Day One; After Body Announcement, Before House of Horrors in the afternoon

[ineptus]

[A lot about today has Mabel rattled, and the previous night didn't help any at all. So once investigations get under way and after the debacle with the whole newspaper deal, Mabel takes Dipper back to her room to talk, sitting down on the bed. Because there are Things to discuss.]

...Dipper, I don't like this game. I don't like any of the rules or any of the roles or anything.

Comments

[terci]

Yeah, there's really no point if she's not going to bother checking her facts. [He crosses his arms.]

I'd suggest we run a newspaper ourselves with real facts, but I'm going to be too busy investigating and solving stuff. [He puts a hand on her shoulder comfortingly]

I'm sorry your friend has been accused, Mabel. I don't think anyone is going to vote him though. It's probably too early to even figure out who's a VIP and who isn't.

[ineptus]

He's not just my friend, Dipper. He's our brother! I adopted him, because he said he didn't have any family and never did and that was just too sad. So it's even more important.

I think our own Newspaper would be good, but I might as well just show off my arms right? [Look, she's putting humor into all situations again!]

[terci]

...so you're telling me we have a robot brother now? That's not weird at all. [He seems a little unsure, but it's only because he's never met him before!]

And how about you don't go around and show off that stuff to everyone...

[ineptus]

He's really nice! You'll like him! [A genuine smile and then oh, she wasn't...?]

Oh well...I kind of already showed some of it to my friend Hiko, hehe...?

[terci]

Sure.

[He crosses his arms again and tilts his head a little.]

I guess that's fine, because it's just speculations and stuff but I don't think we should tell anyone else about anything else we discover. Especially stuff that involves murders or getting any closer to finding out who the VIPs are.

Even if they're a really good friend to you. [It might seem a little harsh, but he has good reasons..]

[ineptus]

But...we already said we'd work together. I made him pinky promise, and it was a very serious pinky promise! So I think we can trust him.

[terci]

...are you talking about the yakuza guy? [OH YEAH THAT ASSHOLE]

Mabel, I really don't think you should trust him.

[ineptus]

His name is Hiko! And why do you say that? If you say it's just because he's part of the Japanese mafia I'm going to be really disappointed with you Dipper so you better have a different reason.

[terci]

Because my partner knows him better than we do, and she said he wasn't someone you could trust!

[ineptus]

Have you met him though? I talked with him and he seemed really smart! He's really nice too and he is a total dreamboat.

And plus he promised not to kill anyone and if he does I get his pinky finger.

[terci]

[He slaps his forehead]

So you're trusting him because he's another one of your stupid crushes?!

[ineptus]

[REALLY DIPPER]

Didn't you listen to anything else I said?!

[terci]

Yes, I heard you! He'll cut off his finger if he kills anyone sure, but it's just a baseless promise, Mabel!

How do you really know he'll keep it?! How do you know anyone here will keep any promises about not killing anyone?!

[ineptus]

Because someone who knows him was so serious about it when she warned Ibuki and me! Clearly if it's something to warn me about, he'll go through with it!

I mean you were the one saying he's super dangerous because someone who knows him said he is, weren't you?!

[terci]

Okay, fine. But please tell me, Mabel, what's a lost finger to being dead?!

[ineptus]

Because-- [Mabel takes a deep breath, curling her fingers into tiny fists and closing her eyes. Holding her breath for a few moments, she slowly lets it out.]

Listen. If you meet Hiko, you'll see. He is a really okay guy! I don't think it's fair to judge someone by what other people say about them. How do you know your partner just doesn't like him? What if they're rivals, like Pacifica and I? Sure you don't like her either, but if I was someone you just met like your partner, wouldn't you rather meet her first and form your own opinion?

Or are you just going to believe what everyone tells you?

[terci]

... [That last thing Mabel says gets to him, and honestly it hurts just a tiny bit.]

I'm not going to believe everything that everyone tells me. I'm not even sure I can trust my own partner! [He rubs his temples, obviously very, very frustrated.]

Listen, Mabel, in this kind of place, I can't trust anyone. We already have proof that people are taking this "game" seriously, and neither of us even know if our partners or the friends we're making are killers or not!

You don't even know if I'm really innocent!

[ineptus]

[She's silent in response to that, and when she replies after a little thought, it's with a quiet and careful voice.]

...yes I do. Because I trust you. I trust you more than anything and anyone else. And I know you'd tell me if you were anything but innocent.

[terci]

... [His arms fall limp to his sides, and he stares at Mabel for a few moments before staring down at his feet.]

........I'm sorry Mabel. You're right and I'm just a big, stupid jerk. [He kicks his foot a little.]

I'll meet your friend Hiko and you can share whatever you want with him. If you trust him, so should I.

[ineptus]

[She pulls her feet up onto the bed, hugging her knees a little and mumbling into them mostly.]

You are a big, stupid jerk. And I never even said we had to share everything with him. I was always going to keep some stuff between us but...I just...thought it would be okay to work with other people.

[terci]

...I'm just scared. I'm really scared. [He looks at Mabel, then.]

I mean, we really have no idea who's part of what team, and anyone could easily be acting to get people to trust them and give them information. And I really, really, don't want us to trust the wrong people here.

[ineptus]

[She half meets his eyes, sort of glancing at him over her knees before looking away again.]

...I'm sorry. I'm the one being stupid, aren't I?

[terci]

No, I don't think either of us are being stupid. Just.. [His sentence trails off as his gaze wanders to the side again, before he sighs and pulls his own knees up to his chest.]

We need to be really careful.

[ineptus]

But we can't be too careful...we won't accomplish anything otherwise. Hiko pointed out that our theory about the times might not be right, because he and his friends have days to weeks of time differences between their memories...see?

[She holds out her arm and points out the spot where she wrote little notes about that.]

And he said if we don't cooperate, then no one is going to get anything right, because it's through cooperation that we learn everything about a situation. And that's when we start figuring stuff out, right?

[terci]

Yeah, I guess that's right. [He rests his chin on his knees and lets out a sigh.]

I guess I should stop being so paranoid about everything, huh? [He'd say something about the whole memories being days to weeks across, but hes pretty sure he met someone from the future already and that's all just too confusing for him.]