2. Mabelpiece Pt. 1
"Rise and shine, princess!"
Pacifica Northwest's eyes shot open to the familiar screech. Her hands were tied up and over her head, leaving the rest of her body limp in the middle of a dark space. Panic was what she had in mind.
While her body caught hold of that, her attention first made clear of the one smiling person who woke her up.
"What…Mabel! Where…where am I?" she asked, trying to regain her memory. She recalled finding a Romance perfume by Ralph Lauren, resting in the middle of a tree trunk, when she gave in to the curious urge.
Next thing you know, everything turned to night. And judging by her current surroundings, it still was.
"I thought we'd hang around a little…In your case, literally." Mabel joked. Pacifica didn't know whether to be confused, alarmed or both. As she tried to look around, she couldn't find anything familiar enough to serve as relative comfort. They could be far from the Falls at this point.
"What's going on? What is all this?" she yelled. Mabel only strolled while humming an easy tune to lighten the mood. Then, as though to irritate Pacifica more than usual, turned to her with fake indifference in her tone.
"Oh nothing much, just trying to keep the wild beast confined, if you catch what I'm saying." said Mabel, who foot nudged the bottle of chloroform, lying on the ground, away from where Pacifica might spot. This angered the blonde as she assumed there was as much rage inside her as there was in Mabel.
She might not even be the brains of all this as far as Pacifica knew.
"Uh! Who're you calling a wild beast you fathead?" replied the annoyed blonde, grimacing at Mabel's implied insult. Just because she was tied up didn't mean she was anyone's prisoner.
"Calm down, Pacifica, you have nothing to do with the beast I'm talking about…Unless your name is inspiration, then you're on the right track." Mabel replied.
She was trying to confuse her. This potentially meant she was trying to outsmart Pacifica by keeping her guessing what was in store for her. Although it was unnerving to imagine, Pacifica pretended she wasn't afraid.
She knew unlike her brother, Mabel was always one to give up as long as she was one step behind.
"Inspiration? For what? Torturing me?" the blonde asked in jest, taking a risk as long as it wouldn't evolve into a suggestion. It's not as though Mabel could take it the wrong way and bash her skull in anyhow.
Instead, Mabel approached Pacifica's bound self, pausing after their faces were a few centimeters away. Now it was her spontaneous nature that reignited the same fear throbbing down Pacifica's throat.
"While I can't blame you, let's not jump into conclusions quite yet. After all, isn't that…just…silly?" said Mabel gravely for such a statement, without letting her smile go "No…folly only works when it gives me the inspiration I need to patch up a neat design begging to leave the confines of my head."
By now, Pacifica was less afraid and more bored of Mabel's sudden lecture on visual creationism. This was the only way Mabel could possible get Pacifica to care about something beyond her business.
Let alone spare her ears listening.
"You see Pac; everything requires a touch of imagination, effort and inspiration to be considered works of art. An idea is not without an execution just as much as a cause needs and effect. The trick is to vary as much in style as you do in substance. Otherwise you're just expecting new results with the same thing, and that's just…silly!" Mabel said putting her hands behind her back in anticipation of the blonde's reaction once she finished her sentence.
Pacifica could do nothing more than assume this was what Mabel really wanted.
"Okay, I get it! Your parents apparently couldn't afford a good institute for you, so what do you want from me, a loan?" she asked, seeing right through Mabel once she made that portly smile fade away.
Only for a chuckle to come out.
"Ha! Classic Pacifica Northwest! Always reckoning money can solve all your mistakes, including the biggest one you've just made." Mabel replied, walking away from their distance.
The confusion all came back. Pacifica didn't think she could make any less sense with all these chipped pieces. Rather than explain the mistake to her, Mabel reached for her pocket.
She took out a shiny purple paintbrush, size 18. On one hand, she'd have to be right about art school to see Mabel hold a supply of that caliber. Yet there was still the mistake Mabel was talking about, absurd at first glance.
"But can you reckon how glad I was to leave Waddles at home for this?" asked Mabel, regaining the smile she could now tell was what awakened Pacifica's doubt. And with that doubt, arose fear again, the last emotion she was prepared to hand over.
Even if her ability to fake courage had worn out already.
"Oh! What, are you going to dribble all over me or my clothing? It's not like I wear the same pair twice!" she retaliated rabidly, wishing she could take pride in such a conceited remark.
To her initial bewilderment, Mabel stuck the bottom end of the brush up high, mimicking Pacifica's bound pose with one hand. It was what pulled its way out of the very tip that ceased Mabel's unpredictability once and for all: a jet black riding crop telescoped in the air, twice the length of the utensil it was attached to. Pacifica's eyelids stretched at how easily the initial end collapsed.
"Drawing, writing, sculpting and filming are all on my to-do list. But there's only one art I'm interested in perfecting tonight" said Mabel before extending the brush close enough for Pacifica to read the nearly contrasting letters.
From the moment Pacifica read the words "Vendetta" on the side, the real light bulb flickered above her within the hollow shadows.
It wasn't easy for the blonde to mix and match Mabel's implication. Better yet, Pacifica deserved the vengeance for having her enemy's brother expose her unknown history, she just refused to admit it on her own.
Yet it all came back once she weighed the actual definition of exposure.
"…Oh no! Does this have anything to do with your brother?" asked Pacifica despondently. Mabel didn't want her sympathy once the bound blonde tied the rest of the loose ends herself.
"Would you be flattered to have everyone in Gravity Falls call you "Skinny Dipper" on the morning newspaper?" the rhetorical question loomed with that same mocking tone.
It all made sense, Mabel was trying to pay her brother back for the satisfaction she held on pioneer day. Dipper proved personal humiliation was just as degrading as the public variant, now it was Mabel's turn to carry it out.
"It's not my fault! Toby found the photo pieces I ripped up after we agreed not to show them." said Pacifica, lying through her teeth. In spite of believing her, Mabel didn't need to see Pacifica bribing the newsman to keep his mouth shut for her to stand her ground.
They both knew the thought counted just as much this time around.
"Oh…so you made a deal with my brother in exchange for the photos to be shredded, huh?" she asked. Pacifica saw how the color in her eyes dimmed down into real contempt. She knew it, she could tell Pacifica was as scared as livestock watching their companions take the first turn in an abattoir. "Once again, applause to Pacifica's greatest talent in bribery, ranging from blackmail to swindling!"
"Look… he didn't mind, okay? I just-"
Pacifica would've finished, she had an argument planned. But Mabel shook her head before walking behind her.
"Sigh, I must say, I grow weary of this…monkey playground" she grunted before placing her hands on Pacifica's waist. The blonde gasped twice once Mabel flat out pulled the bottom of her shirt dress up. The two girls shared a look of disgust, except Mabel allowed humor to tag along.
"Meh, Hello Kitty does match the pink backdrop" Mabel noticed from Pacifica's colorfully tessellated tanga.
"AAAH! You ARE going to torture me!" Pacifica retaliated angrily. She wouldn't guess wrong by simply assuming Mabel was crazy enough to reach personal heights. "I thought you were just weird, now I know you're sick!"
Mabel walked back to Pacifica's view once she rolled up the end so that most of her backside remained visible.
"Oh good! Emma Roberts once told me sick is the new sane. And that's true! I mean what is sick if not a serious way of putting...silly?" said the delighted twin once she emerged from the darkness, holding a radio-cassette with one hand. Pacifica nearly forgot how Mabel had the power to turn the most powerful of insults into a positive outlet.
"Wait, what's the boom box for?" asked Pacifica after Mabel laid the instrument on the floor.
Mabel could tell Pacifica had admitted her fear, even if she didn't word it out. That's why she extended the whip-like end of her paintbrush towards Pacifica's face and gently tapped her nose. The blonde didn't know why that mock playfulness brought the first shiver down her almost naked back.
"Inspiration of course." Said Mabel, in secret hope that it would awaken some curiosity in Pacifica, which she was prepared to satiate "You see, miss Nonweird normalton, during my research on the most well known torture scenes, I came across three movies with a very fascinating pattern that expanded my horizon more than I already planned."
Mabel walked slowly back behind her bound victim before continuing her thoughts. Pacifica would've considered wriggling her wrists out of the roped shackles had she chosen to ignore whatever impulsiveness Mabel had in mind.
"Tell me, Pacifica, A Clockwork Orange, Reservoir Dogs, last year's Muppets movie. Have you at least heard of one?" said Mabel, in a misleadingly comfortable disposition. Pacifica saw how she expressed this quarry and thought they were equals.
"I don't know!" said Pacifica, wriggling herself wildly as though to escape her imprisoned state. "I'm not into that-"
*CRACK!*
"AOWH! That…hurt me!" yelled Pacifica after feeling the string-like impalement for the first time. What would've scared Pacifica the most was at how bored Mabel appeared on doing that, almost as though she was used to this.
"I'll ask yet again! Have you?" said Mabel serenely, admitting they weren't equals in any sense, if not to keep Pacifica's attention away from thinking she had a way out. Mabel already caught up on whenever Pacifica was bluffing her.
"Okay! I've only seen parts of the Muppets…please don't hit me again!" Pacifica begged, the weakness of subjugation finally enveloping her. Bargaining was all she could really do at this point.
Let alone imply Mabel would grant it.
The whip's end landed on Pacifica's nose once again, making her absorb its power. The jolt of pain was easily caused by something so thin. And now the soft stroke betwixt her eyes only made her anxiety grow every passing second.
"Too late, you should've done your homework, queeny." said Mabel, revealing her braces within that apathetic smile. "Now listen, when you study theses unique films' own torture scenes, a pattern will emerge. And that's because the common denominator in all of them is the way they torture their victims: musically and with a time difference of two decades"
Pacifica couldn't believe this was really going to happen. She wouldn't know how much she'd want it to stop until it kicked in, and yet Mabel brought the pain through a quick but persistent hint. It was the upcoming words that in any other situation would just be boring, rather than vigorously scarring.
"Allow me to explain. In 1972, A Clockwork Orange's rape scene consisted of Alex DeLarge chanting, in an almost sardonic pitch, "Singing in the Rain", a song which came out twenty years ago, whilst defiling his victim." Mabel began.
"And twenty years later, Reservoir Dog came along to match, if nearly top, Clockwork's grizzly musicale with a scene of its own. Only this time, an ex-criminal by the name of…heh, Mr. Blonde, took out a bound and gagged cop's ear whilst twisting to a little ditty which emerged around the same time Clockwork shocked audiences. Steely Wheeler's "Stuck in the middle with you" finally ceased to be overlooked by mainstream audience's eyes. I was going to say ears but that would be insulting to Marvin's memory"
This was the kind of spoiler that kept anyone from seeing such a film. Mabel would present the blonde with ear severing nightmares as a bonus if she came out of this alive. She already made her grasp this mental agony in preparation for the real one.
"By now, this would've end as a coincidence rather than a pattern, but thanks to "Smells like Teen Spirit", a year before Dogs hit screens, The Muppets decided to tone down the blood and rape for the kiddie demographic twenty years later, via Jack Black's somberly hilarious turn and a colloquial butchering by the barbershop quartet,."
Pacifica somehow wished this lecture would keep going. If this meant she was lingering so much, Mabel couldn't possibly want to do this. But like any PowerPoint Presentation, Mabel snapped the audience out of their daydream once it ended.
"Such an artistic merit in the pattern alone, wouldn't you agree?" asked Mabel, who then made Pacifica feel like she was about to kiss her lips from her loomed distance and ostensibly drowsy eyes. "My general point is that even though I'm not going to wait twenty years, or choose a song starting with "S", you can guarantee I'll make this revenge the work of art I'm aiming for"
Even after hearing her straightforwardly confess this revenge, Pacifica refused to believe Mabel. She appeared relaxed to begin with; this could be a potential joke. A sick one albeit. Pacifica's mind still shielded that first hit, but denial wasn't worth sacrificing logic for.
"Why…would you do that? Why couldn't you just spare me the details and get the pain over with?" asked Pacifica, who saw Mabel nearly lose her confident grin, suggesting she might've wanted to gag her if the shrills weren't worth it.
"Because, Pacifica, besides it making it easier on you, I don't want this to be another headless Grunkle Stan, no. I want this to reflect upon my name as though it were related to the initials it needs to live up to. I want it to last this time!" she replied heartily. And it was true; Mabel had deeper intentions than just getting back at Pacifica. The type of intentions she was good at concealing, unlike the blonde's fear.
Before clicking the play button on the small juke box, Mabel held an Atlantic Starr CD out for Pacifica to notice. After that, a man's consoling tenor emerged from the echoing space whilst Mabel walked behind Pacifica.
"I want this to be…MY MASTERPIECE!"
Pacifica couldn't even guess where they were anymore now that the sound quality rivaled that of a movie theatre. In lieu of that, she could also only hope no one else was spying.
Especially once she felt Mabel's cold fingertips slide her undergarments down to her ankles.
It was then that Pacifica realized she was never this cruel to Mabel. She didn't want to deserve this; she just wanted to wake up already. In her bed and cogently panting, the way she was right now.
"Please, Mabel…I'm sorry…for what I did to your brother…okay? Don't do this! I'll be less of a jerk from now on! You don't need to hurt me! Please?" she pleaded, wriggling more than before albeit obliviously to Mabel's dancing.
Mabel's only desire was to enjoy the freedom this moment had. Pacifica's cries only enticed her more to deliver her imminent punishment. She knew there wasn't a way of convincing anyone to accept their divine judgment.
"What a sad sad girl you are, Pacifica… At least enjoy the song." She advised serenely. As she danced, Mabel bit part of the ridding crop whilst aiming for the blonde's round butt in order to get psyched. She nearly envied her curves; never had she met a girl her age that was too focused on her figure to enjoy the whimsy of youth.
"Especially since it gets almost no airplay anymore"
Oh no, this will end in any way but well.