#hawktopus

Somewhere in the stars, there was a place they once called home. And somewhere in these woods, they’d make a new one all their own. 

Dipcember2024 .12 Break/Peace

Picture taken moments before disaster

Ford was at the lake, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sea monster the townsfolk kept blabbering about. Journal in hand, he looked out across the surface of the water. Ford was just thinking he might need a boat to really look for the monster, when he heard frantic splashing coming from his left.

Ford peered through the bushes blocking his view of that part of the lake, and saw what looked to be a hawk struggling in the water, its face completely submerged. Maybe it was caught on something, like a net or wire, or some other fisherman's tool. Ford stomped through the flora to the water's edge, hoping to save it from an untimely demise.

Ford grabbed the bird by its back and wings and gently lifted it out of the water and into the air. What he saw was so unexpected, he dropped it back into the water. Ford, after taking off his glasses, cleaning them on the seam of his vest and putting them back on, shakily reached down and pulled it back up into view. Ford's eyes were not deceiving him like he first suspected.

Where the bird's beak and legs would be, there were tentacles. Tentacles like an octopus would have, all wriggling around like they had a mind of their own. And if Ford's biology class had taught him anything, each tentacle technically should have a mind of its own. This creature was so contradictory, it was hard to fathom for Ford.

The creature didn't seem pleased by Ford's handling, and immediately latched itself onto Ford's face with its leg tentacles. If it was a normal hawk, Ford's face would be all scratched up from its talons, but the suction cups were still an issue, leaving red sores everywhere they suctioned onto. Ford yanked at it, but its grip was so strong that Ford winced with pain. It wasn't worth having his face ripped off in the process.

Out of the blue, Ford got an idea. He leaned over the lake and, after taking a mighty deep breath, dunked his head into the water. To his relief, Ford felt the creature release him and swim off, if you could call the weird drowning-looking movements 'swimming'. Ford pulled his head out of the water with a splash. He idly rubbed his sore face as he went back to work trying to find the sea monster.

Ford had eventually managed to acquire a boat, staying at the shore was not gonna cut it. He was in the middle of the lake now, waiting to see any sign of the monster. Ford wondered if the rumors were even true before a loud gurgling sound startled him. It was that hawktopus again, perched on the side of his little boat... somehow.

Ford began to sketch it in his journal, there wasn't anything else to do until the sea monster showed itself, as this spot was apparently a prime sea monster spotting location on the lake according to the locals. The hawktopus was just so bizarre. And that was saying a lot considering the other weirdlife in this town. How did it not suffocate out of water? How did it hunt? There were so many questions.

Ford finished the drawing when the hawktopus lunged at him. Ford instinctively held his journal holding hands in front of himself without thinking and the journal got hooked onto by the hawktopus's tentacles. Ford frantically held onto the journal, all six fingers tightened as hard as they could squeeze. He wasn't about to lose his journal to this impossible creature.

"Let go, you insufferable bird cephalopod thing!"

Unfortunately for Ford, the hawktopus's grip was too strong and it tore the book out of his hands. It flew off with an angry gurgle in the direction of the treeline on the shore. Ford desperately followed it on his boat until reaching the shore, where he hopped out acrobatically and chased it to the base of the tallest tree in the area. Ford saw it perch at the very tippy top of the tree, in what appeared to be a large nest.

With a loud exasperated groan, Ford started to climb the tree. It was fortunate that there were plenty of branches and other things to grip onto on this tree. Otherwise Ford would be forced to try coaxing the hawktopus down somehow, as the height of it was too high to trust himself to shimmy up safely. Ford's heart skipped a beat when he nearly slipped off about halfway up. Ford clung to the tree and took several deep breaths to calm down. That was close.

Finally, after several minutes of agonized climbing, Ford was close to the journal thief. He waited for it to fly away so it wouldn't attack him, then reached the nest. Ford glanced down then reflexively shut his eyes and tightened his grip on the branch. That was a mistake. Ford was dizzyingly high up, one slip and he'd probably die from the fall.

Ford sat himself on the strongest branch, requiring the use of his hands to grab his journal. Also, his arms and legs were burning from the arduous effort to climb up here. The journal was nested nicely in one of the sides of the nest, surrounded by speckled eggs. Ford would've stayed there to examine them, but a loud gurgle had alerted him that the hawktopus was coming back. Ford grabbed his journal and placed it in his trench coat.

Ford found himself hurrying a little faster than he should to get down from the tree, unwilling to have another encounter with the hawktopus's creepy tentacles. The hawktopus swooped at him and he swatted it away as he descended. It swooped again, but this time Ford didn't swipe in time. It latched onto his face with most of its tentacles. Ford yelped and tasted blood as the creature tore away from his face with a screech, satisfied that he wasn't gonna attack its nest anymore.

"Ow! I'm leaving, I'm leaving!" Ford continued to climb down, disgruntled at this creature that had been pestering him all day, as if it wanted him to study it. Ford just wanted to find the sea monster everyone was talking about, was that too hard to ask?! Ford grumbled all the way down, though he was glad the journal was safe and back in his possession.

Ford was about six feet off the ground when disaster struck. A branch that he chose to step on gave out on him and he went tumbling, the shock of the moment causing him to lose his grip on the branches in his hands. Branches scratched him up pretty badly as he fell, though they did slow his descent somewhat. All that was heard in the forest was his scream and the thump as he hit the ground. Today was just not his day.

"Ow....." Ford groaned as he laid there at the base of the tree, his journal painfully digging into his torn up side from inside his coat. Ford attempted to sit up, sucking in a breath as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm. It felt broken. Must've landed on it. Ford slowly got to his feet and limped in the direction of the town, in dire need of medical attention.

...........................

Ford sat up in the hospital bed, his arm and bottom part of his leg in casts. His torso was covered completely in bandages making him feel like a living mummy. There were also some bandages on his face, though certainly not as much as the rest of his body. Grabbing a pen from the nightstand with his good arm, he managed to open the journal to his drawing of the hawktopus, the heart monitor beeping steadily in the background. With a few small strokes, he managed write only a few choice words about it.

Hawktopus:

📆 If I'm not mistaken I first saw it in… 2018? I was having a pretty weird summer, trying to adjust to my new work schedule with its night shifts and all, and I decided to give it a try. I knew NOTHING about Gravity Falls, I just thought it would be a nice cartoon to fall asleep to. AND THAT'S WHEN THE BINGE-WATCHING BEGAN!

💖 I'm a Soos with Ford's nerdiness and Stan's luck in life. So… Stan. Yeah, I'd say I relate to Stan the most.

👻 Though question, they're all AWESOME! But… ok, I'm choosing the Hawktopus. Ford's "too stupid to study" comment won me over.