That doodle earlier got me in the mood for some domestic fluff and also a little bit of lore drop. So prepare for some tooth rotting domestic shit with Ford and his alien fish family.
Quick thing: Wrote this bit previously before I wrote the actual drabble and oh shit. I may have gone slightly more into the horror side of the lore than I intended.
So, TW for horror imagery around pregnancy, aliens(?) and brief mention of possession (it's Ford, what more do you expect?)
Ford laughs softly as he tries to pry his daughter's tail out of her mouth for the X time today. Penni had been teething recently and was trying to chew on anything she could get her tiny little six-fingered hands on. Obviously, her own tail was the easiest thing to grab and chew, but her favourite thing to chew was his glasses.
She was an accident borne of an interspecies miscommunication between him and Nimirylov that, despite having been sorted now, had been the biggest strain on their relationship they'd ever had. Nimirylov's species had an interesting way of breeding. The weaker of the partners would carry the child. This is because of how consuming pregnancy is for their species, meaning that the stronger partner needs to stay aware to protect their partner and child.
Ford had been completely unaware of that until suddenly there was something off with him. Nimirylov had simply thought Ford was freaked out because it was an unplanned baby. Meanwhile, it felt like a borderline horror experience for him as alien instincts overtook his body and his mind. At the worst of times, it was eerily reminiscent of being possessed. That disgusts him more than anything else.
It's unfortunately not an inaccurate description, though. These instincts were alien to him, quite literally, and he was totally at their mercy. Pregnancy was quite obviously never something that Ford had expected for himself and therefore never prepared for. Especially not one like this.
It lasted a total of fifteen months, and the last five months of it are, admittedly, a total blur to him. He'd been told later, once he'd finally been able to regain control over himself, that the way he'd acted was completely normal, if not subdued or later than what a member of their species would display pregnancy symptoms.
Arguably, even worse than the pregnancy itself, was the aftermath because then Ford had nobody to blame for how he was feeling or acting but himself. He's been reassured countless times now that the way he felt was completely normal, but at the time, it was terrible. All he wanted was to feel like the him he'd finally been able to become in this world again.
Nimirylov had had to hold him close so many times, reassuring Ford with words his instinct ridden brain could barely process.
It takes Ford by surprise sometimes now, when he looks down at his innocent little girl, that she could've caused that much terror. She's just a tiny little thing who depends on him and his fiancee more than anything. She's the one thing that finally made Ford realise that he deserves to be happy and loved.
He gently takes his glasses off and places them on her little face, watching closely as she giggles wildly as if he just did the funniest thing in the world. Ford had never understood children before, he'd barely understood people before, but his little girl was just special.
Standing up from where he'd been crouched down beside Penni, Ford considers going to see how much of his princely work Nimirylov has gotten done. After all, Nimirylov had lovingly but bluntly banned Ford from their kitchen after his last disastrous attempt at cooking. Therefore, Nimirylov was the sole chef of the house since they'd moved to a small cottage away from everyone else not long after Penni was born in order to just be the three of them for a few years.
Before Ford can leave the room to go and check on his fiancee though, his attention is demanded back by Penni.
"Dadadada," His baby girl babbles and Ford freezes.
"Nimirylov! Come here, quickly!" Ford calls loudly through the house before bending down to pick Penni up and hold her closely in his arms.
Nimirylov rushes into the room a few moments later, a look of panic on his face. His long blue hair that had been so perfectly tied up this morning is now a complete mess. Just as he's about to ask what's wrong, Ford holds Penni out proudly and announces,
"She just spoke! She said dada!" The pride in his voice is something that previously could've only been found within Ford's rambles about his achievements. All of them pale in comparison to the pride he has for Penni.
Nimirylov's eyes widen with joy, and he pulls Penni from Ford's arms to cradle her in his own arms.
"Oh, my darling little minnow, you're so smart, aren't you?" Nimirylov coos softly, poking Penni's little nose. His charisma and skill with spoken words is something Ford could never even dream to match, not even with their daughter.
"I suppose I win then," Ford says after a few moments, a slight smug look on his face.
Nimirylov had jokingly started a competition between them to see which one of them Penni would name first. Which is part of the reason as to why they're both going by human names, both in agreement that English would be an easier language for her to start talking with, seeing as she's a hybrid.
Playfully glaring at him, Nimirylov bounces Penni in his arms before trying to coax her to say "papa" as well.
It continues throughout the rest of the night until they put her down to bed. At which point Nimirylov complained, with no real upset behind it, about how Penni had stubbornly refused to say anything but "dada."
Ford started a new journal in the Washed Away au. He made it blue to;
1. Make it distinct from the original journals which he wants to separate himself from now.
2. Because blue is the colour of his husbands hair and he's secretly a sap.
Anyway, the tiny handprint in the middle is Penni's. Ford had been writing in his journal when she had been painting, and he ended up with a new decoration for the cover of his journal.
This is not going to happen in the Washed Away au, but I might do a crack oneshot of it at some point. Just an au of the au, y'know?
I can't stop imagining if Ford was pregnant again when he came out the portal. Like, he doesn't know, Nimirylov doesn't know, nobody knows. He's just slowly acting more strange as the timeline of the show goes on.
Ford tries really hard to be a good parent in the Washed Away au, but he's definitely worse at it without Nimirylov around anymore. It doesn't help that Penni doesn't want to talk to him as much once they're both in Gravity Falls either.
That's a complicated question, and I will counter it with an equal one. Why does anyone fall in love with anyone?
I could say everything I love about Ford, but none of those are exactly why I'm in love with him, as I'm sure you'll agree. Falling in love isn't a question that can be answered. It's an experience that never ends. When you're truly in love with someone, you fall in love with them more every day.
So, I am unable to answer why I feel in love with Ford, just that I did and I do, forevermore.
However, that feels like a cheap and easy way to get out of answering a question, so instead, I'll tell you something similar. When I first realised I fell in love with Ford.
Looking back on it, I think I had fallen for him from the first moment I saw him. It was not then that I first realised I had and was falling for him, though. Instead, it was after he'd first tried to leave. In the aftermath of that, I was struck with the realisation that I could no longer live my life fully without him. It was a shockingly obvious revelation to come to, and in the end, I will never regret it.
I was going to send you this yesterday, but by the time I found a free moment to do it, I saw that you had written in your most recent post (about how you wrote the one-shot) that you were heading to bed and I didn't want to accidentally disturb you. Anyway, here's some questions I have! I'm sorry if they're a bit less interesting, but it was all my mind was thinking about as I was making a music playlist.
• What songs do you think fit Penni's character or vibe/aesthetic? Why do they strike you as the embodiment of her?
• Essentially the exact same as the previous question, but what songs do you feel like accurately depict Nimirylov's character or vibe/aesthetic? Why?
• Additionally, are there any musicals you think are reminiscent of their, once again, personality or vibe/aesthetic?
• Last music-themed question — does Penni have any favorite songs from Earth?
• Did Penni experience any notable style phases as she grew up? Like, did she have a goth girl phase or anything? Will she have any in the future of your AU as she grows older?
I hope that you didn't mind these questions.
Ooh, thanks for the ask. I always love getting asks from you. Sorry it took me a while to respond. Also, you can send an ask at any time, I don't have notifications on for tumblr, so it won't bother me at all, just might take me some time to reply.
Okay, Penni has slight Telemachus from EPIC vibes. They're in no way similar, but I listened to so much Wisdom Saga on repeat whilst coming up with ideas for Penni that Penni just has Telemachus vibes to me. She absorbed them. There's no good explanation for it, just vibes. I know I've said it before, but I don't have any other answer. She also vaguely has the vibes of the song Gladiator by Jann.
Nimirylov, on the other hand... hm, I don't know. I'm pretty sure I've also said this before, whilst mentioning the Penni Telemachus vibes, but, Nimirylov has both Penelope and Odysseus vibes. I can't say any specific songs, but yeah. I think after both Penni and Ford are gone he specifically has the vibes of the song LET THE WORLD BURN, just because he nosedives mentally after that and is just desperate to get his husband and daughter back.
Well, I've just got to say EPIC, don't I? I've already compared them both to it, and I think I've said in the past that I could easily reorder EPIC in order to write a Nimirylov-centric fic inspired by it.
Penni's favourite songs. This is actually a really easy one for me to answer. If you remember a while back, with the incorrect quotes generator and it kept calling Penni some version of a "whore". It made me make the decision that Penni just listens to the most explicit songs with a straight face. Since Gravity Falls is set in 2012 or 2013, the sort of songs I know like that from then would include: Anything by Sir Mix A Lot, Dead Girl Walking, and Promiscuous. Based on current music, she'd like Kiss Me and Fuck Me (I didn't know how to say) by Crawlers (Oh my gosh, Crawlers is an amazing band, and the examples I gave then are amazing songs) as well as Red Wine Supernova by Chappell Roan. Finally, I remember seeing that it's implied that Ford likes the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), so, Penni likes the song too.
Blunt answer, no. Penni definitely did not have any phases before the timing of the au. She grew up in a universe that doesn't have technology, and she lives in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. She had nowhere to get styles and style phases from. She purely dressed in traditional clothes for the kingdom or "human" clothes, aka, Ford's style. I doubt she'd change that in the future, but she'd definitely wear more traditional clothes from her original universe as she got older and figured out ways to make them for herself. I'm a sucker for detailed outfits, and I love any sort of culture, so I'm combing that here.
I quickly went through all of your posts to get an idea of the AU and I have to say, I find it very interesting (/positive)! It's original and stands out from all of the other AU's. With that said, onto the questions! 🥳
1. How did you come up with the AU? (I enjoy hearing people's though processes, especially when the idea in particular is unique and unlike any I've heard before. I'm the kind of person who loves watching behind-the-scenes content for media.)
2. What specific species of fish are the fish aliens?
3. Sorta related to the previous question, but is Ford's husband that one siren he wrote about dating in one of the journals or no?
4. How did Ford meet the prince and how did they end up in a relationship?
Thank you so much! Hearing/reading (same difference) positive stuff like that affects me way more than I always remember it doing.
1. I can't remember when I came up with the au (because I always think putting things into a timeline makes it more understandable), but I do remember just thinking that Ford being focused on revenge against Bill for 30 years in the portal is just a little bit boring. I've said that before, but it genuinely was just that thought that spiralled out into me creating this au. I wanted to create something more interesting than revenge, and I wanted something with a lot of angst potential. The clear answer to that is love. I wanted to make an au where Ford had love in the portal, that was pretty much just how it started.
2. Hahaha, this is where I reveal that I've tricked everyone. I say fish aliens because that rolls of the tongue easier, and it sounds funny, in my opinion. However, design wise, they're more based on axolotls. Currently, the sole reason for that is just because axolotls are my second favourite animal, and I think they're cute. However, I will probably come up with some lore thing that relates to it better. As for how they act, I'm just making shit up as I go along. Just picture me waving my hands and going "ooh~ alien~" every time I make up more lore.
3. I am so glad you asked that question! Simple answer, no. Complicated answer, in a way. Basically; when coming up with Nimirylov, I thought, "Base this guy off Ford's canon "love interests"." So to me, that meant, take the good traits from Fiddleford, Bill and the Siren. I assumed that Gravity Falls meant sirens as in the pop culture version of them (evil mermaids) rather than actual Greek mythology (angry bird ladies) + I didn't want to make a bird. So, that's how I came up with Ford having a smart, charismatic, alien fish husband.
4. How Ford met Nimirylov is also something I need to figure out the exact details on. Either Ford accidentally stumbled upon him, and Nimirylov was determined to get a human boyfriend, or Nimirylov found and helped Ford when he first arrived in that specific dimension. I haven't quite decided yet. As for how they got together, I'm assuming you mean how the relationship started in the first place. That was 100% Nimirylov, he did all the romantic work. I'm also going to say that the way they stayed together was through a lot of work. Ford has tried to make a runner from him, and that dimension at least 4 times. Each time, Nimirylov had to calm and talk him down.
The first time he tried to run away was before they got together, when they had started becoming friends, though. The closeness scared Ford. The second time was after the one and only time Bill appeared in Ford's dreams in that dimension, which was probably a year or two into Ford and Nimirylov's relationship. The third time was right after Nimirylov proposed to Ford. He has some sort of fear of commitment, what can I tell you? The final time was after that scene I talked about in a previous post, where Penni draws the picture of Bill and calls him her imaginary friend. This was by far the worst time that Ford tried to run away because he tried to bring Penni with him.
I kind of went on an unrelated tangent at the end, but I do that. Honestly, though, I loved these questions because I got to talk about a lot of behind the scenes stuff that I'm really passionate about but probably wouldn't have talked about otherwise. So, thanks again.
