The house was finally safe from Bill, protected by a circle of unicorn hair, with moonstone and mercury strategically placed to enhance its protective magic and complete the spell. Things weren't perfect, but what he'd accomplished by this point was enough to allow Ford to finally relax a little as he examined the rift and considered ways to seal it more securely.

Perhaps another unicorn hair seal would work-maybe if he sent Mabel back to the glen...or, better, he could go get some himself, since it turned out unicorns couldn't actually tell if you were pure of heart or not. He could take Dipper, and show him a few tips for how to fight quadruped creatures like he'd had to do a few times in the multiverse, and-

"HI GRUNKLE FORD!"

It was only with the greatest dexterity that he was able to avoid dropping the rift and starting Weirdmageddon up right then and there.

After a moment of clutching it to his chest Ford managed at last to calm his racing heart, and turned to look at the brightly colored girl standing in front of him with her hands clasped behind her back, grinning with all the innocence of the iceberg that had drifted into the path of the Titanic.

"...Yes, Mabel?" he asked through slightly gritted teeth, slipping the snowglobe into his deepest trench coat pocket.

"I found something cool in that treasure chest we got from the unicorns, you wanna see it?"

Ford considered. On the one hand, he needed to focus on figuring out what to do about the rift.

...On the other hand, the last time he had taken a break from his research to play DD&D with Dipper he had found the experience quite enjoyable-at least until Stanley stepped in and ruined everything, of course.

...On the other other hand, this was Mabel, whose...interesting worldview was so radically different from his and Dipper's that he was skeptical as to whether her definition of 'cool' was the same as his.

...But on the final hand, she looked so eager and excited about whatever this was that he found himself asking at last, "What is it?"

She brought her hands into view, revealing a set of glass vials tied together with sparkly colored liquids inside. "Ta-dah!"

Ford leaned in close and examined them thoughtfully. They looked somewhat familiar, if he could only-

Then it came to him. "These appear to be the same kind of potions used by this one invisible wizard I met once."

Mabel let out a loud, delighted gasp. "You mean there really is an invisible wizard?! Ha, wait'll I tell Dipper!"

"Tell Dipper what?" the boy in question asked from the doorway.

Mabel spun around to grin at him triumphantly. "There really is an invisible wizard! Grunkle Ford himself admits that he met him once, so there!"

Dipper blinked, and began approaching them. "...Yeah, I know that. He literally wrote about him in the journal. I never said he didn't exist, just that he wasn't the one making me taller."

"Yeah-but-but you-" After a moment her shoulders drooped in disappointment, and she turned back to Ford, who decided not to try to understand what that was all about, and instead focus on this interesting new discovery.

There were six vials, each one containing a different color of liquid: lime green, burnt orange, ocean blue, smoky gray, deep purple, and finally a sort of sunset blend of colors. There was a label attached to each vial, but there were no words; just a set of pictures. The green, blue and sunset ones showed someone holding a vial and holding it to their mouth; presumably this was to indicate that the contents were safe for consumption. The other three were pictures of a person rubbing their wrist, which probably meant it was for use on the outside of the body instead. And underneath each picture was a symbol of some kind, and then a number.

Very interesting...I wonder how the unicorns managed to acquire such a thing. Maybe they stole them from the wizard, and somehow avoided his wrath?

"Ooh, what's this one do?"

Without him noticing, Mabel had taken the purple vial, and popped open the cork, and was starting to tilt it towards her outstretched tongue.

"Mabel, stop!"

In one lightning swift movement he snatched the vial from her hand.

She looked confused (and a little hurt), enough for him to soften slightly.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't safe for you to drink," he said, indicating the label. "See the symbol here? It indicates that this is for putting on your skin instead."

"This one is probably safe, though," Dipper held up the sunset one. "Right? Cuz the label looks like someone drinking from it."

Ford gave a nod of approval. "Very good, Dipper."

"...Oh. Sorry."

"However-!" Ford quickly intercepted the vial just as Dipper was handing it to his sister- "Before you try any of them, we ought to study them more thoroughly so we can figure out what they actually do. Okay?"

While he was all for learning things by experience, he didn't want to end up with one or more children dead because of him.

They sighed in unison. "Okay, Great Uncle Ford."

The way they said it, combined with their resigned facial expressions, caused a strange sensation in Ford's chest. He forced his attention back to the potions as he began to set them up neatly on his desk.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten that the one containing purple liquid was still open.

As he set it down, it tipped to the side, and some of the liquid splashed out onto his hand.

"Great Uncle Ford!"

Immediately Dipper was grabbing the vial and setting it upright, before grabbing up a cloth from the table and frantically wiping Ford's hand with it.

"Are you okay? Is your hand gonna fall off? Do we need to call 911?!" Mabel asked in the same kind of panicked fervor.

"Yes, that's probably a good idea!" Ford agreed-and then blinked.

Wait, what? There's a number of reasons why that's not a good idea-not the least of which being that I technically don't have an identity in this dimension anymore.

All the same, a hot, racing ball of anxiety was growing in his chest as he stared down at his hand, examining it frantically for evidence that it had been unduly affected by the potion. He tried flexing his fingers; they moved normally enough. And aside from a slight tingling sensation on his skin where the potion had splattered, it didn't seem to have been damaged.

So why am I feeling like this? It's not like this is the first time I've had to deal with unfamiliar chemicals, why am I so stressed-

His gaze landed on Dipper, who was gripping his hair in both hands and sounding like he was a moment away from hyperventilating...and Mabel, who was holding up one of those new-fangled 'cell phone' things and bemoaning the fact that there was apparently no 'reception' down here, whatever that was. And then he looked at the label on the vial: a depiction of a heart that appeared to have a pulse emanating from it, and the number 48 underneath.

...Oh.

"It's all right, everyone, just calm down," Ford said, keeping his voice level despite the panic which, now that he was looking at it from a different perspective, he could tell wasn't his. "This potion isn't causing me any kind of harm."

"...Are you sure?" Dipper asked, looking at him with wide eyes; the anxiety level went down a little bit, but not much.

"Yes." Ford forced himself to give a reassuring smile. "I-I actually think it's giving me the temporary ability to sense other people's emotions."

The anxiety level dropped immediately, replaced by immense curiosity from both sides.

"Really?!" Dipper stared at the vial in amazement. "So you can sense what I'm feeling right now?" Then his expression turned to one of horror. "Wait, you can sense what I'm feeling right now?!" His cheeks reddened, and Ford could feel his own face heating up in response to it.

Well, that's disconcerting.

He was bombarded on his other side by-who else?-Mabel.

"That's so cool!" She slammed her hands onto the arm of his chair and began sort of bouncing in place. "How long does it last? Does it come with crazy healing powers or something? Can you tell if someone's in pain? Can-"

"The label seems to indicate that its effects will last for around 48 hours," Ford cut her off, feeling a little dizzy from the levels of exuberance now reverberating from her. "I don't know if it will necessarily last that long, considering that the amount I was splashed with might not be the intended amount for maximum results. And...I have no idea about the rest. We will simply have to wait and see."

"Cool!" Mabel was bouncing again. "We should go upstairs so you can sense everyone else's emotions too! C'mon!"

Her enthusiasm was so strong-literally-that Ford couldn't help hurrying upstairs after her. And despite the embarrassment he could still feel emanating from him, Dipper came after them, as the negative emotion gave way somewhat to his natural curiosity and interest in this new development.

Sure enough, when he reached the (utterly tasteless and tacky) giftshop, he could sense Wendy's boredom as she sat at the cash register reading a magazine, not even acknowledging them when they stepped out from behind the vending machine until Mabel bounced up to her.

"Hi Wendy Grunkle Ford got a weird potion on him and now he can sense other people's emotions!"

Wendy deigned to cast him a glance over the top of her magazine. "That so?" Her tone was as impassive as ever, but Ford could tell she was more interested than she let on.

"Indeed." He raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn't comment on it; it probably had something to do with the average teen obsession with being 'cool.' "We're testing its strength right now. So far it seems to be limited to just people who are in the same room as I am." Which was probably a good thing; having it any stronger would have the potential to become very overwhelming very fast-

He wasn't prepared at all for the tidal wave of emotion that hit him in the back, forcing him to lean against the nearby rack of T-shirts to avoid being pitched to the floor by its strength.

"Great Uncle Ford?! Are you okay?!"

Dipper was at his side in an instant, but Ford could barely feel the boy's anxiety in the face of the new feelings engulfing him thanks to his new ability.

It was a thick cloud of deep, all-encompassing, choking misery, to a level that Ford hadn't felt since the early days of being stranded in the multiverse, thinking that he had no hope of ever being able to defeat Bill or return home. Mixed in with it was a spark of angry frustration, a touch of anxious uncertain fear...and a larger portion of dark, murky despair that Ford was all too familiar with as well. He was mortified to actually feel his eyes starting to fill with tears as he turned around, trying to figure out where on earth that cocktail of feelings was coming from-

Stanley stepped through the doorway and marched past him with arms full of bobbleheads, outwardly appearing to be his normal cantankerous self.

He set them up on one of the shelves, before pulling a marker out of his pocket and marking up the price to ten times their previous value, before turning around.

His eyes narrowed into a glare when they landed on Ford.

"What're you lookin' at?"

And he stomped out again, taking the oppressive cloud of misery with him.