"Grunkle Ford, Wendy and Soos agreed! Soos is here. Wendy will be here any moment." Dipper explains.
"Excellent, Dipper." Ford states "Soos, don't worry. Your job will just entail the usual, or..maybe less."
"Uh…yeah, cool." Soos looks into Dipper's backpack.
"I also have been thinking." He pulls out a book "I figured it would make sense for both of us to start keeping Journals of our own."
"Hm, yes. Of course. You made excellent additions to my own, say..where's Mabel?" Ford questions.
"She went off into the woods to take a nature walk, Wendy went to keep an eye on her-Soos, are you eating my journal?!"
Soos starts gagging "Well I was, but dude… this thick cover isn't very edible."
"Soos, it's a book! None of it is edible!"
"Well, that depends on perspective. I'm pretty sure paper is made of wood, and like…termites eat wood, do they eat paper? This is one of life's greatest mysteries, dude."
"Actually, it's not a mystery." Ford takes the book from Soos rolling his eyes "I've had termites eat my material plenty of times, this shack is actually infested with them.." suddenly Ford feels a bite on his neck "...And mosquitos, apparently. Listen, Soos. If you're gonna work here, you're gonna have to leave my nephew's book alone. Alright?"
"Alright Mr…Pines..uh..can I call you something other than Mr. Pines?" Soos questions.
"Just Ford will do fine." Ford waves his hand, turning around "I have a bit of work to do getting this place prepared, if you'd like to help by cleaning around a bit."
"...Uh…protecting friend…doing job…I'm so confused, dude!" Soos exclaims.
"Dipper, you're not "protecting" me." Dipper sighs "I'm just focused on work, I'll do okay. I promise."
"...Really dude?" Soos asks, getting up.
"Yes, promise." Dipper smiles "I'm just going to write down my findings so far."
"Okay…okay…okay." Soos sighs "I'll trust you dude."
Just then, Soos receives a phone call "Oh, it's Melody! The reason I have a cell phone! You don't mind if I take this, do you dude?"
"Not at all" Dipper tells him "You guys haven't got much time since everything happened, go on man."
"Yesh!" Soos exclaims, walking out. The mosquitos follow Soos on his way "Melody I am so glad to hear from you, what's up?"
From Portland Oregon, Melody was in an office "Soos! I'm so glad to see you, listen..I know you've been really down since you lost your job and I was looking at all those photos of the shack's attractions you've been sending me. I showed my Dad, and…he said they would make amazing children's toys, right?"
"Everything you are saying sounds like a dream come true, if Child Soos had got to play with a toy unibeaver his birthdays would have been so rad even my Dad couldn't ruin it."
"Right?!" Melody exclaims "They would be like…SO cool. Heck, I wish I could play with one right now." Melody smiles.
"I feel the same way" Soos says staring into space.
"But Soos, my Dad…I've never told you this because he…kinda asked me not to, y'know..uh.."
"Whatever it is Melody, I can handle it" Soos promises.
"...My last name is Lazarus!" Melody shouts.
Soos doesn't react "I'm sorry, is that like..a name I should know? Sorry, I'm trying to be rude."
"Rory Lazarus? Famous Entrepreneur?"
"Nope, never heard of it." Soos tells her.
"...That's a relief…I was worried you'd see me differently. Listen, he bought out an old toy company from the Northwests recently. And he's…sorta wanting to rebrand it, when I show him all the stuff from the shack he was hoping…you would. I sorta lied and said you uh..designed them yourself."
"Whoa! Melody, that is like…a huge opportunity, you want me to…I don't know what to say." Soos tells her.
"Yeah well.." she replies nervously "I thought, hey now that you don't have a job, you wouldn't mind heading up here to run things. You know?"
"..Heading..there? You mean like..there there?" Soos asks.
"Yeah! I mean..that's not a problem, is it? Since you lost your job I figured..nothing tying you down to Gravity Falls, right?" Melody suggests.
There's a silence.
"Soos, if you're not ready to-"
He sighs "I just need time to think about it, thank you so much for the offer Melody..I gotta go, call you tonight?"
"Of course! Hey..I love you, Soos."
"Love you too, Mel. I-I really gotta go." He hangs up on her, hyperventilating.
"Soos? Are you okay?" Dipper asks "You've been waiting to talk to Melody, why did you-"
"I-I gotta go dude! I-I'll see you later.." He suddenly exits "And remember, don't bury yourself in your work or…whatever it is Wendy told me to tell you not to do!"
He suddenly exists, unable to look Dipper in the eye.
"...Pssht…like I'm gonna bury myself in my work, I'll be fine..I'll just write some stuff for about 15 minutes.."
—2 HOURS LATER—
Dipper is seen with his hair in a mess, his eyes have gone red and he was full of mosquito bites, scratching himself nervously as he drew and wrote at high speeds "Grunkle Ford is gonna be so impressed..I've seen so many things I never wrote down or drew, I can't wait!"
Ford walks in "Dipper! I see you've been hard at work…you need a rest, son?"
"Nope! Not at all!" Dipper shouts.
"Say…where is your sister? Wasn't she supposed to be back by now?" Ford ponders.
"I wouldn't worry, she's with Wendy. She's the toughest person I've ever met." Dipper tells him.
"Hm…still, I'm going to head out and look for her. See you in a giffy!"
He shuts the door, then quickly reopens it "Oh, and stay out of my laboratory! It's uh…teacher stuff in there, you don't need to see it." a mosquito bites him "Ow! Why are these things everywhere?!"
"Right, got it!" Dipper says, barely paying attention as Ford shuts it again "And just a little more…Done!" Dipper smiles "Haha! I did it! I finished re-recording every weird thing I ever saw in Gravity Falls!...I'm finished."
He then suddenly falls back in a T-Pose on the floor "...Finished.." Dipper stares at the ceiling "...No no…can't let those thoughts come back in..no…Nope nope nope! Gotta…think, what else can I write?..Oh! I know! Theories, that'll help on my grades!" he suddenly starts writing his theories in an effort to continue to distract himself.
The mosquitos bite him again, and Dipper shoos it away. The mosquito stops mid air, before trying to leave the shack by slamming itself into the window in an attempt to get outside. Dipper sighs, opening the window and allowing the mosquito to leave before resuming his work.
Dipper didn't notice, but there were many messages written on him in mosquito bites. "HELB HER" "DYIMG" phrases that seemed just one letter off from ominous warnings.