"Alright, I think we're close to one of the ingredients."
Bigby had his nose in the ancient looking spell book, reading the entry for the magic he wanted. He was figuring out where the location of the ingredients are, while he sat in the passenger side of Soos' truck. The two had been driving for an hour, as they passed through the Oregon landscape.
"Now, it says here that we-"
Bigby was cut off by the sudden sound of music blaring in the truck. With a pained cry, Bigby covered his ears, absolutely hating the music. Soos was in the driver's seat, dancing along to the loud techno music.
"Soos!" The fable yelled, but was droned out by the music.
"Doot, doot, doot, doot," Soos sang, going along with the beats of the techno music, completely unaware of the wolf's suffering.
"Dammit Soos!" Bigby screamed, before he pressed the 'off' button on the radio, turning off the music. Soos looked over at the fable.
"Oh, sorry dude, I didn't know I was bugging you," the handyman apologized.
Bigby sighed. "It's fine, I'm just not a techno guy," he told the man child. "Now, about the ingredient, I think it's some kind of root, and-"
"Wait Biggs, I think I got something you'll like!" Soos exclaimed, as he dug out a CD from in between the seats. He then threw it into the slot on the radio, as some rap music started to play.
"Am I Blanchin', girl we Blanchin, I live up in a mansion," Soos started singing again, as Bigby started hitting his head against the book in frustration.
Soos looked over at the werewolf, before smiling. "Don't worry dude, it's real catchy. You'll love it eventually."
"I really doubt that," Bigby grumbled, hoping that their first stop comes as fast as possible.
Dipper and Mabel, after a couple minutes of walking, reached the large, colorful tent that was in the center of town. Crowds of people were walking in, as circus music blared loudly through the air.
Dipper's skin crawled at the sight. He really hates circuses. "Uh, Mabel, maybe we could just watch that one movie you like. That, uh, 'Dream Boy High' or whatever?"
"Oh come on Dipper, you can't still be scared of the circus. It's been five years now!" Mabel argued, excited to go to the festive show.
Dipper gulped, remembering the incident. When they were seven, the twins had gone with their parents to a circus. Dipper had loved it, with the lion tamers and magicians.
But then out came the clowns. The young children were in the front row, and the clowns targeted them for their jokes. Dipper was already a little freaked out, but the clowns grabbed the boy, and forced him into their tiny clown car.
On the inside, were several clowns, all smashed together, staring at the boy with wide, creepy smiles. It scarred the boy into the tears, and Dipper has hated clowns ever since.
Mabel squinted her eyes at her brother, seeing how deep in thought he was. "Earth to Dipper, come in Dipper. Have the aliens dissected you?"
Dipper shook his head. "What?"
"Because if they didn't dissect you, then there's no reason why you should ignore your sister. Now come on! We're going to be late!" Mabel told him, grabbing the paranormal investigator's arm and dragging him towards the tent.
The two made their way inside, to see stands filled with excited people, all watching the wide open space if the center of the tent. In that space, elephants, lions, and bears were wandering about, handled with care by people in black coats and extravagant top hats.
One of the men made a bear stand on it's hind legs, before throwing a group of bowling pins at the large animal. The bear grabbed the pins with his claws, before juggling them with reckless abandon, earning loud cheers from the crowd.
The Pines twins made their way into the stands, taking a seat at an empty space. Mabel stared excitedly at the show, as Dipper nervously looked around at the inside of the tent.
The sound of a bike horn honked loudly, as a large clown, with a trio of smaller clowns on his shoulders, and with an even smaller one at the top, rode in on a big wheel bicycle. The bike stopped with a squeak, as the four top clowns flipped off the large, frowning one.
The four landed on one knee, their arms all stretched out, presenting themselves as the crowd cheers. One by one, they jumped to their feet, as they dusted off their brightly colored overalls. Dipper noticed how they were organized from tallest to smallest, as the tallest of the four cleared his throat.
The crowd went silent, as the tall clown put his hand to his nose, and gave it a squeak. The second tallest then squeaked his red nose, then the third tallest followed suit, followed by the smallest. They then all squeaked their noses rhythmically, as they played some kind of joyful song.
The crowd cheered loudly, as laughter erupted from them. Dipper looked around, not quite sure what was funny about the song, and more than a little nervous. Mabel was giggling with glee as well, obviously entertained by the sight.
The clowns then quickly left, flipping away, as a series of spotlights lit up in the center of the area. A man in a long black coat, with a thin mustache and ridiculously tall hat, held a microphone in his hand, a smile on his face.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The man greeted, to the roar of the crowd. "Good people of Gravity Falls! Welcome to Cirque de la Folie! I am your ringmaster, Valador! And now, we present, the trapeze act!"
He pointed upwards, as the spotlights were raised to a wire, high in the air. On top of the wire was a young boy, 12, who was balancing on the wire with one finger.
Mabel had her mouth open in awe at the boy, and was drooling slightly. "Hotness alert!" She said. "Code red! Code red!"
The boy then bounced off his finger, landing on the rope with his feet. He did a backflip off the wire, grabbing it with the tips of his fingers and swinging around as the crowd gasped in amazement.
Suddenly, an elephant walked up to the wire, and extended it's trunk out straight at the boy. The boy then let go of the wire, before sliding down the trunk, and bouncing off the elephant, gracefully landing on the ground. The crowd loudly applauded, as the boy took a bow.
"Ferdinand the Magnificent, everyone!" The Ringmaster exclaimed, as the crowd gave the boy love for his acrobatic feats. Dipper sighed, feeling that this was going to take a while.
Bigby's eye was twitching nervously, as Soos and 'Straight Blanchin' had been belting out some terrible tunes for the last twenty minutes.
"Must...resist...urge to kill..." Bigby muttered to himself, as Soos kept going. Finally, the pickup truck arrived at the first destination, making Bigby unclick his seat belt. "We're here!" He told Soos, as the car stopped, and the fable quickly jumped out of the car.
The two had arrived at a dense forest, as Bigby soaked in the fresh air, and the sound of birds chirping. "Ah...much better than rap..." Bigby said, as he scanned the area. Soos quickly joined him.
"So, what is it we're looking for?" The handyman asked.
"Something called the Palasian root," the sheriff explained. "Apparently, it's really white, and really rare."
The two started walking through the trees, looking around for the root.
"Now, this could take some time," Bigby stated. "It could take a few hours, hell, we could be here all night, and-"
"Do you smell cotton candy?" Soos asked. Bigby looked at his friend in confusion, before taking a few sniffs himself. He did smell something sweet.
"How did you-?" Bigby questioned, but Soos was off, tracking down the source of the smell. After some rustling through the plant life, Soos bent over, picking something up.
"Is this it?" Soos asked, holding up a white root.
Bigby was dumbfounded. "Yes, actually," he said, in slight shock at how fast the man child had actually found it.
"Cool," Soos simply stated, as he made his way back to the truck. Trying to get over the fact that Soos seemed to be an expert tracker, Bigby slowly followed behind him.
The two got back in the truck, and Soos handed the wolf the root. "Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought," Bigby said.
Soos then turned on the engine to the car, making his favorite song come back on the speakers, making Bigby howl in aggravation as Soos sang along.
"I hate my life!" Bigby yelled, as the two went on to their next destination.
"Mabel, please, can't we just go already?"
Mabel had forced her brother to come with her backstage after the show was over, eager to get a glimpse of the performers that she had watched. Especially one in particular.
"But I haven't seen Ferdinand yet!" She whined. "And I need to talk to him!"
"Why?" Dipper asked.
"Because talking leads to dates, and dates leads to a wedding, and weddings lead to Waddles being dressed in a little minister outfit."
"Mabel-"
Dipper had lost her. "And Grenda and Candy can be my maids of honor, and you could be the best man, and Soos can be the DJ, and Grunkle Stan could walk me down the aisle, and Bigby could be head of security, and-"
"Mabel!" Dipper interrupted, making her snap back to reality. "Just...try not to freak him out or anything. The last thing I want is a bunch of carnies mad at us."
"Pssh, you worry too much bro," Mabel said, before her eyes landed on her target. Ferdinand, drinking a bottle of water, and stretched out while doing the splits. "Ahh!" She squealed in delight, as she quickly made her way towards the performer.
Mabel jumped right in front of the flexible boy on the ground, making the boy fall back in surprise. "Hi!" Mabel excitedly greeted.
"Oh, hello madam," Ferdinand welcomed, as he got to his feet.
"I'm Mabel!" She smiled, as she held her hand out.
"I'm Ferdinand," the boy responded, grabbing the girl's hand, gently. "Mabel, you say? Such a lovely name for such a lovely girl." He then brought the hand to his lips, and kissed them.
"Oh! Well, uh, dreamy, heh..." Mabel sputtered, her cheeks turning bright red.
Dipper cleared his throat, joining the two and sticking his hand out. "Hi, I'm Dipper, Mabel's brother."
Ferdinand just looked at the hand, before turning his attention back to Mabel. "So, did you enjoy the show?" He asked the girl, as Dipper started to rub the back of his neck with his outstretched hand.
"It was amazing!" Mabel told him. "I was like 'whoa!' And then when you did that flip, I was like 'oooh!' It was great!"
The acrobat chuckled, amused. "You really have a bright personality Mabel. Have you ever thought about performing on stage?"
"What's this about performing?" A flamboyant voice interrupted. The three looked to see the tall and thin figure of the Ringmaster approaching them.
"Ah, Valador!" The boy warmly welcomed. "I would like you to meet Mabel."
"Hi!" Mabel bubbly blurted.
Valador's eyes widened. "Wow! Aren't you something else..." he said, immediately impressed by her presence. "So cheery and happy, you were born to be in a circus!"
"You really think so?!" Mabel asked, excited, as Dipper got a sinking feeling.
"Why of course!" The lanky man stated. "I haven't seen this kind of natural showmanship since..." Valador paused. "Well, that's not important. Boys!" He called.
Out of seemingly nowhere, the five clowns from earlier appeared next to the ringmaster. They honked their noses, curiously.
"I would like you to meet Mabel. Mabel, this is Benny-" the tallest of the main four honked in introduction.
"Lenny," The second tallest honked.
"Henny," the third tallest honked.
"Zenny," The shortest honked.
"And Craig."
"Hey, how ya doin'?" The brute in the back asked in a raspy voice.
"Boys," the ringmaster continued, "I want you to show Mabel around. Treat her like one of the family."
The clowns all honked their noses in understanding, before picking the giggling girl up and placing her on top of their shoulders. The group of carnies began to walk away, leaving Dipper alone.
"H-hey!" Dipper protested. "Mabel! We really need to go home!"
The large group, except for the oblivious Mabel, turned their heads towards the boy, all giving him icy, almost murderous stares.
"Or...or we could meet up later!" Dipper quickly conceded, scared for his life. The carnies then looked away, walking away with the small girl.
"Oh man..." Dipper breathed, feeling danger right around the corner.