OPEN } what if i'm far from home? oh brother i will hear you call

[krmvgivv]

Who: Dipper and OPEN
Where: His rooms, around the mansion and grounds, the caves
When: 6/8 and the week after
Rating: Probably no more than PG
Summary: Mabel is gone. Dipper, of course, takes the loss totally reasonably and calmly. HAHAHA yeah, no, the opposite.
The Story:

6/8

[When Dipper first wakes up and sees that all of Mabel's stuff is gone, his first thought is that she's playing some kind of weird joke on him. It's a little crueler than he'd expect from her, but really, if your sister can't be cruel to you sometimes, who can be? He rolls his eyes.]

Very funny, Mabel. Come on out. [After all, her playing a mean trick on him is a lot less upsetting than the other possibility. That her stuff is gone because she is. Dipper's read enough that he knows what to look for. Missing stuff. Missing person. Not coming back any time soon.]

Mabel?

[He looks in the closet, under his bed, everywhere. Then he starts getting nervous, but he still doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't want to believe that his sister could be taken from him just like that. He rushes from his room.]

MABEL!

[For the rest of the day he can be found tearing his way through the mansion, searching everywhere. He knows, logically, how all the pieces fit together. He's always been smart. Good at puzzles. And this is an easy one. An easy puzzle that he refuses to accept the solution in front of him. There has to be more to it. She can't just be gone.

Evening finds him on the edge of the forest, a bag full of provisions on his back. There's only one place he hasn't looked. And he's not giving up. No matter what people have told him.]

6/9 - 6/11

[Mabel is gone.

Dipper had to admit it eventually. And thankfully he admitted it before going in the forest. But admitting it isn't the same as accepting it. In the days that follow, Dipper won't be approaching people with his usual cheer. He eats meals with his nose buried in a book, either his Journal or something he's taken from the library, something, anything, that might be useful.

He isn't sleeping much. His half empty room hurts too much. He could change it, make it just his room, but that would feel too much like giving up, and he won't do that.

So instead he spends his nights down in the caves, holding a flashlight and reading. Journal 3 might not have an answer for how to travel between different worlds, but surely somewhere in all the books on Wonderland he can find some answer.

This just can't be it.]

Comments

TEXT

[improvident]

FS LS

HKZTSVGGRLH

TEXT

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper decodes that almost absentmindedly, and almost wishes he hadn't. Was that really worth bothering him with? Now of all times?

Well, it's Bill, so he's probably enjoying himself.

In other situations, Dipper might write back in code, more to prove he can than out of any desire to be cryptic, but today, he gets straight to the point.]

Why do I get the feeling it's not a coincidence my sister vanishes right after you show up?

TEXT

[improvident]

[Bill actually had...nothing to do with Shooting Star's disappearance, which is honestly the more concerning thing here. He has no idea what's going on, can't foresee events or disappearances, can't tell who the f*@#$ is in charge here.]

BECAUSE YOU'RE A CLEVER LITTLE MEATWAD AND DON'T BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES

[xoxo gossip triangle]

6/10 - Evening

[messiahwithagun]

[ With his reluctance to admit he needs help holding him back from asking for it, Joshua has spent every day exploring Wonderland. The caves are something he's been putting off exploring. Maybe it reminds him too much of the Rubicon, or maybe he doesn't like the idea of being by himself down there without his vibe tuned up.

Either way, an orb of blue light circles around him like a sentient thing as he picks his way through the cave bit by bit. He heard music, but it was no one he'd met in person just yet, so he made his way towards the source of it.

Every Soul had its own music. Dipper's is new to him. Still, he's not stupid enough to call out in as creepy a place as this. He's silent as he walks, his feet making literally no noise. The only thing that gives him away is the blue light, casting eerie shadows and buzzing quietly. ]

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper's muttering to himself, chewing on a pen as he stares at the book in front of him and wills it to have a solution. As usual, that doesn't actually help.

He looks up when he sees a light approaching, biting through the pen in his mouth in shock. He makes a face and spits out ink, wiping his mouth on his arm as he watches to see who's approaching.]

[messiahwithagun]

That didn't look like it tasted very good.

[ The voice of a fifteen year old with a lisp shouldn't spook anyone. Except maybe Neku. Joshua approaches Dipper with a slight smile. ]

If you're so spookable, why in the world are you down here of all places?

6/8, The Caves

[radiopalkiller]

[ Philip's arm isn't improving as quickly as he'd hoped. The sling may be gone as of this morning, but bandaged and weak its uses are yet severely limited. At this rate he might just end up praying for a miracle. Much as he'd hate to see Dr Meyer's effort go to waste, there's just no therapy like angel mojo. And he's got work to do, believe it or not.

Today he thinks one and a half hands will do, however. The rudimentary supply caches can and should be hidden at basement level anyway, a little something to improve his odds for whatever confrontation inevitably comes next.

Flashlight strapped to his forehead he starts counting the steps, the left, left, right, middle, left and so on, until he reaches the perfect place. A corridor near halfway between both exits, low ceiling and precarious footing. Holes riddle the ground, and the drops to the levels below are steep. Looks like it wouldn't take much to make that floor crumble.

Something like a pack of explosives ought to do.

Hide it in the ground. Cover it up. Set it off as needed. Shake off any pursuer violently. Or die trying, though at least that method would be a fresh notch on his belt. Philip sets down his rucksack, and breaks a glowstick against the wall. As it rolls away the cave is immediately drowned in eerie green flickers. Philip watches the shadows dance, and breathes a sigh of relief.

He pulls out his pickaxe and--

--oh fuck's sake, that wasn't just an echo, please don't let it have been an echo, who in the hell would be down here today?

He closes his grip around the axe, shuts off his headlight, and disappears into the shadows of a short would-be passage. ]

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper currently has sheets of paper spread around the ground and he's pacing, pen in his mouth.]

It doesn't make any sense. There has to be a pattern! Why did this place send her away and not me? Why do they take anyone? How do we get here to begin with?

[He bites through the pen and makes a frustrated growl, then tosses it into the quickly growing pile of broken thinking pens.]

There has to be an explanation!

[He does not notice Philip's approach.]

[radiopalkiller]

[ He thought that echo had a faint hint of something familiar to it, as far as he's entitled to that guess, his choice methods of communication being what they are these days. But the original message was still a video, and now the voice draws closer, clearer, faint hint turned full-blown recognition.

So much for the who and the why to boot, as far as half-muttered thoughts constitute as a proper explanation. It's half an idea, anyway. Philip's grip on the axe loses its urgency. Not that he's beyond ruling out pre-teen boys as potentially superpowered murdering maniacs on principle, that's not the sort of false security judgement that belongs here, but he's willing to give this particular one the benefit of the doubt.

...He'd give him the slip as well, but Philip's supplies are planted not too far ahead, and he'd rather not risk losing them to wanton rummaging. So-- ]

Usually that sort of philosophical thinking works better if you've got a desk and some proper light.

[ ...So down here voices sound odd to begin with, right? Might just be you can't even tell telepathy from the real thing, especially when it's too dark to see that a guy's mouth isn't exactly... moving when he talks.

Philip steps out of the secrecy of his passage. ]

6/9

[singloversing]

[Wirt hasn't had the best couple of weeks. Kaneki attacked him out of nowhere about three weeks ago now and it was pretty traumatic. He managed to get himself away safely, but not before Kaneki bit his arm. After a bit of a panic attack about whether he was going to turn into whatever Kaneki is (because he is definitely not human, not with those eyes and...and whatever those tentacle things were) he had the wound treated, but it's still swollen and bruised even now. He doesn't want to think about it, but it's kind of hard when it makes itself impossible to ignore. He'd rather just get used to the dull ache than consciously remember all over again that oh, right. He shouldn't have trusted Kaneki. ...Maybe he shouldn't have trusted anyone.

He wanted to push aside those darker thoughts, and for a while he did. He spent a lot of time with Beatrice, and a lot of time avoiding places where he might find Kaneki, but...a couple of days ago, Beatrice vanished, exactly the way Greg did a couple of months ago. Now, he's all alone in Wonderland, and he's not taking it well. He knows she's gone home, and that she'll be there when he leaves but...somehow, he never imagined that she would go. He fell into the same trap of thinking that if they left, they would leave together. This time it doesn't bring out panic in Wirt, but sadness - how can he trust that anyone he reaches out to won't disappear tomorrow? What's the point of connecting to people here at all?

He's avoided the library for weeks now because he knows it's a place Kaneki haunts (perhaps literally) but Beatrice's disappearance has shaken him too much and he's already read every book he's stolen away to his room twice now. So, he's tucked himself into a corner with his nose in a copy of In Bohemia by John Boyle O'Reilly. He might go unnoticed, except...someone passing by might overhear him reading outloud to himself. He's quiet, but when he thinks he's alone he actually has a good voice for reciting poetry. Dipper's likely to catch him mid-verse:]

--Heart-weary of building and spoiling,
And spoiling and building again.
And I long for the dear old river,
Where I dreamed my youth away;
For a dreamer lives forever,
And a toiler dies in a day.

I am sick of the showy seeming
Of a life that is half a lie;
Of the faces lined with scheming
In the throng that hurries by.
From the sleepless thoughts' endeavour...

[And so on and so forth.]

[krmvgivv]

[The books Dipper's been tearing through haven't proved much help, but he's not giving up. There are so many books in the library, surely one of them will hold the answer he needs, right?

He's walking through the aisles quietly, tracing his hands along the spines of the books when he hears the soft murmur of someone reading poetry. He moves forward, despite himself, and turns the corner to find Wirt of all people reading poetry out loud. He stops, waiting quietly in the shadows until Wirt's finished before he steps out.]

What poem was that?

[singloversing]

...For a dreamer lives forever,
And a toiler dies in a day.

[Wirt wasn't expecting anyone to be there when he finished, and he got so absorbed in reading that he forgot to keep himself alert in case Kaneki turned up. He nearly jumps out of his skin, and his eyes go wide, but he eases when he sees who it is.]

...Oh. Dipper. Hey.

[Unfortunately, the sudden motion and tenseness was not good for his wound, and as the adrenaline dies a new twang of pain makes him wince, and he rubs at his upper left arm a little. Then he remembers that oh, Dipper asked him a question. He actually looks genuinely surprised that Dipper would be interested enough to ask.]

It's um-- [He peeks back in the book to make sure he has the title right.] --The Cry of the Dreamer by John Boyle O'Reilly.

6/09

[mindbend]

[Loss was a powerful thing, however unfortunate. Powerful enough that the pain of it echoed loudly for miles, if only others had the ears to hear it. It takes Wanda time to find its source, to pick out whose thoughts are so raw and lonesome. It's familiar to her, almost like a siren call, a pain so like her own that she cannot ignore it.

She spots him when he's eating, turned away from any other residents that might walk in, half-buried in a book but with thoughts so troubled they might as well have been a sign hanging above him, painted in screaming red. She hesitates just for a moment before she moves closer, not daring to touch him, but carefully lowering herself into a seat just a little ways down, resting her weight against the table on one arm as she leans in, curious.]

You are missing someone. [A beat.] I am sorry.

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper doesn't look up until she speaks, though he does notice her. He doesn't want company. He just wants Mabel back.

But her words cause him to look up in some alarm.]

How did you know that?

[He's been dealing with Bill too much over the past week. It's left him even more paranoid than usual.]

[mindbend]

[He has every right to be paranoid, especially considering her gifts aren't all that different from Bill's in some respects-- where they do differ, however, is intent.]

I saw it-- felt it.

[The latter was more accurate.]

You lost someone close to you.

[Even having changed sides, she has yet to ditch the cryptic explanations.]

6/8

[minimoff]

[ If there is anything that will stop Tommy from his own frantic search, it's a panicking kid.

Tommy skids to a halt near him, listening to him yell a name. A friend, maybe? Or, worse, a family member? ]

Hey, kid! Who are you looking for?

[krmvgivv]

My sister! [Dipper pauses his charge and turns to the stranger. He's not even going to protest being called kid. That's how desperate he is to find Mabel.] She looks kind of like me but with longer hair, braces, and probably a sparkly sweater! Have you seen her?

[minimoff]

No, not yet.

[ He is still rater lost himself, not understanding a thing about this place, but the superhero in him is strong. He cannot just leave an obviously panicking kid.

Plus, his powers were pretty useful when it came to searching. ]

I can help you look. Brown hair, braces, sparkly sweater, your age, got it.

6/9

[goodwoofjames]

[Sirius has gotten used to the sight of teenagers who are far too into their studies around here. Sure, you had the few studious types at Hogwarts who were more interested in reading about magic than actually doing it. But there's something different about watching Lily and James read up on ways to get home. Something in the way their heads rest atop their necks.

And he sees that same desperation as soon as he spots the kid with the hat in the kitchen.]

Exams coming up?

[krmvgivv]

It's summer. I'm not doing exams again for months at least. [Maybe longer. He doesn't know if this place'll spit him out again in a week or in years. The fall will never come.]

lmao that icon

[goodwoofjames]

Mm, right. Then what's with the book devouring? You some sort of humanoid worm I haven't seen before? A bookworm?

6/10

[alayne]

[ the direwolf has been watching his steps.

he might have noticed her in his panic, she'd be here and there, always on the edges. grey fur and yellow eyes and ribbons of silk that makes it obvious who is her companion. that night, however, she'll come to the cave, walk in and peer at him before she'll turn and disappear into the night.

when she'll return, sansa herself will be one step behind, still in her afternoon gown. the direwolf will settle next to him and sansa will place a can in front of him. ]

I remembered what to ask the wardrobe for.

[ she had seen him search, seen his panic, she knows it well. she has been through this once with aunt lyanna than with arya and then with bran. ]

May I sit?

[krmvgivv]

Soda. [Dipper's mouth twists up into a ghost of a smile. It's nice that she remembered. But he's still rapidly losing hope. Mabel's gone and he's beginning to think everyone was right when they said that there was nothing he could do to change it. But he can't give up. Dipper would do anything for Mabel. That's just always how it's been.

He moves aside the rapidly growing pile of books and shrugs a shoulder.]

Sure, if you want. Are you why there's been a humongous canine stalking me?

[The direwolf is actually pretty nice for a giant wolf, but you know. It was still occasionally disconcerting.]

6/8, evening.

[vampdetective]

[It's entirely by chance that Angel happens to catch Dipper's scent while he's out walking-- something he's made a habit of doing since coming to Wonderland, as the lack of subway and sewer tunnels keeps him more or less mansion-bound during daylight hours. He frowns as he approaches the edge of the forest, hands deep in the pockets of the coat he's insisted on wearing despite the warm weather.

There's more to that scent than just Dipper himself. There's fear, maybe, or panic, and something else-- something he can't quite put his finger on.

He clears his throat when he approaches from behind, leaning forward just a little to put himself slightly closer to Dipper's height.]

Looking to take a walk in the woods? I wouldn't recommend it at this hour.

[krmvgivv]

I know what happens if you're in there too long. [He's done his reading. He's not stupid. He's not going in blind. It just doesn't make a difference. Not when Mabel could be in trouble.] It doesn't matter right now.