Little Dipper

The Talk

Mabel woke up with a big smile on her face and hopped off her bed before the sun was even fully visible. She moved to Dipper's bed and smiled, seeing him fast asleep where Bill had moved him to after they fell asleep together the night before. She should probably just let him sleep, but she was too excited! She gently shook him and leaned close to whisper in his ear, "Wake up, soon-to-be-8-year-old."

"Hhn?" Dipper slowly opened his eyes and looked at her sleepily. "Mabel...?"

Mabel grinned. "Come on, sleepyhead! We've got planning to do for this weekend!"

"Planning? Weekend? What time is it?" Dipper rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

"It is one week to our birthday!" Mabel picked him up and spun around the room with him. "I'm going to be thirteen, can you believe it?!"

"Yaaaay." Dipper yawned and sleepily nodded. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Oh, come on. Wake up." Mabel bounced him in her arms.

"But I wan' sleeeeeep." Dipper whined.

"But I wan' plaaaaay." Mabel said, grinning.

"Pleeeease?" Dipper pleaded.

"Oh, alright. Just a few more hours." She lay him back down on his bed.

"Thank you..." Dipper said, drifting off to sleep.

Mabel skipped off downstairs, still in her night-dress. She heard Bill and Ford talking and crept over to their room to listen in.

"...any day now. I'm...anxious."

"Yeah, me too. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this, honestly. I'm...scared."

"You? Scared?"

"Well, yeah. These guys still think I'm their friend. What are they gonna do when they find out otherwise?"

"As long as the rift is contained, we shouldn't have to worry about it. Maybe his visions aren't set in stone. We just need to keep it contained..."

"Stan says they've always come true. Always. We can't sit on our thumbs hoping it won't happen." She heard a page being turned. "Because we both know it will."

"We can still hope."

"...Yeah. I guess we can."

There was a long pause, and Mabel was considering stepping away when they spoke again.

"Hey, I...I feel like I should...apologize."

"For which thing?"

"Bill, don't do this. I'm trying to be...."

"Nice? That's a first."

"Bill. I'm trying to be sincere here, can you stop it with the jokes? We could die tomorrow, or any time coming up."

"Alright, fine."

"I'm sorry about misunderstanding the spell and trapping you in that closet. I suppose I never stopped to question why an iron nail was required."

Bill chuckled. "Well, according to lore Gideon's been teaching me, iron is good for all kinds of supernatural things."

"Well, I really thought it would just make you powerless. I didn't mean to Cask of Amontillado you."

"Well, thanks for apologizing. Now you get to apologize to Stan for not giving him a chance to explain himself before your dad threw him out on his ass."

"I thought I had?"

"Maybe in your head, dork."

"I'll have to work on that." Ford sighed.

"So...what was it like, out there?"

"...I'll have to show you my notes. It'd take too long to describe it like this. But, uh, tell me. What did it feel like when you saw those colors for the first time?"

"Like...I...I can't describe it. Like...everything amazing but terrible at the same time. How do you describe experiencing taste, or sight, or hearing for the first time to someone that has experienced that their whole life? You just can't understand it from an outside perspective."

"Are you ever going to tell me about your nightmare?"

"No."

"We should try to get a bit of sleep. We've been up talking ever since I woke you up."

"Yeah. Good night, Sixer."

"Good night...Bill."

Mabel left them alone and skipped off to the kitchen to make some Mabel Juice. She needed to be ready for party-planning!