Guided by demons

Big plans

When dipper awoke, his vision was hazy. "Huh...? Mabel, did you put glitter in my eyes again...?" He sat up, and rubbed his eyes. "Mabel?" He could see properly, which was good. But there were downsides to that. For starters, he couldn't see Mabel anywhere in the room. And, while on the topic of the room, it was completely trashed, with absolutely no sign of why...or how. He shrugged, putting it down to gnomes, slipped on a navy blue t-shirt and jeans, and walked downstairs for breakfast. "Mornin' guys." He said, with a yawn.

"Oh...Dipper. You're awake..." Mabel's voice are from behind, and he turned to smile at her. "Oh, hi Mabel! You weren't upstairs...did I oversleep or something?" He poured himself a bowl of non-specific-brand-flaked-corn-thingums™ and sat at the table. She reluctantly sat next to him. "What's up?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. I had a nightmare is all..." he could tell she was keeping something from her, but he decided to let her be. "Okay. As long as you're fine now." He smiled at her, and she halfheartedly returned it.

"So, what do you wanna do today?" He asked, as soon as he'd finished his breakfast.

"Oh, well I was thinking...maybe we could explore the woods. We never really got a chance to go on an 'every day adventure' last summer, you know? We always went looking for the fun, instead of letting it come to us." He nodded.

"Yeah, okay! That sounds great! I'll pack my rucksack with snacks and torches in case we're out longer than expected...oh, and my journal in case we stumble upon something!" Mabel laughed.

"NERD!" He hit her lightly, and they both burst into a fit of giggles. When it died down, Mabel asked the question that was on her mind. "Should we invite Wendy? I feel like she was trying to hint that she'd like to spend more time with us this summer..."

Dipper shook his head. "We'll invite her on the next one. Tonight it's just you and me!" He ran upstairs and started packing the bag, following a mental list he'd prepared.

Torch? Check. Journal? Check. Batteries in case torch dies? Check. Backup batteries? Check.

He continued in this manner until the bag was full. He slipped the journal into his vest and his hat on his head.

He was ready!

He ran downstairs to Mabel. "You ready to go?" She gave him a thumbs up, and headed for the door, and out into the woods. Dipper thought for a second, called out "we're going out, we'll be home before dark, if not later!" and ran to catch up with his sister.

"So, Dip Dop-"
"Don't call me that-"
"Ready to explore the unknown?" She said this while hoping over a log that was laying across the ground.

"You bet! Speaking of bets, I bet I'll find the weirdest thing in this forest!" He quickened his pace, a determined and competitive look across his face.

"You're on, shorty!"
"Please. Let the millimetre go already-"
"NEVER!" This exchange left both twins laughing. When the joy faded, both set out with a new ambition; to win the bet. "Okay, so at 5 o'clock we meet here and share our discoveries. But how do we find our way back...?"

Dipper pulled out two balls of string from his bag. "We each get a ball, which we tie to a tree. We tie the other end to our pinkies. This way, we can always find our way back!" Mabel looked at him as she followed his instructions, seemingly impressed.

"You really thought of everything, huh?" She laughed before saying "don't get cocky, though. I could still beat you with my eyes closed!"

"You wish! Okay, do you have your watch?" She nodded. "Right then. See you at 5' and may the best twin win!" And with that, the pair ran off.

Dipper pulled out his journal and flipped to a bookmarked page.

He knew EXACTLY what he was looking for.

And he had big plans for when he found him...