A/N: First things first, a huge thank-you to the people who spurred me on with this story. Please know that even now, years after I wrote the first story, I still meander my way back to your original comments, hoping I'll eventually get the urge to write again. I really do hope this can be even a marginal token of gratitude-I'm sorry it took so long!

Cory blinked-grimaced, adjusted their collar-and finally sighed in resignation before making a final attempt to brush their bangs into a more coherent curl instead of frizzing over their forehead. Today was an important day, and although excited beyond belief, they were nearly an anxious mess over the whole ordeal.

"Surprise."

Cory let out a rather strangled yelp, jumping and whipping around to gape at a young demon hovering a few feet above their bed, snickering.

"Alcor, you cannot just go popping into my room!"

"Oi! Mabel spent a really nice drawing she did all the way back in elementary school to buy some tangibility, and blast it if I'm not going to use it," the demon replied. "And it's not random, I-"

Cory scowled, pointing to a chalk circle inscribed on the bare patch of wood between the carpet and the wall. "I had it set up and everything, you know."

The demon-Alcor, or Dipper to a select few-dropped a few feet to rest his knees on the bed, frowning in hesitation. "Oh. I, um… didn't know." He paused, squinting at Cory. "I can't tell if you're actually mad, or if you're going along with it as a joke."

Cory inhaled, held their breath, then exhaled slowly. "I don't know," they muttered. "I'm nervous-"

"Really, you don't have to be. It's not a big deal-"

"Shut up! I'm nervous, and I don't want to come off as weird-" Cory tried again.

"I'm a demon who was born from an apocalypse, living with a family who regularly engages in the supernatural-"

"I said, shut up! I don't want to come off as weird, or overzealous, and I'm just a demonology student from Milwaukee! Your family is… is like, really important. You all do a ton of stuff and you're-I don't know, almost famous-"

"Ew, no, we're not. We just sort of got roped into this because of the Transcendence-"

"You're a famous demon, your sister is freaking magic, you've got an uncle who's been to other dimensions-"

"Sort of, it's really complicated when you look into the whole Bill-pulling-people-around thing-"

"You're all going to think I'm weird or not interesting!" Cory snapped. "You're all interesting and-and-"

Dipper paused and took a breath. "I've been here less than a minute and we're already at this. Are you okay?"

Cory avoided eye contact, stepping carefully around the chalk circle, then walked slowly to their dresser. "No. Look. My nerves are completely fried, okay? I had to do a presentation at school on pentagram proportions, and it ate up way too many spoons…" They pulled the drawer open, turning their back to Dipper and rummaging around. "It was a disaster, because all I've been able to think about all day is this dinner-damn," they muttered, fumbling with a small bottle for a moment before dropping it.

Dipper leaped off the bed in an instant and caught it before it hit the ground, handing it back to them. "Um. Cory?"

Cory grunted, popping the lid off the bottle and shaking out a few of the capsules. "Pity nobody's found a decent, safe-to-repeat spell for this stuff, huh?" they mumbled.

Dipper bit his lip. "I… um, I guess," he replied somewhat lamely, before slowly sinking to set his feet on the floor, putting Cory at a few inches taller.

Cory took a breath before Dipper could speak. "Jeez. Sorry. I'm sorry. I knew-I was hoping I wouldn't have to use any, but…" They hesitated. "I was going to wait to call you."

"I should've warned before I popped in," Dipper admitted. "Um… Sorry about that."

There was a moment of silence, punctuated by a slightly pained noise from Cory as they tried to swallow. Dipper brought his hand up with a flourish, pulling up a small, ornately decorated glass goblet filled with water, which he offered to Cory, who snorted, but accepted it and washed the capsules down with a few sips.

"Are… are you going to be okay?" Dipper asked finally, taking the glass back and making a gesture as if to throw it backwards, though it dissolved out of existence before it hit the wall.

Cory swallowed again. "...Yeah. Yeah, I will be." They sighed, blinking furiously. "Like I said, I wanted this all done with before you got here," they added airily, waving a hand as they walked back around the bed and around the circle. "It wouldn't even be that bad if it weren't for that stupid presentation."

"Ugh. I hated speaking in front of people," Dipper muttered, rising up once more to float after Cory.

"Pain in the butt."

"Yeah."

Another moment of silence, lasting for a few beats before Dipper cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Um, I know it may not make much of a difference, but my entire family is just a bunch of goobers. Seriously. Wait until you meet Mabel-she is basically the embodiment of crafts and glitter. Never mind that she's way past kindergarten."

Cory glanced up at him warily, then glanced back at the circle sitting unused and untouched at the side of the room. "It isn't even that, though," they muttered. "It's just-" They sighed again. "Can I rant for a second? Just… not looking for comments or advice or anything, just ranting?"

"Sure thing." Dipper shifted to lay on his stomach, still floating, with his head propped on his hands and his feet kicking idly.

"It's not anything even… substantial. It's just this feeling that your family isn't going to like me, and I get all tense about it. I don't…" They sighed again. "I know your family probably isn't going to respond that way, but something in here doesn't," they said, tapping their forehead, "and it has fucking hijacked the rest of me because it keeps panicking and doesn't know what to do." They grimaced, flailing one hand out aimlessly. "And honestly, I really, really hate it." They stared at their dresser across the room. "And my professor is one of those that thinks calling on the quiet people is a good way to coax us 'out of our shells,'" Cory said, mimicking a rather stuffy tone. "At least that stuff works." They jerked their head toward the dresser.

Dipper glanced behind himself at the dresser, too. "That's… good. About the medicine, not the… not the rest of it," he clarified hastily.

"Anyway, insert usual rant of brain not working like it's freaking supposed to," Cory grumbled. "Freaking useless."

"Not useless," Dipper replied almost automatically. "Cory, you're-"

Cory glanced up at him. "Eh, brain malfunctions are," they replied cheekily. "Nah, I know, I know. Didn't mean it like that."

Dipper slowly floated to an upright position again, eyeing Cory closely. "It's gonna be okay," he said awkwardly. "Mabel is-"

"I'm still really excited to meet them," Cory said quietly, and Dipper grinned.

"Good. I mean-I know it's going to go okay. Mabel is really good at making anyone feel really at home, 'kay? And her pancakes are a-maze-ing," Dipper intoned, his voice flanging and echoing a bit on the last word, causing Cory to laugh.

"You can't rely on demon tricks just to add extra emphasis," they said with a chuckle, then frowned as Dipper floated across the room to the dresser.

"I totally can," Dipper retorted as he poked a hand in the top drawer and pulled out the small medicine bottle. "Would it be worth taking, um, one of these with you? Just in case?"

Cory's frown deepened, and the crossed their arms. "Um." They glanced to the side, face going slightly red, and took a deep breath. "You know what? Sure. It might… well, that's probably a good idea," they mumbled finally.

"Security blanket," Dipper chirped, popping the lid off.

"Uh, grab two. It's not strong stuff, so…" Cory trailed off, and Dipper floated two capsules over to them. "Thanks."

"S'fine."

"You're being surprisingly chill about this," Cory remarked as they pocketed the capsules.

Dipper's lip twitched. "Um… so are you," he said awkwardly.

"What?"

"You… you know that I already knew, yeah?" Dipper asked nervously. "I mean, I know you hide it, but-"

Cory stared at him. "Well, yeah, most people tell me I'm being an idiot or overreacting or whatever. Did you look it up or something? In your… omniscience thingy?" they asked suspiciously.

"What? No. It doesn't always work like that, okay?" Dipper brought a hand up to rest self-consciously behind his ear. "It's not like a dictionary-anything your mind wanders to, there's suddenly just… piles of information. It's like looking at a… a pencil, or something, and trying to not even let your brain comprehend the fact that it's a pencil. It's all just… there."

Cory's expression turned into more of a blank one. "You never said anything."

"It… never came up? I-look, I don't really, um, know much about this or-"

"You don't even seem to care."

"I-well, I-I care, though," Dipper blustered. "I just-"

"No, I mean you don't mind, or something, y'twit," Cory stated.

"Oh. Then, um, um… yeah."

Cory stood there, unmoving, staring at Dipper with a scrutinizing expression that looked vaguely as if they were trying to see right through him. "Okay."

"Okay."

More silence.

Cory coughed uncomfortably; Dipper shifted his shoulders, readjusting his coat.

"It's past six," he stated, so suddenly that Cory jumped.

"It started at six," Cory said, voice wobbling a bit. "We're going to be late-"

Dipper swung forward and grabbed Cory's hand, turning abruptly and twisting the both of them off the physical plane and into the energy lines singing across the continent, and in a mere few seconds, Dipper landed them in the front yard of the Mystery Shack.

"Oh, sweet mother of-" Cory muttered, stumbling and falling on their knees, disoriented. "Warn. Please."

Dipper winced. "Sorry-sorry. I'll remember next time, I just…" He grimaced.

"Don't tell me you're nervous. Hhhhmm."

"DIP-DIP!"

Cory glanced up in time to see a pink and blue blur burst through the door and fly at Dipper, who yelped and, forgetting his floating powers, immediately turned and tripped in his haste to avoid the small person hurtling toward him at breakneck speed, who promptly crashed into him for a giant hug.

"Ugh, Dip, I was worried you got another call! Why did it take so long?" Mabel complained after she'd released him, jabbing a finger in Dipper's chest accusingly.

"Ouch-Mabel, we were just talking!" Dipper said defensively, waving his hand around.

"I spent a drawing from-"

"I know, I know, it was a really important drawing-"

"And this time is supposed to be with family. Hello!"

Cory, wide-eyed, had been slowly examining Mabel (from the flats with mismatched socks, to the sweater embellished with bright, rainbow-colored teddy bears, to the giant hoop earrings, and finally, a party hat angled almost on her forehead, much like a very strangely-shaped unicorn horn), and took a startled step backward as she turned to him. "Uh… hi."

"You must be Cory, Dipper's told me all sorts of stuff about you-"

"Uh, he has?" Cory asked warily.

"Yep! Anyway, I'm Mabel!" she said warmly, sticking a hand out.

Cory froze; Dipper hovered over his sister's shoulder, grinning from ear to ear (quite literally) and giving them an encouraging thumbs-up.

"Um-um-hi, yes, uh, thanks for having me," they finally stammered, eyeing her hand as if it might bite them. "Uh… sorry. It's been a long day."

Mabel grinned, showing very straight teeth. "That's fine. Uh-what?" She turned slightly as Dipper lowered his hovering height to whisper something in her ear.

"What?"

Dipper shot Cory a slightly guilty-looking grin as Mabel nodded. "I'm not trying to make a deal with you," Mabel said, wiggling her hand around. "I'm a hyoo-min, anyway."

"I know. Sorry, it's just sort of… instinct," Cory muttered.

"Nah, you're cool! Welcome fistbump, instead?" Mabel inquired, enthusiasm not curbed in the slightest.

Cory blinked, surprised, and a small, awkward laugh escaped before they could help it. "Uh, really?" they asked, raising their hand.

"Yeah! I mean, hey, you're not the only person I've ever met who's jittery about handshakes," Mabel said as if it were the most commonplace thing, shrugging. "A lot of people beginning demon dealings don't like them. Bonk," she added as they tapped fists. "C'mon, you've got to meet Grunkle Stan! Soos couldn't make it this time, but maybe next week, y'know?" she said, raising her voice louder and louder as she bounced back to the door. "Don't wait too long!" they heard her add after she was inside, her voice muffled by the door.

Dipper exhaled with a sound that was much more akin to a balloon deflating than breath exiting a pair of lungs, and fell to the ground with a slight thump. "So. That's my sister."

Cory stared after Mabel, their face split in a wide grin. "Wow. Well. She is… a lot. I reserve my right to change my opinion later, but… I think I'll like her."

Dipper leaned backward, reclining as he crossed his legs in the air and threw his arms behind his head, gripping his elbows. "Still think it's going to be awkward?" he asked casually.

Cory glanced over at Dipper, who completed the almost cartoonish image of pretend innocence by whistling idly, and they smirked. "All right, smarty-pants." They glanced back at the door and took a deep breath. "Let's get the introductions over with," they said, and started for the door.

"And then, Grunkle Stan pulled his fist back-" Mabel imitated the act, standing with one foot on her chair and her arm drawn back dramatically, "and he went pwoosh, fwoosh-" She swung her fists back and forth with each sound effect. "And the monster went 'Braaaak!' and Grunkle Stan won and they came crashing down to earth!"

"And that's how Grunkle Stan ended up on top of a velociraptor in a cave carrying a pig in a papoose," Dipper said between giggles as Cory laughed.

"Ah, you kids are making me too heroic," Stan grumbled. "It was nothin'. What really happened is-"

"The secret nation of cute, adorable piggies came running in and gave him an award for saving this innocent widdle piggy from a horrific fate," Mabel interrupted. "And they were so happy that they gave us all a spot in their Piggy Hall of Fame!" She stabbed her fork absently into her pancakes. "Which is a pretty big deal, you know, since we were all humans."

"No, the mayor just gave me a commendation for putting myself in risk of serious bodily harm for a pig," Stan stated. "Did I say mayor? I meant president."

The other three laughed and Cory almost choked on a bit of pancake, prompting Dipper to thump them on the back rather forcefully as Stan commented, "Don't put it down the wrong pipe, now."

"It's not like I tried to do that," Cory wheezed, shooing Dipper away and turning to the side to cough a few times. "Oh, man, you all have some great stories."

Mabel giggled. "We've had some really weird adventures," she said. "I mean, there's the time Waddles turned into a piggy Albert Einstein-"

"Steven Hog-king," Dipper interjected, eliciting another round of laughs amid Cory's over-exaggerated groan.

"That is a horrible joke," they stated before biting off another piece of pancake while Mabel wiggled her eyebrows. "Mabel, t'ese are delicious," they added around the mouthful.

"No talkin' with your mouth full," Stan droned automatically, and Cory swallowed, smiling guiltily.

"Sorry, sir."

"Oh! And one time a bunch of gnomes proposed to me!" Mabel said dramatically, and Cory laughed.

"Wait, are you kidding, or are you serious?"

"Nope, that one did actually happen," Dipper said. "I've got pictures."

Cory leaned forward over the table, eyes glinting with excitement. "Oh my G-uh-goodness," they amended with an awkward side glance at Dipper, who snorted into his chocolate milk. "What was that even like?! Ow!"

Dipper had kicked them under the table. "Oh my goodness," he said, overemphasizing the exclamation. "Shove off, that's my sister. And those gnomes were creeps! One got stuck in our leafblower." He looked up at Mabel innocently. "She did once get a crush on a merman, on the other hand-"

"Hey!" Mabel shouted.

"And we had to help him get me fired from my first-ever job-" Dipper ducked, cackling, as Mabel lobbed an ice cube at him.

"You guys had to get you fired? What?"

"Mermando needed rescuing, you fartbubble!" Mabel shrieked, though she was grinning as she fished in her drink for another ice cube.

"Mermando?" Cory asked incredulously. "What sort of a name is that?"

"A merman name!" Mabel insisted. "A noble and-"

"She still has a crush on him," Dipper stage-whispered to Cory. "They still write letters-ouch." He cut off with another giggle, and ducked under the table to rub his shin where Mabel had kicked him.

"Forget the gnomes, what was that like?" Cory asked, intrigued. "Did you all ever kiss-"

"Now, now, keep it PG," Stan said, before burping loudly. "Oh, boy. Mabel, you've outdone yourself. We could sell these and make a pretty penny off it. I'm joking, I'm only joking," he said with a snort as Mabel put her hand on her chest, looking mortally offended.

"Now, I make these pancakes only for cherished friends and family," Mabel said in a lofty tone. "And kissing is PG, Grunkle Stan."

"Is it? G, then. I meant G." He yawned.

Dipper re-emerged from under the table. "Let's see… She got a crush on this one guy-"

Mabel's eyes locked onto Dipper's with accuracy that would give any raptor a good run for its money, and Dipper actually made an "eep!" noise, his grin starting to edge past the usual confines of human expression. "He was… into puppets," Dipper finished at another stage-whisper.

Mabel rolled her eyes, tapping her fork on the table and letting her head rest on her hand. "At some point, Dipper might even figure out how to tell a funny story that doesn't involve me having crushes," she said slyly, which got a snicker out of Stan and Cory while Dipper held his hand in a mock hand-puppet position, opening and closing the "puppet's" mouth in time with Cory's laughing.

"Pfft, quit it, dude," Cory said, swatting Dipper's hand away. "So we've got gnomes, mermaids-mermen, sorry, not like I'm the biggest on gender dimorphism anyway," they said with a derisive snort, "and puppet-guy. This sounds like a really strange summer."

"It was," Dipper said fervently. "Really fun, though, but-"

"Still really weird," Mabel finished, and the twins exchanged pleased looks.

"There's probably more I'm forgetting, but those are the ones I remembered the best. We did some really wild escapades trying to help, or impress, or… whatever-it-was with these boys," Dipper said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah? What about Wendy?"

"Who's Wendy?"

"Oh, nobody," Dipper said far too quickly.

"Dipper's cruuuush," Mabel sang. "He once photocopied himself over ten times trying to come up with a way to-what was it? Ask her to dance, or something?"

"Photocopies?" Cory deadpanned. "Please tell me you did not think of giving her a photocopy of your butt or something."

At that, Stan then interrupted the conversation by nearly spitting his water all over the table, and averted the possible crisis by inhaling very quickly, which successfully kept the water mostly in his mouth-and, unfortunately, redirected it into his windpipe. Mabel leaped up as he gave several hacking coughs.

"Don't die on us, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel cried, pounding him on the back. "You still have so much left to live!"

"I AM OLD," Stan grunted between coughs, waving away Cory, who had halfway stood up and seemed torn between trying to help or giggling-or both, which was Dipper's preferred course of action, slipping down through the chair and through the floor to pop back up behind Stan.

"You okay?" Dipper asked, offering a white cloth napkin out of nowhere. Stan accepted and began mopping his face, eyes watering.

"Yeah, I'm okay, kid," he said, coughing once more and wiping his nose. "M'allright." He went to hand the now-soiled cloth back to Dipper, who reached for it, only to recoil with a dry remark that Stan could keep it "at least for tonight."

With the interruption over, Mabel went on to explain about the magic photocopier, after which Dipper somehow managed to procure photos of the gnomes, along with his old pine-tree cap, without actually leaving the table (amidst accusations of "cheating," according to Mabel).

"Oh, man, these lil' guys look weird," Cory said, taking in the photos delightedly. "Who's this guy?"

"Shmebulock," Mabel said. "He was… still creepy, but he was the only one who wasn't trying to be all… marriage creepy, wasn't he?"

Dipper glanced at the photo while trying to stuff all his hair underneath the cap. "Isn't he the one we had to pry out of the leafblower?"

"Is he? I can't remember," Mabel said cheerfully. "You have to admit, a lot of them look the same. Though us weird giant human-people probably look the same to them, mostly," she reflected.

Dipper punctuated the following silence with a gasp, thrusting a picture out. "Wait, Mabel, look! This is the old library!"

"Hm? Oh yeah! Wow. That area looks a lot different now, huh," Mabel said wryly.

"Who took this?"

"Grenda, maybe? I'unno." She squinted at it. "Why was I there?"

"What, you don't remember? I was doing research that you promised to help me with, and then you got distracted by puppet-guy and left to work on that puppet-show," Dipper said lightly, trading photos with Cory.

"Oh, yeah! Oh, boy, was that stressful, trying to get that all done." She reached forward for the water jug in the center of the table.

"Puppet show?" Cory inquired.

"Yeah, she was going to do a puppet show to impress him," Dipper said, looking up at Mabel and grinning. "It, uh, well-she'd never done puppets before."

"Bonk," Mabel said, clinking her glass into both Dipper's and Cory's in turn. "Heh. Dip-dip got turned into a puppet that time-" She fell silent, her grin sliding off her face for the first time that evening as Dipper froze, his form flickering to an inky jet-black. "Oh," she murmured. "Sorry."

"Iiit's fine," Dipper mumbled, his voice sliding from almost deafening echoes down into his more human ranges in the span of those two words. "Seriously, Mabel, it's fine, okay?" he repeated as Mabel only glanced at the floor, eyes downcast.

"Is this… um, is this something I shouldn't ask about, then?" Cory asked quietly. "You're still in night mode, by the way," they murmured to Dipper, who grimaced and allowed light and color to seep back into his frame.

"That was one of our first meetings with Bill Cipher," Dipper explained slowly. "He… er, well, it's not a fond memory, okay?" he said, avoiding eye contact. "Mabel, are you finished eating?"

"Wha-? Oh. Yeah, I'm done." Mabel watched sullenly as Dipper manually collected the plates and carried them to the sink. "Dipper… I didn't mean to-"

"Mabel, can we please drop it?" he muttered. "Look, this has been a great night so far, and I want it to be ruined by you all thrashing my non-photocopied butt at Street Racers 2." He glanced at Cory, who smiled back guiltlessly, albeit a little hesitantly. "Not some sentient nightmare of geometry."

Mabel smiled weakly. "Um… okay. That sounds good to me."

"Good," Dipper said, bouncing on his heels. "Even better, because I bargained an extra controller off some kid who wanted a prom date, so all three of us can play."

"You, at a prom?" Mabel asked dryly, and Dipper huffed.

"Wanted me to get him a prom date! Told him no, but traded the controller for his crush's favorite type of flower. Up to him from there on," Dipper said lightly. "Now then. Shall we begin… the ritual?"

Cory's head shot up. "Ritual?"

"Yeah. Can't start a game without some, ahem, dramatics, right?" Dipper asked, looking at Mabel pointedly.

Mabel, catching on, grinned widely. "Absolutely, Alcor, my good pal," she said jubilantly. "Cory?"

"Huh?"

"Well?" she asked, as if expecting an answer. "It's traditional, of course."

"Uhh-what are you two talking about?" Cory asked warily. "The heck sort of Street Racers requires some sort of ritual?"

"Oh, but Cory," Dipper said, rising into the air and whipping off his cap and bowing low with a flourish, as if it were a top hat. "A good competition with an esteemed demon-"

"You're screwing with me, aren't you," Cory said with a smirk, and Dipper flopped his limbs out to hang in the air, groaning loudly.

"Too much?" he asked as Mabel giggled.

"Way too much. Dude, you're not actually that scary. I've told you, you're trying way too hard," Cory said with a laugh, and Dipper pouted. "Plus, your ego inflates like a balloon when you're trying to be overdramatic. It's easy to spot."

"The ritual is way worse," Dipper commented, a bit defensive, and Mabel made an undignified sound that was reminiscent of a snort crossed with a hiccup.

"Whenever we play Street Racers, we always pretend like it's a deathly challenge and stuff," Mabel said, her glum mood nowhere to be seen. "Like… for example!" She stood from the table, head bowed, then shot her arms in the air and yelled so suddenly that Cory jumped. "ALCOR! MIZAR CHALLENGES YOU TO A MOST GRAVE DUEL OF DEXTERITY!"

Dipper smirked and righted himself in the air (he'd been slowly rotating to the left), and rose up higher, making the lights flicker eerily. "Alcor accepts your challenge, O Mizar," he intoned.

"Careful," Mabel said, pointing to the lightbulbs. "He keeps burning the burning the bulbs out by doing that," she explained as Cory looked at her, confused.

"Fine, fine, fine," Dipper said dryly, dropping his feet to the floor with a thunk. "I do have something new to try, though," he said, and both Cory and Mabel looked at him excitedly. "Since I still need some better entrance tactics," he said, and promptly disappeared.

"Uh, Dip-Alco-um-?" Unsure of what to call him, Cory settled with neither and just glanced at Mabel, when the lights suddenly took on an unnatural, deathly haze. Glancing upward, Cory saw they were still on-the wires were still burning-but the light suddenly seemed… dead, like it had been painted over with a gray filter.

"After all, I can't always use electricity for lighting effects," Dipper said, reappearing behind Cory-or, well, they thought he did, since that's where the words came from, but they saw Mabel whip around as if hearing it from behind her. "And this works on anything that gives off light," Dipper said happily, and both Cory and Mabel inched toward each other as Dipper's voice seemed to come from multiple places at once. Not overlapping voices, like multiple voice tracks on an audio file-just coming from different places, which was much more jarring. "Of course, you have to give it more flair," Dipper said, starting to sound flippant, and Cory yelped as a wind seemed to brush past them, slamming the screen door in the other room shut with a clatter.

"Er-it doesn't do anything without a bit of misdirection, though." On the last word, the weird light haze vanished, and the multiple places his voice echoed from coalesced abruptly into a single location. Dipper reappeared right where he'd been standing before, smugly tugging on his customary white gloves. "What do you think? I feel like it's not enough there," he remarked, as if discussing a movie. "I mean, screen doors slamming? Weird, colorless light? Sounds more like the beginning to the Wizard of Oz, or some grainy old-school ghost film."

"I think it's just fine," Cory said honestly. "Don't add more. The… whatever the heck that voice thing is. That's good."

"Yeah! That's creepier than the echoey thing," Mabel said gleefully. "I love it."

Dipper looked between the two of them, surprised, then smiled. "Thanks. Even though it took me way too long to figure out that light thing," he said, though he looked inordinately pleased with himself nonetheless.

"Oi, don't be getting too comfortable, there, ghost boy," Cory said, elbowing him. "Street Racers 2 time. You're on-Christ," Cory exclaimed as Dipper suddenly conjured two rings of light, making both of them pass over him in opposite directions to reveal him in a dramatic pose, having done away with his coat to leave only his slacks and white button-up (and still with his pine-tree cap). "Oh, ha ha, Danny Fenton. And, um. Sorry. That just, um… that just slipped out."

Dipper glanced at Mabel, slightly confused, then grinned. "Oh my goodness, Cory, you can't just say that," he said dramatically. "I mean, mother of goldfish, what the heck sort of cod-forsaken phrases do you think we use up here?" He twirled around and came to a stop, flourishing his cap like a top hat again and floating several feet in the air, but bent at the waist so he was still at eye level. "I, for one, prefer a good and wholesome exclamation of-" He inhaled. "SATAN, MASTER OF THE UNDERWORLD, KEEPER OF SINS, JUDGER OF SOULS," he said, voice pitched so low that the words were almost unintelligible. "Or, you know, I guess just yelling 'HADES!' will do. I hear they're good friends."

Cory, meanwhile, had gone from awkward chuckles to laughing hysterically. "Okay, okay, I get it," they gasped. "Oh, man, Al. I don't know. I thought it'd just be… rude, like yelling in church or something, only in reverse?" They giggled, looking over at Mabel, who was in a similar state of laughter. "Okay. Okay. Street Racers 2."

Dipper settled his sock-clad feet on the ground once more, and Mabel tugged the game out of his hands and darted into the other room to boot up the console.

"Um. I… I don't know if this is weird, but, um… You can call me Dipper, y'know. If you want. Al's fine, too, but…" He shrugged, looking awkward. "I'm not used to people calling me Alcor around here."

Cory blinked. "Really?"

"Um… yes?" Dipper blinked right back, looking bemused. "I wouldn't have offered, otherwise."

"You look like a dork, wearing a baseball cap with formalwear."

Dipper opened his mouth, but didn't speak for a good few moments. "Oh."

Cory winced, looking mortified. "Oh no. I'm sorry. I don't know why-"

"No, just, that's really not what I expected you to say just then," Dipper said, a grin spreading across his face. "And… yeah, yeah, I can see that." He ran a finger along the bill of the cap. "I'm, heh, not sure I care."

"Nah, you're just a thousands-of-years-old demon, I'm sure you can do whatever you like," Cory said with a snort.

"Something like that, yeah. C'mon, Mabel's waiting!"

(Because nothing good can last, obviously.)

MIZAR: 4 DIP: 2 CORY: 3

"Aw, come on!" Dipper exclaimed as Cory grinned and grabbed the controller. (As it turned out, the game wouldn't do three-person split-screen, no matter how much Dipper yelled at it that "Alcor did not trade floral secrets for a third controller, only to end up playing with just two of them anyway," and that he was "very disappointed in it.")

"Hey, dude, you lost fair and square," Cory said with a grin as Mabel shouted victoriously. "Between me and her, now."

"MIZAR VICTORIOUS!" Mabel crowed, and Dipper rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"All right, all right, you two. Go on, then. I play the winner."

"You lost," Cory replied with a grin, though their grin faltered after a moment. "And…"

"It's getting late," Dipper muttered. "Yeah, yeah, all right. You're coming back over some time, though?"

"DEFINITELY," Mabel shouted, catapulting in between them. "I like you. And if you've got Dipper's seal of approval, then…" She very suddenly whacked Cory on the forehead with her palm, and they jerked backward, nearly falling over. "BWAP! You've now got my seal of approval, too," she announced.

Cory laughed. "Uh, thanks," they said, righting themselves. "I… you know, I was really nervous about how tonight was going to go. I was convinced it would be really awkward-"

"It wasn't, was it?" Mabel asked, sounding slightly worried.

"What? No, no! It's been great, actually," they said emphatically. "I… well. I don't know, sometimes I get nervous about things," they said, with a glance at Dipper, "but it's always nice when they turn out a lot better than you expect, you know?"

"Even if I beat you this next round?" Mabel asked slyly, wiggling the controller, but Cory laughed, undeterred.

"Even then. But you're on," they said, grabbing the controller.

In the end, Mabel won once again, and Cory fell back, laughing, as she leaped up and did a victory lap around the living room.

"MIZAR! MIZAR! MIZAR!" she chanted, arms thrown in the air, as Dipper lazily flicked the console off.

"You feeling up for the jump, or do you need some water?" Dipper asked Cory, who glanced up.

"Eh, couldn't hurt," they said, starting to get up, but Dipper flapped his hands at them, then snapped his fingers and a cup of water came zooming toward them from the kitchen and smacked Cory in the stomach (without spilling any, which Cory assumed was also Dipper's doing).

"Catch," Dipper said belatedly, and Cory looked up to see him smirking.

"Ha ha," Cory retorted, grinning. "But thanks."

"Don't like line jumps?" Mabel asked knowingly, once she'd stopped bouncing around the room like a loose puppy and made her way back to the couch.

"Does anybody?" Cory muttered, though Mabel grinned.

"A few people I know," she said evasively. "But flying's more fun."

"What? You haven't taken me flying yet!" Cory exclaimed, and Dipper winced.

"Yeah, yeah, because it's hard," he said. "There's a lot you have to keep in mind if it's two people, let alone if one of them can't fly on their own."

"Can we, some day, though?" Cory asked, unfazed, and Dipper gave an awkward shrug.

"Er, I guess. We'll have to work up to it, though, I can't have you panicking halfway through." At Cory's reproving look, he shrugged again. "Can't have you, um, breaking my concentration, is what I meant," he mumbled sheepishly. "Like I said, flying is hard."

Cory grimaced. "Oh. Well then. All right." They drained the rest of the glass, and Dipper stood up, stretching.

"All right. You've got everything? Not leaving anything?" Dipper asked, and Cory nodded; ten minutes later, after Cory had said good-bye to Stan, the three of them were standing in the yard.

"It was really nice meeting you, Mabel." Cory held out a fist; Mabel bumped it happily.

"You too! And seriously! Come back, okay?" she said cheerfully.

"All right, all right. Alc-er, Dipper?" Cory corrected quickly.

Dipper, who had been idly floating around and had ended up upside-down, snapped upright and drifted down into reach. "Yep. All ready?"

Cory nodded, taking hold of Dipper's offered hand, and Dipper stretched.

"All right, then. Here we go-three, two, and-achoo!"

The few seconds went by in a blur; Dipper wrinkled his nose, Mabel let out a shout and dove forward to seize Dipper's sleeve as if trying to hold them to earth as Dipper sneezed, and suddenly, Cory's knees slammed into stone with a painful crack, and they toppled over to sprawl on the ground, eyes shut against the nauseating feeling of jumping and trying to gather their senses.

Dipper and Mabel, simultaneously, flew at record speeds directly into something very, very soft; twisting around, Dipper found himself fighting something wrapped around him tightly as Mabel's muffled voice called out to him.

"What? What?"

"I said, stop wriggling, you fruitcake!" Mabel shouted, wrenching the soft thing down from around his head, and, blinking, Dipper recognized Cory's room; glancing down, he found himself wrapped in the thick blanket on Cory's bed.

"Mabel, where are they?" Dipper asked, worry clear in his voice as he carefully wriggled out of the blanket. "Where is Cory-?"

"I don't know! You got the summons!" Mabel exclaimed. "Can you still tell where they were from?"

"I don't know! I've never tried doing it like that! I didn't even know this could happen!" Dipper said frantically. "Mabel, I-"

"Dipper! Try tracking Cory, okay? We're in an entire room full of their stuff," Mabel said urgently; she seemed to have recovered from the jump in record time, and started darting around the room.

"Mabel, I can't just-I can't just do it like that, it has to be a trade! Floating around, little things like that-that's isolated, that's just me. If there's someone else involved-"

"Do I need to make a deal?"

Dipper froze. "Mabel, I don't-"

"Dipper, we don't know who summoned you, okay? But considering Cory isn't here, and we are, I'll bet that's where they ended up," Mabel said darkly. "What do you need for me to buy their location?"

Dipper gaped, mouth working soundlessly, then suddenly seemed to snap back to himself. "Uh-uh-location spell, um," he muttered. "No, no, you just need their location…" He glanced up, alarmed. "It's not a heavy spell, but it's an interpersonal one," he said, and Mabel groaned. "Um… um…"

"Lock of hair?"

"No, it'd have to be Cory's…"

"Book? Clothing?"

Dipper's head shot up. "Book. No, no, find their notebooks! One they've written in!" he shouted as Mabel inched toward the bookcase, and she nodded and hurried to the bed, throwing bedsheets and blankets all over the place as Dipper practically sprinted to the desk in the corner before freezing.

"Dipper?"

"What am I doing?" he exclaimed, smacking himself in the forehead and shooting over to the dresser. "This'll work fine. They said I could grab a few for them-that's vague enough of a statement that it might work…" He popped the lid off a small plastic bottle. "Hopefully they won't mind me using a couple." Three small tablets disappeared in a flash of blue fire, and Mabel ventured closer, lips pressed together nervously.

"Dip?"

"California," Dipper said abruptly, and seizing his sister's wrist, they were off once again.

Groaning, Cory rolled over and stared at the ceiling of the-of the… where were they?

A surprised murmur behind them gave them a moment's pause, and they pushed themselves up to a sitting position and promptly let out an earsplitting yell as their eyes landed on what seemed to be a rusted cage or pen holding several small figures.

The people surrounding the candle circle let out a series of alarmed yelps and mutters; two of them quickly shoved a dazed-looking, bloodied girl into the circle toward Cory, with the air of trying to feed a rabid dog.

"We-we offer you t-tribute, O Alcor," stammered a dark young man not older than mid-twenties, and Cory froze.

"Alcor?"

"We offer you tribute in ex-exchange for your s-s-service," continued the young man, sounding as if he were reading from a script.

"A-Alcor doesn't accept human sacrifices," Cory said, voice quavering, and someone laughed.

"This isn't Alcor," drawled the person who'd laughed, and a pale woman with dark hair came into view. "Alcor would've eaten her already," she said casually, and Cory blanched. "You idiots summoned the wrong demon again. Watch her," the woman added sharply, and Cory watched as the ring of summoners tightened; the girl had been inching toward the largest gap, and those nearest her grabbed her and threw her roughly to the ground back inside the circle, where she slowly pushed herself up and sat glaring at Cory. "Tell me, who are you?"

"Wh-what?"
"Who are you?"

Cory blinked up at her. "I-I'm, um," they said, thinking frantically; what was it Alcor always said? "Wh-who dares summon the great and mighty Alcor?" they stammered, and the woman laughed again; a couple of the other summoners joined in hesitantly.

"Grab her. Put her with the others," the woman said lazily as the girl inched over, vying for an escape again, and the summoners seized the girl, who instantly started yelling and kicking. "We'll just use her as a sacrifice later."

"No!" Cory shouted, bolting to their feet. "I-I mean, wait!" They closed their eyes, steeling themselves. "My name is-uh-Polaris," they invented wildly. "You've summoned Polaris! I require tribute for my services!"

"Polaris?" repeated the woman. "You'll have to try harder than that, before we just banish you. There is no demon by the name of Polaris." She snapped her fingers, and one of the summoners lit a piece of incense, tossing it at Cory's feet.

Clearly that was supposed to do something, though Cory had no idea what, and the woman's eyebrows shot upward. "Shut her up, would you?" she said absentmindedly, and the summoners in the corner busied themselves with tying the girl up with the rest of the "tributes." "Well, that narrows it down," she murmured, staring at the incense, "although I must say, I am surprised-if you cannot get her under control, then kill her already and we'll use one of the others!" she snarled abruptly as the girl broke free and attempted to charge past her captors, and Cory shouted in alarm.

"Don't kill her! I-I'm working with Alcor, he wants you to wait!"

"He can get one of our other tributes-she's caused far too much trouble," the woman said, waving a hand indifferently.

"No! I-he's not-I mean, he-it has to be her!" Cory said desperately, taking several steps forward and yelping as their foot met the circle and stopped as if hitting a wall-why on earth did that stop me? That's supposed to stop demons!

The woman stared at him. "The more demons I meet, the more I'm convinced that the ever-after must be one of the strangest places to live," she muttered almost viciously. "All right then, Polaris, let's see what you do with her. We'll discuss payment afterward." She jerked her head toward the circle. "Maybe we can salvage this yet."

The girl's captors closed in, dragging her with them until they could toss her into the circle again. Cory sat, stunned, and stared at the girl-then at the summoners-then at the girl again, who let out a sudden yell and threw herself at Cory.

Shrieking, Cory fell back, throwing up their hands to try to push the girl away; the summoners seemed wary of stepping into the circle, and they hung back while the woman proceeded to ignore the entire commotion.

"I-will not-be-your-lunch!" The girl pulled back her fists and lunged forward with each word, teeth bared viciously.

"I don't-I don't want you to be!" Cory whispered furiously, arms still up and doing their best to fend her off. "I'm not-I don't want to eat you! I'm not a demon! I want to help!"

"Like I believe you!" shouted the girl, falling back and crouching defensively, her earlier dazedness gone and replaced with fury.

"Do something with her already, or I'm banishing you," the woman said irritably. "Quit testing my patience."

Cory laid still, as if shocked, then quickly scrambled to their feet, tense with anger and irritation. "Do something? Do you even know anything about summoning higher demons?" Cory spat. "You don't do sacrifices like this ! Sacrifices have to be personal! You want something? No pain, no fucking gain!" they yelled. "You can't shove it off on someone else!"

The woman turned to look at them. "Brilliant. You're one of the responsible types," she said loftily. "What do you require for services, then? A bit of grass? A couple organic apples, maybe?" she mocked. "We don't have time for this. Regna terrae, cantate Deo-"

"Wait," stated one of the other ritual casters. "Are we sure he can't give us anything? What do you typically accept as offerings?" the man asked curiously.

"Will, this isn't time for one of your intellectual pursuits," the woman snapped. "Psallite Domino-"

"I just want to record! If nobody's heard of this Polaris, we could be the first to record dealings!"

"And I said, no. We'll summon him back some other time. If you'll excuse me-"

"INCORRECT."

The word was spoken at a deafening volume; the summoners jumped, and the woman accidentally knocked over a candle on her table, drawing a muttered string of curses from her as she bent to retrieve it.

"Who are you? WHO has the sheer AUDACITY to summon Alcor the Dreambender?" the voice snarled. "Who dares summon Alcor into these conditions?! HOW DARE YOU," he yelled, voice seeming to come from multiple points around the room as the summoners glanced at each other uneasily. The woman looked up, finally paying full attention.

"Irina, of the White Western Coast covens," she stated firmly.

Alcor materialized so fast there was an audible pop as the air shifted, appearing as close to her as possible without exiting the circle and looking almost bored as he straightened his cuffs.

"Summoning demons is not white witchcraft," he said quietly.

"No. Making deals with them is dark magic; summoning you isn't," she said stubbornly, and Alcor's expression tightened.

"Oh, is that so? Why, pray tell, would you summon a demon without intending a deal?" he asked, tilting his head to the side; his presence was somewhat compelling, commanding silence from all but the woman he spoke to. Cory watched him, mouth agape.

"Our tributes," the woman said. "They take the cost."

"Absolutely not," Alcor followed nearly instantly. "You pay for your own deals."

"I know you can," the woman said. "We've done it before-"

"I do not know where you got your information," Dipper hissed, tone quiet but dangerous, "but I do not accept human sacrifices-much less children."

"We were told-"

"DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE WHAT YOU WERE TOLD?" Dipper almost screamed. "QUIT TRAUMATISING KIDS BECAUSE YOU'RE GREEDY!"

The woman watched him as he rose several feet into the air, nearly touching the ceiling. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, a pink-and-blue blur came dashing out of the shadows.

"Tackle!" came Mabel's voice as she sprinted directly at the woman-Irina-and knocking her toward the circle; as soon as Irina's hand hit the circle, it wavered, then popped. Cory yelped as the air pressure suddenly shifted with the circle's disappearance.

Alcor landed spryly on the ground, then sprinted off at an inhuman speed, and Cory watched, amazed, as he threw three of them back in one telekinetic push; the next few came at him cautiously, gloved hands raised and coated in iron dust, while a third came from behind with what had to be a vial of holy water.

"Alcor! Watch out!" Cory shouted, and in one move, Alcor turned, sweeping his hand through the air in an arc to stop behind him. The room fell silent as the man crumpled to the ground.

The other summoners stopped running; Irina stayed where she had fallen at the edge of the circle. Dipper looked up, expression nearly panicked, as Cory stared at the collapsed form of the man Dipper-or, rather, Alcor-had just killed, eyes wide in alarm. Mabel's lips tightened, and she leaped forward, grabbing Cory's hand and yanking them away.

"Hey. Hey. Cory. I need you to focus, okay?" she said quickly, grabbing their hands. "We're going to jump back to your place, okay?"

"What? Wait-"

"Alcor, now," Mabel said loudly, and Dipper disappeared. Cory blinked, looking around wildly, only to feel someone grab their wrist and-

-their feet landed on soft carpet, bright light momentarily blinding them, and they groaned, squeezing their eyes shut until they could gather their wits about them.

After a few moments, they sat down. "Uh… Alcor? Mabel?" they called blearily, squinting around the room. "Guys?"

"Cory?" asked a voice from the door, and Cory shrieked, spinning around.

"Mom! Oh. Uh, mom! Hi!" Cory said weakly. "Um-"

"What on earth have you been doing up here? I've been calling for twenty minutes." The woman-short, with auburn hair-crossed her arms. "Dinner's nearly ready."

"I-uh-it's just, um," Cory stammered. "Um-school work, it just got a little, uh, out of hand-" They wiped their forehead with the back of their hand. "Sorry. Uh. Can you give me a little? I'm… I'm not feeling so well."

Cory's mother narrowed her eyes, then swept into the room, pressing her hand to their forehead. "Are you sure all this schoolwork is safe for you to be doing, right now?" she murmured. "I don't want you getting sick or hurt."

Cory took a deep breath. "Yeah, I just… I just almost, um, lost something I've been working on for a long time," they invented, sounding a bit less flustered. "It took some, uh, it took a lot of work to save it. But I did. Save it, that is." They sighed.

Hands on her hips, the stout woman surveyed the room-tangled bedsheets, the summoning circle still in one corner, and notebooks tossed around haphazardly. "Well, do me a favor and make sure the place doesn't look like a tornado came through here, okay? And no summons in the house," she said firmly, eyeing the summoning circle.

Cory winced. "Yes, ma," they said meekly.

"All right. Be down in a few, okay?" she replied as she walked across the room, and she pulled the door shut behind her as she left.

"UGH," came a rather loud, irritated exclamation, and the space near Cory's bed suddenly bent outwards, spilling Dipper and Mabel both out onto the floor.

"Too tight," Mabel complained, picking herself up. "Next time, make the spell wider!"

"Hello, did they even notice we were there? Not bad spellwork for a split second's time," Dipper grumbled. "Lemme'alone."

Mabel yawned, bouncing on her heels. "That was close."

"Yeah," Dipper muttered, stretching as he stood, avoiding eye contact. "Look, um… I've got to go… clean up," he said quietly, and twisted to the side and disappeared.

Cory blinked. "That was… quick."

Mabel raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "Cory, he has to go save those kids."

"I-I'm not saying he shouldn't! I-" They closed their eyes, running their hands through their hair. "I… This all happened way too fast, okay? I don't even know what to think," they exclaimed, plopping down on the bed. "What the hell was all of that?!"

Mabel sighed, wringing her hands slightly before walking over and sitting next to them. "The Western Coast Covens have apparently been told that Dipper-Alcor-takes human sacrifices as payment for services," she explained quietly. "We've been trying to spread counter-rumors, but apparently that isn't enough. They keep kidnapping kids, thinking Alcor will like it, since it's easier to…" She swallowed. "Easier to… eat them, you could say."

Cory glanced at her, eyes wide. "He… he doesn't-"

"He's never eaten a person in his life," Mabel snapped, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, looking a tad guilty. "Sorry. I, um, get a bit tired of people asking that." She stared at her hands.

Cory bit their lip. "That's… that's not what I meant," they started, but Mabel glanced sideways at them, eyes narrowed, and they swallowed nervously.

"Dipper is one of the best people I know," Mabel said softly. "He's a demon, but he isn't a bad person. He… he helps people."

Cory scooted backwards until they could pull their legs up and wrap their arms around their knees. "I… I know." They sighed. "That isn't what I meant, okay?" they muttered. "I was going to ask…" They trailed off, and Mabel snorted. "Never mind. It… it's silly."

"What?"

Cory sighed again. "It's just… it's just such a demon-y thing to do, you know?" they hedged. "Look, I'm a demonology student. Most demons, at some point or another, do kind of… of shady things. I-" They fell silent, their mind returning to the man whose neck Dipper-Alcor?-had snapped with an almost lazy, wide gesture. "Does he… does he kill the summoners who kidnap kids?"

Mabel made a face. "What is it with people, thinking he's so harsh?" she muttered. "If he's in danger, he's going to defend himself. Look," she snapped, tone suddenly irate again, "these are people who traumatise children. Cleaning up after them is not going to be sunshine and rainbows, okay? But the more of them that Dipper scares shitless, the fewer of them that will try kidnapping kids." She crossed her arms with a huff. "Or do you think we should just try being nice and saying please?"

Cory recoiled, not quite expecting such a passionate defense, but slowly, they nodded. "I… I think I understand, actually," they said slowly. "Maybe on a smaller scale, but… I think I know how it feels to have to snap at somebody before they get the message through their head."

Mabel didn't speak, but tilted her head to the side questioningly.

Cory leaned back on their hands. "Like… Like, there was this guy recently, you know? And he got punched in the face on camera, and some people were saying 'oh, we shouldn't be using violence on people,' but then there's the rest of us who know that the guy is a really, really bad guy, and if he could get away with it, he'd probably kill a lot of people no matter what age, just because he doesn't like people like them."

Mabel squinted one eye, tilting her head the other way, then slowly, she began to grin. "Are you comparing witchcraft covens to Richard Spencer?" she asked, her earlier tones of glee slowly returning. "Oh, that is rich," she said, starting to giggle.

"I-what?" Cory said defensively. "I'm just sort of… I don't know, I-"

"I love it," Mabel said, grinning wide. "I think that's a good sort of comparison, actually. I mean, wars aren't won-"

"-by being nice and saying please," Cory finished, smiling hesitantly. "Yeah. I…" A crack; a dark form crumpling to the ground; the scene played out again in their mind's eye. "I… I guess."

Mabel didn't miss the tone shift for a moment, and poked Cory's knee. "Hey. What is it?"

Cory winced. "I'm just… I've just never seen Alcor fight before," they mumbled. "I mean, I've never seen… I've never seen somebody just…" They swallowed. "That one guy-"

Mabel took a breath, but held it for a few moments before speaking. "Did you see what he was carrying?"

"Holy water."

"Yeah. Some places will mix it with poisons, too. I mean, if they're intending to use it on demons, it's not like they have to be super-super-careful. It's really tough to seriously hurt a demon." She fell silent for a moment, kicking her feet. "There's a chance Alcor did that because he didn't want anybody trying to use it on you or me," she said quietly. "That could have been really, really bad."

Cory sighed, but nodded. "I mean… that makes sense. It makes sense in my head. But…" They took a breath. "It keeps sort of… playing, over and over in my head," they murmured. "I've never seen something like that."

Mabel nodded slowly. "It isn't something you can brush off too quickly," she agreed. "But…" She turned to look at them squarely. "I trust Dipper. I don't like that he did it either, but I trust that he did it to prevent something worse from happening. Does that make sense?"

Cory glanced at her, then looked away. "Yeah."

"Cory, I'm serious. I…" She fell silent. "Look, you don't have to like it, but… please don't think Dipper's a bad person for doing that, okay?" she said softly. "He-"

There was a sudden pop!, and Dipper materialized at the foot of the bed, looking a little dazed, his coat ripped in a few places, and Mabel yelped, scrambling up as he teetered forward. "I… I'm going to take a break," he mumbled, and fell forward, though he disappeared before he even hit the ground.

"Are you okay? What happened? Why was your coat ripped?" Mabel exclaimed urgently, staring at a space a few feet from Cory's bed. "Dipper?"

"Uh… can you see him?" Cory asked, surprised. "I didn't think anyone could see the dreamscape."

"I can see him because he's my brother. Now hush!" she said hurriedly. "Wait-" She whipped around. "Hey, can we use your circle?"

"What? Oh! Oh, yeah, totally!" Cory said quickly. "Um… I have some matches…" They rummaged in the backpack that was sitting against the bedpost, then tossed the small box to Mabel, who rushed over to the circle.

"Ad constringedum, ad ligandum eos pariter et solvendum: Et congregandum Alcor coram me," Mabel said quickly, lighting the candles in turn, and suddenly, sitting cross-legged before her, was Dipper.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hey yourself," Mabel said with a thin laugh. "Are you okay?"

Dipper didn't answer at first, sighing and glancing around at the carefully-constructed circle. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Mabel glanced at Cory, who was still sitting on the bed.

"Um… thanks."

Dipper's head shot up, expression neutral. "What?"

"I said, um… thanks. For… getting us out of there in one piece," Cory mumbled.

Dipper stared, speechless, eyes flicking between Mabel and Cory. "Uh-what?"

"They said thanks, numbskull," Mabel said, chuckling softly. "They aren't mad at you."

"I-" Dipper stopped and closed his mouth, expression incredulous. "How are you not freaked out? I thought-"

"Okay, dude, rewind, nowhere did I say I'm not freaked out," they said quickly. "Being pulled through a summons and then told I have to eat a girl or she'll be killed is definitely not something I had on my bucket list. But…" They took a deep breath. "I… understand. Taking care of rogue covens…" They fell silent, contemplating, then shook their head. "I don't think I could do it, man. I don't envy you."

Dipper continued to stare, then finally seemed to give himself a little shake. "You… oh, jeez, you… you're not mad, you're not scared of-of me?" he asked, almost timidly, and Cory snorted.

"Dude, didn't I tell you you're not actually that scary? Your ego's way too big," they stated, and Dipper laughed in spite of himself. "Nah. I get that it's tough, and not everything is going to go perfectly all the time." They sighed. "I won't say I like what you did, but… I think I at least understand most of it. Whether it's self-defense or defending your family or just trying to scare the pants right off of them so that they don't do that to anyone else."

Dipper leaned back, then winced as the back of his head brushed the transparent edge of the circle. "Uh… wow. I don't-what?" he said defensively, eyeing Mabel, who had a huge, smug grin on her face.

"There are good people, Dip," she said cheerfully. "Just as there are good demons." Her tone softened. "Cory has my seal of approval. They aren't going to jump up and smack you for saving kids."

"I-but I didn't-I saved them, but I-"

"Dude," Cory interrupted. "I… look, you're the most human demon I've ever met. I get it. Like I said, I won't pretend I like what you did, but…" They shrugged. "Are those kids safe?"

Dipper blinked. "Uh… yes. A few of them have to stay in hospital for a couple small injuries and they're all malnourished, but yeah."

"And you didn't hurt anybody you didn't have to?"

Dipper's eyes widened. "I-look, Cory, I'm… I'm really, really sorry you had to see that," he mumbled. "I just…" His eyes flicked to Mabel. "I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have done that."

Mabel made a shushing noise. "Dipper, after last time-"

"That doesn't matter, Mabel!" he said, suddenly aggravated, running a hand through his hair. "I should've waited-"

"Wait, wait, what happened last time?"

"Acid," Mabel said shortly before turning back to Dipper. "That's not the worst of it, though."

Cory grimaced. "Worse than acid?" They walked over and knelt down next to Mabel, looking worriedly at Dipper. "It's okay."

"No, it isn't," Dipper groaned. "Mabel, it… it was just water. It wouldn't have hurt either of you."

"But you had three of them coming at you at once, and you couldn't have known what it was," Mabel said adamantly.

Dipper glanced up. "I could've knocked him over or something."

"And if it got on you?" Mabel asked tightly, and Dipper made a face.

"Holy water I can handle."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Holy water laced with acids, or anything worse…"

"Alberta," Dipper murmured, and Mabel nodded.

"You can't handle those anywhere near as easily. We'll just have to keep thinking."

"Alberta?" Cory questioned, and Dipper shook his head.

"Can we just… not talk about that right now?" he asked, and Cory nodded. "Sorry."

"Nah. It's fine. It's, uh, been a really long day for all of us, hasn't it."

"Yeah."

"Yeah," Mabel echoed, stifling a yawn.

"Okay. We should… probably get going," Dipper said, wincing as he floated to an upright position and stretched.

"Oh. Right. Yeah," Cory said neutrally, and Mabel grinned tiredly.

"We'll see you again soon, though," she said. "Don't worry."

"I know. I… had a lot of fun with you guys, you know," Cory replied. "It's… heh, it's not always particularly easy to…" Their eyes met Dipper's, and Dipper nodded knowingly.

"Oh! Um… I should, uh, tell you," Dipper said quickly. "I kind of… used a few of the, um." Dipper jerked his head toward the dresser. "I used a few to buy your location. Um… sorry."

Cory raised an eyebrow. "You can use something like that?"

"Well… loosely. You said I could 'grab a few,' so I just… er, may or may not have taken a rather liberal interpretation of that so I could use it as spell fuel. Wouldn't have worked if it wasn't yours."

"Oh." Then, "Wow, that's actually really cool."

Dipper blinked, looking surprised yet again. "Uh… I guess."

"I'm tired," Mabel interrupted. "Cory, d'you wanna come over again for Street Racers sometime?"

Cory's face lit up. "Absolutely, yeah! Uh… can we be more careful with the jumps, though?"

Dipper winced. "Yeah. Jeez. I'm really sorry about… about all of that."

"And hey, maybe we can all brainstorm how to spread those rumors further," Cory said casually, earning yet another surprised glance from both Dipper and Mabel. "I don't like any of how that went tonight."

Mabel grinned. "Neither do I." She elbowed Dipper through the circle. "See? Seal of approval." She held out a thumbs-up, and Cory grinned, bumping her fist with their own.

"Dip?" She yawned. "I'll give you five minutes' sleep for five."

"Deal," Dipper answered, and the candles in the circle went out. "OOF."

Mabel swept both of them up in a giant hug, sweeping the now-tangible Dipper out of the circle. "We'll see you, Cory!"

"All right. Oh! Wait!" Cory ducked under Mabel's arm and hurried to the bed to tear off a piece of paper from one of the multiple notebooks, then scribbled furiously before handing it to Dipper. "That's my phone number." They squinted. "You all do use phones, and not, like, telepathy, right?"

"Oh, ha ha," Dipper said loftily as Cory giggled. "I do have to be tangible, though, so we'll see."

"I can translate!" Mabel crowed, and Cory smiled.

"So. Call me, and we'll find a time to play more Street Racers."

Dipper grinned, nodding, and grabbed Mabel's hand. "We will."

"Oh, and Cory?" Mabel asked, and inclined her head toward Dipper. "Thank you. For maintaining the Mabel Seal of Approval."

Cory raised their eyebrows again, then chuckled and nodded. "Thanks for… everything. Really."

"See you soon!" Mabel sang, and she and Dipper both turned sharply and vanished.