See You Earlier!

Pioneers Drew Subsistence from Telling Stories 'Round the Fire.

Dipper

Dipper, now in the living room again, yawned and shook himself. Mabel sat beside him, her half-closed eyes playing with knitting needles without thread in her fingers. This must've caught the attention of at least someone nearby as only a few seconds passed before the large foot steps of one of their future great-uncles approached them.

Stanley stopped before them. "Huh. Do kids in the future need sleep or somethin'?"

Dipper jolted awake and looked up, ears flicked forward. "Huh?"

Stanley smirked. "It's time to get you two to bed. Hey, Ford! Where's their bedroom again?"

Stanford walked in from the storage room. "Well..."

"Don't say storage room."

"I wasn't going to say that!"

"You were."

Stanford sighed. "Well, I don't have any spare bedrooms. Livable ones, anyway. But there is a space in the attic."

Mabel perked up. "Oh, really?" Dipper looked past him to the stairs. Huh. Wonder what the attic's like thirty years in the past.

"But I don't think Dipper should be walking upstairs," Stanford was quick to add.

"I can walk upstairs," Dipper assured him. "Really! Since I can walk, I can walk upstairs."

Stanley tipped his head to the attic. "Show us the way, esteemed scientist."

Stanford narrowed his eyes at Stanley. However, after only a second of internal debate, Stanford turned around and walked upstairs. Dipper shakily got to his hooves and followed them as they walked. It was still difficult to use his back leg, and it still kinda hurt a bit, but he was doing fine. He could walk. He didn't need to stay in one place for a few weeks. Then again, he was just going to go upstairs to lay down again.

The room Stanford was lending them was a bit more cluttered than they remembered. Instead of being cluttered with toys, papers with theories, books, broken pens, and stuffed animals, there were boxes and gadgets. Rather than boy band posters, there were diagrams. There were a few books stacked in the shelf in the far end of the room, just like in the future. There was the framed picture frame of the giant ship in the stormy sea over where Dipper's bed would be.

"You can stay here," Stanford began. "The beds were there in the corner and there are linens in the shelf over here."

"And where do you want me to put all this nerd junk?" Stanley indicated the obvious obstructions that prevented them from safely and comfortably reaching the places where they'd sleep.

"Right. I'll take care of those." Stanford looked over the mess. There wasn't much in this room, thankfully. Most of it was in the other room in the attic. That room was mostly clear in the future. Grunkle Stan didn't keep a lot of stuff, did he? At least, a lot of this old stuff.

"Welp. Here we go." Stanley strolled into the room and picked up a few boxes. Stanford quickly heaved a box of something or other up and waddled out of the room. Stanley snickered at the struggle and followed suit. Mabel, ever helpful, picked up a skeleton and followed them.

When Dipper tried grabbing something, Stanford waved him off with a "Just sit down, the strain won't be good on your legs." Dipper didn't really feel like pushing his luck. He sat down on the bed that would be his in the future.

Soon, the attic was as clear as it was going to get and the beds made. Dipper fell asleep with his legs tucked under him and leaning on the wall and Mabel laying between him and the edge of the bed. When he woke up, he was on his side with his legs splayed to the side. Mabel, having been pushed off the bed, snuggled up to Stanley in the other bed.