Work Text:
Ford sat at his desk jotting down his flood of constant thoughts. One thought lingered more than the others.
What was Bill talking about?
The scientist chewed anxiously on the cam of his pencil. Bill had offhandedly mentioned a creature unknown to Ford living in the woods surrounding his lab. He'd only spent a few years studying the creatures of Gravity Falls; but he found himself itching to find something new, and this could be just that.
It had been a week since his muse had visited him last, and carelessly brought up the cryptid. Disappearing before Ford had the chance to question him on the matter, much to Ford's curious frustration.
Ford's eyes lingered on a triangle covered tapestry he had commissioned not long ago. After meeting his muse he began to collect memorabilia and artifacts of Bill, and transformed his lab into a shrine to the kind deity.
He sighed, longing to see his muse again and silencing the scream of his youthful curiosity. A certain racing thought caught his attention more than others.
What if he went out and found the beast? It wouldn't be far to reach, and it reminded him of before he met his muse. When he used to go out on week-long adventures just to learn Minotaur reproduction (a gross, but very entreating study)
Without another thought Ford rose to his feet. Grabbing his usual adventuring bag in one six-fingered hand, and a light snack in the other. His steps thumped loudly against the hard wood floor as he continued his trek down the stairs. He slid a handgun off his dining room table, taking a stack of papers with it to the floor.
Ford cursed under his breath as he stuffed the weapon into his pack, and leaned down to retrieve the fallen papers. His eyes scanned each paper aimlessly before throwing them back onto the crowded table.
He swung his bag onto the table in one quick motion. Sifting his hands through the contents as he kept inventory.
The hand gun he just grabbed,
a small machete,
water,
six foot rope,
grappling hook,
magnet gun,
emergency rations,
and what he'd been looking for, Journal 2.
He let out a sigh of relief as he spotted the golden shine of his beloved journal. This was his second journal he'd written while studying Gravity Falls. Ford stared at it like a proud father, he'd only ever dreamed of filling out his first journal with enough anomalies to make a medieval writer faint.
He opened the book to its first blank page, pulling a chair out from its spot under the table. He plucked a chewed up pen from his pocket and pressed down on it with a click. He stared down at the page; wasting no time to start writing his plans, and relishing the crisp smell of new pages.
Ford glimpsed at the clock ticking monotonously above him; expecting it to have only been a few minutes, but to his horror finding it had been an hour. In a hurry Ford arose, gathering his items and swinging his bag over his shoulder. He made quick paces toward the door before noticing a familiar yellow shape in the corner of his eye.
Bill sat on Ford's printer wearing his usual black bow and top hat. He normally had a laid-back attitude, but his eyes were saying otherwise. The triangle let out a sarcastic sigh; hopping off the printer and floating over to Ford.
"Bill!" Ford attempted to ask about his muse's absence, but was interrupted by Bill's usual smooth voice.
"Sixer," Bill interrupted, rubbing his eye, "What are you doing? Were not done with the portal blueprints yet, Fordsy."
"I'm going to research the creature nearby you mentioned last visit," Ford answered, ignoring the portal comment.
"The land Orca?" Bill continued into a ramble.
Twittering about 'blow holes' and 'high speed,' that only fueled the scientists curiosity. With a thoughtful nod, Ford looked up at his babbling muse.
"It won't be long, and we can work on the portal when I return," he promised.
"fine," Bill huffed, "But I'm going with you. I can't risk losing as brilliant of a mind as yours"
Ford smiled; his muse had never gone with him on his travels before. Yet alone even showed interest in the supernatural creatures inhabiting Gravity Falls.
The two exited the lab together. Ford glanced around, as Bill begrudgingly hovered beside him.
"Look out for water spouts," Bill said casually.
"Huh?" Ford blinked in confusion.
"Water spouts, if you see water emerging from the trees you've got yourself a land Orca," He specified.
The scientist nodded in thought, jotting the fact down in his journal. Cool fall air breezed through his hair, signalling the fast arrival of night. Causing Ford to quicken his pace toward the tall Oregon trees. Bill scouted about the area to speed up Ford's ignorant search.
"Any other fascinating facts about this creature you can tell me?" Ford asked.
"Uhmm, George Washington had one as a pet. Till it ate one of his guards," Bill shrugged.
"Anything I can document," Ford specified.
"It can blow water through its blow hole strong enough to shatter diamonds," He spoke smoothly, leaning his thin arms against Ford's shoulders.
Ford sighed, removing the machete from his bag, and attacked the thick shrubbery blocking his path.
"Is that why you came along? Just to babys-" Ford was cut off by a loud blast of water shooting straight upwards roughly a mile from him.
"It knows your here," Bill murmured.
Before Ford could respond Bill 'grabbed' onto his arm and tried pulling him away. Incapable of doing so without his physical form.
"Alright flesh bag. We gotta go before it mistakes you for a very fat shrimp!" The triangle urged impatiently.
His legs subconsciously brought him to a sprint. Trees blurred by, as his side burned with pain. His breathing was heavy, and his heart could be heard in his ears. Running, let alone anything active, was never his strong suit and Ford didn't know if his body would give out at any moment.
"The grappling hook, you family sized bag of emotions!" Bill yelled.
As if instinctively, Ford stopped in his tracks. Hurling the bag off his shoulder and snatching the gun in his free hand. He aimed upwards at the trees, steadying himself and shooting.
The hook whizzed upward, hitting the tree with a hard THUNK. Its metal hooks swung tightly around the branch; locking, and then retracting. His feet floated off the grass as he was yanked from the ground. When he reached the top he threw his bag onto the branch before hauling himself up as well. Ford looked down; then around at the pitch black sky.
"Shit," he cursed.
"What's the matter IQ?" Bill laughed.
"I didn't get a good look at the Land Orca," he frowned.
Bill blinked, puzzled by Ford's lack of care for his own safety.
"Hey I love pain as much as xanthar, but I can't have you dying before the portal is complete."
"Well, maybe if we had a way out of this; like, I don't know, a tip! We wouldn't be in this mess!"
"If you could just stop dragging your feet through toxic sludge, and looking for useless monsters instead of working on the portal. WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!" The triangle burned a massive blue ring of fire around his body. Quickly cooling himself off and adjusting his bow tie with a sigh, "It could just knock this tree down right now and you'd die of fear before it could lay a fin on you."
"Fine," Ford huffed, "I'll figure it out myself, Cipher."
Bill rolled his eyes, leaning his triangular body against Ford's hip as the man scoured his bag for tools. Ford removed his journal from the bag, turning his body to place it on the leaves beside him. Imbalanced, the bag falls down the tree, and dumps all its items during the drop. His spare snacks fall first, luring the curious orca right below. Barely a second later the bag falls, crashing the gun and machete against the beasts head. With a cry, that tears Ford away from his journal, the monster falls.
Ford cheered, swiftly climbing down the tree with his journal in hand. Fords' muse waited on top of his scattered items. Glaring subtly as Ford approached.
The two returned in near silence, only ever being broken by Bills' directions back to the lab. As the trees started to clear, Ford let out a sigh of relief. His eyes met with the star speckled sky above him.
"Wow..." he exhaled.
"What?" Bill inquired.
"The night sky is marvelous,"
"I suppose so," Bill mumbled
"Do you ever stop to marvel at their exotic dance?"
"I've ogled enough at stars in my lifetime," Bill vanished. Leaving Ford alone with his thoughts once again.
He sighed at the loss of his muse, and wondered when he would return. His feet dragged him through the houses front door. Throwing down his bag and collapsing on the couch from exhaustion.
He thought of finishing his document of the Land Orca. Though his muse could do that for him as he drifted to sleep. . .