Gravity Rises (S2)

ST: Part Two

"So then Natalie dared Tambry to climb the thing, and - you listening, Mabel-kid?"

"What?" Mabel looked up with wide eyes. "Oh, um, yeah. Sorry, Robbie, I was just. . ."

"Thinking about the laptop again?" Robbie asked.

Mabel ducked her head. "Well, yeah."

She and Robbie sat in the Mystery Museum gift shop, watching the last of today's customers in the last of today's sunlight. The sunset was beautiful over the mountains tonight. It had distracted Mabel for a moment. So had Robbie's stories. But. . .

"I'm sure Mr. Pines will let you go work with him soon," Robbie reassured her.

"Oh, it's fine," Mabel said, twirling a little bit on the globe that she sat on. Ford had a big globe in the gift shop that had become her newest perch. "I know why he doesn't want me around, I mean, he needs to concentrate, and I'll probably break something, and, you know. A-and he wasn't mean about it, not like he has been before."

"It's okay to be bummed, though," Robbie said.

"Yeah." She was a lot more than bummed, but she didn't feel like talking about it.

They lapsed into silence, looking over at Dipper as he helped out an indecisive customer.

"You and your brother coming has been the best thing to ever happen in this place."

Mabel nearly fell off her globe. The comment came out of nowhere, and Robbie said it so casually. "I-I - really?"

"Yeah, man. I don't have to deal with obnoxious customers anymore, because your brother does it. And you hang out with me when my friends aren't allowed to come visit me during work. Plus Ford is less grumpy than ever since you started going on adventures with him."

Mabel's face went red. "Well, i-it's fun hanging out with you," she stammered.

"Thanks. What is that laptop, anyway?"

Ford had asked them not to tell Robbie about Stanley or the portal, for "security reasons." Mabel bit her lip. "Oh, it's, um, something old of Ford's, but he doesn't remember what's on it." That was basically the truth. "So he's fixing it up."

"And you guys found it down in his mysterious bunker?"

Mabel nodded. That wasn't the only thing they'd found, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

"Dipper told me you have a grappling hook now. And that you used it to fight off some monsters."

Mabel blushed again. "I tried," she said. "My aim's not very good. And it knocks me off balance every time I shoot it."

"I'm sure you'll get better with practice," Robbie said. "It sounds like something that can really come in handy." He flipped on the microphone next to the cash register. "Ladies and gents, the Mystery Museum will be closing in five minutes. Come buy your stuff and clear out." He grinned at Mabel. "Mr. Pines doesn't like me talking like that over the speaker."

"I doubt he can hear you in his lab. Or hear anything, really." Mabel grinned back.

It wasn't much of a joke, but Robbie still laughed. "You Pines and your attention spans are crazy. Right now you're all over the place trying not to think about the laptop, but if you were working on the laptop, you would have this laser focus."

"Yeah," Mabel said. "Dipper's the same. And I guess Ford is too."

"I like it," Robbie said, leaning back and putting his feet up on the counter. He had to put them down a moment later when a tourist came up to buy something.