'Alright Joel, before you can start working here, we're going to need to put you through initiation,' Stan casually explained as he paced the living room. At this, the teens in the room became more aware of what was going on.

'Initiation?' thought Joel, wondering if he would perhaps have to go for a walk in the forest at night, or have a fistfight with someone. His stomach turned over inside him.

Stan cleared his throat. 'First, I would like you to name the 8th to the 13th numbers in the Fibonacci sequence'

'Excuse me?' was all Joel could manage. Stan glared at him. The boy on the couch sat up, looking at him. Joel was flustered all of a sudden.

'Uhm… 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and… 233?' he stammered. Stan nodded and turned his back to Joel.

'Excellent,' he said. 'Now, tell me, the number 3, do we really need it?'

Joel was wondering if all the questions would be about Mathematics, in which case this would be a breeze, but he still felt unsure about the old man's employment methods. Joel decided to be smart with his response this time.

'If you like triangles, then yes.' Stan looked back over his shoulder.

'Oh, I like triangles,' he replied. The boy on the couch laughed and lay back down. Joel was still in the dark about all this.

'You're doing well Joel, one more. The hot dog to hot dog bun ratio, why in the name of the Man-o-taurs do you get 10 hot-dog's in a packet but only 8 buns per bag?'

Joel was thoroughly confused by this point. 'Man-o-taurs?' he asked.

'Just answer the question!' replied Stan, turning back to face him. Joel didn't know what to say.

'Well, I guess in case someone drops a hot dog …?' he started.

'WHAT KIND OF INSUFFERABLE IDIOT DROPS A HOT DOG?' yelled Stan, grabbing Joel by the shoulders and shaking him.

'Anything is possible, sir!' he forced out as the trembling pushed the air out of his lungs. Stan stopped shaking him.

'Anything is possible,' Stan echoed. Joel took a moment to recover his breath. When he looked up again, Stan's arm was outstretched towards him in more of a friendly manner. Joel took it and Stan started shaking his hand almost as violently as he did Joel's shoulders before.

'You're hired!' he said, and the three others in the room started clapping in different ways. The boy on the sofa did a slow clap above his head as he lay, the brunette at the table applauded so energetically it shook the cards on the table around and the blonde girl smiled and shook her head.

'Sorry?' asked Joel, becoming woozy from the vibrations running up his arm as the man assaulted his extremities.

'You're hired!' he said letting go. Joel regained his balance and scratched his scalp.

'So when do I start?' he asked as Stan headed out to the gift shop.

'I'll give you half an hour to get to know this lot, and then I'll start you off,' he replied gesturing to the three others in the room. Joel looked around at the others. The boy on the couch groaned.

'Dipper, you will come over here and get thrashed by Waddles at Texas Hold 'Em and at least attempt to make conversation or I will detain your girlfriend from you for –'

'Yeah, alright,' he said, trudging over to the table and pulling up a chair. He did an 'I got my eye on you' gesture at the pig before sitting down. Joel still stood looking at them. The brunette girl looked quizzically up at him.

'What's the matter, new guy?' she asked, tapping her finger on her chin.

'I didn't understand a single word of what you just said,' he explained. The girl laughed.

'Oh, don't worry yourself, I'll explain as we go along. I'm Mabel, by the way, this is my brother Dipper and my best friend Pacifica,' she said, pointing at each person. The pig squealed.

'Oops, sorry,' she giggled. 'And this is Waddles, he's my best pet pig friend.'