Chapter Text
“Aren’t you gonna tell me a story, Rodger?”
Toodles gripped onto the sleeve of the detective, whining while clinging onto her plush toy. “You hardly said anything! I wanna hear about a cool case!”
Rodger’s breath hitched, his hands feeling metallic once Toodles slipped her own onto his. She pulled back, flinching. “Rodger?...”
Looking up, the detective only gave a sympathetic shake of the head before patting the eight ball on the head. Toodles just huffed.
“Pleaaase?” She begged, but Rodger didn’t make eye contact. His pupil bolted around as Toodles had enough.
“Okay, fine! I’ll just read my own story…” She leaped out of the bed, before being pulled right back.
“Don’t!” Rodger yelped out, now holding Toodles up in the air.
“Why can’t I go outside?!” Toodles whined, so close to just biting his hands. “I wanna see everyone, but they never come!”
Even as she kicked Rodger’s head, he didn’t respond. He just placed her down as he shook his head.
Toodles spat at him. “I wanna see Teagan, too!”
No response. Rodger just looked from side to side, before getting up awkwardly. He motioned for her to keep quiet, and then closed the door shut.
She sat on the bed, crossing her arms. Rodger was acting super weird. Why’d he sound off, too?
. . .
Somewhere off in the night, Toodles waited until it fell dark. Even if she was in the outside world now, why was she still kept inside? Rodger hadn’t said much of a word about anything, so she planned to just see a peak…
Being careful not to make any noise, she leaped off her bed and walked across the hardwood floor slowly. Thankfully it didn’t creak, but the door was a bit of a problem.
For one, it was locked, which would’ve been a dent in her plans…
But the vents are always accessible! She climbed up the bookcase leading to run, using her bare hands to unscrew them. They were a bit rusty, so she had to be careful!
And now she was inside, crawling through. She hoped it wasn’t making any actual noise as she continued forward…
…She could hear two toons talking. She can eavesdrop up here? Cool!
“I told you, I can’t keep on pretending.” A loud, rich voice obviously scoffed in response. Was this in the middle of a conversation?
“Please, I just don’t want her to be upset…” A more dreamy one spoke in response. “If she knew it wasn’t Rodger, she’d…”
“Leave? She’d probably know in a few weeks or so. My voice is hardly the same, even with that magic.” Another scoff.
“I haven’t perfected it yet. Just stay patient…” The other sighed, now leaving the scene. “I know she’s better here than the outside world.”
“Really? Wouldn’t it be better if she saw me instead? I do know she loves me too!”
“...Then you could think of a story why you two can’t be in the same place…” A small pause. “And that’s why I need-”
The two halted their conversation at the thuds within the vent, going back to back as Toodles tried to keep in tears. She didn’t understand what was going on, but why would Glisten lie to her like that? She could recognize his voice from anywhere, even in these stinking vents.
She could hear them panic from below, going faster until she fell down on snow. She sneezed from the shift from warm to cold, covering her arms as she peaked her eyes open.
Outside. It looked like a blizzard, but Toodles had no clue why a vent would lead out there. It broke, but the painful cold had put her mind into other things-
Calling out for Rodger, or anyone. She just wanted to see if anyone else was around. Not even Rodger, but someone she recognized… she kept on sneezing, feeling frost grow on her skin.
“A-anyone?” She whimpered, not even trying to open her eyes anymore. It began to hurt. “Please, I don’t… wanna be alone…”
As she fell on her knees, another picked her up from the snow. Whoever it was felt cold to the touch as the freeze began to warm off, a door closing right behind her.
She was back inside, but even with lamps shining on her she felt exhausted and wilted.
Closing her eyes didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
. . .
Hardly any batteries in sight.
Finn already had a hard enough day, wrangling Barnaby out of a crab's hand, but even harder was dealing with Brightney. He didn’t want to spill water on the lamp's insides, so his bowl had to be empty for the time being.
Not like he wasn’t sick without water, but it was a nice feeling. Least his bowl refilled whenever he went into the shore to find anything useful.
The biggest con is that, outside of Brightney essentially being in a coma, there wasn’t anyone to really talk to. Barnaby of course could listen along, but couldn’t say much of a word for his puns.
So he wrote them down in case Brightney comes back. He just stored whatever he found in a lighthouse, alongside the lamp, alongside anything cozy related to sleep in.
Everyday when he’d wake up, go outside and hunt for supplies, or return home defeated, Brightney always sat in the corner of the room. It was a bit scary, but she was a friend! Not like she could snap awake at any moment.
He only found a small charging plug, which could wake Brightney up… he’d take that chance at least, while swimming through cold water and constantly smelling like kelp.
Still no signs of help. He felt too shy to even go out, as the rest was just a forest and left over homes. Most of the houses obviously were taken in by the ocean, a lot of sea critters making it their personal home… Finn wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t needed to look over Brightney!
Even trying to make the lighthouse work was no use. The light and electrical systems were dead there, and if he did want a light for others to discover him, he’d have to disable Brightney’s.
…Which was the only actual person he could talk to. Could. And Finn was already missing contact with people, aside from Barnaby.
He just laid down on a makeshift bed, his legs prosthetic sitting near. Brightney was draped in some covers he found. He could say it was to warm her up, but also because he didn’t want people to look at him.
For once, he didn’t smile. It was more of a default expression as he looked up at the cold ceiling.
The walls and so-so were always so vibrant, even if the color washed off. He preferred that more than the dry colors of the warehouse, and he was certainly reminded of the warehouses now.
He rolled back to see Brightney.
“C’mon… it won’t be hard to wake up!”
No response.
“Can you just break out of your shell?” Finn chuckled, but it was no use. He was only met with silence.
And his jokes were getting worse. Great.
. . .
Toodles woke up in a cozy, comfortable room. The blanket she was wrapped in felt just like sheep's wool as the ceiling was adorned in stars.
She looked up in amazement, and even more so as she turned to see Astro sitting on his own sofa. She gleefully got up to see him.
“Astro! Astro!!” She cheered out, hugging his legs as he yelped from her surprise hug. He couldn’t help but giggle. “W-where is everyone else? Am I in your room?”
Astro took a deep breath, standing up. “You’re… safe.” Was all he could say.
“Safe?” She raised an eyebrow. “How so? Am I still in Gardenview?”
“I… gave you an awful dream.” Astro’s face was filled with guilt. “And… you couldn’t stop crying in your sleep. I had to bring you inside.”
“Inside?”
Astro tried to ignore that comment. “We… aren’t in Gardenview, but you’re safe. No twisted will get you now.”
Toodles gripped onto Astro’s coat- not even feeling like a blanket anymore. “What about everyone else? I wanna say hi to them?”
“I’ll find them, don’t worry.” Astro kneeled down to pet Toodles on the forehead, as she puffed her cheeks. “You like… playing with dolls, right?”
“Nuh uh! I like being a detective!” She playfully spat at the moon. “And it’s not playing!”
Astro looked to the locked door, and then back to Toodles. “There are plenty of books to read… for you to pretend. But stay safe, please.”
Toodles herself looked side to side, and then back at Astro. “Uhm… okay!”
The moon gave back a kind smile. “Thank you, Toodles.” Gave her another pat on the head, and went to leave.
He tried to bury Toodles confused voice with the door being locked as another toon rolled his eyes once he left the room.
“Can't you just tell the truth? I’m sure she wouldn't mind being around me.”
“Not in that state…” Astro sighed, as red eyes looked at him through the dark. “I don’t want her to be hurt.”
“Your loss. You know, she’s a lot smarter-”
“I know. But you can’t talk to her, or else she’ll know.” Astro almost gritted his teeth, and the other pulled back. “She… has to be safe. Just make sure she’s okay.”
“And do I have to pretend to be you?”
“You’re the only one who can speak…” Astro walked past the other twisteds, as Scraps rolled her eyes from such a comment. “S-sorry. I don’t mean any offense.”
“I’m not too surprised you hadn’t gotten that detective. Not even with Toodles?” The other asked, still leaning against the wall.
“He wants to know where Brightney is… I’ll try and get her.” Astro sounded unsure, hardly confident of his own abilities. “And… he’s with Dandy.”
“Of course he is.”
Astro could see the other toon rolling his eyes in the dark. “What a strange gambit! I thought Rodger hated him after that one… project.”
“Ichor operation.” Astro just looked at his feet. “I don’t think Dandy would even stay long. He’ll… go back to Gardenview, eventually. He hadn’t even seen me with Rodger.”
“Well now, isn’t that a good thing?”
“...I don’t know.”
. . .
For once in Rodger’s life, the sun beamed down on him when he woke up.
At first he was met with shock, wondering where Dandy went, but he simply reasoned Dandy went on his own. Some part of trust he had in Dandy was already broken, he wouldn’t be surprised if he went back to Gardenview-
But instead, he was interrupted by the flower whistling.
“Heya, Rodger! You slept pretty late. Wanna go look outside?”
He almost felt like he had a heart attack.