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

[krmvgivv]

Lemon cakes? [Why would you make cake out of lemon? But he reaches to take one anyway. She ate pizza with her bare hands. It's only fair he tries what she brought too. He takes a bite cautiously, then looks up in surprise.] Hey, it's sweet.

[alayne]

The name can be a little misleading.

[ her smile turns brighter, pleased that her little gift has not gone without appreciation. there must be something very improper at meeting a boy in a cave at night but there is none to see. she takes one herself, gives it a small bite and running hand through the direwolf's fur. ]

if you are hiding from someone, I promise I won't tell.

[krmvgivv]

I'm not-- [He sighs, shoulders slumping.] I'm not hiding from anyone. [Or maybe he's hiding from everyone. He's not really sure at this point. Really, the main thing he's hiding from is his own empty room.] I'm just... trying to figure something out.

[All he wants to do is get his sister back. Through any means possible. Or impossible, if that's what it takes. But so far, he hasn't had much luck.]

[alayne]

oh.

[ she should be more charming, more clever, twice more sophisticated and well-spoken then this but she feels herself unable. she thinks, fears, that he would have liked alayne twice as much. alayne the baseborn girl who is more clever than sansa stark, less refined, more humble yet forward in her manners of speech. sansa feels herself inadequate; she had no one to truly care for or show interest at since they have taken jeyne poole. Sweetrobin has always been so blunt in his requests, she never had to guess, not truly. the poor sickly boy has always made it so evident.

she looks down at her hands, flexes her fingers, a nasty habit that comes out of sheer nervousness.

what does she say? what does she ask? does she ask? she cannot hope to help, not truly, how can she when she cannot understand any other realm but her own? ]

forgive me, have I intruded?

[ it comes to mind now that she never truly asked if she may sit, or enter, or do anything at all. ]

[krmvgivv]

What? No! No. [Dipper looks up, waving his hands quickly. He didn't mean to make her feel unwelcome, though that in and of itself is... strange. He's self aware enough to know he's been a big jerk to a lot of people who've come down with the best of intentions. He gives a self deprecating little smirk.] Believe me, you would've known if I wanted you gone. I am not subtle.

[He holds up the lemon cake and gives her a hopeful little smile.] I might have... forgotten to eat for most of today so you know. This is good.

[alayne]

[ she thinks it's odd that she doesn't fear him. Such words of lacking subtlety should make her fear he'll hit her were she ever unwelcome. The lessons she learned from Joffrey are written on her skin, invisible scars that usually make her suspicious and uncertain of most people.

But he seems as nervous as she is, lacking practice in such manners of speaking to ladies and it makes her smile, makes her feel at ease. ]

Had I known, I would have brought more than sweets.

[krmvgivv]

I would have told you, but then I'd probably have been thinking ahead enough to just eat. [He takes another bite, face falling again as he remembers why he's been doing such a bad job taking care of himself.]

My sister. Mabel. She's... well, the official word is sent home. [He believes it. Mostly. There's a hard, stubborn note in his voice that says exactly how hard a time he's having accepting that.]

[alayne]

I understand.

[ she knows how comforting it is to have a sibling in wonderland and the pain of losing them when they go. she was unwilling to accept arya and bran's disappearance, sending her friends far and wide to the corners of wonderland to search for them, time and time again until, after days and days, sansa had to come to terms that they were lost to her once again.

she thinks about it before offering, ]

if you have something of her, Lyanne can catch a scent and search for her.

[krmvgivv]

Her stuff all vanished. [He shrugs a shoulder, trying to act like it doesn't bother him. Like his sister could go missing and nothing is left at all but her memory.] But this vampire I know already tried that. He couldn't smell her anywhere.

[alayne]

Many people return.

[ she tries that, for comfort. it's what she was told when arya and bran went missing. they have not returned but sansa knew they won't. she had lied to them, had made them see alayne where there was sansa and she knew their leaving to be her punishment. wonderland would not reward her again, not when she was so foolish not to see it as a blessing to begin with. ]

I had two here. A brother and a sister and also my lady aunt. they've all been - absent for a long while but I still pray for their return and I've been told they might.

[ she doesn't believe it, not one bit but she will not affect another with her own despair ]

[krmvgivv]

There has to be a pattern. I know if I could see it I could somehow manipulate it and figure out how to make Wonderland bring the people I want.

[He pauses and glances over at her.] Or we want. I'm... I'm sorry your family isn't here. It's almost worse than if they'd never been here at all, right? At least then, they wouldn't be... taking it away.

[He's been places without Mabel before. He can handle it. But losing her hurts. A lot.]

[alayne]

Do you truly think you could?

[ it sounds like a dream. if he could do it then maybe he could teach others. maybe sansa could see arya again and bran - and aunt lyanna and maybe, maybe -

her lady mother. her lord father. she shouldn't wish and shouldn't hope but he sounds so determined and so certain, maybe, maybe. ]

They - it is different for me, I.

[ she looks down at lyanne. ]

I've named Lyanne over my Lady aunt, Lyanna. we were never destined to meet in my realm, she died very young.

[ and as for arya, as for bran ]

I thought my brother was dead and my sister. they told me Bran was burnt to death and I've lost Arya the day they - killed my lord Father. They were here and they are gone but -

[ but there is something more important, surely. ]

But they are alive, I know that. It's a small comfort.

[krmvgivv]

[It sounds... terrible. So much worse than his PG rated life. And here he is worrying about his sister who is probably at home and doing just fine. Takes a lot for Mabel not to be doing fine, after all.]

Sansa, I'm sorry, I had no idea.

[His voice cracks a little.]

I'm glad your siblings are alive. I can't even imagine, losing Mabel like that. [He wouldn't be able to handle it. Just being separated is hard enough.] And your dad... that's terrible.

[alayne]

You couldn't have known, I never told you.

[ some people know, yes. queen daenerys and steve who came upon sansa's memory room and saw the family she has lost, and bucky, yes and evelyn who had seen her memories, who saw her father beheaded, who saw - ]

They all I have left of my family.

[ bran and arya and perhaps - rickon. she never asked. you couldn't have asked, stupid, you were alayne not sansa, she thinks and her thoughts ring in her head in arya's voice. ]

But they are alive. it's what matters. I'm certain that they would have wanted me to be well.

[ not happy. happy is a luxury that none of them can afford. ]

I know your sister would want the same for you, too.

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper glances down at his hands, smiling a little. She's not wrong about what Mabel would want.]

Yeah... she'd probably be calling me names right now if she were here. Possibly resorting to physical violence too.

[And telling him he should sleep. But that much is still hard when half his room feels so empty.]

[alayne]

My sister Arya is much the same. She would call me names all the times and was a nightmare at dinner times.

[ she rolls her eyes with a little chuckle. ]

we are very different, myself and her she's braver.

[ once she'd use this chance to insult her but that was then, when she was naught but a stupid little girl. now, the way she looks at arya is wholly different. ]

[krmvgivv]

Mabel and me are pretty different too. She's... [How does one even begin to describe Mabel Pines? Dipper tilts his head.] Ridiculous. But not like in a bad way. She just sees the best in everything. And then puts stickers on it.

[alayne]

That is not a common trait of character.

[ especially not where she's from. in westeros, if one isn't clever enough to see the darkness in those they meet, one might lose the game and their heads, too. optimism belongs to small children and in recent times, even they do not have the luxury anymore.

a fortunate girl, she thinks and tries not to envious ]

if that is her way, I am certain she would have you eat another lemon cake.

[krmvgivv]

She probably would. [It's enough to pull a smile out of him, and he does indeed take another lemon cake.]

You know, assuming she didn't just... eat them all before I had a chance. Wish you'd gotten a chance to meet her before she vanished.

[alayne]

Mayhaps she'll come back. My friend Steve, he vanished, we were all heartbroken but he came back and he was safe and sound and just as we remembered.

[ a little smile ]

we can hope.

[krmvgivv]

[Mabel would hope. Dipper would find a way to make sure it happens. But even with all the spells he has in the Journal and all the bits and pieces on Wonderland he's read, he's still got nothing.]

I'm not very good at just sitting and hoping.

[alayne]

Would that you would never have to learn.

[ and would that he would never learn what it means to lose the latter. it is a feeling sansa wishes to install only in those who brought her house to ruin. ]

mayhaps there is something in the library? it is very vast.

[krmvgivv]

That's where I've been looking. [He wraps his arms around his knees, pulling them up in front of him.] So much information and I'm really good at researching and I still can't figure it out.

[If he can't figure it out, what good is he?]

[alayne]

You must not blame yourself. Wonderland lacks sense, it may only wish to make you think you can understand while keeping you in the dark.

[ riddles and riddles and sansa has to wonder how many of them even have answers to begin with. this is a game, another game, play or be played. she cannot allow herself to forget. forgetting would make her a pawn and she is tired of being that. ]

[krmvgivv]

I can't believe that. [Because if there really is no logic, no pattern, if it really is all truly random, then there's nothing he can do. Then he really is helpless. Then Mabel can be taken from him and given back with no rhyme and reason. That he could be taken from her. Then all of this is just... pointless.

He doesn't think he can function if that's truly the case.]