Chapter Three- Raven

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'Wait what?!" The man- Mr. Pines, from what Raven heard -shouted, before groaning and slamming the phone back into the keypad box. "I can't do this..." He muttered under his breath, leaning against the black counter with his head in his hands.

"M-Mr. Pines?" Raven walked inside. He turned to look at her with tired eyes. "I-I'm sorry about this. I don't- well, I- I'm sorry. I wish I could something about this."

Mr. Pines sighed. "It's not your fault kid. Times are just a bit rough." He rubbed his forehead, before turning back to Raven. "Not a lot of people are coming up here anymore, so money's been slow."

"Oh." Raven looked around, now noticing the strange taxidermy fakes hanging from the walls, the jar of eyes on the counter, and the strange yeti-like statue wearing boxers. "Is this, like, a mystery museum? I mean, it is called the 'Mystery Shack'. Guess this is why?"

He nodded, a small smile growing to his face. "Yep. She's old, but a beauty."

Raven chuckled, before words Mr. Pines had said stood back out at her. "Mr. Pines? Did you say there were other people living here?"

The man nodded again. "I guess if you're staying here, you outta know. It's me, my grandniece-and-nephew, Mabel and Dipper, and..." He paused for a moment. "My... brother."

"Oh!" Raven replied with shock. "There's kids here?"

"Yeah." Mr. Pines said with grin. "They're about your age-- eh, wait. How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen." Raven stuttered shyly.

"Oh, then you're about a year older than them." Mr. Pines began organizing a row of shirts with a big question mark on the front of them. "They're twins." The word made Raven beam. Twins. "I think they'll be fourteen in August, or September, maybe. Somewhere in between there."

"Oh, that's-that's awesome!" Raven smiled. "What about your brother?"

Stan's grin faded slightly. "He's, he's my twin as well. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Oh." Raven reached down to a small stack of hangers on the floor and handed a few to him. "Two pairs in one house! That is 

cool! Um, where are Mabel and Dipper?"

"They're outside with Soos, or something. " He shrugged.

"Soos?" Raven questioned. "Who's that?"

"One of my employees." He droned. "I need to get him to fix this sign." he adjusted the wooden board that hung over a doorway in the back that read, EMPLOYEES ONLY.

Raven looked down the hall, before looking back to him. "Is that your house?"

He nodded. " Yep. There's a stairway at the left that goes up to the kids' room. There a loft up there or something, if you wanna put your stuff there. I gotta go get these kids. " He stomped out the door at a crazed shout from outside.

"Oh, um, okay." Raven said quietly. She looked around the room once more, before grabbing her duffel and heading down the hallway, looking for the mentioned staircase. She peeked inside a few rooms, one that appeared to be the kitchen and another the living room. She was so distracted that she didn't notice the man walking in front of her. She hit him head on, stumbling back. "Ack! Sorry I didn't..." She looked up to see another man, one who looked a lot like Mr. Pines, but instead wearing a red sweater and jeans.

"Um, hello." The man stuttered with a nervous smile. "C-Can I help you?"

"Uh, hi!" Raven waved nervously. "I'm Raven. Stan's, um, Stan's watching me for the summer. I was just trying to find the bedroom."

"Oh, it's right there." He nodded to the stairway behind him. "And I'm Stanford. But you can call me Ford, if you like. My grand-niece and nephew call me that."

"Oh, are you Mr. Pines' brother?" Raven asked with a smile. "He mentioned you and Mabel and Dipper."

"Oh Stanley?" Ford questioned. "Yes, he's my brother."

"Awesome!" Raven chuckled. She then noticed the strange green tentacle poking from behind Stanford's leg. "Um, what is that?" She pointed down to his jean leg.

"Ha! There you are!" He reached down, grabbing the tendril and yanking it off his leg; turns out it was some sort of octopus thing, except with only one eye. "This is a cycloptopus, and he's been running around all day. Well, I guess crawling around."

"Aw." Raven smiled. "He's kind of cute!"

"Yes, but don't let that deceive you." He implied as he pushed it into a small hamster ball-like orb. "If he touches human flesh, he will try to dissolve all your skin cells."

"Oh," Raven took a small step back. "That's... interesting." She then gasped in excitement, grabbing one of his hands. "Holy crap! You have six fingers!?"

Ford's face flushed, but Raven continued rambling. "That's so awesome! I bet it's hard to find six fingered gloves. Did you have to make these? I wonder if when you were a kid everyone was jealous you could count to twelve on your fingers and they could only go to ten? Were you born like this? Or did you do it yourself? Then again I don't know anyone who would purposefully do it so was it an accident or did you do for an experiment? You must be really good at shadow puppets. Was it hard to learn to write? Do you type super fast or is it slower or just normal? Wait can you flip people off with two fingers or do you ignore the extra finger? What would you call it if you high-fived someone? High six? That'd be weird if you had to-"

Ford chuckled at Raven's barrage of questions, his eyes twinkling with amusement. He gently extricated his hand from hers and held up his six-fingered hand. "It's a genetic quirk, I've had it since birth. And yes, it does come in handy for shadow puppets." He winks, demonstrating a quick six-fingered spider puppet on the wall. "As for typing, it's surprisingly normal once you relearn the layout. And high-fives are indeed 'high six' in my book." He grins warmly. "But enough about me, Raven. What brings you to Gravity Falls?"

She pauses, trying to gather her thoughts. "Well, you know, just looking for a bit of adventure. I heard this place was, like, super weird and cool. And Stan said I could stay here for the summer." She smiles, fidgeting with the cord of her hoodie. "What do you do around here?"

"I used to do a lot of research and experiments, but these days, I'm more of a guide for those who stumble upon the town's secrets. I help them navigate the peculiarities." He nods to the staircase. "Your room's up there, but before you go, I've got a little something for you." He disappears into one of the rooms and returns with a strange book titled "Journal 3", with a golden six-fingered hand print on the cover. "This is a collection of notes and findings from my adventures. Maybe it'll help you get acquainted with the town."

Her eyes widen as he presents her with the book. She takes it with a sense of awe, her hands trembling slightly. "Wow, really? Thank you, Ford!" She flips through the pages, each page revealing bizarre sketches and cryptic notes that piqued her curiosity. "I can't wait to read into this!"

Ford chuckles slightly, before stepping aside. "I hope you'll enjoy exploring this town as much as I did. Why don't you go and get your stuff settled in, and I'll see you for dinner?"

Raven nods, watching him as he heads back into the main gift shop area, before pressing a few buttons on the vending machine, causing it to swing open. "Woah," Raven gasped.

"Well, see you soon!" Ford waved, stepping into whatever was behind the machine before it slammed shut. Raven stared for a moment, before laughing.

"Oh my gosh, wow." She laughed to herself as she trotted up the stairs, opening the door at the top. The attic was small, with a triangle-shaped window on the other side of the room. On either side of it were two beds, one covered with books and the other with glitter, bows, and stacks of colored paper. I think I'm gonna like these kids. She smiled to herself.

She walked into the room, looking around before noticing the small loft set into the wall by the door. She crept up the small ladder, finding the space had been turned into a storage-box maze. "Oh dear," She muttered to herself. "Well, time for a little reorganizing." She quickly set to pushing the boxes to the end of the loft, moving a few around to create a little nook at one part for some privacy. During her tidying frenzy, she discovered a surprisingly clean mattress, which she pushed against another wall as a bed. After that, she plugged in a small wall lamp she'd brought with her and pushed her duffel and backpack against the opposite wall.

As she pushed around a few more boxes, she unearthed a large white sheet, to which she fastened against one of the rafters with some screws. Raven also took some of the white Christmas lights she'd found and arranged them around the room. She stood back admiring her work. "Well," She smiled. "I'd say I did a pretty good job."

A large holler sounded from downstairs, along with shouts and other voices, one of which sounded like Stan's. "Mabel! Leave that... alone! He's...th it!" His voice was unclear; Raven winced as a high pitched scream shot through the air, followed by more of Stan's shouting. Raven hopped down the ladder, her feet thudding against the wooden floorboards before she shot down the stairs.

Raven rushed into the gift shop, yelping at the sight of Stan hitting a deer with a broom. The animal grunted, crazed eyes suddenly fixing on her. The deer bellowed, shoving into Stan, nearly knocking him over. Raven shrieked as it shot a spitball from its mouth, before she grabbed a bag of marbles sitting on one of the shop shelves. She slung it at the deer, hitting it perfectly between the eyes. It fell over, moaning.

"Get out! Get!" Stan pushed the deer's body with the broom.

"Well, that's more adventure than I thought a deer could give us." A boy's voice said exhaustedly outside."Mabel, I told you not to give that thing Mabel Juice."

"He was tired!" Laughed a girl's voice on the porch. "He needed some energizing. At least he tried it unlike some people I know. Cough cough, DIPPER, cough."

The two voices laughed. Dipper? Mabel? Raven puzzled. Wait. Raven stepped into the room fully. Well, guess I'm gonna meet my roommates. She thought as Stan moved from the door.

The twins were cut short from their laughter as they and Raven locked eyes.

Author's Note

sorry its not the best grammar-wise, I is tired ;P

Reviews

[Efxaris Arampatzi]

Raven's interaction with Ford was both amusing and heartwarming. Her fascination with his six fingers added a touch of humor and curiosity, perfectly matching the quirky tone of Gravity Falls. The scene where she reorganized the loft highlighted her adaptability and creativity, making her even more relatable. The chaos with Stan, the deer, and the twins' introduction tied everything together beautifully. Lovely work Alice!

[Alice Reiht]

Ευχαριστώ! It wasn't my best chapter, I may retype a few parts, but I'm glad you liked it!

[Efxaris Arampatzi]

Τίποτα! (this literally means nothing in greek but we say it as you're welcome and more like no problem) I personally really liked it but if you wish to make any changes, go for it!

[Alice Reiht]

thanks! 😘