@piningdipper
Ebony had been on the road for a while now, so it was a relief to finally find a spot to pull over and get their bearings. They stretched out their back and hit the lock button on the key fob for the black, early two thousands Forester. Once again, the Mark on their right arm had started acting up and as a result Ebony had started wandering around the country looking for what could be causing it. To be fair, that Mark was red and inflamed all the time. Murder was common in the past, and it was still common today. But when it started actually burning and randomly bleeding, Ebony threw up their hands in defeat and followed its lead. So they spent days in the car they basically lived out of until the Mark either stopped bleeding randomly or burned so hotly they thought their arm had been dumped in acid.
The latter was what got Ebony to pull over at the tourist trap they were currently at. They cocked their head as they studied the building. ‘The Mystery Hack?’ No wait, ‘The Mystery Shack’; the giant ‘S’ fell off. Still, it didn’t look like anything special. Ebony debated for a moment before shrugging and heading towards the door. If nothing else, they might be able to get some information about the area and town here. They carefully opened the door and entered the gift shop. They quickly glanced around the room, just a normal tacky tourist trap gift shop with a pig in the corner- ...Wait, what?
Suddenly, a pre-teen ball of energy in the form of a human girl jumped up from behind the counter.
“HI THERE! I’M MABEL, AND WELCOME TO THE MYSTERY SHACK! I’m afraid you just missed the tour of the entire premises, but for a one dollar tip, I can still provide you with a tour of-” the girl ecstatically greeted and launched into a sell’s pitch before she suddenly froze. She stared at Ebony for a few seconds, before she practically pole vaulted over the counter and rushed up to Ebony.
“You! Stay right there! Don’t move!” She hurriedly commanded them before taking off out of the gift shop area at top speed. Ebony couldn’t do anything other than stand there feeling like they had just gotten run over by a tank again. Their stunned daze was broken by the sound of someone laughing. They looked over to the source and noticed the red head teenage girl who had been restocking shelves on the far of the shop by the vending machine.
“Whoa, man. Excuse her, Mabel is easily excitable but she’s awesome.” She kindly informed them. “Hey, sweet flannel!” Ebony chuckled and had to quickly look down at their outfit because they too suffered from random memory loss whenever someone commented on what they were wearing. Red and black checkered flannel shirt, black crop top underneath, black jean skort over black leggings with the torn knees, black combat boots and black fingerless gloves, and- of course- the three sets of dog tags around their neck.
“Thanks, dude.”
Mabel Pines, meanwhile, had bolted right up the stairs to the attic and burst through the door to the room she shared with her brother.
“DIPPER!YOUNEEDTOGETDOWNHERERIGHTNOW!THERE’SSOMEONEWHOLOOKSEXACTLYLIKEACHARACTERFROMONEOFYOURNERDANIMESANDYOUNEEDTOGETDOWNHERENOW!!”
