Upon entering the diner, there were assuredly some eyes on him as the bell sounded. Though, as he made his steps inward, the newly arrived tourists made themselves obvious in trying to avoid glancing at him repeatedly. Or rather, glancing at the different bears that stared back at them, clinging to Teddy’s form. Panda watched his back, Grizz watched where he was going, and Koala watched– a new guy sitting with Ami in a booth.
Briefly did Teddy’s head turn to them, tilting his head a bit to cause his two beaded braids to knock into each other briefly. He waved with his palm out from his forehead to sign
’Hi’ to his friend as his eyes roved about.
All in a moment’s glance, Teddy could figure the situation. Another tourist it seemed, one planning on being here a while going by the bags. Amelia likely didn’t intend to meet up with this guy, going by the notebook, which wasn’t one of hers. Going by the guy’s appearance being thin, a little messy, and unassuming, he didn’t seem dangerous. Though in the Falls, nothing was truly as it seemed.
The question in turn: Was Ami out without her brother bear? This theory seemed the most plausible given the evidence.
His eyes narrowed just a flicker as his glance caught the new guy again before he remembered his mission. He didn’t say or indicate anything as he went to the register first. Near it, for quick pickup, were different bags of coffee and Theodore settled on a ten ounce bag with a rooster on it. When a waitress came over, she recognized him.
Having other long time quiet customers seemed to be of benefit as she simply pulled a menu up and placed it on the counter. Pulling one of the Cockadoodle Coffee sacks from the spot for her to take note of, Teddy also ordered chocolate milk via pointing to it on the flipside of the menu. When the question was soon to come out about being for here or to go, Teddy pointed to the table where Ami and the new guy sat. Throwing some cash on the counter to quick pay for the coffee bag, the bear bearer bearreled over to the booth.
Seeing as no one sat in the booth behind the side where Ami sat, he stepped atop the headrest. Then, he balance stepped along until he was far enough to comfortably lay across the top on his back, sitting Backpack Panda beside her instead. Eyeing the new guy, Teddy threw up a peace sign as a means of finally greeting him.
Ludwig had noticed the strange bear-clad lad walk into the diner, though had tried to avert his gaze as best he could. Which wasn't difficult, as he instead became distracted by the individual sitting up at the front counter:
'Talk to me about urban legends! I’ll give you $15!' was what Ludwig heard, and it admittedly caught his interest. Someone else that had interests in the going-ons in Gravity Falls, in this very diner! He had
plenty of legends from back in Portland he could talk to them about. Particularly the garbage gophers! He knew they were real, there was no other explanation for the trash problem around Portland's alleyways. When he was younger, he saw one pop out of a trash can! It definitely wasn't a raccoon or something, though he couldn't remember it's exact appearance. People called him crazy, said the street lights were playing tricks on his eyes. But he wasn't crazy! At least, he hoped he wasn't.
That was the past however. Now, the bear was in front of him, and this situation had become just slightly more overwhelming! It'd be rude to question him about the bears, right? It was probably just a fashion statement here in Gravity Falls, nothing else to consider! That was the excuse he'd stick to though, as with the quiet nature of the bear-boy he wasn't quite sure if he was a mute too, or not. He figured he would just communicate normally and see how it went; If all went bust, he still had pen and paper for communication. Better than nothing, right?
"Oh, h-hello!" Ludwig responded to his sign, understanding that much at least. This couldn't be her brother, right? Though it could just be a lack of blood relation... They obviously knew each other or the bear wouldn't be lounging as he was. He was a hard person to read, that mask of his hiding most of his expression and his eyes giving Ludwig nothing but neutral signals. Ludwig wasn't as panicky as he thought he was going to be, and he considered that a positive at least. But uncertainty raised his anxiety a bit, too. He'd be beary weary of the bear for the moment.
"Did you hear that person at the counter?" He questioned them both, uncertain what was going on with her now after the offer she made. Some locals were probably lining up to try and get some quick cash. Ludwig was focused on the two people in front of him for the moment.
"I suppose it isn't as uncommon as I thought that people like me would come out here to investigate all the supposed 'weirdness', huh?" He didn't see it as a bad thing; It was a pleasant surprise for him. Having a few people to talk to about such things could help his own search, as he wasn't exactly sure about what these two thought of all the urban legends and supernatural hunting ideals he himself and some other tourists had.
Amelia’s attention had turned away from her companion for a split moment as the bell to the diner rang, hoping the new entree would be Jack but instead what she got was a view of her brother from another mother which wasn’t a bad sight at all. A dazzling grin lit up on her face at the sight of Teddy and the three bears, returning the sign of ‘Hi’ with her own quick sign of
’Hello’. She figured she might run into a few people she knew but having him here was a relief in some ways as he was the one she could relate to the most. Sure, Teddy wasn’t actually mute but he was just as quiet as she was which made her feel more normal. It made her feel not so alone when it came to being a bit of an oddity. Amelia knew how some people saw her after all which didn’t make it hurt any less to be dubbed for what she was lacking and not who she actually was.
She took a moment to peek around the diner, seeing if she could spot anyone else she knew. There were mostly faces she didn’t know or those she was not close to but there were a few she did know but wouldn’t want to bother, letting them enjoy their breakfast. She felt a jolt of surprise, happy to realize that Teddy had actually decided to join them, lounging on the back of the booth in a relaxed manner. The backpack he had been wearing set next to her for that reason. The little panda next to her brought her immense joy, this being her favorite of the three bears and she found herself sitting the little pack up straighter as if it were alive and readying him to join for a meal. She gave the panda a small pat on the head with a soft smile before her attention moved back to Ludwig who was greeting their new guest. It was nice to see the two getting along already since she really did want to make a new friendship with the boy in front of her who had been so kind this far. She quickly scribbled down a note, showing them both even though she could have signed to Teddy but didn’t want Ludwig to feel left out of the conversation.
𝐿𝓊𝒹𝓌𝒾𝑔, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝒯𝑒𝒹𝒹𝓎! 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈.
𝒯𝑒𝒹𝒹𝓎, 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝐿𝓊𝒹𝓌𝒾𝑔. 𝒲𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓂𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓈 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒹𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀𝒻𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒥𝒶𝒸𝓀. 𝐼’𝓂 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝒽𝒾𝓂 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐼𝓃𝓃𝓀𝑒𝑒𝓅 𝐼𝓃𝓃.Amelia’s head tilted a bit at Ludwig’s question, her eyes moving towards the counter until she saw the sign. That was one way to get legends from the Falls but also a way to drown money down the tubes since there were just so many to cover, not that most adults wanted to talk about it. It would be better off to just go to the Mystery Shack for those kinds of things.
’Maybe I should suggest that to them…’, she thought before Ludwig’s next statement got to her. Her eyes widened, sparkling with excitement as a huge grin lit up her face as she leaned closer before frantically scribbling down notes for the one across from her to read.
𝒴𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒢𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝐹𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑜! 𝒥𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝑔𝑒𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝑒! 𝒲𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶 𝑔𝓃𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈.
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒸𝒽𝑒𝒸𝓀 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑀𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝒮𝒽𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒶 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝑀𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒢𝒶𝓇, 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑀𝒶𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝑀𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓈. 𝒪𝒽! 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓃𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐼𝓃𝓃!She quickly slid the notepad over, tapping it for him to read while turning around to smile at Teddy. Her excitement and happiness full blown which was showing in her lively motions as she signed to him.
’Did you hear that!? There are more adventures in town now. Isn’t that exciting!? I wonder what Jack will think about that? Hey, thanks for joining us by the way. It’s nice having you here.’Theo’s head tilted to the side, mirroring Amelia from the delayed hello from the new guy. From the way his eyes wandered about before speaking, Teddy took a guess that he was an overactive thinker of sorts. Calling attention to the person up at the counter offering money for secrets, his tilted head bounced from shoulder to shoulder in consideration of what Glasses had questioned. In regards to people investigating weirdness in the Falls, it was nothing uncommon. In fact, it was a highlight, even for the people that lived here for many years.
Looking down to Ami as she spoke, he took notice of the notebook’s contents. Learning his name to be Ludwig, as well as the explanation for their meeting, Teddy felt a little more at ease. Although alert as always, Ami automatically alienated any aimed antagonism. As she elaborated, he caught a glimpse of some of what she wrote before she passed it over.
The explorations of Jack and Ami were definitely something to remember, and he could relate to their curiosity. For as far back as his memories of the Falls furloughed, the Forest was part of Teddy himself. Even before his time in the
Lost Woods, there was something he felt that he couldn’t explain. A draw--ing of attention was afforded and awarded to Ami as she addressed him directly. A glimmer of his eyes and a slight squint was indicative of the smile beneath his mask. Her enigmatic enthusiasm was energetic and infectious.
“Pawlways a pleasure.”Her grin brightened as she took note of Teddy’s smile, happy that she was the one to put it there and brighten his day. The mask blocked it from view but she had found that the saying ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ to be extremely helpful when it came to her friend, using them to read his emotions or reactions. She would usually observe facial features to go about reading others and figure out what they were thinking, noting when to give silent support but Teddy was one she had to really try to read. She hadn’t expected him to use a bear pun to answer her even if she should have but her eyes sparkled in amusement anyway, her shoulders shaking in a silent giggle.
'So he CAN speak.' Ludwig thought to himself, glancing at... Wait, what had the paper said? Ludwig looked back at what Amelia wrote. Teddy? This guy really was all about bears, wasn't he? Between the name, the pun, and the fact he was literally toting around a bunch of bears. An itch in his hair made him realize that the bearington bear over there wasn't the only strange thing in the room. Moe was starting to get annoyed with being stuffed away, but there wasn't time for that right now. He scratched the top of his head, but in secret, was getting the squirrel to pipe down.
Looking at the rest of Amelia's message, he found surprise in the fact that she was so invested in the whole mystery solving business already. If his eyes popped out any farther his glasses would have shattered. This was fantastic news! Having a local who was this interested to help him on his way would be very helpful! And they even knew what gnomes were! Ludwig felt at home more than he ever thought he would, right about now.
"Oh yeah, I heard about that Mystery Shack thing. I just figured it was a tourist trap." He admitted, scratching his head genuinely this time.
"I'll definitely have to go check it out." Amelia didn't seem like the type to send him in the direction of something fake, though she did admit her family owned the place. For the sake of their mutual enemy that was uncatchable gnomes, he'd just see for himself.
Well, if they were invested like this, he could probably share his little secret. Moe was getting annoying, and probably needed to poke out from the hairy mess she was in anyways.
"Well, if you guys like mysteries, then maybe you wouldn't mind one more?" Knowing that'd catch their attention, he clicked his tongue before reaching into the mess of chocolate-colored hair on his head.
"This," He spoke in a presenting manner, hands gesturing to the fidgeting creature.
"Is Moe. I discovered her years ago, and have never found out the reason behind her coloring. But it's not only that, she's smart t--" He paused as the squirrel turned to face him, up on its hindlegs and tapping a foot at him. Rolling his eyes, Ludwig reached into his coat and broke off part of a beef stick, pulling it out before flicking it at the squirrel, who caught it effortlessly before plopping down to chew on it.
"She's unlocked windows, hamster cages, my cell phone that one time..." He trailed off, before getting back to what he was saying.
"Genuinely, I have no idea where she came from, or what kind of family she potentially had. But the closer we got to this place, the happier she seemed to be. So I figure there's got to be something somewhere making her feel that way. Or she just really likes the sight of all the trees, I don't know."Amelia’s gaze fell on Ludwig as he spoke up, her smile drifting a bit into a nervous one as he spoke about the Mystery Shack as a tourist trap which it kind of was but there were some stories that seemed a little more valid or at least sounded that way when Gar told them. She lifted her hand tilting it slightly as to warn him that it kinda was. She was still glad that he was willing to check it out and make an opinion for himself. She tilted her head questioningly at the boy before who spoke of another mystery, making her look to Teddy curiously as if asking him what he thought before turned to pay attention to Ludwig. Not even a moment later, her eyes were wide and her jaw slightly hanging open as she was practically out of her seat to lean closer, admiring the squirming creature in his hands. She had so many questions flying through her head and was so excited that she kept looking between the two boys not sure if she should frantically scribble it down or just spill her thoughts to Teddy directly.
She listened to the details Ludwig stated and nodded with each fact as if to commend it to memory. Amelia had never seen a green squirrel in any of her walks through the forest but that didn’t mean the creature couldn’t have been from here. Maybe it was an unexplored area or maybe he was right that the trees just called to Moe but there was always a chance the strange and unique were just drawn to love this place. She wasn’t really sure but all she knew was that Moe was completely and utterly adorable! She desperately wanted to pet and cuddle the small squirrel but knew better. It took time for animals to trust others and a smart one probably even more time. It was just amazing to see something like this, watching her eat the beef stick happily. Amelia quickly wrote out a note, making sure both boys could read it.
𝒮𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜 𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓇𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒! 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈! 𝑀𝑜𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝒶 𝒻𝒶𝓈𝒸𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒𝒽𝑜𝓁𝒹....𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝑜𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝒻 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝒶𝒾𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒹𝒹𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓂𝑒𝒶𝓉?"W-Well, actually..." Ludwig was quick to speak up as he read Amelia’s note, finding it funny to the point he let out a small chuckle.
"Squirrels are omnivores, so it actually isn’t that odd that she eats meat." He explained, smiling.
"But due to multiple circumstances, they tend to have more vegetarian diets, so I don’t blame you for not knowing. I was pretty surprised it was normal, too. But I tossed some pieces of a beef stick out in a park and sure enough, other squirrels picked them up." Amelia couldn’t help but feel shocked and stunned by the new information given to her. She instantly turned to Teddy and signing,
’Did you know that?’Teddy’s head bobbed left and right before slowly nodding to answer Ami’s question. Furthermore, he signed;
’Squirrels eat like chickens.’ Brown eyes studied the emerald eating enigma. He’d seen a lot of things in his travels, but a green squirrel wasn’t one of them. Much less one that had enough sentience to show irritability in a humanlike manner. Somehow she was interested in the Falls too apparently? Did this Moe live here before ending up with Glasses? Theo had many questions, though few would he actually ask.
His peripheral vision caught movement from two directions though. The front door, and from behind the counter. A hand went down to Grizz’s zipper as it seemed the drinks ordered earlier were coming at least. Though the diner was pretty lax about people’s animals, it was at least a thing to not have them on the tables. Bad look for the business, for obvious reasons. What was more, a green squirrel ought to bring more attention to Ludwig than he may have wanted. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the creature hidden in the first place.
Thus, before the waitress came over, or the group of people he heard walking in, he pulled out another beef stick from Grizz. Pulling off the plastic pretty easily, he zipped Grizz up loud enough to surely grab the rodent’s attention. Noting the bigger boy with Sid from earlier on the swift approach to a nearby booth, he tossed the jerky just above Moe to crash onto the seat beside Ludwig closer to the wall. The squirrel’s head followed the trajectory of the jerky with large, beady eyes that showed the plan was a success well before it lunged towards the jerky, falling into the seat beside Ludwig and laying there, content to chew on it’s new prize.
Crushing the jerky wrapper in his hand, Theo stuffed it into his pocket smoothly as the waitress showed up.
Although eyeing Teddy for his odd seating choice, his chocolate milk made it to the table.
Ludwig hadn’t understood why Ted threw the jerky until the waitress walked up. Realizing he was in a diner, and he had left his rodent on the table, he slumped back in his seat a little, embarrassed. The orders came in quick, the waitress seemingly just kindly smiled at Amelia and knew what she wanted, and wrote down Ludwig’s order that involved sausage, bacon, gravy, with a few biscuits on the side.
As she walked away, Ludwig was getting a little ancy in his seat, and decided to do the same.
”I’ll be back in a few minutes,” He said, figuring the wait for the food would be a great time to talk to that person who was at the counter. Clicking his tongue, Moe glared at him momentarily, still gnawing at the jerky in the seat. There was an awkward moment of silence before the squirrel quickly brought itself, along with the jerky, to the end of the seat for him to scoop up.
Quickly, he brought her over to Amelia’s side of the table. She was still gnawing on the jerky while in Ludwig’s hands.
”Sorry to ask so suddenly, but can you keep an eye on her for a few minutes?” He asked, holding out the tame little green creature.
”She won’t bite-- Well, especially not with food.”Her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning before she nodded enthusiastically to the request to watch over the little green squirrel. She has wanted to hold and give Moe affection but she hadn’t thought she would be able to soon. She carefully held out her hands, not wanting to startle her or to harm her by picking Moe up wrong. The moment she was snug in her palms, she tucked the squirrel up near her neck and gave Moe light little pets, being extremely careful as if she were made out of glass. She figured if the squirrel wanted to hide at any point that being closer to her hair would be the best spot since that is where she had naturally been hiding on Ludwig.
”Thanks! I promise I’ll be back soon.” Ludwig said as the squirrel left his hands. He turned, heading towards his objective for leaving in the first place: He approached the counter in as casual of a manner as he could, looking back nervously once or twice to make sure Moe wasn’t trying to eat his new friends. Not that… He thought she would, really. But you could never be too wary with that little devil.
Approaching the individual, Ludwig attempted a greeting.
”Hello--” ”Hold it right there, buddy!”But that was extremely short lived, as a voice behind him cut him off quickly. Ludwig’s body went stiff as he slowly turned, trying to see who was shouting at him.
Majoraa
TruthHurts
LG
