Chapter Text
Emma could not believe the stupidity she was witnessing. It hadn't been her idea, not at all. Watching as Olive handled Millard, who'd accidentally hit the glass while trying to be stealthy was giving her a headache. Being split up from the rest of the group was the worst thing to ever happen, she thought to herself.
They'd come back down almost immediately after, presumably, somebody noticed the noice that he'd made. Millard announced, "there's children up there." By that time, Enoch had returned from walking around the building to ensure there was nothing lying and waiting for them. The Bird had rested on his shoulder, sending Millard a disapproving look with her eyes alone.
"It appears to be a shop of some kind." He started. "A tourist-y place, there's not many essentials from what I could see." Enoch added on. Emma nodded, at least somebody was being useful.
"We wait until morning to go inside. And Millard, no more pulling stunts like that." Emma declared, though added a warning last minute directed at Millard, since it was his idea.
For now, the children retreated back into the forest they poked their heads out of. They didn't want to be spotted immediately, after all.
From yesterday, it had been pretty consistently rainy. Buisness was extra slow that day, to the point Dipper and Mabel were sure that Stan wasn't even paying attention to it anybody walked him. Not that they could blame him, there weren't many people coming through the door. Stan was counting dollars that were within the cash register, his eyes barely glancing at the kids. Not that they minded, they weren't doing anything more productive than he was.
They were supposed to help him out with the workload that day, but since there was no business, there was no need. Instead, the two were seated on the floor and playing a card game that they definitely got legitimately and did not steal.
Well, it wasn't an actual worldwide game. It was just something they made up in their free time since the cards had images on them. Mabel hummed in thought as Dipper glanced up at her.
"Are you gonna get rid of your card or not?" He finally asked after a few minutes. Mabel sighed at the question and continued staring at whatever cards she had in her hand.
"It's just...I don't know. I can't decide if it's an essential item or not." She said rather vaguely, but the whole point of the game was to not give away what items were on the front of your cards to the other players. Dipper nodded and glanced back down at his deck.
Currently, he had: a fish, a specific type of plate, a highlighter, and a box. He could name a few essential items, and none of those were on his list. Except for maybe a box, that could be useful for storage of other items.
Their game was nearly interrupted by the door opening, that is if they'd heard it. But they hadn't, so they continued playing. Stan hadn't even looked up, either. Instead, he continued to count the money made in the past week.
Emma glanced around the shop. A lot of it was overpriced junk, but there were a couple of tourist attractions spread about. Enoch did the same, but only for a moment. He had practically seen everything when he looked through the windows the night before.
Stan heard heavy shoes walking closer to where he sat with the money in hand. Of course, his eyes glanced up, but he didn't bother to question their attire. For all he knew, these kids were just really passionate about a history project their school was doing or something.
Olive had been distracted by something, god knows what it was. Emma gestured to Enoch, who gently took her hand and walked over.
"Sorry to bother. Do you know if a "Jacob" stopped by your shop in the last few days?" Emma asked, her eyes occasionally drifting to a wall and back at the man at the counter. Had Millard spoken, he would have made a comment. But he'd specifically been told not to speak as he was invisible.
Stan paused for a moment, unsure of why they'd asked, but willing to try and remember nonetheless.
"Kids, I'm old. Do you think I'm gonna remember the name of some other kid that doesn't belong to me?" Stan asked, putting the money back into the register as he stood up.
"Kids!" He called out, immediately getting an in-synced "yeah?" from the both of them. Emma jumped, she hadn't seen the two of them when her and the others had walked in. Neither had Enoch, his eyebrows furrowed at the sudden appearance of the two. If he didn't know any better, he would've assumed that they could teleport.
Stan glanced at their cards in their hands but said nothing about them. "Either of you remember seein' a "Jacob" around town or somethin'?" He asked. Dipper and Mabel glanced at each other in a moment of confusion but shook their heads shortly afterwards.
"Don't think so." Dipper responded with a light shrug, deciding to stand up. He knew Stan was gonna make them do another thing, so there was no use in trying to resume the card game.
"I would've remembered, I'm good at names!" Mabel said with upmost enthusiasm as she bounced up off the ground. Stan knew that much, but he'd still asked to be sure. After hearing the confirmation, Emma sighed and went for the next route.
"What about an inn? Surely, there must be one around the area.." She asked once more, hoping to get some useful information out of the man. Instead, he gestured to the twins.
"They'll show ya around, I'm a busy man." Stan said, taking his seat once more. Mabel grinned and stood up, dragging Dipper outside with her before any of the children, or Stan, could react. Emma and Enoch exchanged a glance, but the children had followed them outside nonetheless.