Sweater Town
Chapter 3 – The Falls
By Starwin
Mabel's eyes fluttered open into the morning sunlight. She squinted, lifting a hand to shield her face. BLARGH. Stupid sun. She rolled over to face her stuffed animals that lined the edge of her bed. Except, they weren't there. She felt a strange twinge of confusion. Groggily, she pushed herself up to look around the room
This wasn't her room. This was Dipper's room. She had fallen asleep in his bed, making a little nest out of the blankets. Her eyes swept across the mess her brother always failed to clean up. He was nowhere to be found.
The painfully bright red numbers of his digital clock told her it was 1 PM. She didn't remember exactly when she had drifted off but that seemed fairly late in the day. What was today anyhow? All notion of time seemed to be lost on her now that she had stopped going to school. Or, really doing anything outside of hiding away.
She looked down at herself to find she was still wearing her shooting star sweater. Poking out below the hem was her purple nightgown. She had been having the strangest dream of being back in Gravity Falls. Her brother had been there too and she had given him back his journal. The journal!
Her hands felt around the mattress for the absent book. She must have let it go when she drifted off to sleep. However, the journal was nowhere to be found. She hopped off the bed and searched the floor. After a few minutes of searching through discarded clothing, she hadn't seen even a trace of the journal. It was like it had vanished… or… like she had left it in her dream.
She bit her lip. No. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a fantasy. Sweater town was real! She ran a hand down her sweater. It was real... right? She honestly couldn't say.
She gave one last longing glance at the bed, as though hoping the journal might suddenly pop into existence if she stared hard enough. But the bed remained empty.
Her thoughts tumbled back to the dream, trying to recall everything that had happen. All that was left in her memories were the last moments of talking with Great Uncle Ford about… something. She couldn't exactly recall what. She had woken up here, right where she gone into sweater town... Or, more likely, right where she had fallen asleep.
She pulled off her sweater so that she was once more just in her nightshirt. She looked the garment over and was surprised - and a little unhappy - to find that some of the hem had started to fray. There was also a small rip in one of the sleeves. Well, that wouldn't do at all.
She made her way back across her brother's room, more careful to avoid his dirty laundry scattered over the floor this time. She went out into the hallway that separated them. The house seemed to be quiet and she wondered where their parents were. At the moment she wasn't curious enough to go looking for them.
Her tummy protested that she was heading back to her room rather than downstairs to get it food. There was another feeling of urgency in her too, one she couldn't as easily ignore. She halted at her door. In one hand was her torn sweater while her other hand pressed just below her stomach, trying to coax her body to wait. However, it didn't seem like this was something that would wait.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she tossed the sweater at her bed (missing). She hurried down the hallway to the bathroom she and Dipper shared - her thoughts derailed as she pulled the door open. The bathroom they had shared.
She closed the door and seated herself before she started crying into her hands. Up until that thought everything had been fine. It had just been another day, she had been able not to think about it for a full ten minutes or so.
Then her stupid brain reminded her that she didn't share the bathroom down the hall with her brother anymore, it was just her bathroom now. It wasn't their parents she hadn't seen yet, they were just her parents. And it wasn't Dipper's bed she had fallen asleep in last night, it was just an empty bed.
She pulled handfuls of toilet paper off the roll beside her (the tissue box was out of reach) and pressed the absorbent paper against her sobbing eyes and runny nose. It took her almost an hour, and the rest of the roll, before she finally cried as much of it out as she could. She didn't feel better when her tears ran dry, she just felt… alone.
Finished, both with crying and other needs, she got up and used the sink. Her bright red eyes glared back at her in the mirror. She looked terrible. It was like her reflection was judging her, blaming her.
She looked determinedly away from the face in the mirror, instead focusing on her open palms under the running water. She just stared into the flow, not really seeing anything. Time seemed to slip from her as the faucet ran for far longer than she needed. The hot water rushed between her fingers as if washing away some unseen blood that could never be removed.
A knock at the door behind her nearly startled Mabel out of her skin. For one terrible moment, she had thought it would be Dipper. He had come to ask if she could hurry up, because he really needed to use the bathroom. It wasn't her brother, of course.
"Sweetie, are you alright in there?" came her mother's voice. "The sink's been running for a while… and… I just want to make sure everything is… that you're okay."
"Dipper," said Mabel automatically then closed her mouth, putting a hand over it.
"I… I know sweetheart… I-" She could hear her mother's voice breaking. Mabel shut off the water and hurried to the door, pulling it open. Her mom was standing outside with a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her sobs. Mabel hugged her around the waist and pressed her head into her mommy's tummy. "I'm sorry," her mother whispered, her voice rough and uneven.
She stroked Mabel's hair, trying to impart comfort. Her mother gave a great sniff that seemed to stifle her tears at last. She patted her daughter, seeming to indicate that she could let her go. Mabel gave one last squeeze then released her mom.
"Lunch is waiting downstairs," said her mother at last. Her voice was somehow far more calm than anything Mabel could ever possibly have managed. "Come down when you're ready, you need to eat something." Mabel nodded, more to show that she understood than agreeing that she would eat. Her mother smiled at her one last time before heading downstairs.
Mabel stood at the bathroom door a while longer. Finally, she decided that lunch couldn't hurt. Her tummy rumbled its loud agreement. Fine, food it was.
She trudged downstairs and was instantly accosted by her pet pig. Waddles scurried across the hardwood floor and crashed into her legs. He licked at her toes and she couldn't help but let out a giggle. She lifted him up and hugged him tight. He was still growing and getting a little heavier every day. When she had got him he had been only fifteen pounds. Now he was closer to thirty and she was starting to have a hard time carrying him around. Maybe she needed to put him on a diet, how heavy did pigs get anyhow?
She stopped at the kitchen door, which had a little gate. With a frown, she remembered that pigs were not aloud in the kitchen. She set Waddles down and rubbed his side, which caused him to roll over onto his back. She furiously rubbed his tummy. He squealed with delight and Mabel giggled. It felt good to giggle.
The sound died in her throat. Giggling wasn't right. Not now. Not ever again...
She frowned and stopped her pig tickling. His belly rub apparently completed, Waddles rolled back to his little hooves and did what he did best, waddled off. She knelt there for a moment longer, watching her pet pig make his way across the floor to the pillow she had made for him. Red velvet, with a gold cord around the sides. There were hand stitched letters on the front that said Waddles, with each letter being a different color.
She got back to her feet and pulled open the kitchen gate before slipping inside. Her mother was at the counter motionless like a statue. She was standing there with her hands on the tile and staring out the window at nothing. Mabel didn't see her father.
The table was already set with plates and food. Mabel's usual spot was waiting for her. She had a sandwich, turkey, her favorite. Since getting Waddles she had insisted on no pig products. Turkeys were creepy jerks though, so she didn't mind. There were also apple slices and a glass of water. She would have prefered soda but whatever.
She sat and went hungrily for her sandwich but stopped. Her place wasn't the only one that had been set. Across the table from her, in the spot where Dipper usually sat, was another plate with apple slices. It had a tuna sandwich, Dipper's favorite. Mabel felt her heart catch in her throat as she looked at it, her appetite suddenly gone. Her stomach groaned angrily and she punched her gut, hissing at it.
The sound seemed to rouse her mother, who looked at her and blinked. She must have finally noticed Mabel was there. Running her hands down the bottom of her blouse to get rid of any wrinkles, her mother smiled at her.
"I know it's nothing fancy, just sandwiches," said her mom. "I made your favorites, turkey for you and tuna for-" Her eyes moved to the spot where she had put the extra sandwich. Her hand came up to her mouth and she turned away.
For the second time that morning, Mabel went to her mother and hugged her. This time, her mother didn't return the hug at all. She just broke down into sobs at the counter. Mabel continued to hug her, thinking that she too might succumb to tears at any moment. However, her morning sob on the toilet seemed to have cried her out and she managed to keep it together.
After a long while, her mom seemed to recover enough to speak again. She patted Mabel, once more indicating that she was fine. Mabel went back to her spot while her mother collected the other sandwich that had been meant for Dipper.
Mabel looked at her food and her insides screamed at her to eat some of it, all of it! Right now! It wanted that food! GIVE ME FOOD! Tentatively, she picked up a slice of apple and bit into it. It was like flavor town in her mouth, sweet, juicy and delicious.
"Your father can eat it when he gets back from the funeral home," said her mother as she put the food into the fridge. Mabel nearly choked on her apple slice, only just managing to spit it out instead.
"DIPPER!" she shouted without thinking. She had intended to scream 'what!' but, well, her words weren't working so hot at the moment. Her mother glared at her with a look that seemed to say, 'how dare you,' for only an instant until her expression softened.
"We have to make arrangements," explained her mother. She looked seriously at Mabel. "I know this has been..." she seemed to lack the right words " - awful," she said at last. "Your father and I have been talking and we think it might be best if you talked to someone about what you're going through."
Mabel frowned deeply at this. Was her mom joking? Talk to someone? What was she going to say? Just scream Dipper's name over and over at them incoherently? It occurred to her that it was possible her parents didn't yet realize she was stuck on a single word. She also realized that her mother was staring at her expecting an answer. Mabel shrugged and took another bite of her apple slice.
"I'll take that as a maybe," said her mom. "I've already set up an appointment for tomorrow with a grief counselor."
Mabel nearly choked a second time. She already - WHAT!? Her mom hadn't even asked her, well, okay, she had, but only after making the appointment. This was just like her mom! Doing whatever she wanted without asking Mabel what she wanted!
Just like they had been shipped off to Oregon this past summer. That brought the tears back, if only just a little. She wiped at her eyes and looked determinedly away from her mom.
"It'll be good for you sweetheart," continued her mom, obviously misinterpreting her reaction. "We also think you should stay home from school for at least a week." A week? How about forever! Mabel angrily bit into the next slice of apple, having finished the first. "We can talk about it more later, you just finish up."
Mabel did finish up, plowing through her lunch as though she hadn't eaten in weeks. Not because she was hungry (even though she was, when had been the last time she had eaten?) but because she wanted to leave before her mom could say anything else to her. She didn't even put her plate in the sink. Instead she brought the last few bites of her sandwich with her.
Waddles rushed up to her but she brushed past him, not in the mood for any pig antics. And certainly not wanting to stay downstairs any more than she had to. She hurried back up to her room, slamming the door more forcefully than she meant. She had intended to throw herself onto her bed, curl up in a ball and never come out again. Instead, she stopped at the discarded sweater lying on the floor.
Gently, she lifted it and gave it the once over. It definitely looked a lot worse for wear than she remembered. She frowned at the rip in the sleeve. She didn't know where that had come from either.
Tears in her clothing were pretty common. She was an active girl that often did things before thinking them through. Okay, if she was being honest, she always did things before thinking them through. That usually resulted in damaged clothing. Being the expert craftsgirl that she was, she had learned long ago how to mend her own clothes. Heck, she knitted her own sweaters, rips were like, little knitting jobs!
She pulled out her sewing repair kit from the second drawer on her nightstand (the first drawer was filled with emergency stickers and panic candy). She found a close enough matching pink thread to get the job done, poked it through the needle and set to work on the mend.
It only took a minute or so to complete. She held the sweater up to admire her handywork and frowned. The tear she had just mended was still there. She poked a finger through confirming there was still indeed a hole. Well, that - that was odd.
She threaded up again, checking the garment once over to make sure there absolutely were no other rips - she confirmed there was just the one - and set to work sewing it closed again. She counted each stitch, double checked they were tight and finally tied off the end. She confirmed the hole was gone, that all the stitches were in place. They were. She put the needle in it's place and when she turned her attention back to the sweater found the same hole glaring back at her.
WHAT THE SWEET CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE WAS GOING ON?!
Mabel tried again. And again. And again. Each time the rip closed and each time she looked away, it reappeared. It was like… it was like her sweater couldn't be mended... Like it couldn't be fixed… Like… her connection to her brother was coming apart.
Without thinking, like always, she dove into her sweater. She had to get back. She had to see Dipper and make sure everything was okay! She tucked in her legs and arms and let the horrible memory of her loss wash over her as sweater town pulled her down.
"-alright," said Dipper, wiping his brow. He was bent over his bed, a backpack open in front of him. "You all set?" He looked over at Mabel, who just looked blankly back at him for a moment, completely lost as to what was going on.
The transition from reality to dream had come so abruptly. She had crawled into her sweater and BAM, the next moment she was standing back in the attic in Gravity Falls! It was like she had never left, although, she felt oddly different, funny allover like she couldn't explain.
She looked up and confirmed that the ceiling above her wasn't a ceiling, it was a sweater. Although, it was at an odd angle this time. She could see the pillows on her bed through the neck hole. It was like the world was laying on its side or something. She couldn't see the-hole-that-would-not-be-sewn in the sleeve.
"Hello, earth to Mabel? Are you there?" asked her brother. She let out a squeak of surprise and stumbled backwards into her bed. Her balance felt all off and she started to topple over but Dipper managed to catch her just in time. "Whoa, careful there. Are you alright?" She nodded.
It was then that she noticed her brother had, not just peach fuzz on his chin but a full blown goatee! How had she not noticed that before? He pulled her back up to her feet and she reached out and rubbed the bottom of his face. She giggled at the strange fuzzy sensation.
"Ah, Mabel. Stop that, I told you I don't like it when you rub my beard!" cried Dipper letting her go and taking a few step away so that he was out of reach. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Are you really going to wear that sweater on our adventure today? I mean, it's pretty hot outside." Oh! An adventure! She had missed doing those with her brother so much! She wondered where they were off to. Hopefully nothing to do with gnomes. Nah, Dipper knew better than that. Hadn't Ford said they were off to meet goblins today or something?
Mabel glanced down to check out what attire she had picked out for said adventure. Of course she was going to wear a sweater she always – Mabel felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head.
HOT FUDGE SUNDAE WITH CHERRIES AND SPRINKLES AND GLITTER! SPARKLY, SPARKLY GLITTER!
Mabel nearly fell backwards a second time as her legs whacked into the bed behind her. She had tried, and failed, to take a step away from herself to get a better look. It wasn't her sweater that had caused the alarm, it was the things under the sweater, the things pushing the sweater outwards. It was her own body that had caused her to panic.
Panic flooding through her brain. She turned and ran for the bathroom, taking one step, completely losing her balance and tumbling into the floor. Dipper spun around from his backpack.
"Mabel!" he cried hurrying over to help her. "Are you okay?" She nodded again as Dipper helped her back to her feet. She smiled at him then resumed her panicked rush out of the room, nearly falling a second time. All her balance was off. She managed to stumble at last into the little bathroom they shared. The much smaller than she remembered bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her, before turning to the mirror and seeing herself.
She was different. Wayyyyyyyy different than the last time. She wasn't just older, she wasn't just taller, she was bigger, much bigger. She held up her hands to the two lumps on the front of her chest, hidden by the sweater but no less noticeable. She had finally gotten breasts, real, breasts.
She grabbed them before immediately letting go. That had felt super weird. Not stopping to consider what she was doing Mabel pulled off her sweater. Underneath was a simple white undershirt, she tugged that off too. Wrapped tightly around her chest was a plain pink bra. Yep, she definitely had breasts. She smiled into the mirror before frowning. Still those stupid braces too!
She fiddled with the bottom of the bra. She didn't like the way it felt. Now that she was aware of it, she could feel it pinching at her. And the straps felt tight and uncomfortable. She wanted to take it off. Not just because she didn't like how it felt but because she wanted to see. She wanted to see herself, to know how she looked without these clothes.
At the same time, she felt oddly ashamed, like she never had before. Nudity had never been a big deal for her. It made her brother uncomfortable so she had always tried to be slightly more modest around him. However, they had shared a room for ten years, there was very little they hadn't seen of each other. And they were still sharing a room every summer in the Mystery Shack it seemed. She was definitely older. If the trend kept up, this would be her third visit to sweater town, and if each one was a year... she would be, fifteen.
The reason she was so hesitant to remove that last bit of clothing had nothing to do with her, or her brother, he wasn't in here anyhow. It had to do with the fact that, even though it felt like it, and she could move it around, this wasn't really her body.. was it? She was borrowing the Mabel of this world's body. Right? Assuming anything in this world existed when she wasn't here and this wasn't just a dream or a fantasy or something. Really, she wasn't wholly convinced that all of this wasn't just happening in her head.
She chewed her lip, her eyes slipped off the mirror and onto her left hand. There was a faint scar across it from a hot glue gun accident when she had been seven. This was her body. This was her world. These were her breasts!
Mabel lifted up the bra and let out a sigh of relief, that felt a lot more comfortable. But she frowned slightly at what she saw, a little let down. She stripped off the garment completely, glad to be free of it, and dropped it on the floor. She wasn't exactly sure what she had been expecting to find. It was a lot like her old chest, just bumpier.
She poked one of her breasts with a finger and it squished just like skin. She felt a shudder run down her spine. It might feel like skin to her finger but the sensation she felt wasn't anything like regular skin. She was very sensitive there. It didn't hurt, not exactly, but it felt weird for sure. She poked herself again, still tender but less weird the second time. She grabbed both of them in her hands and smooched them together. Yep, that was her reflected in the mirror playing with her boobs.
"Mabel?" came a knock at the door. She only just managed to bite back her scream of terror. "Is everything alright in there?"
Hurriedly, she pulled her undershirt and sweater back on and went for the door. At the last second she noticed that she had neglected the bra. With a well placed kick, she sent it skidding across the floor and under the raised bathtub.
She opened the door, only a little red in the face. Dipper had his hand raised as if to knock again. His eyes start on her face but flick momentarily downwards before coming up to her eyes again.
"Is... everything alright?" She gave a double thumbs up. "You're acting really weird today, you know that? I mean, more weird than normal. And why is your face all red?" She stuck her tongue out at him and blew a raspberry, inadvertently hitting him with some spittle. "Eww, Mabel, gross! Are you all packed and ready to go?" asked Dipper, wiping his face with a sleeve. She nodded. "Well, come on, get your bag and I'll meet you downstairs."
He turned and walked over to the edge of the staircase down. He paused at the banister and looked back at her standing in the bathroom door, then he shook his head and descended the stairs. She stood there for a moment longer. She took a deep breath and made her way back to their room. She still felt slightly off balance as she walked. Getting used to these things hanging off her front was going to take, well, some getting used to.
She found her backpack sitting on her bed and nearly squealed with delight. It was a pig backpack, pig-pack. A piggyback-backpack! She lifted it up hugged it and did a little spin with it. She pulled its straps over her shoulders and headed downstairs. Dipper was in the kitchen talking to someone, a women. Mabel came in slowly, a smile spreading across her face as Melody came into view.
"Good morning, Mabel!" said Melody brightly. Mabel rushed across the room and hugged her tightly. "Oh, thank you for the hug sweetie." she said, returning the embrace with one arm. Mabel pulled back and smiled shyly at her. "I was just telling the Dip-ster - "
"Don't call me that," interjected Dipper flatly.
" - that I made you two lunch for your big adventure today." She held out two brown paper bags for them.
"Thanks, Melody," said Dipper taking his bag, which Mabel noticed had a pine tree sketched into it in blue marker, instead of his name.
Mabel went to take the second bag that Melody was holding out to her but stopped as she noticed two things. First, like Dipper's bag, hers had a yellow star instead of her name. Secondly, the hand holding the bag had a gold and silver diamond engagement ring on it. Mabel let out another sequel of delight as she saw it, smooching her cheeks together in excitement. Melody continued to hold the bag out, looking slightly confused.
"Thanks, Melody," Dipper said again, taking Mabel's bag before walking around to stick it into her piggyback-backpack. "Mabel is, being a little strange today, I think she's just really excited for our adventure. It's the first one of the summer for us. Right Mabes?"
It took her a second but she realized her brother was giving her an out. Mabel nodded excitedly, a big smile on her face. Melody smiled back.
"Well, have fun you too, and don't be back too late," said Melody. "You're uncles will be by for dinner around six thirty, so try and be back before then." Mabel heard Dipper's watch beep as he set an alarm on it.
"Got it," he said, then called out, "Bye Soos! Bye Abuleta!"
From someplace within the Mystery Shack the faint echo of "Have fun dudes!" echoed back to them. Dipper and Mabel turned to go but Melody put a hand on Mabel's shoulder.
"I wanna have a quick word with your sister before you two head out, okay?" said Melody. Dipper shrugged.
"Sure, I'll be outside when you're ready Mabel. Don't take too long, we have a hike ahead of us," said Dipper, heading out the door. Melody turned to Mabel a slightly concerned expression on her face. Mabel raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what was up. She also wondered how she was going to have any kind of conversation.
"Uh, Mabel," said Melody, sounding slightly uncomfortable. "Look, I know it's not really my place but I feel like I should be a somewhat responsible adult. Sometimes I feel like the only responsible adult here. But, sweetie, you really should be wearing a bra." Mabel felt her face instantly go red. Her bra, she hadn't put it back on in all the excitement and Melody had noticed.
"I know this whole teenage thing is awkward and stuff," continued Melody, "and I know they can be uncomfortable and you don't really like them but it's kind of expected. We had a talk about it last year, and, well, it wasn't as big of a deal, you weren't as big, but it's pretty noticeable." Mabel put her arms self consciously over her chest. She had never felt this uncomfortable about her own body before.
Melody seemed to be waiting for her to say something, anything. But as she couldn't really say anything, Mabel just shrugged and nodded. Melody didn't seem to know what to make of it. So Mabel gave her a thumbs up.
"I guess you're just being you," said Melody after a long moment of confusion and finally a shrug. Mabel nodded, waved and then walked as quickly as she could without running, out the front door.
Dipper was sitting on the steps. He was holding the journal she had brought with her last time open in his lap. She almost squealed in delight but caught a glimpse of the page he was looking at. It had her name at the top. She couldn't read any of the text beyond her name from where she was standing but there was a picture of her glued to the page. Dipper snapped the book shut at her approach.
"Oh, you're ready to go? What did Melody want to talk to you about?" asked Dipper, Mabel shrugged, stuck out her tongue and blew a soft raspberry as if to say whatever. "Oooookay," said Dipper, shaking his head. She noticed his eyes momentarily flick down once more. She crossed her arms over her chest. Stupid body! Stupid breasts! Making her feel all uncomfortable and stuff!
"Well, let's get started!" said Dipper as he stuffed the journal into his own pack, before slinging it over his shoulders. He took the lead, waving for her to follow.
She felt her face redden slightly. Was her brother looking at her boobs? He was a boy, maybe he just couldn't help it. After all, Dipper had started having other things he couldn't control happen to him. Things she had teased him mercilessly about whenever she noticed him walking funny or not wanting to stand up. Maybe this was some kind of twisted revenge?
She frowned, why had she thought about her Dipper. He was right here, walking away from her right now! Oh, fudge noodles! She jogged to catch up and instantly wished she hadn't. The two mounds of flesh under her clothing jumped and wiggled and bounced in a way that was very, very, unpleasant for her. She covered her chest once more running the last few steps but brought her arms down as Dipper turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. She just smiled back at him as though everything was perfectly fine.
So, okay, running was out of the question today. Darn it, why hadn't she just gone back upstairs and gotten a bra! This whole day was going to be weird and awkward! Not just the whole her brother staring at her thing but also it was hard to move around. Stupid body! She didn't need this right now!
"Mabel," came Dipper's voice pulling her out of her self conscious thoughts. "You've been oddly quiet." Oh chicken nuggets, he had finally noticed. "Usually, at this point you would be singing, or humming, or just talking my ear off. But, I don't think you've said a word since I asked if you were bringing that ridiculous pig backpack thing, or, what did you call it, piggyback-backpack?" She couldn't help but smile at that. He, however, frowned. Then he looked sad. "You... you aren't mad at me for spending our first few days here hanging out with Great Uncle Ford, are you?" She shook her head. She didn't even remember him doing that.
"Dipper…" she said, trying to sound apologetic. Instantly he spun around on the trail, stopping in his tracks, his eyes wide.
"It happened again! Didn't it!" exclaimed Dipper. She froze, her eyes also wide. "You can't say anything except my name, can you?" She bit her lip, but nodded. Much to her surprise, Dipper let out a triumphant cry. "I knew it! I told you! Ha! Every year this happens! And you keep telling me it isn't! But this time! This year! I'll have proof!" cried Dipper excitedly. He yanked his backpack around and fished out a video camera. After a moment or two of fiddling he switched it on and pointed it at her, she reflexively crossed her arms over her chest.
"Alright, June 15th, 2015," said Dipper, focusing the camera on her. "Anomaly Number 15-87, continuation of my research from last year on the subject. Ever since our return to Gravity Fall's my sister seems to suffer one day of losing the ability to speak, or at least to say any word other than my nickname, go on Mabel, say it," he prodded. She shut her mouth tight. This felt super uncomfortable. "Mabel, come on, this is for you! For tomorrow. I've told you every year so far but you don't believe me! If everything is fine than you should be able to say 'Mabel is great! And Goober is stupid!'" Her jaw dropped in disbelief, her brother was not just encouraging her but actually giving her permission to call him Goober! She couldn't pass this up!
"Dipper! Dipper, dip-" Mabel began, then frowned. Darn it! He tricked her!
"HA! There! See," cried Dipper in excitement. She scowled and started trudging towards him. "You can't say anything but – hey, what are you doing! Mabel, let go!" She yanked the camera out of his hands and switched it off. She stuffed it into her backpack. He tried to get it back from her, but she shot him an icy glare and stuck her tongue out. "Come on, I need that to document..." Dipper trailed off, looking pensive. She waited for him to continue but instead he started muttering under his breath. After a minute of this, she rolled her eyes and poked him in the side, then the arm, then the cheek. "Hey, stop!" Dipper complained shooing her hand away. She stared at him.
"Right, right, look," said Dipper rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe we shouldn't go on an adventure today." She let her eyes widen in a 'Whaaaaat?' sort of expression. "I mean, what if you get into trouble or something, you can only say my name, how will you call out for help?" Without missing a beat, she sucked in a deep breath before bellowing:
"DIPPER!" at the top of her lungs, right next to his head. Dipper was just a bit too slow to cover his ears.
"Okay, okay! Ouch, point taken," said Dipper, rubbing at his ear with a finger. "But, I mean do you even want to go... can I even trust you to go? I don't even know if you're really Mabel..." She grabbed both his shoulders and turned her brother to face her looking deep into his eyes. "Are you Mabel?" She nodded seriously. "Do you want to go?" She nodded again then booped him on the nose and started laughing. He rubbed his nose.
"Alright," he said. "If nothing else, I can videotape our adventure… Can I have my camera back?" He asked. She put a finger to her mouth in fake thought. Finally nodded and pulled his camera out of her pack. She started to hand it to him but pulled it away before he could take it and stared at him.
"What?" he asked. She pointed to the camera, then at herself and shook her head. Dipper's eyes searched her, she repeated the gesture. "You... don't want me to film you?" She nodded. "But I need it for proof for... you!" She let out a deep sigh. Reluctantly, she handed the camera back to him. "I'll, keep it more focused on our adventure I guess. But no promises you won't end up in some shots." She gave a thumbs up. A few shots were okay, she just didn't want to be turned into one of his weird studies or something... Although, that entry in the journal probably meant she already was.
At last they continued their hike onwards. She didn't actually know where they were going, Dipper had failed to mention it. Or, he had and she hadn't been paying attention. The day was getting hotter and she was starting to regret wearing a sweater. She was starting to sweat and not in a good way. She was debating on whether or not she wanted to remove it (with only an undershirt beneath), when Dipper finally announced that they were here.
She looked up in wonder as a glittering rainbow arched across the sky - well, the sweater sky - stretching out of the mists from the crashing water. Gravity Falls, the enormous waterfall from which the town took its name. She had been here before. She and Candy and Grenda, had come up to play in the river a couple times. She felt another pang at her heart. Her friends. She had seen them last night, or last year, or whatever the heck it had been. What had happened in the time since, what had she missed...
"Come on, this way. I think the entrance is over here," said Dipper, leading them up along the bank of the river. She followed.
Around the base of the falls was a huge circular pool that the water had carved out over time. Near the falls the pool was very deep but quickly shallowed out the further away you got. Mabel had been swimming in it before. When you were in the pool you could feel the vibration of the water falling nearby. She had never gotten very close to the actual waterfall though. It was a massive torrent of raw power and even from twenty yards away, you could feel the intense pull trying to suck you under.
Dipper took them right up to the cliff side, or at least as close as they could get. Jagged rocks and sheer stone prevented them from getting right up to the waterfall itself. Her brother pulled out his journal and flipped through some of the pages, he stopped on a page titled, The Deep Caves. Mabel read along as he read out loud.
"Okay, according to those goblins we met last year, there should be a huge, mostly unexplored cave hidden behind the falls," said Dipper paraphrasing the much longer entry. It had pictures and diagrams of the falls. Mabel noticed there was no actual entrance drawn in any of the pictures. "But how do we get in, could it be hidden? Or, maybe it's on the other side?" Dipper tried to look across water, but they could see very little from where they were standing.
"Alright, let's backtrack around and try the other side," said Dipper.
They hiked back along the pool's edge and to the river that flowed out. It wasn't a stream but a full blown river. While the pool around the falls was shallow for the most part, there was still a fast moving current that divided it in half. Mabel remembered swimming across it, starting up near the falls and ending at the far end of the pool by the time she reached the other side.
"How do we get across though?" asked Dipper. That was easy, they swam. She gave her brother's arm a tug, pulling him towards the pool. "What?" asked Dipper, trying to reason out what she wanted. When he didn't seem to get it, she bent her body in half and pretended to swim. "Wait, what? You want to swim across?" She nodded.
"Okay, maybe," said Dipper looking at the water around the falls. "The current does seem a lot less strong in the pool. But what about our stuff? My camera won't survive getting wet, neither will my journal."
She actually had an answer for that too, she had seen it when stuffing the camera into her bag. She held up a hand, pulled off her piggyback-backpack and fished around inside. There was the paper bag with the food Melody had made, and her trusty grappling hook, some crayons, a coloring book, gummy worms, a bunch of other stuff, annnnd... She yanked out a bundle of clear plastic clicklock bags. Dipper's eyes brightened.
"The sample bags!" he cried, hitting himself in the head. "Of course, good thinking Mabel!" she smiled at him. The two of them began bundling up the things that couldn't get wet, which was pretty much everything. The camera fit just fine into it's own plastic bag but Dipper's journal didn't. In the end they solved the problem by using two bags and duct taping them together. Mabel also had duct tape with her, in three different colors, blue, pink and white with little duck-tective heads on it.
Their belongings safely encased in plastic, they looked towards the crossing. They were going to have to swim. Which meant they were going to get wet.
Dipper began to undress first, stuffing his shirt into one of the few remaining bags. Mabel however just stood there, watching him, her eyes wide. Dipper paused as he was taking off his shoes.
"Uh, Mabel, earth to Mabel?" said Dipper, snapping her out of the momentary freeze. "You aren't going in like that are you?" His face reddened and he looked down at his half naked body. "Okay, maybe this was stupid. We should just call it quits here and..." She yanked off her sweater with a determined look on her face. They were not going to give up here just because she was feeling shy! She was Mabel Pines damn it! She didn't feel embarrassed about her body. Usually.
It was Dipper's turn to stare at her as she stripped down to her white undershirt and rainbow colored panties. She felt so exposed standing before him like this, She crossed her arms over her chest again, wishing he would stop looking at her. At last she coughed when he hadn't moved for a bit.
"Right, right," muttered Dipper, continuing to tug off his socks and stuff them into the bag that had his shirt.
At last, all their bags sealed, and the twins standing in nothing but their undergarments, they approached the edge of the pool. Mabel waded in first, eager to be concealed under the surface of the water. It was icy cold in comparison to the warm day. It stung sharply at first but felt better as she waded deeper in. Although, the pool was still very shallow, only coming up to her waist. She could hear Dipper splashing in behind her.
"Oh man that's cold," complained Dipper. The two of them made their way out into the pool, getting as close to the falls as they dared. Dipper looked across the fast moving stream that divided the pool. "Alright, I guess this is as good a place as any to cross. I'll go first."
Dipper looked at her for confirmation. She nodded. Her brother took a deep breath then dove forward with a splash. His arms lashed out in front of him as hard as he could. He was moving across but the current was pushing him down stream as he went. However, he made it to the other side well before the outlet. He stood up on the other shallow end and gave her the thumbs up.
"Alright, your turn, Mabel!" he shouted.
She took a deep breath as well. She could do this, it was easy, she had done it before when she was in a younger body. She dove forward into icy water and began to swim. It was hard work but she felt invigorated by the chill, like the ice water was giving her strength or something. When she raised her head for air, Dipper was already grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward. She felt her feet touch the smooth rocks and sand of the other side of the pool.
"I got you Mabes," said Dipper, pulling her up and out. She beamed at him as she stood up, pushing her sopping wet hair back out of her face. Dipper smiled back at her. Then, almost unconsciously, his eyes flicked down, and widened, not coming back up. "Uh, Mabes... you aren't... you're not wearing..."
She looked down, both her breasts were clearly visible through her white undershirt. She crossed her arms over her chest, going very red in the face. Quickly, she dropped her whole body down into the water, so that she was only visible from the nose up. Dipper finally looked away, his face also red.
After a long moment of uncomfortable silence, Dipper coughed and said, "We should really get out." Mabel nodded in agreement. But she waited until Dipper had turned away and started towards the bank before she crawled after him, staying as submerged as possible.
When they reached the shore he told her to wait there - his gaze set determinedly away from her. He went off to search for a hidden entrance while she stayed there to dry off. She sat on the stony bank, plopping herself onto a warm rock. When Dipper was almost at the falls she turned her back to him, pulled off her undershirt, now just a shirt she guessed, and wrung it out several times. She felt the warm sun on her back and let out a contented sigh.
As she was pulling her shirt back on, she heard Dipper's footsteps approaching from behind. He let out a little cough to let her know he was there. She turned and smiled at him, as she tugged her shirt the rest of the way down.
"So, bad news," said Dipper with a frown. "There doesn't seem to be any way in on this side either." He knelt down next to his backpack, rifling through the plastic bags until he got to his journal. He peeled off the tape with much effort and pulled out his book. She watched as he flipped through the pages, looking for something he had missed. She also noticed that he was still in his tighty-whities. She felt herself blushing, and looked away, busying herself with the pebbles around her toes.
"Oh of course! How stupid could I get!" exclaimed Dipper. She looked back at him, instantly wishing she hadn't. He was on his feet and she could see the outline of the bulge between his legs. She looked away again. "Under the falls! I was thinking of a tunnel behind the falls, but he literally meant we had to swim under the falls! Mabel, we have to swim to the tunnel! Uh, what's... Ah! Sorry." Dipper turned himself away from her, finally seeming to noticed the view he had been flashing in her direction. She turned her head just a little so he could see her face and she smiled at him before starting to giggle. "Yes, ha. Okay, we're even now. Hand me some of that duct tape so I can reseal the journal."
She dug into her own backpack, found the plastic bag with the duct tape and handed it to her brother without looking in his direction. He started muttering to himself as he re-wrapped the journal. She caught bits and pieces of what he was saying. It was something about how embarrassing this all was but at least he wouldn't have to live it down afterwards. She almost wanted to grab the camera and get this on film for herself to see tomorrow. She smiled at that.
Journal rewrapped, the twins waded back into the chilly pool. It didn't feel quite as relaxing the second time, now that Mabel had started to warm up in the sun. Slowly, they made their way towards the falls. As they got closer she could feel the tug of the powerful column of water pulling at them. Dipper slowed his pace as well. The water was starting to get deeper the closer they got. And this was starting to feel like a bad idea.
"Okay!" shouted Dipper over the roar of water. She could barely hear him. "If we stay along the edge," he pointed to the side nearest them, " and hug the wall we should be okay!" This - this was a bad plan. Dipper started to move forward but Mabel grabbed his arm and shook her head. This felt way too dangerous, way too reckless. "We'll be fine, trust me." He took her hand. "As long as we're together we can beat anything!" She blushed but nodded.
Slowly, they approached the falls. The floor of the pool falling away beneath their feet until they were shoulder high under water. She thought the ground was going to leave them at any moment, but Dipper was right. As they skirted around the outside of the falls, they were just barely able to keep their heads above the surface. The undertow of the falls tugged at them the whole way but it wasn't actually strong enough to drag them in. Finally, after several intense minutes, they did it. They were seeing the eighth wonder of the world. The backside of water!
What they weren't seeing though, was a cave entrance. It was just more smooth stone behind the waterfall. Dipper was shouting something to her but she couldn't hear what over the deafening crash. Without warning - or, maybe she just hadn't been able to hear the warning - Dipper ducked under. He was still holding her hand, so she knew he hadn't gone anywhere but it was still very unnerving for her. A moment later he popped back up, he was positively beaming. He shouted again but all she could make out was her name. He mimicked the swimming motion she had made earlier, this time with one arm. He wanted them to swim? Was he crazy?! She shook her head but Dipper nodded.
He held up his hand with three fingers raised. He lowered the first one. No way! He was really going to do this. He lowered the second one. "DIPPER!" Mabel shouted as loudly as she could, she couldn't even hear her own voice. He lowered the last one. He leapt forward, pulling her along. They were tugged into the torrent of the waterfall. She felt herself pushed down with incredible force. She was disoriented as up and down lost their meaning. She felt a tug on her arm and began to swim with one arm, not daring to let go of her brother.
Even with her eyes open she couldn't see anything in the tumbling underwater current. They could have been swimming to the surface or drowning themselves. Her breath was just starting to burn in her lungs when she was yanked upwards out of the water, gasping and coughing. Dipper was laughing. She pulled free of his grip and punched him in the shoulder.
"Hey, ouch!" cried Dipper. "What was that for?" Tears were flowing out of her eyes. That had been the scariest thing she had ever done. She had thought they were going to drown. She punched him again. "Ouch, Mabel, stop, stop! Didn't you hear what I said?" She shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. "I said we were standing right on top of the entrance, we just had to swim under it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
He caught her fist and turned the grab into a hug. She hugged him back, squeezing him hard against her. Stupid Dipper, stupid brother, stupid – breasts! She pushed him away before putting an arm across her chest. Stupid body! BLARGH! She hated feeling like this. "Sorry." Dipper apologized again. He was awkwardly quiet for a long moment, "Come on, let's get out of the water and dry off."
They found a ledge to the pool not far away. Light was coming in from the tunnel they had swam through but it didn't illuminate much. The rock also muffled the waterfall a lot, although it was still a low ever present rumble. It was cold in here and with no direct sunlight to dry her, Mabel started to shiver. Like before, she turned her back to Dipper, pulled off her shirt and wrung it several times until it was sort of dry. However, she didn't put it back on. It might be better for her to just wear the sweater directly. As she held her shirt out debating if she wanted to get back into the damp thing, Dipper spoke to her.
"You should do your underwear too," said Dipper, his voice sounding uncomfortable as he said it. She glanced at him over her shoulder to see if he had been peeking but he had his back to her. Also, he was completely naked. She turned away again, the sight of her brother's flat butt still in her eyes. She realized that they had the same butt. And she couldn't help but giggle at their butts.
It was than that she started to feel way more comfortable with herself. This was Dipper, and no matter how he looked at her, he loved her. He was her brother, her twin. They had been almost the same their whole lives, switch clothing and no one could really tell them apart. Until now, when they had started to change. What did it matter if he saw her naked? They were the same.
She pulled off her underwear unabashedly, wrung them several times and then slid them back on. They were still damp but they weren't dripping wet anymore. And they would dry under her other clothing in time. She decided to forgo her shirt until it was completely dry, slipping on her sweater over her bare chest instead. The wool chafed at her somewhat uncomfortably but it was better than freezing. She opened the rest of her clothing bags and quickly finished redressing. She was already starting to feel warmer with her adventure sweater back on. Her hair was of course sopping wet but there wasn't a lot she could do about that.
Dipper had also finished getting dressed. He had his shirt back on, it had been kept dry in the bag. Mabel wished she had just stuck her's in a bag now too. She had been so silly to keep it on! They were just boobs after all. Who cared if her brother saw them, he had a laptop, he had probably seen lots of boobs by this point. And it wasn't like he hadn't seen them before. Okay, maybe they had been way smaller the last time but whatever. He was her brother, he didn't look at her that way. Now, she had to deal with this thing rubbing against her or a cold shirt against her skin sapping out her heat. BLARGH. Getting older sucked!
"Man," said Dipper, looking at her sweater enviously, "I wish I had thought to bring a jacket or something, this cave is pretty cold." She smiled mischievously and fished out one of the many surprises that her other self had packed for her. It was an identical sweater to the one she was wearing, except, sized for Dipper. Her twin's eyes widened. "Whoa, wait, you packed one for me. I thought we hated identical clothing!" She shrugged. Sometimes, when it was just them it was cute. She didn't like it when they were made to be identical for someone else. She handed him the sweater and he pulled it on.
"This is pretty cool!" he said, checking the sweater out, opening some of its many pockets. "Did you pack extra pens and cheese snacks for me too?" he asked, pulling a handful of each from different pockets. She smiled, that was something she would do. "You really are the greatest sister a brother could ask for, you know that right?" She waved her hand saying it was nothing.
"Let's do lunch before we start exploring, I'm starving!" said Dipper.
He fished out the lunch that Melody had packed for him. Mabel did the same. The plastic had kept both their food and the brown paper bags from being soggy. She didn't open her lunch at first but rather stared at the yellow star on the bag. Why had Melody picked that? The star meant a lot to Mabel but… but did Melody know what it meant to her?
Mabel's eyes flicked over to Dipper. He was wearing his blue pine tree ball cap once more. The pine tree. Her eyes went down to her sweater. It was brown-ish and had pockets all over it but no star. How often did she wear her shooting star sweater here?
"Awesome! Tuna, my favorite!" exclaimed Dipper as he unpacked his sandwich. Something in Mabel's brain tried to get her attention. She ignored it and pulled open her own bag. Turkey… with apple slices. She… she could almost remember something like this. She shook her head, trying not to think about it and dug in.
They both ate quickly, eager to explore. When they were finished, they packaged back up their trash.
"Alright, let's see what we have here," said Dipper, pulling a headlamp out of his pack and strapping it to his forehead. With a click he turned it on and the cave lit up. Mabel pulled out her own head lamp. It was a kitty shaped light and when she clicked it on, it cycled through different colors. White first then, blue, purple, red, pink and back to white. She did this several times giggling as she did.
"Stop that!" complained Dipper. "You're making my eyes hurt." She stuck out her tongue at him but finally cycled to white and left it there.
"Wow, this place is amazing," muttered Dipper. He had his camera out. "Okay, entry 15-88, the Waterfall Cave." Dipper swept the camera around, his headlamp illuminating the entry area and the pool they had come out of, before he swept the light and lens over Mabel. "I'm here with my sister, Mabel. We just swam under a waterfall together into this cave. I wish I had brought the waterproof camera with me." She waved at the camera, but Dipper didn't linger on her. He seemed too excited to explore. "Stay with us as we go deeper into the unknown!" There was a beep as he switched it off. He turned back to her. "Hey, you don't mind playing camera-girl, do you?" She smiled, and gladly took the offered camera. "Great, this is going to be a really good one, I can feel it!" She tilted her head to the side in confusion. A good one of what?
"You do know why I have a camera, right?" asked Dipper. Yeah, to document the strange stuff he hoped to find, right? She didn't have any way to convey that thought, so she just went back to the standard shrug.
"For the UsTube Channel," said Dipper. "Our UsTube Channel, the Mystery Pines Adventure Twins." Mabel raised an eyebrow. Woah, wait, what-now? They had an UsTube Channel together? And they had named it the Mystery Pines Adventure Twins?!
"You... you don't remember that, do you?" asked Dipper. She shook her head. Dipper pulled a pen from somewhere and started clicking. "Okay, we, uh, started it this past year," he explained, "It was actually your idea. You remember those silly guide to videos we made when we were twelve, well, you kept making them, and you put them up on UsTube." She nodded, she remembered him talking about that last night, or, last year, or whenever that party had been.
"Anyhow," said Dipper, "You got kinda popular, and you convinced me to put up my videos too. And well, people started asking us to do stuff together..." No way, was he saying they were UsTube stars? "Look, we can talk about this later, okay?"
She really, really, wanted to hear more about this now but she just nodded. They had an adventure ahead of them. Time to explore.
"Okay, get that camera rolling, we should have four hours of storage on it. And I have two extra SD cards and an extra battery if we need them." he checked his watch. "We still have almost four hours until we need to be back to the Shack for dinner, so, let's make the most of it, and hope we don't have to swim out. Ready?" She gave him a thumbs up and pressed the record button.
"We just came in through that underwater tunnel over there," announced Dipper, pointing back behind them. She turned the camera, following where he was pointing. She got a pretty good shot of the moon pool they had come in through. "Now it's time to go deeper into the cave and see what else we can find!"
She swept the camera around the cave, trying to capture just how hugely-vastly-big it was. She paused as she turned the camera upwards. No way. She had to move her head off the viewfinder to confirm what she was seeing. The walls were stone. The floor, except for the moon pool filled with water, was stone. The ceiling, was a twisting mass of yarn, spiraling up into her sweater!
Even here, in a cave behind a waterfall, she couldn't escape the fact that all of this wasn't real! She was in sweater town pretending to be on an adventure with her brother. Except, now, she had it on video! She had video proof!
"Hey, uh, Mabel, over here," said Dipper, waving to her. He had still been walking and talking while she had been focused on the ceiling. Now he was looking where she was pointing the camera but obviously not seeing what she was seeing. He walked back over and looked in the viewfinder as she lifted it for him. "Uh, yeah, okay. I think we have enough establishing footage of this area, come on, let's head in a bit more."
She frowned, realizing that even through the camera he couldn't see what she was seeing. Dipper led the way forward and with a sigh she followed. She kept the camera on him as they went but she kept glancing up at the sweater ceiling every so often.
"Careful it's a bit slippery here," said Dipper. She took each step with care, sliding only a little. They climbed up a gradual slope of wet rocks, moving further away from the water. "I think there is some kind of passage up ahead here." His light flashed over what looked to be a giant mouth of a dragon, complete with hundreds of pointed stalactite and stalagmite teeth. "Wow! This is amazing, it almost looks like a head of a great beast, or the maw of a dragon! The Dragon's Maw!"
She smiled at the name. Her brother was really good at this off the cuff stuff. She only got to see him like this when he had been shooting his mystery videos. She liked this side of him.
"I think something is carved into the stone here," said Dipper, kneeling next to one of the stalagmites. She moved in closer with the camera. "I'm gonna get a closer look and then we will be right back!" Dipper made a sweeping motion across his neck with a hand. She wasn't sure what he meant until he said, "Cut," out loud and she turned off the recording. "Okay, I think that was a pretty good intro, do you think we should do another take of it?" The question took her by surprise, another take? There was more than one take? "No?" She shrugged and shook her head. She thought it had been fine. Dipper nodded. "Okay, maybe one extra take just in case. I think the cave is going to mess with our audio too, we should have brought the mics."
They did do another take, and another, and another. Dipper didn't seem to be happy with any of them but Mabel thought they were all great. As he was getting ready to go for a fifth time, she finally put a hand on him and tapped her wrist. They had wasted almost an hour in this first chamber. At this rate, there wasn't going to be any exploring.
"Right, right, we have to keep moving," said Dipper. "You sure we shouldn't do just one more?" She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, fine. Let me get a good look at that etching." Dipper returned to the carving he had found and examined it, muttering to himself. He didn't say roll camera but she did anyway. This was a side of Dipper she wanted people to see too. The smart, thoughtful, explorative side.
He pulled out a loose piece of parchment, pressed it to the stone and began to rub over it with something in his hand. The camera couldn't see it very well but Mabel could see just fine that it was some kind of runic language. Dipper held up the paper to examine it.
"Okay Mabel, start recording again," said Dipper, not looking in her direction as he examined the paper. "Mabel?" he finally looked at her, and she gave him the thumbs up, or he saw the red light. "Oh, right, you got it, ahem," Dipper cleared his throat. "I don't recognize the language, or, even if it's a language, it could be a warning, or a sign, or maybe even an address? I'll have to wait until we get back to the shack so I can consult some of my books." He looked directly at the camera. "Now I think it's time we go deeper into the cave and see what mystery lies ahead for the mystery twins!" He paused holding on that face and than did the hand gesture again. She switched off record.
"Did that sound okay, should we do it again?" asked Dipper. She rolled her eyes, was he going to ask this every time?
"Dipper," she moaned frustratedly.
"Right, right, time," said Dipper, "Okay, let's move on! Get a good shot of the runes before we go." She moved up to the stalagmite and focused the camera on it. Dipper was already wandering on ahead while she got the b-roll footage.
A silly thought occurred to her. Still recording, she fished into one of her adventure sweater pockets and found the item she was looking for, right where she expected it to be. Stickers. Cave themed, silly advice stickers. She peeled one off and stuck it just above the top character in the inscription. The sticker was of a living rock person, holding his hands above his head and the bold words below him stating, 'Rock On!'
As she pushed it against the rock, she made her usual "boop!" noise that she did whenever she was dispensing stickers to lighten the mood. Something about it felt odd though, tingly and strange. But she wasn't sure what. She lingered there for a moment longer before the voice of her brother called her keep up.
"Mabel, you have to see this! Keep the Camera rolling!" called Dipper. She turned away from the stalagmite. Before she left it completely she glanced back at the sticker one last time, trying to figure out what that strange feeling had been just now. She noticed the sticker was glowing. She smiled at that. She really was awesome sometimes, even if it was the other her that had gotten the glow in the dark stickers.
She hurried onwards. The floor was not dirt but more rock, although it wasn't as slippery as the cave entrance had been. She could see Dipper up ahead of her. As she entered the cave where he was standing, she was treated to the most amazing sight. There were what appeared to be flecks of gold in the walls. Their headlamps reflected off them causing the whole cave to glitter and sparkle.
"Are you getting this?" asked Dipper. Mabel nodded, sweeping the camera around the large cave. Dipper moved closer to a wall. "It looks like there is some kind of crystal shards embedded in the rock. This whole cave is filled with them. Let's go deeper in and see what we can find!"
So deeper in they went. There were more runes along the way, which Dipper stopped at to talk about and comment on. Who had made them? What did they say? Each one looked different from the last, were they some kind of warning, or maybe an ancient marker of some kind. Mabel recorded all of it, even the stuff Dipper didn't seem to want her to record. Whatever, that's what editing was for anyhow. After Dipper moved on from each scrawl, she would pop a sticker onto it, with a soft whispered "boop."
She wasn't sure why she was doing this. Part of her thought she was doing it because it was a trail for them to follow, so they wouldn't get lost. Although, the cave had no forks in it, so, getting lost was going to be unlikely. Another part of her thought she was doing it because it was silly fun and the runes looked much better with her helpful stickers on them, like 'StalageWILL!' and 'Ton-nle of Fun!' Okay, if she was being honest, some of the puns on these stickers were pretty bad, but still, they glowed in the dark!
Yet, she was almost sure she was placing the stickers for a completely unrelated reason. She was doing it because every time she did, there was some strange emotion running through her. It wasn't happy (okay, it was a little happy, placing stickers always made her happy), it wasn't sad, it was something else, something she didn't know how to put into real words. The best way she could describe it was, 'boop.'
She realized it at the same time Dipper heard it. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her. She was frozen mid stick, her arm extended pushing the glow in the dark, 'Dig Deep!' sticker of a dog with a shovel, onto the wall.
"Mabel, what did you just say?" asked Dipper wide eyed. She pulled her hand back from the wall as Dipper hurried up to her. He spared a glance at the sticker she had just placed before he returned his focus to her. "You said something, I heard it! Something that wasn't my name!" She had. It wasn't so much as said it as she had felt it. Dipper pulled the camera out of her hand and turned it back on her, she felt awkwardly self conscious once more.
"Entry 16-87b, go on Mabel, say it again!" Now she felt even more awkward. She pulled her sweater up over her face and shook her head. "I have to document it, for you, it won't go up on UsTube, I promise. You do all the editing anyhow. Come on, just say it!" She let the sweater roll off the bottom of her face. She took a deep breath.
"Dipper," she said. They stood there in silence for a moment. That wasn't right, it wasn't what she had wanted to say. She wanted to make the other sound. "Dipper!" she tried again but it wouldn't come out. Darn it! She had done it just a few seconds ago, now she couldn't even manage it. "Dipper! Dipper! DIPPER!" she tried again and again. She hid her face in her hands shaking her head back and forth. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she just speak, say something else, do the thing she had been doing all day in this stupid cave!
"Mabel, Mabel! It's alright, you're fine," Dipper was hugging her once more and she was hugging him. She was crying into his shoulder, when had that started? "Look, the camera's off, you don't have to do this, I was just hoping you... you know, were able to say something else." Her crying turned into sniffles and she nodded into his shoulder. Finally they broke apart, Dipper even giving her the 'pat-pat' before she let go, she smiled at him and punched his shoulder thankfully. "Always with the punching," complained Dipper lightheartedly, rubbing his shoulder.
"Alright, look, maybe we can figure out how you did it?" he looked at the sticker she had placed on the wall, above the etching. "Maybe the cave has some magical property when you touch it?" Dipper mused. His eyes widened slightly. "Mabel, try placing another sticker." She raised an eyebrow in confusion, this wall already had a sticker. "Just try," said Dipper encouragingly.
She shrugged, peeled off a sticker and looked for a spot to place it. She looked at where she had put the first sticker, she couldn't put another there, that would be silly, that spot already had its fair share of stickers. She looked at the other wall nearby. Yeah, that wall could have a sticker, but these were glow in the dark stickers, you really didn't want to just place them willy nilly. She looked at Dipper, and smiled and pushed her thumb against his forehead. As she did, her lips parted and a soft "boop" came out of her. She felt surprised by the sound.
"Really, on my forehead," muttered Dipper, his eyes turned upwards trying to see the sticker. Then he looked at her. "You did it though, placing stickers must be like some kind of natural reflex for you or something, overcoming whatever is blocking your ability to speak... or you are really just messing with me..." She shook her head. "Okay, well, that's a step in the right direction… I guess? Look we still have a couple of hours left before we have to turn back, let's see if we can find another exit to this cave so we don't have to swim out." Mabel nodded. She wasn't looking forward to walking around in wet clothing again.
They entered into a giant room that at first didn't seem to be anything special. However, as their lights shined across it, Mabel and Dipper both let out a gasp of awe. It was like being inside a giant geode. Enormous crystals, bigger than they were, lined the floor and walls (probably the ceiling too, but that was nothing but endless yarn to Mabel). She couldn't help it, she pushed the button on her head lamp and the whole room turned blue. She clicked it again, and it was red, and again and it was pink. She started to spin around, her light clicking and changing and the room spinning with color.
"Alright, that's enough, come on, let's keep moving, and be careful," warned Dipper, "These things look – ouch!" cried Dipper. She hurried towards him. "Yep, they're sharp, watch your feet." She looked down, the floor also sparkled with little pointed shards. Carefully they made their way across the room. Neither of them made it to the other side without a few scrapes though. Her sweater caught on a shard at one point and it sliced clean through the hem. She also bumped her knee against one of them and it left a nasty little cut.
On the other side of the room, Dipper pulled out his first aid kit and patched them both up. She had a few extra cuts on her arm that she hadn't noticed getting, and a couple on her shins. They didn't hurt, she hadn't even felt them but they sure stung like hot fudge when Dipper rubbed the alcohol on them before putting on the bandaids.
They moved a bit quicker through more of the cave. Dipper still did his commentary but there was less and less to talk about as they continued. Certainly nothing like the crystal room. The cave changed very little. Apart from more runes (and stickers) along the way, there wasn't all that much new to see. After what seemed like hours of walking though, they found a bright light ahead of them. Dipper didn't run but they did hurry to the exit, bursting out through some bushes that concealed an entrance -
"RIGHT BESIDE THE FALLS?" exclaimed Dipper as they turned around. Mabel, wielding the camera, spun around to capture the secret entrance bush and the falls beside it. "How did we miss this! Wait, this doesn't make any sense! Mabel we were walking for almost three hours! The cave didn't turn or split, we can't be back at the start!" Dipper moved back to the bush and pulled it aside, the hole they had just come out of was gone. "What!" exclaimed Dipper, pressing his hand against the stone, "but, I mean, it was right here! We just came out! Mabel please tell me you got all that!" She nodded with the camera. Dipper smiled and stood up a little straighter. "That concludes Entry 15-88, this is Mabel and," he nodded to her and she turned the camera to herself briefly.
"Dipper!" she said excitedly.
"Signing off, see you next adventure!" concluded Dipper. She pressed stop and Dipper almost jumped into the air with excitement. "Mabel! That was amazing! I can't believe we got that on tape! We'll need to edit it down for sure, but, wow! That might be our best one yet! Come on, let's get home, I can't wait to tell Great Uncle Ford!"
The walk home was much less exciting. When they reached the Mystery Shack, Mabel hurried back up to their shared bathroom and retrieved her bra from under the tub. She took a bit longer to look over herself this time. She stripped off all her clothes and did a little spin in the mirror. She giggled as she looked at her butt. Yep, she and Dipper had the same butt! Flat and adorable. Beyond the breast sticking out of her chest and the hair down below her waist, there wasn't actually all that much too different about her.
She looked at the many little bandaids and wraps Dipper had put on her after the crystal room. She looked a little banged up but not too bad. She hoped she wouldn't mind waking up tomorrow with a few scrapes on her. She had never minded before. Her smile turned a little sad on her face. Waking up tomorrow.
She had never managed to stay in sweater town more than one day. And each time she returned it was a year later. She had been coming here for three days now, since... since she had started coming here. If she came back tomorrow, she would be a year older, a year different. She wouldn't wake up tomorrow, she would wake up in a year! It wasn't fair. This was here fantasy world right? Why couldn't she just wake up tomorrow! Heck, why did she even have to go to sleep in the first place!
Mabel nodded determinedly into the mirror. She had decided, she wasn't going to go to sleep.
Both great uncles had stopped by for dinner that night. Dipper had explained to them that Mabel had lost a dare, and was not allowed to say anything but his name until tomorrow morning. Grunkle Stan found it hilarious and complimented her on keeping up her end. Great Uncle Ford however did not look convinced. The conversation she'd had with him the last time was forefront in her mind.
Dipper launched into a mostly accurate recount of their cave exploration, leaving out some choice parts about their swim and such. Ford seemed fascinated by the story, especially the part about the disappearing exit. He wanted to talk to Dipper about it after dinner, see some of his drawings, compare notes. Mabel on the other hand just headed up to their room once dinner was over. She found the camera they had used that day lying on Dipper's bed, charging. Mabel picked it up and looked into the lens. It wasn't on, it wasn't recording her, but she wanted it to. She took a deep breath. She was going to do this.
She flipped on the camera and pressed record.
"Dipper," she said into the lens, she tried again. "Dipper, Dipppper, Dipper." She fished out a sticker from her pocket and pressed it against her forehead. "Boop." There it was, the video evidence her brother wanted. She had no idea what he would do with it or what Mabel would say to it when she saw it.
She put the camera back then changed into her nightshirt. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to wear a bra underneath, after all she hadn't had one on all day. She had intended to slip back on the one she had taken off that morning but couldn't work out the straps. So she had just gone without it once again, not that anyone seemed to notice or comment on it. She decided that now was not the time to try figuring it out. There was going to be no one hugging her tonight and no water to make her clothing see through. She should be fine.
Mabel sat up in bed, not tired, and not wanting to go to sleep. They'd had a crazy adventure today, complete with danger, excitement, semi nudity and some scrapes and bruises. She really had missed this. After they had come back from Gravity Falls things just hadn't been the same, not really. Without that freedom to go on adventures, they just resumed their lives like nothing had happened. They went back to being normal. And normal was so - she stifled a tired yawn - boring.
She lay down in her bed. Maybe just a quick nap after such a long day. She was feeling completely drained. Just, a quick -
