After Dark

Chapter 1 - Brave New World

A lot had happened over the last summer. Mabel in many ways felt torn between two worlds. On one hand, she loved everything about Gravity Falls and never wanted to leave it. On the other hand, she also wanted to do her part to provide for herself. Dipper had a strong and financially secure future with Grunkle Ford. She had lived with the Stan's the whole last year while she worked at Greasy's dinner. While she loved the job and even more so the people she would miss she knew that job could not support her forever. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford were not getting any younger and someday she needed to be able to not only take care of herself but her Grunkles in their retiring years. She was not going to abandon them or hope someone else would take care of them. Her convictions were deeper than that. She loved her Grunkles and wanted to be part of their life. And part of that meant bearing up the responsibility of a career so that they could relax and retire like the old fogies deserved she thought with a smile.

As it was Mabel had been looking into a career in high school, but could not bear to be parted from Dipper and then Pacifica who was now like a sister. At the time their relationship needed nurturing and she did not want to miss that chapter of her family's life. Now that everyone had settled down she felt free to pursue her career. Ironically enough she had decided to attend Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland. It had the classes she wanted to take and was about a three-and-a-half-hour drive up from gravity falls taking one of two routes. US Highway 20 & Oregon 22 to the East and then I-5 North onto Portland. Personally, she preferred the scenic route. That route went straight North on US Route 97 to US Route 26. That pretty much lead her all the way to Portland and then Pacific Northwest College of Arts.

Mabel was mortified when she learned she could not find a place to have waddles taken care of nearby. Grunkle Stan had promised to look after him for her when she had cried about it. He told her he'd take better care of him than last time he babysat the pig. He got her to smirk at that. She was going to miss Grunkle Stan. Already feeling emotional she burst down crying thinking about how much she would miss Grunke Stan. He patted her back affectionately. "There-there kiddo. It's not like we're going anywhere. We'll be right here when you visit on breaks and Holidays." He smirked. "In fact, it'd be a rare sight to see old Bunsen and young Beaker outside of the old lab seeing as the two are so fascinated with this new Native American artifact."

Ford's ears perked up from the other room at being slighted. "I said I 'thought' it was Mesoamerican Stanley," he said with huffy indignation. Turning back to Dipper who was beside him at the table that was burdened to the point of making the legs of the old wooden table creak in protest at the encumberment of books and almanacs along with a projector that was showing an image on the wall. Ford pointed to the projected image showing a map and timeline. "I assumed it was somewhere between the early and late pre-classic period of Mesoamerican culture such as Teotihuacán, or possibly Zapotec, but now looking at the engraved symbols above the cartouche I'm not so certain anymore.

Mabel and Grunkle Stan were now snickering derisively in candid amusement. Dipper hunched his pine tree hat down by the brim in an effort to ignore them as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Mabel turned back to Stan and then looked back at Dipper and Ford as she drew her arms around her as if she were cold while watching them. She now said more softly, "You will watch after the two of them won't you Grunkle Stan?" Grunkle Stan smiled. "I'm always watching out for those two. Especially the Dipstick. Without you around I'll have to make sure he remembers to pay attention to Pacifica. She's a smart girl and he's so young sometimes I think he forgets just how good she is for him. I'll make sure to remind him every so often," he said with a smile. Mabel grinned. "Pacifica is learning quite fast too. She knows how long to leave him buried down in the lab before pulling him back up for air and cultural reintegration. Trust me, she's more than capable. She's formidable." Stanley laughed at that. "She's just what the doctor ordered."