Stanley asked for help: Support Group
Irish accenerator: #result
Brian's Music: https/watch?v=Y7QcOUlcIyw
TW: Breakdown and crying about how poorly Ford treated a kid.
Day 8, Monday, 4:30 PM
Alex was nervous. He and Stan were in the kitchen. Alex was whipping down every surface and sweeping the floor simultaneously, using his shapeshifting and growing multiple limbs.
"Alex, please stop. I'm glad you are helping with the cleaning, but you are taking it too far. Why are you putting so much effort into this?"
Alex paused and rounded on Stan.
"Why! Because Handwitch will be bringing people I have never met before here!"
Stan rolled his eyes. "She said she was just going to bring three support group members. It's the same number of people you met yesterday with the movement. Is it that bad?"
"Yes!
"No!
"I don't know!" Alex collapsed on a chair, put his head in his hand, and let the broom and spray bottle clamber to the floor.
"I just want them to like me. With you and Handwitch, you just showed up and tried to help me. With the moleman workers, it was just business. But this, this is a pure social event with no other motivation or reason to do it. This is the first time I am actively trying to make friends."
Stan sighed and rested a hand on Alex's shoulder. "I know you're nervous, but don't be. These are others who have suffered due to Ford. They know more than anyone what you have been through. If anyone will cut you some slack, it's them."
Alex looked up at Stan with a small smile. "Thanks, Stan. That means a lot to me."
Stan nodded at him when they began to hear some soft music.
"Hay, do you hear that, Alex?"
Alex nodded his head in confusion. "I know I'm new to the surface, but music doesn't start playing randomly here, right?"
Stan was about to answer when he heard a knock on the door.
"I'm guessing one of the people Handwitch is bringing over is playing that music. How about I get it while you sit here and take a few deep breaths? Ok?"
Alex nodded while Stan headed over to the door and opened it.
Standing before the door was Handwitch, a gnome he thought might be Steve, a ghost that looked like a child, and a leprecorn with an uncovered horn playing soft music.
"Hi, Stan. You remember Steve, but let me introduce you to Brian the Leprecorn and Arnie the ghost."
While Steve and Stan shared a curt nod, the leprecorn trotted forward and held out a hoove for Stan to shake.
"Top of the mornin' to ya, Stanley. Me name is Brian, and I am glad to meet you."
As Stan shook the hoove offered, several gold coins fell out of Brian's beard. When Stan's eyes darted to them, Brain rolled his eyes.
"Don't bother with those. Our beards can produce any fake gold coin from plastic to chocolate to pyrite, but never real gold."
Stan looked a little disappointed, but his eyes then began to lite up as a new idea formed in his head.
"Would you be willing to sell me some of those fakes? People have suggested I start a gift shop, and little bags of gold coins for sale would be great. I could even try and turn the pyrite into jewelry."
Brian looked at Stan with interest but then remembered what he was there for.
"We can talk business later."
Stan nodded before he turned to Arnie.
"Please tell me you're a thousand-year-old being that just chooses to look like the ghost of a child instead of a…"
Arnie sighed and shook his head with a sorrowful expression.
"I died of dysentery in one of the first wagon trains."
Stan just stared at him for a few seconds before wrapping the ghost in a hug. Arnie was shocked at the contact and the strength behind the hug.
"I am so sorry that happened to you. Handwitch dropped off ten types of ice cream, and I will get as many other types for you to try as you want."
Arnie then began to hug Stan back, enjoying the contact.
"Thank you. It means so much when people WANT to spend time with me."
They kept hugging until Handwitch gave a polite cough, prompting the two to split up.
"Sorry about that. How about we all head inside and see if Alex is up to see you?"
With that, the five headed into the kitchen, where Alex stood beside the table in his base form.
He then waved at them when the new faces entered.
"Hello there, I'm Alex Hirsh. What are your names?"
Steve walked up to him and held out his hand.
"Hello, I'm Steve the gnome. You're a shapeshifter, right?"
When Alex nodded to him, Steve got a devilish smile on his face.
"Would you be willing to help my fellow gnomes with a few things?"
Alex shrugged. "Maybe? Depends on what you want or need. I am still dealing with Agoraphobia, so it would have to be either indoors or underground."
Steve looked slightly disappointed but nodded before stepping back to let Brian trot forward.
"Top O' the mornin' to ya, Alex. My name's Brian, and I'm a Leprecorn. My horn can only play Irish music, but I am more than willing to cycle through all the kinds to find one you like or muffle it if you find it annoying."
Alex looked at the horn, and his shoulders slumped like a man relaxing.
"I like this music. It's so calming."
Brian smiled at him for that remark.
"Thanks, but don't be afraid to let me know if it gets annoying and I need to change the channel. The horn will keep playing the same song on a loop unless I specifically pick a new song or music to play."
Alex gave him a thumbs up before turning towards Archie, who had just floated forward and held out his spectral hand.
"Hello Alex, I'm Archie. Do you want to be my friend?"
Alex looked at the outstretched appendage before reaching out and gently grabbing it for a slight shake.
"Maybe? I never had friends before a few days ago and am still getting used to the concept."
Archie looked at Alex in shock.
"What! How can you have gone so long without making friends?"
"Ford."
At that, the mood of the room dropped like a stone. Steve looked angry, Brian looked resigned, and Archie began to tear up.
"That- that- Meanie!"
Archie threw himself into Alex's arms and started crying into his shoulder.
"All I wanted was a friend! Why did he have to say I was annoying? Why did he pretend I wasn't there? I knew he could see me; why did he act like he couldn't?"
Archie then devolved into a mess of sobs into Alex's shoulder while he tried patting the little ghost on the back in an effort to calm him down.
"Um, There There? It's going to be all right?" Alex then turned to Stan with a conflicted expression. "Am I doing this right?"
Stan nodded before heading to the freezer.
"Who wants to pig out on ice cream and discuss how much Ford stinks?"
With a collection of "Ayes," Stan pulled out the ice cream and some bowls. After some discussion, Alex got classic vanilla, Archie got Boo-Berry (still there from Halloween), Brian got Unicorn Sparkle's ice cream, Steve got Rainbow Sherbert, Stan got chocolate, and Handwitch got Mint Chocolate Chip.
The group sat around the kitchen table and began to eat their frozen desserts. Alex started with a small spoonful into his mouth but lit up and soon put in another. He ate slowly, making sure to savor each bite. Steve raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's just ice cream from a grocery store. You don't need to treat it like some super rare and expensive desert, Alex."
Alex waited until he was done with his current spoonful before answering.
"This is the first time I have ever had Ice cream in my life. It is also the-" He paused to count on his fingers before continuing. "6th non-bean meal I have had in my life."
Brian looked at him with shock, Archie with horror, and Steve with resignation.
"When Ford kept me in a cat carrier for weeks, he fed me only cat food and had me drink from a cage-mounted water bottle."
Alex looked up at him in shock as he continued.
"He said it was the most economical way of giving me my nutritional requirements, but it didn't help. He kept poking me, prodding me, strapping things to me, shining lights into my eyes, and running experiments on me."
Alex then began to speak.
"He did the same with me. He found my egg while digging up the casino for his lab. He put me in a cat carrier when it hatched until I got too big. He then moved me into a massive steal cave, even while holding conversations and sharing books with me. I could read an entire book on veterinarian techniques for dogs, and he still considered me nothing more than a pet."
The two shared a depressing look that could only be shared by those who had been through the same hell. Brian then began to speak up.
"I stumbled onto him one day while wandering and walking out my door. I saw him looking through the clover patch in my garden and told him to stop ruining my hard work. When he looked at me, he dismissed me as a 'disappointing mistake of nature.' I was about to retort when I saw a Moss-Sketo get caught in his beard. I tried to warn him, but he ignored me. As rude as he was, I didn't want him covered in a flesh-eating moss. I walked over and ate it to ensure it wouldn't bite me, too. As he got up, I tried to explain what had happened, but he just kicked me out of my own yard! When I came back over, he just groaned and walked away."
Alex reached over and patted him on the shoulder, with Brian giving him a small smile in return.
Archie sighed as he swirled his ice cream in its bowl with his spoon.
"He did a seance in the middle of a ghost hotel I was staying in. I was so excited to make a living friend! I had dozens of adventures planned, including figuring out where the bowling balls go in those bowling alleys, finding out which haunted houses are really haunted and which are hoaxes, and making all the toys in a toy store come to life and have a party.
"As soon as I showed up, I tried to strike up a dialogue, but he just groaned and called me annoying and disappointed! I tried to show I wasn't, but he ignored me." He then began to sniffle. "It wasn't fair! He called me! Why did he have to be so mean to me?"
"Because as much as he might claim otherwise, this valley isn't what he wanted."
The rest of the group turned towards Stan, who had a downcast look on his face.
"He might have spent years studying this place, but Gravity Falls isn't what he wanted. He wanted a place filled with all the exciting and interesting things that were 'properly' supernatural and paranormal. Leprecons that had pots of gold, ghosts that were scary but could be put to rest, and cryptids that were just animals with extra or exotic parts.
"Some of that is right, but as far as I have seen, everything here is as far from 'normal' supernatural and paranormal stuff as it is from 'normal' normal. The witches only work with their hands and flirt with everyone they think is handsome. The Leprechauns are half unicorn and have fake gold coins while constantly playing music. The ghosts are kids who act and see the world like real kids do. The gnomes don't act differently from humans beyond a few minor changes. On top of it all, the majority of things here are intelligent.
"He might be studying and recording all of you, but he isn't trying to understand any of you. You are more than just funny animals to take notes on; you are all people."
The table was silent as they began to process what Stan had said. Alex was the first to speak up.
"I wish you were the one to try and write the journals, Stan. You would be better at it than Ford."
Stan let out a chuckle at that. "Me? Do research? I'm a high school dropout! Ford has multiple PhDs!"
Steve scoffed at that. "The only thing he did with those PhDs was write down a list of questions to ask us without bothering to ask if there was anything WE wanted to discuss. As you said, he would call us annoying or disappointed if we didn't fit his hold for what 'proper' weirdness should be. You were willing to sit down and have ice cream with all of us to make us feel better.
"You could get more research done in a year than that jerk could in the nine he was here."
The rest of the table then began to offer him encouragement, which Stan was lighting up at. He was still hesitant, which is when Brian went in for the kill.
"You could also use the research to make merchandise and exhibits for the Shack. Not to mention selling the research as fiction books to make a killing."
You could hear the cash register sounds ringing in Stan's head at that.
"Ok. I'll do it! How about Handwitch and I go to my office to get started, and the rest of you hang out here and talk?"
The group nodded while Stan walked out while ignoring a flirty Handwitch following him.
Steve chuckled at that. "He is nothing like Ford, isn't he?"
Alex shook his head. "I'd interacted with Ford daily for months, and let me tell you that Stan is nothing like him."
With that, the group continued to talk among themselves while Stan started his interview with Handwitch.
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I have decided to cap this series at 29 chapters, that way it will end with the year. I am not 100% happy with the in universe pasing and how I have been jumping from one idea to the next with no break, so when I do this again, I plan on setting up a timeline and outline from the start before writing my first chapter.
I have them all written up, and the final chapter is over 6k words.
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