It was another day at the travelling Mystery Circus. There wasn't a show tonight, the performers had all finished practicing, and there wasn't that much to do. Dipper and Mabel were sitting on a charred stump on the edges of the circus grounds, not sure what to do. Mabel was wearing her human cannonball outfit, fiddling with her sparkly pink cape. Dipper was wearing an assortment of different sized and coloured clothes, like something you'd find at a rummage sale. He was just sort of staring absentmindedly at various nearby things.
Suddenly, Mabel shot up with a shout of "Ooh, ooh, I know something we could do!"
"Yeah?" asked Dipper, looking up at her.
"We could play a game of hide and seek!" exclaimed Mabel, standing triumphantly.
"Are you sure? I don't think we've played that game since we joined the circus." said Dipper.
"And what better place to play this game?" said Mabel. "Look at all the neat hiding spots." she said, gesturing to the various attractions around the circus.
"Well, alright." said Dipper. "Who should go first?"
"You can be the seeker first." said Mabel. "But you're never gonna find me. I'm sort of an expert hider."
Dipper said "I wouldn't be too sure about that. I don't think you're gonna be able to hide all that well when you're wearing..." he looked Mabel's sparkly and glittery pink outfit up and down. "...that."
"Oh, you'd be surprised." said Mabel, grinning somewhat deviously.
"Alright, turn around and count to fifty, no peeking!" said Mabel.
Dipper nodded and turned around, covering his eyes as he heard his sister run off with a giggle. Slowly, he counted to fifty, though he figured that it was probably more than Mabel needed.
When he finished counting, he called "Ready or not, here I come!" and turned around. Mabel, of course, was nowhere to be seen, and Dipper set off to look for her.
The first place he searched was the concession stands. Cotton candy, popcorn, soft-serve ice cream, and deep-fried foods of all kinds. Ringmaster Stan had overpriced each of them just enough that customers had a vague feeling that they were paying too much, but not enough that they could really call him on it.
Dipper checked every possible hiding spot in and around the concession stands. Behind the popcorn machine, under the donut stand (Dipper recalled that Mabel liked to wear donuts on the horns of her helmet for a "travel snack"), and between the ice cream machine and the deep-fryer. He even checked inside the cotton candy machine, knowing from experience that Mabel wasn't above trying to put herself in it, but she was nowhere to be found.
The next place he checked was the sideshows. Various attractions and animals were there, from "The Incredible Chair With No Legs" to "The Minotaur With The Body Of A Bull." Most of them were quite obviously fake, but the crowds seemed to love them anyway.
Dipper check the various taxidermied animals and other attractions for places Mabel could be hiding, but she didn't seem to be anywhere there either.
He also saw Waddles, Mabel's pet pig who was currently acting in shows as "The Amazing Pirate Hog" with an eyepatch over his left eye and a pirate hat made out of a newspaper.
The story of how Mabel had found Waddles was a pretty crazy one. She had accidentally been blasted over the horizon during a show, A shimmering twinkle being the last seen of her as she vanished into the sky. Everybody had frantically looked for her after the crowd left. She ended up returning to the circus by herself the next morning with bruises and singe marks all over her body, a busted leg, and a potbellied pig, which she cheerfully asked if she could keep.
Dipper had a brief, fleeting idea to ask Waddles where Mabel was hiding, but then he remembered that he couldn't understand oinks.
The next area Dipper searched was the spot where Soos practiced his strongman act. Various weights of various sizes and shapes were strewn about on the ground, and a few funhouse mirrors were set up nearby. When he stood in front of them, the mirrors made Dipper look tiny, huge, muscular, wide, think, and squiggly, respectively. Dipper checked behind each of the mirrors, but still no sign of Mabel.
He took a look at some of the weights. He wasn't quite sure if they were actually as heavy as they looked or just props, and he hadn't bothered trying to lift one of them to see. He decided to try lifting one of the smaller weights to know for sure. Soos made lifting them look easy, but as it turned out, they were definitely as heavy as they looked.
Continuing to search for where his sister was hiding, Dipper passed by an old fairground organ, which provided music for the circus. It played several different songs. They were all quite clearly circus music, but everybody kept changing their minds on what type of circus music it should play. So, it kept cycling from a old-style, gentle xylophone theme, to a bombastic, glitzy, Vegas-style song, to a vaguely eerie carnival drawl, to several other kinds of circus songs.
Next, Dipper checked out the caravan that he and Mabel slept in. Mabel's bed had a lot of different stuffed animals on it, and the blanket seemed to be perpetually covered in soot from Mabel often laying on it after shows. He looked under Mabel's bed, then his own, then every other nook and cranny. Mabel didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. He exited the caravan as he thought of other places she could be.
As he wander around looking for her, Dipper passed by Mabel's huge, ornate cannon. The cannon was always brightly coloured and decorated, but after Mabel had started adding some decorations of her own, it stood out even more, looking like some sort of sparkly rainbow war machine. A couple hundred yards in front of it was the trusty safety net, which Mabel most likely owed her life (or at least her intact bones) to.
Dipper decided to check under the safety net, still not seeing any sign of his sister. Then, a smirk grew on his face as he realized something. In hindsight, it seemed pretty obvious.
Dipper walked back to the cannon and casually took a book of matches from his pocket. Striking one, he brought the lit match to the cannon's fuse, smirking even more. He took a step back as he blew out the match and patiently waited for the fuse to reach the cannon, plugging his ears just before it did.
With a thundering boom, the cannon fired, and Mabel was blasted out of the barrel, letting out a cry of "WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" as she shot off into the sky. Dipper watched as his sister soared through the air before landing in the safety net with a bounce.
Mabel climbed out of the safety net and dizzily walked over to Dipper. She was covered from head to toe in soot from the cannon blast.
"Well played, bro-bro." she said with a smile, eyes still rolling from dizziness. "Well-oof!"
She stumbled and fell over. Still, she continued smiling. "...played."
"Thanks. Your hiding place was pretty clever." said Dipper, still smirking. "It took me a while to find out."
"Yeah, I was in there for while." said Mabel, standing up. "I actually kinda dozed off until I heard that fuse sizzle. Still, I know when to admit defeat. Good game."
"Good game." said Dipper, shaking Mabel's hand.
"Now, you might've won that round, but I'll have you know I'm also sort of an expert seeker." said Mabel with a brace-filled smile. "How about a rematch?"
"Sounds good to me." nodded Dipper.
"Alright, let's begin!" exclaimed Mabel. She covered her eyes and turn towards the base of her cannon, beginning to count as Dipper ran off in search of a hiding place.