"What did Grunkle Ford ask you for help with Bro-bro?" Mabel leans back as far as the seat allows, feet propped on the dash of the Dipper's ancient pickup truck. He'd tell her to move her feet and that it's dangerous to sit like that but he's only told her about a million times already. He rolls his eyes instead. Outside, pine forest goes past them in a blur as they make their way northeast towards Oregon.

His hands grip the steering wheel tight. "There's something going on with Stan, Mabel," her eyes widen in alarm. "Ford says that whatever's going on with him has got and I quote "demonic entity" written all over it." Dipper's hands lift from the wheel for a moment to make air quotes. "But it's not like, life-threatening or anything right now, just irritating."

She worries her lip between her now straight white teeth. "There is a catch though. We can't tell Stan." Mabel looks at him in confusion.

"Why not?"

A shrug.

"Ford says he isn't aware of what's happening, and if we talk to him about it it could trigger a full-on possession."

He can hear her drumming her long colorful nails against the window nervously. "Well as long as Stan is okay, but that's pretty freaky."

A beat of silence passes and she gasps, he can't look but he can feel the look his sister is giving him from the passenger seat "Dipper, do you think it could be…?" Her implication is clear, after all the only demon they've ever dealt with is… dead now.

"Pssh no chance, Mabel we kicked his butt ages ago. Like a whole decade!" His brow furrows at that statement. "Wow, we're getting old."

Mabel giggles at that. "Bro you've been old since you were a literal child" She pokes him in the arm to punctuate her point. "Guess we'll find out when we get there! I hope whatever it is doesn't take up the whole break though, because the girls are all suuuuuuper excited to see us! Dipper, did you hear that Candy is engaged now?! And Grenda is having a bonfire party this month for….."

Mabel continues on, filling him in on the latest gossip of Gravity Falls. He zones out, letting his sister fill the silence he would otherwise be using to overthink.

Truthfully, he was worried that it was more serious than Ford implied. After all, he had called Dipper to request backup. The semester had ended only a week prior when he got the call from his uncle.

Dipper had been clearing the last of his stuff out of the dorm when his phone rang. The x files theme played in a loop, the one he'd assigned to Ford as a joke but had still never changed.

He caught it on the last ring. "Hey, Grunkle Ford!"

His uncles rarely had time to call these days, as they alternated between adventuring and working on the shack to keep it livable. Even at their age, they certainly stayed active.

"Hello Dipper, you're sounding well."

Dipper shifts the phone to his shoulder so he can load the last box into the back of his truck. "What's going on, special occasion? You don't call me very often."

There's a beat of silence, always ominous with Uncle Ford.

"Well, it's certainly an occasion, though special isn't the word I'd use to describe it. I'm calling because I'd like you to come up to Gravity Falls for the summer. I think I may need your help with something."

Stanford heaves a sigh and he sounds exhausted.

"It's Stan Dipper. There's something wrong and I've got a hunch that it's supernatural in nature. It has Demonic written all over it! He's not in any immediate danger from what I've observed but his behavior is…strange."

He starts listing the instances of Stan's out-of-place behavior, sounding more annoyed at each one.

"There was the day Stanley walked into the kitchen laughing maniacally, or well more maniacally than he usually does. He's been referring to people as meat sacks and mortal worms. I caught him trying to pick a fight with the totem pole. Oh, and there was the other night that I got up for water and found him standing in the living room chanting in demonic tongues. The worst part is that he doesn't remember doing any of it! To Stanley, everything is completely normal."

Dipper can see Ford in his mind's eye, hand to his chin, brows furrowed.

"I know you've just finished up the semester and I've waited as long as I can but I think I need my apprentice to help me solve this mystery." He sounds so proud and Dipper feels himself start to grin at the affectionate term. "Of course, it goes without saying but you should bring your sister along. We'll need all the help we can get."

His apprenticeship with Ford has always been unofficial, with him and Mabel coming up every other summer to tag along with their uncles on various adventures. Ford told him that he had to finish college before he'd consider it seriously and for Dipper to experience other options first. But deep down, he knew he wanted to follow in his uncle's footsteps, he wanted to discover all the secrets Gravity Falls had to offer.

The trip up from Piedmont is a long one, and Mabel is practically vibrating when they finally enter the town proper. She smushes her face to the window watching all their old favorite places pass by until, at last, the mystery shack breaks into view.

Before the old truck can even come to a complete stop she throws the door open and bolts for the porch, yelling the whole way. "Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, we're baaaaack!"

A few birds startle at her lively approach. As if on cue (or more likely already waiting at the door,) Stan is out to greet her.

"Hey watch it, kid, I don't need to break a hip today." He says it affectionately, ruffing Mabel's short bouncy hair. She's so much taller now than when they first came here, coming nearly face-to-face with the Stan's. Dipper did finally get that one inch over her though. Stan had told him more than once that he could be their long-lost triplet.

Dipper waves at his uncle and starts unloading their luggage, (most of which belonged to his sister.) He would never understand why she needed so much stuff for a summer trip, 4 separate suitcases is just excessive.

Ford follows his twin out a moment later and is quickly absorbed into the enthusiastic Mabel hug. Dipper had lost their coin toss that morning for who had to unpack and so he follows them all inside with the first of several bags.

He starts hauling their luggage up to the attic one at a time, and it stirs up the dust that's been accumulating since the last summer they visited. Two years ago already, wow.

He chokes on it, trying to wave it away, and opens the windows to air out the room. Their attic bedroom had barely changed since they had first been shipped here by their parents over ten years prior. He feels a bit nostalgic remembering that summer. Terrifying though it was, it was also the greatest adventure he had ever been on. Some days, Dipper really wishes he could be a full-fledged paranormal investigator like Ford. But today, he's still just Dipper, the college undergraduate. His thesis on alternate dimensions was coming along pretty well though, so hopefully not for long.

Downstairs Mabel is regaling their uncles with tales of her semester, boy troubles and all. Mabel's silliness is part of her charm and they listen without complaint, though Stan looks ready to bolt at any second.

Dipper takes pity on him and yells down the stairs, "Mabel, your phone is buzzing, I think it's Pacifica!"

"Coming!"

She runs past him in a blur of pink fluff, the story already forgotten.

Dipper steals her spot at the kitchen table to do basically the same thing she was. (Sans boy trouble, or any dating trouble for that matter. Age had not made Dipper any smoother, that was for sure.)

As he tells them about college and what he's been working on, he also keeps an eye on Stan. So far, nothing really strikes him as off about him. He seems to be his usual surly self. After a while, Grunkle Stan yawns an incredibly fake yawn in order to excuse himself from Dipper and Ford's "nerd talk" and trundles off to the living room. The television clicks on, and snores follow almost immediately after.

He and Ford exchange a look. A "let's get down to business" look.

After a wordless nod of agreement, they quietly make their way to the lab's no-longer-secret entrance.

The Bill paraphernalia has been removed since the last time Dipper was down here, and it looks like Ford has been as busy as ever. None of the dust from disuse can be found in the lab, its surfaces cluttered but clean.

"Okay Grunkle Ford, lay it on me. What's our plan?" Dipper asks excitedly. If he bounces on his toes a little, Ford doesn't mention it.

"That depends on you Dipper. First, I need to ask you just how serious you are when it comes to helping me with this -and other- supernatural phenomenon." Ford levels him with a hard look.

"Of course I'm serious! You know how serious I am, I've only been asking to be your apprentice since I was 13." Dipper replies, a little offended.

"It's an honest question, I don't want you to be upset but the kinds of things I regularly get into are dangerous Dipper. And the lengths one has to go to, to do what I do, are too much for most people. I trust you though so if you say you're ready…"

He unfolds a huge paper full of arcane schematics and drawings.

"What I have planned will require something experimental in order to protect you. This," he points to a drawing of a human head from different angles, "is a sigil of metaphysical protection. And I need to tattoo it on your head."

Dipper looks at him, shocked.

"But Grunkle Ford, we're Jewish! My parents would kill me!"

He huffs a sigh "This is why I asked if you were serious. But I understand if you choose not to, I can come up with a backup plan…"

"I mean I don't really care about things like that but… would it be on my face and stuff?" Dipper asks, sheepish.

"No actually, I've designed it to be covered by your hair once it grows back. I'd be giving you an undercut, and tattooing over that." Dipper nods slowly, mostly hung up on whether an undercut would suit him.

"It will be permanent, more so even than a normal tattoo. Once the magic is activated, only I would be skilled enough to remove it without causing you excessive bodily harm." Ford says seriously.

Then, with excitement, he continues. "It's based on the same tech I've got installed in my own skull" Ford raps his knuckles on his head as he says it. "But instead of installing hardware you get the software version, so to speak. Less dangerous, and I'm fairly certain your parents wouldn't want me poking around inside your head."

Ford smiles softly and puts a 6 fingered hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You don't have to decide right now. We'll go over the general outline of the plan and then you should get some rest tonight. Tomorrow I'll fill your sister in."

They talk until Dipper can barely keep his eyes open and Ford ushers him off to bed. His mind is buzzing with information but his brain can't keep up any longer and the moment his head touches the pillows, he's out like a light.

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