fandomtownies | The Preserve; Sunday Evening

Skulking about in the preserve might not really be the best idea Jasper's ever had but it'd been something he'd wanted to do for awhile now. Most of this island was a mess of wide open spaces, water and small, dark alleys that were one cigarette smoking guy in a trench coat away from a film noir.

Pushing those thoughts out of his head, Jasper concentrated on his surroundings. A lifetime of living and traveling with Billy meant that he'd picked up a few tracking skills. He knew how to make his footsteps whisper quiet, how to blend into the shadows and how to disappear when you didn't want to be seen. Typically, if a murder happened near a forest, the police went there first, stomping sloppily through mud and potential evidence. Not Billy, never Billy. He knew what the cops would do and did the exact opposite. Billy Dent took pride in running the cops around in circles.

Was that why Jasper was out there? Figuring out ways to escape if he ever did the unthinkable? This place had one main exit which meant if he ever did anything, that's where the biggest mass of cops would take up residence. He'd have to figure out other ways to escape.

Jasper blinked at those dark thoughts. He hadn't really meant to think about how he'd leave if he ever decided to take up his father's crown. He wouldn't do that.

"People are real. People matter."

They matter only in that they make it fun for us, Jasper, my boy. Make a friend, son, and make it even better. Mmm, when they trust you and realize what they've done... Exhilarating. Watch the eyes, listen to the noises, feel their silky, soft skin turn cold underneath your hands.

Jasper shivered and stepped over a fallen log, keeping his mind busy with mentally mapping checkpoints and the general perimeter of the preserve. Big enough to disappear in but not not big enough to be forgotten. He leaned against a tree, blowing out a breath. The moon illuminated the spaces nearby but Jasper made sure to stay in the dark.

[ Open if you're out in the preserve. He's being a little creepy (so warning for some mild creepiness!) without realizing it so feel free to freak out out or try and deck him or whatever. ]

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It was an excellent evening for - what? For exploring! Mabel had knitted about fifteen thousand sweaters by now, and Waddles was napping back in her room, so she'd decided to put her adventuring skills to good use tonight by going for a walk in the preserve to check out the little green deer she'd heard about.

So, here she was, armed with a camera and a backpack that was mostly just holding her grappling hook, wearing a sweater with a funny-looking owl on it, and... mostly just wandering around lost. It was dark. Did deer even do things in the dark?

Well, too late for that now. Maybe she could find some other elusive Fandom species of the nocturnal persuasion, like a--

"Hi!"

-- Like an elusive 'guy against a tree.' Those were pretty rare this time of year.

If he'd been anyone else, he might have jumped in surprise but it'd been pretty easy to tell he wasn't alone when she'd gotten closer. With his mood the way it was, he wasn't sure whether a visitor was a good idea or a bad one.

But, civility.

"Hey," he said, tilting his head. "Didn't think anyone else would be out here."

"Well, you know," Mabel chirped, gesturing broadly with one hand up toward the night sky. "It's a great night for this, and a little exploring never hurt anybody, right?"

Unless you ran into a creepy guy in the woods, maybe. But how likely was that to happen?

"I was looking for the deer, but I guess I lost track of the time. It is too late for deer now, isn't it?" A beat. "Prooobably."

Clarke was out with a flashlight, doing her now-weekly check of the portal that landed her here. Usually she never saw anybody so imagine her surprise when she turned her flashlight on Jasper.

Seriously, she was surprised, there was a shout and everything.

So unlikely! Guess Mabel just had some good luck tonight. The one night a creepy guy hangs out in the woods, right?

"Probably," he agreed, nodding and not moving from his spot against a tree. "You out here hunting this late?"

Was there anything but hunting and watching that you could do with deer? He didn't see a weapon though.

"You're being loud."

Or maybe he was just very attuned to things around him. Still, he didn't jump when the light hit him.

"Hi, Clarke. You're out late."

Did that sound creepy? He didn't mean it.

"The same could be said for you," she said. "What are you doing out here?"

Mabel was, alas, pretty darn unarmed. Unless you counted the grappling hook in her bag, along with about half her body weight in puffy stickers.

She had her priorities straight, here.

"Hunting, me? Naah. I just heard that they were teal and I wanted to see for myself. My brother would go crazy if I managed to get footage of a teal deer more easily than he took care of the office moose."

"I told you I was going to come out here at some point," he reminded her. "I was just checking it out. Isn't it considered relaxing to take a walk through the woods?"

He tried to smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Most people do it during the day."

Wait.

"There's a moose in the office?" Really? "It doesn't even have opposable thumbs."

"You're out here." This time, his smile was a little more genuine. "Does that mean you're not most people too?"

"There is totally a moose in the office," Mabel enthused, pulling out her camera and turning it on so that she could find the video footage of Dipper in his moose costume, being aggressively nuzzled by said moose.

It was hilarious. Mabel was very proud.

"Dipper and I found out about it when we went to try to find out how the school knew we were going to be here, even if we didn't technically sign up or anything," she explained. "Oh, yeah- Hi! I'm Mabel! Who I guess henceforth shall be known as that girl whose brother was hit on by a moose."

Good job, Dipper.

"My theory is that he has very dexterous lips."

The moose. Not Dipper.

"I spend a lot of time out here," she said. "Still trying to find out how I ended up here."

"Jasper," he said absently since his attention was pretty taken by that video footage. He even snickered once, lightly. "Why'd he dress up as a moose? Doesn't look like the guy in the office was really going anywhere."

He snickered again.

"Unless he wanted the moose to hit on him?"

"So, I can't be out here too?" he asked, tilting his head curiously. "That doesn't seem fair."

After a second, he snickered quietly.

"Sorry I scared you."

"Well, the moose didn't want us to go inside," Mabel explained, "to go poking through the filing cabinets or whatever else is in there. So I figured a disguise would help him fit in better."

A beat.

"It worked a little too well."

Oops!

"You didn't scare me," she said immediately. "I was surprised."

"Uh huh." That was...that was definitely a thing, wasn't it? "I think the next question is why did he have a moose outfit handy?"

"You shouted," he pointed out, amused. Jasper used a hand to push off the tree and walk closer to her. "I'm pretty scary, I know."

Said as a jest but definitely the truth in his eyes, at least.

"It's amazing what you can find in town," Mabel replied, practically beaming. "There were furry antlers in a surplus Christmas sale bin, and then I spruced them up a bit!"

With a bedazzler. Naturally.

"He doesn't usually have a moose costume. But he used to have this really great lamb costume..."

If Mabel continued talking in this vein, Dipper would probably never forgive her.

Clarke smiled. "You're the opposite of scary."

Yeah, Jasper stared for a second before his brow furrowed and he shook his head.

"Is he a fan of Halloween or something?" he asked, unable to stop himself. The conversation was ridiculous enough to stop his dark thoughts in their tracks. "Or a fan of farm yard animals?"

"Really?" Jasper actually fixed her with a brief look of confusion before wiping it away. "How'd you figure that out?"

Conversations with Mabel had a funny way of doing that.

"Well, he wants to think he grew out of Halloween," Mabel shared, "but there was this one summer where we were almost eaten by a guy made out of loser candy, so we don't risk it anymore. The livestock thing is mostly just because our mom and dad used to dress him up in this lamb costume and make him do this cute little song and dance? He loved it."

And it had totally saved them from murderous ghosts that one time.

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The Preserve; Sunday Evening

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