Pacifica had an actual goal to look forward to now, and the focus it gave her was invigorating after two weeks of aimless wandering. A quick stop at a local library to use the internet gave her directions straight over to the twins' house, and a second stop at a pawn shop had supplied her with enough funds for gas and food after she parted with a sapphire studded tennis bracelet which she'd never particularly cared for. The amount she'd been paid for the gaudy trinket had seemed criminally low considering its true value but she'd accepted the price with only a half-hearted argument and after stopping at a roadside diner for a burger she felt that she'd made the right decision. All the sapphires in the world weren't worth half as much as a mouthful of food to a hungry person.
Even after taking every shortcut she could find on the map the needle of the gas tank had still dropped dangerously close to 'E' by the time Pacifica had entered the city limits of Piedemont. She glanced up from the printed directions she'd made, eyes peeled for the names of the unfamiliar streets as she navigated through the twisting tangles of business districts and residential areas until she spotted the subdivision of two story brick houses she recognized from the satellite view of the online map.
Pacifica's stomach churned unpleasantly as her car drove at a slow crawl down the street of near identical homes and the changing addresses marked on the mailboxes felt like a count-down as she drew closer to the Pines family residence.
Too late to turn back now... I hope this was a good idea.
After all the stress and anticipation the house itself was pretty anti-climactic, just another two-story brick box in a neighborhood full of almost identical brick boxes, with nothing in its outward appearance to show that it was home to the weirdest people that Pacifica had ever known. She parked across the street alongside a house with a prominent 'For Sale' sign, feeling almost like a stalker as she glanced over at the house again. She gave herself a once over in the rear view mirror and grimaced at the sight - nearly eight straight hours of driving and a day without a shower weren't doing her face any favors. She dragged out the process of re-applying her makeup, using a small dusting of powder and an artfully applied sweep of color to hide the tired lines under her eyes and bring the color back to her drawn out cheeks.
Alright, no more delays now that I finally look human enough to face them, Pacifica told herself firmly after she was satisfied with her work.
She nervously brushed out the wrinkles in her shirt, cursing the fact that she hadn't been able to change into a new outfit since the start of her drive. The sound of the blood pounding in her ears intensified as she drew closer to the front door of the house, her hand hovering hesitantly over the doorbell for a few heartbeats before she jabbed her finger down.
The time seemed to stretch on forever, but it must have been only a few seconds because before Pacifica could press down on the doorbell again she heard the sound of footsteps slamming on tile and stepped back in surprise as the door was flung open.
"Paz!" a strange figure screamed excitedly at a pitch normally only audible to bats.
"Mabel?" Pacifica asked, half unsure of the answer.
She'd been imagining the meeting during most of the drive, trying to figure out what to say (and perhaps more importantly what not to say), but none of her mental scenarios had involved Mabel greeting her at the door wearing an enormous bristling fake mustache and with a paisley tie wrapped around her forehead like the bandanna of an 80's action movie star.
"Oh man, what are you even doing here?" Mabel asked, a wide brace-free grin gleaming out from under the distracting layer of face fuzz.
"Um... I was sort of in the neighborhood I guess," Pacifica said lamely, all her careful preparations gone out the window.
A movement out the corner of her eye caused Pacifica to duck instinctively and a neon yellow foam dart sailed through the air, grazing Mabel's shoulder and passing over Pacifica's head. Mabel clutched at herself dramatically and dropped to her knees, a plastic gun falling from her hands and clattering across the tiles.
"Dipper you cheat," she growled through a horrible fake cough, "I thought... I thought answering the doorbell was supposed to be a time of truce."
Pacifica glanced up in growing confusion to see Dipper Pines, the overly serious for his age and bookishly nerdy Dipper Pines, coming toward the foyer with an identical plastic gun in his hands, bare chested and with black stripes painted across his cheeks like war paint.
"War is hell sis," he said with a grin, giving the toy gun a playful twirl around his finger.
The cocky smile fell from his face the second he recognized Pacifica giving him a bemused stare and waving her fingers at him slightly in greeting.
"You... you aren't the pizza guy," he said with a flush coming to his cheeks.
"Sorry to disappoint you," Pacifica said with a barely supressed snort of laughter.
"I... um... I'm going to go put a shirt on," Dipper said quickly, shuffling out of sight as Pacifica's eyes unconsciously followed his progress out the room.
"So what brought you so far out from Gravity Falls? Are your parents thinking of buying California to turn it into a new extra large swimming pool or something?" Mabel joked.
Pacifica's attention snapped back from her brief look at the retreating Dipper and she felt her cheeks grow hot.
"Actually I'm here by myself, my parents are still back at the manor," she said, her eyes carefully avoiding Mabel's.
"Oh man, and they let you come all the way down here on your own for the weekend? I am so jealous - our folks barely trusted me and Dipper enough to leave us alone here while they are off at our aunt Jo's wedding. It's like they thought we might not be responsible enough to take care of the house for a few days or something," Mabel said, blowing a loud dismissive raspberry at the very idea, her fake mustache askew on her face.
"Yeah, I can't imagine how they would ever get that impression," Pacifica said with a small smile.
"So how long are you going to be in town for? I mean, school starts back up again on Monday unless I've forgotten an extra holiday somewhere or something," Mabel said, peeling the gumball machine mustache off her upper lip completely unselfconsciously and stuffing it into the front pocket of her baggy teal sweater.
"I'm probably just going to be around for the day... I mean, I do have to get back home eventually too," Pacifica said.
A sound off from inside the house caught Pacifica's attention and she glanced up to see Dipper coming her way with a slightly faded old t-shirt on and with his cheekbones smudged grey from hastily wiping off the warpaint that had decorated his face a few moments ago.
"Well, we've got a pizza coming in - it probably isn't up to your usual standards of cuisine but you're welcome to join us," Dipper said with a smile, only the slight reddening at the tips of his ears showing the sign of his earlier embarrassment.
Pacifica felt her stomach clench hard at the mere thought of a hot meal and it was only with her very firm self control that she managed to not jump up for joy.
"Thanks, pizza does sound pretty nice," she said mildly as Mabel shut the door behind her and lead Pacifica into the house.
Pacifica forced herself to stop eating after the third slice, though she gave the box a longing look as she nibbled at the last thin rind of crust in her hands.
"So... is that your first time ever eating pizza or something?" Mabel joked mildly after she had watched her normally fussy blonde friend tear into the hot cheesy mess with an almost frenzied look in her eyes.
"Of course I've had pizza before... it was just a really long drive, that's all," Pacifica said with a defensive sniff, dragging her wandering eyes back from the box once again.
After her last few 'meals' of nothing but convenience store snacks and energy drinks to keep her awake on the road the pizza had tasted like purest ambrosia, and her stomach growled loudly at the thought of having just one more slice.
Nope, I'm putting a stop to this now, she thought to herself, I already went through almost half of their lunch like a starved tiger.
"Whats on rich people pizza anyway? Do you guys eat it with like, cloned dinosaur meat instead of pepperoni?" Mabel asked as she nibbled on her own slice.
Pacifica wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought, though in her current state of hunger she couldn't help but imagine what a tyrannosaur tartare might have tasted like. Maybe with some clarified butter or the right sauce...
She could feel the pressure of eyes on her, pulling her out of the dining car of her train of thought. Pacifica glanced to the side and noticed Dipper looking at her intently, an expression on his face that seemed somewhat familiar.
"Do I have some cheese on my face or something?" she asked him, dabbing lightly at the corners of her mouth with a paper napkin.
"No it's... never mind," Dipper said with a slight shake of his head, "I was just thinking about something else."
"Well since you're in town we gotta go do something fun - there's no point in wasting a perfectly good Saturday afternoon at home when we've got company!" Mabel said with a wide grin.
"Um, sure that sounds good," Pacifica said as she recalled her extremely limited funds, "what did you have in mind? I don't know much about this town."
"It's just your usual suburb, nothing too special. I'm sure Pacifica is tired after her long drive, so maybe we should just stay in tonight and watch a movie instead?" Dipper suggested to Mabel mildly, his eyes darting back at Pacifica for a brief moment.
"What? Pffft, c'mon Dipper - this is Pacifica here, this girl can still party after almost getting roasted by vengeful lumberjack ghosts, do you really think a drive would be enough to slow her down?" Mabel said.
"Yeah, I should be fine Dipper," Pacifica said, a slightly strained smile on her face.
Dipper glanced at her, one eyebrow quirking up slightly before his face returned to placid calm and he shrugged.
"Alright then, if you guys want - but we'd be missing out on the chance for a pretty great monster movie marathon," Dipper said with a shrug.
"We can do that some other time Dippingsauce, for now lets go show our guest the wonders of Piedemonts' artistic and cultural scene," Mabel said in a terrible imitation of a snooty British accent.
"Are you talking about the arcade?" Dipper asked flatly.
"Not necessarily," Mabel said, her fake accent tapering off as she shot Dipper a glare.
"An arcade sounds like it could be fun," Pacifica chimed in quickly.
Games just cost a few quarters right? That shouldn't be too bad.
"Awesome! I was just bluffing about all that art and culture stuff - its really either the arcade or the movie theater around here," Mabel said with a laugh.
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that, I mean its not like Gravity Falls is exactly the French Riviera," Pacifica said.
As Mabel darted her way up the stairs to grab some things, Dipper sidled his way across the couch closer to Pacifica.
"Hey, are you doing alright?" he asked quietly.
She frowned slightly, unsure of how to interpret his expression.
"I'm fine," she said quickly.
"Alright, just asking. It's been a while since we've gotten to see you," Dipper said.
Pacifica's expression softened slightly. She wasn't used to this... the concern on his face. The expression was almost alien to her experience, but she felt safe enough here to let down a bit of her usual reserve.
"Well, I've missed seeing you guys so I decided to take the car down - that's all," Pacifica said finally.
Dipper looked like he was going to say something else in response but before he could open his mouth a loud cry from the second floor interrupted him.
The pair turned to see Mabel taking the stairs down two at a time, a look of breathless excitement on her face.
"Guys, I just had a major brainstorm – forget the arcade!" she said.
"Alright, whats the new plan then?" Dipper asked.
"Minigolf! It's perfect- me and Pacifica both enjoy it and you've gotten a lot less terrible at it lately too."
"C'mon Mabel, all this flattery is going to give me a big ego," Dipper said dryly.
"What do you think Paz – we could have a little three-way game for old times sake? Me and Dip already checked out the local course a few years ago and its 100% Liliputtian free." Mabel beamed.
"We set out some traps just in case though," Dipper added with a nod.
Pacifica's mind jumped back to the wallet in her purse, thoughts racing as she tried to calculate if she had enough in her budget for a game.
God its so weird having a budget, Pacifica thought to herself. Just the word itself tasted strange in her mind.
She felt a sinking sensation start deep in her gut when she realized that even if the games here cost less than the ones at the Discount Putt-Hut, which was highly unlikely, that she might not have enough money left afterwards to make the trip back home.
She turned to Mabel, trying to find some reasonable excuse for why the game wouldn't be a good idea but she couldn't bring herself to do it after seeing the wide puppy-dog stare of Mabel's eyes.
Well... maybe I could find somewhere that might give me a little money for something else. There must be something left in my suitcase worth a bit of fast cash.
"Yeah, minigolf sounds like a great idea," Pacifica said quickly to cover the beat of hesitation that had crossed her face,"I'm probably a little rusty though,"
"Perfect, that means that I might have a chance this time," Mabel said.
"I'll drive us," Dipper said, "You've already been on the road all day so I imagine the last thing you would want to do is get behind a steering wheel again right now,"
"Thanks," Pacifica said, giving him a small smile, "and you're definitely right about that."
Pacifica took the opportunity to change into a more suitable outfit for spending time outdoors at the twins house, glad to finally shrug herself out of her wrinkled shirt and jeans and into some less travel worn clothes. She had given the shower a hopeful glance but couldn't find a convenient excuse as to why she'd want one and had finally decided against it – perhaps she could see about taking one after they got back from the course if it wouldn't seem to weird or suspicious.
As she exited the upstairs bathroom she bumped into Mabel who gave her an oddly penetrating look.
"You know, I hadn't noticed earlier but there's something different about you today Paz," Mabel said, tapping her chin idly with a finger.
Pacifica felt her heart jump slightly in her chest at the sudden scrutiny.
"Is it your hair? Did you get it cut differently or something?" Mabel asked at last, tilting her head slightly as she gave Pacifica another appraising glance.
Pacifica's hand went up to brush against the long straight blonde strands and she felt a sudden pang of self-consciousness. If her hair looked any different than usual it was probably because she hadn't taken her regular trip to the Northwest family stylist in the two weeks since she'd left home. The fringe of her bangs had started to grow slightly more into her eyes than it usually did and she'd noticed a few damaged ends in the mirror as she had changed into her fresh shirt and skirt.
"Yeah, I'm just trying out a new look," Pacifica said.
There's no way she's buying that. I look like a wreck.
"Neat," Mabel said, "it looks good on you!"
"Um... thanks?" Pacifica replied.
Pacifica was almost certain there wasn't any sarcasm intended – Mabel had a mean streak in her, but it wasn't anywhere near as wide as her nice streak.
Maybe she honestly does think I look nicer like this? I mean, she does have kind of a weird sense of taste.
As Pacifica made her way down the stairs she felt a lightness in her step that had been missing for a few days – there was something about the atmosphere of the Pines house that she could practically feel in her skin. She knew that she should be feeling tired after her long drive but a hot meal and the thrill of seeing her best friends again after almost a year apart had been extremely energizing.
It was a short trip from the Pines house to the course in Dipper's rattling old sedan. The car looked like it had seen better centuries, but Dipper had seemed fairly proud of it and Pacifica had restrained herself from making a few good natured jokes since she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
Pacifica had felt a knot twist in her gut when they had neared the entrance of the golf course but before she should reach for her purse Dipper had stepped forward and pulled a brown leather wallet from his back pocket.
"The games are on me today guys," Dipper said.
"What's with the sudden burst of generosity?" Mabel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I got paid this week, so I just feel like splurging a bit while I'm still rich," Dipper replied easily as he extracted a few bills out from the wallet and slipped it back into the pocket of his jeans.
"Are you sure? I can cover myself," Pacifica said quickly.
Dipper gave her a quick flash of a smile.
"Hey, you're our guest for the day, so let us treat you to something nice for once," Dipper said.
"I guess that's okay," Pacifica said, feeling a combination of relief and embarrassment.
"If it really bugs you that much you can treat us to something next time we're in Gravity Falls," Mabel said, nudging Pacifica in the ribs gently after seeing the tension that had come into her face during the exchange.
"That sounds fair," Pacifica said with a false smile.
Her mood dropped a bit at the mention of Gravity Falls. Nice as the afternoon had been so far she was still just delaying the inevitable while she was here.
Still, even that reminder of her eventual destination wasn't enough to keep her down in the face of the twins infectious energy. The afternoon air was crisp and clear, the course wasn't overly crowded and Pacifica found herself starting to relax once again. She was frustrated at first at missing a few easy shots early in the game, especially when Dipper had managed to tie her score at the very first hole, but as she continued to play she felt herself start to relax as she let her old instincts take over. Pacifica enjoyed the feel of the weight of the club in her hands and her muscles began to remember the familiar play of arms, shoulders and hips all acting together in a single fluid motion.
It had been a few years since she'd been on a minigolf course, but Pacifica had genuinely loved the game when she had first played it as a child and that hadn't changed. The fact that she was good at it because of all the years worth of practice that she'd put in had always been a matter of pride to her, and Pacifica felt its warm glow in her chest again when she made her first hole-in-one of the day at the giant gorilla. Before long Dipper had been left far behind on the scoreboard and Pacifica and Mabel were neck and neck, tossing friendly trash talk back and forth as they tore through the course while he offered color commentary on the side.
In the end Pacifica didn't even really mind that she lost the game by a few strokes - it was still the most fun that she could remember having in the longest time. Some small latent competitive part of her mind had winced internally seeing that she hadn't come in first, but she had managed to suppress the feeling with relative ease... though she still decided that as soon as she got the chance she'd see about practicing heavily once again before inviting Mabel along for a friendly rematch.
Mabel had planted a small sticker of a wide-eyed puppy which declared Pacifica to be "D'aaw-some!" on her shirt as a consolation prize, and though she pretended to accept it only grudgingly she was secretly glad to see that Mabel still carried around her seemingly limitless collection of stickers and trinkets with her. Dipper had also been given a slightly manlier dinosaur sticker of his own after having come in dead last with a score about a third as good as the girls, but he'd taken it all with a surprising amount of good humor.
She gave the course a last look over her shoulder as the trio made their way back to Dippers car in the parking lot. Pacifica really didn't consider herself the sentimental sort but she wanted to have a firm memory of the place in her mind – it could come in handy later when moments like this were in short supply.
"So how long have you been away from home?" Dipper whispered, his eyes scanning the room in a seemingly casual way.
Pacifica felt the lump of half-chewed hamburger seem to swell up in size as her mouth went dry. She gave a painful swallow and her eyes narrowed into glittering points as she stared back at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about Dipper," she said in a voice like ice.
"Look, Mabel isn't going to be in the bathroom forever so we don't have a lot of time to talk - I get that you might not want to open up about this but please don't act like I'm an idiot, okay?" he replied.
She stared back at him, her eyes betraying nothing but her nails clicking out a nervous tattoo on the scratched up plastic tabletop of the restaurant booth. The Burger Duke near the golf course where they had stopped to eat after the game was still nearly empty, and even if it had been packed to capacity no one in town would have recognized Pacifica anyway. For all intents and purposes they were alone – her secret still relatively safe. She felt the knot of tension squeezing her chest relax its grip, her shoulders slumping slightly somewhere between relief and resignation.
"How did you know?" she hissed quietly.
"It was the little things - you hadn't called us ahead to let us know you were coming, your control freak parents barely ever let you out of the mansion in town much less all the way to a different state and don't take this the wrong way but you looked a little less 'Northwest' than normal." Dipper said.
"What's that last part supposed to mean?" Pacifica asked, her nostrils flaring slightly.
"You looked like a regular person - wrinkled shirt, hair a little out of place, slightly chipped nail polish... you weren't wearing a single bit of jewelry either, which I'd never seen before. Normally you look like you just got out of posing for a catalog shoot or something and it all just sort of added up," Dipper said.
"Looking kind of hard weren't you Pines?" Pacifica said, a slight note of grudging admiration in her voice.
"I like mysteries, I can't really help that," Dipper replied with a shrug.
Pacifica's nails tapped out another quick beat. Even if Dipper had suspected the truth about her visit he'd made sure not to out her in front of Mabel... She knew she could trust him.
"I left home about two weeks ago. I was just... I don't know. Tired. Tired of home. Tired of living like an unwanted guest in my own house." Pacifica said quietly.
"What are you going to do now?" Dipper asked.
"I wasn't lying when I said that I was going to go back after I left here. I didn't really have a plan when I ran away and blew through almost all of my money already... if you hadn't paid for the golf game I probably couldn't have even afforded this burger," Pacifica said with a slightly hysterical bite of laughter as she held up the half-eaten sandwich.
A Northwest eating from the value menu. If this wouldn't make my father disown me I don't know if anything would.
"Is there... I don't know, is there anywhere else you could go? Some place other than your parents house I mean." Dipper asked.
Pacifica's eyebrows raised in surprise. Of all the reactions she would have expected from Dipper this wasn't anywhere near the most likely.
"Not really. All my 'friends' in town have parents that work for my dad, so staying with any of them would just be a one-way ticket back to the manor," Pacifica said.
"How about other relatives?" Dipper suggested.
"Even less helpful. Our branch of the family has all the cash, and my aunts and uncles would probably ship me back home in a heartbeat for a little chunk out of my inheritance. They might even gift-wrap me." Pacifica said, her voice only slightly bitter.
"Hey guys, what are we talking about all serious-like over here?" Mabel asked cheerfully as she slid into the booth beside Dipper, glancing between the two with a wide grin on her face.
"Nothing too important - Pacifica was just telling me about some stuff at her scho-" Dipper began.
"I was telling Dipper that I ran away from home," Pacifica said flatly.
Since Dipper already knows I don't care about hiding it from Mabel. It wouldn't be right to keep a secret like this from just one of them.
Mabel's eyes widened and a small frown spread across her expressive face.
"Jeepers... I just thought you guys were flirting or something," Mabel said in a hushed tone.
"No, nothing like that," Pacifica said quickly, though not without a fleeting afterthought that it wouldn't have been unpleasant if that had been the case.
"So wait - your parents don't know that you're here with us right now?" Mabel asked.
"No, I'm pretty sure they don't," Pacifica said, "and I'm not really sure they care to be totally honest with you."
"What? What makes you say that?" Mabel said in a sympathetic tone.
"I'm a rich blonde girl who's been missing for two weeks and I've seen exactly zero news stories about me on the TV - tell me that adds up?" Pacifica said with only a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Good point," Mabel said with a grimace.
"I won't be missing for much longer though. If you guys don't mind me just staying in your guest house for the night I can head back up tomorrow." Pacifica said, slumping slightly into the cold plastic seat of the booth.
"We don't have one of those actually," Dipper said.
"Guest bedroom then?" Pacifica asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"There's the downstairs couch, but if you'd rather not share it with the cat we can probably fit you into Mabel's room," Dipper said.
"That should be fine, " Pacifica said with a shrug. It couldn't be worse than sleeping in the backseat of her car again.
A dark cloud seemed to have settled over the booth as the three teens sat in silence, chewing on their burgers. For an afternoon she'd managed to forget about her upcoming return to the manor, but now it was all here out in the open.
Maybe coming here was a mistake after all... it's so good to see them again, but this is probably just going to make going back feel even harder.
"Hey um... do you actually want to go back home already?" Mabel asked.
"Well, it beats starving. I don't really have anywhere else to go, " Pacifica replied.
"You could stay with us for a while," Mabel said quickly, "it doesn't have to be for just one night."
Dipper turned quickly to his sister and looked like he was going to protest but remained silent. Pacifica could hear his foot tapping the floor in a quick nervous rythm.
"You could actually," he said in a slow thoughtful voice, "if you wanted to that is. I mean... why not stay with us for a bit?"
Pacifica's breath caught in her chest and for a second she felt a warmth inside her that was unfamiliar but so satisfying. She felt the familiar heaviness settle over her chest again though when she thought about the idea – there was no real way to make this work that she could see.
"That's probably not a good idea though," Pacifica said hesitantly.
"All ideas are good ideas," Mabel said confidently, "anyway... would you want to stay with us?"
"Well... yeah but I don't want to be a bother or anything," Pacifica said as she squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.
"Who said you'd be bothering anyone?" Mabel objected, "we're the ones offering, silly."
"I'm not going to get you guys into trouble for me – I just have to go home and tough it out till the end of the year. College is right around the corner, right?" Pacifica said.
"Well, why go back if you don't want to though? Even if you staying with us might not be a really practical idea I still think its not a bad one," Dipper added, "I mean... friends help each other out."
"Yeah – plus how could you expect us to be okay with you being miserable up there when we can do something about it?" Mabel chimed in.
"You guys are really serious about this?" Pacifica said. Her eyes felt hot and she clamped her jaw tight to keep her lip from trembling.
"Deadly serious," Mabel said with a ridiculously stern expression on her face as she reached out a hand to clasp Pacifica's warmly.
The gentle pressure of Mabel's fingers on Pacifica's own was enough break down the last barrier to Pacifica's reserve and before she knew what she was doing she had thrown her arms out around her friends shoulders and pulled them in close to her across the booth table. The warmth, the contact... their niceness were all too much for her to handle at the moment. After a few moments of peace Pacifica felt her usual self-consciousness return and she released her grip on the twins, sliding back into her seat with an embarrassed cough.
"Okay, well first things first then – we've got to figure out a plan," Dipper said, his ears tinged slightly red for a few moments following the unexpected hug.
"Well obviously Pacifica's gonna stay with me in my room – your room is pretty much a bio-hazard," Mabel said primly.
"I wasn't going to suggest she stay in my room," Dipper said shortly, "and also my rooms not that bad!"
"It's one dirty sock away from being declared a national emergency Dippingsauce," Mabel said, "Pacifica should stay somewhere a little nicer."
"You're okay with giving up the space?" Pacifica asked Mabel.
"Are you kidding? I've been really missing having a roomie ever since that whole puberty thing kicked in and got this guy evicted," Mabel said as she gestured over to Dipper, "Plus it would be like having a semi-permanant sleep-over."
"I can see about paying you back for this later," Pacifica mumbled under her breath.
"Paz, c'mon I'm not your landlord – we're just going to be sharing. You remember how that worked right? Do you need me to get Bear-O and do the song again?" Mabel asked.
"No!" Pacifica and Dipper said in unison, a near identical look of blank horror on their faces at the thought of a repeat performance of Mabel's unfortunate ventriloquist act.
"Sheesh, tough crowd for Bear-O around here," Mabel said moodily before taking a long sip of her soda.
"Okay so the easy parts out of the way – now for the tricky one: explaining you to mom & dad," Dipper said as he leaned back into his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose gently.
"I've got it! We could disguise her to look like me – it would be like having my own twin." Mabel said confidently.
"You already have a twin," Pacifica replied mildly.
"Okay, like having my own triplet then," Mabel said with a dismissive shrug.
"Mabel that's a terrible idea – and not just because you two don't look, sound or act anything at all like each other," Dipper said.
"Alright then smarty pants, lets see you come up with something better," Mabel said with a sniff.
Dipper closed his eyes and sat back with his lips pursed in thought for a few moments.
"How do you feel about being tiny?" he asked Pacifica.
"Pfft, that's the best you can come up with? Do you even still have the shrinky-crystal?" Mabel teased.
"What are you guys even talking about?" Pacifica asked.
"Never mind, Mabel's right – its just a dumb idea. Waaay too many ways that one could go wrong, " Dipper said as he chewed on a fry thoughtfully.
"Maybe we could solve it with time travel?" Mabel suggested with just a slight hint of mockery.
"No, if we'd done it that way then it probably already would have happened." Dipper said flatly.
"Oh right… stupid time travel." Mabel said with a snap of her fingers.
Being tiny? Time travel?
"God, you guys are weird," Pacifica said, "Nice but completely weird."
"Wait a minute," Dipper said with a smile starting to dawn on his face, "I think I've got an idea that's not completely idiotic!"
"Well don't keep us in suspense bro-bro, what's the plan?" Mabel asked, leaning in closer.
"Pacifica do you speak any languages other than English?" Dipper asked, turning quickly to Pacifica with an intent expression.
"Um... I know a little Italian, some Spanish. I guess French would be the one I'm best at," Pacifica said, "though I haven't used it in a while."
"French sounds good, my mom took it in highschool so she thinks she can still speak it... French would probably work best as cover," Dipper muttered to himself.
"You lost me here Dip, what's the plan again?" Mabel said.
"Pacifica, how do you feel about being our brand new foreign exchange student friend from France?" Dipper asked.
"Tres bien," Pacifica answered with a grin.
"Don't really know what that means but I'll take it as a yes." Dipper said.
"Aren't our parents going to wonder why they never got a letter or anything about this before?" Mabel asked.
"It'll be fine – we'll just say we gave them the form ages ago to sign. They hardly ever remember this kind of stuff." Dipper said.
"I think this might actually work," Pacifica said, a note of excitement creeping into her voice.
"I can make you a fake ID and junk to make it look even more official – and I think I might have a beret and a stripey sweater somewhere in my closet," Mabel said.
"The ID is really a good idea, but we should probably hold off on the beret and sweater," Dipper said dryly.
"You know how to make fake ID's? Where would you even learn something like that?" Pacifica asked.
"You've met Grunkle Stan before right? Trust me, fake ID's are sort of the tip of the iceberg here," Mabel said.
"We should still work out some more details on this if we're going to pull it off right though, we're not out of the woods yet," Dipper cautioned.
"Dip, lets put a pin in the whole 'plan' thing for now – mom and dad won't be back till tomorrow evening so we've still got time to figure this out. We'll all probably think a lot better after a good nights sleep," Mabel said.
Pacifica nodded in agreement, all the exertions of the day finally starting to catch up with her.
"Alright, I guess you guys are right," Dipper conceded.
"Okay then, lets all go home then," Mabel said, giving Pacifica a friendly nudge in the ribs.
Home. I guess this really will be home for me... at least for a bit anyway.