The Scouring, Chapter 2

phenyxsnest:

On AO3: Start Here, Current Chapter Here

On FF.net: Start Here, Current Chapter Here

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In her attic bedroom of the Stanley Pines Memorial Library (which was
bigger on the inside than the outside, thanks to her Uncle, and
wasn’t that a fun party trick), Willow Pines clicked away from her
email (nothing new yet from G-great uncle Ford, who was off
researching The Sight and its different manifestations, both physical
and magical) to follow the link to her uncle’s Wikipedia page, ready
to see what ridiculous new thing the editors had to say about her
uncle and parents, or what silly theories they were batting around
about her and her siblings now.

Instead of the Wiki page on Alcor the Dreambender, though, she got a
grey page with the words “Page Cannot Be Displayed” across it,
and she glanced down at the icon at the bottom right of her screen
automatically, blinking in surprise and dismay before groaning at the
red x over it, taunting her that the internet was down.

The Library was on its own network and router, thanks to being just
far enough from town to need it and with high enough need for their
own connection, but since firebirds liked to perch on the wires and
not all of them had been magic-proofed by Uncle Dipper yet…not that
it worked well when the birds would just pick at the lines until they
fell but still.

She headed downstairs, ready to check the router and eye the lines
before she had to call someone about the internet. Maybe she’d get
lucky this time, and it was just a brief moment of tech and magic not
getting along, or something that could be fixed with a few mini
Snickers once Uncle Dipper was home.

She poked her head into the kitchen when she passed it by, hearing
her dad’s voice from inside. He was looking at the phone in
consternation, pressing on the hook. “Phones are out,” he said
when she caught his eye. “Right in the middle of talking to your
sister, too.”

“So much for calling about the internet,” Willow said, leaning
against the doorway. “It’s down too.”

Henry rolled his eyes and set the phone back down. “Well, with the
way your mother drives, the three of them will be here soon anyway.
They’d already gotten to the edge of town when the phone went out on
us. Guess we’ll just wait a bit and see about getting it fixed after
they get home.”

A
car pulled in behind the Library, near the door to the house proper,
tires scraping on the gravel, and Henry looked towards the door with
a frown. “That’s…odd, they shouldn’t be here that
soon…”
he said as car doors slammed.

Continue on AO3 // Continue on FF.net