Stanley asked for help. Parents and brother
Friday (day 5)
Stan sat in his brother's house in a sad state. The search teams had been called off after three and a quarter days of not finding anything in the forests. He was glad that he was able to convince them not to declare Ford dead until they found a body.
Thankfully, the Gravity Fall's lawbook had a loony requirement to determine whether someone was dead if there wasn't a body that he was taking full advantage of.
Until a chicken in a top hat pecked the word NO on an Onji board, he was considered alive. He was good with a little application of birdseed in the right place when everyone's backs were turned.
His attempts to find Ford and his journals had mixed results. No one in town knew anything about Ford beyond that he lived in the Shack and was a scientist. His assistant had disappeared, and his only lead was what Anna Rameraz said, as well as the candy-fueled hallucination of a convenience store trainee. The Crawlspace may have proven that his journal wasn't just a bunch of made-up stories, but it also meant that he had a lot of enemies on Ford's side he had to either soothe or avoid if he wanted to stay alive.
Why did you think capturing and experimenting on things that can talk and swear vengeance on you was a good idea, Ford?
On the plus side, the candle was still lit in the lantern. He had put up posters of Ford's face and the six-fingered hand he used as a symbol all over town and the nature trails. A large version of the scrolls he had handed out on the first day hung out front next to the entrance to the Shack for anyone to read. More miniature scrolls were in the hands of half the town. He and the Handwitch were figuring out when their schedules aligned enough to look for his brother's bunker, which he had plans for, and they found it.
Best of all, the Mystery Shack was still making him money! The crowds of locals were beginning to die down, but some of the other people in Roadkill County beyond the valley were still trickling in to see what was up with the newest tourist attraction. He still had the snack selection to work on, more rooms to convert, and maybe find a cashier. He was still having trouble thinking up a name for his tour guide persona, but he still had a while before that became a real problem.
He was more financially stable than he had been in years, had a plan to find Ford, had leads to help him find Ford, and was paying off everyone who had reason to hunt him down. There was only one last thing he could do before Saturday.
He looked at the phone beside him, wondering if telling his mom about this would be better until he got his brother back. Maybe never tell her and let it be a secret between him and Ford.
Don't be an idiot about this, Stan. She's his mother, too. She deserves to know about Ford.
He picked up the phone and was about to dial when he realized something.
How much should I tell them? Should I go with the "he was gone when I got here" or the truth?
He thought a little more before making a decision.
He dialed her business number to reduce the chance of getting his dad.
"Hello, Pine's Phone Psychic. That'll be 99 cents an hour."
"Ma, it's Stanley."
"Stanley! Where are you? How are you?"
Stan smiled at the worry in her voice. No matter how bad things had gone, it was nice to know that she still worried about him.
"I've got a sore shoulder, but I'm much better than the last time we talked."
He took a deep breath before continuing.
"Ford, unfortunately…"
"Stanford? Your brother? You are with him?"
"I'm at his house in Gravity Falls, Oregon, but Ford-"
Stan didn't cry; his Pa always said real men don't cry. He just got some dust in his eyes, and anyone who said otherwise was a dirty liar.
"Ford's missing, Ma."
The phone went quiet before he heard a slight thump and muffled crying. Then, there were some muffled voices that he couldn't quite make out.
Eventually, he heard someone pick up the phone.
"Stanley?"
It was his dad.
"Pa."
Stan didn't know he could pack so much hatred and dislike into one word, but he did it.
"Where is your brother?"
"I don't know. I convinced the entire town to search for him when I arrived, but it's already been three and a quarter days, and they have found nothing. With the weather here being what it is, they've decided to call off the search."
"No, they aren't! Listen here, Stanley! Do the first worthwhile thing in your life and find your brother!"
Stan froze as he was taken back to that lab under the Shack.
The frustration about losing Ford.
The despair about maybe not being able to see him again.
The fact that his family never thought he would amount to anything.
The fact that they might be right.
It all boiled over and spilled out of Stan's mouth.
"Shut up, you jerk! Do you think I've just been sitting on my hands this whole time? I figured out how to ultimately pay Ford's house's mortgage! I am paying off all the people I owe money to let me only focus on finding Ford! I just set up a profitable business that can pay for my search for Ford. I set up posters all over town with his picture on them! I told everyone in the city to be on the lookout for him!
"If you don't like how I'm doing this, why don't you do something in the best interests of your sons for once in YOUR life and come over and help me look for him!"
SLAM
Stan was breathing heavily as his hand gripped the phone's handle. Eventually, the anger left him, and he collapsed into his chair.
The dusty room made his eyes water for the next 15 minutes.
Eventually, he calmed down enough to think about the next steps.
Ma and Pa know. I guess it's time to call Shermie.
He picked up the phone again and dialed his number. It rang several times before it was picked up.
"Hello, Pines residence. Judd is speaking."
Stanley smiled when he heard his nephew's voice. He hadn't seen the kid since he was swaddled in his mother's arms.
"Hi, squirt. It's your uncle Stanley Pines. Can you get your dad for me?"
"You're real? I thought Dad made you to be a bedtime story. Is Uncle Stanford real, too?"
Wow, the kid really knows how to stomp on those landmines.
"Yes, he is, and that's what I want to talk with your dad about. Can you put him on for me?"
"Sure. Give me one minute."
The line went quiet as Stanley could faintly pick up the sound of running feet and a soft voice saying "59, 58, 57."
Stanley could only smile at that, remembering all the times he had done that before when he was the kid's age.
He then picked up a faint conversation on the other end.
"I'm in the bathroom, Judd. Can it wait until I'm done?"
"Uncle Stanley is calling about Uncle Ford."
SLAM
"Stanley! Is that you?"
Stanley had to pull the phone away from his face to try and preserve his hearing.
"Hay Shermie, I know we haven't talked in-"
"It is you! Where the heck have you been? Do you know how worried I've been since Pa kicked you out? Are you ok? What is going on with Ford?"
Stanley could hear some muffled laughter across the line between the rapid-fire questions.
"Dad, you didn't pull up your pants and made a mess."
"I'll clean it up later. Listen here, Stanley! You will tell me where you are right now so I can get you. If you don't, I swear that-"
"I'm at Ford's place; he's missing."
Shermie then shut up, letting Stan get some quiet before he continued. He gave Shermie the same run-down he gave the cops about getting the postcard, getting to the shack, and finding him missing. It was a little easier this time; probably not a good sign that he was getting used to this.
Eventually, Shermie gathered enough of his wits to answer.
"How is the search going?"
Stanley didn't have to fake the disappointment coming through his voice then, especially since Shermie had always been good at seeing through his acting. The only reason he hadn't noticed the lie in his story so far was probably because of how much of the story was true and his emotional distress.
"They still haven't found anything. They called off the search, but I was able to convince them not to declare him dead until they find a body."
…
"I'm sorry about that, Stanley. What can I do to help? Do you need money? A place to stay?"
Stanley smiled when he heard that, though his expression was tinged with guilt at having taken money from his family man brother.
"Nope. This town has the wackiest laws in the country. The 'twin property law' says that any twin can claim the property of their twin sibling if they aren't around."
"Ford won't be happy about that when he finds out."
"There's a clause about reclaiming it he can pull when we get him back. As for the money, this place made the mounted deer head on the police station wall the police chief for the past 100 years. All of its paychecks have been going into a bank account and sitting there the whole time. They even paid overtime since he was always manning the desk."
"Please tell me you didn't steal it."
"Worse, I placed a note in its mouth saying that it wanted to give all its money to me. And it WORKED!"
…
"Ok, I'm coming up there. If that can fool the townsfolk, there is no way they could find Ford if he were sitting in the station."
"That sounds good. Before you do, could you call Ma and Pa? I just got off the phone with them before calling you, and it didn't exactly go well."
Sigh. "Of course, it didn't. I'll call them after talking with you. Anything else I should know about"
"Yeah, I've been charging money for tours of Ford's weird stuff and research."
…
"WHAT! Why would you do that? Didn't you say you got a century's worth of paychecks and interest?"
"Taxes were deducted from it over that, so it's not as much as you would think. And I also had to use half to pay Ford's unpaid mortgage and bills, as well as my fines and debts. The other half is being earmarked to find Ford. That tour money will help keep me in this town, and the police might decide to cut off the deer's paycheck.
"On top of all that, people are enjoying my tours! I have fans! This is the first business venture I have been a part of that worked!"
The line was quiet as Stan calmed down. His speech might have gone a little overboard, but he was passionate. Sue him.
"Ok, Stanley. Sorry about that. But you must be aware that Ford hated sideshow attractions and ghost tours. He sees them as disrespectful to the actual paranormal research."
Stan snorted. "Half those 'legitimate researchers' do things like this to make enough money to do their legitimist research in the first place. I even worked with a few of the big names in the field, and let me tell you, they would fully approve of this."
"Maybe. *sigh* look, Stan, I have some work I need to tidy up, but I can probably be there in a week or two to help out. Do you think you can hold on that long?"
That shut Stan up for a second.
"Stanley?"
"Yeah, I can handle this until then. You don't need to do this."
"Stanley! Ford is my brother, too. If he's in trouble, I am going to help."
"SHERMIE PINE! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CARPET?"
"Oh, gotta go! Bye, Stan."
Stanley then heard the dial tone as Shermie faced the music of an angry wife. He gently placed the receiver on the phone's body and felt something he hadn't felt in years.
A sense that his brother cares about him.
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To celebrate the "Book of Bill," I have decided to make this a Gravity Falls summer! This means I plan to post a chapter of this fanfic once a week, every Friday morning until
August 30th. I have almost 20 pre-written chapters, so I don't know when this will stop.
I have a if you want to support me and my New Year's resolution of posting one fanfic of 2k words or more weekly. This is also being posted on , AO3, and Tumbler.
Remove all the spaces from the URLs to get them to work.
: : / / w w w . user?u=10132890
. c o m : : / / w w w . s/14051718/1/luz–appreciation–week–2022–from–1228248
AO3: : / / works/52823413/chapters/133608991
Tumbler: : / / w w w . blog/brianedner
I am also doing fanfic info dumps, like wiki articles that go one episode at a time, with some compilations at the end on specific topics sorted by episode.
Fanfic info dumps here: : / / w w w . 1228248/gallery