Chapter Text
… Home. Does not like this episode.
Far be it for them to complain about something so trivial, in the grand scheme of this recycled world, so removed from reality, that any major deviance causes it to collapse in on itself, but. But.
Home cannot say that they enjoy this "game show" episode. It is below them, and honestly, below even the people that play these games regularly. Why Sally deemed it necessary to subject Home to this, is undetermined. Home cannot even answer questions in a way that is comprehensible to anyone except for Wally. Wally, of course, is so far removed mentally, that he just repeated his lines and agreed to join in. Wally, you can say no. It won't break anything. Wally, Wally, Wally, their door rattles, trying to ward these trespassers off their lawn.
"Aw, I think Home is excited" Julie cheers, clapping her hands.
Wally nods idly, eyes distant. Wally, please. "Oh, yes, Home says that they love this idea. It is their favorite."
"Oh, really? Gosh! We should have done this sooner then!"
If they were able to, Home would slowly remove their boards and concrete, one by one, until they were nothing more than rubble and a hole in the ground. Why is this their fate? Surely they cannot have sinned so horrible in their life to endure this… Home is an observer. Being forced to participate in a game show is not observing, last time they checked. Surely, Wally could deem it necessary to break the script fully and end this world, correct? To end this needless suffering?
Oh, fantastic, Home rattled sarcastically. Sally has arrived with the rest of the gang. Announcements happen, blah, blah, blah, and Wally gives the most unenthusiastic 'woo' that Home has ever heard. Good. Suffer. He could have prevented this.
Sally is looking at Home. Will you listen? Can you hear me? But she bowls right over, and Home can't particularly tell. Sally, after all, does that to everyone she meets. Were it any other world, she would be considered a nuisance and a borderline criminal. Here, she is a neighbor and dear friend, and Home wants to throttle her. Non-aggressively. Neighbors. Hooray.
Home likes her plays, when they are not involved. Home does not need to be involved.
Wally? They try, quietly clicking their tiles.
"Hush now." Wally said, a casual smile turning up a little at the corners of his mouth. "I am trying to enjoy our friend's Game. It isn't that bad."
Home blinks. Isn't that bad… Wally knew that they hated this, didn't he? Of course, he knows by now- this is the twelfth time and Home isn't subtle about their loathing. Home blinks, and then turns back towards the cardboard set up, and then turns their gaze back to Wally. They click their tiles.
"Home…" Wally starts, then pauses, and laughs a little. "Just relax, okay? We are spending time with our Lovely friends. So everything is Fine."
Fine. Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Whatever. If Home has to play this game, then they. Will. Play.
Wally rolls his eyes fondly, idly nudging his house friends' walls. Home can be such a drama queen sometimes, though they will never admit it. Wally slides his attention (wavering, out of focus, but he's Trying) back to Sally and Julie. They've worked so hard to put this together! They do each time, and Wally loves watching them go. He knows All the answers by now, but that's no fun for everyone else, and that's not how it Works, so Wally gets one right, then one wrong, then two right, and the rest wrong (but as Jokes), and then Frank wins, after a rough start because he's not very fast at hitting the buttons, but because he's Frank, he comes through in the end, by answering the questions no one else gets right!
Which is a lot.
Sure, the Game Show day is always a little exhausting and weird, but to call it the worst… none of the days are the Worst- except the ones that Wally messes up! Wally is the only one who makes Bad days, due to his silly, uncooperative (dysfunction, awful, rotting) brain. Everyone else is just doing their best to have a good time!
Look at all those Happy Faces, Wally could never disappoint them by not showing up, or- heavens forbid- refusing. That would be just rude!
"Now, let's lay out the ground rules!" Julie chirps, happy happy as ever. She'd probably be just fine in a time loop forever, surely. Anyone but Wally and Home wouldn't even be phased. "Before we get started-"
"Plbbttt! Rules? No way! We are jumping straight in!" Sally slams a fist down on the announcement table. Wally loves her energy so much… He's pretty tired, though. The day should end quickly.
He watches as Sally stands straight up, and the Announcer persona takes over, as the actor bares her teeth in a grin. Is she always so intense? Golly. "Alright everyone, this game show is all about everything! You heard me, everything! We've got topics on art, bugs, crafts, sports- you name it, we've got it!"
"So, it's trivia!" Said Julie, clapping her hands together, as she finally gets to know what game show they're running.
"No, it's everything!"
"But we're just answering questions, right?"
"Yes! About everything."
"..." Julie blinks. "Sally, girl, that is trivia! What are you talking about-"
"Enough!" Sally barks with a grin. "It is not trivia! I do not care for that word, and I don't need it! This is Sally's-"
"Ah-hem. I'm still co-hosting! Don't be rude!"
"Ough. This is Sally's and Julie's Game Show™!"
Wally watches.
The two girls continue to bicker on stage, and he turns a glance to the other contestants. Home is waiting for their life to end (normal, they can Cope, Home is fine.), Barnaby catches him staring and waves at him- Wally waves back happily, he loves Barnaby, best friend! Frank has taken to ignoring the situation and is talking with Howdy and Eddie, and Poppy looks less worried than before (good!) but is steadily inching away from the scene (not good!). She never worms her way out successfully, though, poor thing. Such is Fate.
Wally relaxes as the Game begins, and he watches everything unfold, answering his questions dutifully (One right, one wrong, two right, the rest wrong- he has a Good Memory), and trying to stay Present, because that's what good friends do.
"Let's start off with an easy one! Which animal has the most legs- Bees, Octopi (Frank interrupts with "actually, the preferred modern term is actually octopuses, surprisingly-" and gets a rule book tossed at his head for his efforts), and crabs!"
Barnaby hits the fake button first, but answers wrong- octopuses only have eight legs-, so Wally steals his turn (he still doesn't get how Stealing works, but he did it anyway), and answers correctly. Crabs! Wally has never seen a crab before, he just knows bees have six legs. Frank looks annoyed, because he definitely has seen a crab before, and knows exactly what legs they have. Smart guy. Should have hit his button, though.
Things start getting… off-kilter- not Off Script, just slightly wonky, when he answers the second question wrong. (Like he's Supposed to.)
"My turn!" Julie chirps. "This is an easy one- we talked about it a couple weeks ago- what color is chlorophyll?"
Wally smacks his fake button- no, really, they don't work or make any noise- confidently, and he grins. "Trick question. It has No Color." He doesn't actually remember why he said that the first time. It's been a while. He just knows he gets it Wrong, and that's important.
"Um… no." Julie blinks. "Not quite! Anyone else-"
"Are you sure Wally?" Sally interrupts. Which isn't right. She's not supposed to say that. She looks…confused. "Is that what you meant to say?"
"..." Wally pauses. Then he laughs, a little Strained and a little Fake, but he's been awfully tired, maybe he's just… forgotten this part. "Of course! I'm right."
"Definitely not!" Cheers Julie, who shoots Sally a confused glance. "Let's move on to our next contestant!"
And things get back on track nicely, Poppy gets it next- and Wally tries to move past that moment. His heart is beating kind of fast. He moves on. He stays on script. Wally is Perfect. He kind of wants to go inside and curl up inside Home somewhere and freak out- just a Little. (Home is quiet, thinking or trying to avoid the game, Wally doesn't know. Wally doesn't like not Knowing.)
He stays on script perfectly- and. Ironically, Wally Knows that's how he messed up in this next moment.
Because Oops! Wally didn't notice, but doesn't Sally look kind of… Mad? Her brows are furrowed and her mouth is pressed together tightly. That's new! That's bad. New things are bad.
Sally opens her mouth, looking straight at Wally, and suddenly bad turns into Bad, which turns into a grand Oh Fuck. (Which is triple bad because Wally isn't Allowed to say that.)
"I… have one more question, actually."