Missing

Dining and Winking

From what she heard, Gideon Gleeful had continued the Tent of Telepathy. Somehow, nobody remembered the big huge robot, his role in Weirdmaggedon, or the fact that he promised to be a normal kid.

He was taller than Amelia expected, the Elvis hairstyle gone. He was wearing a leather jacket and cowboy boots, paired with jeans and a baby blue T-shirt. His white hair was shorter now, tied back with a black ribbon.

He laughed, leaning on the counter, booping her nose. "Yep! And you're Amelia Pines. You've grown."

Amelia leaned back. "'Grown'?" She cocked her head in puzzlement.

The Southerner laughed again. "Oh! I guess it has been a while. You came up here winter break, before the twins disappeared." His smile turned wistful, tracing a star in the wood. "I can't blame you for not remembering, we... we scared you pretty badly."

"We?"

"The twins, Pacifica, and me." He smiled at her. "How about lunch?"

Amelia glanced up at the clock. It was only a few minutes before Grunkle Stan closed the Shack for lunch anyway. "Sure, I guess. Promise not to try to cut my tongue out?"

Gideon burst into laughter a third time. "Of course!"

~'~'~

The two sat in the aquatic restaurant, waiting for their orders to arrive. "You were seven if I remember, winter break of that year. The Stan twins had just returned home because it was almost Christmas." Gideon started, poking at his food.

"Me and Pacifica, we hung out with the twins a lot and you started to tag along as well." He took a sip of his root beer. "Well, we heard rumors about a lake monster, something other than the Gobblewonker or the Island Head."

"And?" She sipped her drink. "You said you guys scared me."

"Well, we found something. The lake was frozen that winter. Mabel told you to stay on the shore, with a bag of extra cameras. We went out onto the ice...then something grabbed Dipper's leg and dragged him under the ice."

Amelia paled. Something about that did seem familiar. "And then..."

"Well, Pacifica was grabbed, then me, and then Mabel. It was some sort of ice squid, tentacles wrapped around our legs." Gideon stared into the distance. "Just as we were about to drown, Mabel used her grappling hook to grab the edge of the ice and we yanked ourselves out. You were standing there, eyes wide and knuckles white. You were crying."

"Oh. So this lunch..."

Gideon chuckled. "I heard you were back in town and wanted to play catch up. Wink!" He playfully winked.

The rest of lunch, as said, was spent on catching up.