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[lingeringhope]

Hello.

[A man is standing before a stone wall - the wall of the cave, probably, though there aren't any distinguishing marks to show where, exactly, he might be. He seems calm, and his face is kind. He looks directly into the camera with no artifice.]

I have no doubt you were all surprised to find yourselves here. I apologize for the rather abrupt arrival - as it turns out, we have no control over who or what is brought here.

[And there, that's the slightest sign of frustration, or possibly annoyance. His mouth tightens.]

In any case, I've tried to make things comfortable for you - humans, is that correct? That's what you call yourselves? And the other things are bears, and they were not sentient [he says, as if it might have taken him a bit to realize], so I've made sure to push them out of the main part of the city. I'd rather you all not get eaten.

You can be useful to us, as it turns out, thanks to your capacity for feeling emotion. Not quite so well as the last ones, but it'll do. You can call me Hope, if you'd like, and if you could all try very hard to feel appropriately hopeful at all times, it would be extremely convenient. I need the energy to keep you fed and the power running - and for other things.

[Hope pauses for a moment, considering.]

While you all seem to be sentient, I'm not certain of your capacity for higher thought, so I'm really not sure explaining things will be much use. I'd rather not waste time explaining things you're not capable of comprehending. But for those who might be curious and wish to try to understand - some time ago a number of my companions died. I'd like to bring them back. For that, I need power, and for power, I need the emotions that you can give me. Hope, specifically.

[And he sighs, annoyance crossing his face again.]

Much to my dismay, of all my fellow - what would your kind call us? Gods? - only one has survived. Fear is here as well, and if you could all try not to give him your fear, it would make my life significantly easier. Just - don't be scared of things. Ignore him.

I suppose if you have any questions, you can ask, but you're not guaranteed an answer. In any case, welcome to Hadriel. I hope the food is palatable.

Comments

[lingeringhope]

[That's too many questions. Hope chooses one at random, ignores the rest, and cuts Dipper off without an ounce of remorse.]

They're in various different languages. There are probably even a few in your language scattered in there somewhere.

[And then it occurs to him - ]

Your species does have writing, doesn't it?

[twinpeak]

[ Hey, rude! At least he only frowns about the interjection for a second, because there's at least an answer. He can work with this! ]

Of course we do. [ And he has a journal to prove it, too. ] But I looked all over the library and I couldn't find a single one I had any chance of reading. None of those are in any human language.

[lingeringhope]

No? Hmm. They came from plenty of different places, so I assumed some of them were probably the right language. Oh well.

[He doesn't seem too bothered.]

Look harder, maybe.

[twinpeak]

Fine.

[ Challenge accepted. ]

Buuut I was mostly looking for information about this weird place, and now that you're here, couldn't you just answer my questions instead? There's still a lot I want to know!

[lingeringhope]

You had quite a lot of questions. I suppose I could answer one or two more, but I am rather busy, you know.

[twinpeak]

Only two? How am I supposed to find the rest out after that?

[lingeringhope]

That isn't my problem.

[twinpeak]

[ EXCUSE ME, SIR. ]

Uh, yeah we do! You want us to help you? It's not like I'm against it or anything– [ Somewhat, anyway. ] –but we need to know as much as we can, too.

[lingeringhope]

I don't see why. All we really need are your emotions.

[twinpeak]

Because nobody wants to feel like they're being used, that's why. This is already a totally messed up situation for us!

[lingeringhope]

I'm sure you'll get over it. You seem like a resilient species.

[twinpeak]

[ What's with omnipotent beings and their total lack of empathy? Sheesh. ]

We're also pretty good at holding grudges! Especially when we're not feeling very—

[twinpeak]

... Hopeful, if you catch my drift.

[ Ha ha. ]

[twinpeak]

Anyway, maybe I should ask the other guy. Fear, right? I mean, if he gives me what I want, I could give him what he wants... Got plenty of terror to give away after some godlike being is saying all he wants to do is use me with no hope of getting back home and all.

[lingeringhope]

Feel free to talk to Fear if you'd like, but don't expect a scintillating conversation. He's mostly just obnoxious.

[Hmph.]

[twinpeak]

[ Drat, so much for his dastardly plan working. Sheesh, what does a guy have to do to get a couple thousand questions answered around here? ]

Sometimes a man's gotta go through obnoxious gods to get what he wants, but we'll see what comes out of it. ... By the way, do I still get my two questions?

[lingeringhope]

If you really must. Make it quick.

[twinpeak]

[ Good!! Then he'll start at the beginning. ]

Where exactly are we? I... can't determine at all just how far from home I am, you know? I've never heard of this place before.

[lingeringhope]

We are in Hadriel. It's an underground city. I'm afraid that as I don't know where your home is, I can't tell you how far from it you are, but probably very far.

[twinpeak]

[ How foreboding. ]

It's—Gravity Falls. It's a small town out in the middle of Oregon. Y'know, in America...

[ Dipper trails off, unsure, but feeling positive enough this god guy isn't going to know what he's talking about. He speaks a lot like he isn't all that familiar with human types, which is odd enough, but if that's the case would he know anything about where they live? ... Probably not. "Very far" says a lot—sort of. ]

... Nevermind. So I guess being able to contact my family and tell them where I'm stuck at is out of the question, huh?

[lingeringhope]

I've never heard of it.

[Dipper's guess is entirely correct. Hope has no idea where humans come from, or even really what they are. Town names, states, countries? Pretty much meaningless to him.]

You won't be able to contact anyone outside of Hadriel. But I doubt they'll worry about you. Time might move differently there.

[twinpeak]

Wait—really?

[ That... sure is implying a totally different plane of existence. A concept he's kind of sorta personally familiar with, but would never think the whole dimension hopping (more like unwittingly falling into a another one) thing was personally happening to him. Not without some solid proof, anyway, or at least confirmation.

Of course, it'd only make sense by now. ]

Like how differently?

[lingeringhope]

You already got your two questions. I think we're done here, small human.