[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

[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.

[krmvgivv]

"Chara's kind of a strange alien cat," Dipper says, tilting his head philosophically. "If you squint. But no, mostly we're just exploring."

[powerofmabel]

"Is Chara trying to find somebody who'll sell weapons to a ten year old?" Look, it's a legitimate question when it comes to Chara. And the worst part isn't even that they might be doing it, so much as they might actually find someone.

[determinedest]

"No," says Frisk, completely unconvincingly. "I mean, they already have a rocket launcher and a potato shooter. They don't need any more weapons."

Right? Or they, um...might be looking to replicate Shepard's impressive wall of mounted guns and supplement their collection in any way possible. Might, though. They said might.

[krmvgivv]

Dipper glances at Mabel, then back at Frisk. "Soooo probably yes, then? In fairness, they probably didn't need any weapons to begin with. Need and want are different things."

[powerofmabel]

"They're definitely buying a gun bigger than they are. Like a bazooka." Mabel nods sagely. She might as well be commenting on the weather than admitting that one of their friends who should, in no way, be in possession of large scale weapons is probably attempting just that.

"Or maybe a tank. Can you get tanks here?"

[determinedest]

"Shepard already lets them drive her tank back home," says Frisk, matter-of-fact, as though that's not a mildly terrifying idea in is own right. Shepard's basically...what? Chara's second mom? She and Toriel are close now, so that counts, doesn't it?

It totally counts.

[krmvgivv]

"Great, we're all gonna die," Dipper says, monotone enough that it's hard to tell whether he's being sarcastic or not. "Anyway, someone letting you drive their tank isn't the same as having your own." He glances over at Mabel. "Y'think we could find one? "

[powerofmabel]

Mabel's eyes have that glazed over quality of someone imagining what it would be like to drive a tank. Preferably one that has been heavily augmented with sparkles and kitten decals. Death by cuteness.

But... They need to think bigger.

"Forget tanks. I bet we can find battle robots here."

[determinedest]

Dipper's comment earns a small scowl. Everyone's been fine thus far, Dipper. The most dangerous thing Chara's done in recent memory is scrap together a cheap potato launcher.

But more importantly, Mabel just had the best idea.

"Like the ones Rick and the bubblegum girl made?" they whisper, immediately enamored.

[krmvgivv]

Dipper looks over at Mabel, slowly grinning. "Wonder if we can find Young Man McGucket? You know if we need battle robots built, we need him."

[powerofmabel]

"Right?" She bounces on her feet, and explains for Frisk's benefit. "Even when he was a weird old hillbilly, he helped us make the Shack-a-tron. He's probably not as creative when he's got full control of his brain, though..."

That's okay. Mabel's creative enough to make up the difference. "Still. It's better to keep him busy in case he does something dumb like erase his own memory again."

[determinedest]

McGucket? They remember - they met him, once. During the flooding. Things weren't exactly making a whole lot of sense to either one of them at that point, but he knows Mabel and Dipper and he knows Ford, so he must be pretty smart.

Pretty smart, because Mabel introduces a significant caveat that has Frisk regarding the pair of them warily.

"Erase his memory?"

[krmvgivv]

"Yeah, he made this memory erasing gun thing and then sort of started a cult." Dipper shrugs, like this is the sort of thing they run into every day. It sort of is. "I don't think it's happened yet, but he's from thirty years in the past. Ended up losing all his memories and, really, his entire mind. Also married a raccoon? But not, you know, the one that's here."

[powerofmabel]

"Yet." Somewhere Rocket looks up from whatever he's doing (probably robbing something) and looks deeply pained. He does not know why. "Hopefully, he can stay on the fun side of crazy while he's here now. Y'know how Wonderland is with memories, even without memory guns..."

She cringes. She and Dipper know it all too well and accidentally reminding herself of it is never a fun thing.

[determinedest]

Memory erasure. He has a memory erasing gun on top of it and - and it's not like Wonderland needs the help in scrubbing people's minds clean, does it?

"Does he have it here? With him?" The unease in their tone is palpable, no matter how flippant the twins sound about the whole matter.

[krmvgivv]

Dipper shrugs. "Not sure. I'm... not sure if he's even invented it yet." He frowns at Frisk. "Are you worried he'll use it on you?"

[powerofmabel]

Mabel catches on to Frisk's discomfort and quickly adds, "Because he usually only uses it on himself when he did invent it. And he definitely hasn't really achieved full cult-y crazy yet... And probably won't 'cause Ford's here." And he and Ford are still friends, which, honestly, was what started the problem anyway.

[determinedest]

Does it matter much, who he uses it on? That kind of thing is never good, is it, even if it's allegedly done willingly. You can't say you were willing after the fact, but you can't remember if you were.

"It's just...Wonderland already does it enough. Right?" It's a weak diversion, but they're not sure how to voice those moral qualms in the first place. If they even can.

[krmvgivv]

"You're not wrong." Dipper frowns, looking down. "Like, it's really not good. But it's hard to do anything about it unless we know for sure he's using it. And it's not like he's advertising."

[powerofmabel]

"Plus now that we've told you, you know what to be on the look out for." Which Mabel is going to use as her defense for why it was brought up at all. That stupid memory gun may have saved the day in Weirdmageddon, but it almost cost them Stan, too. She is not a fan of it.

"We're not gonna deal with that business again. One freaky blind eye cult was enough."

[determinedest]

The Pineses are good at stopping stuff like that. Capable. They know how, and it's not going to be a problem if they say it won't be. They can trust that.

"If you ever need help?" It's little more than an offer, lifted eyebrows and a faint shift to their tone, a question that isn't a question at all. But if nothing else, Determination makes a good fall back plan.

[krmvgivv]

"You're the first person we'd call," Dipper says, giving them what he hopes is an encouraging smile. He means it, though. His list of people he trusts isn't long, but Frisk is near the top.