adelaide parade

"Oh my, a talking little elephant! But a pyramide? Aliens? No no, I’m much more than that kiddo. I’m a dream demon! Ya can call me Bill Cipher. And who’s your little froggy friend over there hm?

"Woah, that's even cooler!" The guy said he was a demon, Greg. That's not cool, that's like. Really bad. But then again, he said he was a dream demon. Which actually sounded pretty rad. Hecking rest in peace, Greg.

"And you knew that I'm an elephant! I usually have to explain that to people. Oh! And this is Jason Funderberker." He paused a moment to pick up the frog and present it to the other.

"Ok…" She still felt a little uneasy about going into Wirt’s room, but Greg seemed pretty hyped for it, so there was no way she’d back out now. Once they had reached the door, Sara stepped back to let her frog-toting friend do the honors. He seemed to have a little trouble turning the knob, but eventually he got it. 

Once the door was open, Sara peered in, wondering what kind of deep, dark secrets could be hiding in this room. She stepped through the doorway, looking around.

"I don’t remember Wirt’s room being this nice. Last time I was here, it was like a tornado came through." As her eyes gazed around the room, she spotted a pile of paper on top of a desk across from Wirt’s bed. "Aha!" She picked up a sheet and smirked. "Look, Greg, I found some prime wizard-costume-making material!"

Greg, of course, had hardly waited even a millisecond before wandering into his brother's room, checking in the strangest places for paper. None in his dresser! Nothing under his bed, either. Although he did find a few scraps under his pillow. But they already had writing on it. How was Greg supposed to draw cool wizard things on these?

Thankfully, Sara seemed to find some all on her own, though, so Greg let out a happy "oh!" and quickly made his way back to her.

"Woah, it's perfect! All I found were these." He waved the pages he'd found at Sara for a moment or two before tossing them aside. Oops. All over Wirt's recently cleaned floor. Oh well. "Now all we need is the tape, right? To the kitchen! Maybe there'll even be some cookies in there, too!"

( Ꮚ ; )               gosh, he really wasn’t going to be coming down anytime soon, was he? well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right?

              “if i go up there with                 you, will you please                come down?”

he didn’t plan on even going over the wall; he knew exactly why greg was up there and what he was trying to do. but wirt knew the truth. everything they’d encountered was nothing more than a dream, induced by a coma.

and even if greg’s crazy theory was true, he wouldn’t know what to do. would it even mean anything? he didn’t want to know. ignorance is bliss is how the saying goes, after all.

Well well, would you look at that! The problem had solved itself! Anything really was possible if you set your mind to it. All he had to do was believe in his goal, and it came true all on its own.

Who knows! Maybe Jason Funderberker would even suddenly grow fingernails so he could make Greg's dream about playing guitar better come true, too! But he'd worry about that later. There was something way more important to deal with right now!

"Yeah! Come on, Wirt, we can't get down without our captain!" Okay, so he totally could, but whatever. Shh. Let's not mention that out loud.

Not one, but two frogs this time. His brother looked like he was about to drop one of them, and Wirt wasn’t sure which frog that was. To him, both frogs looked too much alike.

"Oh, um…sure. Did you choose a name for her?" Please, don’t tell me it’s Sara.That’d be his luck, if Greg chose that as the new frog’s name. After all, wasn’t Jason Funderburker the male frog’s name?

The elder sibling stared at the frogs with slight interest. He wanted to be more invested in Greg’s interests. He wanted to be a better brother. “Are…you sure that one’s a girl? I mean, how can you tell?”

Greg let out a loud gasp before his brother was even done speaking. First he questioned Jason Funderberker's gender, and now this? How could he! Unfortunately, this also caused him to drop Jason Funderberker. The animal let out a small croak, but he seemed to be alright. He was a strong frog, he could take it.

"Wirt! Don't say that!" He turned to the frog who still remained in his hands. "Don't listen to him, Princess Diana, you're the prettiest girl frog I've ever seen!" Originally, he'd been considering calling her Princess Adelaide, but Adelaide hadn't been very pretty. And obviously, Greg needed to name her after someone beautiful! Although her name was likely going to change a few times before he found one that suited her juuuust right.

"Yeah, I’m sorry Greg..But we definitely will some other time, I promise!" Wirt then turned to look at Greg. 

"And uh… as much as I would enjoy you and /ahem/ ‘Jason’ to play your instruments with me, I’d rather practice solo for right now. You and your frog can stay and watch though, that’s totally fine by me, as long as you don’t make too much noise.." 

"Oh boy! That's even better than watching the frog thing! Do you hear that, Jason? Wirt's gonna give us a special performance!" And as if on cue, the frog that had previously been resting on top of the boy's head let out a croak of its own.

"Don't worry, Wirt. We'll be the best audience!"

Floaty guy…? OH. Right! That’s me.

So, the kid liked to talk! Good. It was nice to see someone who actually wanted to engage the demon in conversation, unlike a certain moody blond.

He offered a sharp toothed smile as he floating upside down, right in front of Greg’s face.

"I’m kind of surprised you can see me! Not many humans can. I’m a de—" He paused, unsure if he should admit to being a demon. Sure, Sock liked scaring people. He used to love murdering people. Speaking of murder and homicide excited him. …but the thought of tainting this innocent child’s mind? He sighed. “Um…yeah, I’m a ghost. A special kind of ghost.

I go by Sock.”

Sure, Greg wondered about what the guy had been about to say before he cut himself off. But only for a fraction of a second, because the things he said next made Greg excited beyond human comprehension. But hopefully not beyond ghost comprehension. 

"Woah, a ghost? Really? Just wait until I tell my Unky Endicott! Now he can face his fears! He thought he saw a ghost once, but it was just some lady." Who maybe might be Greg's aunt by this point? Not that he was really related to Endicott in the first place, but he still thought of the guy as family.

"Thats a good name, too! My name's Greg, but that's not as cool." Seriously. Sock. That was the coolest name ever!!! Why couldn't he have been named Sock?

( Ꮚ ; )               really, how much longer was he expected to put up with this kid? sure, he was his brother, but he swore one of these days greg would seriously give him a heart attack.

              “greg! what are you                doing? get down from                there before you hurt                yourself!”

"I'll be fine! I have Jason Funderberker with me!" He paused a moment to pick up the frog who was sitting on the wall with him. "He's a professional!" A professional at what? We will likely never know. Besides, he couldn't come down! He needed to go over it again to prove to Wirt that all of that stuff had been real. But how was he going to get Wirt up there with him, uh... Well, he'd work on that.

"……."

"WHAT kind of shenanigans are you children up to?!?!?" She raised her hands up skyward for added affect, and up into the heavens did Wart ascend as well.

"Well." I hope you're ready for a wild explanation, Bee.

"We were trying to get this tape that Wirt made back from Sara the Bee, because Wirt was worried that Jason Funderberker would ask her out first. And then they saw the tape and Wirt jumped over the wall, so I thought I should go too!"

Wirt got startled by Greg’s random outburst and intrusion. “You were really looking all over for me? And the thought didn’t even occur to you that i’d be in my own room?” Wirt shook his head

"Anyways, Greg, I’m a little busy practicing right now, Can’t you just watch the frog special without me?" Wirt flipped one of the pages of his book to the next music sheet and began trying to tune his clarinet to the perfect melody.

Ignoring his brother's initial statement, Greg simply let out a loud, obnoxious, and slightly offended sounding gasp.

"No way! He's our frog! We need to watch it with him together, or else Jason Funderberker might get confused!" But if Wirt was really busy practicing... 

"But that's okay! We can watch it the next time its on. So can I listen to you practice? Oh! Jason Funderberker, too! I can even go get my trumpet so we can start a band! Jason can play drums."

And to answer his question, no. It did not occur to Greg. Not even once. Well, actually, yeah. Once. Only once. That once that lead Greg to check the room in the first place. At least he'd thought of it at all, right?

"You’re sure Wirt won’t mind if we go into his room? He’s kinda particular about that stuff." He never really told her anything about his personal life to be quite frank. Every time she tried to talk to him about anything really deep, he’d get all red and stutter a lot. She figured it was just some kind of quirk he had. No biggie. "But, if you think it’s ok, then I’m right behind you!"

She smiled down to her little friend. “Now, once we get our hands on some paper all we’ll need is some glue…” She wondered what they could use instead of glue, just in case they didn’t have any. Staples? Tape? Everyone has tape, right?? “If you guys have, like, tape or something, that could work, too.”

"Well, he always tells me to knock before going in, but since he's not home, I don't think we have to! Oh! And we have tape in the kitchen! Mom keeps it near our fridge so I can tape up my drawings whenever I need to!" It was at around that moment that their small journey had come to and end. Here they are... at the fabled door. His brother's room lay just beyond this wooden slab. What amazing treasures would they find behind it? Well, he supposed he'd just have to open it and find out.

He stood on the tips of his toes, despite the fact that he didn't need to in order to reach the doorknob. It was mostly for dramatic effect. So, of course, he made a big deal out of turning the knob and pushing open the door.

"Tadaa! I think he even cleaned up a little bit! Usually there's clothes and poetry pages all over the floor."

"No, I am not part clam. Pearls come from oysters anyways. I’m what’s called a Crystal Gem. We’re technically an alien race, but we’ve been here for longer than many modern countries have." There was a hint of pride in her voice, only just barely, but it was still there. Lasting through civil wars that started nations was an impressive feat. Surviving wasn’t really the thing that impressed most people though. It was the whole being an alien thing, or being thousands of years old. It was never ‘Oh wow Pearl, you survived a long time with a warmongering race other than your own!’

"I’m know by my namesake," A pale hand motioned swiftly to the gem on her forehead, "Pearl. Would you happen to know where we are…" The sentence was left open-ended, allowing the child to insert his name and answer the question.

While Greg listened as intently as he was able to what the girl said, there was really only a single tidbit of information that stuck with him. And, of course, that tidbit was, unsurprisingly...

"You're an alien? You're not here to kidnap me, are you? And do experiments on me? If you take me, you'll have to take my frog, too, or else that wouldn't be fair." Of course he was excited about this prospect rather than afraid of it. Of course he was. Jeez, Greg. You really need to be more wary of strangers.

"Oh! And we're in my home town. Did you crash land here, or something? Is your spaceship nearby? Can I come see it?"