After being blown back several yards by the force of the blast, Dipper came to with a loud groan.
"...Definitely shouldn't have poked it." The boy muttered ruefully to himself.
Today's brush with the bizarre had taken a painful turn. One would have thought that the strangest thing about a creature called Squash with Human Face and Emotions was the fact true to its name, it was a squash with a humanesque face and feelings. However, there was somehow even more oddity to the unexplainably elusive creature. Unfortunately, the Pines twins didn't realize that Journal Number 3 had left out a few crucial details until it was too late
When sufficiently provoked, apparently the squash had a tendency to explode. It arguably wasn't the best self-defense mechanism, but that didn't stop it from bursting with the force of a small box of grenades shortly after the siblings stumbled across it in the middle of the woods.
With his body aching and ears still ringing, it took a little while until Dipper could peel himself up off the ground and take stock of the scene. All that was left of their discovery was a charred patch of earth surrounded by smoldering gourd scraps.
"Mabel?" He spotted his sister lying close by in a sprawl. Immediately his attention fixed onto the growing patch of bright red soaking through her sweater. A surge of terror jolted him to his feet and sent him flying over to her side.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no! Mabel!" He dropped to his knees. As he clumsily shifted her head on his lap, she stirred with an incomprehensible mumble.
"It's okay!" Her brother tried his best to sound believably reassuring. "It's going to be okay. We'll get you back to the Shack in no time-"
"Huh? Dipper? What are you-" Mabel's eyes fluttered open, groggily darted his way and proceeded to almost pop clean out of her skull. She jerked upright like a jack-in-the-box.
"DIPPER!" She frantically reach for him.
"It's going to be okay! It's going to- hey!" He struggled to grab her failing wrists. "Mabel, it's okay, I'm just going-"
"It's not okay! It's not okay at all!" The girl spiraled headlong into a massive panic. "Blood!"
"I know, I know!" He struggled to calm her down. "It's going to be all right, I promise!"
"All right? Dipper, look!" Mabel reached incessantly at him as if her very life depended on it. Meanwhile, bright red continued to spread beneath her sweater without any signs of slowing.
"Stop it! I need to-"
"No you stop it!" She snapped right back. The frantically determined girl wrenched her hands out of his hold for the third time in the last three seconds alone.
"Calm down!" As he tried to restrain her, his mind raced. The panicked boy mentally debated whether a couple strips torn from his shirt or a few sacrificed pages for the journal would make better improvised bandages.
"Dipper, cut it out!" She yelled as the siblings continued to grapple with one another.
"Me? You're the one who needs to stop!"
"No, you're the one who needs to stoppit!"
"C'mon, Mabel!"
"Let go!"
"Quit it!"
"Stop grabbing me!"
"What are you doing? Just let me help-"
"STOPPIT AND LET ME HELP YOU!" Mabel involuntarily yelled.
A dead silence fell on that particular patch of forest. The twins let go of one another as they both were struck temporarily dumb by bewilderment.
"Help….me?" Dipper murmured incredulously.
"Yeah, you're hurt! I mean….aren't you?" She asked, looking equally confused.
"But….you're the one who's hurt….right? I mean, just look at that." He wasn't honestly sure now as he pointed to what he thought was a nasty wound. However, she didn't even appear minorly discomforted by what appeared to be a life-threatening injury. Mabel took one look at it, and burst out laughing hard that she looked fit to pop.
"That's not blood, is it?" Dipper was rushed by relief as his sister vigorously shook her head.
"Nope! Let's have a looksee here….aha! Thought so!" She reached beneath her sweater and triumphantly pulled out a squashed tube of red paint. "See? We're good!"
"….Why did you have paint under there?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Because this isn't just any sweater. It's my patented one-of-a-kind Pack-and-Wear!" She pointed gestured to the smiling cartoon suitcase on her handmade garment. "It comes with pockets of all shapes sizes knitted underneath! It's the perfect companion for today's busy Mabel on the go!"
"Okay….but why was there paint under there?" He asked again. She reached back beneath and in short order she pulled out a brush, a small pad of paper, a handful of colored pencils, an eraser, a small bag of glitter and a glue stick.
"In case inspiration strikes, of course!" The arts and crafts master explained matter of factly. Her brother heaved an enormous sigh.
"Okay, tell me next time you're going to wear anything crazy like that." He gave her an affectionate push. "I don't even know where to start with this."
"You could start by praising it!" She immodestly suggested. "Just look! Smart, huh?"
"It looks like you just got stabbed." Her brother didn't mince words. "Seriously, don't scare me like that."
"You'll warm up to its genius soon enough!" She retorted confidently with a giggle. "Now what's the deal with your fake-out thingy?"
"Huh?" Her brother shot her a puzzled look.
"Your fake-out thingy!" She pointed to the fresh splotch of red on his shirt. Dipper looked down, and in an instant he understood her earlier panic.
"Oh…..ooooohhhh." He reflexively grimaced. The boy soon realized he also had a slight ache in his side. "Ohhh no. That's actually…"
"What is it? Do you have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich under there? Ketchup packet?" She guessed.
"...I think that's the real deal."
"...Oh."
"Yeah." The boy winced uncontrollably as he checked for himself. "Yeah, that's definitely a cut. Probably got it from rolling over a rock. Not deep or anything, but still….ouch."
"Paging Doctor Mabel!" His sister was on the case. Mabel reached beneath her sweater and promptly retrieved a travel-sized first-aid kit. "Okay, bro-bro, let's have a look here. Ooooh, there it is. Yeah, it's no big deal. Gimme another second, I just need a couple more things…"
In no time she had produced a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a tiny bag of cotton balls, some gauze, a plastic stethoscope, a tongue dispenser just in case, and a fun-sized chocolate bar that she passed into his hands. The girl cheerily hummed away as she went to work patching him up.
Dipper marveled. He had no idea how she had been able to carry all that on her without him noticing. What he did know was that he had decided to change his earlier tune.
"So….you think maybe you could sew a couple extra pockets inside a vest?" He sheepishly pried.
"I'm glad you asked that!" The prospect of a new project sent her beaming with excitement. After she applied a large adhesive bandage, Mabel reached back into her sweater and quickly pulled out a thread, a pincushion and several pieces of cloth. "How soon do you want to get started?"
Just another little slice of life story with the twins. Happy new year's, everyone! - SGA