Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was an abnormally cold Summer night, and the sun had set unusually early. A full moon hung in the sky over the town of Gravity Falls. Kids ran around, excitedly knocking on doors and trick-or-treating. Melons burned outside the front of houses, and decorations covered every street. Yes, it was Summerween, and four strangers to the town wanted to take part in the festivities.

Gathered outside the Mystery Shack, on the border of the forest, was a repatively large group, all prepared to go out and enjoy the holiday. Of course, they were all too old for trick or treating, aside from the youngest among them. But that wasn't going to stop them from making the most of the evening. It was a group of ten, consisting of all sorts of people. Dipper and Mabel were situated infront of the rest, although for once they weren't wearing matching costumes. Mabel had decided to dress as a headless horseman, having created a large costume that situated her head in a pair of fake arms. Dipper on the other hand, had gone with a different, but no less classic, idea. He was a vampire, fake blood staining the plastic fangs in his mith, and a long, black and red suit. Beside Mabel was Candy and Grenda, both dressed as princesses, and beside Dipper was Wirt. He'd chosen Frankenstein's monster as his costume, green facepaint and fake screws in his neck. He used his glowing eyes to great effect, citing the book as his inspiration to use them. Greg yawned when he'd said this, saying that his pirate captain outfit was much more original.

Infront of those six were four others, who had not experienced the holiday before, some who hadn't even experienced Halloween. Beatrice was the first, looking eager as she made some last minute adjustments to her witch outfit. (When Dipper had asked why she'd chosen that, she simply said "Do what you know.") Next to Beatrice was Lorna, dressed in a sexy nurse outfit, which was unusual for the normally reserved woman. Wirt had asked her why she'd chosen it, and she'd replied with a chuckle and claimed "I knew it would embarass Turtle, and I don't mind showing myself off to Beatrice occasionally." Sure enough, when Beatrice had spotted her girlfriend in the form fitting white leotard and nurse's cap, her face had immediately turned bright pink.

Finally, the last two were the closest to what would pass for costumes on their own, though that didn't mean they skimped on their own. The Beast and Enoch stood beside eachother, for once standing at a similar height to one another. The Beast was wearing a wendigo outfit, a moose skull strapped to his face and long furs flowing from his torso, as well as fake hooves and claws. Enoch's costume was perhaps the one which had had the most effort put into it. He had created an entirely new body for himself, more specifically a scarecrow. It's pumpkin head glowed with the fire within, and it's wooden legs moved entirely on their own. Mabel had immediately rushed over to examine the handiwork, telling Enoch that he simply must give her some tips on how he made it. Enoch had quickly agreed, always happy to help his niece-in-law.

After explaining the basics of the holiday to the residents of The Unknown, they all set off. Greg quickly split off with Mabel, Candy and Grenda, the three older girls happy to supervise him (and look out for cute boys) while he was trick or treating, allowing the others to roam freely. While all four of the non-locals had been into the town before, they were all surprised by the level of the festivities. Lorna seemed exceptionally excited by the decorations, dragging Beatrice around to people's front lawns and pointing out her favourite items. Beatrice seemed happy enough to go along with it, delighting at the wonderful look on her girlfriends face.

Enoch also seemed to be enjoying himself, admiring the costumes, and every now and then leaning over to scare a passer-by, the flames within his pumpkin head growing fiercer and bursting out of the gourd. This was always met by a small tut from The Beast, although it seemed more of endearment than annoyance.

"You mustn't scare the locals too much Pumpkin. We don't want to be driven out." He warned, but Dipper just shrugged, spinning around from infront of the two.

"Actually, today's probably the only day you can get away with that, aside from actual Halloween." He reassured The Beast, only for Wirt to gently nudge him.

"Don't encourage him." He said with a voice of mock disappointment.

Dipper just flashed him a grin, his fake fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Wirt rolled his glowing eyes, glad that his blush wasn't visible through the green facepaint.

The group carried on moving through the town, eventually happening upon a haunted house. Lorna's face lit up upon seeing it, turning to Beatrice and the others.

"May we please go in!?" She asked excitedly. Beatrice shrugged looking thoroughly unimpressed with the building.

"If we wanted ghosts we'd just visit Endicott." She reasoned, crossing her arms. However, she wasn't expecting Lorna to run over and pull her into a tight hug, pressing their bodies together as close as she could. Lorna leaned over whispering into Beatrice's ear so close that the redhead could feel her breath. "Please can you come with me? I might need to jump into your arms if I get scared." Beatrice gulped and nodded, her face burning crimson. Wirt snickered behind them and pulled Dipper into the haunted house. Lorna quickly looked over to The Beast.

"Are you going to come in as well, Turtle?" She asked hopefully, though The Beast shook his head.

"I shall remain outside. The smoke in the air is intoxicating, and I wish to indulge for as long as I can."

Enoch's pumpkins smile flared brighter as he wrapped an arm around The Beast's shoulders, still slightly taller than The Voice of The Night, even in his newest scarecrow form.

"I'll remain outside as well, keep Beasty company." He stated, and Lorna nodded before dragging Beatrice into the building.

The two eldritch beings soon found a bench to sit down on, Enoch's straw arm still wrap around The Beast's furs. To even his surprise, The Beast lowered his antlered head to rest it on Enoch's shoulder, careful not to damage the clothes on the scarecrow. He let out a contented sigh, allowing his bright white eyes to close beneath the goat's skull.

"This is odd for you Beasty." Enoch remarked, running a hand through The Beast's furs. "You don't normally act this... domestic. Especially in public." He noted, and Beast murmered a reply.

"I told you the smoke is intoxicating. As are you, Pumpkin." He said, reaching a hand around Enoch's waist an burying his head further into his partner's shoulder. It was only then that since his disentanglement with the Dark Lantern, The Beast had had a strange reaction to smoke. He became more emotional, and cared less about maintaining his prim and proper nature. Every now and then he lit a small fire in Enoch's barn before spending the night, to help him unwind from his duties.

Enoch's grinning pumpkin face shifted into a frown. "If you need to go home and take a bre-" He was shushed by a long wooden finger over the pumpkin.

"No, this is perfect. I want to relax today Enoch." He interrupted, his glowing eyes flickering open to look up at The Harvest Lord, the white flecked with occasional pink rings. "We're being watched, Pumpkin." Enoch jolted upright, whipping around to find whoever was looking at them. Sure enough, trapped in a group of thick edelwood branches, was a shadowy figure. It sported a large hat, jacket, and an ill-fitting mask.

"Wait a second!" It shouted as Enoch approached it. "You're with the Dipper boy right?"

Heading into the haunted house, the level of attention to detail was immediately obvious. Walls were covered in lit braziers and old fashioned paintings, some of which changed to be more grim and spooky images as people walked past. Lorna seemed positively enraptured by the atmosphere, looking around and gazing at the rooms. Beatrice followed after her, equally interested .

After walking down a couple of corridors, they entered a large dining room, a table full of grisly looking rotten food on the centre of the room. At the head of the table, a slumped over figure sat in the main chair. Lorna rushed over to inspect what she assumed was a dummy, however, she leapt back in fright as the figure looked up to stare at her. It's face had a twisted, bloodstained grin as it began to laugh manically. The girl jumped backwards in surprise, landing in Beatrice's arms. Her girlfriend smiled, hugging her and planting a kiss on her cheek. "I guess I got what I came in for." She murmered, as Lorna's pale cheeks flushed. They hurried on, Beatrice's arm firmly wrapped around Lorna's waist.

Wirt and Dipper managed to make it out of the haunted house much quicker than the other two, most likely because they had been before and knew where all of the scares were. Either way, they were both laughing as they exited the building. It didn't take long for them to find the bench that Enoch and The Beast were situated at. As before, The Beast was resting against Enoch, although despite his usual unreadable expression, an air of worry hung about him. As Dipper and Wirt approached, Beast stood up and walked towards them, placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder.
"Constellation, there is a..." he made some odd hand gestures, finishing with a shrug, "who wants to see you." He finished, pointing towards the edelwood that had bound the trickster.

As they were talking, Wirt sidled over to Enoch, having noticed The Beast's less-than-usual actions. The shrug was the main giveaway, seing that Beast usually had better posture than a royal.
"What's up with him?" He asked, and Enoch looked up at him.
"It's the smoke. We forgot to bring any lamp oil as well." Enoch replied, a slightly guilty tone in his voice.
"We have some at the shack that he can use when we go back." Wirt replied, "Do you think he'll be alright until then?"
Enoch nodded. "He himself said he didn't want to call in an early night, so hopefully he'll be okay."
Wirt responded with a hum of acknowledgement, watching as Beast led Dipper over towards the trapped figure.

"Ah! There is the Pines boy." The Summerween Trickster sounded delighted to see him. Dipper deadpanned; the Trickster reappeared every year, and each time he tracked down Dipper to try and lead him to Soos.
"He's at the shack setting up things for the party." He responded bluntly.
"Thank you ever so much, Mr Dipper." The Trickster replied, before looking up to The Beast. "If you wouldn't mind, sir?"
The Beast was still for a second, and the edelwood roots retracted back into the floor. The Trickster quickly scurried away like a spider, heading in the direction of the Mystery Shack.

Dipper let out a sigh, heading towards Enoch and Wirt. The Beast followed after him, taking a seat on the bench beside the Harvest Lord.
It wasn't long before Lorna and Beatrice exited the haunted house, both apparently love-drunk. Evidently, they had done a little bit more than be scared while inside, judging by the freshly formed hickey on Beatrice's neck.

"Couldn't have waited 'til you get home?" Wirt asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the proud look on Lorna's face. Beatrice's face redened, although she did her best to hide it.
"If they're allowed to do that, we're allowed to do what we like." She replied hotly, pointing to Enoch and The Beast, cuddled so close they were practically ontop of each other.
Dipper shrugged, wrapping his arms around Wirt and pressing a kiss to his cheek.
"She has a point." He defended Beatrice, looking around. "Night's coming to a close now anyway. The Trickster only comes when the last jack-o-melon goes out." He explained to the five others, gesturing around.

Sure enough, they were all extinguished, lights turned out. Darkness had settled in fast, now that the only lights were from the occasional dotted street lamp and Wirt and The Beast's glowing eyes.

The six all headed back to the Shack, talking and laughing as they did so. Afyer sobering up The Beast, they were greeted by Mabel, and a very tired looking Greg.

After an extended goodbye from all of them ( as if those who lived in The Unknown wouldn't visit the next week ), Beatrice, Lorna, Enoch and The Beast all returned to The Unknown, and Greg headed up to bed, alongside Mabel. Wirt and Dipper spent the rest of the evening watching horror movies, eventually falling asleep in each other's arms.

A very successful Summerween in their opinion.