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It had been a good hour since they had decided to take a night walk into Gravity Falls’ infamous forests. The whole place spilled with moonlight in that way that could only be achieved with Hollywood filters and a smoke machine just out of the camera frame. It was Mabel’s idea to go out, adding in a dare Dipper could not walk out of.
Well, he could walk out of it, but Mabel’s persistent chicken imitations grated on his nerves until he had no choice but to agree. Besides, though he was cold and slightly irritated at Mabel for the soon-to-be-midnight walk, Dipper had to admit to at least a little bit of curiosity for the reason the two were out there.
“They say he stands over a hundred feet tall,” Mabel began as they trudged down the path. She hung off Dipper, gesturing wildly to the trees towering around them, an actress at work. “In the shape of a man but not…really a man! His limbs hanging like tree branches and they say if you get too close--!” Dipper turned to Mabel, who, in typical Mabel fashion, was paused dramatically. Eyes darting around them.
“If you get too--”
“He gets you!” Mabel grabbed tightly onto Dipper’s shoulders, laughing as her twin jumped.
“Mabel!” Dipper shrugged out of his sister’s grasps. Who took this as the perfect time to photograph her brother’s disgruntled face with the dented polaroid camera she had around her neck.
“Dippy’s scared of the Slenderman! Dippy’s scared of the Slenderman!” Mabel pranced around Dipper, poking at his cheeks as she continued the sing-song taunt. Camera flashing in his face until he could make out nothing but the tiny floaters now clogging his vision.
“I am not!” Again, Dipper whacked his sister’s hands, and more importantly the camera, away from him. Walking quickly ahead of her and reviewing his journal Mabel was so persistent that he’d bring. “Besides, I looked over this journal cover to cover, there’s nothing about a ‘Slenderman’ or whatever in it. It’s just some dumb internet story.”
“Oh, but the giant bats, dinosaurs in sap, and triangle demon guys make soooooo much more sense.” Mabel said matter-of-factly, hands on her hips.
“Those are different,” Dipper turned to Mabel, shadow casting over her in the overly bright moonlight. He thrust the book’s open pages (something about eyes replaced with baby heads) towards her, pointing to the old book. “If it’s in the journal then it’s true, the journal is evidence. You can’t just read something online and say it exists in Gravity Falls—Stop mimicking me!” Mabel’s hand vanished behind her back, but Dipper was still aware of the mocking hand puppet she had been doing moments ago. Typical Mabel.
“Well maybe it’s in one of the other journals Gideon talked about. Ever think of that, huh?”
“Or, and this may be crazy, or it doesn’t exist!” Dipper slammed his journal shut just a few inches from Mabel’s nose. Dipper tired not to feel bad as Mabel rubbed her eyes to get rid of whatever decades old dust the journals was full of.
“And maybe it does and you just don’t want to admit that I might be right about something supernatural for once! I have sources and- and proof!”
“Two Reddit articles, a wiki, and a youtube series that is clearly fabricated are not evidence, Mabel!”
“The Men in Black use tabloids to find aliens!”
“We’re not the Men in Black!”
Dipper wasn’t sure of Mabel’s response after that. Something to do with ‘child agents’ or whatever. Listening to Mabel wasn’t the most important thing at the moment. What was important was the fact that the tree just off to Mabel’s right seemed to uproot itself. What Dipper had thought was its trunk was now split in two and what he was sure was its branches and leaves were now lowering themselves towards him and Mabel. Dipper’s lack of a response was enough to get Mabel to look around. However, instead of terror the older twin beamed at her brother.
“See? I told you so!” Dipper was already yanking Mabel away from the approaching non-tree before she could do a round of the ‘Mabel was right’ song. The maybe-possibly-probably-Slenderman not too far behind them.
“We just need to get back to the shack!” Dipper panicked towards Mabel. His sister’s camera flashing behind him.
“C’mon Slendy, let’s see some of that gorgeous face of yours!” Mabel shouted up at where she assumed the creature’s head and listening appendages were.
Dipper was about to shout back at Mabel to stop taking the pictures and act in the proper fashion one does when a hundred foot tall creature that apparently (if the net-based evidence was to be believed) brought people to another dimension after killing them. He was going to say that. Then the tree got in the way. A proper, hulking, real as can be, bark covered tree.
Which Dipper had ever so gracefully barreled into.
There were things Dipper learned upon waking up from said tree encounter. First, Trees, and in turn the forest floor, were both uncomfortable to fall or run directly into. Second, he was bleeding from somewhere, probably his nose, since all the way down to his chin felt stiff and caked. Third, Mabel was fine (okay, in reality that was number one but he was still mad at her so for right now she gets third out of spite). Fourth, was that they were in some sort of giant nest, far off the ground, very far off the ground upon further inspection. Fifth of course was the giant monster now relatively smaller (Mabel might’ve said something about that when they first started walking) and it was pulling on Mabel’s hair. No, not pulling, it was playing with her hair. It was braiding her hair.
“Oh my gosh, Dipper,” Mabel pulled away from the monster- the Slenderman’s hands, rushing towards her twin with her hair in several half-done braids. “That tree sure showed you who’s boss, right Slendy?”
The creature replied with a muffled trill of some kind, as well as a nod.
“Mabel,” Dipper moved his way out of his sister’s hug and attempted to use his shirt to wipe off the caked on nose bleed. “You’re talking to it.”
“Duh,” Mabel’s tone suggested that this should be the most obvious thing in the universe. The universe clearly kept Dipper out of the loop. “After you hit the tree, Slendy here took us back here. Look, there’s even snacks!” Indeed there were. Hundreds of chip bags lined the nest, some opened some not. Some looking like they went back a few years. Mabel shoved a more recent bag into Dipper’s hands. He didn’t eat them right away, but as Mabel explained, he found himself chewing.
“Okay, I know, yeah, I was right,” Mabel dusted off her shoulders in triumph. “But Slendy here isn’t actually as big as a threat as the net says. He’s actually pretty cool. Just a big shy baby, ain’t cha?” The creature in turned gave another muffled trill, waving Mabel off dismissively.
“How do you talk to it?” Dipper had now moved onto another bag of snacks, slightly stale, possibly a few weeks past due.
“Mostly a lot of yes and no questions.” Mabel said, hair beginning to be braided by elegant hands once again. “He said he’d bring us back to the shack too once you got up.”
“Why didn’t you just have us taken home after I hit a tree?”
“Scrapbook-rtunity!” Mabel shrieked happily. Yanking Dipper’s arm towards her and the Slenderman. “Say ‘BFFs’!”
“Mabel no--!”
The next morning, no one questions why Dipper looks to tired or why he is washing his clothes for once the whole vacation, or why Mabel is happily scrapbooking pictures of what looks like a tall man in a well-fitting suit. The only question that ever does arise is why the Pines family began to receive over 30 year old chip bags for the rest of the summer.