Hello fellow readers, and welcome to the two extra chapters of Northwest Mansion Exploration! (yes, there are two extra chapters)
Even though it took some time, I hope all of you are looking forward to what I have in store.
I'm really sorry that I could do only two, since I originally and just stuck to two chapters. I'm sorry if there was any inconvenience if you were hoping for more.
Well, enough about that. Let's move forward to the first extra chapter, the Garden of Hopes! Hope you enjoy.
P.S. These chapters have nothing to do with the major plot lines that happened before, but have the same idea, which is exploring the manor.
Dipper and Pacifica continued to travel down the dark hallways of the mansion. The interior of the mansion was flawless to begin with, regal wallpaper, random but rare antiques sometimes just sitting in the hall, Dipper didn't even know where to begin. He was glad that he landed a great opportunity to enjoy and walk around one of the most prettiest and grandest places he will ever visit in his lifetime- and not to mention, a beautiful girl helping him enjoy it along the way.
"So, where's our first destination, Paz?" Dipper said, adding a teasing nickname that just instantly popped into his mind when he glanced at the girl.
The blonde chuckled. "Oh, you'll like it." she replied, covering her mouth to refrain from laughter. "And people rarely call me Paz, y'know."
Dipper moved a bit closer to Pacifica. He seemed eager to hear her blabber. "Oh really?" he asked, sounding intrigued and curious. The brunette then gave a friendly nudge, winking. "Well, you have to get used to it, Paz."
"Shut up," Pacifica playfully said, shooing the 12 year old boy around, giggling. Dipper laughed as well.
Their evening was going smooth.
The two resumed and continued their path. Pacifica was confidentially leading the way and making sure her parents weren't present around them, and Dipper, on the other hand, was admiring every single art piece the two passed by. He felt the many portraits of people in the 18th century and the beautifully polished china held something conspicuous. They continued walking for another few minutes and eventually found themselves in contact with a large set of white doors with carved pictures and golden knobs. Glossy windows were also built on the side of the doors, and potted ferns covered them casually.
Dipper figured out that the two were still on the first floor, since they barely passed or walked on any staircases and only trotted in the hallways for minutes. He wondered where the doors led. Most likely the outside, since he could see a bit of the night sky from the slender built windows.
"Here we go." Pacifica breathed, as she walked up to the set of doors and twisted the knobs open slightly. She cocked her head to look at Dipper for a few seconds before unlocking the doors. "This is one of the most impressive and exclusive places of the mansion, and we only allow important people and wealthy beings to enter. If I say 'do not touch it', listen to me, okay?"
Dipper's curious face then melted to a face of worry after Pacifica's small explanation, while Pacifica was waiting for a response. "Wait, what?" Dipper asked, moving beside her. "Important people? Wealthy beings? Pacifica, I have a feeling I'm not supposed to go out there. I'm barely a guest to this party, so I don't think I'm worthy enough to go and see... whatever the heck is out there. I love the small invitation, but we should go somewhere else first-"
Dipper was interrupted with Pacifica pointing a finger at him, silencing his talk. She looked to the side, wondering what she should say next, but she just thought inviting Dipper to that exquisite place would be okay. He did ask for the coolest places in the mansion, and this was one of them. And sure, Dipper wasn't an invited attendee to the party, but he did try to exorcise something life threatening to her and the party itself. She thought that was worthy enough.
Pacifica sighed. "Okay, maybe you aren't supposed to be in here, but I think you should just check the place out, alright?" she explained, removing a bit of her grip from the door's knob. "You saved me when we were trying to exorcise that ghost, so I owe you a favor."
Dipper's face only showed more confusion. "But you saved me from turning into a piece of wood-"
"SHH! I don't want to hear it." Pacifica hissed, pointing a finger at him again. "You're free to enter, with my permission. Don't tell anyone, even your sister. Now just listen to whatever I tell you to do outside, got it?"
Dipper blinked, feeling confused on what Pacifica just blabbered, but shrugged it off. Pacifica seemed too eager to invite Dipper to... whatever the place was, so he felt honored. Dipper smiled, and released any leftover tension in his body. "Okay." he said.
Pacifica grinned. She turned around and opened one of the doors successfully, and a cool rush of cold air breezed in. Dipper closed his eyes from refraining any stinging, but re-opened them to see that the doors did lead out to the outside. He saw the beautiful clear and purple gleaming sky, and a few plants and flowers, and a smoothly paved deck in front of them.
"A garden?" Dipper presumed in his thoughts.
Pacifica entered first, holding the door wide enough for Dipper to enter through. Dipper found himself gawking as he entered the outside. He was on top of a cement deck, glued hard to the walls of the mansion itself, and a spiral staircase that lead to the bottom. At the bottom was a large array of shrubs, hedges, rare flowers, and several trees hanging around in a neat and organized manner, a few colorful birds and even butterflies fluttering around and nesting in small birdhouses and decorated butterfly nets. In the middle of everything was a small and flowing water fountain made of marble, decorated with jewels that glistened under the moonlight, and a small statue that featured a young couple holding hands while holding a basket of some sort.
"Welcome to the Garden of Hopes," Pacifica said, as she started to make her way down the spiral staircase. "Or, the most prettiest and grandest garden we have in this mansion." Dipper looked around, his eyes darting from the fountain, to the shrubs, then to the trees.
"Are you serious right now?" Dipper laughed, following Pacifica behind. "Important people and wealthy beings are allowed to enter a simple garden like this one? And not to mention, this garden is pretty small..."
Pacifica stopped in her tracks, and turned her head to glare at Dipper. "So what if it's a garden?" she said, grabbing hard to the rails of the staircase, feeling angered. "This garden houses some of the most rarest plants that can't be found in it's origin countries! There are about a few rare bird species in here, and not to mention, butterflies that are hard to find nowadays! This, Dippy, is not your typical and normal garden."
Dipper's eyes widened. He felt like he stepped on a bullet. But then something boggled his mind.
Dippy.
"Did you just call me..." Dipper stammered, but Pacifica already started to make her way down the stairs. Dipper quickly followed along, as he tried to find the words that would make their conversation run more smoothly, and maybe even a few words that would form a good apology. "Pacifica, wait! I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't know!"
Pacifica stopped in her tracks, one step before she reached the garden's grounds. Dipper saw her hand tighten again on the railings, and she tossed her head a bit to the side, one eye staring deeply at Dipper. She raised an eyebrow.
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't know this garden is so special." Dipper softly said, rubbing his elbow nervously. "I know I didn't say it before, but I feel honored to enter an exquisite place like this. There must be millions of people who wanted to land a chance to visit this garden, and it seems I'm taking my opportunity not as seriously and maturely as I'm supposed to. I'm sorry, Pacifica. I am. But... I do like how the garden looks though. It's beautiful."
Pacifica's partially turned head spun around to fully look at the innocent and upset brunette that was a few stairs behind. Dipper awkwardly looked to the side, acting and most likely feeling horrible for mocking the garden's look. But then again, Dipper wasn't the first guest to mock a 'simple' garden like this one. There has been worse cases in the past, but Dipper's criticism stung Pacifica for some reason. He did sound genuine in his apology, so Pacifica accepted it.
"It's fine, Dippy." Pacifica replied, smiling a bit. "I'm glad you like the garden so far."
Dipper smiled back, partially because she used that nickname again. "I really do, Paz."
The brunette continued down the stairs until he reached the step Pacifica was on. She was waiting patiently with a grin on her face and proceeded into the gardens when Dipper rejoined her. Dipper looked around at all the plants that grew in the garden in awe as they continued their path.
"Whoa..." Dipper sighed, following Pacifica. The pair started to walk on the nicely, smooth and paved pathway, eventually making their way to the gleaming fountain. Dipper admired all of the birds and butterflies that zoomed across them. Pacifica was also enjoying herself as well, since she hasn't been in this garden for a while, and she found it somewhat entertaining to see a gawking Dipper.
Dipper and Pacifica finally found themselves at the fountain. Dipper saw a better view of the sculpture since he was up close to it now; it was carved neatly and delicately, seeing it was a boy and girl holding hands and wearing 18th century era clothing. The female figure was holding a straw basket in her other hand, and her supposed spouse's palm in the other.
Pacifica made her way to the carved female statue, and placed her hand inside the marble carved basket. Dipper was wondering what the heck she was doing, but something glimmering under the water of the fountain caught his eye- he saw numerous golden coins, each imprinted with the initials 'NW', sitting blandly in the water, never to see the light of day.
A fountain that had coins settled in it's waters.
This was a wishing fountain.
As Dipper counted down how much coins laid in the water (in which case how much wishes wanted to be granted), Pacifica walked up to Dipper and showed him something gathered up in her hands. Dipper peered over to see what she had inside, and saw the exact same and identical coins that were in the fountain; two golden coins that had the letters 'N' and 'W', obviously meaning Pacifica's surname 'Northwest'.
"When visitors come to the Garden of Hopes, we encourage them to also make a wish in the Fountain of Dreams." Pacifica explained, carefully placing one of the coins in Dipper's open palm. "Apparently, there has been a popular rumor saying that if you make a wish in this fountain, there's a high chance it will come true."
"Wait, hold on, did you just say that this fountain is called..." Dipper said, inspecting a bit of the coin's texture and sparkle under the moon. "Fountain of Dreams?"
Pacifica looked at Dipper. Her eyes then lowered to an annoyed expression, as she grabbed onto her own coin. "Yeah, don't ask. My great great grandmother named this garden herself and tended to it, so it was only fair she could do whatever she wanted with it, even if it meant naming it after some philosophical, spiritual thing. I mean, c'mon- Hopes and Dreams? Yeesh." The blonde released a laugh.
Dipper smiled as well, seeing that the garden was just a pun of 'Hopes and Dreams', and flicked the golden coin in the air, and catching it with gusto."I think the name's pretty cool." he said, staring at Pacifica.
The girl raised an eyebrow. "You think so?"
Dipper bit his lip, and shrugged nervously and positively. Pacifica grinned.
"But hey, enough about that." Dipper said, scooting a bit more closer to the fountain. He stared at the smooth surface of the water. "Let's make our wishes."
Pacifica looked at Dipper, and nodded in agreement.
They both turned their bodies toward the fountain, holding the coins tightly in one hand, and each cocked their heads toward the sky. Closing their eyes tightly and thinking as hard as they can, the pair made their wishes in their head and flicked their coins in the fountain in unison, surprised that it was really in sync.
Their coins snapped onto the water's surface, creating a series of tiny vibrations in the water, but immediately started to sink to the bottom as it settled on top of the water. The coins wavered back and forth and danced, and soon stayed where it landed at the bottom of the fountain. A shining glimmer twinkled on the two coins, caused by the glowing moon in the sky.
Dipper looked down at his coin settled beneath the water, as it glistened and shined under the moonlight. He felt like his wish was placed in an order, just waiting for itself to be granted. He also noticed that Pacifica was looking at her coin with a confident smile on her face, seemingly eager for her wish to come true as well.
Dipper wondered what was her wish.
And Pacifica wondered what was his.