Gravity Rises (S2)

AN: Ambient Valley

AN: This is an original one-shot/first chapter that I'm posting in honor of the five-year anniversary of Gravity Falls. I hope it shows how much of an impact the show has had on my life and my writing, and how the idea of a magical place in the woods is such a perfect setting for a story - something I wouldn't have known without Gravity Falls to show me. So, based off the Anti-Gravity AU and the show Gravity Falls, I give you Ambient Valley.

As the sun rose over the emerald pines of the Payette Forest, everything was perfectly at peace. Birds chirped and hopped between the tips of the pointed trees, greeting each other and stretching their wings in the bright sunlight. Pine needles swayed softly in the morning breeze, waving at and welcoming in the new day. It was a perfect summer day in The Middle of Nowhere, Idaho.

Until one pine tree shuddered and bent, sending a flock of offended birds screeching into the sky.

Penelope Asher grabbed at the next bough, hauling herself up through the tree. The tree rocked under her weight, but she moved with the trunk and didn't falter. Her bare feet found each branch and planted themselves solidly onto the wood.

She quickly reached the top of the pine, swaying back and forth with the narrow tip. She grinned up at the clear blue sky. "Good morning, world!"

The world sang back at her.

The birds she had driven off wheeled around her head, some finding new trees to settle in, others taking the opportunity to go for a nice flight. Penny reached up a hand and laughed as the birds' wingtips brushed against her fingers.

The laugh turned to a screech of surprise as one of the birds dove at her.

It was a big woodpecker, and there was murder in its eyes. It swooped down at Penny, who cried out and ducked beneath the trees branches. Her eyes raked the boughs of the pine tree until she found it: a nest, where four baby birds huddled together, chirping softly.

"Sorry, Mama Bird!" Penny said, scrambling down the tree before the woodpecker could get to her. She stopped halfway down the tree and looked up just as the mother woodpecker settled into the nest and gathered its chicks close to it.

Penny hadn't meant to cause any distress. But these things happened, and all the chicks were safe. She shimmied down the rest of the tree trunk and landed on the forest floor, her feet slapping the dirt.

She walked along the forest floor, slipping her toes under the pine needles strewn across it, enjoying the sunlight that streamed through the trees and listening to the sounds of the forest.

"Penelope! Penny, where are you?"

That voice certainly wasn't a sound of the forest. Penny turned and jogged towards it. "Over here, Dad!" she called once she figured she was in shouting distance. Her father's voice carried a lot farther than hers.

It was only a minute longer before she saw him. Terry Asher was standing with his huge arms folded, grinning down at her. "There you are! Where'd you go?"

"I just went to say good morning to the forest," she said, skidding to a stop in front of him. "I accidentally upset a mama woodpecker, though."

"Oho," said Terry, "be glad you still have eyes."

"I sure am," Penny replied.

Terry reached down and picked an errant pine needle out of Penny's red hair. "Now listen, Mrs. Hutchinson wants your help again — "

Penny moaned.

Terry raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Penny said, "it's just that she talks forever and expects me to sit still and listen. And she tells me I should brush my hair more. And she smells like skunk."