Researcher of Weirdness

@hostnamexception and @di-stri-ai

@sixfingersixtails and @multiversal-excursions

@sleightadvantage

@paytonooc 

It’s growing dark early in Washington this time of year. When the gathering begins, there’s already a full moon out, huge and gold and low over the hills, with a few distant pines silhouetted perfectly against its face. A witchy, werewolf sort of moon.

For those who needed to be picked up: Beta couldn’t resist appearing directly behind them. After some brief explanation (and encouragement, if needed), they offer their hand, and smile. Whoosh, spirited away to the remote woods of Washington State! 

(The trip was near instantaneous, and Beta was gentle, but if one kept their eyes open at just the right time, one might have caught a glimpse of something stretching across the field of vision, intertwined with barely visible gigantic prisms. Serpentine, with numerous legs, and a single smiling pink eye.)

The party is being held outside of Amos’s purple van, in a meadow tucked in the woods, far from any roads. The area is well cloaked in spells meant to turn away any uninvited eyes. A tall bonfire is roaring. Every so often, green and violet flames leap up among the orange. The smoke shifts hue every time another log is thrown on.

Sixer could feel the cloaking spells that were set up around the van, and his tails twitched with curiosity -- more at how they had been built than why they were there in the first place. After all, everyone wanted a modicum of privacy from time to time, and Sixer wasn’t about to ask for reasons. It had been made quite clear that the trio of extra-dimensional beings were not eager to do anything to tear the dimension apart, after all.

Their costumes got an amused chuckle from him, although he hoped the axe wasn’t going to be used on anyone present. He didn’t recognize the others who had been invited, and he was certain that his six tails would draw their attention. Nothing like a kitsune walking around with no true costume to be spoken of to draw at least a little attention.

The absence of human ears would more than likely do that.

Mabel squealed as the little dragon came pouncing in out of nowhere. Waddles squealed too, but his sounded more panicked before he realized that the dragon was familiar and...somewhat friendly?

–this is what happens when you set a reasonable goal of 1K a day and proceed to write a lot more than that for the first 11 days of July.

Mental Link is coming along at a nice pace, I have to say. And I don’t plan to slow down…much.

Catching Sphinx outside of the Mystery Shack wasn’t hard, but catching him alone was another matter. He often walked through the woods with one of his niblings, or a counterpart, or his own twin when they wanted to stalk unsuspecting gnomes in the night. It kept them from trying to kidnap tourists.

So when Sphinx stepped out one morning for a stroll on his won to look for something that required light paws and minimal noise, he certainly wasn’t expecting to get snuck up on by a dragon of all things.

Or, rather, he had heard there was something behind him, but he hadn’t turned around soon enough.

“Yep! A small clan in New York. They were kind to me and helped me get away from some bad humans… and arguably the one bad gargoyle of that world. Her name was Demona and she was by far one of the most vicious beings I’ve ever come across.” Dominic explained. “Does your brother turn to stone during the day too?”

“Hm.” Sphinx tilted his head slightly. “That might be something to investigate, later. I’ll have to see if there is anything in this dimension that hints at their existence.”’

Knowing that there was a gargoyle who Dominic referred to as “bad” was troublesome, but if the Pines learned about the gargoyles before they learned about them, it could give some advantage.

@multiversal-excursions

Morpho, in drone form, and Beta, in caterpillar form, stood just down the dirt road from the greatly expanded Mystery Shack Sixer and his alternates, family and friends called home, just over the edge of the unicorn magic radius. Beta had been the one to show the way. Truthfully, Morpho didn’t even know anymore if the unicorn spell was as potent against them as it used to be, but they could still feel it and respected the line. 

Each of them held a covered bucket.

“Why are we standing all the way over here?”

For Stanley’s sake.

“You mean Crescent?”

Him and the other ones.

“Will they know it was us?”

I’m certain of it. This is just the kind of thing Ford Pineses are all about– a brand new species!

The two of them upended their buckets, releasing a swarm of hundreds of young mutant frogs. They stopped, as if to take in their new environment, and then they made an immediate, single-minded beeline for every weak point in the house. Every loose board and shingle, every cracked open window, every air vent, soon had frogs trying to wriggle in, because if there was one thing they knew it was that House meant People, People meant Food, and More House meant More People meant More Food.

She hops excitedly at the news. Seeing the crystal and flashlight TONS bigger than she actually is makes her doubt that she could’ve handled it on her own. Even if weren’t for the local monsters that reside in Gravity Falls, she could’ve been eaten by an owl once she steps inside the forest. 

“Holy shit you did it! That’s amazing, Sixer!” She holds her arms out, more ready than ever.

“NOW BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!” 

She notices that she’s growing, taller and taller until she reaches her normal height- okay maybe more than her normal height- around 7 feet tall, for personal reasons, of course.

“Okay, Sixer! This is perfect! You can stop now!”

Sixer definitely knew that this was taller than Azura was supposed to be. Seven feet tall was taller than him by a good deal, and she had definitely been shorter than that when he’d seen her last. But, he did tell her he wasn’t going to stop until she told him.