#love me some Stan/Pa Guck interactions

[thelastspeecher]

Screw it, just give us the scene of villain Mearl giving stan the warning talk while tending to some plants. Maybe be makes a metaphor out of killing off a weak plant or something.

🌼- Caring for some plants

This was wonderful to write, thank you so much for this prompt.  Stan getting nervous around Angie’s villainous parents is gold.

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              Stanswallowed nervously and approached Pa McGucket, who was crouched in the middleof an expansive garden.  Without raisinghis head or turning around, Pa McGucket spoke.

              “Stan.”

              “Your,uh, your wife said you were out here,” Stan stammered.  Pa McGucket nodded.

              “That Iam.  I take it ya wanted to talk to me?”

              “Yeah.”

              “Then goahead.  Talk.”

              “Okay.”  Stan took a deep breath.  “I know that Angie’s like- she’s a modernwoman or, uh, or whatever, and she doesn’t need me to do this- she might noteven want me to do this.  But, um, my- mydad – he’s a jackass but he still raised me – he raised me to, y’know, talk to-uh, and ask- he always said that was what you were supposed to do.  I kinda, uh, I broke his rules already, butit was the right thing to do, ‘cause Angie wouldn’t have put up with that, andI, um, I think that this is what I should-”

              “Spit itout, boy,” Pa McGucket sighed.  Stanswallowed again.

              “I wannamarry Angie and I would like- I’d like your blessing to propose to her.”

              “Huh.”  Pa McGucket stood and walked over toStan.  He was only a few inches tallerthan Stan, but those inches felt like feet at the moment.

              He’s like Angie.  He’s good at somehow getting taller withoutactually getting taller.  Damn.  Wonder if either of the girls will pick thatup.

              “Tell me,Stan,” Pa McGucket said softly, in a tone that had a hint of malice runningthrough it.  “What makes ya think you cantake care of my daughter?”

              “I’vebeen doing it for a while already.  We-we live together, y’know.”  Pa McGucketnodded slowly.

              “Fairenough.  And why did ya decide to proposeto her now?  Ya got her pregnant almostthree years ago.”

              “Yeah,but we didn’t know each other.  I didn’t-um, I didn’t wanna spook her by proposing to her back then.  And then, I dunno, the- the whole fact thatwe have kids together didn’t seem to, uh, didn’t seem like it really matteredas a reason for us to get married right away.”

              “Thatexplains why ya didn’t pop the question then. Why now?”

              “Lastweek, her crew went up against my squad,” Stan said.  “And I saw her sucker punch this guy on mysquad.  He’s the mouthiest, most annoyinghero I’ve ever met.  And Angie knewthat.  She knew how much I hated thisguy’s guts.  Right after punching him,she winked at me.  She knew I’d like that.  But then…” Stan grinned at the memory.  “Thenthe hero pops back up, shouting ‘You broke my nose!’  And Angie just burst out laughing.  She was so damn proud of herself, forbreaking an annoying hero’s nose.  That-that was the moment that I realized I wanted to marry her.”

              “After yasaw her injure someone?”

              “The guyhad it coming.  And it wasn’t just thefact that she broke his nose.  She takespride in her job, she doesn’t hold back, she’s strong and she’s not afraid tolet people know it.”  Stan shrugged.  “And yeah, she kicks ass.  That’s an attractive quality in a woman.  Angie has a lot going for her.”

              “Hmph.”  Pa McGucket slid a small packet of seeds outof his sleeve, popped it open, and emptied a few small seeds onto theground.  He then crouched down andcovered the seeds with soil.  “Have youever gardened?”

              “Um, no,”Stan said, confused by the apparent change in topic.

              “Well,when ya start out yer garden, ya have to tend to it carefully,” Pa McGucketsaid.  He hovered his hand over theburied seeds.  A small green sproutpushed its way through the soil.  “Afterall, yer plants ‘re all small and weak. A strong storm could wash it all away. But…”  The sprout began to grow inearnest.  “…When ya spend enough timetendin’ to it, nurturin’ it, it becomes strong. It can weather any rainstorm or thunder or lightning.  And in fact, havin’ a storm every now andthen is beneficial.  Keeps the plantshydrated.”  Pa McGucket looked back atStan.  “Do ya understand?”

              “Uh, Idon’t have much of a green thumb,” Stan said slowly.  Pa McGucket rolled his eyes.

              “It’s ametaphor.  Any relationship is agarden.  Starts out fragile, but growsinto something that can withstand the fights that will come.  And they willcome.”

              “Yeah, Iknow,” Stan muttered.  He thought back tothe numerous disagreements he and Angie’d had, particularly during thepregnancy and shortly after the girls were born.

              “A fightevery now and then ain’t somethin’ to be worried about.  All it means is that ya have some differin’opinions on some things, and ya have to hash it out ‘fore ya can come togetherproperly.”  Stan nodded silently.  Pa McGucket sighed.  “You and Angie…the two of ya grew a beautifulgarden together.  One that, despite athousand storms when yer plants were barely germinated seeds, grew into athriving field of flowers.”  Pa McGucketchuckled softly.  “Yes, I did use thatparticular analogy because yer daughters ‘re named after two flowers.”

              “We, uh,we did argue a lot at first,” Stan said, rubbing the back of his neck.  “But a good chunk of the time that happened,it ended with us being on better footing than before.”

              “The twoof ya had a lot to work out.  I don’thave enough fingers ‘n toes to count all the times my daughter called me,tryin’ to decide if she was upset or relieved by her latest interaction withya.  In the end, though, as much as Ihate to admit it, ya- ya made her happy.” The plant Pa McGucket had been coaxing sprouted a bud which abruptlyburst into full bloom, revealing it to be a red rose.  Pa McGucket carefully plucked it from theground and stood, rolling the stem between his fingers, deftly avoiding thethorns.

              “What’sthat?” Stan asked.

              “It’s arose.”

              “Well,yeah.  But why?”

              “Not manyfolks know this, but there’s a floral counterpart to the concept of abirthstone,” Pa McGucket said.  He lookeddown at the rose.  “Each month has aflower associated with it.  And the onefer the month of June is the rose.”

              “That’swhen my birthday is.”

              “Yes.  I recall my daughter mentionin’ that fact tome,” Pa McGucket said with a small nod. “But more importantly, I think that it is a great month fer a weddin’.”  He handed the rose over to Stan.  “Get my daughter a nice diamond ring.”  Stan’s eyes widened.

              “Does thatmean-”

              “You havemy blessing.”  Pa McGucket smiled.  “Son.”

[thelastspeecher]

For the Egg Stan AU, does Ma Pines ever find out and ever meet Stan again? How does she react? Also, does Stan and Shermie interact despite Ford avoiding him? How does Shermie handle the situation? Does Stan ever regain his memories and if so, how does he deal with them?

This AU is very interesting and cool! Thanks for making such awesome AUs!

Thank you for indulging me, Anon! Especially in this Egg Stan AU.

I think that Ma Pines eventually finds out something. She finds out Ford is still alive and has a son named Stan, but doesn't find out who Ford's son really is. She's hurt that she was excluded from all of this and left in the dark, but tries to keep her hurt under wraps because she just wants to reconnect with her boy. She adores lil guppy Stan.

Stan loves visiting his Auntie Angie, and Ford doesn't want his own complicated feelings to keep Stan from spending time with relatives, so he allows Stan to visit Angie and Shermie. Shermie struggles a bit at first, but settles in fairly quickly with thinking of guppy Stan as being his nephew, rather than being technically his younger brother. It helps that guppy Stan is similar to the human Stan, but at the same time very different. Mer Stan is raised by Ford and Fidds, so has his intellect nurtured, and also picks up some mer quirks and some Guck quirks from his Pa.

I think that Stan eventually gains some sort of access to his memories. He finds out the truth of where he came from (I don't know how, maybe he overhears people discussing it), and after that, effectively unlocks the memories of his former life. He panics and goes to Lute's to spend some time there while he comes to terms with things. It takes a while, but it happens, mostly because Stan's old memories are less like his actual memories and more like a movie to him.

And thank you so much! I really like this AU, it's a tad complicated but still entertaining. c: