"Guys, how long are you gonna be?" Mabel huffed, pinning a pair of particularly outsized earrings to herself. "I thought we were gonna go on a double date?"

"Mabel, going out and looking at the tree stumps Kevin has cut down isn't a date. It's a survey." Pacifica retorted, disinterestedly.

Mabel furrowed her brow. "At least it's outdoors. What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Ford to get back," Dipper replied, leafing through a copy of Paranormal Parables for the Paranoid. "It's a big experiment today."

"You mean him poking black rocks? Dipper, if the ground was alive, we'd probably know it."

"It's not about the ground being alive, Mabel. It's about minerals."

"Minerals shminerals! Come on you guys, it's gonna be a busy week! We gotta make the most of it, get some sunshine!"

Pacifica glanced over to Dipper, who shook his head. "Sorry, Mabel, but if it's important-"

The overly-enthusiastic Pines twin twisted her lip. "Is it...really important?"

Dipper huffed. "If the coal is gonna be dangerous, it could ruin everything for the railroad, Mabel. The boiler could explode, or the thing could crash, or-"

Mabel unpinned her earrings and sat down without hesitation. "Okay. So what can we do?"

"We can't do anything until Ford comes back with the sample." Pacifica shrugged. "We just gotta wait."

"I'm looking to see if there's any stories about ghost coal, or zombie coal or-"

"What you guys need is someone closer to the source," Mabel said pointedly. "Luckily, you've got an utterly amazing sister - and future sister-in-law - with all of the answers. I'll ask Kevin to raid his dad's filing cabinet!"

Pacifica and Dipper glanced to each other with surprise, somewhat taken aback by Mabel's eagerness to help, as the brunette tapped away on her cellphone excitedly. "Kitty face… kitty face… kitty face. Alright, now we wait!"

"What gives?" Dipper finally asked.

"Look, I may not be some... mystery nerd or detective dork, but I care about this town and we've worked on that train track! If people in Gravity Falls are excited about something, I wanna see it happen!"

"Excited?" Pacifica snorted. "Mabel, this town gets excited when there's an extra sauce packet in someone's noodles."

"And this time it's something big! Something real! It's like - it's like four pioneer days in one, with less horse manure!" She replied, somewhat erratically. "McGucket'll have that steam train working in a day or two and then it's all go! Everyone'll be happy and excited - that's a great reason to want it to go without a hitch!"

"You're such a goody-goody." The Northwest heir smirked.

"If I was such a goody-goody, I wouldn't read your diary."

Pacifica wordlessly pulled Mabel's own sticker-smothered diary from behind her back and stuck out her tongue while Dipper erupted into unfettered laughter. What would have no doubt descended into a chaotic chase around the shack was interrupted by Mabel's cellphone.

The older - and louder - twin tapped away excitedly. "Kevin's got loadsa stuff to help us out! He's just gotta get his bike and he'll be here in no time."

"What does a lumberjack family know about mines…?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dipper, you may be dating into the town's most famous family, but I'm dating into the family that built it ." Mabel chirped. "I'm pretty sure Dan's office holds more history than the town museum, and that place had a whole ritual chamber!"

Dipper was forced to concede that Manly Dan's brood was more likely to have notes on the place than the Pines. Hell, the town museum was mostly a series of distinctly amusing old-timey displays and novelty saw blades, rather than a reliable record of the town's heritage.

"If you jam what he's got with Ford's stuff, you could probably map out the entire town throughout the ages!" She continued enthusiastically.

"Alright, alright - I'm convinced. How long will he-"

Kevin clambered through the window, whistling a spy movie theme tune with an enormous leather briefcase dragging along behind him.

Dipper and Pacifica watched, increasingly perturbed, as he continued his Mission Implausible gag around the room, diving behind alcoves and attempting to camouflage his distinctive hair with Stan's recently stolen red velvet drapes. Much to Mabel's delight, he crept behind and wrapped his arms around her waist, still tootling away his butchered movie theme, and handed the hefty suitcase over to Dipper.

Dipper grunted as the case dropped to the floor with a thud, nearly pulling him to the floor with it. "What the heck's in here?"

"Eh, I dunno exactly. Basically everything for the old mines, gold rush, flannel rush, pancake speakeasies, cinnabon dugouts and something called a Sugar-raptor." The middle Corduroy brother replied, his chin on Mabel's shoulder. "I also brought candy. Not as in Candy Chiu, I mean, like, Lo-Chews."

"Oh Kevin!" Mabel simpered. "You're so well-prepared!"

Dipper and Pacifica glanced at each other in disgust. Were they like that? Ew . They felt like they were getting diabetes just watching the two together.

"Well, open the case!" The Northwest heir finally urged, giving Dipper a push. "Let's get reading!"

"I'm trying, the damned lock is-"

Click

The living room was shortly overwhelmed with a tidal wave of paperwork and documentation, a strong smell of dust and at least six packets of Lo-Chews and Gummi Koalas. It was a torrent of yellowed parchment - a practical tsunami of letters, diagrams and notes.

Dipper blinked. "Did you… sort these, or…?"

"I just kinda grabbed a bunch and left." Kevin said, rubbing the back of his neck. "If you need more I can go get 'em-"

Pacifica knelt down and grabbed a few sheets. "You did great, Kevin, honest. It's just a lot-"

Mabel beamed. "Well, let's get reading, right?!"

Dipper raised an eyebrow and was about to speak - before Pacifica elbowed him gently in the ribs. "S-sure, if you want."

"Can only be easier with more heads in the game?" Kevin said, picking up a stack of the paperwork.

Dipper was still not quite acclimated to having so many people genuinely interested in helping him; especially when it involved rocks and stuff. After so long being the dorky kid with only his sister showing the vaguest interest in his projects - and even then, she was a bit of a butterfly with her fascinations - he was still feeling a little bewildered by the constant stream of genuinely helpful people in the town of Gravity Falls. Hell, he still felt utterly amazed every time he so much as glanced at Pacifica Northwest. A girl was romantically involved with him and it wasn't a character in one of his fanfictions. Crazy!

His thoughts mustered back to that fateful day at the start of Summer 2012.

Trust no-one.

Yeah, right.

He gave a wide smile and grabbed a stack of parchment to begin diving into. He was hopeful this geological dive could be the first step towards showing Pacifica his collection of rocks that look like cereal box mascots.

One day, Sedimentary Sugar Bear would be seen.

One day.