Abnormal Gravity: A Parapines Fanfic

A Mabel Morning

About a half-hour later, Dipper and Norman were pulling up to the Mystery Shack, laughing at a joke Dipper had just made. The laughter died when they saw Mabel standing in front of the Mystery Shack, her arms crossed and one foot tapping angrily. She was holding her sweater in one hand and a spatula in the other. She was also covered in what appeared to be brown coffee stains and her hair was a mess.

"Geez, Mabel, what happened to you?" Dipper asked, walking towards the porch. Norman was close behind.

"I could have really used your help half an hour ago, Dipper," Mabel said with a certain harshness in her voice, and her eyes were filled with anger. "What took you guys so long?"

"The motel Norman stays at is pretty far away."

"It's too far away!" Mabel exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "I could have died!"

"Died? What happened? And why are you covered in coffee?" Norman asked.

Mabel lowered her hands and sighed deeply. Her face softened a little and her anger simmered down into something akin to annoyance. 

"It was another ghost."

Dipper and Norman's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Another one?" Dipper said.

"Yup! And this one was just like the last. All angry and crazy."

"What do you mean?" Norman said.

"You know. It was really opinionated and kinda self-absorbed."

"Ok," Dipper said, climbing the steps, "We should head inside and assess the damage. Is Soos here yet?"

Mabel grabbed Dipper's shoulder, stopping him. "I wouldn't do that Dipps. It's still in there, probably still hurling coffee everywhere. And Soos is late. I dunno where he is."

Dipper looked from his sister to the door and held his gaze there, obviously eager to get inside. After a few moments, he sighed and turned to his sister.

"Alright, Mabel. Start from the beginning. Tell us everything."

...

The trio decided to sit in the golf cart a safe distance away from the house, Dipper and Mabel in the front with Norman in the back seat. Mabel, although still a little pithy, was in a better mood. She began.

"Alright, so I woke up when Dipper got up to go pick up Norman. After you left, I decided to make a big breakfast cuz' Norman was coming over, so I went downstairs. I got the pancake mix and the chocolate chips and I put on the coffee maker machine thing. But, then, as I was mixing the batter, the coffee thing started going ballistic! Hot water and coffee beans were flying everywhere! So I ran over and unplugged it, but it kept going! The it started hovering in midair and glowing and things were getting real crazy, but then I saw him."

"Him?" Dipper asked.

"Shushshushshush," Mabel said, "No interruptions. So yeah, I saw the ghost. At first, it was just a faint outline and kinda glowy and red. But soon, I could see him clearly and he was shouting, too. Something about caffeine and coffee, but it sounded a lot like the Vegan Nazi we faced yesterday. I couldn't really pay attention cuz' he threw the coffee pot at me! Oh, calm down, Dipper. He missed. But, he did get coffee everywhere. And on my favorite sweater, too!" 

Mabel lifted up her sweater to get another look at it, then frowned. 

Dipper didn't notice. His attention was on the ghost now. "The ghost catcher is upstairs right? So, I'm not sure how... Hmmm. Maybe one of us can distract the ghost while the others get it. Whaddya say, Norman?"

"Uh, sure," Norman responded, "But something's bothering me. This is the second malevolent ghost in as many days, which is really unnatural. I've never known ghosts to be so angry before."

"Well, we have. Right, Mabel? Mabel?" Mabel was feeling her sweater's fading stains, running her fingers on the inside and outside. She looked puzzled. 

"Don't worry, Mabel," Dipper said, "It'll wash out. Hopefully."

"No, that's not it. Here, feel this." Mabel handed Dipper her sweater and Norman leaned over to look as well. 

"What about it?" Dipper said.

"The stains!" Mabel said, "They're fading!"

"Well, yeah, it's drying. That's what stains do."

"No, I mean like, it's fading completely, especially when you rub it. And, it doesn't smell at all! Isn't that weird?"

Dipper rubbed at one of the stains and watched as it slowly disappeared with each pass of his fingers. He sniffed at another stain as well.

"You're right, no smell. That is weird."

"Let me see," Norman said.

Dipper handed him the sweater. Norman first sniffed at the largest stain, right on the front. It smelled like fabric and something flowery, no doubt Mabel's perfume. But, not a hint of coffee. Norman ran his thumb over the stain and the three watched as the stain faded completely, leaving a trail of clean fabric cutting into the fading brown stain.

"Woah. How'd you do that?" Dipper asked.

"I-I dunno," Norman said. He swiped his thumb again, making the trail bigger. He checked his thumb, but saw nothing. 

Dipper took back the sweater and tried to imitate Norman, but the effect was nowhere near the same. The twins both looked at the boy in the back seat with identical faces of amazement. 

"You are so cool!" Mabel said in a high-pitched voice, her smile growing wide.

"Um... Haha, thanks," Norman scratched the back of his head and glanced at the compliment, sure his face was blushing. He looked back to say something, but his gaze landed on Dipper, whose soft eyes had a strange twinkle in them. They seemed to stare straight into Norman, trying to figure out mysteries and uncover his secrets. Norman found himself blushing again.

"A-Anyway," Norman said, banishing his embarrassment, "Something tells me that this isn't actually coffee. It might be some kind of illusion, like back at Rosie's."

"You might be right," Dipper said. The twinkle was gone, but was replaced with another look. One of determination, ready to get tasks done. "Either way, we're gonna have to get back in there eventually. You guys ready?"

"You betcha," Mabel said, a silly grin across her face. 

"Sure. What's the worst that could happen?" said Norman.

"Let's hope we don't find out." Dipper said.

And with that, the trio hopped off the golf cart and headed toward the Shack.