It wasn't really much of a nice place, when you really thought about it. It was full of flies and mosquitoes. A small town with not much too it. Lots of lumber to go around. Fresh air was an abundance. There wasn't much more one could say about it.

Mabel easily found the beauty. Lots of hills and grass to roll around in, plus the area was cool enough to wear her sweaters! What a bonus! She had to say that Grunkle Stan was rather an oddity though. Like a ruff and tough teddy bear. She smiled to herself contently, definitely a teddy bear.

She turned her head to keep an eye on Dipper. Everything was still a-ok! He seemed to be angrily writing into his journal he had brought along with him. She didn't really question the woodpecker pecking down onto his head. Well with that resolved she rolled down the hill once again.

When they had come to their Grukle Stan in Gravity falls, their parents had inform him that Dipper had been prone to what they could closely describe as seizures as there seemed to be no other real word to describe what happened to him. Doctors' best diagnosed it as 'Complex partial seizures' with an automatism, which seemed to be talking. Often it seemed like nonsense at first, but Mabel realized it later had a cryptic meaning.

Their Grunkle Stan was best described as a conman. He ran a small tourist trap in Gravity falls called 'The Mystery Shack', which also doubles as his home. It was there that Mabel and Dipper found themselves working for the summer. They couldn't do much in the Shack, they mostly helped around with the cleaning or the cashier when Soos or Wendy were occupied with other tasks.

She turned her head when Grunkle Stan jumped out from behind the tree, scaring him with the mask he had been wearing. She laughed before running back up the hill and rolling down once again. Their summer routines were somewhat dull, she even had to say so, but it was the pleasantry of closeness that made up for it.

It was on one fateful day that it had all changed.

Mabel was once again in one of her boy-crazy-find-a-boyfriend-as-quickly-as-possible phases. The poor unsuspecting boy had received a paper that had no possibility for denial, unless you decided to throw away or rip up the paper. No one was sure how many attempts she had made, but Dipper was sure she was pushing the pursuit a bit too much.

Mabel retorted him, saying she had a good feeling going on for her this summer. It was as if her boyfriend senses were tingling. She wouldn't be too surprised if the man of her dreams walked through the door behind them at this very moment!

That was when Grunkle Stan walked through and Mabel became very, very grossed out. On the other hand Dipper was laughing at her and the situation. Ah yes, karma.

Grunkle Stan was holding a bunch of signs. He needed someone to go out into the woods to go hang them up, after a small game of 'not-it', Grunkle Stan resorted to picking someone at random, which just so happened to be Dipper.

He argued a bit, saying that when he went out into those woods he felt as if he was being watched. Grunkle Stan could only roll his eyes in exasperation, muttering 'this again'. Dipper gave a few reasons, one of the most memorable being 'My mosquito bites spell "Beware"' while Grunkle Stan replied with cold hard facts that it actually spell 'Bewarb'.

"If you're really that paranoid about going into the woods," he said as he threw Dipper the signs, "there's an old family legend about the pendant your wearing, supposedly watches over you or something like that..."

Dipper looked down to the golden pendant he was wearing. If this thing really gave him protection, where had they been this entire time?

A/N: posted on ao3 as well as our tumblr! feel free to send us ideas cult-au. tumblr .com