He's Back

Prolouge.

" How long do we have to wait before the food is done?" Mabel asked, clearly impatient. Dipper drank his water calmly, mindlessly scrolling on his phone, waiting for Grunkle Stan to finish the bacon he'd promised.

"Well if you'd give me a minute kid, jeez." Grunkle Stan said before Ford bursted through with a giant smile on his face. The impact of the door had caused Dipper to jump in his seat, head shooting up to see what was going on.

"Everyone I've found it!" Ford said, setting down a small plate onto the table. Stan lowers the heat onto the stove, before walking over to the table to see what Ford was rambling on about.

    "It's just a block of ice?" Stan said, before Ford shook his head.

    " It never melts!" Ford said, before he walked over to the stove, taking the pan off the heat and running quickly to put it back onto the ice cube. Like he said, the cube didn't melt, but instead created a lot of steam.

    " So we never need ice again?" Mabel asked, and he nodded.

    "Maybe, I need to figure out why it's doing this. But I'm a step closer!" Ford said, before handing the pan to Stan and picking up the plate, deciding to go back into hiding to work on this magical ice cube.

    "What a weirdo." Grunkle Stan said, but before anyone could say anything else, Mable stood up quickly.

    "Hey Grunkle Stan I think we have to go, I just remembered Dipper and I made plans to hang out with Wendy today okay bye!" Mable said quickly, pulling Dipper by the arm and dragging him out of the kitchen and out of the Mystery Shack. As they hurried out of the Mystery Shack, Dipper finally pulled his arm free from Mabel's grip.

    "What's the rush, Mabel?" he asked, clearly confused. "We didn't actually have plans with Wendy today."

    Mabel grinned widely, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I know! But Candy and Grenda told me about this new girl in town, and they said she might be at the diner today. I thought it would be cool to meet her!"

    Dipper raised an eyebrow. "A new friend? What do we even know about her?"

    Mabel shrugged, her enthusiasm undeterred. "Not much, just that she just moved here and seems really cool. Candy and Grenda think we'd all get along great. Besides, it's summer! We should be making new friends and having adventures, right?"

    Dipper sighed but couldn't help but smile at his sister's boundless energy. "Alright, Mabel. Let's go meet this 'mystery girl'." He said forming air quotes around the word.

    They walked down the familiar path through the woods, the summer sun filtering through the trees. As they approached the town's diner, Mabel quickened her pace, practically bouncing with anticipation. Dipper followed, still unsure but curious about who this new girl could be.

    Inside the diner, Candy and Grenda were already seated at a booth, chatting animatedly. They waved enthusiastically when they saw the twins enter.

    "Mabel! Dipper! Over here!" Candy called out.

    The twins joined their friends, and Mabel immediately scanned the room. "So, where's this new girl?"

    Grenda pointed to a girl sitting alone at the counter, her back to them. She had long, dark hair and was sipping a milkshake. "That's her. She just moved here last week. We thought she'd be friends with Pacifica, but I guess not." Even after everything, Candy and Grenda had still been a bit, at odds with Pacifica.

    Mabel's eyes lit up. "Let's go say hi!"

    Before Dipper could protest and suggest a reasonable approach, Mabel was already making her way over to the girl, a bright smile on her face. Dipper exchanged a look with Candy and Grenda, who just shrugged and smiled.

    "Here we go," Dipper muttered, following Mabel to meet their potential new friend.

As Mabel and Dipper approached the girl at the counter, Mabel's excitement was contagious. "Hi! I'm Mabel, and this is my brother Dipper. Are you new here?"

You turned around, revealing a friendly but slightly guarded smile. "Oh Hello. I just moved here. I'm still getting used to the place. Was it that obvious?" You asked with a nervous laugh, glancing around nervously.

Mabel's eyes lit up, and she began speaking rapidly. " Kind of, we don't see a lot of new faces and most of them we can tell if they're a tourist or not. But that's awesome! What's your name? Where did you move from? Do you like it here so far? Oh, and these are my two best friends Candy and Grenda!"

Candy and Grenda joined in, the two smiling warmly. "Hi! I'm Candy, and this is Grenda. Welcome to Gravity Falls!"
"Yeah, welcome!" Grenda added enthusiastically. "It's great to have someone new around here." At this you laughed a bit, nodding and smiling to everyone.

Dipper, trying to play it cool, stepped forward awkwardly. "Uh, hi. I'm Dipper. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand, then quickly pulled it back, wiping it on his pants nervously before extending it again.

Y/n laughed softly, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Dipper. I'm Y/n."

Mabel was practically bouncing with excitement. "So, Y/n, what brings you to Gravity Falls? Do you have any pets? What's your favorite color? Do you like glitter? What's your favorite snack? Have you ever seen a gnome?"

Y/n chuckled, trying to keep up with the barrage of questions. "Well, my family moved here for a change of pace, but they're never really here much. We've been traveling a lot, and this seemed like a nice place to settle down for a while. No pets right now though I wouldn't mind one, and my favorite color is f/c. I love glitter but not so much the mess, and my favorite snack is f/s, and no, I've never seen a gnome."

Candy nodded eagerly. "Well then that's perfect! You'll love it here! There are so many cool places to explore, and we've got a lot of fun stuff happening during the summer."

"Yeah, and if you ever need someone to show you around, we're your girls!" Grenda added, her voice booming with friendliness.

Y/n's eyes brightened. "That sounds great. I was actually hoping to make some friends and learn more about the town. I've been here about a week or two and haven't really gone out much." You say with an awkward laugh.

Mabel clapped her hands together. "Well, you've come to the right people! How about we all hang out today to make up for the lost time! We could show you some of our favorite spots? Do you like adventures? What's your favorite kind of adventure? Do you believe in the supernatural?"

Y/n smiled, feeling a bit overwhelmed but happy. "I'd love that. And yes, I do like adventures, though I've never been on many. I've always been curious about the supernatural." Y/n said, hopping off her seat and waving goodbye to Lazy Susan who took her plate with a smile. The girls, plus Dipper, began to walk out the diner. Dipper noticed Y/n slowly moving toward the back of the group, probably to get a mental break from Mabel's questions.

As they left the diner, Dipper walked alongside Y/n, trying to keep his cool. "S-so, Y/n, have you always been interested in, uh, exploring new places?"

Y/n smiled kindly and nodded. "Yeah, my family moves around a lot, mainly because of their jobs, so I guess it's kind of in my blood."

Dipper nodded, trying to think of something clever to say. "That's cool. I-I mean, not the moving around part, but the exploring part. I-I like exploring too."

Mabel, walking ahead with Candy and Grenda, glanced back and smiled at her brother's awkward attempt at conversation. At least he was trying.