The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

Strawberries

By Joona Irene

~~still Lilac POV~~

        Gently I opened the door, a sleeping Dipper in my arms. Bill's shadow entered shortly behind me as I pulled back Dipper's blanket and set him down in his bed. I tugged off his hat and set it down on the dresser beside him. Poor Dipper. I looked over at a sleeping Mabel, with Waddles in her arms. So sweet. Kids were adorable. I floated out, Bill on my heels, and went back to my tree to wait for morning. The sun felt warm and a strong breeze played with my hair as I relaxed.
       Everything was going great. Even though Bill still hung around from time to time, I had great friends and the drama was over. It was happy, for me, to be relaxed. I leaned back in the tree, playing with my red ribbon between my fingers.

       Later that same morning I hopped out of the tree and walked to the Mystery Shack to see what the twins were up to. I knocked on the door to see Dipper and Mabel running up the stairs, and a pantless Stanford.
       "Good morning." I greeted him. "Are Dipper and Mabel busy?"
       "UH..." he said, looking uncomfortable. "Yes..?"
        "Oh, alright then." I said, heading back out. That was an odd answer, but I figured he just didn't know. I would come back later after spending some time with McGucket.
         "Wait, kid!" Stanford stopped me. "Er, I need your help with...a thing. A very big thing!" He added.
         "What do you need?" I asked.
         "The kids are going out and I need your help." He said.
         "Yes, okay, but with what?" I asked again. He noticeably swallowed hard.
         "Do you know how to cook?" He asked. "I want to try a new recipe for them and I could do it myself, but I figure it's such a big...thing...that I could use some help. And you know what they like, right?"
          "I am really bad at cooking." I said honestly. I didn't figure Stanford as the cooking type, so this felt even more strange to me. But then again I didn't know him very well, so I shouldn't judge.
          "But I do know how to bake." I offered. He seemed to light up.
          "Great because it's a cake recipe!" He exclaimed. "And I uh, wanted to try it!" He said, then coughed.
Hmm, seemed fishy to me, but if he thought I could help I wouldn't refuse.
         "Alight, let's get started." I said.
Stanford led me into the kitchen and pulled out a book. Then he began pulling out things like eggs, flour and sugar, plus food dye.
         "Just let me know what you want me to do." I said, watching him.
         "Yeah, find the recipe kid." He said, pointing to the book. How will I know which one is right?
         "Um, Stan-"
         "What, you got problems opening a book? Just pick a recipe already."
         "I thought it was a specific recipe." I said, opening the book.
         "It's a new book." He replied, fishing out butter from the fridge.
         "Alright, then I guess just choose any cake recipe?" I asked.
         "Yeah, yeah whatever." Stanford waved a hand at me. I frowned and looked at the cakes. I have made many types of cakes but I had no idea what to make for the twins. A simple chocolate cake, or something more like a upside-down fruit based cake? Cheese cake? Coconut oil and cinnamon? There were many choices and I tried to remember the different foods Mabel and Dipper had eaten.
Well, Mabel eats a lot of fruity candy. And Dipper once ate a nut bar of sorts, covered in caramel or something. So...this strawberry walnut cake is a bit of both. It could have a creamy icing on top with a walnut paste filling, or maybe a strawberry jam would be better...
         "What about this one?" I asked, pointing to the recipe. Stanford came and examined my choice.
        "Yeah sure! But I'll have to go get some more things for it to work. Uh, don't move, I'll be right back." With that he left, racing out of the kitchen and past the front door. I blinked, surprised, then hopped onto the counter, swinging my legs back and forth. I hummed a little tune to myself and stared at the ceiling. It was a nice ceiling. Some time passed and I heard a car door slam. I hopped down and returned to the exact position I was in when he left. Stanford walked in with a paper bag, and kinda jumped when he saw me.
       "Wait, you didn't move?" He asked, scratching his head.
      "You said not to." I said, shrugging.
      "Alright, whatever. Let's just make this cake." He grumbled. He had me grind up the walnuts and strawberries, until he noticed me glaring at the jam.
       "Okay enough of that. You're done." He said, nudging me aside. I threw one last dirty look at the strawberries before stirring the batter. We then added most of the jam and all the ground up nuts to the batter and I continued stirring. Once that was done, it was put in a pan and then into the oven. Stanford then began working on the frosting while I continued to glare at the strawberries.
        "Alright, what?" Stanford suddenly asked. "What do you have against strawberries? It's unnatural!"
        "They're imposters." I said simply.
        "That doesn't make sense!" He argued.
        "Well, it's simple really. They pretend to be fruit. But they aren't. They're really a hybrid of fragaria. The definition of fruit is-"
          "Whatever! If you have a grudge against delicious fruit that's not my problem." He began stirring the frosting.
          "Even now, they lie." I growled. "Stupid strawberries. They can't hide forever..."
Stanford finished the creamy icing and we waited in a silence for the cake to finish baking. Soon it was done, and then I watched as Stanford filled it and iced it, then put it on a nice plate.
           "Well, glad I could help." I said, "Although I think you could have done it without me." I added pointedly.
           "Alright, you caught me. The kids wanted me to distract you, keep you in the Shack all day for whatever reason. I don't know why."
           "And you agreed?" I asked.
          "My niece scares me." He admitted. I laughed.
         "Understandable." I said. For a human at least...
           "So I guess you're going to go then, huh?" He asked, frowning.
        "No, actually I'll stay." I said. "I'll be nice and play along. I don't mind." I said, shrugging.
        "Okay then." Stanford said. "Uh...well, I'm out of ideas. What do you want to do?"
        "Anything is fine." I said. "Although since I arrived I have been curious about the development of television."
        "....So you wanna watch T.V.?"
        "Yes."
Stanford led me into the living room and took a seat in the recliner. I sat on the carpet in front of the T.V., excited to see how far this particular piece of tech has advanced since last I visited civilization. Moving pictures was an oddity to me, and each one had so many different layers and elements to it that I found it fascinating.
        Stanford switched it on from where he was sitting and I held in a gasp. Immediately a picture came on, fully colored and a lot clearer than I remembered.
        "Woah." I breathed.
        "This is called Grandpa the Kid. It's a western show." Stanford explained.
        "I see." I said, eyes glued to the screen. The program had been switched on mid way through the story, so I wasn't sure what was happening. Instead of following the story, I paid more attention to the detail.
        "That dust is so amazing." I said, pointing to the cloud kicked up by a character's horse. "Look at it! It's all...PUUFF!"
        "Sure." Stanford said, and I could tell he was rolling his eyes.
        "And look at his sweat. It's so tiny!"
        "And you've permanently ruined television for me." Stanford said, turning it off. I blinked, wondering if maybe I took it too far. But at least the graphics are a lot clearer than I remembered, which was good. Technology always amazed me.
        "You act like you've never seen a T.V. before." Stanford complained, raising an eyebrow. I blinked.
        "Of course I have." I objected. "Did I scream when you turned it on? Did I?"
        "Well, no, but-"
        "Did I run away when the screen began moving?"
        "No."
        "Exactly. So stop treating me like some dinosaur." I huffed, folding my arms across my chest. "I'm just different is all."
        "No, you're just strange." He argued.

Well, you got that one right.