Something seems off...

Chapter 4

Strange smells woke the boys up that morning, like that of freshly-laundered bedding and frying breakfast. The husky, humid scent of the forest was absent, which made Wirt bolt straight out of the crumpled sheets as he remembered last night's events.

Greg didn't seem to have the same mix of worrying and confusing thoughts as he did. This was proved by the fact that when Wirt decided to look back at him to check on him, he had all but disappeared, the smell of food too strong for him to possibly resist. A few more minutes were needed for Wirt to follow suit, but his stomach finally won him over, as well as the questionable nature of Mabel's sanity, and the explosive mix her and his brother could create.

The kitchen was easy to find, the downstairs hall leading directly off to the heavenly place. Heavenly was indeed the word to describe it, thought Wirt, as even though it was as cluttered and messy as a usually-single man's room would be, the jumble of happy people pressed around the table and the smell coming from the stove made it one of his favourite places on earth at that time.

Mabel, comfortingly, seemed calm and cheerful, cooking something tasty in a pan. Some strangers were seated around the wooden table, of which one waved to him, and the other blatantly ignored him, pretending to be engrossed in his dirty newspaper.

"Hi, walking fashion statement. Had a good nap?" she said, winking teasingly at him.

His brain incapable of formulating an intelligent reply from lack of caffeine, he just decided to slump in the nearest chair.

"She's talking about your rumpled, and, how could I put this? strange clothes, you know." came Dipper's comment from behind his journal.

"Yeah, all right. Have you got any tea?"

"Coming right up, gnome guy!"

He ignored the comment like the last one, his little spike of energy from his morning reminiscence long gone. His forehead rested against the scratched table surface. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Greg stuffing himself with as much buttered French toast as he could muster. His puffed out cheeks brought a fond smile to his lips, his resemblance to a hamster so striking that it was impossible to not be at least slightly amused.

"And here is your order, Mister Zombie!"

"Mabel" said Dipper, dropping the imposing book.

"It's not like that time Dipper, I swear!" she said, waving the pan dangerously. "Well, maybe a little." She did add with a chuckle.

"MABEL! You will NOT date everything that looks even vaguely human and your age just for so called "scrapbookortunities"!"

"But Grunkle..."

"Look, these kids have obviously been through some tough stuff and from what I've heard, it's not going to be over any time soon, so do me a favour and cut them some slack, will you?"

A mumbled reply came from across the room, Mabel complying for the minute. Wirt, after finally getting the addicting drink into his system, took his time and thought over every piece of information he had just received. The moody man who had ducked back behind his newspaper was obviously the "Grunkle" the twins had been going on about. Mable had a thing for summer romances. Great. He just had to clear the air and say that he wasn't interested.

"By the way Mabel, I'm not interested."

"I know, I just wanted Dipdop to be jealous."

"Try something else, it's not working."

"Yes it is, I can feel the heat from your face from over here."

"Very funny."

Well, that was done and over with.