Dragon's Pride

The Convenience Store

MABLE:
Stan interrogated Dipper about his strange behavior and the strange way he moved but I could tell Dipper didn't want to talk about it. He got up after Grunkle Stan forced him to talk and left slamming the door. "Guess he was still upset about yesterday." I thought then turned to face our grunkle. "Mable, do you know what's going on with him?" He asked softer to me than he did with Dipper. I nodded. "I think you should let him tell you when he's ready though." I said and his gaze softened a bit. I frowned knowing it wouldn't be that easy and went after Dipper but then I got a text from Wendy. "Hey dude, wanted to see if you and your brother  wanted to go with me and my friends tonight to a haunted convenience store." The text read. I smiled knowing this would be a good opportunity for Dipper to make some friends. "Sure, I have to find him first but we'll definitely come." I replied and she gave a thumbs up. I put my phone away and continued towards the cave Dipper had shown me. I finally got there and found him lifting some weights and staring out into space.

"Hey bro..." I said hesitant. He looked at me and smiled softly. "Mable, what's up?" He asked putting his weights down."When did you bring the weights?" I asked genuinely curious. "I found out I can teleport objects to my location this morning." He shrugged then walked over to a rock that looked like a tree stump. "Why'd you act like that with Stan?" I asked him and he looked at me with an unreadable expression. "I don't trust him." He said then explained how the fairies said they seemed like they knew the pines family name but the only pines that have been here was Grunkle Stan. He raised a lot of good points but I decided to brush them off. I thought it was best to change the subject for now but I wasn't done with this topic. "Well, Wendy and her friends invited us to go to a haunted convenience store. Apparently it's called dusk2dawn." I said and he looked somewhat interested which means I had him take the bait. "When?" He asked. "Tonight after work." I said smiling. He sighed then said he didn't want to go. "But I'm going! What if there is a ghost that will eat me or something!" I said and he looked at me skeptically. "Why do you really want me to go?" He saw through me and my lame excuse.

"I thought it would be a good chance for you to make friends..." I said defeated. He groaned. "Mable... no, never mind." He said and then told me he'd come with me. I was happy he was gonna go but I knew something bothered him. We got back to the shack right before it closed and had to do our chores then Wendy came up to me and asked if I was ready for tonight. I was hyped since we'd be doing something similar to a heist, then she turned to Dipper and asked if he was excited. he nodded quietly and I bumped him which earned me a scowl. "Talk to her!" I thought and knew he heard me when I saw him wince. He started to say something but then nothing came out. He closed his mouth and then just glared at the floor like it called him a mean name. I shook my head at how bad he was at conversation starting. We walked out of the shack with Wendy and her friends were by a beat up van and a large man hanging upside. Then Wendy threw an MnM into his belly button and the teens cheered. "They were so tall." I thought which earned a small snicker from Dipper. Wendy introduced us to her friends Tambry, Lee, Tompson, Nate, and an emo kid Robbie.

"So are you like babysitting or what?" Robbie asked sarcastically upon seeing us. I wanted to kick him but I knew Dipper wanted to do it even more. I looked over and sure enough his hoodie spikes were tense and his tail was swaying as a warning. I grabbed his hand to calm him and the spikes loosened a bit but I was saddened when they didn't fully loosen. "So why is the kid wearing a tail?" He continued to torment. I heard Dipper grumble and mutter it was going to be a long night then we all piled into the van. By the time we arrived at the dusk2dawn, It was dark and had a scary vibe to it. Dipper seemed happy about it since he was a fan of horror and gore films much to my dismay. We climbed the fence and then I saw Dipper struggling to get over it. "What are you doing bro bro? You could scale a fence like this easy!" I thought and he responded. "No dragon powers and besides if Robbie picks a fight with a weak kid that's actually super strong it'd be funny to watch." He said as Nate threw him over the fence. We then made our way to the door and the teens tried to break through but the glass was tough and the door wouldn't budge.