Disclaimer: I don't own GF
Edited and revised 7/26/15
~~0~~0~~0~~
Dipper groaned and flopped his head onto his desk, staring at his rune work.
A C. He got a C. Sure, runes and enchantments really weren't his thing, but a C was really pushing it.
Next to him, Mabel cheered loudly at her A, beaming wildly and gushing with some of the surrounding students, much to their chagrin, before falling into a mini coughing fit.
Dipper moved his eyes up and down the page, looking at all the stupid mistakes he made, from runes being lopsided, extra marks, to even completely wrong translations. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
He pouted.
"Aw, don't feel too bad, bro-bro!" Mabel chimed in cheerfully. "Can't be good at everything!"
Dipper sighed and relented, stuffing the page into his bag.
"Hey, at least you're good at the pronunciations," Mabel added in helpfully, seeing Dipper's upset expression.
He threw her a helpful grin. "Thanks Mabes."
"Hehe, no problem."
"Okay class, if I could have your attention once again!" Madam Feylie asked, voice polite, but leaving no room for argument.
The class fell quiet quickly. It wasn't that Madam Feylie didn't dole out punishment, but the fact that when she had to she looked so disappointed it was hard to not feel guilty.
"A number of you had some trouble on the rune work today, and that's okay!" The elf picked up a giant stack of papers off her desk and beamed at them. "So, here's a little homework for you tonight. It's due Friday, so you should have plenty of time to get it done. Remember, if you're unsure about anything, feel free to ask."
Madam Feylie quickly passed the pages, front and back, to everyone.
Dipper stared down at the work he had to do, sinking in his seat a bit.
"Don't worry, Dipping-sauce! I'll help you out," Mabel giggled, tucking her homework away neatly into her bag.
As soon as Dipper unzipped his bag, the tell-tale ring of the bell echoed about, loud and as grating as always, signaling the start of lunch.
"Oh! Looks like we ran out of time. I'll see all you you tomorrow. Stay safe and don't do anything illegal!" Her voice got tight near the end and a look of stress came over her silver eyes.
Mabel and Dipper gave one another nervous glances. As anyone would expect in a small town, the news of the vandalization of Dusk 2 Dawn spread like wildfire. Luckily, none of them had been seen or recognized, but the knowledge of what they did ate at both twins. It had become the talk of the town and it was hard to escape discussion about it one way or another.
The two got up slowly and made their way to the door. Students were still in a bid to try and get out first, clogging up the doorway some.
"Mister Pines, if I could have a word with you for a moment?" Madam Feylie asked suddenly, startling the brunet.
"Oh, uh, sure," Dipper replied, scratching his arms. He exchanged a meaningful glance with Mabel, who coughed awkwardly.
I'll be waiting. You okay?
I'll meet you up. Yes I am.
Mabel smiled and said one last goodbye to their elven teacher before skipping out the door, presumably to the cafeteria.
"Yes, Madam Feylie?" Dipper asked, stepping in front of her desk.
She smiled at him in return, a cool and warming gesture that soothed his frayed nerves slightly. Feeling a bit more comfortable in her presence, Dipper relaxed his shoulders, dropping his arms to his sides.
"I just wanted to talk to you about your rune work, Dipper. Usually, you are pretty good with the more magical topics and doings. In time, you could become a pretty good sorcerer or even a wizard, but your grades have been...well, dropping recently. I am aware that you are not as good at drawing runes as your sister is, but I don't believe it's lack of skill per say, but lack of attention. Every time I look up, you're fiddling around in that notebook of yours."
Dipper flushed, ashamed. It wasn't enough that some kids teased him about keeping a diary, but now his own teacher was telling him it wasn't okay!
Seeing his stressed look, Madam Feylie quickly took a few steps back. "I'm not going to ask you to tell me what you write. A man's business is his own, after all. Just please keep it out of my class and focus, please?"
Dipper flushed even more so at actually being called a man.
See Bill? I am not adorable! He thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, Madam Feylie. I'll do better. I promise!"
The elf smiled at his honesty and enthusiasm. Though she knew nothing about Divination, or telling the future in any way, she knew Dipper was going to do great things one day.
"Glad to hear it! I'll see you tomorrow, Mister Pines," She dismissed.
Dipper gave her a smile. "See you!"
By the time Dipper got out of his class, the hallways had really cleared out. Grateful that he didn't have to smash himself against the walls for once, Dipper turned down a few more hallways, dodging the late students, trying his best to ignore the talk of vandalism still in the air.
Squeezing into the cafeteria, it didn't take long to pick out Mabel's offensively bright yellow sweater and Grenda's larger size.
Side-stepping some of the more popular girls and boys who either ignored him or sneered at him, Dipper quickly joined his sister and her friends.
"-And he's a total hottie! Like, on a scale from one to ten, he's a total, like, seventeen point seven or something!" Grenda gushed, waving a book around labeled Nightfall.
Dipper rolled his eyes. How the book was so popular, he'd never know. Especially since it was hated by pretty much the entire vampire community and the werewolf community.
Okay, pretty much every community.
"I still think Edmund is cuter," Candy replied, pushing her glasses higher up on her nose.
"Well I- Hey Dipper!" Mabel greeted, interrupting herself to wave wildly at him.
Dipper sent a small smile at Mabel and proceeded to sit down next to her, keeping an eye out all around for bullies. Sure, Dipper only got a comment here or there and others had it much worse than him, being stuffed into lockers and such, but that doesn't mean he should relax completely.
"Hey Mabes," He replied fondly, taking out his packed peanut butter sandwich and taking a large bite out of it.
"I bet Dipper agrees with me," Candy said, sticking her nose up in the air.
"Nuh uh!" Grenda snorted.
Dipper froze as the two girls ganged up on him.
"W-What?"
"Who do you think is cuter? Edmund or Jason?" Candy continued, completely serious.
Dipper glanced at Mabel, panicking just a little on the inside.
Last time he disagreed with Grenda, he got punched in the arm and couldn't write for a week. Last time he disagreed with Candy, his shampoo was spiked, making his hair turn hot pink.
"I-I... um, I don't know all that much about Nightfall. So I can't say..." He trailed off timidly.
Mabel rolled her eyes. "Dipper, you were there when we watched it."
The brunet gulped.
"Well- I'm a guy! I don't find other guys attractive!" He protested.
Grenda cocked her head to the side. "But I thought you were gay?" She posed it like a question.
Heat flooded Dipper's face, all the way up to the tips of his ears and all the way down his neck. "What? What makes you think that? I'm not gay!"
The lunchroom around them quieted slightly at his outburst, causing his to sink down into his seat, humiliated.
"I'm not," He repeated weakly as the cafeteria rose in volume level once again.
"Are you sure? You act quite feminine," Candy said.
"For the last time, no! Back me up on this, Mabel."
Mabel awkwardly scratched the back of her neck, mocha eyes flickering uneasily between her brother and her friends. "Well...you do like BABBA..." She started uneasily, covering her mouth as a cough came on.
Dipper groaned. "You traitor." He took another massive bite out of his sandwich.
Candy and Grenda laughed.
Dipper's mind wandered away, thoughts moving a mile a minute.
He wasn't gay. Right? Wouldn't he know by now? Plus, he's only had crushes on girls so far, not guys. That proved something.
Didn't it?
Dipper groaned again and polished off his sandwich, laying his head in his arms as Mabel and her friends continued to gush about their favorite trashy romance novel.
At least he avoided pain and colored hair.
For now.
~~0~~0~~0~~
Dipper straightened his backpack on his shoulders, sighing nervously as Mabel rambled on about something or another next to him.
Dipper had been decently successful in keeping his mind off of what was about to come all day, shoving it to the very recesses of his mind. He didn't want to worry about it and lucky for him school had been stressful enough to keep the thoughts at bay.
He slowed down as they reached the shack, eyeing the familiar red bike chained out front.
Mabel turned and looked back at him, brief confusion melting into understanding.
"Don't be mad at her for too long, Dipper. She really didn't mean any harm." Mabel flashed him a helpful smile.
It didn't make him feel any better. Wendy had roped them into doing something wrong. In a way, she had betrayed them.
For once, when Dipper thought of the red head, no blood rushed to his cheeks and his heart didn't speed up. No. He felt cold all over. His stomach twisted into sick, angry knots. His tongue tied itself together, words of hurt on the tip begging to be released, to jab into the redhead. To make her hurt as much as he did. Rolling his shoulders and trying to force his body to relax, Dipper padded after Mabel, steps slow, still eyeing the bike and the door now. Dipper jumped up the steps easily enough as Mabel opened the door the shack, undoubtedly giving a wide grin.
"We're home!" She shouted, making all the windows shudder in their frames.
Dipper winced. If Mabel took some lessons, she'd be a great opera singer.
"Heya, hambone!" Soos greeted, dusting off some shelves cheerfully as the two trailed inside.
"Hey Soos!" Mabel greeted warmly. "Hey Wendy!" She added, waving at the redhead who was already at her post at the register.
Wendy glanced up from her magazine and blanched a little, obviously growing nervous at their appearance.
"Hi Mabel," She greeted softly. Her green eyes darted over to Dipper, looking even more nervous than before. "Hey Dipper."
Mabel coughed a little before sending her a gigantic grin.
Dipper gave her a soft scowl. Now that he was faced with her, all his thoughts died and the words from before disappeared.
He was still angry of course, his heart still thudding with a bloody hole through it, but he found that he couldn't say anything. What was there to say?
He wasn't the one who should be apologizing.
Dipper turned to head upstairs, muscles tense.
"Wait, Dipper!" Wendy called out, dropping her magazine and jumping over the counter.
Dipper paused and turned around, looking up at the redhead and feeling...
...Well, nothing like he had before. No embarrassment. No flashes of heat through his face. No...nothing.
"Listen, Dip, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry. I shouldn't of let Robbie tease you. Heck, I shouldn't have even brought you guys along! I-I just thought it'd be fun, like all those movies and books and such. Do you forgive me?"
Wendy gave him a small, hopeful smile.
Dipper let out a shuddering sigh. "That wasn't just teasing. That was bullying. And- and-" Dipper's words got caught in his throat, bitter and harsh. His conversation with Afytha came to the forefront of his mind, how the Nymph had explained everything he and his friends done wrong.
She should've stood up for you. If she was a real friend, she would've.
She was just being pressured like me!
Was she though?
Was she?
Dipper stared up into her honest and emerald gaze.
"-and you should've done more to defend me. Friends are suppose to have each other's backs, right?" Dipper finally stated.
Wendy wilted under his words, eyes hurt. "Y-You're right. I wasn't being a good friend, was I?" The question was directed at herself. "Gods, Dipper. I'm really, really sorry! I promise it won't happen again. I won't make you guys even hang out with the others if you don't want to. I won't force you to do anything you're not comfortable with."
A smile finally tugged back at the corners of his lips.
That bloody hole in his heart was healed. But it still did not pump erratically at her presence.
"I forgive you," He said, mocha eyes softening.
Wendy gave a wide smile, green eyes twinkling brightly. She ruffled his hair playfully, careful not to mess up his bangs. Dipper couldn't help but think that it felt much nicer when Bill was messing with his hair.
"Well, I got to get back to work or Stan will have my head!" Wendy joked, removing her hand and turning away. "I'll see you later, Dip."
"Bye," He replied warmly, turning and disappearing up the stairs, Mabel trailing him.
"Ohh, look at you being all forgiving!" Mabel teased. "All because you looooove her!"
Dipper rolled his eyes. "I'm not in love with Wendy," He said truthfully. His heart agreed.
Mabel coughed. "You keep telling yourself that, bro-bro."
Dipper sighed. Of course she didn't believe him.
"Whatever, Mabel," He said, swinging the door to their room open and padding over to his desk, floorboards creaking lightly underfoot. Collapsing into his desk chair, Dipper pulled out his homework, wanting to get it done as soon as possible.
Mabel just threw her bag haphazardly onto her bed, scooping up Waddles to cuddle with, cooing and snorting at him lovingly.
Dipper frowned at the rune work he had. He was on the first pattern and was already confused!
"Ugh, why is this so difficult for me?" He groaned.
"Maybe you should pay more attention in class instead of writing in your diary all the time," Mabel chided playfully, childish mischief in her eyes.
"One, it's not a diary, but a field journal. Two, you of all people shouldn't be telling me that. All you do is doodle pigs!"
"I'll have you know pigs are the key to my future. I'm going to open a fashion line that's all about pigs and become famous!"
Dipper laughed. "You should become an opera singer while you're at it. With a voice like yours, you could crack concrete."
Mabel gasped loudly. "That's a great idea, Dip! I could go on Broadway!" The girl grabbed her pig once more, lifting him high into the air, tickling the pads of her fingers along his skin, making him squeal in delight. "And Waddles could join me! We'd be the stars! The heroes New York needs and deserves!"
Dipper shook his head, exasperated. He had half a thought to pop her bubble and explain why everything she just said was impossible, but decided against it. Mabel always somehow won with her illogical logic.
Well, maybe not always, but often enough.
Dipper tuned her out, turning back to his homework. Flipping through his textbook, the brunet simply made himself all the more confused trying to read it, phrases and rules and exceptions rolling around in his head. It also didn't help that nothing was normal. At least with Latin, it basically used the same alphabet. With runes, that wasn't the case at all. There were different runes of different time periods which were supposed to be used mattering on what you were trying to accomplish...
Very slowly, time ticked by, seconds turning to minutes turning to hours and Dipper found himself constantly going back and checking over himself, doubt wriggling around in his head as he erased and redrew and repeated the steps, going back to the book only to have text blur together in it's large paragraphs, not making a lick of sense.
Why couldn't they go back to simple spoken spells? Something he was actually good at?
"Need help, bro-bro?" A voice asked by his shoulder, causing him to startle.
"Gee, Mabel! Warn me when you're going to do that next time!" He protested.
"Aw, but that takes the fun out of it," She whined, pouting slightly.
Dipper rolled his eyes, but sighed. "What does all this even mean?" He asked, gesturing to the spread of papers and book.
Mabel frowned and forced him to scoot over on his chair so she could join him. Grumbling at the uncomfortable feeling of only half his butt being on the seat, he turned his attention back to his sister.
"You're thinking about it too hard. Just gotta remember I guess. Make sure you get your lines right. Like drawing!"
"I'm terrible at drawing."
"You just gotta get good."
"Mabel! That doesn't help at all!"
Mabel coughed a bit. "Well, I don't know what else to tell you, Dip. I mean, it's just...something to remember. Like how to knit sweaters! Can't forget the patterns and can't forget that X means 'gift' and the funny looking almost K means 'wealth.'
Dipper mouthed 'funny looking almost K' under his breath, shaking his head slightly.
Mabel turned the page and jabbed her finger at the words written.
"Then you got the second set with the upside down fork meaning the letter Y and the backwards check mark meaning C. You know, because check starts with C and it means C."
Dipper blinked, still lost.
"And then you have the third set which the upside down fork now means O with the funny dots on top and funny almost K now means the letter F. F for fun!"
"Mabel, this isn't helping. At all."
Mabel pouted and jumped up, letting Dipper scoot back onto his chair with relief.
"Then I don't know what to tell you. Just gotta know it. Like what you tell me during History."
Dipper sighed and rubbed his temples, knowing she was right, but hating the fact.
"I guess so."
~~0~~0~~0~~
The next few days flew by with stress and little incident, making Dipper want to tear out his hair.
The news of the vandalization was still filtering around, helped by the Gravity Falls Gossiper that somehow kept the story afloat.
It made his stomach twist into knots every time, the passing days not easing his guilt. Students laughed and praised the people who committed the act while teachers simply shook their head in disdain.
Madam Feylie even had another lesson over why things of that sort were wrong on Wednesday, even though she already gave them the exact same lecture Monday.
If there was any consolation, it was the fact that his and Wendy's friendship was rekindled. Though not nearly as powerful as before, there was a certain comfort level he found with hanging with the redhead that wasn't there before. Dipper wasn't tripping over his words every other sentence, nor his feet every other step. His heart pumped normally in his chest.
However, even that consolation was negated with the rumor being spread around school that he was gay, most likely due to his outburst at lunch. Luckily, Gravity Falls was a surprisingly calm and progressive town and found that liking the same gender pretty normal compared to the creepy happenings in the woods and not nearly as interesting and controversial as the color of Preston Northwest's new tie.
What was annoying, however, was the number of both boys and girls who came and questioned him about it, from questions such as if liking a guy was the same as liking a girl to reasons why he would prefer a guy over a girl to even if he currently had a crush on any guy.
Of course, Dipper tried his best to deny all accusations.
"I'm not gay." Became a frequent anthem for him, but it seemed like every time he said it, the weaker his protest became.
He wasn't really gay, right? This was all just reverse psychology.
Right?
Dipper tried not to dwell on it.
What topped Dipper's list of being the most worrying, what really made him nibble his nails down to the nub and then some was his rune work that still wasn't completed. He was too nervous to ask Madam Feylie for help. He knew she wouldn't judge him, but he couldn't bring himself to ask, even though she was the only person who could.
Wasn't she?
That was the thought that plagued Dipper's mind after school Thursday, the day before the homework was due. Sitting at his desk as usual, he chewed on his seventh pen of the week, not paying any worry on whether it would crack and stain on him yet again or not. Sunlight filtered through the window, dappling his desk with bright and hot light.
His homework was a complete disaster. At this point, he'd resorted to using notebook paper, only keeping the original, nearly ruined copy to read the questions and instructions.
Sure, Madam Feylie was probably the best at magic in the entirety of Gravity Falls, neck to neck with Stan in the knowledge she undoubtedly had, but there was someone who knew more than anyone. Or at least, anyone else Dipper knew.
The young brunet slammed his head down onto his desk, sending a flurry of papers to the ground.
He was so stupid. Why hadn't he thought of him before?
Bill would know. He was an immortal god, after all.
Spitting his nearly ruined pen out of his mouth, Dipper grabbed everything he needed and pulled out his second backpack, stuffing everything into it. Zipping it back up and swinging it onto his shoulders, the young brunet crept down the steps, past an oblivious but friendly Soos, and out the door, simply telling Grunkle Stan he was going out to the park to finish his homework as it was much too nice of a day to do homework inside.
Though his Grunkle cocked an eyebrow at that, he didn't protest.
"Just come back before I wake up in the morning."
Dipper promised he'd be back before then and walked down the lawn, following the curve until the shack was out of sight before darting into the nearby woods, quickly falling into ease under the great pines and their needles, the natural sounds of animals echoing peacefully around him.
Along with the entrance of an amused chuckle paired with a flash of gold.
"Wow, Pine Tree. Now you're two days early. Didn't know you missed me that much."
Dipper snorted as the god strode forward to ruffle his hair, fingers lingering over his birthmark to trace part of it.
"Of course I miss you. You're, like, one of my best friends."
Bill laughed at that and pulled the young boy by the wrist deeper into the forest like he always did.
"Really? Wow, now don't I feel special!"
Dipper snorted. He couldn't tell if the god was being facetious or not. Knowing Bill, it was probably a bit of both. The thought warmed his heart.
"Hey Bill, you know a lot about magic, right?" Dipper asked, deciding to get right to the point.
Bill continued to pull him along, weaving past trees and underbrush, light dimpling his face and hair, making his gold hair shine and his dark skin glow.
His chest puffed up slightly in indignation at his question.
"Of course I know a lot about magic! Why wouldn't I? Just because I'm trapped in here doesn't change that!"
The young brunet couldn't help but laugh a bit at the god's theatrics. Bill was so melodramatic.
"Why you asking, kid?" Bill continued on.
Dipper slowed to a stop, halting Bill in his advances to go deeper into the forest. He blushed slightly, ashamed of his failure, but started nonetheless. "Er, well you see I'm supposed to translate and write out some runes...but I'm not really good at it."
Bill cocked an eyebrow. "So why are you doing it if you don't want too?"
"It's for school, Bill."
"...What's that?"
Dipper gave the god an incredulous look, eyebrows raised high. "How do you not know what school is?"
The god rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Been trapped in here for hundreds of years, remember?"
Dipper blushed harder. "Oh...yeah. Sorry. Well, you see school is a place where kids like me go and learn stuff so they can operate in society."
"Sounds like a textbook definition."
Dipper frowned. "You're not all that far off."
"And they teach all the kids at the same time? Billions of humans?" Bill sounded skeptical.
"No, no, nothing like that! Well, they do teach a whole bunch of us at the same time under a single teacher, but there are multiple schools. Like, millions of them all across the world."
Bill snorted, not at all impressed. "Sounds like a flawed system to me. How is one person supposed to teach a whole bunch of brats and make sure they know what the hell they're learning about?" The god eyed the child in front of him. "Hell, you're proof that it doesn't work since you're coming to me for help!"
Dipper gave a weak shrug, unable to argue with his sound logic. "I guess so..."
"Back when I was all powerful and worshipped-"
Dipper rolled his eyes.
"-Kids were taught under masters or whatever. One on one teaching. Or just not taught at all. Everyone had a place. And furthermore-"
The brunet sighed. "As riveting as your stories are, can you help me with runes or not?" he interrupted.
Bill snorted and pulled the child down onto the ground with him. The god spread out his legs in both directions, sitting Dipper between his calves.
"Of course I can! I'm a genius!"
Dipper beamed and yanked his backpack around, pulling out his textbook, the worksheet, and some notebook paper.
Bill took once glance at the book and sneered, muttering something about 'watered down knowledge' and 'stupid censorship' before grabbing Dipper's ruined worksheet and staring at the questions.
"What the hell are you even supposed to be doing, kid? These instructions make no sense!"
Dipper groaned. "You're supposed to take the word and translate it I think using the set of runes that would be best, but how am I supposed to know what set is best?
"Eh, use the most modern one."
"Um..."
"The Dalecarlian runes, Pine Tree. It's the closest to modern English translation wise at the very least, though to properly learn runes you must understand what they stand for on their own. Like learning a new language, which is actually what you're doing."
Dipper cracked open the textbook, leafing to the third set of runes to start his work. Bill looked over the boy's head, scanning over the page before bursting out in laughter.
"Oh my! How can you humans be smart while at the same time so dumb?" The god laughed, throwing his head back.
"What? Is the book wrong?"
"Is it wrong? The question is, 'what did it get right' and the answer is 'very little.' Geeze, Pine Tree! You need to let me help you with your- what did you call it- homework more often!"
"Darn it, Bill can you just help me? What's so important about these runes anyways? I'm not an enchanter and I don't want to be one." He pouted.
Bill smirked at seeing Dipper frustrated. Another new adorable emotion.
The god moved his legs, tucking the brunet closer to him. "Don't get mad, Pine Tree. Magic is all connected and teaching it to you like this- like it's not isn't going to help anyone in the long run. Runes are more powerful than written words as magic can flow through them easier."
"And how does that work?"
"Well, anything written can be used as a spell. Here."
Bill tore a bit of paper and grabbed Dipper's pen. With a neat and flowing script, the god wrote FIRE out in all capitals.
"Even your normal English can be used to convey magic. But because it's such a new language and magic hasn't had the time to adapt to it, it's hard."
Bill focused some on the paper. A few seconds ticked by, but eventually the paper burst into orange flames, much different than Bill's ethereal blue ones.
"See? You understand now? Runes are great for, as you said, enchantments, charms, and seals." The god's face puckered saying the last word, no doubt thinking about what was currently holding him in place.
"But spoken words are useful for actually casting spells that do something, manipulating the world around you. However, both work in tandem with one another. Got it?"
Dipper smiled up at Bill, face shining with wonder and understanding.
"Actually...I do! Thanks!"
Bill laughed loudly. Even more adorable than Pine Tree's look of frustration was his bright look of comprehension.
~~0~~0~~0~~
"You sure seem happy!" Mabel said to him as he strode into the living room, new sweater on her lap while a new episode of Why You Ackin' so Cray-Cray played on the television.
"Just finished my homework." Dipper admitted, wiping some beading sweat off his forehead, smiling all the way as he joined her on the floor.
"Really? You were really confused before."
"Yeah." Dipper lowered his voice and glanced around nervously, making sure no one else was around. "Bill helped me."
"That evil god you've been seeing? You actually talk to him and stuff?" She asked, putting down her needles to turn and give him a worried look.
"Well...yeah? I mean, what else would I be doing?"
"I thought he just watched you bumble around the forest alone while he watched from above or something!"
"Calm down, Mabel! Bill's not that bad."
"Bro-bro, he's-" Mabel coughed a bit, interrupting her own sentence. "-he's evil. You don't trust evil people! Or do your homework with them!" Her eyes narrowed. "You don't become friends with them! Even I have more sense than that!"
Dipper shot her a glare. "What do you know? All you're heard is the crazy stories around town, and you don't even fully remember them! Didn't you always say not to judge a book by it's cover and always give people the benefit of the doubt?"
"People, Dipper! And, er, creatures who act and think like people! Not immortal gods who've been around since the dawn of time!"
Dipper scowled at her and stood up. "I'm done with this conversation." He snapped turning away.
Dipper almost couldn't believe Mabel. Bill had been nothing but helpful. Why couldn't she just trust him on this? Trust him in the fact that he trusted Bill and that he wasn't evil.
"Dipper!" Mabel called out, jumping to her feet and letting the yarn she had unravel and fall to the ground. "I'm just worried about you! Besides school and dinner, I never seem to see you anymore!" Her voice caught, like she was about to cry.
A pang of guilt and hurt vibrated through Dipper's heart. Softening, he turned around.
"M'sorry, Mabel." He apologized, stepping closer to wrap her in a hug.
She looped her arms around him as well. "You've been a bit distant lately and- and with that day coming up soon I..I-"
Mabel coughed and fell silent, holding her tears in.
Dipper felt tears well in his eyes too, upset at himself for making his sister cry, especially around this time of year.
He was officially the worst brother ever.
"Hey, it's okay. We still have a week until we leave, so don't cry." He said, rubbing her back in small circles. Unlike Mabel, Dipper was terrible at the whole comforting thing, but he'd try his best.
Mabel hiccupped and giggled. "Yeah, you're right. Gotta save the tears for later."
Dipper smirked. "You really should. You don't have many to give away, after all."
The two siblings pulled away, smiling at one another. Without a second thought, both settled in the floor once again.
"Hey Dip, I heard there was a new episode of Ducktective on channel two." The sweater clad girl passed him the remote before picking up her now tangled yarn and needles.
Dipper shot another wide smile at her and flipped to the new episode, already excited to dive into the fake mystery.
"You're the best, Mabes."
The brunette gave her brother a matching, blindingly white grin.
"I know."
~~0~~0~~0~~
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~~0~~0~~0~~
Sorry this is late guys! I usually update around 3-4 in the morning, but I had quite the...adventure you could say around that time that included me, my mom, the garbage disposal, water, and an unusually large Palmetto Bug with unusually long feelers.
After that, I was kinda done for the night. Er, morning.
Oh, and did anyone watch the Triple Crown yesterday? First time in 37 years! History in the making, people. Plus, American Pharaoh is a really beautiful horse.
Anyways! Moving on! This was kinda the jack-of-all-trades chapter where stuff happened, more characters showed up, more foreshadowing as usual, and lots of world building! The runes mentioned do actually exist if you want to go look them up, by the way. Plus, ALL the references. Seriously, there are so many a game could be made out of it. See how many reference you can find!
TheJokerMan95- Haha, thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
BlueStar29- Hehe, only time will tell...
Guest- Haha, glad to make your day! The cipher...is a secret! Gotta try and figure it out. It's hard though, but not impossible.
crabbySeer- I actually did not know that about pine trees. It's all deciduous where I come from. But in the show, the pines do change color to match the mood so I guess...I don't know magical forest has magical trees that change color I guess :3
JackieLanternXOXO- Actually, fun fact, Brunet is simply the male version of Brunette, which is also a french word that English stole. it's the same thing with blonde (feminine) and blond (masculine) And yes, usually I write better at night and enjoy staying up but with school, really limited my hours of sleep. On top of that, I don't get any "catch up" on the weekends as I pretty much pull all-nighters. However, I'm feeling fine now, so it shouldn't be a problem!
random name- Haha, great! I'm glad you're liking it so much.
random name #2- No! Don't explode! How will you be able to read if you don't have eyes anymore?
Gravityy- Thank you so much! Great to see you're liking it so far!
Crystalicelily- That is quite possibly the best analogy ever written in the history of ever. Thank you!
Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Things are starting to pick up now and it's really exciting! (for me at least)
As always, thanks for reading!