Work Text:
On a cool winter morning, a Jeep pulls up in a small West Virginian college town. Out from the Jeep emerges 2 older-looking men. These 2 men look almost identical other than their clothes a few details one would miss on first look. One is dressed much like a college professor, wears glasses, and has a pair of extra fingers. The other was more rotund and dressed like a dad on vacation. This one then says,. "Ford what we doing at a college? Thought we were going to investgate something paranormal."
"That we are Stanley. I've detected abnormal amounts of weirdness emanating from this town."
"Any leads on this or we just shootin blind."
"Hold on a sec." Says Ford as he rummages through the back of their Jeep. He continues this for a bit until he pulls out what looks like a PDA strapped together with a weather vane and says. "The hand-held weirdness detector is picking up 5 distinct pockets of weirdness. Let's go." Then he goes running off after picking up a shoulder bag.
"God damn he's got too much energy for it being this early," says Stan before heading to a nearby coffee shop knowing he could catch up to his brother later.
Stan arrives at the place his brother texted him to go to holding 2 cups of coffee. The place was a grassy hill with a single tree near its top. He sees his brother setting up various instruments pulled from his bag at the top of the hill. When he gets to the tip he hands his brother one of the cups getting a small 'thanks' and asks. "Find anything Yet?"
"Well, there's a strip of ground worn down completely."
"So, a strip of dirt big whoop."
"I just finished setting up the sensors. It's going to be a while until we get a reading. We have to be patient Stanley," says Ford while fiddling more with the sensors.
Stan takes this time to lean against the tree and looks at his phone. The twins recently sent him some pictures. Stan misses them they should visit them soon. Assuming he can convince Ford to take any time off. He was brought out of this train of thought when he heard a "Fascinating" from his brother who is currently looking at a matrix printout.
"What the do hickeys say that's so interesting?"
"They are picking up signs of frequent travel to an unknown dimension. Though whoever is traveling probably knows."
"Neat so what's next? Hope you don't plan on going to that dimension and disappearing again."
"Nope, I'm good with dimension traveling after the first time. However, we are going to the next weird spot and hopefully find more clues." Ford picks up the equipment and points towards a nearby patch of trees. "It's that way."
They arrive at a poind with a bench by the shore and a sign asking people to be kind to the frog pond. It seems peaceful and not a bit supernatural to Stan. This time Stan doesn't say anything and instead lets Ford set up the equipment knowing he'll notice if Ford picks up anything. It didn't take much time to get the results back this time though Stan assumed the results aren't good as he feels his brother's mood drop. So he asks, "Picking up nothing?"
"Just higher than normal chaos energy nothing super interesting." Says Ford sounding disappointed.
"Chin up the next spot might be more interesting. You never know."
"I sure hope so."
The next place they stop at is right outside a small apartment complex. Then Ford says. "This one's up to you Stanley. We need to break into the apartments."
"My days of breaking and entering are way behind me Ford. Besides, it's stupid to do it in the middle of the day."
"Come on we not going to steal anything so no big deal."
"Still not doin' it we're gonna be caught. You're terrible at stealth. Instead, we're getting lunch rather you like it or not."
"Fine but if the rest of the spots are also disappointing I'm breaking in without you." They went to a sub shop that the barista Stan saw earlier today recommend. Stan got a messy cheesesteak and Ford got a veggie sandwich.
After lunch, they found themselves in a room in the back of the campus library formed on three sides by bookcases and one side of by a window. It had a couch, two armchairs, and a fake plant. Ford looked around the room for a bit until he hunched down, picked up some dust with his finger, and licks it. Seeing this Stan says. "Didn't get enough to eat huh."
"What no," Ford answers somewhat confused. Then holding up his dusty finger to Stan he continues with. "Though this is fascinating. Do you know what this is Stanley?"
"Old book dust mixed with dead skin."
"It's fairy dust, Stanley. This means there must be a portal to the fae realm nearby and it's too far from Halloween for it to be natural. Come the search is on."
Ford runs around the library looking for his supposed portal for the rest of the afternoon. Stan on the other hand gave up pretty quickly. After all, he signed up for exciting glob-trouting adventures not bumbling around in a college library. So, he ended up staying in that nook until a pair of young kids arrive and ask if they could sit there and he left to leave the nook for them. He spent the rest of the time chatting up a good-looking librarian. Ford never ended up finding anything in the library and they had to leave when closing time arrived.
The last spot was an English building on the campus and it was rather late when they arrived there. The building was unlocked so the pair could easily walk right in. Most of the classrooms they passed were not currently being used and had their lights off. They eventually spotted a classroom with light pouring from it thanks to Ford's detector. Through the door, they could hear a conversation about, from what Stan could pick up, frog-related trama. This conversation was brought to an abrupt halt when the pair enters through the door. They see a dark-skinned college-aged kid, an old woman, and some half-eaten platters of food. Turning towards them the old woman says. "Sorry, we've already ended. You're welcome to come back next week if you wish." and flashes a smile full of sharp teeth taking up a third of her face.
Something about this smile sets Ford off. He launches himself right into her face and shouts. "Demon you do not belong here. Leave that body or I will be forced to remove you." He begins trying to grab something from his bag.
At this, the younger woman looks a bit surprised at the sudden action. The older woman however disappeared leaving nothing but that same smile handing in the air. The smile disappears too shortly afterward and she re-appeared smile first on the other side of the room and, in a tone similar to a disappointed mother, says. "Calm down. I am not a demon. Now let's sit down and have a talk. I assume you have questions." gesturing to the seats that were arranged mostly in a circle.
Ford, not fully trusting the demon but not thinking his portable demon kit could handle one of this caliber, sits in one of the chairs. Stan follows his brother's lead and Ford asks, "You say you're not a demon. What are you then?"
"I'm Ms. Alice Liddel. My powers come from my good friend the Cheshire cat. Now, why don't you 2 introduce yourself."
"Stan. Former owner of the mystery shack."
Ford wasn't saying anything but then he felt Stan elbow him in his side. "What Stanley, I'm not giving my name to a demon."
"Look Bill knew your name and we got him. It's not gonna be a big deal if she knows yours, sides don't think she's lying."
Trusting his brother's intuition Ford says. "Fine. I'm Stanford Pines researcher and chronicler of the weird."
"Oh, I know you. You wrote a book that got me and my friends trapped in a frog dimension."
Looking a bit quilty Ford quickly says. "Well sorry. That was not my intention with my books."
"It's fine. Meet some good people there. Though could you please listen to Ms. Liddel? Promise she ain't hurting anyone." Then pausing before adding. "I'm Anne by the way."
"Ok, then Ms. Liddel what are you exactly doing here? This room emits lots of weird waves."
Alice tells the pair about how she set up a group for people who have traveled to different worlds after she noticed a few on campus. Anne leaves partway through the explanation waving goodbye to Alice. Alice continues her explanation with how they primarily meet up to help each other and discuss their experiences. When Ford does ask her about the cat she talked about earlier he gets vague answers. He decides not to press as he now see this woman as doing something good and he was incredibly rude earlier in their meeting. When he asks about the 5 spots she says their probably from the other members though she isn't comfortable talking about the others without them here. Satisfied enough he and Stan leave and start heading back to the Jeep. Thinking of something he quickly ducks back in and hands Alice a slip of paper with his number in case they ever need his help. When he gets into the Jeep Stan asks. "So where we going next?"
"I've heard about some strange pools in rural China so towards the Airport."
Case 23-E: Brownlake
Status: Solved
Threat: Minimal
On August 13th I started picking up eminence amounts of energy going from the east coast. Me and Stanley started heading there once Case 12-NP was resolved. As we got closer I could narrow it down to West Virginia and when we landed in Virginia further down towards the small town of Brownlake. I wonder if this is the formation of another town like gravity falls. That would be fascinating. Guess we'll just have to find out. We should arrive on December 2nd.
Upon further investigation, the town was relatively normal with the exception of a few individuals. We found a source that would inform us about the weirdness of the town. She informed us that the town is home to 5 dimension travelers including herself and that is most likely where the weirdness comes from. She informed us about her encounter with a dimension called Wonderland which now is supposedly closed to visitors. Should probably keep an eye out for it. Seems dangerous. (Full information on Wonderland in Case 42-W) Another dimension traveler went to a frog dimension as a fault from one of my books Should probably take them out of disruption. No information on the other 3 dimension travelers but the informant swore that they were not dangerous. No information on what attracted all these dimension travelers to the town. Perhaps the town has something in it attracting those touched by foreign dimensions. More research is needed on the 5 dimensions of travelers and the town of Brownlake. Not crucial will stay stable almost indefinitely.