HAT: Let's see how this goes.

Edited

Disclaimer: I own nothing aside from the plot and OCs... Gravity Falls isn't mine. :(

"What?! What do you mean missing? I thought you two hardly ever leave each other's side," Pacifica hisses back, now tossing her half finished apple to the pig who- of course- eats it.

"We're twins, not conjoined twins," Mabel deadpans- something new to Pacifica- and then shakes her head and takes on the worry she previously had. "I don't know what happened. One second I'm looking at a pretty butterfly and the next he's gone. I looked everywhere I could for him, but couldn't fine him."

Shit! "Okay... um- have you told the Stans or Wendy or Soos?"

"No, I came straight to you," she replies.

"Dummy," Pacifica hisses while hitting her cousin over the head. "At least Wendy and Soos can help us if you don't want to get in trouble with the Stans."

"Sorry," Mabel mumbles, rubbing the left side of her head.

The slightly older girl removes the beanie with one hand and rakes a hand through her blond locks. "Okay, so tracking could work. Looking for his footprints and stuff, but that doesn't always work... um... what do we have that has a good sense of-" She sees their newest pet nibbling on one of her shoes, but instead of getting angry she grins at her genius and pulls back on her borrowed beanie. "Shmebulock! Perfect!"

The gnome perks at hearing his name. "Shmebulock?"

"What can he do?"

"Gnomes have better senses than we go- they're more of a dog than they are human if they're left on their own," she relays from the information Stanley had her memorize. "We could have him take a whiff of Dipper's stuff and track him using Shmeb."

"That's a great idea!" Mabel praises.

Pacifica kneels in front of Shmebulock. "Shmeb, could you help us find Dipper?"

"Shmebulock," the gnome nods.

"Go get something that has his scent," Pacifica orders while grabbing a scarf to help keep the small gnome warm. "And do you have any gnome-sized gloves?"

"Made them this morning, they're on my bed."

Pacifica runs upstairs and grabs the small gloves and jacket before running back downstairs. She sorely hopes that neither Stan could hear her stomping up and down the stairs, but she has not time for that. It's winter in Oregon and Dipper- despite how she doesn't like him at the moment- is lost out there and most likely unable to find his way back even if he's explored the nearby woods.

It's be easier to track him if there were even a little snow, Pacifica thinks irritably while dressing the tracking gnome and grabbing her own pair of black gloves and pulling them on- on the thin sidenand flexible like she likes it- while glancing down the hall to see if anyone is walking down that she'll have to come up with an excuse for in order for her and Mabel to go out with Shmebulock. Leash! We don't have one! Oh, well.

She ties her scarf around the gnome and glances up when she sees Mabel walking forward with her brother's shirt in her hands. "I found this in the dirty clothes."

"Ew." Despite this she grabs the shirt and kneels in front of the gnome and holds the shirt out, but not stuffing it in his face- she learned the hard way with the dog not to stuff something smelly in the nose of something with a strong sense of smell. "Do you think you can find him?"

Shmebulock smells the shirt tentatively and then nods. "Shmebulock."

"Alright, let's go," both girls say and walk out of the door immediately.

Pacifica picks up the gnome and runs with him to the last place Mabel saw him before setting him down and letting him use his nose to find the missing Pines. Pacifica- the entire time- was cursing out her peer with every curse word in her arsenal- which had greatly increased after meeting Stanley- while they trudge through the cold, damp forest.

Shmebulock sniffs the air and walks as fast as he can on his little legs and eventually ends up on all fours to go faster when he feels the urgency to find the boy from the two girls. Pacifica knows that those gloves will be soaked by the end of this, but right now the main priority was Dipper- who could be soaked to the bone and dying somewhere for all they know.

"Should we get him off the ground before he gets frostbite on his hands?" Pacifica asks.

Mabel glances at her before looking down at the small bearded creature. "He'll be fine, his gloves are waterproof."

"That's useful," Pacifica mutters and adjusts her gloves, moving the scarf from one hand to the other. "Your idiot brother better not've gotten hurt."

"He's not an idiot!" Mabel screeches.

Pacifica covers the girl's mouth and glares. "Gnomes have sensitive ears and so do a lot of other dangerous things in this forest- supernatural or not. Besides, he's acting like one. Who roams off by themselves in the middle of the forest?"

"Well..."

"That's right... let's hurry up and find him before he gets eaten by anything or something," Pacifica half-grunts.

Instead of thinking about how irritated she is at herself for slowly turning into her guardians, she thinks about Dipper- the idiot. So smart when it comes to book stuff, but when it comes to common sense he had a fifty-fifty chance of seeming like a genius. Like never leave your buddy in the forest alone by roaming off or being packed for survival every time you go out. Pacifica has her switchblades- one in each pocket- and she's prepared to fight if she has to no matter what the monster or animal or even person. It's taking everything in her not to flick her old blade and put it back nervously at the thought that it is possible that they could find him dead and she's not sure what'd she do with the hysterical Mabel when she might be in shock herself. She doesn't particularly like Dipper, but she certainly doesn't want him dead, that's for sure.

"Shmebulock!" The gnome shouts, pointing straight ahead and breaking into a run.

Pacifica jogs to keep some of the slack on the makeshift leash- she makes a mental note to get a real one at the store for him. Mabel jogs beside her and they jog for about five minutes before- and this sent her heart plummeting off a cliff so she could only imagine what Mabel is feeling- he stops in the middle of a clearing and starts digging at the earth under their feet. Usually that means burial which usually means that they've been killed and hidden away.

"Start digging," Pacifica orders, kneeling onto the cold, damp earth and stuffing her gloves into her pockets before she starts digging at the earth.

Mabel follows her lead and begins to dig beside the gnome and her cousin with tears in her eyes.

Pacifica ignores those tears and concentrates on digging, trying to find pale skin with each swipe of the dirt. She hasn't been this scared to find what she's looking for since she had to find McGucket's raccoon wife on bath day, but that was nothing in comparison to what she's feeling now. Please, please tell me this is some sort of nightmare...

HAT: Is he alive? Is he dead? You don't know, but I do.

Dipper: I swear, if you kill me-

HAT: *raises eyebrows* 12 year old boy with no muscles against a nearly 18 year old who deals with a lot of children and picks them up and throws them on a couch all the time... who'd win?

Dipper: ... you would.

HAT: *nods* That's right. *picks up Dipper bridal style* And one of them happens to be a twelve year old who weighs more than you.

Dipper: *blushes* Put me down.

HAT: *sets him on his feet* Only because you're adorable. *ruffles his hair*

Dipper: I'm not adorable, I'm manly!

HAT: You'll grow into it eventually. Will you say it for me, please?

Dipper: Please review!