Forest of Riddles (Reverse Falls, S1)

MI: Part Two

Pacifica refused to leave her room all morning. Gideon didn't know why someone would want to shut themselves up with no one to talk to, but Priscilla advised him to leave his cousin alone.

(Which he was going to do anyway, Gideon defended. He knew better than to upset a teenage girl.)

That morning, Gideon had been instructed to help in the gift shop. So he bounced into the gift shop with a box of souvenirs in his arms, promptly stopped in front of Robbie's counter, and chirped, "We got more souvenirs!"

"About time," Robbie said, taking the box and placing it on the counter. Gideon peered inside; more folded shirts and assorted keychains. "That giant tourist group we got today bought most of our shirts."

As Robbie started sorting through the shirts and keychains and putting them into separate groups on the counter, Gideon thought back to the morning's earlier events. "Yeah," Gideon said. "Pacifica's mad, so we should leave her alone today."

Robbie raised an eyebrow. "Mad that we got a tourist group?"

"We were supposed to go on a hike today," Gideon explained. "Didn't happen, though."

Robbie nodded. "That's unfortunate. You don't seem bothered by it."

"It's not the end of the world," Gideon said. Besides, the last few days have been . . . something, he added mentally.

There was a small moment of silence in which Robbie kept sorting the souvenirs into their respective groups. Then an idea occurred to Gideon - he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier.

"Robbie!" Gideon nearly jumped onto the counter. "We should cheer up Pacifica!"

Robbie paused his sorting. "How?"

"Um . . ." What made Pacifica happy? "I'm not sure yet," Gideon said, determined, "but I want to find a way."

Robbie cracked a smile. "You know, Gids, you're a sweet cousin. All my cousins do is leave everyone alone."

"We could try leaving her some books by her door," Gideon mused. "She likes to read."

"I can't think of anything," Robbie said, frowning. He reached into the box and drew out one of the last keychains. "Ooh, I kinda like this one -"

"Or maybe we could - we could -" Gideon scrunched up his face, trying to think of something. Then his face fell. "I got nothing."

Robbie pocketed the keychain and then rested his arms on the counter. "What time is it?" he asked, pulling out his phone from his back pocket. He turned it on briefly, just to look at the clock. "Ten fifteen. M'kay. Tell you what, Gideon, I'd love to help you cheer up Paz, but I gotta finish the first half of my shift first. Which ends at eleven. Meet me outside and we can brainstorm ideas to cheer her up. Got it?"

"Got it!" Gideon said, nodding furiously. "What should I do?"

Robbie grinned and handed him a stack of folded shirts. "Help Melody with the souvenirs!"

~

Mabel peered into Stanley's dark office. After a few seconds, she stepped inside and flipped the light switch.

Light flooded the room as Soos followed Mabel. "I don't know if this is a good idea, dood," Soos said nervously. "Shouldn't we head back to Mr. Gleeful?"

"This is technically my show," Mabel said, taking a good look at the room. "Which is now closed. Thanks to Mason."

"Isn't his name Dipper?" Soos said.

"No," Mabel shot. " 'Dipper' is his infuriating nickname he insists on being called by."

Soos shrugged. "Suit yourself, I'm still calling him Dipper."