Misguided Adventures and Magical Attachments (Completed)

Chapter 28

Dipper sat at the desk, eating a sandwich as people filed into the shop. They were only a quarter hour in and already the Shack was becoming very busy. He saw McGucket walk in. Mabel really did invite everyone. And she worked fast.

"What's up, dawg? It's been like forever!" Soos greeted an actual dog who was sniffing around a shelf, her owner looking at him weirdly.

Dipper took another bite of his food, craning his neck to glance around. He spotted Tambry, Robbie and some of Wendy's other friends loitering in the back, laughing with her. McGucket had begun scavenging the floor underneath shelves for anything besides merchandise, pocketing whatever stray items or week-old snacks he could find and whooping loudly when he did. A lady actually picked up things to buy them, taking them to where Dipper was.

He smiled, setting down his sandwich to man the register in Wendy's stead. "Thank you for coming to the Mystery Shack gift shop. Can I help you?"

"You're such a cutie," the woman giggled, passing him a Mystery-brand flashlight, a light jacket and some knickknacks. "This is a lively place you're working at. So young, too."

"Nah, it's usually less packed. My sister brought in some . . . friends," he explained, totalling the items. "That'll be forty-three dollars and sixty-two cents."

Handing over the money, the customer retrieved her things, beaming. "You have a nice time, sweetheart." She walked off.

"Come again." Dipper relaxed again, reaching for his sandwich. It was gone. He shot out of his chair, looking around him. "Aw, come on! Who took that?"

Bill, who was nowhere to be seen a few minutes ago, was back at the counter eating the sandwich. He finished it in one large bite, chewing before talking. "The dog ate it." The demon pointed to the dog that Soos was still clearly talking to. Bill laughed at his joke, grinning. "You might want to pay more attention to where you leave good food. Starving to death is not painless, Pine Tree."

Dipper groaned in amused frustration, face-palming. "Bill . . . I can't believe you sometimes." Though it was better him eating it than the dog.

Bill chuckled. "And you love it!" he teased, leaning on the eight-ball staff that he had been using for the tours earlier, expression bright.

"I have no idea where my logic went."

Rolling his visual eye, the demon contentedly watched some of the people walk in and out of the shop. A few were familiar to him, but most were random civilians that he didn't care as much to remember despite seeing their faces in town.

The door swung open in a quick and forceful motion, revealing Pacifica. She was alone, striding in with Mabel at her tail. The blonde kept walking until she spotted Dipper, stopping in front of him.

"Oh, hey, Pacifica. I'm surprised to see you show up," he said.

"I'm only here because your sister was being obnoxious about wanting me to come to this dump," she defended in her usual sassy tone, flipping her hair. "Don't think I actually felt like coming here because I didn't."

"Aww, Paci, you're just saying things," Mabel grinned, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders. She got away with the contact, though Pacifica looked a little awkward.

"Whatever. Now where's that grumpy old guy who runs the place? And who's the new blond?"

Dipper smirked at seeing the two females getting along well enough, answering her questions with ease. "Grunkle Stan's in his office. He'll probably come out to check us soon. And Pacifica, meet —"

"William Codex, but you can call me Bill." The demon smirked. The Northwest family wasn't his favorite, but they did have a lot of expensive stuff he could steal and plenty of snooty minds that were fun to manipulate. Eventually. Though he'd prefer to cause them as much pain as possible when the time came. It served them right. "Maybe you've heard of me around town." He shrugged nonchalantly, standing by Dipper's side.