[open] seems I keep getting this story twisted, so where's neil when you need him

[powerofmabel]

Who: Mabel, Dipper, and YOU
Where: Citadel Archives, the arcade, and some place they shouldn't be
When: During the event
Rating: PG
Summary: Mystery Twins vs the Citadel
The Story:

A. Citadel Archives

"Mabel, look at all of this!" Dipper is grinning ear to ear as he walks through the archives, staring openly at everything. Sure, a part of him is very disappointed that in the space future actual books are replaced with digital recordings, but considering how vast the knowledge contained is, well, he figures this place would be the size of a planet if it were actual books. "There's so much stuff here!"

“Uh-huh,” Mabel is… less enthused about the books, but she does seem to be preoccupied by something- specifically the aliens mingling about. “Look at that one,” she hisses, grabbing Dipper and pointing completely unsubtly at an alien just minding his own business and observing some sort of hologram. “Hey! Love your fringe, guy! Keep working it.”

And she finger-guns.

"Mabel!" Dipper rolls his eyes, though he does look where she's pointing because how can he not when she is being so obvious about it. "You're gonna get us kicked out! And I haven't even started researching yet!"

“Pbblt.” She sticks her tongue out. “Don’t suck all the joy out of it, bro. When’s the next time we’re gonna meet this many aliens?”

"Literally all the time. There are tons of aliens in Wonderland, remember?" He grabs her arm, ducking his head so his hat hides his face and tugs her down the row. "Come on."

B. Arcade

The problem with Mabel’s predisposition to getting ideas in her head and then letting her “too much” gene take over is that it never ends well. At this moment, eyes wide and focused, hand on the joystick of an alien crane game, she’s about halfway to the moment where things start going really downhill.

But she has half a dozen alien stuffed animals stuffed into her sweater and possibly tied like fluffy body armor where she can’t actually stuff them, making for easy carrying. She’s well on her way to becoming a katamari ball of stuffed animals.

“Almost… Almost.” Annnd nothing. She gives the machine a hard kick. “Darn it! ...Ow.”

Dipper is distracted with a recording he… borrowed from the Archives. He has it projected on his omni-tool and he's frowning as he tries to decode the alien writing. He doesn't look up at her exclamation. "You know those things are rigged, right? Grunkle Stan says the only way to get toys out of them is with a brick."

Mabel’s eyes light up, but in lieu of a brick, she decides to take another approach- specifically try to crawl into the little chute the toys fall down into- stuffed animal body armor and all. It’s fine. She’s got this.


C. Those seedy places that kids really shouldn’t be at

Well, they’ve already broken into the library, so Mabel and Dipper aren’t really that concerned about what other potential dangers or law-breaking they might stumble into. Besides, the seedy places are where the best information is (for Dipper) and… Mabel is Mabel. She’s playing tourist.

As they explore the area, Mabel stops short of an alien lying unconscious just outside one of the bars with his hat askew and she very gingerly places it back on his head and steps over him. “He’ll be happy no one stepped on it.”

"Uh huh," Dipper says, in that way he does when he knows Mabel is saying whatever comes into her mind and he's thinking about something else. In this case, the map projected on his omnitool. "I think we might've taken a wrong turn somewhere. We've passed that same weird-looking crack in the sidewalk, like, five times. Or was it five similar looking weird cracks?" He frowns, glancing around. "Does it feel like we're being watched to you too or is it just me?"

Probably just him. Right? Right. He hopes. It's fine.


D. WILDCARD

[CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE WITH THESE ADORABLE TWINS. Two for the price of one!]

Comments

B

[screwedontight]

Seth was having one of the best times of his life. No, but seriously, this place was more fun than he might have expected, and if he stumbled on a Holodeck? They might never get him out. Instead though, after playing around in the more combat ready "video games" of the combat arena and he found himself in the arcade.

Definitely not looking to win a toy for Kate or anything like that. Don't even think things like that.

What he finds instead is a small child working on wriggling her way into the machine. Strolling over closer, moving to lean against the side of the machine where he can look down into the opening. Yep, it was the child he kind of thought it might be.

"You know," he said, raising his voice slightly. "If you get stuck in there, I swear by all that is holy I will laugh so hard I might actually die in this place."

Truth is, he might well help her out. Maybe. After laughing.

"Did you think to maybe unload from the army of stuffed minions before you tried?"

[krmvgivv]

Dipper still isn't looking up from his omni-tool as he leans against the crane machine. "Come on, man, does it really look like she did any thinking?"

He loves Mabel. But she certainly can be... impulsive. And when she does stuff like this? Dipper is more than happy to mock her for it.

[powerofmabel]

"Hi Seth!" Mabel presently has her head and half her torso stuck inside the stupid crane machine, but she is not going to admit that. She has it under control. "Dipper's making things up. The stuffed animals are protection against the sharp edges. Fluffy body armor's so in this year."

She braces her feet against the bottom of the crane machine and tries to pull herself free. It doesn't work.

[screwedontight]

Seth glanced over to the boy, chuckling. "I refuse to undermine Mabel's plan buuuuuut I would have left the minions behind on this mission," he admitted, smiling. He was enjoying this place too much, and this was definitely going to be part of it.

Shifting, he considers the machine and the options she might have.

"Anyone know how much security this place really has?" Not that he's tested that out, or he left a car idling outside the arcade. That never happened, right? "I mean, the easiest answer is busting out the glass, since look at those things," he said, rapping on the glass with his knuckles. "If they're not closed tight enough now, they'll never get a grip on anything."

C

[cisskabob]

One wrong turn, and the tourist-friendly Citadel is... not-so-tourist friendly. Cissie is pretty sure she's not supposed to be in this part of town, and she should vacate it quickly. But a flash of bright color attracts her attention and she looks up in time to see Mabel walk out of sight. If she doesn't belong in this neighborhood, Mabel definitely doesn't. Cissie hurries to catch up with her, turning the corner and almost running into Dipper.

"Mabel? Dipper? What are you doing here?"

[krmvgivv]

"Sightseeing," Dipper says dryly. He pokes at the map, frowning slightly before looking back up at Cissie. "This place got really good reviews on all the sketchy alleyway enthusiast boards."

[powerofmabel]

Mabel isn't as sarcastic as her brother, but that's because she's having the time of her life in this sketchy alleyway. And all she sees when she sees Cissie is someone new to shove her latest acquisitions at. "Check it out- I have the signatures of all the local bums in my scrapbook now!"

All of said signatures are written in choppy, barely legible handwriting and don't seem to be in any known language, and yet Mabel is extremely proud of herself.

[cisskabob]

Cissie gives Dipper a Look, but it's brief, considering Mabel's shoving her scrapbook in her line of sight pretty immediately. And she can't help but laugh, because Mabel's excitement is contagious.

And also--what even, Mabel.

"That is... a pretty specific subset of people to collect autographs of, Mabel. Impressive, though. Dipper's map reading, on the other hand..."

Her tone is teasing, but is she, Dipper. Is she.

c.

[determinedest]

Kids shouldn't be exploring back alleyways and strange places. Even if they're conspicuously Chara-less this time, they're still no less prone to be exploring places they shouldn't be.

So they're not exactly surprised to run into company in the process.

They stop short a few feet away, brow scrunching up. They're behind a bar. What are Mabel and Dipper doing behind a bar?

"What are you two doing here?"

[krmvgivv]

Dipper glances at Mabel, then back at Frisk who is also behind a bar.

"Exactly the same thing you're doing?"

He's just saying, they're probably not supposed to be here, but what's Frisk gonna do, rat them out? They can't without giving away exactly where they've been hanging out too.

[powerofmabel]

Mabel meets Dipper's gaze briefly, and then shrugs. "Well, I can tell you we definitely weren't chasing strange alien cats."

Dipper wasn't doing that anyway. This entire sketchy side of the Citadel adventure has been a testament to Mabel's flakiness. There's a lot of things going on and her attention can't be held for very long.

[determinedest]

Chasing strange alien cats is definitely not what Frisk was doing, so Dipper's argument is completely invalid. Right? That's how logic works.

"Looking for Chara?" they venture, coupled with the skeptical lift of their brows.

B

[henrydaniel]

So maybe Henry has been trying to win something for Mabel, but when he sees her, not only does she have it covered, but she's definitely not waiting around on anyone to get her what she wants.

That's seriously one of the reasons he likes her so much.

Also, when he sees her inside of the machine, he walks over and knocks on the glass, a little smirk on his face.

"Dipper, your sister's actually in the machine." Then, he speaks louder so Mabel can hear him. "Hey, get me one!" He grins, thumb-upping her.

[krmvgivv]

"Uh huh," Dipper is well aware. She seems okay for now, though, so he'll keep working on his encrypted notes. If she needs help, she'll let him know. Or security will, if they see what's going on.

[powerofmabel]

Mabel has shed half her stuffed animal body armor, leaving a pile of plushies at the base of the machine, while she keeps trying to wiggle her way inside. "You got it!" Good thing she's not claustrophobic because that is a tight squeeze.

"Maybe I should've used a brick," she calls out a few seconds later, strugglebussing her way up the little chute. "Oh well! Too late now."

[henrydaniel]

Henry's just gonna try to look like someone's not currently wiggling their way into a machine, but he's highly amused - and pretty impressed.

"I think a brick would make a lot of people notice, so this was probably the best way," he says with a laugh. "What are you going for?"

C

[saved]

Peter has sort of been a recluse since Bonnie disappeared. His reaction to grief is to hide and avoid people at all costs. It happened when his parents died and happened when his uncle died. He's been doing a good job of it until- until literal space happens.

Then he can't help but explore every inch of it. Lose himself in Space. The Citadel reminds him of New York City (full of life and activity and lights and movement), and it's likely how Peter ends up in the seedier side of the city too, because it reminds him most of where he grew up. Not a great neighborhood but home.

"To be fair, all the cracks around here look pretty much the same," Peter says with a smirk and a wave at least if someone is watching them, there's a superhero nearby. "Hey, you two."

[powerofmabel]

"Don't worry- if there were kid-eating aliens around, we totally would've gotten lectured about it," she responds to Dipper's concern over being watched first, nonchalant as always despite the fact that she's been chatting up vagrants all afternoon. That said, she turns back to Peter and waves. "Hi, Peter!"

[krmvgivv]

"Hey. I think that one is a little more triangle-y than the other ones." Which could also explain why he felt like he was being watched. He's got no lingering triangle issues, that would be silly and illogical.

a!

[normandysbest]

Admittedly, Shepard doesn't have a huge reason to be in the Archives- considering she's just gonna end up here again, or maybe she's already been here timeline-wise- but she's poking around for information when she sees two kids try to "inconspicuously" go through a hall nearby. She's learned enough from Spectre training and Frisk and Chara's body language to be able to pinpoint when kids are up to no good in general, so she follows silently, down a few rows, just seeing where they go until she makes herself known, leaning nonchalantly against a shelf.

"Having fun?"

[powerofmabel]

Mabel, who doesn't seem to grasp the fact that they're not supposed to be here, sees Shepard and just waves. "Dipper is. I'm just here for moral support and back-up."

Because he clearly needs some. There might be violent alien librarians here.

[krmvgivv]

"This place is great!" Dipper is most certainly having fun. And if he's not supposed to be here, well, he's certainly capable of acting confident enough that if he weren't obviously a preteen, he might be able to convince people he was actually supposed to be here. Maybe. "There's so much neat alien junk around here!"

D IS FOR DRIVING LESSONS

[charlastan]

[Stan probably should have checked on the kids sooner, but eh. They're probably fine and he and Ford had a car to "fix". And said car is pulling up right now, with such speed and force that any debris that might be on the ground flying. It hovers for a second unsteadily, and then when he finally parks it the thing is very very crooked.

(You can probably guess who's driving it before he even gets out of the car.)]

Hey!!! Look what I got~!

[His voice is sing-song and he has the biggest grin on his face.]

[powerofmabel]

[oh no Grunkle Stan found a vehicle. this is going to be the best and most terrifying part of the trip.]

Lookin' sharp, Grunkle Stan! [she plants her hands on her hips and gives him a mock-stern look.] Are you gonna go out and pick up nice little old space ladies in that thing, you scalawag?

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper doesn't look as certain.] Grunkle Stan, don't you get in enough accidents in cars that don't fly?