"So how's your day been?" Dipper asked Mabel, tired from boredom.

"Terrible." she said. She had her sweater off and wrapped around her waist.

"I'm gonna guess..."Dipper started, staring at his compatriot, "That your angry because-"

"They took my camera!" Mabel burst out unhappily. "I took a picture of you leaving when this tall...staff member came out of nowhere."

"And what, he took it?" Dipper said.

"They told me photography was strictly banned on school grounds."

Dipper was curious now. "How long did you lose it for?"

"The rest of the week."

"Oh no."

"And behind a paper wall."

"This day Just keep's getting better and better." Dipper said, looking towards the center of the classroom. In unison they assumed a look of exhaustion and boredom.

Nothing changed in that hour from their previous hours. The teacher seemed nice, if not a bit off, and introductions were boring if only because no one did anything of even marginal interest.

And somehow gym was even less interesting.

No one brought their gym cloths, no one ever did on the first day. Their teacher, Mr. Grun-something, seemed good enough, not like the aging body builder leading the other third of class or the veritable land whale the other third was stuck with. Attendance, warm-up, and a syllabus in that order to give the class a feel for what was to come.

Can we just say that it was a first day?

"Well that was a waste of time." Dipper said, looking at Mabel quickly before back ahead of him. "Four hours of my life I will never get back."

"At least you ended the day with more than you started with." Mabel retorted. She was genuinely annoyed with Dipper's self interest. "I lost my camera. My one and only..." Her eyes were moistening.

"Why can she just buy another one?" Someone from behind them yelled.

"Shut up." Dipper shouted back, turning around in his step to glare at the speaker. Whoever it was shrugged and turned off the path.

"Mabel," Dipper said, putting his arm around her sadly less than fluffy shoulders. "Mabel, I'm sorry your camera got taken away. If there's anything I can do-"

"It's not your fault." Mabel said. She was looking down through her tears and something told Dipper she was depending on his guidance. "There was nothing you could have done."

It took Dipper a minute to think of something to say that might defuse the situation.

"Tell you what." Dipper said, pulling ahead of Mabel and spinning to talk face to face. "We've had a long day, why don't we just go home, pop in a movie, and pillage the ice cream cache in the night."

She looked up with those sad puppy-dog eyes "I could go for some ice cream."

"There she is! There's the girl I know and love!" Dipper said, rubbing his sisters hair. He rolled around the idea that this was the first time he had seen Mabel smile in almost two hours.

"Oh stop!" Mabel said, giggling as she pushed her brother away. "Come on! There's ice cream in the house!" the sound of giggling from Mabel and breathing from Dipper was all that was heard from the two in the minute that followed. It's a mystery how their walk home turned into a race, but neither one complained.

"Boom! Ha ha." Mabel cried triumphantly, pulling the door open to the smell of kung pow chicken. In the time she stood and waited for Dipper to catch up (which was, surprisingly enough for the both of them, not even 5 seconds), Mabel's smile had faded. "Okay. Now I'm sad."

"Then let's get something in you." Dipper said, pulling her inside. Maybe suppressing his heavy breathing wasn't the best idea, but he didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Takeout's on the table." Called their father from his office. "I'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Thanks dad." Called one and "Where's Mom?" The other.

"I work late tonight." their father answered. "And your mother comes home at 3. AM. Try to get to bet at a reasonable hour."

Mabel took her kung pow and rice into the living room. Dipper's leather coat-clad father, leaving again, almost escaped his sight before asking "Hey, can I get you to sigh a few things?"

"I've been having you forge my signature for longer than I can remember. as long as I don't get a call from the school, you have my permission do it yourself." His father responded, stopped at the door. Then he was gone.

My latent post is a direct result of Dark Souls' call for me. The changes to the twins' father's dialogue is a direct result of some over-the-phone discussion with my father. Thanks, Dad :)