ℜ ➳ ⟨ “Oh man, you totally got me!” He laughs back— it’s nice, to have friends. To be a normal kid, for a second. The difference between most people and Raz Is his crazy super strength, and massive endurance. Growing up in the circus does things to you. But he keeps the race close, for Wendy’s sake. ⟩
She huffs in mock anger, knowing she might not win this race. It was downright freaky how fast Raz could run, but at least it meant she didn’t have to worry as much about him being in the forest so often. “I’m pretty sure you’re breaking a speed limit,” she laughs at her joke, now just trying to keep up with him. Dang, the kid was fast.
❝ Parents? I don’t have any of those. Father abandoned me a long time ago. ❞
Swaying back and forth on her heels, Mary fingered the petals of her rose; once fake, it was now alive, sepals velvety soft beneath her touch. However, unlike Ib’s and Garry’s, it wasn’t at all representant of her life force. Rather, a relic from the past. A reminder that she had once been something inhuman. And she’d hold onto it until it withered and turned into dust.
❝ My name is Mary. What’s yours? ❞
This was an unsettling reply and Wendy had to force herself from staring dubiously at the girl. What was this kid's deal? She was acting like something straight out of a horror movie and it worried Wendy.
“My name’s Wendy. It’s, uh, it’s nice to meet you, Mary.” She held her hand out to shake, politeness taking precedence over fear. While Mary was kind of freaky, Wendy had no doubt she could take on a kid if anything went down.
It wasn’t every day that one got magically aged up about ten or so years. And if it were to happen, one usually didn’t have any sort of plan as to how to deal with such an occurrence. There was no “in the case of a magical age up, break glass”. So, if something like that happened, it would be expected to be a bit alarmed.
The Pines twins were no exception.
Really, they shouldn’t have been surprised. Gravity Falls had been the source of stranger things. However, the two former kids still went into a silent panic. They couldn’t alert Stan of what had happened. They had to sneak outside. That seemed like a decent enough plan. It was early enough in the morning that very few were actually awake. They could reach the woods easily without being seen, and talk there.
They had gotten fairly lucky with their transformations. At least they awoke with fitting clothing. Dipper could only come to the conclusion that it might have been whatever their older selves were wearing at the time the aging occurred.
“But does that mean we swapped bodies? Did they suddenly wake up as 12 year olds?” He mused, before concluding that none of it made sense. The rest of the time was mainly spent pointing out all the changes between the two. Short hair, facial hair, piercings, muscles. It certainly wasn’t what either of them would have expected.
This early in the morning shouldn’t even exist, especially not for teenagers who spent the last night partying hard. But Wendy felt some inexplicable pull to go into the forest. Hadn’t her father always told her not to go into the forest alone? Despite the warnings, she couldn’t help but slip out of bed and march off into the dark, eerie forest.
When she first saw the Pines twins in the forest, Wendy thought it must have been part of her dream. They looked…older than her? They didn’t seem to notice her, which gave her a few moments to stop and scrutinize her friends from a distance. She felt as if she should quietly sneak away, but something was terribly wrong here.
"Guys?“ Her voice, still thick with sleep, cracked. Clearing her throat, Wendy stepped closer to the Pines kids—if they could still be called that—and peered at them out of sheer curiosity. "Dudes, what happened?”
“Yeah, y’know I’d love to Go along with your plan ‘n all its jus’ I don’t really think that’s a good idea… Uh, no offence. ”
"Gids. This is a quality idea I’ve got going on here. We should totally see what that bright light in the forest is all about. C'mon, it could be fun!“
ℜ ➳ ⟨ “If I knew, I’d tell you!” He laughs, “But I don’t. Maybe I’ll remember after I beat you at Fight Fighters.” He jumps from his perch, giving her a devious grin— “Last one there’s player two! Race you!” ⟩
"Then you’ll never remember!“ She laughs at her own joke before tearing off after him towards the town. They were pretty evenly matched considering their heights and Wendy was pleased by the challenge—none of her other friends were willing to run ever. Even in the face of danger.
“It’s just, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have assume you’d be so mean…“
The little ghost smiled gently, hoping to change the awkward atmosphere surrounding them.
“ … Do, do you mind if we start over? Um, ok, my name is Aggie Prender- ghast, and-and it’s nice to-to meet you… “
"Hey, no worries. I can’t blame you, dude. Sounds like people have been bugging you for ages.“ She flashed the ghost a lazy grin to show she wasn’t too upset by her attitude.
"Sure, sounds like a plan!” Wendy was eager for a do-over, if only to get on her good side. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Aggie. I’m Wendy Corduroy.” Out of habit, she stuck her hand out for a shake before remembering who she was offering it to and, realizing ghosts probably couldn’t shake hands, tried to play it off with an awkward chuckle. “Heh…sorry ‘bout that.”
The word, chanted a few times in succession, seemed to bring with it a small measure of wry amusement; her voice carried an undercurrent of something unreadable as she stared down at the yellow rose in her grasp with nothing short of scorn. Mary simply shrugged, eyeing her surro— —undings before her gaze returned to the clerk.
❝ I guess you could say that. ❞
The girl’s reaction to her question struck Wendy as odd, but she wasn’t going to mention it. This seemed like some straight-up horror movie stuff right here and Wendy wasn’t going to make it worse.
"Uh, okay? Where are your parents…?“ She had the sinking feeling that the small girl wasn’t going to make her job easy, but she couldn’t let a little kid walk around the town by herself.
6 years ago
