Friday Dipper made his way to the science hallway from history. He waited outside the classroom and when Larry walked out he asked him how the test went.

"Well," Larry sighed, "we'll see. I mean. I actually understood what the questions were asking this time, but I just hope I got them right…"

"Understanding is half the battle," Dipper grinned, "I'm sure you did fine."

They walked to lunch together and picked Mary up from her English class. The teacher was lecturing her on a rather overly dark poem she'd written.

"He's telling me to see the school counselor," Mary said waving white slip in the air, "its my third one this month."

"…there's a counselor in school?" Dipper asked wondering why his parents were wasting time and money finding a different one.

"Yeah, but he sucks," Mary grinned, her black lipstick making her teeth whiter, "I looked trough his desk when he left the room once and found out that he majored in history."

"How did he get hired?"

Mary shrugged, "guess he either forged papers, or the school was that desperate."

"Dodged that bullet," Dipper muttered.

()

Mabel walked into her science class and dropped her books down on the desk. A group of girls were huddled around one girl in the corner.

"I'm telling you," one girl said, "this is the holy trinity!"

Well, that sounded interesting.

Mabel made her way over to them, skirting around the edge to get behind then so she could see what was going on.

One the center girls phone was a picture of Kristian standing in front of a whiteboard. Mable grimaced. She guessed he had a nice face, but her loathing for him made him ugly in her eyes. She swiped the picture and it changed to a picture of…Mable grinned at the picture of Tommy Watts, he was really a stud. Then the girl swiped again and a picture of Dipper standing at his locker could be seen. She kept going and it was a series of the three boys doing various things. Kristian eating lunch, Kristian at his locker, Tommy walking down the stairs, Dipper taking notes, Tommy posing with his friends, Dipper in the weight lifting room using his shirt to wipe his face.

That was it.

Mabel shoved her way to the center. The girls practically shrieking until they realized who it was. Mabel snatched the girls phone and started to delete every picture of Dipper on her phone.

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"

Mabel glared at her, stepped backwards and raised the phone in the air, "I'll smash this phone, don't think I wont."

The girl froze until Mabel completed her task. Then Mabel handed the phone back to her. The girl snatched it away and glared.

"What right do you have to do something like this?"

"Anyone else have pics of my brother on their phone? You better delete them, right now," Mabel snapped, ignoring the question, "None of you deserve to like him. Not after how you all treated him! Especially you Vicky! You lied and said he harassed you! He never even looked at you! and I mean, why would he?"

Vickys face turned bright red, "you don't make the rules around here, Mabel. Dipper gets to make up his own mind!"

"Yeah," Mabel said folding her arms, "and I promise you that it won't be any of you skanks."

That was how Mabel managed to become public enemy number one of the entire female Junior class.

()

"you should've let me back in when I asked," Fenrik scolded, "but other than that, it was fantastic."

"I thought a ten minute lesson was deserved," Mabel grinned. Fenrik lay down on the plushies which were back now that Mabel had proved her point.

"I can concede that point," he nodded, "it was well deserved. The mind is a flexible place where fact and fiction become one. Force has little meaning here if you know how to use it against them. Now that you know how to properly make a barrier, I want you to start working on how to empty your mind completely."

"ooooo," Mabel made a face, "that's gonna be really hard…"

"I'm not saying to rid yourself of thought," Fenrik corrected, "I'm saying that you need to hide your mind from the view of others. You made an invisible barrier yesterday, why?"

"Well," Mabel got comfortable in her chair, "If someone is going to invade my mind, then they won't expect resistance. Nothing says 'this gal knows what she's doing' more than a visible wall, so I made it invisible so the trap would work."

Fenrik grinned, all his teeth showing, "excellent. Now, the reason people make visible walls is to hide their minds from others. If you are going to stick with your invisible wall, then you must make your mind invisible as well. Just like you did with emptying the room of all your clutter. You enhanced the effect that there was nothing to fear and there was nothing to gain."

"…so, do what I did with the room, but with ALL of my mind?"

Fenrik nodded, "all it is, is hiding anything that can be used against you from anyone who might be looking."

"You really think anyone could find anything useful here?"

Fenrik looked around the room again. The amount of absolute junk and glitter was astounding and an eye-sore to put it mildly.

"Let's just be on the safe side," Fenrik replied, "its always good to have multiple cards up your sleeve."

()

"Hello Mason," Hassic smiled and held out his hand. Dipper shook it.

"I'll be waiting right here," Cassy said.

"I'm glad I get to see you again," Hassic said as they sat down in their previous places, "I'm honored."

"Hey, think you could call me Dipper instead?"

Hassic shrugged, "Sure, Dipper huh? My cousins used to call me Tiny."

Dipper grinned, "How original. Bet they're eating their words right now."

"We're actually about the same height. Except Burta. She's only a head shorter than me."

"How the heck do I get those kind of genes?"

"Make do with what you got," Hassic grabbed something off his desk and tossed it to Dipper. Dipper flinched and missed. The object hit the back of the couch and started to roll off the cushion. Dipper grabbed it.

It was a 20d.

Hassic held up a stack of cards.

"Even or odd?" he asked.

"…odd," Dipper said, "why?"

"This is a game I created," Hassic put the cards on the table face down, "each card has a question you have to answer. Whether or not you or I pick up the card depends on the roll of the die."

Dipper scowled, "I'm not 5. And I had my hopes up about you…"

Hassic laughed, "what if I told you that you'll be playing 'get to know you' games in college? This is just a fair way to make sure a conversation isn't one sided."

"These cards aren't going to ask me what my greatest fear is or-"

"Oh no, I got that in there," Hassic beamed, "but I also have "what did you have for dinner last night" and "can you roll your tongue". Its really up to chance if you have to answer a personal question or a frivolous one."

"What if I really don't want to answer?"

Hassic pouted, "why would you not want to answer?"

Dippers scowl deepened. Hassic rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you can skip once."

"three."

"We have less than an hour to play, one."

Dipper looked at the time and gave in, "Fine."

"You roll so you don't think I'm cheating."

Dipper dropped the die on the table. 2. Hassic frowned.

"Fine," he mumbled and pulled the top card, "'Where would you like to travel if you could go anywhere?' Mmm…Hawaii. I could use a few relaxing days in the sun with a drink."

Dipper threw the die again. 13.

"'What is your least favorite food?' Dad raised us to not be spoiled, so we have to eat everything my mom serves us. But I really don't like cottage cheese. Mabel and my dad can eat an entire container, but I can't stand the stuff."

5.

Dipper scowled, "'What is your favorite game?' I like DD&D."

Hassic nodded, "a fantastic pass time."

2.

"'What is your greatest fear?' See, told you it was in there," Hassic beamed while showing Dipper the card, "Though I always hope the other guy get's it. Anyway. Have you ever seen the horror movie Resentment?"

Dipper nodded.

"I hate and am terrified about everything about that movie. Every last detail. Hate it. I was in the hospital when the movie came out on DVD and my cousins thought it would be hilarious to show it to me when I couldn't get up and leave the room. I didn't sleep for almost a year."

Dipper winced. It wasn't just gory, there was a psychological terror in it that made it so you questioned everyone you met. Dipper rolled again.

9.

"'What is the craziest thing you've ever done?'" dippers mind went over all the insane things he'd ever done. Jump off a cliff into a robot. Build a house into a robot. Taunt a demon. Run into a building crowded with the enemy to save his grunkles. Just to name a few…

"Ummmm…I'm going to skip this one," Dipper said putting it down. He'd paused too long. Anything he said after that pause would have sounded like a lie.

"You sure?" Hassic asked, "Sure you don't want to take it back?"

Dipper nodded and rolled.

20.

"Your hit, my fail," Hassic sighed as he drew the card, "'What is an event in your life that makes you angry?"

Dipper immediately thought about the guys leg. He'd wanted nothing more than to be a rancher and he'd lost it all. So Hassics answer surprised him a little.

"When I lost my oldest cousin," he said, "no one, even my stupid cousin, deserves to go out like that."

Now Dipper was curious. But Hassic simply put the card on the bottom of the deck and smiled. Dipper rolled.

17.

"'What was your dream last night?' Really? You're not gonna phyco-analyze my dreams, are you?"

Hassic laughed, "No, this isn't the forties. Its in there for kicks. You'd be amazed at some of the dreams people have, though."

Dipper didn't think so, but he couldn't skip this one, "I dreamed of a dark space with water up to my ankles. There were lights in the water and I liked it when the water moved and the lights would flicker. And that's it."

Dipper looked up from the card to see Hassic, eyes wide, staring at him with his mouth slightly open.

"Ummm…"

Hassic blinked a few times and nodded, "that's…that's cool. You gonna roll again?"

Dipper watched Hassics face, but it was unreadable again with his placid smile.

4.

"'What is the last thing you said to your mother?' Oh dear. I think it was something along the lines of 'not if I do it first'…or something like that? We're a rather competitive family."

19.

"'Who is in your immediate family?' My mom, dad, and my twin sister Mabel."

3.

"'How was school today?'"

"You can answer for yesterday," Hassic said.

"It was fine. I ate lunch with my friends and we talked about how some teachers really shouldn't be teaching."

Hassic watched as Dipper cheeks turned a little red, "not used to saying you have friends?"

Dipper snapped his mouth shut and this time felt the heat in his own face intensify. Hassic nodded.

"I get it," he said, "roll again."

3.

"Not cool," Dipper muttered as he picked up the next card, "'What is the most dangerous thing you've ever put in your mouth?' What kind of question is that?"

"I added that after I found out how many people lick mayo off the knife they use," Hassic grinned, "this has started some really interesting conversations."

Dipper shook his head, "Well, the most dangerous thing ever is Mabel Juice."

"Ok, you're going to have to elaborate on that."

"My sister went through this phase where she'd invent these concoctions. None of them were ever the same as the last one. But each one was a beast. There was one with glitter and plastic dinosaurs in it."

"…glitter?"

"oh yeah and another one had Tabasco sauce."

Hassic shook his head, "that's not right."

Dipper shrugged and rolled the die.

16:

"'What is your favorite food?' Ok, so I told you I have a grauntie, right? Well, she makes this pumpkin pie that is to die for. Once you have it you can't eat any other pumpkin pie for the rest of your life."

"Sounds tough."

"So worth it."

20.

"I've never seen so many 20s in one game," Hassic sighed snatching a card from the table, "'Dog or Cat?' yikes…truthfully? Neither. I mean, they're cute, but I've killed too many fish, I wouldn't dare own a larger animal and risk killing that too."

"but which do you prefer?" Dipper pressured, "its asking preference, not if you'd kill it."

Hassic narrowed his eyes at him, "I made these, I think I know that I meant."

Dipper raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, I prefer…neither. They both hate me. I've never actually pet one so I can't say I have a preference."

"How can you never have pet one?"

"They hate me," Hassic said again, "roll."

1.

"the odds."

"Literally."

Dipper looked at the card and put it down, "I really want to skip this one."

"Only one."

"…I reeeeaaaallly want to skip this one."

Hassic picked it up and read the question, "'What hurts the most?'"

Dipper didn't make eye contact and Hassic wasn't going to make him. He put the card on the bottom of the pile.

"Ok, so answer the other one. What's the craziest thing you ever done?"

Dipper sighed, "…its hard…to pick just one…"

Hassic grinned, "there must be one that stands out."

"…not really?"

"Ok, then pick either the first one or the latest one."

Dipper thought back, "I stole my grunkles go-cart in order to save my sister from a bad date armed with a shovel and a bat."

Hassic was stunned for a moment, then he snorted, "That was one heck of a sentence. How did it turn out?"

"It was ok," Dipper shrugged and grinned at the memory, "ended up using a leaf blower instead."

Hassic laughed and glanced at the clock, "that's awesome, but we are out of time. Is there anything you would like to ask personally before you go?"

"Is every session going to be like this?"

"Sadly, no," Hassic replied, "this is your time, not mine. This game is to establish a base level of trust. I want you to know that I can answer these questions too. If I don't want to answer the question, then I won't ask you. But you also need to understand that this is for you. This is so we can help you, so you can feel better. It will feel intrusive and I'll probably sound obnoxious. Go ahead and tell me that. But I will only ask questions that I think will help. I promise."

Dipper nodded. He understood his position, he just wanted to see how far he could get avoiding it.

()

"How can you watch TV?"

"…well, you first have to sit down. Then sometimes you have to find the remote-"

"That's not what I'm asking STAN!" Ford walked in and stood in front of the screen, "there's so much to do! How can you just sit there and not do it?!"

Stan sighed, "You realize I sat down only two minutes ago…right? Before that I was knocking on doors trying to get people to listen to me like a JW. Unlike you, Ford, I know that a break or two during the day isn't going to kill anyone."

"It might! These are lunatics we're dealing with! They don't sleep so we shouldn't either!"

"Or, you let them not sleep, you get well rested, and then they practically defeat themselves," Stan said, "Taking down a tired opponent is a piece of cake."

Ford, at a loss for how to continue the argument, stormed out of the room. Stan sighed and stood back up.

"Time to get started on 7th street."