video } I said, hey, girl with one eye

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper's sitting in his room, holding a red-wrapped piece of paper and looking very seriously at the camera.]

So, I just received a very interesting package–Mabel and I both did–I mean, we each received a different package, and… [He holds his up, then holds the note up to the camera.

It reads: In the search for something lost, do what you know you must. -RQ]

So clearly they're important, and I thought it'd be best if we open them nice and slowly and everyone can have a chance to see and weigh in, cause this is definitely a puzzle, and–

[–and Mabel shoves her way into frame violently, pushing Dipper aside and slamming a jar in front of the camera. The jar contains (1) blue eye that darts around in confusion at being jostled so savagely!! For a hot moment, Mabel does not care about that. She’s too busy looking a bit frantic.]

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. This is the moment I’ve been training for since I first met Alice. [She balls a tiny hand into a fist.] I have one of her eyes, man. But that’s one more eye than I had before!

[She’s… definitely going at this with all the passion of a drill sergeant.] So my question is… Who’s got the other one? [SUSPICIOUS SQUINT. YOU BETTER NOT BE HIDING IT FROM HER. SHE WILL FIND YOU.

Dipper looks annoyed at the intrusion until he sees just what it is she has, at which point he looks shocked and amazed, one hand going to his head.]

Mabel, that's amazing! Oh my gosh, we have to find the other eyeball and figure out where the heck she hangs out when she's not announcing events… I'm going to get a clipboard!

[Whoops dashing offscreen now. There's a thump. Followed by an "I'm okay!" then another thump.

Mabel watches all of this with increasingly more pained flinches at Dipper tripping over everything, all while hugging the jar close to her chest.] Um… We’ll be right back, guys.

[She flicks the camera off.]

Comments

[punful]

the queen had them? ...actually, that's not too surprising.

[powerofmabel]

They were probably like her creepy trophies or something. Eugh. [She sticks her tongue out.]

[krmvgivv]

[Dipper grimaces.] Or spare parts.

[punful]

both of those things sound both plausible and pretty nasty.

[AKA exactly like something the Queen would do.]

do you have any idea how to find alice?

[powerofmabel]

We're gonna check her room first, and then go from there. There's gotta be a way.

[krmvgivv]

Worst case scenario, I guess we can just wait until she shows up to tell us about an event. But that could take months, so it's not ideal.

[punful]

i didn't even know she had a room...do all of them have rooms?

[He always sort of assumed that the assorted Wonderland denizens either didn't sleep, or had their own sort of mansion hidden somewhere else in Wonderland. Like some sort of very small pocket dimension. Or that maybe they all just lived on the Mirror side or something.]

...the queen's probably gonna want those eyes back, isn't she.

[It's not really a question. It's sounding more and more like all this stuff that's turning up was stolen.]

[powerofmabel]

Alice used to be like us, I think, so that's why she's got a room. We're not really sure where the other ones go when they're not announcing events and stuff.

[She clings to the jar a little tighter. YOU CAN'T HAVE ALICE'S EYES QUEEN OF HEARTS.]

[krmvgivv]

Alice definitely hasn't been to her room in a long time. I don't know if she--or the others--have other rooms too. They have to live somewhere, right?

[punful]

she...wait, really? you mean she...

[She was like them. She came from another world and ended up in Wonderland. That's how the story goes, doesn't it? Alice falls into a hole and wakes up in Wonderland.]

[He just doesn't know the story that well. He always assumed she was like all the others. That she belonged here.]

so...that's what happens to people who have been here for too long?

[powerofmabel]

It... kinda looks that way. [Mabel shrugs, sadly.] I mean there's a lot of things that yank out memories, right? So eventually you wouldn't have any left...

[But Mabel's beaten that sad story before, and she'll do everything she can to beat it again.]

[krmvgivv]

Remember how everyone was last December? Thinking they'd been in Wonderland their whole lives?

[Dipper shudders.]

We have to get out of here before that happens.

[punful]

that december thing was...it had to do with the white queen, though, right?

[Honestly, it's hard to remember. He was kind of in a bad way that whole time.]

how many times do you think the poor kid has died here?

...no, never mind. that's morbid.