Chapter Text
“Through the shining paths we walk
We ain’t got no time to talk”
Footfalls on mud, striding over thick roots lining the path.
“Take me out another day
Say the words you long to say.”
Shafts of light breaking through the vibrant foliage all around her.
“It’s the perfect time of year,
we have nothing to fear.“
A vista of green as far as the eye could see. Was the whole planet one endless, emerald forest?
“Come and run away with me,
I’ll show you how it feels to be free.”
Out of breath already, only a few hours in. She wanted to rest.
Her father suddenly reappeared from behind the trees up ahead. He spoke to her, lips moving wordlessly, then gestured to his head. She got the message and slid the pink headphones, the ones the same colour as her bright skin, down around her neck. The music continued to play – some old pop song her mother liked for some reason – but distant, a hollow echo.
Merrise Pines was confronted fully with the overwhelming sounds of nature all around her. The gentle wind rustling through the leaves. The flow of distant stream. So much life teeming in the forest. Mostly birdsong unlike any she’d heard before. Not even the Morada outlands were home to such exotic sounds.
She realised her dad was still looking at her, watching her reactions closely. “C’mon Sixer, there’s so much out here to see.”
She looked down at her hand as he bounded onwards. One extra digit than anyone else on this world. It was like how he’d got his nickname, Dipper; a simple marker of being out of the ordinary. She hurried to catch up with him. “Wait, let me switch off the com unit.”
“Com- oh, you mean the phone.”
Merrise fished in the large pockets of her sweater for the device and turned off the tinny reverb. Another reminder that she wasn’t from around here. Back on Tengosa the most complex piece of communications tech was a trusty radio. Here on Earth they’d surpassed that long ago. The little box in her pocket could even display moving pictures! Crazy to think about.
“Ready to talk now?” Dipper’s eyebrow was raised. He was gently teasing her, trying to get her to open up. “That’s why we’re out here after all.”
“I know, but it’s still all so…”
“Weird?” he offered, and Merrise smiled and nodded.
“Yeah. Takes some getting used to.”
“Well, then this is the place to be. Couldn’t ask for a weirder place than Gravity Falls.” He led her along a short way to a viewpoint where the trees opened up. Merrise could see for miles up here. They were on a winding slope, the path on this side of the valley hugging tall mountains with bare white peaks.
“It’s so pretty,” she uttered. But it was slightly monotonous she thought. Trees, always trees. That was what she’d seen most of on Earth so far. She’d been to so many outlandish places, from the swaying grassy plains of Dimension 52, to the hollow quiet of the empty buildings in the Latropian city, that it was a slight step down to experience all this sameness. Mom and Dad told her that there were lots of other strange environments around the planet, but so far she’d only sampled the small area around town, never leaving the valley for long.
“This trek’s perfect for beginners, Merrise,” Dipper said. “Lots of gentle ups and downs along the slope. I used to do it loads with the girls.” He stepped forwards and set his leg up on a log, letting the breeze flow over him.
He was the very picture of a rugged adventurer, clad in red flannel with his long messy hair tied into a bun. Merrise had to suppress a small giggle.
“What?” Dipper asked with a lopsided smile.
“Oh, nothing.” She didn’t really think the look suited him that much. The long hair combined with the scraggly growths on his face made him look unkempt. Not to mention the thin patina of sweat. Her own skin was completely smooth and free of blemishes. Pacifica’s neat cleanliness was much more appealing.
Then again, she didn’t know much about Earth customs. Like her clothes, a hoodie over a specially knitted bright green sweater Aunt Mabel had made for her. They had strange fashion here. Plus even with those thick layers she was still chilly. Nothing like home.
Dipper seemed to notice her shivering, so held an arm out beside himself. She ran over and let him side-hug her. For a moment they just stood there in each other’s embrace, breathing in the cool air. This was where she felt the most cared for, safe in the arms of her dad. Moments like this made all the strangeness of her new home worth it. Moments she’d had far too few of before she and her parents had found each other.
“Photo time, I think.” Dipper stretched out his arm, camera poised to capture the pair of them.
“Do we have to, Dad?” Merrise sighed. “Again? You’ve been getting that old thing out every five minutes.”
“I’ll have you know this camera was a gift from Mr Mystery himself. Just a quick snap and we’ll be off. Say cheese!”
“Cheese!”
The two of them smiled and waited for the click. A polaroid slid out of the camera, and Dipper shook it until the image resolved. “One for the books I think.” Merrise knew what this meant, grinning when she correctly guessed her dad would reach into his jacket and retrieve his journal.
She wondered what it was that made the book so special to him as he slipped the photo onto the latest page. He wrote a speedy note next to the photo, then snapped the journal shut.
“Alright, let’s get going!” Merrise started marching off back into the woods, eager to get some momentum going. They’d had enough stops and starts this morning, and she wanted to cover some real ground before nightfall.
“Woah, make sure you pace yourself,” Dipper’s call came drifting from behind. “Three days, your mother’s given us. That’s plenty of time to get where we’re going.”
Merrise barrelled on unhindered, excited to explore the valley. Then she stopped up short, suddenly pensive. “Hey, what if we run into somebody out here? You said you walked here a lot, other people might too.”
Dipper caught up and put his hand on her shoulder. “You've still got your perception filter on?”
Merrise reached under the turtleneck of her sweater and pulled out the gold medallion to show Dipper. A small wedge of circuitry was pinned to the metal; tech salvaged from the universal translators that had aided them on their last major adventure. A parting gift from Chiu Tech.
“Then you'll be fine,” Dipper assured her. “You’ll appear as what anyone expects you to be: An ordinary ten year-old kid. A human kid. My daughter. Besides,” he booped her nose, “anyone we’re liable to meet out here will be way more unusual than you, sweetie, trust me.”
“Right.” Merrise nodded but remained rooted to the spot.
After a few seconds, Dipper could tell she wasn’t about to move on so easily. “Hey, you’d tell me if you weren’t ok, right?”
“Sure, I’m fine,” she said without much enthusiasm.
“Only, you’ve been kinda quiet today. Not talking much this morning.” Dipper stared into her round, black eyes. “Hey sweetheart? It’s ok, there’s nobody out here but me and you.”
Wringing her hands, a unique interplay of her six fingers, Merrise tried to articulate her feelings. She ended up not quite getting there. “It’s just… lotta strange new stuff. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh?” Dipper raised a single eyebrow. “Today’s all about you, remember.”
She did. A chance for them to finally get some father-daughter bonding time. It had taken a long while to find enough spare days for the camping trip, what with the rest period after their long voyage away from Earth, then the full-time move to Gravity Falls. Dipper and Pacifica had gone through so much upheaval in their lives in the last few months, it was understandable they needed to process all the big events. And all that was without Merrise even trying to think about how she felt towards her baby sister.
Dipper was looking at her now like he knew this was overdue. He even got down on one knee to put himself on her level. “If you ever need to talk, about anything, then just say. I’m here. We're not gonna forget about you because you're adopted and she's not. We love both our daughters equally.”
“I get that Dad. I really do.” The way the Pines had opened up and let her into their lives was still an overwhelming source of joy for her. Never before had she counted so strongly on the kindness of strangers. “Trust me though, I’m good. Come on, like you said. Let’s get hiking.”
Dipper’s grin returned and he stood up. “Sure thing, Sixer. You can take the lead.” Merrise set off, a spring back in her step. “Oh wait,” Dipper called. “Make sure you remind me to take more photos of the plants out here.”
“Huh, why?” Merrise said, confused.
“That way when I print out the pictures I can call it photosynthesis.” Dipper gave the goofiest grin and Merrise groaned out loud.
“Ugh, Dad, no! That’s worse than one of Mabel’s jokes!”
Dipper’s shoulders lifted in a shrug as his smile only grew in size. “What can I say, I'm embracing my dad side.”
UrsaPinus: We’ve passed the first marker on time, should be hunkering down for some lunch soon. Gonna take M up the ridgeway, you know, over towards the floating cliffs. Good weather for stargazing tonight too!
Llamalover15: You two have a great time on the rest of the trip.
Pacifica typed the speedy confirmation, then put the distraction of the phone aside, content in the thought that the two of them were having a good start to their trip. She could only hope the remainder would go smoothly.
Mason hadn’t noticed anything wrong. Of course he hadn’t. But Pacifica had seen the subtle shifts in her daughter, Merrise’s mood turning withdrawn and quiet for such a confident young girl. It was probably just the passing of time; she’d been able to finally settle and reflect on all the change.
It wasn’t any maternal instinct that tipped her off, god no. It was simply what had happened to herself, Pacifica recalled, years ago, after leaving her parents. At first the chaos swamped all emotions, leaving her in a buzz of excitement for the change, but eventually it came in waves. Regret, despair, hope, fear, overwhelming joy and sadness intermingled.
Merrise would get through it. She was tough. If she’d learnt anything about the girl in the months since first meeting her it was that she could deal with anything that came her way. She could cope with this too.
Now, to let those two have their fun while she got down to work. Her little miracle was sleeping peacefully in the cot behind her, at an arm’s reach if a mother’s touch was needed. As Pacifica was finally beginning to settle into a calm mood, another buzz came from her phone.
UrsaPinus: Good luck with the writing! Love u Princess.
The message ended with a small emoji of a llama. Pacifica grinned. He was still such a romantic at heart. With the camping trip, as well as his recent visit to Sapphire Bay to help his sister out, they'd spent a lot of time apart. Once he was back she'd have to rectify that. As well as letting him be on diaper changing duties for the next month.
But for now she needed focus, so once again pushed the phone away. Sitting at her desk, everything laid out before her, she should have had an easy time of it. Her baby was soundly sleeping. No-one else would disturb her at the house. Three days of isolation to finally crank out her next book.
It was certainly more sedate a pace compared to her old job as an architect. No clients hounding her, no set deadlines, no complex design work. Just a blank sheet of paper and no idea what to fill it with. No pressure.
The few books she’d worked on previously since switching gears and moving across the entire country had been semi-autobiographical, descriptions of the sordid business deals that went on during her childhood and the like. Easy enough to recall and fun to dish out the dirt. It paid the bills, though it wasn’t like they needed money given her sizable inheritance.
But now she was trying her hand at fiction. And as the blank page seemed to say to her, failing to make a start. Pacifica wanted to stretch herself, to put pen to paper and create something new. This was a fresh start for her and her family.
Where to start? What genre should she go for? Neo-noir crime fiction, conspiracy thrillers of the kind Mason devoured? Maybe some trashy romance fluff, that’d be a laugh. Yet she wanted something of weight, something grand and personal and important.
Instead she found herself chewing on the end of her pen. She spent a few minutes doodling on the edges of her clean sheet. Drawing would help, right? If she was planning to illustrate the book too, she’d need to stay in practice. At least she was happy to see no inverted triangles or ouroboros’ cropping up subconsciously in her penstrokes.
As the clock ticked on, she continued to waste time doing not much of anything. She fiddled with her pendant. Several minutes were occupied while she was fascinated by examining her nails. Eventually she even got up and went over to watch Wendy sleeping. Anything to avoid deciding on any ideas.
Her daughter was wriggling around in her sleep, a little bundle of energy. Pacifica rubbed her head gently, soothing her into a calmer rest. Her beautiful child. Wendy was a sheer cosmic fluke, a possibility neither she nor Dipper had ever believed possible and named after their departed friend who’d given them a chance at a peaceful life.
That sparked an idea in Pacifica’s mind. If she couldn’t come up with any ideas organically on her own, then maybe she needed something to kickstart the process. She was now perhaps considering adapting some of the other aspects of her life. Dipper’s journals 7 and 8 were lying right there on the side of the desk, as well as her own Llama journal. Would it be so wrong to take a leaf out of those books?
They contained the most wondrous descriptions, the chronicle of their whole last two years of adventures. Surely it wouldn't be a crime to take a little inspiration, only to start her off.
Her hand halted in the air as she slammed the brakes on that idea. She couldn't just go recounting those stories. Some were deeply private, others potentially dangerous in their implications, should a wider audience get a sense of the truth. She'd hate for anything to get out that might over-publicise her beloved Falls. Who knew the chaos that widespread knowledge could cause?
Maybe she could borrow certain parts of the text, change up some of the names and descriptions. Yet that still felt little more than a chopped-up retelling of her own life. Besides, the new book was supposed to be fiction. She could hardly call herself an author without coming up with something more original. Right?
As she’d learnt since college, any decent structure needed a solid foundation. But limitless freedom had never sat well with Pacifica.
Her, the girl whose fate seemed preordained from birth. Whether by her parents, indescribable extra-dimensional terrors, or even her own body's inability to conceive a child for so long, she seemed bound by forces outside her control shaping her destiny.
She forced herself to relax. All she was doing was writing a book, that didn't warrant some complex introspective journey. She wasn't about to crumble so easily. After all, hadn't she overcome those limitations holding her back? She had her family, her independence. She was in control.
Then again, there had always been help along the way, mostly from the twins. They weren't available right now, but she did have some contacts left in Gravity Falls.
Given the quality of conversation in the house right now with Wendy would amount to little more than gurgles, Pacifica carefully wrapped her daughter up in a sling across her chest and set out for her oldest refuge in times of strife.
“All in all a successful first day of hiking!”
Sat high on an exposed ridge, a campfire blazed in front of Dipper and Merrise. A small pot of soup hung over the flames. Their tents were already set up, and beside them a long metal tube stood on three legs. Merrise didn’t know what its purpose was yet.
While she held out a stick with a spongy white blob on the end that Dipper called a ‘marshmallow’ over the fire, he was excitedly writing in his journal again. “I’m sad we didn’t run into anything out of the ordinary though. I know you’re no stranger to supernatural occurrences – hello end of the universe and all that – but still, would’ve been nice to introduce you to some of the weirdness we have at home.”
“Maybe tomorrow, I guess,” Merrise replied half-heartedly. She leant over to try and get a look at the inside of the book. Even with the basic reading lessons Dipper and Pacifica had given her, the words still seemed like incomprehensible gibberish. If she needed to know something she’d always just stored the info in her head, no need for wasting time writing it down. That was the way she’d always lived.
Yet Dipper adored his journal. All that secret knowledge made Merrise feel somehow left out, like it was a joke everyone got but her. For the briefest second she thought she glimpsed a golden light flowing out from the journal and leant forwards in wonder. Then she simply saw it was the glint of the fire reflecting off the cover lines. Her eyes playing tricks on her in the dark.
“There we go.” Dipper finished writing in the book and set it aside. “I think that’s enough time now. You can eat up if you want.”
“Oh, yeah.” Merrise jerked the marshmallow out of the fire. It had turned a golden brown. She took an exploratory bite. Sweet and chewy. She decided she liked the taste.
“You know, you can take more than one bite,” Dipper said, smirking. Merrise realised she was staring at the food, not moving to eat any more, so went for a second helping. “No judgement out here, you can eat as much as you like.” Dipper opened the lid of their soup pot and stirred the concoction within. “You're like Pacifica in that way, neither of you eat enough.”
For exactly opposite reasons, he mused. Pacifica had been raised in a world where the food was luxurious but the portions minuscule, a diet of fancy specialty dishes designed to keep her figure slim and to flash her family’s wealth around.
Meanwhile, he observed Merrise’s eating of the marshmallow. She dived in for small quick nibbles, taking such tiny amounts of the food into her mouth. It was a means of trying to prolong the meal as long as possible. Who knew when the next meal would come along when you lived an unpredictable life of scavenging for scraps.
A shiver ran across Merrise’s slender body. She was still overly skinny, no real body mass to keep her warm despite Mabel’s fluffy sweater and the multiple layers.
Dipper reached into his pack and grabbed something to help. “Here, try this.” He handed over a small hat made of grey and brown fur.
“What is it?” Merrise was apprehensive, like the hat would reveal itself as an animal and come alive at any moment.
“It used to be Wendy’s,” Dipper answered. “The original I mean, not your sister.”
“Oh.” Merrise’s eyes widened when she realised the significance, and she quickly slid it over her head. It was a little big, and Dipper helped clear it from hanging over her eyes. Merrise ran a hand over the soft fur, then turned her eyes skywards. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Dipper followed her gaze, up to the clear sky. Here in the wild away from the town there was little light pollution, so they had an uninterrupted view of the stars shining above. “I think it’s time we look at the main attraction.” He left the soup to cook and went over to the metal tube. He angled it upwards and adjusted the settings.
Merrise hopped up next to him, curious about the instrument. "Is it some kind of fancy camera?"
“It's a telescope,” Dipper stated. “It’s technically Pacifica’s, but you’re lucky she’s in a generous mood.”
"She probably meant it as a bribe to get us out of the house," Merrise said with a chuckle. “How does it work?” She put her eye up against the wide end of the scope, trying to fathom the purpose.
Now he had her interest again, Dipper felt her mood had improved a little. She was inquisitive about the new device, ready to learn its secrets. He was happy to share. “Light from the stars comes in that end, then you look through this aperture to see them magnified. It lets you see them in much greater detail than with our eyes. Well, my eyes, yours seem to be evolved to take in more visual information…” He trailed off when those same wide eyes were staring at him, bored by the rambling. “Anyway, take a look, I’ve set up the focus now.”
Merrise sidled over to the lens and bent over to see. “Woah, cool! They’re way bigger!”
Dipper put an arm around her to keep her warm and steady. “What do you see, Sixer?” he asked, trying to spark her curiosity further.
The image in the scope was a collection of stars, zoomed in. Merrise moved her eye over to take in the whole picture. “There’s a pattern, I recognise it!” She turned away from the stars and pointed at Dipper. “That’s you, up in the sky.”
Dipper brushed the hair away from his forehead, grinning all the while. “10 outta 10 observation skills!” He’d aimed the telescope right at one of the easiest constellations to spot. The same one that was so similar to the pattern of spots in his birthmark.
“That’s awesome Dad.” Merrise’s glee was evident, and she turned back to the scope. This time she tried shifting the view, looking at other lights in the sky.
Dipper pressed his face beside hers, helping her guide the aim of the scope towards the more interesting constellations, Orion, Cassiopeia, Draco. He showed her the moon, a nearly full sphere marked with craters she could see in fantastic detail. He laughed when she said she was disappointed that she could only find a single moon. Apparently back home on Tengosa they had three of the things in orbit.
"This is my job,” Dipper said in hushed tones as his daughter took in the wonders up above. “Watching the skies, taking observations, tracing the paths of the stars. We can see the history of the universe laid out before us, millions of years of light travelling to reach us."
“Does that mean we can…” Merrise had a look of eager concentration on her face as she scanned rapidly over areas of sky.
“We can what? Slow down, you’ll only see motion blur moving that fast.”
Merrise stopped and pulled away from the aperture. “I was just wondering if I could see… home.”
This gave Dipper some pause. “I… I don’t know sweetie.” He and the others had only spent four days on Tengosa, the world Merrise had come from originally. Not nearly enough time to stargaze, or to verify roughly where in the universe it might be located. “It’s a big universe, billions of light years across. Anything’s possible.”
“But is Tengosa even up there?” Merrise’s tone had an edge of anxiety. “We didn't just travel in space on our journey, but through time and dimensions and other places. What if it’s not out there somewhere? What if it’s in some other realm entirely?” She was entirely caught up in a panic now, shaking and wildly swinging the telescope around.
“Hey hey hey, don’t worry.” Dipper threw his arms around her quivering form, wrapping her tight in a blanket of safety. So quickly the atmosphere of the night had shifted from Merrise’s eager marvelling to a complete breakdown. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Yes. No. Maybe.” Merrise buried her head in Dipper’s chest, holding back a soft whimper.
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s ok.” He stroked her head, his hand running over the fur hat. He knew she needed as much comfort as he could give in this moment. After a little while helping her breathing steady, he faced her eye to eye. “Look, this isn’t the first time we’ve thought about all this. Me and Pacifica, we’ve talked about your home loads of time. We always ask ourselves the same question: Were we right to take you away from everything you knew? Tengosa was your birthplace, there were other people like you. But I think, in the end, we made the right choice. We both saw the way you were surviving, no home, no money, it was no sort of life for a kid. So now you’re here we can do whatever we can to make you feel safe and appreciated as part of our family. And you don’t have to forget the place you came from either, it’s still out there somewhere even if we can’t see it tonight.”
Merrise thought back to her parents. Her real parents from so long ago. She tried to remember her mother, focusing on a memory of her father’s pride when she was called up to fight on the front lines. The next thing she could recall was his enduring strength when the news came that she’d fallen in glorious battle for East Tengosa. Then he was gone too, taken away when the bombs hit their building. Merrise had been lucky to make it out, small enough to crawl over debris through the choking dust, out into the sunlight. That was it, they were gone, and she was scraping out a life on the streets.
Until the fateful day she picked Dipper’s pocket and stole his precious journal. The day she’d finally started to begin hoping that she wouldn’t be alone again. That made her wonder something.
She muttered something quietly. Dipper couldn’t hear her properly, so she repeated the statement. “Dad, when was the last time you went home? To your family? Not me and Mom and Wendy, or Aunt Mabel... but there must be somebody else.”
Dipper’s grip on her shoulders tensed. “I… haven’t thought about that in a long time.” Merrise’s gaze didn’t waver from his. She had to hear the full story now. “To tell the truth… I haven’t spoken to my parents properly in years.”
“Why not?” Merrise asked, shocked at the idea.
“Where to start?” Dipper exhaled deeply. “Ooh, well, ok. Think about all the stuff you know I get up to. All the amazing adventures and creatures we’ve run into together. All the high-tech portal stuff. Now imagine that my parents don’t know anything about any of that. How would you break the news if you were only a kid?”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he nodded. He could tell Merrise grasped the scope of the issue. She really was quick at understanding people, the vital ability to read intentions being a core part of how she’d survived alone for so long. “Me and Mabel kept so many secrets from Mom and Dad, that if we’d ever told them we’d have probably been grounded for life. Not all of Earth is as weird as Gravity Falls. They wouldn’t have understood. Still might not.”
“So you don’t see them anymore?” Merrise asked.
“Well, Mabel still keeps in touch directly. Visits Piedmont – that’s where I’m from – every now and again. They know about her activism; she couldn’t keep that hidden for very long. And I still email. I had to tell them about Wendy of course, and you as a part of that.”
“They know I exist?” Merrise found the idea odd. She’d never had grandparents before, but it hardly felt like she did now anyway.
“I mean,” Dipper continued, “I didn’t tell them about the alien stuff. They just know we adopted you. They keep begging to see you though, to come up and visit.”
“Well, why can’t they?”
“Think about it. They’ll be looking deeper than most people. They'll see through any perception filter in no time. Then where will we be, huh?”
Merrise looked down at her six fingered hand, filled with a new sense of shame about her very nature.
Dipper noticed her action and immediately moved to reassure her. “It’s not your fault at all Merrise. You’re different, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But some people aren’t ready to find out about alien life, especially not if it’s their grandkid. Please understand, you’re perfect the way you are.”
This seemed to finally relax her nerves. She looked tired though and went back to sit down by the campfire. “Maybe someday we can go meet them though?”
“Maybe someday.” Inwardly Dipper was 13 years old again, thinking of all the ways telling his parents about the supernatural would destroy his life. Never allowed to visit the Falls, never allowed to touch his journals again. “Your Grunkles woulda loved you though,” he blurted out, both to assuage his daughter’s doubts and refocus his mind on a new topic.
Merrise scooped up some of the now ready soup, then halted before slipping her spoon in the bowl. “What about Pacifica's parents then?”
"Whoah boy, now that's a whole ‘nother story I can tell you.” Dipper couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the very idea of introducing an alien as the next in line for their fabulous legacy of wealth. They’d probably have dual heart attacks. Might be worth doing for that alone.
Merrise giggled too, clear in the understanding that it was a story for another time, one Pacifica herself would probably tell. She slurped her soup up noisily while Dipper got his own serving. Back to the part of the trip he could control, teaching Merrise the basics of cooking and putting up tents. Much easier than deep conversations about their parents.
He did think of one more thing he could do with the telescope though. A memory he was happy to focus on. Setting down his soup, he aligned the lens to a specific constellation. “One last look before bed.”
Merrise ran over to the scope, excited again like they’d never had the heavy conversation. She looked up at the sky, expecting something magnificent to round off the day. Instead, there was only another constellation.
“That is Andromeda,” Dipper said. “The most important constellation there is to me. It’s something me and your mother share.”
“What’s so special about it?” To Merrise it was no more interesting than any of the other star signs she’d looked at. Another bunch of white dots hanging up there twinkling.
“On one of our first dates we spent the night looking up at the same stars, just like tonight. That constellation became a permanent reminder of our love. Ever since then I’ve known she was the one. No-one else ever came close after that.”
He looked down from the constellation, brimming with fondness at the memory. But Merrise’s head was tilted to the side, like she didn’t quite understand. They looked at each other, each slightly confused at the other’s reaction.
“Come on.” Dipper ruffled her hat, making her giggle and forgetting the awkwardness. “Let’s get ready for bed, Sixer. Another long day tomorrow.”