed merrily, with some other faeries groaning sadly for not being first. The yellow and green-themed faerie duo waded through the large crowd and flew right up to Dipper and Mabel's faces, smiling warmly all the way and ready to introduce themselves..
"G'Day, ya two!" Wattle started off. "The name's Wattle, and this here is Sage!" He gestured towards his green-colored ally, who simply shot the twins a friendly peace-sign with her right hand.
"Salutations, children!" greeted Sage peacefully, "Lovely to have you two in our home!" Mabel giggled girlishly.
"Well, it's lovely to see you two!" Mabel chortled back. Wattle then noticed how quiet Dipper seemed to be, and without warning, he quickly grabbed him by his index finger, in hopes to do a sort of handshake (given how tiny his own hands were). Dipper was completely off-guard and gasped.
"C'mon, ya big ol' bloke!" smiled Wattle zealously, "No need to be shy! Put 'er there, mate!"
And then, nothing knowing his own strength, Wattle's impromptu handshake wound up causing poor Dipper to jostle uncomfortably about in the place. Dipper wailed and stammered as Wattle kept shaking his finger about for a little while. Everyone in the group laughed good-heartedly at the scene, including Mabel and Rosemary. Luckily, before Dipper could wind up feeling more shaken up, Sage stepped in to ease Wattle down.
"Like, slow your roll, dude…" chuckled Sage, gently holding down Wattle's arm, "We don't wanna startle this poor fella!" Wattle, realizing what his over-excitement was causing, chuckled nervously and ceased the handshake altogether.
"Oops! Sorry 'bout that, mate! Got a little carried away there!" apologized Wattle with a small blush. Dipper rubbed his slightly sore finger, but still smiled kindly back, his motion sickness easing up.
"It's okay!" replied Dipper, "I kinda forgot that faeries are stronger than they seem…"
Sage smiled. "Well, we kinda have to be to build a village like this. It took us, like, months to craft all these homes and such for the time being…"
"I'm not surprised!" Mabel commented with a grin, "Everything here looks so beautiful!" Sage blushed and giggled at that compliment.
"Well, thanks, dear!" Sage replied modestly, "It really is such a groovy home! And with all these flowers blooming and with so many animals passing by in our village, it truly is paradise!" Wattle chuckled at his friend's swooning.
"Yep, if there's one thing ya need to know about Sage," he commented to Dipper and Mabel, "is that she'll jabber on about nature for days and days. She always tends to the gardens and local animals here every day."
"Indeed," added Rosemary, now rejoining the group again, "Each of us here play a special role in our village to keep things running nicely. Sage handles with the garden work, we have others that tend to the animals and to fix or build our homes and buildings. Even Wattle here helps out with cooking our meals!" The twins grew quite interested with that last statement.
"Ooh, you do cooking, Wattle?" Mabel gasped in awe. Wattle smiled broadly and nodded.
"Right-o!" he confirmed, "We use bits of foodstuffs like fruit, veggies, pollen, flowers, and even tree sap to make our viddles here at home, and yours truly can make a real banger of a meal, if I do say so myself!" Dipper whistled impressively.
"Do you now?" he mused with intrigue. Wattle hummed confidently.
"I do!" he repeated assuredly, "I can prove it by making you humans a welcoming lunch if ya both would like, free of charge?" The twins were surprised and delighted by Wattle's generous offer.
"That's sound great!" chirped Mabel brightly, "All me and Dipper had to pack for food was just some trail mix…" Even Dipper was interested with this kindly proposal.
"That's actually sound quite good…" he agreed, although a smidge of guilt began to show through him once more, "...th-that is if we aren't forcing you to do it, or if it's not too much work!" Wattle smiled widely and waved off Dipper's concern.
"Ain't nothing to it, chum!" he assured, "And besides, you both are our guests and our new friends, so it's no trouble at all!" Suddenly, he remembered something that made him quite giddy. "Ooh, I got a great recipe to serve to you both later, it's gonna be a ripper, for sure!"
Sage chuckled in her hand, knowing how passionate Wattle was with his love for cooking. "Well, before we can do that, let's just have our new friends here get more acquainted with the rest here. I wanna to speak with Rosemary for a sec, if that's cool with her?" suggested Sage. Rosemary raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless.
"Of course!" she agreed, she turned her head back to the twins. "Dipper, Mabel, I'll be right back! Just make yourselves at home! Wattle too had settled down his chattering and smiled, opting to join the two female faeries as well.
"Alrighty!" He, Rosemary, and Sage then turned towards the twins, waving them goodbye as they flew off and away from the crowd. "See ya in a bit, mates!"
The twins waved them goodbye in return. "Bye, guys!" they called out happily. However, just as that happened, it wasn't long until the twins soon wound up getting hounded by the faerie crowd once more, blitzed with more questions and introductions left and right as they swooped all around the twins like angry flies.
As this was happening, Rosemary, Wattle, and Sage were fluttering away from the group, far enough to have themselves a private conversation, but not enough to stray too far from the rest of the clan.
"Well, Rose, ya certainly made a great catch finding these two fellas today!" chirped Wattle. Sage nodded calmly, her smile growing softly.
"Indeed..." she mused in agreement, "I'm really getting some positive vibes from these two..."
Her smile began to waver a bit as a thought crossed her mind, making her think about what she wanted to ask Rosemary about. "...although, my aura is sensing that the human boy seems to be quite troubled and shy...is he always like this?" she asked worryingly. Rosemary smiled softly in understanding.
"Sometimes, according to what his sister told me. Dipper usually tends to be a bit of a worrier, but his heart really is in a good place, trust me!" Rosemary replied with genuine affection, "I suppose he's worried about us faeries trying to co-exist with humans as a means to form a bond between us..."
Wattle sighed, feeling his smile droop down a bit. "Well, to be fair, I can't exactly blame the poor bloke after all..."
Rosemary raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Wattle?" she asked. Wattle grimaced awkwardly.
"Well, eh, not to contradict ya and all, but just so you know, they both haven't come across him just yet…" Wattle admitted awkwardly. Fully understanding where he was going with this, Rosemary winced and groaned softly. Of course, she had to be reminded of him again...
"Wattle's right, man…" agreed Sage softly, "We don't want him to scare off these dudes, they just got here…" Rosemary gulped. Somehow she knew she'd be found out sooner or later, but regardless, she stayed purely optimistic.
"Well...you see, I was hoping that this would be an opportunity for us faeries to try and get to know a human better, is all!" Rosemary explained truthfully, "Just to prove that there are humans out there that wouldn't accidently cause harm to any humans!"
She gently placed a hand on Wattle and Sage's respective shoulders, looking straight into their eyes with genuine sadness. "You both believe me on this, right?" she asked upsettingly. Sage gently slipped Rosemary's hand off her shoulder and grabbed it with both her own hands tenderly.
"Of course we do!" Sage replied sincerely, "Trust me, girl, we're both happy to have these two in our home!"
Wattle smiled softly in return, patting Rosemary's arm reassuringly. "We both can feel their auras, and we know they mean no harm…" he said, "We're just worried that-"
"What in the name of God's green Earth is going on here!?"
The faerie trio froze in place at the sudden, brash sound of another voice joining the group. Wattle gulped and trembled in fear.
"...that he may come by to put an end to all of this…" Wattle finished off feebly.
The loud exclamation certainly didn't go unnoticed by Dipper, Mabel, and the rest of the faerie crowd. The crowd suddenly ceased their clamoring and all fluttered down on the ground at attention, all immediately quiet and writhing with slight fear. The twins looked down at the faeries, then back at each other. Their faces wrinkled with upmost confusion and concern.
The crowd of faeries then silently and respectfully parted ways to create a path, akin to Moses parting the Red Sea. Then, after a few quiet seconds, popping out from the crowd to head through the path came another faerie, a male one to be precise.
While the other faeries looked all dainty and cheerful in appearance, this faerie was a completely different story! He was quite muscular on terms of his body-type, sporting a pair of well-pronounced triceps and a wide, rock-solid torso. He also appeared to be the tallest of the bunch (by about 9 and a half inches, compared to a standard faerie's height being around 7 inches at best). His other distinct feature was the chiseled face he was sporting, his expression looking quite stony and stern.
From the looks of this particular faerie, he looked like he could break a man's hand without even trying!
He had also maize-hued skin, striking steel gray eyes, short and scruffy chocolate brown hair (with matching chin stubble), and he wore an olive green Greek tunic with matching brown wool pants. And unlike the rest of his shoeless allies, this faerie actually bothered to wear footwear, in the form of tan Chalcolithic leather shoes.
The faeries remained hushed and filled with anticipation as the muscular faerie buzzed importantly towards Rosemary and the suddenly uneasy twins. They both didn't like the looks of this cross-looking creature at all, and somehow, they knew this may only spell trouble. The twins even managed to spot something strapped to the back of this hulking faerie.
It turned out to be an old-fashioned quiver, used to store bow and arrows for archers, and as it turned out, his sling also contained a bow and a few arrows inside. Mabel and Dipper gulped in unison. They both knew right away that this faerie meant business. Rosemary certainly noticed her human friends' discomfort and could only sigh shakily, her positivity slowly beginning to diminish.
"...Oh, sweet mother of Mother Nature…" she lamented in an hushed whisper.
As expected, the day earlier had been full of promise and fun, and by now, it was now certainly going to take a turn for the worst...
TO BE CONTINUED…
And that was Chapter Two, my dudes and dudettes! Sorry for the bit of delay, I've managed to land a cleaner's job at my city's casino and I felt that that was top priority at the moment, plus I wanted to fine-tune this chapter to make sure it turned out at least decent. Anyhow, let's cap off this chapter with a buttload of facts regarding the faeries and their home in this part of the story!
-The inspiration for the faeries of Gravity Falls was pretty basic, if I could say that. Design-wise, the faeries are humanoids with pastel-colored skins and hair-colors, all pretty-faced and big-eyed, wearing clothes designed from leaves, flower petals, etc., though I took some liberties and made the faeries' apparel here to give them a more Greek-Ancient Rome feel to them. Name-wise, I simply gave them all names based upon flowers, trees, spices, and such to make them more earthy, with color schemes to match their respective plant name.
-On terms of personalities, the faeries, in some way, are essentially tiny, humanoid Care Bears; all forgiving and kind-hearted, without a single bad bone in their bodies. Two of the new faeries introduced this chapter are basically described as the following: Wattle is an excitable, but friendly go-getter, with a name shared from the national flower of Australia, the Golden Wattle (hence his accent), and Sage is a hippie-ish faerie with a permanently-calming smile and a positive outlook on life, much like how the sage herb can be used to clear negative energy when burned.
-In addition, Rosemary's ability to ease troubled minds with a fresh-smelling scent is inspired upon how actual rosemary is used for aromatherapy.
-For conveying the scenery of the forest, I used real-life examples on how everything should exactly look. The 'green tunnel' made up of branches and leaves that Rosemary and the twins went through is based upon a landmark known as "The Tunnel of Love", which in reality is a railway tunnel in the Ukraine that extends for about 3 to 5 miles. The forest home that the faeries live in is inspired by the Ogden Forest in Utah, specifically during autumn when the leaves on the trees turn into vibrant and bright colors. For the village itself, I wanted to give it a sort-of Smurf-like inspiration to it (hence the not-so subtle reference Mabel dropped in the story), with wood-crafted and hand-made contraptions. Their houses themselves are also inspired by those treehouse-like buildings that Chewbacca's family lived in from the wildly-infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. (I suggest Googling these so you'd these landmarks so you'd get a feel on what they look like irl).
...I'm so sorry for making you all read these boring tidbits, I just wanted to make things a bit clearer… :(
So, with all that out of the way, I'm hoping to stretch this story out for three or maybe four more chapters, so I'll try and keep working on this story (along with a couple of others currently on the backburner) going along in spite of my new job. But still, I hope you all are enjoying the story nonetheless and I'll try and get Chapter Three up in a couple of weeks, so I apologize again for any upcoming delays.
Thanks again for reading and expect more faeries to be introduced in the next chapter! :)
~Thunderbyrd