How To Be A Triangle

Chapter 16 - Not Ready to Talk

Told ya I'd post it sooner! Thanks for patiently waiting! :D

Ford gathered the notes that he made for his plan and headed up to the kitchen to talk to Stan. Stan was standing in there, clearly very upset about Dipper's disappearance. Ford walked up to him. "Morning Stanley." Stan looked up at him. "Oh, hey Sixer. Any luck?" Ford hesitated a moment, and then nodded. "Yes, but no. See, I've been thinking about the best way to get Dipper back, but I haven't succeeded in doing so.... However, I believe that I've thought of something that just might work in the meantime." Stan raised an eyebrow.

"And what's that?" Ford sighed. "If I place down some moonstones and sprinkle some mercury, we should be able to completely Bill-proof the shack and keep him from spying on us and discovering our plans. I would just need to get one last ingredient." Meanwhile, Mabel was listening to everything from the living room. She was very intrigued in them finding a way to keep Bill away from her family. "I would just need to get some unicorn hair. And while it would be a difficult task, I'd be willing to set off on the journey to do it if you agree." Stan thought for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Eh, why not, it's worth a try I guess. I mean, it's not like we really have another option..." Ford looked at him sadly. "My feelings exactly." There was a moment of silence. Then, Ford sighed. "Alright then, I'd best be on my way. I should start preparing immediately." He started to walk out of the doorway, only to be blocked by Mabel. He looked at her in surprise. Hopefully she hadn't heard him.

"Oh, uh, hello Mabel. Excuse me, I have to go get something for a mission." Mabel frowned. "Grunkle Ford, why can't I go and get the unicorn hair? I love unicorns! I really wanna do this!" He sighed. So she had heard after all. "Because Mabel, getting the unicorn hair is no easy task and they only give it to people who prove that they're pure of heart." Mabel laughed. "Well then, that settles it then! I'm totally pure of heart! And-and I'll do anything! Please please please?! I'll give you my blood!!!" Ford looked at her stunned and was about to reply, until he heard Stan whispering behind him.

"Maybe it'd be best if she goes. She's already going through a lot and surely it would take her mind off of things." Ford hesitated. Then, he sighed in defeat and rolled his eyes. "Fine-fine Mabel, you can go. Take the first journal, it has information about what you need to do." Ford reached into his coat, pulled out the journal, and handed it to Mabel.

"Oh and, take this as well. It lets me track you so I know where you are if something happens." He put a bright red pin on her. She smiled and saluted him. "Don't worry Grunkle Ford! I won't let you down!" She turned to walk away. Ford called after her. "Oh, and Mabel?" She turned back towards him. "Hmmm?" He looked her in the eyes. "Remember, this is for Dipper ok? That's the reason we're doing it." Mabel rolled her eyes. "Yes Grunkle Ford, I know!" And with that, she ran upstairs to go pack her things.

When she ran back down the stairs with her bag, she was so excited and wasn't paying attention to where she was going. And that's how she crashed into Wendy. "Oh! Sorry Wendy! I didn't see you there!" Wendy smiled. "Nah, it's ok dude! I was actually looking for you! Is everything ok?! What happened?!" Mabel froze. "Oh uh...." She gave Wendy a sorrowful face. The colored drained from Wendy's skin. "Mabel......w-where's Dipper?" Mabel stopped. She couldn't stand thinking about it. So instead, she weakly smiled. "I-it's a long story. Uh....oh! Um, I'm on a mission for Grunkle Ford right now! You can come with me if you want! And I...I can fill you in....." Wendy looked over at Soos, who was inspecting a speck on a wall that he thought looked identical to a cat. He was abt to reach to pet it, but then he snapped out of it when he felt that someone was looking at him. He then looked back over at Wendy and gave her a thumbs up. "Well, looks like Soos is in! So let's do this thing!" Wendy Soos, and Mabel all got their stuff, (after Soos pet the cat speck ofc), said goodbye, and then ran out of the shack door and into the woods. Stan just noticed this as they disappeared into the trees.

"Hey, where are you going?! What about work?!" Then, he suddenly felt a hand touch his shoulder. He turned around to see Ford standing there. "I'll help if you want." Stan looked Ford in the eyes. "Oh, so that's it now?! You're just gonna pretend that everything is ok between us?!" Ford rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on Stanley, this isn't the time for this! Both of us want the same thing right now and-" Stan cut him off. "Ahhhhh I see! Now that you need me for once, suddenly everything is all forgiven and we should work together. But when I spent YEARS thinking about you and about our fight, you didn't reach out to me once?! You didn't even care?! Ford groaned. "I did care Stanley, I did care! It was just-well-" Stan slapped Ford's hand away. "You know what? Forget it. Here's a broom. If you wanna make up for being a horrible brother, at least help me clean up around here." Ford was angry. He didn't have time for this.

"No, Stanley! This is my house! I don't have to listen to you!" He threw the broom onto the ground and walked back towards his study, with his lab coat flowing in the wind behind him." Stan watched his brother start to walk away from him. Why did things always have to be like this? He sighed. "Wait." Ford stopped where he was standing, but did not look back. "How can I help to find Dipper? Or rather, how can WE help to find Dipper?" Ford waited a moment, then sighed and gave in. He turned around to face Stan. "Bill seems to have a past with Dipper, which is something that I wasn't aware of. Our best lead right now, is to find out what encounters they've previously had and put the pieces together from there." Stan paused, but then smiled back at Ford, as if he was accepting his answer. "So....where should we look to find out?" Ford paused a moment, but then smiled as well.

"In my third Journal. You see, while Dipper was exploring the supernatural here, he made new notes in my Journal as well as wrote his own pages." Ford smiled with pride for a moment after saying this out loud, before switching back into serious mode. "So, I think our best bet would be to finish reading them and see what we can find there." He turned back around to go get his journal. Stan stopped. "Wait, what about the Shack?" Ford rolled his eyes. "Stan, the Mystery Shack isn't even open today remember?" As Ford left to get the journal, Stan realized something. If the Shack wasn't even going to be open today, Ford had offered to help Stan, even though he had no reason to do so. And this....made Stan feel more love in his heart toward his brother than he had felt in a long long time.

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