Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Right, yes, yup and hello! Me again. As the summary said, I've decided to open requests for when I write agere related object show content. What I want to write isn't always what everyone else may want to see, so this happened!

Let me lay down some ground rules first.

• This is SFW, and that won't change at all.

• Only request stuff on this chapter! Otherwise it'll be all clogged and bleh.

• When it comes to describing little gear and such, I tend to get a bit anxious about using exact words. So don't expect me to say some stuff directly.

• For the case of PPT2, please note I'm not the most familiar with personalities and all. So don't judge me if I'm weak there.

• THINGS MAY TAKE TIME! And I don't want any of you to be impatient, so I'll be doing my best to have things come at a pace I'm comfortable with.

Also, it's come to my mind that I haven't stated proper discomforts, so I'll do that now. I'm not comfortable with writing diap related content, or things for ONE due to it being a discomfort of mine.

-

And now for how to submit a request! All I ask is you comment the form I'll show below, filled in with what you want and such. Rather simple task, okay? So here's said form.

Regressed Object:
CG (Caregiver):
Involved Gear:
Plot:
Extra Notes / HCs?:

There we go! Don't feel afraid to add detail for stuff you want to be made clear, or do you just want gear to be a certain look or whatever? Just let me know and I'll do that for you! Now then, request if you want to.

Chapter Text

Around two parts water, one part of confetti and other overall safe yet sensory invoking stuff inside. A perfect creation for the time being.

You see, ever since the whole Bow situation had come to life, Bot could hardly cope and get anything even when all was clear. That led to them regressing, but hiding away whenever they did so.

It was a little silly (to hide away), but when it came to their creator actually finding out about this, she was far calmer than expected. The tube's heart understood right off the bat, which was perfect.

So after taking some time to identify a set age the small robot found themselves regressing to (around six months or so in age), she had been working on ways for them to be happier.

This small bag was a start.

Carefully sitting the small object down, their gaze had fallen to it but they had no idea what to do. So the tube very carefully took their hand, placing it on there.

"Look. It's moving."

It was honestly hard for her to not throw in all sciency nonsense, like how it was moving or the exact speed of it - no way Bot would get it.

Though what the bag was for was starting to be recognised. It was to stimulate the regressed object's mind, whilst being safe at the same time.

Not to mention the overall stimulation. The moving of the confetti and other items in the water prompted curiosity to make you keep moving them to peak your curiosity.

An absolute piece of perfection.

But, at the very least, safe looking from a distance.

While her caregiver (and actual creator) was watching over them, she noticed the seams of the bag starting to go a bit loose as it was squished and poked around.

Funny… she could have sworn that… no, no time for calculating errors. Something was wrong, so she had to step in fast.

"H-hey, watch out!"

The other object had been picked up rather abruptly, making them drop the bag - as it split open and splashed a good majority of the area Bot was just sat in.

That would have totally wrecked their circuits, and well… them overall.

A natural fear kicked in for the robot, getting them to sniffle a bit as they were held securely to who they trusted.

"Don't go and panic, I got you. Won't let that happen again, now. Let's cool off a bit from that."

That had calmed them down, and before they were really aware of much else they had been carried over to a certain set of tables. Sure, they didn't NEED to eat, but it was nice to do so.

So with their body being sat up on the table itself (you don't exactly get kids' seats on a picnic table), a patient process had started with basic soft food.

Just some mashed up potatoes, honestly. But they were soft and delicate enough that they could be eaten by the regressed object (and be gently praised each time, too).

Though around when they were full, their two-object company had been broken by a certain other new-voiced individual.

"Hey, Testy. Silver sent me to ask if- oh. Are they having one of those… what do you call it, again?"

"Regression?"

"Ah, yeah, that's it. Anyways, Silver wanted me to ask if you wanted to just… hang out a bit. Or 'converse and connect' as he called it."

There was a light snickering as a response came back.

"Sorry, no can do. Tell him that I was occupied with my own stuff."

"No issue. You two have a good one."

While the brush wandered back off, the tube turned her mind back to the object sat on the table. They had their hands in the bowl, getting some of the leftover potatoes on their hands.

That was luckily easy enough to decipher.

"Oh, you want a bit more? That's alright, give me a second."

The rest of that afternoon was spent with the pair having that other bowl of food, and then wandering off into the foliage of the island for more safe stimulation.

Just with less water.

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One of those days, again. Things felt empty and off. It looked like all the flowers had a little seed to watch over, trees had their saplings…

And Fan had nobody.

No, he hadn't been abandoned - he was just in a caregiver state of mind. Yet he couldn't find a way out of it.

But he couldn't just go and bother someone, of course! That would be rude of him, not to mention unethical. So, how to do this?

"Come on… I'm just in that mood for… oh. Oh!"

His eyes lit up somewhat as a good looking sight sat against a tree - a pretty content looking Lightbulb, pretty messily digging into what looked like what could only be a tuna sandwich.

He wasn't the most… fond of the smell, but if he did this right then he would cure his urge to care for something. And she probably wouldn't mind, too.

So with a calm pep in his step, Fan had embraced the smell he wasn't keen on and eventually got sat next to the obviously hungry object.

With his caregiver instincts going strong, he pulled a bag off of his shoulder (one he always brought along when he was in a mood like this) and got some small wipes out, making quiet work of the mess on the bulb's face.

"Huh? Oh, hey Fan. Thought you never liked the smell of fish."

"Yeah… but I wanted to come over anyway. See how you were doing so well at eating this."

Since she was still in her big mindset at the minute, Lightbulb didn't understand and just kept eating. Fan kept his own patience, wiping away more mess she made and passing her gentle praise along the way.

And by the end of that sandwich, she looked to have fallen right into the space his actions were coaxing her to.

Which did remind Fan… he had been considering something as of late regarding her regression. So once again going for his bag, he pulled something out that he was a little reluctant to.

"Hey, Lighty. Can you tell me what this is?"

"Uh… mmh… buh?"

She was a pretty young regressor, alright.

"Ah, good try! We'll call it that, though. So… I figured you may be a bit thirsty after that. Would a bit of a drink be okay?"

"...yuh."

Okay, she was going ahead with it… now to make sure to not overdo it. Just stay in the caregiver mindset and keep calm.

Fan carefully arranged that drink, making sure it was a perfect mix for what the situation called for. Around two parts water, one part juice - since she was regressed and old enough to drink it.

So with an anxious sigh, he scooted closer to her and patted her shoulder. "I know a way to drink it that's really fun. Do you want to do it?"

She nodded, allowing him to carefully guide her into somewhat laying in an embrace, yet sat up at once. It was comfy.

Then after being given the drink itself, the bulb weakly held onto it as she allowed herself to have it. Fan had held onto it as well, allowing her to drink it safely.

It felt almost magical to him. Just holding her, having her drink and feel so comfy to do so… it made him, as a caregiver, really proud.

A few more minutes and back patting later, she was sat back up and looked happier after some juice stains were off of her face.

"Hey, that was really good. So, would you want to go on a walk or something?"

"Hmmh… colours."

"Well, I guess the bulb knows best. Let's do it."

So after packing away his gear, the two had gotten up and walked off to indulge in the soon to be colourful chaos Lightbulb was sure to cook up.

Chapter Text

For a start, something already felt off. He wouldn't just stay out here, like this and not do anything but stand in one spot. That seemed very off.

And at the same time… while they very much wanted to help, yes, they didn't feel inclined to use their typical form of naming for him.

Mostly since, well, he didn't seem himself.

Even so, they prepared their thoughts and spoke.

"Um… brother? I feel something may be… off."

Not a noise from him. Things just wanted to be progressively more confusing, didn't they. But a closer look was given, and found him weakly trying to get his power button to move.

Though it wouldn't budge. Plus, they were certain that stress blocks the power button from being pressed. So, was there a chance that…

No, no. It WAS that, they could tell.

So walking back over to the upset device, their voice had unconsciously grown softer. "We should go and rest a bit. Come on, please."

"Can't… jus' can't."

"Do you know why?"

"WHY?! NO!" His voice went to a shout for a second, yet the caregiver kept himself calm.

"Can you try for me, though? Please?"

"...fine…" The smaller device got up in a wobbly fashion and clung to his sibling, who had no issue with finding where the right room was for him to rest his head for a while.

While that happened, they thought. He was stressed, which led to this regression - like often. So how could he alleviate his stress when he felt like a little kid?

So to have him do something better than stare up at the ceiling in dull, sleepless irritation, they had started by spawning a kind of medium sized pillow shaped and even scented like a cookie. Basic, but it was what he liked.

The phone's face lit up ever so slightly as that appeared, with him carefully yet desperately cuddling up to it when he had the chance.

Yet the tablet had noticed his teeth were clinging to the fabric as well, they figured. They didn't want him to rip it apart by accident.

Something to help him, well… not do that. Something like that existed.

Turns out they had unconsciously spawned that thing in, as they saw it be picked up by him from the corner of their eye.

The small glimmer of that cyan item was visible from where the tablet was, and they were relieved that he wasn't biting the small pillow anymore.

Another noticed thing was that his screen was ever so slightly starting to darken - a sign of fatigue finally catching up to him.

So now spawning a perfectly textured blanket over the pair of them, the tablet shifted their position to be more at his level.

Mostly for comfort, and it showed. Behind that cyan item keeping him calm, a carefree smile had appeared after the pair were closer.

But yes. With him all warm and safe, surely he'd be able to doze off in a matter of minutes judging by his ever darkening screen.

And since the lights were already off, they had leaned into their brother from gentle caregiver instincts. He shifted a little, but had drowsily moved his cookie pillow onto their screen and then lay on that.

They could tell why he was doing it. That way, he could have his pillow and some brotherly affection at once.

"Ah, that was very smart. But let's focus on relaxing for now."

Following that, the brothers had succeeded in powering off for the night in succession. Even if one of them needed help.

Was that not what brothers were for?

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The eyes of the two met rather suddenly, with neither of which having a particularly strong gaze. Yet putting that aside, it felt hard to really… know if she wanted to do this.

But things were ticking the boxes. She was alone, nobody had mentioned being around when it came to other 8Names members.

So Book just swallowed her pride, getting up from where she was to grab a certain something to get her plans in motion.

Though she was rather rudely interrupted by a loud, all jumbled voice. Of COURSE she left the door open by mistake.

"AH-HEY! I-I would prefer it if you knocked?!"

The stick figure in the door eyed the scenario she was seeing curiously, and fortunately with no malice. She wasn't aware of what Book did, but knew somebody else had more info.

So as the other 'object' simply nodded and left, Book sighed in relief as she shut the door again, then grabbed the small blanket that would be used to help her.

It was fluffy and squishy, with a perfect smell of fresh berries. The perfect pathway to her own regression space, for whatever reason she had.

On the opposite side of the door, another object had been half pushed over to the room of the two-toned object with mild hesitance.

Taco wasn't going to bring up that she had been dragged here by the stick figure, since she was only aware of her knowing what this was.

So it didn't take long for the explanation to really make sense.

"Ah, I know what's happening. You don't need to worry much, I can handle Book. Though thanks for letting me know."

Once the coast was clear from the now happier looking stick figure (perhaps from being thanked along?), a few knocks came onto the door in a certain way.

From inside, the now small Book had noticed and was okay to continue. "Oh! Yeah, you can come in!"

After the permission was granted to go in, the two toned object was found seeming to be making a conversation between two stuffed animals she had.

"What are those two up to?"

"Talking about cold things! But I have to keep making Seal and Stoat move on their own."

"Really? I could play with you a bit. No harm."

That almost got the other object to sparkle in glee, holding out the well stuffed seal plushie out for her caregiver to take and then grabbing the stoat for herself. It was her comfort item, so there was no surprise.

Time would only tell what would come out of this. Though 'Stoat' began rather abruptly.

{So, what would you say is the best thing about the cold, Seal?}

{I like how we can never get sunburnt. But I feel bad for everyone who does.}

{Huh? I got sunburnt one time. You're being silly!}

{I'm sorry, I didn't know you did.}

From this outsider's point of view, these two little animals were good friends. Even if Seal was more absent minded and Stoat was more the brave type.

However, around twenty minutes, the effects of being happy and holding a comfort item for a while were starting to get to the little.

"That… that was great…"

The yawn in her tone was rather clear, prompting Taco to stand up and offer her hand out. "Happy to know it was. You sound like you should sleep."

"I… no."

"Hey, what's with being all sad? You got plenty of stories in here, sure of it. But… I don't think you've heard of The Penguin Café."

"Huh? The what?"

"If you get into bed, I may just tell you. C'mon, now."

That was able to get Book to comply, grabbing one of her stuffed animal friends in each of her arms as she allowed herself to get tucked in.

And Taco had to admit - she was going to totally do this on the fly. But either way, there were lots of storybooks in here. If things went wrong, she had plenty a failsafe.

So after making a plot quickly, the story came to be.

The made-up story was about three penguins in charge of a small café, simply called Pink, Blue and Purple Penguin.

Everyone had their own jobs to do, all of which were done well. Pink was a waiter, Blue was the cook and Purple helped clean up.

Though, one day on her own way to get the place open for the day, Pink had slipped on some ice and ended up hurting one of her feet. It made her get to the café later than usual, and find out Purple was doing her job.

This made Pink sad, but the other penguins understood that she had gotten hurt and were sad too. But someone had to clean up, so Pink volunteered.

So in the next few days, Pink and Purple had gotten used to each other's jobs so much that they didn't want to go back to normal. But nothing really beat the way Pink served everyone, or the way Purple cleaned up.

"...so in the end, the café was all back to normal. And Pink always made sure to watch the ice more carefully."

From where she was in bed, Book was totally awestruck and barely even awake at all. She had only stayed awake because the story sounded so nice, though that changed after a light patting of her head slipped her off.

So as she had left the room, a sense of pride puffed in Taco and her shell. She should make stories more often, that sounded perfect just now.

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When was it ever a day these two were at each other’s throats, she couldn’t not think. This was already forcing the slender, red object into a painfully closed off state.

Yeah. Perhaps if she went all… unable to think somehow, she wouldn’t understand what was going on. It wouldn’t be so bad.

Loud and bad, but it wouldn’t be TOO bad.

It was a pretty sharp drop from Toothpick’s usual thought patterns, just leaving the girl stood where she was as her head tried to push everything away.

Just… frozen. Stood as if she never had her legs to begin with.

On the plus side, a rather concerned looking Lyre (who had been trying to diffuse the cousin conflict) was quick to notice the distress. And since Glue looked to be dragging Nabla out of this, she took her chance to move.

“Ah… what exactly is the problem? You look frozen up.”

There was no response, and Lyre kept asking a few times. But there was just no response, and the caregiver instincts within were starting to poke up.

Being a natural caregiver, Lyre was aware of this object regressing and all. This also meant she knew of her space to go and be small, so that’s where she’d take her.

Just away from the nonsense that this was. She understood they were cousins and all, but this was over the top.

It was a mild struggle to get the frozen up girl away to where her safe space was, but it was eventually done anyway.

Sitting the pair of them down, the golden object was aware of this situation well. It was often brought up that she was the first object to really ‘get’ regression, so those comfy with sharing that info with her trusted her well.

And Lyre herself was rather surprised she was able to recall everyone’s habits and all. So Toothpick here was no exception.

Looking around a bit, she had pulled out what looked to be a white and red striped blanket and… well, her other thing.

The name threw her off a bit, and she had yet to draw to a good thing to call it. But she knew this thin object never liked others seeing it when she was alone, so she hid her mouth in the blanket.

After doing that, the frozen state finally seemed to go away as all the argument stress just totally piled onto the object in one go.

Let’s say it was lucky she had been all wrapped up and placated prior to that. There was just a painful amount of tears flooding down her face, and there very likely would have been screaming if not for Lyre.

Speaking of, she had gently embraced the horrified and stressed little and kept herself there, applying soft pats and rubs to her back area to keep her from going too over the top.

At the same time, words were flowing free of her own mouth. They matched a melody that was in Lyre’s mind, allowing her to sing it out in calmness and peace.

What she had in mind was simple, being a song she had made up herself.

Just about a bird, one who circled a lake which it knew and loved before nestling back in the tree it also loved.

To circle around, and overall be encompassed by a feeling of love and safety. That’s what she wanted to convey.

It was doing a good job. The floor was gradually being less soaked by tears, as they were dried up and brushed away by that gentle kind of song. Lyre just had that kind of… magic to her.

Yeah, that’s right. A magical melody.

So as she embraced this warm magic for herself, it was reassuring to feel the other object gradually go slack and calm in her embrace. There was evidence that she wasn’t hurt or more scared, since her breathing was also gentle and even.

Evidence that Toothpick had ended up falling asleep rather swiftly.

It could never be helped that some things can’t just go and change, you know. Like how Alef and Nabla fought, Bone seemed to be hated so much.

That never mattered to the caregiver known for her practically magical voice. She was going to make sure every regressor in this Blank Slate could have someone to rely on if they needed it.

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All between the lines. Not a single colour was misplaced, and it was all lined up greatly.

There was hardly anything else that Paintbrush could have wanted at that moment. Besides from the promise of their caregiver providing snacks to fuel their artistic views, of course.

How can you possibly go wrong with that combo of things?

Maybe a small snapping was the start of that, since it sort of was.

Snapping out from their peaceful fantasy, Paintbrush noticed the red pencil that was in their hand had a snapped bit of… uh, the bit that colours stuff in.

That was fine, though. The brush sighed, putting the pencil to the side and trying to go for another. Though the blue pencil they then tried also snapped.

“Wha-?”

The patience was quick to break as the brush simply put that down and folded their arms in a huff. There wasn’t point in trying if everything was just going to snap.

At the minimum, they were saved from a total flaming fit due to a certain someone coming back.

“Well alright then, all sorted out just as a certain dragon I know wanted ‘em! All yours, buddy.”

Despite Lightbulb’s merry return, she had noticed the broken pencils and wasn’t sure how to approach the problem. Sure, Paintbrush didn’t look their best now she took an extra peek.

“Aw, bad luck with the pencils?”

“Hrm. No.”

“Are you sure? You look all stressed. You can talk if something is up, remember?”

“I don’t need to! Nothing’s WRONG! Ah… oh.”

Immediately covering their mouth, the brush wasn’t surprised for a mildly upset look to come on the bulb’s face.

“Oh… listen, I’m sorry, but we don’t really shout or burst into flames when someone is trying to talk to you. A few minutes in the corner, okay? You can take your food.”

“Mhm…”

Fortunately, Paintbrush was able to hold back more anger and head to that certain corner to try and calm down somewhat. Hopefully the bits of watermelon and oranges that they asked for would help.

There was also Lightbulb’s end of the problem, but she was relieved she hadn’t shouted back. But something was obviously wrong, and she wasn’t about to leave that fact alone.

So her first step was heading off to a small cupboard, getting herself some felt tip pens for a start. These would solve things greatly. Then came a few wipes, since there was no guarantee things would stay spotless.

By the time that was all arranged, the brush had raised their hand in the corner and got their caregiver to come over.

“Yep? What’s up?”

“Can I… come out of here now?”

“Is there something you have to say, first?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“That’s better. While you were cooling off, I’ve been working on something to help bring out the artistic talent I know this dragon of mine has in them.”

Lighting up a bit, the two went back to the now improved drawing area. The felt tip pens and wipes were explained as things that wouldn’t break, causing some much needed glee to emerge.

So the brush turned to the next empty page in that colouring book of theirs, being of some kind of deer with a flower on its head.

They mumbled something about that flower being best yellow, so they had picked up a yellow felt and simply coloured it in.

No snapping, and the colour itself was so… strong. Bright and overall amazing! And it also felt so smooth to do…

The almost powerful laugh that came back out of the brush on seeing this happen was definitely a pleasure to hear, so it prompted the caregiver to light up the mood more.

Or rather not. Her plan to scribble a heart on the brush's face was cut short when she noticed how focused and content they looked. So she instead sat back, watching her artist be hard at work.

Dragons are known for fiery passion, after all.

Chapter Text

So what could the meaning of this even ever be? She had done all that he liked when it came to whenever he was like this.

For context, Fan had randomly shown up to her in an obviously regressed state - just one of severe irritation.

Rather naturally, she had taken the usual precautions to ensure he was fine.

It was so curious at how he wasn’t feeling any better - usually all of his upset feelings would be gone immediately after she did the things that she did. So something was wrong - that much was absolutely certain.

Still, he still had that horribly bad, almost pouting face to him as he just sat around, not seeing any real joy in this scenario. Just stress and irritation right the way around.

Would he even want to talk?

Though at the very least, the girl had herself a failsafe way of trying to talk to him. So she had quietly gone over to where he was sitting, prompting eye contact - and not getting angry when he didn’t agree to it.

“Are you alright?”

As she talked, she made almost sign language-like gestures to convey what she wanted to in case he was too overwhelmed to get words. The ones she used for that were pointing at his face, and then tapping around her chest area (or where her heart would be if you need that info).

He made small gestures back - Carefully shaking a clenched fist, and then tapping his temples cautiously.

No, he wasn’t okay. And his head hurt - which she poked into more.

Now not talking to ease his stress at all, she had done more little actions. She poked her own temples, then patted her belly and then the sides of her head again.

[Why does it hurt,] She was asking. [does your belly hurt, or do you feel stressed?]

Quivering ever so slightly, he patted his head like she did. [Stress.]

This triggered curiosity in her. She had done all the things she usually did that eased his stress, so what caused him to not feel better? Wait… oh, she may have had an idea. Everything was done well but… but that.

More actions conveyed her next question: Putting a finger on her belly and raising it up, and then opening and closing her fists in a careful manner.

[Did I not give you the food you wanted earlier?]

His fist once again curled into a ball, but made a nodding-like movement. That’s where she had gone wrong, of course. No matter how she helped him out, he could never settle without a certain set of things needing to be done for him. Other stuff just wouldn’t do.

[I’m sorry. Should we go and do that, now?]

One hand on her forearm, then an extended palm - one that was warily grabbed as the other object sat up. He had accepted her offer.

The pair went off to the kitchen area, with her preparing things precisely how she did last time - but didn’t actually make it. She pointed towards the things, and then shrugged.

[What was missing from earlier?]

Fan hummed a bit, looking stuff over and thinking back to the taste of earlier. It was normal like usual, just… not sweet enough. It was good and warm like usual, just not sweet. Because… oh!

He put one of his hands in front of the other, balling them both up and then putting it so it looked like a small, round body with circular wings atop its back. That clicked the memory in her head, too - so she made the same nodding hand motion and then got exactly what she missed earlier.

Sure, honey was basic but it made the difference when it came to his likings about drinks. And now it seemed perfect to him - and he wasn’t upset about having the wrong taste earlier.

So when said drink was done, the caregiver holding it pointed towards the ceiling with her free hand.

[Back upstairs?]

[Yeah. Please.]

-

The rest of that afternoon had luckily left him more calm and in better spirits. After his drink was, well, fed to him (which was the primary issue) he had gotten hold of his phone again to focus on watching some comfort material to him.

Well, only after he got that certain other thing he liked. Having something to keep in his mouth made him feel good, too. Oh right yeah, and that small bird plushie as well. Gosh, she was overlooking a lot of stuff today.

Something about the way these characters were just made him feel so happy and comforted, so his caregiver wasn’t about to question his liking of it. He was just calm and happy again, which was all she wanted after seeing he was too overstimulated to even talk.

In fact, she was actually surprised this scenario hadn’t left him wanting to sleep. Almost everything had set him up to do so, but he hadn’t. But she wasn’t about to complain.

But she did make a mental note to not forget the honey again.

Chapter Text

“Oh come on, you saw how I was, didn’t you? I totally showed that spoon what I could do there!”

“Sure did. Figured it’d be harder to use roller skates when you have no arms to balance with. But now look - we’re both immune, so we can rest easy tonight.”

The last two fragments of the original Sinkers, since the merge broke loose, were definitely in a good and healthy bond compared to before being on this island. It was hard to believe they even dealt with each other, now.

Though this meant the pair had confided to each other quite a bit. As such, they knew certain aspects of each other well, now. Well enough that in this scenario, this red- sorry, salmon object was aware of what’d be good right now.

And the conditions couldn’t be better - they were both immune, that challenge was likely tiring and his friend was in a perfect mood. Sadly, he did have to lie to get him on board with this plan - just a bit.

“So, want to head back to that old Sinker cabin for a bit? Talk voting plans and stuff?”

“Why not the merge cabin?”

“Do we want others to know who we plan on getting rid of, even if they can’t do stuff to us?”

“Ah, I like your way of thinking. Let’s move.”

The pair were off rather quickly, with the door locking behind them after they were both inside. Though the salmon coloured object had sighed, and turned around after that with a bitter look on his face.

And his companion hadn’t caught on until he was told what was going on.

“So… I kind of… lied.. We’re not actually going to talk about that.”

“Oh. What’s the reason for privacy, then? Why’d you want it that it’s as quiet and non-disturbing as possible? How serious of a talk are we having?”

He was still bad on picking up cues, which had gotten Balloon to sigh once more - rather reluctantly, if anything.

“Depends… any idea what you usually do after a challenge like that?”

“Oh, right. I tend to… wait… you lock the door?”

“Yeah. Nobody wiill hear us, or anything, if that’s the problem.”

“Good. Because I’M ABSOLUTELY NOT DOING THAT!”

The coin had immediately broken into a sprint at the realisation of what he was really here for. There was no way he was exhausted at all after that, hardly even tired at all for that part.

So if he WAS about to do anything, he wouldn’t be doing so without quite the fight.

On the caregiver’s end of the scenario, he wasn’t surprised. All of that earlier adrenaline had to be in his head, and so he probably couldn’t see that he was actually tired. Very logical.

His thought process went rather smoothly. Perhaps he could set up a small trap of sorts to lure the coin over so this could go ahead smoothly. Ooh yeah, he was starting to like that plan a lot.

“Okay then. Whatever you say…”

-

Time passed, and the coin remained hidden. His adrenaline rush hadn’t worn off, which left him still flighty and willing to run at the smallest of signs that his companion was present.

Besides, it was just those two in the cabin right now. Nobody else could dare even be around.

And it made the sound from upstairs audible, and not faint at all - and said noise rung regression bells in him. It was that… What was it? Why did it escape him now?

But he had pushed his hiding aside, wandering up in an absent minded state. All he really wanted to do was find that sound, as he felt all drawn to it. It felt all bouncy and… almost colourful.

Balloon, on the other hand, had heard his approach and quietly prepared himself to execute his plan. It would be a bit frightening for him, sure, but he had to make this happen. Sure, it wasn’t mandatory at all but he’d rather he not be a stubborn, even more fussy mess.

So the moment the coin was inside of the room he was hiding in, he found himself ambushed by a blanket over his body, which flipped him over and left him all curled and wrapped up a minute later.

And being all wrapped in a blanket is a good cure for adrenaline rushes.

“WHAT?! Lemme out of this!”

“Sorry, no. I’d rather you not go back outside in a while all tired and angry.”

“Tired?! But I… I’m not!”

His sentence was literally cut off midway through thanks to a pretty held back yawn that escaped him. The salmon object unravelled the blanket and then set him down on his bed so that blanket was covering him normally, then grabbed a certain item for him.

He liked doing this next bit.

“You’re not? But Steely here is, for sure. You should help him rest.”

“Ugh, fine…”

With the Alolan Sandshrew plush all set into bed with him, the salmon object turned away briefly and spoke to himself within his own head.

[Okay. Around ten seconds and…]

Precisely on time, he turned back to see the coin just absolutely out cold. See, once he was all tucked and settled into bed with his trusty partner, no matter how tired he was beforehand, he’d always be out cold in seconds.

Heck, the longest time he spent awake in bed with Steely was only around twenty seconds - and that was when he was brimming with energy.

Though he had to be left to sleep, now. So smirking at his success, Balloon got the lights off before he half closed the door and left him be.

Well that would have been a whole new story if either of them had been UFE.

Chapter Text

“So? What are you trying to get at, I thought we were over this!”

“What do you mean, thought we were over this?! You and I can’t help that all we do is this! I’m the harsh one and you just get dragged behind!”

“Is that meant to be an insult?! Well I don’t even care, this is normal enough yet we STILL argue about everything! Even when we were separated, we couldn’t help it! There is absolutely nothing us two can agree on besides the fact we LOATHE each other!”

“Some things need to be! I may as well call you a waste of a… whoever you are to me!”

Yinyang were always like this. No matter what came around, whether the situation was good or bad, Yang always managed to trigger some kind of disagreement, fight or worse with Yin. It was rather stupid by now… even somebody greeting them could spark a fight.

In this case, Yang was absolutely crossing the line. He was holding his breath and unknowingly staying in front, just wanting the pair of them to shut up under any circumstance, literally any at all.

Yin, on the other hand, couldn’t even place a thought together for his life. Everything felt extremely jumbled and fuzzy, and he was the cause of tears beyond barrelling down the face of the duo.

At minimum, the pair were acknowledged before this got even a little harmful.

“Wh-whoa, try and ease things up! What’s going on?”

Marshmallow, oh that Marshmallow. Always a next to angelic one, even if she sometimes struggled to see the best in things - for her or others. But things were wrong here, this time she had full clarity of the scenario.

But… Why did her caregiver instincts (that usually only showed up with Apple, who was currently nowhere to be found) spark up? Neither of these two were like her, right?

Marshmallow thought, and then acknowledged the next to broken look that was situated in Yin’s eye. Seeing that reminded her of… well…

[I don’t want to be lied to, I’m not hiding saying that! Just say you want me gone, since I’m a horrible person no matter WHAT you call me, do for me, everything!]

Right. Apple’s meltdown that one time. She never liked thinking of that day.

So Marshmallow sighed, and figured out a small plan before she did much else. She decided to make things blunt, yet effective.

“Uh… Yang? You and Yin are, uh… like a system thing, aren’t you?”

“Maybe?! Listen, I don’t want to think about him!”

“Then… what did… oh. Try and back off into your head so he can have more control.”

“Tell me you’re kidding!”

“You’d rather not be treated like a five year old, surely.”

“...right. I’ll try.”

Surprisingly, Yang had shut up and backed away into the pair’s mind - granting Yin full control over the body and not just co-fronting, making the body collapse suddenly. Marshmallow kept her cool, calmly lifting him back up.

It hardly mattered that the body was larger than her as Marshmallow focused on wrapping it into a cautious hug, one the in-control Yin accepted frantically. He genuinely seemed shattered when it came to his calm mood that had to exist before.

“I have you here, okay?” Marshmallow was quick to reassure.”So you hardly have anything to worry about.”

“Why… Why are you even…? The red…”

“Don’t worry about Apple too much. We talked out me needing a break for a day, so somebody else could watch over her while she regresses.”

“The… bag?”

“Hm?”

It looked like Yin was right. The bag filled with the normal gear the fruit used was still with Marshmallow - to her mild embarrassment. But it also focused on letting her move her plan ahead.

“It’s stuff I was going to bring for her. But I think Apple has her own stuff, now I think back… you can borrow it. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“...thanks… want to forget this…”

“I know what I can do to help you. One minute.”

She got a few things from the bag and had given them to this shaking mess in front of her, who had taken them and quickly hid the area where his mouth was with a given blanket. He must have been embarrassed to have it in the open.

Which was reasonable, in fact very much so.

But it was definitely helping Yin start to calm down, so Marshmallow pulled a book out that seemed to catch his eye pretty quickly. It was colourful and drew him in quickly, much to his curiosity.

“Oh… what’s it called? Eyes all foggy…”

“It’s fine, we’re going to read it. And the thing itself says… actually, can you rub your eyes and then follow as I read?”

He had done as asked, clearing away the eye fog and then realising this book was about some kind of yellow hat object - and magic of some kind. What Yin read was different to Marshmallow, but she had no anger for that.

“That’s fine. So, try and read with me and we’ll see if we can forget what happened.”

That’s what the duo ended up doing. The yellow hat seemed to be the main character, who wanted to use some kind of ‘magic of smiles’ to cheer up everyone that they knew. Every page was filled with an almost sticker-like appearance, adding to the charm.

The story in itself was very good to be telling to young objects, saying that it’s fine to not be able to do everything - whether things be big or little, like trying to make every last person you know smile.

A next to perfect story for somebody like Apple, anyways.

“...and that’s around the end of it. Did it help much?”

“Yep. Did good.”

Marshmallow flinched backwards at Yang’s deeper, very un-Yin-like voice. Wasn’t Yin in full control a second ago? Was he okay? It was also shown that he had taken what the regressed object was hiding out of his mouth, but kept the blanket on - just slightly looser.

“Wah-! I-is he fine? When did you come back?”

“Few minutes ago. Could tell he was starting to pass out, and if one of us are in full control and go to sleep then it’s just lights out for us both. So I came back.”

“Phew… I’m glad to know it helped. And you seem pretty calmer as well.”

“I sorta heard the story thing… heard it’s based off of a game I think Fan plays. Heh, dumb guy.”

“Yang.”

“Right right, sorry. I’ll wait until he’s awake and better to chat stuff out, don’t worry about it much. Take this stuff back.”

“Thanks.”

Marshmallow took what was given to the duo and packed it away again, once again setting off to now go and get this stuff cleaned up for a certain somefruit. And all this happened on the one day she needed a break… she just hoped Soap was holding out okay.

For the record, she was.

Chapter Text

"Right, I'll be off then. Do you think you'll be fine, Pin?"

"What about you? That wind sounds horrible…"

"I have my berries. I won't go and blow away, don't worry. I'll be a few minutes!"

"Ok-okay."

Despite the reassurance Leafy had provided, Pin couldn't bring herself to feel as if she would really be safe out there. It was one of those horribly windy days, where she swore anything could blow away.

Yoyle metal leaves included.

(Maybe… maybe I'm not scared…)

Oh, how on earth was Pin even meant to say no to it? The cold, and storms in general, sent endless shivers along her body. It was never NOT so cold and loud when it happened. So grumbling a bit, she went and hid off in her room after scribbling a note in place.

Hopefully she could read near gibberish, since Pin was no neat handwriter.

-

“Okay, back around now! Wait, where’ve you run off to? Oh! Some kind of note...what’s this trying to say? Went…red grass? Oh right, I think I get it.”

Leafy sighed as she deciphered Pin’s note, realising this storm must have been bad enough to make her end up red grassing. Sorry, regressing. So this note must have been written mid-regression, since Pin would normally have neat handwriting. This was a mix of both.

So a logical choice would be to find her in her room. Though nobody else was actually IN at the moment, Pin always hid away to regress in peace. So remaining in a calm state, the leaf had sighed and went up to where Pin’s room was - and then doing a knock to indicate it was her.

It was faint, but a weak voice invited her inside. She accepted the offer and entered.

She chose not to speak at first, worried Pin would startle more - even if it was her that she was hearing. Though when Leafy had gone to open her mouth, something skidding across the floor followed by Pin’s shouting rendered her quiet.

“Why is none of it working?!”

Working. She was on about calming down - and everything she must have been trying beforehand was, bluntly, failing. Big time.

So with caution, she approached pretty warily. “I got you, here.”

Pin quickly latched to Leafy, all curled into a ball as several blankets looked to have been thrown away from her body. Her stressed whimpering wasn’t quietened, as nothing was in her mouth - what was in there a minute or two ago was across the room now.

But she also appeared pretty floppy mood wise, having let go of Leafy to hit at these scattered blankets somewhat. “It isn’t working! None of it!”

“You’ve tried your usual things? Well… how about thinking positively? Like, when this rain and wind’s all gone, we could go and mess around in the puddles! I bet that’d make up for it!”

“No it wouldn’t! I’ll get all stuck and sink and it would be horrible!”

Gah, she was in a bad spiral. Grumbling herself, the leaf stood up and had closed off nearby windows with curtains to keep the storm at bay. Then she had rummaged around a few shelves, pulling out a certain item and returning it safely.

It was a slightly unusual plush, stuffed shark - just made with a white and pink checkered fabric. It was basic, but held the charm needed to provide comfort to this stressed object.

She pretty quickly grabbed it, holding it to herself somewhat frantically.

“You! Where was it?!”

“On your shelves. I think you were too scared to look. Anyway, it’s a good thing you got a TV sorted in here - we can put something on for you. Any certain thing you’d like?”

“Eh… the, uh… I-I don’t know. You pick.”

“You sure about that idea?”

“Mhm…”

“Okay, then.”

The storm didn’t really let up during the day, though at the very least Leafy and Pin had been able to stay bundled up in a familiar, not terrified light. Yeah, that’s always reassuring to be, eh, feeling.

Chapter Text

"Alright, I'm back with that sandwich you wanted… oh. Hey."

"Oh. A bit… downhearted that you're here."

Paintbrush flinched a faint little bit at Candle's remark, sighing at it if anything. They knew well what she had been going through as suddenly as she had been. "No no, you can stick around. I was just surprised at you and, well, him."

Oh yeah. A pretty clearly regressed Balloon was sat with the purple object, squishing some kind of thick, beanbag like thing in his hands. His little self must have found it stimulating.

Although his face did light up a bit on seeing the brush return with what he asked for prior to slipping. He paused briefly to remember what he called them, since… How did they say it?

Like a special shirt. It's not a shirt that boys wore, or a dress girls did. It was between them both, and that made sense to the little him.

Yet all that came out was some mixed up nonsense, bluntly. Minus one little bit.

"...meh…mad!"

Candle flinched a bit herself, but looked back to the brush. "I see what he was trying to do. Trying to call you, but he got confused… and tried to call you mom and dad at once."

"Hey, he's trying his best. Alright by me, and it'd be bad to get angry at him."

After setting things (that's just the sandwich) down, Paintbrush sat down as soon as they saw the balloon start to eat. The other, non-regressed object cleared her throat a bit.

"So… I assume that you take care of him rather normally?"

"Yeah. How come you're here?"

"He was alone, presumably while you were getting that sandwich for him. I decided to keep him company."

"Hah. Appreciate it."

The pair mostly kept quiet, not really wanting to spoil the atmosphere by accident. Everything going on lately had been rather rough, so a hasty mending would only leave the bad stuff exposed even faster.

So they waited, and had no plans until Balloon spoke up with his mouth half full of the sandwich. "Mrmph…'ilf? Thin…"

"Huh? Why are you trying to say… what?"

Somehow, it looked like that lime green monstrosity, or more 'formally referred' to as Utter Filth, was somehow back here. And the small Balloon found it quite amusing.

Did that mean… those Inani-Mates came back after the confetti explosions? Somehow?

"Hey… you think Diamond Crusher is still out there? I gotta go look for the guy!"

"Calm yourself, Paintbrush. Focus on right now."

"Huh? Shoot!"

In that distracted second, Balloon had nearly gotten up to approach the lime green creature, but was held back in place by the brush by his hand.

"Aw…'ba…"

"Sorry. You know that Silver can be a little… mean when he doesn't mean it. I think it would be more bad if you scared the thing you wanted to see. Silver would have been sad, too."

"Mhm… 'kay…"

"Yeah, that's the right way to act. Good job."

After providing a soft pat on his forehead, Paintbrush eyed Candle looking back at the lime green creature. Silver was there now, and didn't notice the trio.

Which was good. He picked up the creature in a slight rush, eyeing the area as he left with his sloppy companion. Maybe he didn't hate it so much after all.

"That was lucky," Candle had pointed out. "I feel that wouldn't have gone well if Balloon went over there. Are you two up to anything, now?"

"Not really. Maybe just wander around a little."

"Ah. Is it okay if I accompany you two?"

Although they would have said yes anyway, Balloon had happily backed up Paintbrush's unspoken response with light clapping.

"Walks…! But'wif Can 'n… mm… mada?"

"That'll do, buddy. That'll do. Let's head off."

Helping him off of the ground, the trio had set off on their little walk plan, honestly wondering what they would go and find out on the island. Maybe even Quacky would show up again?

Finding out was just a walk away, anyway. What harm was it to do to go and look?

Chapter Text

It wasn't even slightly unpredictable that Alef had already stormed off in anger after yet another situation with Nabla. He couldn't help what on earth was on with them.

Maybe it was just stupid nature for cousins to fight like a volcano would erupt and scorch them if they never did. Which was ridiculously stupid.

Also not unpredictable at all, the two other members of the small 'friend group' he was a part of. Yes, I know it's specifically a Broliance but I'll just refer to them as pals for this.

Listen when you accidentally stay awake past midnight you gotta make a compromise or two. Moving along.

The other members of the small friend group had caught up to a suddenly quick Alef. Neither of them knew what was up until Frisbee had gone ahead somewhat, a little more wary than Ketchup was.

"Sheesh, wasn't she being a massive pain per usual. You want to just go off and find something to do, us three?"

As the other object of the duo approached, they both noticed him being silent. Rather odd. So they formed a very brief huddle to discuss this.

"What are we even doing? What's up with him?"

"No clue. Never seen him like this, but… gah. Lyre should know stuff like this…"

"Well, where is she, then?"

"She went off with Toothpick! We can't just bother her… we have to do this ourselves."

As insane as Frisbee admittedly sounded, Ketchup had zero reason to turn down the request. Their blue companion needed them.

Even if he looked like he would much rather not accept the help. The latter of the aforementioned duo stepped ahead first, kneeling down to him.

"Okay 'lef. How old are you? Mind showing me?"

No compliance, but that all but thwarted his plans. "Won't judge you, bud. So, do you mind trying?"

After a grumble, the blue letter-like figure extended a palm with all of his fingers out while the other hand stayed balled up.

"Five, eh? I got it. If I'm right… yep."

The now more trustworthy little noticed a green figure coming back with some kind of blue thing held up to his chest. It wasn't long before Frisbee was back, with the 'thing' seeming to be like a…blue dragon thing.

"Lyre wasn't too busy. Went off and checked, she was just all quiet with Toothpick so I asked if I could borrow this for you. Said you're fine with keeping it."

After it was handed to him, Alef grumbled a little bit more. He didn't throw it away, just kept a stubborn but loose grip on it.

He sighed after that.

"...what'm I doin' with this…:

"Why not talk to him? It could help you feel better. In fact, I'm pretty sure he wants you to."

Again, Ketchup bluntly had no clue what to do. But he was on the right path, since soft murmuring had come from the little for a few minutes. Seems like he was confiding to the little thing.

And after a few minutes, he stopped murmuring and simply hugged it in reassurance. Lowering his voice a bit, the green and circular object spoke up.

"So? Did that help you very much?"

"Mhm. 'S my secret keeper now."

"Seems neat. You want to give it a name, since it's yours? Anything cool in mind?"

His companions being there, it really just made things so much better for Alef regardless of what happened to him. Even if so many arguments and stressful stuff happened, he'd be fine.

So this name had to be special.

"Hm…mm… oh. Squish."

"Squish. That's a pretty good one. What gave you the idea?"

"You… you're a squirty thing. And he likes… squishing his arms. And it makes them bigger. So…. Squish."

"All too right, friend."

The trio shared a light hearted moment of simply enjoying themselves, goofing around with the new little pal they had gotten a hold of - but stopping or slowing down if Alef was worried about his stuffed secret keeper getting hurt.

So that's more evidence if any at all that friends are good enough caretakers as things like family, or just someone totally random that just sweeps you away to being watched while regressed.

Just… trusting in your pals. It was simple enough, and also just as great as well. Again, it's somehow past midnight here. Little off my game.

Chapter Text

When it comes down to stuff, people may automatically assume that because things are going well for you in one way, you feel good all around.

That is not the case at all, at least in most cases to the knowledge that I have. Which isn't perfect.

Why do I bring this up? Well, mostly for the situation Gaty had found herself in on a decently warm autumn… well… kinda the crossing point between morning and afternoon.

Because it isn't every day you find Saw cowering in a closet.

"Um… mind if I ask why you're here? You find it comfy?"

"Ehhh…! Had t'hidee…"

"Hide? From who? What happened?"

Though the pink handled object had tried to explain, all that came out was stressed, messy noises that were not at all words. Just scrambled nonsense.

Gaty sighed, accidentally instilling fear in Saw for a second.

"Hm… do you need anything to feel better?"

"In… in m'room…pinklet 'n…mhrmm…!"

She was struggling to explain, but the gate had a hunch. So she had just nodded carefully and went off to go find what made the most sense to her.

A brief investigation of the room she had had given Gaty an idea of what Saw had been able to tell her she wanted. Some pink, checkered blanket was messily laid over her bed in a bundle-like fashion.

"Ah. Got it."

She had pulled it away with her mouth, only to find some sort of other items falling out from under the blanket. And that had got her to think.

"Huh? A plush and a… oh. I think I may get it now."

After a few minutes of putting the bundle together again, Gaty had come back with the items to where her friend was hiding away from everything else.

She looked very relieved, practically grabbing at the blanket and smushing it to her face, finding the other two items that she had been trying to explain in there.

The gate had to have been magic to understand that.

Staying sat by her as she got all her stuff in tow, Gaty had eventually received some soft side eye from Saw when she had put the other thing that had fallen from the blanket with the rabbit into her mouth for some obvious comfort.

She looked pretty embarrassed to be doing that.

"I won't judge you. You look a lot comfier anyway."

Sighing in relief, the saw rested her non-jagged edge against the gate while keeping the small, black rabbit plush wrapped carefully in her arms.

Though she was right. Things did feel a lot comfier, now she was all nestled away and feeling extra reassured that it was fine to be like this with somebody.

So she figured. She should do something nice back.

So she shifted the blanket over her blue-ish friend, curling up a bit more in the process of doing so. The gate was a bit puzzled.

"Huh? I'm okay, thanks."

"...nnhm… ni…"

"Hm? Oh, I think I get it. You wanna sleep a bit?"

"Mhm…mhmm…."

"Alright. Mind if I join you? Little tired myself?"

"...yea…"

"Nice. Thanks… oh, sleep well though."

Gaty took no further words from Saw, accepting her offer and allowing herself to relax alongside this other object in the warm bundle of gradually lowering stress.

Chapter Text

Being sick all of the time. It's not just a thing you can blurt out of the blue, whether you want to or not.

Unless you're Tissues. Then you sure can.

It was one of those lucky days where Trophy was out doing whatever, leaving the turquoise tissue box to at least mope by himself, even if it were going to cause Soap on heck of a lot of agony later.

But at least there had been a so-called development in his stupid condishawn, as he always called it. His mucus was getting slightly less thick now, just with two tiny downsides.

One, this didn't mean he was just gonna heal overall. And two?

It hurt. Like smacking your head into a table.

So to the surprise of himself, Tissues decided he wanted to try and regress to get him out of this painful slump. Though a particular sneeze building up was also building that fuzzy feeling up.

"Oh come ON, I can't even do it myse-hel-GAH-!"

Though the shock had wiped his lights out, mostly since his half regressed state couldn't handle the big shock. But he had luckily been heard by a certain someone who wasn't as busy for once.

So he decided to sort something up.

-

After a bit, the now regressed tissue box had been woken from his sneeze induced blackout by some light shoulder patting, and the bright orange sat in front of him startled him a bit.

All that the orange juice did in response to the small object hiding his face was keep a steady flow of emotions to him.

"Hey, you're fine. I cleaned up a little bit, nobody's going to bother us here while you're small."

Gently taking his hands away from his face, Tissues found himself wrapped in enough blankets to not be confining, but instead cosy. A thing he struggled to feel usually.

He was given a few minutes to adjust properly, just to accept the warmth and make sure he actually felt comfortable enough to accept this. Which he did.

After his adjusting had taken place, the box was assisted with sitting up and given a few more minutes to be stable and safe. OJ was a bit cautious like that.

There was quite the lack of sneezing, though. Just a lot of sniffles instead.

That made sense… the body of someone so young couldn't even try to handle usual condishawn standards. Now it was just… these.

"You just seem a little sniffly. You, uh, hungry much?"

The box had nodded quietly, and patted his chest a bit in curiosity. He wasn't used to such a light feeling in his chest.

In the meanwhile, the juice had set a small bottle down in front of the curious looking box. The right standards, from OJ's point of view anyway - soft mouthed, and a pale yellow colour that didn't hurt the eyes.

"Can you hold that by yourself? Or would you want a bit of help?"

Tissues, a bit surprisingly, had already been trying to pick it up himself. When he actually got a grip, he whined a little…

Right. Sensitive hands.

"Alright. I'll give you a hand."

That was OJ's cue to pick it up for him, though the littler object had still tried holding it despite the warmth being a bit irritated. So he was able to drink the contents pretty safely.

Said contents were also taken into consideration. It was just milk with a light bit of sugar and cocoa powder added into it. Pretty much little safe hot chocolate.

And, well, it looked like Tissues was a fan of it. He had somewhat of a silly smile on his face, which you'd almost never see when he wasn't this way.

Although he kind of fell on his back a few seconds later, and just started whimpering a bit.

Internally, OJ found it tricky to not sigh a bit. This was about to be a curious while of watching over this sniffly regressor.

Chapter Text

It's true that the way an object can act due to age regression can become different to your usual self. Not always, from what I know at least.

This is one of the cases where that personality doesn't change, and you're just left with something sweet.

In this case, Candle was that sweetness.

She couldn't exactly pinpoint where it started (ironic, with her being able to envision the future), but somewhere along the lines of at least a few months she had seemed to start age regressing.

It was unpredictable and a bit off, meaning she was in slight fear of that. And she couldn't really open up to many about this.

Because… Candle? Scared? That was impossible, from the views of nearly everybody else who knew her. It would be a big amount of embarrassment to swallow.

Except she had that someone who noticed, and outstretched a hand of understanding to her. It made swallowing her outer shell so much easier.

And Candle had little words to express her thanks for that.

-

"...a bit. Like this…?"

From the view of the regressed Candle, she took good comfort in drawing herself with who she had wound up calling her caregiver. It wasn't very hard.

Besides, she was just a blue square… but sometimes she drew her face a bit funny.

Except this time around, it looked like this would be a good one. Everything seemed very calm and nice.

Warm. Yes… warm.

But it did cause a mild streak in her work when said caregiver ended up showing her face a little earlier than anticipated.

"Oh! You up to something, petal?"

Candle felt better at the use of her special name. She liked flowers and found them pretty, so being called 'petal' made her think she was just as nice too.

"Mhm. I… did a thing."

"Sure looks like it! Mind passing it up so I can look?"

She passed the drawing up to the file cabinet, who was looking at it pretty warmly. Sure, it was just she and Candle 'sat' together (or at least sat to the best of Cabby's legless ability).

But that was a warm thing too.

"Well! I have to say, this is one of the best drawings you've done in a while!"

"Ah… thanks."

The flame atop the little's head went a bit flickery after she said that, then she looked at Cabby with a bit of a worried look in her gaze.

Ah. She wanted her to do the thing.

Luckily, 'the thing' was no big task.

"Don't worry. See? I'm putting it here."

Said 'thing' was placing the drawing in a file where all of her petal's drawings went if she gave them to her. It was a purple colour and had some stickers on it to make it recognisable.

Because there's a lot of purple files already! That one on grapes, this other one on dusk… oh. Look, I'm not even Cabby and I'm rambling.

But let's go back to the story.

The same worried eyes became at ease again on visibly seeing the drawing go into its special file. She always had to see, just in case she got worried.

Though the next second, she just got randomly picked up.

Candle was obviously a bit shocked and rather upset, and had lightly patted the arms of her career to just say…hi. Please put me down.

Didn't work, unfortunately.

"Hey, sorry… your flame's getting a little smaller than it usually is. Don't want to have you just flopping asleep on the floor. It's not comfy."

With this reasoning, the pats stopped. It made sense to her little self - her flame being smaller said she was tired. So she knew what was going on.

Due to her caregiver's wheeled self (and the fortunate lack of stairs), it took hardly any time for her to be taken back to a spare room that functioned more as a regression bedroom.

Since Candle felt iffy about sharing this fact, you know. She'd rather not keep stuff like this in the open.

But yeah. With the smaller object set into bed pretty carefully, that flame on her head was just dimming - and she was starting to feel that.

"Oh… tired?"

"Yeah, you're tired. Around time you slept a little bit, okay? I'll come back in a while to get you up again."

"Right… right."

"Good to see."

With her protective nature, Cabby had waited to know Candle was sleeping before leaving. The signs were luckily pretty obvious - her flame was out, and she was holding a moon shaped plushie to her chest as well.

Those were just her ways of saying she was comforted and happy right now. So the cabinet nodded to herself before heading out.

Mostly to get some nice things sorted for when she woke up again. She figured her petal deserved that, anyway.

Chapter Text

"Gah… listen, I know you don't want to do this, but it isn't nice to just throw your plushies at me! I think the last thing you want after a nap is just a time out, you know."

Yes. It was that usually peaceful time of day mostly needed ever since it became apparent that even this robotic regressor needed the occasional nap every now and again.

It's just that… Bot was being a real pain in the cork this time. It was obvious they needed this - but they also swore they didn't at the same time.

Test Tube was surprised she even had the patience to deal with it… but you kind of have to with a regressor. And she felt too bad to really put extra strictness in order.

But she figured out a plan. A plan that pretty much solidified the meaning of two heads craft better solutions! In her words, at least.

So she waited for a moment for a clearing of opportunity before pulling her phone out - and messaging the best object for this solution.

{Okay yeah they're acting up. Would prefer some help.}

{Ah right, I'll be one sauna}

{* second.}

…well. His words weren't the best sometimes.

But just as anticipated, Fan had showed up a few minutes afterwards - and with Bot unaware of him being here to go against what they didn't want, they were happy to be scooped up by him.

"Aw, good to see you, chip! How come you aren't listening to Testy, huh? Someone feel a bit playful today?"

As usual, his more childish vocabulary was getting through to them - leading them to believe that the red and yellow object was on their side.

Which was what the pair wanted, bluntly.

So, even if it was fooling them a bit, Fan continued after making a slight motion towards Test Tube via a wink.

"Hey, c'mon… we all know you're the best little thing around here. But you need a break, okay? We all do."

It hardly looked like they wanted to listen to them, which made total sense. Few energetic young minds, whether by age or regression, would just agree without a big mess like this.

But where Fan found a lack of agreement, he also discovered a chance to get this to work out.

"Fine, fine… you want some spins? That going to get you feeling better, spark?"

That seemed to do it, with Bot lighting up and agreeing to the idea without needing to do anything else. This was pretty much the last step of the plan.

So that's what he did. The duo just spun around a little bit, proving to be effective with keeping the smaller one entertained - and then suddenly but safely entrapping them in a blanket shortly after.

Needless to say, they weren't the most pleased.

"Hey, looked like you were having fun! But you have to get a bit of rest now, alright? You can do it for us two, can't you?"

Before, they'd be a little too feisty to do that. But now they paid attention… one of those squishy plushies they liked were wrapped in the blanket as well.

So that made them feel a bit better, just hugging the plushie. They were both trapped, after all.

They just happened to forget how big of a comfort cuddles were to them.

"...pff… look at that. They hugged that for one second and they were out just like that."

"Precisely. Fluffy stimulation is a very helpful kind. Thanks for that."

"No problem. Here, saved you a… few seconds."

"Heh. Appreciated."

Using that opportunity, the tube had taken the opportunity to pass the out cold object their smaller comforter, which their mouth accepted calmly while they slept.

After that, it was just a matter of laying them back in bed before the duo of caretakers were off to do their own things for a while.

Chapter Text

Yet another day of OJ just going through OJ stuff.

Go around, fold up some towels, deal with whatever Tissues was complaining about, and so forth.

Rinse and repeat for at least twelve hours. Daily.

Stress was building up in him as if it were pulp. He hated pulp, it made him feel as if he was about to hurl his mandatory coffee right into the trash.

On occasion he really wished for it to stop, but this was what he had gotten and couldn't even take back. And he couldn't get rid of it either - everyone practically LIVED here.

So here OJ was. Mister unfortunate, stressed manager.

Though at the very least, his suffering wasn't totally ignored. He also didn't notice he had slumped against the wall, holding his hands to his forehead.

"Another rough day, huh? You need a bit of help easing down?"

Paper was a big help. He handled whatever OJ couldn't, and he didn't even get a way to thank him. He wondered why it escaped him.

"...please."

That tone was all Paper had to really hear to understand all that his friend wanted to do right now. Just toss all his worries into the sun, and get a break. A seriously needed one.

"Okay. You can go and wait in your room, and I'll be back. Don't be afraid to get comfy."

"Mhm…"

The pair split off temporarily, mostly to go and ensure his relaxation went smoothly. Paper in particular had a good plan in his head from the moment OJ's voice hit him. He knew how he acted in stressful moments by now.

That was the voice of the glass of juice kind of slipping to a younger state… not TOO young nor too old. Maybe… he reckoned maybe about six.

Yeah. That would probably be how he felt.

So keeping this and his habits in mind, Paper was already starting to set up his half of what he had planned out for him.

-

Since he was regressed, OJ didn't quite notice how much he needed to relax like this.

His body had melted into his bed the moment he laid down, grabbing a small tablet from the bedside to just do a bit of digital drawing. It calmed him in ways he didn't get.

But he wasn't too surprised to see his caregiver return a few minutes later, seeming to be holding an orange cup with a lid on it.

He could smell the warmth and honey from where he was lying down… very nice.

Because of that, he didn't mind one bit that his drawing was being looked at.

"That's a good drawing. But I have a little secret… watch this."

Paper put his own little kick to the drawing, drawing himself - and adding a smile so big that it was silly. The juice found it pretty funny as well.

"Big faces make me happy. Do they make you happy as well?"

"It's silly…"

"I think that's a yes. Okay, can you do me a favour now? I want you to just drink what you can from here, and then just… relax a lot. Okay?"

The juice had complied with the offer, allowing Paper to take his tablet briefly while he had that small drink.

Said cup only had a lid to make sure nothing was ever spilt on the juice's glass. He really didn't like that when it happened. So this felt good.

And the plan itself worked well as usual. After a bit, it looked like OJ was more than happy to just curl up in bed and just sleep for a while. It was seriously needed, so Paper let him be with a smile.

"Maybe I should look into finding more helpers so you can rest more… yeah. I think I can do that for you."

Chapter Text

A hand slamming against a chalkboard. It hurt per usual, even if Nabla never meant it.

She seriously wished for these fights with her cousin to cease for one reason or another. But one thing always leads to another.

And there was always a stupid, stupid domino effect to even a passing glance with these two.

It seriously hurt her head in such an utterly pointless fashion. Anything to make these noises quiet down right now, just make them go away. Fly off into a big cloud.

…she was alone right now.

Slipping behind her board, the red triangle had opened a well disguised cabinet to take out what was like a stuffed owl with a strong maroon colour to its feathers.

So Nabla just sat herself down, hugging the owl to her triangular body. She needed her time, time to not think about him.

She could worry about how loud everything was later. Her non-visible ears could wait a while to give her such a huge, burning headache.

And she didn't need to fall over. Even if it felt like her head was flipping in and out and all over the place. She was fine.

What else could she be? Precisely. If Nabla knew nothing about how else she could feel, then she didn't need to feel any other way.

"Y-You see Specs?! I'm okay! Doing as good as I can be! H-heh… ah-!"

She was cut off by quite an overwhelming mess of feelings. Falling backwards, hitting somebody's arms and then realising her face was damp from crying.

And she only deemed it acceptable to loosen up because of who caught her, and promptly cuddled her up in accepting arms.

"Aw… you let this all out for now. Mhm… that's good, good job…"

Glue knews this wasn't too frequent of an occurrence.

Though when it did, she always extended a pair of arms to comfort the little triangle. Just like now, as she patted her back to gently encourage all the badness to run off.

They were running off, gradually. Nabla just gradually curled up inside of this warm embrace, refusing to budge an inch thanks to what she currently felt.

Glue's warm arms felt like a blanket. Covering her from the outside, and making everything loud settle down further and further. So it wasn't loud anymore.

The quiet was calm. It felt really good. And it was showing.

"...hoo… hmh…"

"Huh? Oh… I see."

It was plain from Glue's point of view that the triangle was trying to pretend her little stuffed animal was getting her to sleep now it was quiet.

A very logical action. But she didn't just have to pretend, she had her own little beacon of trust to lay her head upon.

"...hey, shh… you go fly off somewhere nice. I'll help you."

That ended up as Nabla's cue to feel herself starting to be… rocked a bit in place. She didn't know Glue was comfy with that.

But… she did want to flutter away to a peaceful dream. So she simply shut her eyes, her mind flapping away to a state of calmness.

Akin to a mother animal accompanying its offspring, Glue followed her off to dreams shortly after she had fallen asleep. To keep stuff safe.

It was safe like this. Nobody could see the red triangle, only the orange-lidded object in her own gentle sleep.

This feeling was calm, quiet and it fluttered just above the night sky. Just where it belonged.

Chapter Text

Hello to you folks! Me again. Though I did only come up with this realisation like... I dunno, ten minutes ago? I figured I wanted to share regardless.

So, to keep stuff good and brief, I've considered making up a Tumblr account for more general OSC agere related stuff. You know, mostly to reach out a bit more to otber places! And stuff.

I think I may go ahead with said idea, but I'm curious on your opinions! If I do anything, I'll let you folk know on here.

Chapter Text

I honestly made this decision like hours ago when I made the little idea chapter, but it... turns out me of who knows how long ago made the account already. I just tweaked it a bit was all.

Anyway, the outcome is what the blog is now called, being this:

ferns-osc-agere

It's empty now, but it exists! Will probably take requests on there too. Anyway, I will keep accepting requests here as well! So don't feel discouraged from still requesting stuff here, I'm always happy to write stuff for you folk unless it's gross.

Chapter Text

An irritated fuzz was already swarming across the head of the small coin, who had groaned at this. It was always the times he, well, he couldn't tell if this was good or not for now.

His head was just hurting so much, because he was just so utterly exhausted right now. So instead of staying up like usual, his twinges of regression were pulling him to bed.

Which he wasn't too happy with.

Though the second he was in privacy and had slumped onto his bed, he just kicked his legs out and groaned loudly.

Whenever he got in bed, he always adjusted SUPER quick - minus today. He was far too angry to do so, not to mention his annoying headache as well.

It was a strange conflict, though it was apparent his regressed side was trying to win here. And thanks to his pounding headache, Nickel had little choice but to let this happen.

So he just instinctively pulled a starry blanket over himself using his leg, and then just curled up and seriously hoped for the best.

Though…

A minute or two later, it sounded like someone had walked in. He couldn't see who, but his head already made an assumption - and the little-minded object acted on that guess.

"Wh… Bl'oo…?"

"Oh? Ah... not quite. I'm afraid…"

Sure, Silver had been concerned at Nickel storming off like he had done, but he wasn't anticipating him to suddenly let out a yell of anger and exhaustion blended into one.

Right… see, the spoon honestly knew the whereabouts of the salmon Sinker. Being… also regressed. He had just been with Candle a few minutes prior, who had been comforting him over something he was accidentally scared by.

Silver didn't have the guts to tell Nickel that. Out of worry that not being able to see him for that reason would set him off twice as much.

So while he wasn't the world's best caregiver… he had to try here.

"Okay, um… Balloon is just… busy, yes… but he told me to come and check on you. But he said he'll come to you the very moment he can, understood? You just have me for now…"

That seemed to work, with Nickel raising his body from the blanket to meet the spoon with a rough gaze. It looked bleary and spotty - definitely evidence to back what was going on.

"You… sure?"

"Balloon would never tell any lies about being able to see you as soon as he can. I promise."

Those words seemed to softly untie the hostile knot in the smaller object's head, believing what wasn't true - though he could probably talk with Balloon come the morning when he wasn't also regressed.

But for now, Silver had to deal with this. He was unintentionally slipping into a caregiver's mindset with his own words and actions, simplifying the progress.

So after scanning the room's scene, he spoke up.

"So, would it help you if I did what Balloon normally does for you?"

"...mhm. Please."

"I understand. Can you tell me what those things are?"

"He… um. He…"

The coin's face grew a little embarrassed, but the spoon gave him time to figure out what he needed to say. He obviously wasn't too comfy with sharing.

But giving it time, he explained in the best way he could.

"Um… he gets the things… does the fwuph… then I sleep before he ends the last thing."

This was like some kind of riddle to Silver. But the first part was at least understandable, due to what was like a plush moon next to his left foot.

So he took a few minutes to gather this small collection of plush items from the floor (the only exception of this being a stuffed lion) and then return them to the bed.

After being sure they were accepted back by him, Silver tried to figure this next part out - what on Earth this 'fwuph' was.

[It must be a sound for something,] The spoon had thought to himself. [But what for? I've never quite heard a sound like that.]

So he took an admittedly rather silly route - and quietly made the noise out loud to make sense of it.

"Hmm… fwuph…"

"Oh… heh."

Despite his upset state, that cheered the coin up a bit as his description was repeated a few times before Silver gently clapped once in realisation.

"I think I get it. Your noise is meant to be this, isn't it?"

He had stood up and carefully did what was asked of him through the sound - being to tuck Nickel back in to ensure he and his stuffed companions went nowhere.

Said coin didn't talk until a few minutes later, after relaxing quite a bit in the process of it - and then making what he wanted last a little less obvious.

"Mhmm… now the const'l thing…"

"Const'l…? Is that meant to be constellation? I don't quite get what you want. Can you try to use a few more words, please?"

"...our song… I like it."

That got the spoon to feel a bit guilty. But instead of sulking, he pulled his warmth together and instead just took a small breath.

"I'm very sorry. Balloon hasn't told me your song… he said it was too much of a special secret."

"Aw…"

Despite a few stray tears building in his eyes, he wasn't anticipating a quiet pat on his head from his temporary caregiver.

"You don't have anything to worry about, hm? I… think I can make my own song for you. Would you like that instead?"

"...'kay."

"Okay. Can you try counting some of the stars on your blanket while I get it ready?"

"M-mhm."

Silver had sighed in relief after finding a way to distract him. He couldn't have just said wait a minute, he wouldn't understand.

But the impromptu songwriting was going surprisingly well. While he wasn't sure what this 'constellation' song was, he had plenty of ideas.

Nickel's room was akin to one large galaxy with the amount of stars, suns and moons sprinkled around. Plus the comforting atmosphere…

Silver's idea had begun to spill itself out while he wasn't noticing, accidentally creating his song as he went. In a single, smooth fashion - and no less.

[A light awaits from just above
A kind of watching
And a type of protection
Something to treasure either way
It simply stays above and waits]

Though that wasn't his own song at all, it still resonated towards Nickel's thoughts in the moment. So he kept listening, already swept up in this starry melody.

[Like you put two things in one
A warm flick of the sun
Then the glow of the moon
They're one thing in heart
And they'll be what you're missing]

Silver had realised his singing was existing and flowing a calm wave over the area, but he decided not to stop. It made him continue, since it filled him with his own glittering warmth.

[When something we love cannot be
There's no reason to feel upset
A way past exists for you
As if starlight lit a path

One to simply lead you there
Where a promise becomes reality
Because glittering starlight simply knows
A route to leave someone calm and happy]

A quiet exhale followed Silver ending his improvised song, his chest aching a little. He hadn't done anything like that since…

"I-I'm so sorry…"

"Ah?"

Balloon had shyly entered the room, having an embarrassed look written all over his salmon face. The two exchanged brief, quietened conversation.

"I figured you had regressed. What happened?"

"I nearly slipped… though I composed myself enough to make sure Candle calming me down didn't go there. And… I'm surprised you've gotten him calm."

"Oh, yes. I'll be off in one second so you two can have a moment."

Before that, Silver had simply knelt down to the now resting coin's level and just whispered in a surprisingly calm tone of voice.

"See? He's come back, just as he promised to."

Chapter Text

"I swear, they disappear the SECOND you need them."

Once again, Pitchfork was in her own state of anger and, well… technically more anger smudged in between.

About what, exactly? Her head was too cramped up to really care about thinking back on it right now. That could just burn even more.

Literally. To a degree.

So she had been on a walk to try and track down one of, well, those two. Pretty much the duo of the Blank Slate capable of handling any regression related topics.

Sure, some others were learning how to handle it as well, but you were almost guaranteed smooth sailing when you had trouble.

And in the case of Pitchfork's luck, it happened to peak at that moment as she eyed something pretty good, a fuzzy feeling already welling within.

"Did he sort her out in the end?"

"Mhm. I'm a bit surprised that he ended up handling how shy Blanket was in such a good fashion. I think I'll try teaching him some stuff sometimes."

"That sounds great… oh. I think we have somebody to lend a hand to. See?"

Yarn had gone a bit curious at Lyre's comment, then glancing over to see a slightly anxious looking Pitchfork stood a few feet away from the pair.

It wasn't too often a case they had to help with bumped into them, it was the latter choice way more often. But Lyre could tell what was up, stepping ahead first.

"Oh, Pitch… you're looking all red and upset. Is anything the matter?"

"...got angry."

"That doesn't sound good at all. Would you like a bit of time to calm back down with me and Yarn?"

"...please."

That was enough for the regressed state Pitchfork had slipped into to take over for now, willingly letting the now little her accept this idea.

On the other hand, Yarn was more than a bit puzzled. Lyre's presence alone had gotten her to calm down? That was… wow.

She couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous, to be honest! But it wasn't too bad.

"...your bag?"

"Hm? I'm sorry, I think I zoned out a bit."

"Don't worry. I was just asking if I could borrow something from your bag of things."

"Oh, you can go ahead."

Having being granted permission to do that, Lyre had taken a rattle out of Yarn's bag, offering it to the other object who had calmly sat next to her.

As calmly as she could, anyway.

Pitchfork had held it in her hands, getting the idea and shifting it a bit in her hands, before seemingly getting frustrated and dropping it on the ground.

"Oh, I…! I'm not used to something like this. Can you step in?"

"Not a problem."

Even though Pitchfork was obviously still rather angry, Yarn had faced her in the matter she was more used to. Lyre obviously wasn't used to regressed others misbehaving, but she luckily was.

So she cleared her throat a bit, putting on her essentially trademark tone (to objects she acted as a caregiver for) of gentle scolding.

"Aw, hey Pitchfork, just because we don't like something, it doesn't mean we throw it on the floor. Okay?"

"I'm just angry!"

"Even if we're angry, okay?"

Pitchfork was a little stunned. She had never really been told off while regressed before, and as much as she wanted to just make a big scene over it, she didn't.

"...sorry. I… no more throwing."

"That's better, thanks."

It was at this rate that the two caregiver figures had suddenly got a different idea on seeing that Pitchfork was still a bit grouchy in the face.

But Lyre passed a nod to Yarn, signalling she took the lead when it came to her plan. So she did that, giving a calm nod before starting up.

Lyre simply watched from a slight distance, watching the plan go ahead. Yarn had just started up a small copying game with Pitchfork, getting her to start feeling happy again.

Despite the two being known for helping with the same thing, they both had such different ways of dealing with scenarios like this. So she had no objections in the end.

The golden instrument was pushed out of her thoughts by a sudden hug and the sound of a pleased laugh, which turned out to be from said regressed object - who was much happier by now.

"She's saying thanks for the little break. But I think she'll need a bit of a… you know… to be back to herself. Care to lend a hand?"

"I can do that, quite happily. Pitchfork, can you come with me now? I think I just thought of a brilliant story to tell you."

"Alright!"

As the pair went off, Yarn had nodded to herself before tidying up a bit and heading off with a grateful feeling within.

She and Lyre were like a tag-team duo. Highlighting strengths in one part of caregiving each… Yarn and her more softly strict side, and then Lyre had her calming side.

It was pretty great, if she did think so herself.

Chapter Text

"I… are you going to do the thing?"

"I don't know! Get out of here anyway!"

"O-Okay! I'll let you take the wheel for now!"

It was a bit weird being in the headspace by himself, but Yang knew this was for the greater good this time around. He'd much rather his brother not see this at all.

Well, it wasn't HIS fault Nickel was such a massive idiot! And that Nickel never knew how to shut his stupid mouth… now Yang was overwhelmed because of him! Just…

It wasn't his fault! He knew THAT at least!

But despite his angers and overwhelmed status, his body had been so busy accidentally slipping to only start making him realise a voice of someone was finally coming to his attention.

"...ere? Hm… maybe you aren't feeling too well…"

Yang flinched at Candle arriving from almost out of nowhere, but his more regressed state was more open now she was here. Candle noticed that openness.

"Ah, you look okay… is it just one of you there? Or are you together right now?"

"It's… just me."

His voice was already a lot softer due to feeling overwhelmed - his normal voice would be way too loud to cope with, so Candle lowered her tone a little bit.

"Mhm, I see. Let me go and get your things so I can help you."

It only took her a few minutes to really grab what had to be grabbed, returning with what she figured Yang's preferred regression gear was - plus an all too familiar orange item.

The regressed object was more than a little shocked, quickly waving his arms above his head to get the special plushie which the two shared in his own company.

"I'm glad to see you're happy. He just had a little accident, but I was able to get him all back to normal again. He's missed you a lot, too."

Candle wasn't lying about that. After the Sprinkles incident, she had patiently taken time to sew the ruined plush back together - it was lucky that little Inani-Mate hadn't scattered everything too far away.

So after letting Yang calm himself down by gathering the rest of his gear, the two sat in patient silence despite not actually waiting for anything.

Both Candle and Yang knew this kind of situation well. They typically did it when either he or his brother needed time to settle down after a bad day.

And giving it a few minutes, it looked like Yang had removed his main comforter from his mouth - mostly out of appearing more verbal now. He felt uncomfortable trying to talk with that in his mouth.

Though it was just him making nonsense noises, he seemed to grab one of his more preferred little items - one of those small, colourful tangles. He looked at Candle, as if prompting her to join him.

"Oh, we're doing that game? Okay. Just let me put this back, first."

She had quickly put the discarded comforter in a small, separate bag to remind herself to clean it up and get it safe for use after it had been dropped on the grass.

Then she sat by Yang, gently guiding his hands to help him make shapes with the tangle at his own pace.

Sure, sometimes Yang went a bit crazy and made random shapes instead, but Candle didn't stop him. He was calming down and cheering up again, so she held no objections to his happiness.

Giving it at least half an hour of his tangling, Candle felt a feeling brush inside of her before it could be shown by him.

"Hm… mhm. Time you get a bit of rest, is it?"

From his point of view, Candle was amazing. She could tell exactly what he wanted when he needed it, and he nodded to agree since she certainly wasn't wrong.

"Looks like a yes. Okay, you lay down and get comfy."

Candle's calm state hadn't shattered once while watching over his regressed self. She was just aware of how some objects needed to be treated, if they regressed at all.

So her calm self persisted as she simply covered the compliant Yang with a blanket that had a gradient from black to white, then offering a different comforter to him as well.

"Do you want this to help you sleep?"

"...I'll fine! I'll… just be okayy…."

"Well, that's okay. You settle yourself down, now. Things will be all okay again once you wake up."

Candle, for the time being, had put the offered item away and simply took up a silent, cross legged state to keep Yang company as he slept his frustrations away for now.

She enjoyed being there for someone. Quite a lot, at that.

Chapter Text

"Ah… it's so much easier when he isn't here! Oh, Trophy, don't mind me, I'm… oh, he isn't in here either. Ah well!"

Soap loved cleaning in the way she did. It was a highly comforting action she took high pride in, and today was a case that made it even better for her.

Tissues was out to go and get himself checked up regarding his health, meaning for once Soap didn't need to deal with mountains of mess in the room he and Trophy shared!

That, to Soap, was absolute heaven.

So she had simply done her round of the room, pleasant and thorough as per usual. Without either of the room's occupants, Soap felt far more free and open.

Though… she saw some kind of orange tuft tucked between some pillows. And she was curious, so she picked it up and out from there. It was like… a small lion.

"Huh… cute."

But after picking it up, she was cut off by a certain figure returning - and she was met with exactly what she expected.

"I didn't know you liked cleaning to sneak into people's LIVES!"

"Whoa, hey… I think someone's just lost this! I don't know how it got here of all places! I'll just go and put it somewhere, right?"

"NO?! I-I mean, fine! I hardly care much!"

Soap had understood his words rather clearly. Trophy had a thing to hide here, and she wanted him to loosen up. So she simply shut and locked the room's door, sitting by him on the bed.

This would be a bit of tough glass to crack.

"...is there anything you want to tell me?"

"No."

"Maybe to this little pal you seem reluctant about letting me take it away?"

"Still… still no."

"Ah, alright then. I'll just have to sort this like I did when I sorted Apple out."

Trophy panicked internally. Was she just going to figure this out here and now? How awkward was it going to get?

So his instinct was to get up, claiming he had somewhere to be - but he ended up tripping on the floor, hitting the ground at a point to where what he was trying to hide was right in the open.

And he wasn't even aware until his regressed self was looking up at a slightly blurry view of Soap.

"Oh, you got hurt… please don't cry, okay? Try and stay as brave as you can while I go get you something to get you feeling better."

Soap had handed him the previously brushed off lion plushie before heading out, with him just holding it loosely in the state he was in.

"She… I think she knows…"

She returned a few minutes later with a small kind of wipe and a box of plasters. Trophy was surprised she was treating this so well.

So he kept brave, even if the wipe made his hurt leg sting a bit.

"Okay… there! That won't hurt you anymore. So, can I ask how old you are now?"

She… she knew exactly what this was.

Trophy loosened up, finally getting that at least Soap wasn't going to treat this in a bad way. He could actually trust her, here.

So he had nodded and just held his palm out, hiding no fingers as he did so.

"Five, huh? That's great! Do you want to come with me to go get a treat sorted? Since you were so brave about your leg?"

"I… yeah, please."

"Sounds great!"

So that's simply what the pair had gotten up to. Soap had spared Trophy the worry of how he felt, saying to anyone passing by that she was just making what she was making.

Besides, he totally loved it! You can't exactly beat crackers sandwiched together by chocolate for a sort of treat, you know.

And no… they're not knockoff s'mores. If Soap was gonna make those, she would have done.

And on the other side of things, Trophy was very happy. Soap of all people understood him when it came to this, as 'embarrassing' or 'weird' as he thought it would come off as to people.

So he was just as happy as she was, deep down.

Chapter Text

Next to everything that Journal was aware of at the minute was blurry past the point of seeing. He couldn't figure out why, yet alone try to figure out what happened to him.

His feelings had all bundled into a big mess, but Journal could at least think about what he felt besides from blurry.

Cold… cold, wet, and shivery. How do you even get that kind of feeling?

Either way, a rise in strength regarding Journal's energy had randomly happened, making him jolt up and try to adjust his eyes to the scenario.

Yet he was just met with an overly familiar voice.

"Ah, Journal, you-you don't need to worry here. Just lie back down for now, okay? You can be brave like that, right?"

Post-It Note… why was Post-It Note saying that?

Though Journal's body wished to shout and lash out, he found himself unable to do that. He simply felt too tight in his chest to do anything even slightly along those lines.

Yet despite this, he remained buried in his thoughts until he felt something near his hand.

"Is touch okay right now?"

Journal had given a bit of a shaky nod as a reply - almost instinctively at that.

"Okay. Just… try to copy what I do for now." Post-It Note had quietly instructed him, though he couldn't help but think about this situation.

[Does he… even know he regressed?] He was thinking. [I found him out in the rain, just crying and soaking wet… I know why he was there. But I don't think he sees how he's feeling.]

The thoughts he conveyed were mostly accurate. It was true that Journal had been so absorbed in following his stress-filled beliefs that he had no regard for his health.

But he tripped over at some point, and that's how things got too blurry to see past.

Since the green book had been carefully kept warm and dry after being found, Post-It Note had decided to gently hop up to his level to rub his eyes gently.

After that, since he could see clearly, Journal had relaxed ever so slightly - and he figured out he was regressed on realising just who had helped him out.

"Posty…!"

"Mhm, that's right. And I don't want you to get sick from running out in the rain, so I think we should lie down for a little longer. Okay?"

"...but… th'and…"

Gah, shoot. The main reason Journal had run off… but Post-It Note nodded to himself, deciding to roll with the mindset of the little object for now.

"I know, Journal. The hand is pretty scary… but if we lie down together, we'll be warm and comfy enough that he'll leave us alone. Okay?"

"...does… Posty promise?"

"Of course I do. Let's just calm back down, now."

The natural calm, caring side of Post-It Note was more than enough to gently encourage the idea of his little friend to get better again.

Well, better for now, sure. He couldn't solve the reason Journal had run off into the rain by a long shot. But at the least, Post-It Note could be by his side.

With a few minutes passing by in this warm, comfortable space that the pair were sharing, the signs which meant what the yellow note haf wanted.

He was being held as if he were a stuffed animal, Journal holding him close in a calming fashion. But judging by the droopy look on his face, he knew what he had to do to finish this little experience off.

"Aw, that's really sweet, Journal… we're going to sleep now, okay? And I promise that the hand will be scared away because we're so comfy. Another sorta Posty promise, okay?"

There was no reply to what he had said, but he didn't have a lick of panic inside of him. It was clear to see and note the regressed Journal had fallen asleep to his words.

That was fine. He needed a nice rest after he ran out in the rain, and so Post-It Note had provided it for him in this case.

But… It was worth considering. Maybe he should try to keep regression gear on hand in case Journal had another little slip-up? That could make sense, Post-It Note thought.

His priority for now was simply keeping his promise, even if that meant being nothing but a snuggle buddy for a bit.

Though Post-It Note knew well he couldn't change how objects regressed. So this was okay.

Chapter Text

Airy thought he could have had something by now. Though this situation was irritating enough as is, he had to be honest.

Ever since Liam had somehow gotten to his foresty little pocket, the pair had a… rough scuffle. One that had eventually ended with Airy agreeing to Liam's main wish.

Trying to find a way to get everyone else back home.

The mostly negative terms the pair were on really weren't surprising. After, well, what had happened to him in ONE, Liam's anger was seriously justified.

So the pair hadn't made any bonding attempts at all. Not only was that a very pointless idea, but the mental wellbeing of others was absolutely above those two being even slightly close.

But wow, was Airy stressed by this. A lot.

He couldn't help that he was trying at the pace he could, even if it was suddenly hard to send everyone back and forth. It was easy before… wasn't it?

From a weird instinct, Airy had teared up a bit and stepped back from his little computer, accidentally bumping into an approaching Liam - he had come to check up on progress, as he did.

"Uh… what's with the crying?"

The lack of response was a bit odd. Though… Liam swore this felt familiar. Somehow. Like… ohh, of course. He had a hunch on the situation, now.

"...huh… you, uh, need anything?"

All the lamp could do was put his hands near his mouth in a tearful attempt to try and convey his stress. It ended up working.

"...okay. But this is the one time I'm giving you a hand. Right?"

"...mhm."

Liam had left briefly, grabbing the smoothest bit of bark he could find from a tree. Judging by his movements, this would have to do… even if it hurt a little bit.

So he went back, offering it to Airy without a word. The lamp accepted it quietly, just nodding.

"...you can go."

"Okay. You… you be on that when you can be again."

After the backpack left, Airy had just used this piece of bark in the way he intended to in the first place - chewing on it.

Sure, it was a little bit rough, but chewing on it wasn't hurting him too much here. So he at least felt grateful that he could do this.

Meanwhile, Liam was just in thought. The fact that Airy regressed was… well, it wasn't surprising, in all honesty.

And taking care of someone in that way was fine. One of his old coworkers used to regress, and was helped by another person who wasn't so close to him.

It wasn't just, like, a romance thing. He knew that.

So helping Airy in future, for the sake of getting everybody all home again… it would likely need to happen again.

But some pushes and shoves just have to happen for the greater good, even with the negative bond the duo shared.

Chapter Text

In the case of Fan’s emotions, this was an absolutely horrendous day.

She was going through a pretty normal day, and had come back with intentions to regress - which she had done - only to get met with a fate probably worse than her little self could picture.

A beloved item of hers, randomly missing. Like she thought, horrible.

This item was far too beloved for Fan to even think of trying to leave it wherever it was.Yet she was just so stressed about it, trying to find it was proving impossible. All Fan was doing was looking in the same spot, over and over again, hoping her item would just show up like a magic trick.

There wasn’t a worse feeling than this, she thought.

But Fan had an idea suddenly burst into her head - Lightbulb. She was her caregiver very often, so if anyone could understand Fan’s struggle-filled search? Had to be her, not a doubt in the world.

And as that was thought, said object seemed to show up.

“Whoa, hey, what ended up happening in here? You’re looking like a pancake that came out the wrong side up.”

Fan struggled to get her words out at first due to her distress, but she was quick to take a small breath and compose herself enough to the point of explaining.

As expected, Lightbulb understood with ease.

“Oh, I got it. Lost a plushie pal of yours, huh? Geez, that sounds horrible.”

“It really is… uh, h-help? Please!”

“Who am I to turn you down when you pull out that good old magic word? Consider this a situation only us two can solve. Yeah, I like that. Right, can you try to remember what you did with them last?”

Fan thought for a moment, partially unsure. Her memory always seemed to get gaps when trying to remember things outside of regression. Was that normal? She assumed so.

Yet she made the best attempt she could to think. What WAS she up to the last time she had her white cat plushie with her? Hopefully something good… no, what did she do the last time she was regressed at all?

Wait… Lightbulb would know that!

The idea caused Fan to suddenly light up, providing her caregiver with a question.

“Oh! Bulby, what’d we, uh, do las’ time?”

“Last time? Well… the two of us mostly watched a show that you really wanted to see, you got kinda scared of it, then you ran away…” Lightbulb had started to recall.

Lightbulb’s description was clear and smooth, allowing her little pal to take in what she needed to hear. And, surprisingly enough, something she said soon proved to Lightbulb just why the question was so important.

“...then we ended up coming downstairs again to pick up some colouring you left behind by accident. After that…”

“N-No, wait! I think I reh… uh.. Rem..remb… know!”

“Whoa, that soon? Well, lead the way!”

Fan had suddenly taken off, heading to where she now recalled needing to pick up her colouring from the last time she was regressed. As she went down there, the memory itself came back to her.

She had picked her colouring up to go back to her bedroom with - and then made a promise that she had forgotten to keep!

On Fan and Lightbulb entering the large room, they were met with the quietness of it, but had immediately started searching for this elusive plushie. There just happened to be one small problem in the way of things.

The space on the room’s couch was being taken up by Baseball.

“Oh, hi. What’s with the look, something wrong?”

Usually, Fan would panic when it came to talking to others when she was regressed. But she knew Baseball! He watched over her and a few others sometimes, so she had no need to be shy about this.

“Uh, get up, please! I-I think a thing’s where you are!”

“Oh, right. I can do that. Here you go.”

After Baseball got up, it was immediately very obvious the item Fan was looking for was there. It was actually peeking at her from behind a cushion, and hadn’t accidentally been squished by Baseball when he sat down.

She was quick to hop up and wrap the white cat up in a small hug, being proud of herself for this whole situation being unravelled. And now she could regress for the evening free of hassle, too. Perfect!

“Ah, looks like we got a closed case on our hands. Nice job on remembering that. You wanna go decide what to do, now? I’m free for the night, so I can take care of you.”

“Yep! Oh, thanks, Base! You can, uh, sit down again now!”

“No problem to me. You go have a good time. Oh, and thanks for letting me know I could sit down again! I think I would have forgotten if you never said.”

That last part was thrown in due to Baseball’s own caregiver instinct. So the bit of laughter that Fan got out of that was a pleasant sound to hear as she and Lightbulb went off to see what plans would unfold for the night.

Chapter Text

Well. This... has been quiet for quite a while. But I can at least bear good news.

This request thing here ISN'T cancelled - I've just lacked general motivation for it. But I think I'm back in the right spot to work on these pieces!

I still can't quite promise quick writing and all, but I would like to thank you guys for the patience! I hope to be back with the completed requests soon!

Chapter Text

A certain time when grass just felt perfect beneath your own feet… you could pretty confidently describe it as a nice cooling pad for your feet as spring moved along to summer.

Meaning around now was a next to perfect time to do what a certain regressor appeared to be wanting to do.

Before it got too hot outside, you know? Objects can get sunburn as well.

"Okay, I think this looks pretty nice. Do you have any other thoughts?"

"No objections. Suits, we're done with getting it ready! You can come over now."

There wasn't a response from Suitcase, leaving Baseball and Knife curious. She was so excited just a second ago… was anything the matter?

And where WAS she?

Although it was a brief moment of confusion, Knife simply walked off after grabbing a certain item. Giving it a few minutes, he did indeed find Suitcase.

It looked like she was following a bee.

"Hey, squish? Was that bee taking you somewhere nice? You didn't forget about our picnic, did you?"

Suitcase gasped a bit, turning around as the bee she was formerly distracted by flew away. Although she truthfully wanted to say sorry, the little Suitcase had decided to stay cheery.

"I think it was taking me to a nice place!"

"Hey, that's nice. Maybe the bee wanted to give a little sweetheart something just as sweet as she was?"

The brief laugh Suitcase let out as she was met with a gentle cheek squishing was a nice sound to hear. Knife smiled right back, turning as he couldn't not notice Baseball coming over in a content fashion.

Baseball was equally joyful with the regressed object nuzzling up to him like she did.

"Oh, there you are! While I'm sure you had a good time, can you tell one of us next time? You might have gotten a bump somewhere."

"O-Oh…! 'M sorry…"

"It's alright. Now we have a picnic that's been waiting for you."

The trio eventually got back to the small area that had been set up, with them pretty quickly getting comfy there.

That included Suitcase having to take her comforter out with a bit of help.

Within a few minutes of peaceful eating, Baseball seemed to glance at the regressed object in curiosity. Sure, she was being more or less fed by Knife (when Suitcase made sure she was okay with it, of course).

He just had a caregiver hunch.

"...muffin? I feel like something's still the matter. If there's anything wrong, can you tell me?"

"...mph, st'll h'ngry!"

Despite the pout in Suitcase's voice, the duo of caregivers understood the scenario. To her, food wasn't just food. A little something else also counted.

"...ah, got it. bub, right?"

Her nodding told the whole story.

Knife luckily seemed to be prepared for that. He grabbed hold of the aforementioned 'bub', which was filled with apple juice, and quietly sat the suitcase in a good position.

Then, well, he simply let her drink from it. With a comfy hold, Suitcase was content and happy to have what she needed.

After a few minutes, the peaceful mood was restored as a few back pats brought the little case right back to her happy self.

"Hey, somebody was definitely hungry, there. So, uh… Baseball, what did we say we'd do after we ate?"

"Oh, whatever our lil' squish wants!"

Suitcase lit up with a smirk as she stood up, albeit a little wobbly. She announced her plan with pretty bold vocals for such a little object.

"We gotta go find t' bee again! 'S got sweet stuff!"

"Well, whatever you say! Knife, do you mind tidying away while we go ahead?"

"Gah, fine."

Well… all that can be said was that day opened up a good string of paths thanks to the curiosity the picnic ensued.

You had to give Suitcase credit for lots of great ideas.

Chapter Text

"Hrrmph… they're all silly! Big… big sillies, big dumbheads."

And Safe was angry. Everyone kept being… very, very mean to her. They kept saying things that they really shouldn't have said to her.

That she was big and clumsy!

Which, for the record, was very VERY mean!

As such, that was why she was in a serious state of being all huffy right now. Nobody took her seriously enough, which had led to one angry metal container.

So who else would she turn to for some pretty much needed comfort?

Yarn. No shock there, if we have to look at it honestly.

If you think of parental figures around the Blank Slate,Yarn pretty naturally jumped to the front of your mind. Or… someone else? That's not exactly my job to say who and all.

Hence why Safe was waddling right over to Yarn in her big huff.

"Hm? Oh, Safe? What's gotten you so angry at the minute?"

"I'm not clumsy!"

"Oh! Hey… I never said that, okay? Just… let's sit down and calm down a little bit."

Slightly blindsided, Safe sat down and just stayed a huffy mess as Yarn walked off for a minute or two.

The huffy blue object didn't get angrier at this. In fact, it was common sense to a degree - if Yarn walked off, she was getting something perfect for the situation.

And that proved to be very much correct.

Since a few minutes passed, andYarn had returned with what could only be described as a wheeled cart filled with things that made Safe's regressed mind bounce in place.

A bunch of her preferred stuffed animals plus a very special blanket for her.

"Oh! That's…!"

"Yes, that's right."

Yarn was patient and calm, draping the blanket over Safe with a bit of help as well as nestling said stuffed animals right by her side.

And even though Yarn knew exactly how the blue object felt with that blanket, she just nodded quietly in the process. So she simply nodded.

"Hey, bug? Before you get too sleepy and all, can I tell you something?"

"Mh?"

"Well… everyone says that you're clumsy, but you aren't at all. Just be nice and proud with who you are, because Safe deserves to be happy no matter what others say about her. Okay?"

Safe didn't respond, the green object nodding happily.

Looked like her words had served as a gentle extra push towards sleep, and the regressed object had taken that opportunity to feel better.

Like usual, Yarn maintained a calm smile. Any time she could help someone out with a trouble like this was a worthwhile experience for her.

"Call on me anytime, okay? But have good dreams for now."

Chapter Text

You'd take a look at Gelatin and Lollipop and assume that the former is more childish than the other. Am I right?

Well, in this case, the reverse can be said.

It started off with Gelatin wandering around like he typically did. Since the finale of BFB happened, and he was left as a proud second placer, everyone had chipped together to make some kind of joint building for everyone to live in.

Well, minus Teardrop. They still didn't know where she had gone.

But still. The green, gooey object was overall very casual in things. Just having a nice time.

Well, the time went from nice to slightly confused when he passed by a certain room.

"...what? Oh, that thing Ruby likes. What was it about again? Something with… weirdly coloured horses, was it? Come to think of it, haven't talked to her in a bit."

Gelatin shrugged to himself, entering the room pretty calmly.

"Hey, much going on… ohhh, okay."

"...ah."

Needless to say, both Gelatin and Lollipop didn't expect to see each other in that moment. And for the record, you couldn't blame them.

Especially with Lollipop wearing one of Flower's sweaters that was too big for her, plus being surrounded by quite a few plushies as well. Mostly girly, pastel things.

But giving it around five minutes, Gelatin's head clicked with a solution. After all, he did it sometimes as well.

"Ohh, I gotcha."

"...you do? Not really joking or…?"

"Yep, no joking. So, this is what you like? Seems neat. About, uh… horses?"

Hey, Gelatin knew nothing about this. The best he could do was show interest despite not having a clue what was going on. Help her feel better, too.

"...that's a unicorn, actually. Ah, uh, that one's meant to be… uh, shoot."

"No rush. What's that one then? A… bird horse?"

"No?! It's, uh, meant to be a peg… uh…pegasus, yeah! Finally…"

"Ah, I gotcha."

Still sassy, it seemed. But that was fine.

Well, it was a bit rare for Lollipop to go and ramble on about something like this. But hey! Gelatin knew firsthand that age regression can make you like some new things.

And his supportive nature did seem to be helping out quite a lot. It was just a cosy kind of feeling, and the whole sensation was very pleasant.

At least until it was interrupted by a door knocking.

"Oh shoot, I'll get it."

Gelatin hopped up, going there and finding Balloony. Actually a rather rare sight, he usually kept to himself unless otherwise bothered.

So what would he be wanting?

"Oh, Gelatin. I think I left some book of mine in here, mind if I look a bit?"

Rather obviously, he glanced back and eyed Lollipop's expression going sour. Though the duo both knew Balloony wouldn't judge, some things just had to stay quiet.

"Hm… nope, haven't seen it here. Sorry, dude."

"Ah, no trouble. Sorry for the bother!"

As he walked off, Gelatin simply turned around and saw Lollipop loosen her grip on a white cat plushie that she had been gripping onto during that moment.

"...thanks. That was pretty cool."

"No problem. So, uh, want to keep telling me about this? Like, uh, can a unicorn with wings exist, do you think?"

Gelatin simply nodded as the grape flavoured object in front of her lit up at his openness to her interests.

This made quite the neat change to regressing himself, honestly.

Chapter Text

"Okay, okay! Uhh… What am I meant to do here? N-No… Can you try to calm down and use your words a little! Ohh, why don't I know what to do?"

The context of Four screeching and crying at the same time wasn't fun unless you were X as of right now.

Because, well, it all happened very quickly.

One moment the two were valuing their company, and then the next? The blue number had suddenly latched onto X with a near-squishing grip.

And now they were regressing. Um, age regressing… X had heard of it. They had seen a few contestants do it before, so they knew what was up with it.

And that his friend had pushed away some kind of comforter when X had tried to give it to him.

Hence why he was so loudly screeching and crying at once. Not very nice, but at least X had heard it plenty of times. So not too bad for the variable.

At the very least, X had panicked a bit and decided to rack his mind. What on earth made him happy that wasn't them…?

Oh. That was an idea.

"Um, uh…! You-You want to draw a bit? Does… does that make you happy?"

"Uweh? I… I think so?"

"Alright, alright. You… Come with me so we can find some stuff, okay?"

"R-Right."

X had chosen in the moment to not accidentally scare him more by leaving him alone. And he knew his friend appreciated it, even with no words being spoken.

So with a bit of effort, he found a few paper sheets and crayons before sitting down with his next to lifelong best friend.

It was a quiet moment, with the blue number tapping a yellow crayon to his chin pretty thoughtfully. It was like Four had an idea in his head, and X could sense what it was.

So he wasn't going to say it.

Instead, he simply grabbed a blue crayon of his own and began sketching down his own idea. To mirror what he was sure Four had thought, and make the moment a bit sweeter.

A bit more… warm.

Besides, drawing his best friend was as simple as it could get. As such, X was honestly pretty engulfed in his drawing patterns before he was snapped out of it.

And how did that happen, exactly?

Through a big, equally squishing hug.

Granted, Four spoke absolutely no words at that moment. Yet his buddy knew precisely what he wanted to say, and as such X stayed smiling through it.

Glancing down at the paper, both of them had drawn each other. That was, without any questioning, why the blue Algebralien was so happy.

"...don't go away, ever…"

Genuine words with nothing more to them, while still trapping his buddy in the hug as well.

So, as simply as it came, X just patted his back to the best of his ability.

"I'm not going to do that. I'm gonna stay with you, okay?"

A light sniffle was in the air, but Four seemed better at the end of things. He felt reassured that someone so close to him wasn't going to go away.

X wasn't going to say this with a lack of certainty about whether he meant this or not. I mean, whether they just be hosting partners or general friends?

Trust was there, and trust was genuine. There was zero doubt about that fact.

Chapter Text

Well then! Looks like we've gotten to 100 kudos here. I'd like to thank you guys for the support you've given me for writing this all out. I'm very pleasured to keep writing agere content for you all!

But! I'm glad to say I'm going to be doing more freeform agere stories on my other agere book for a little while. And I even have a few plots lined up to show.

So here!

~

Little Candle + CG Clover [Feeling Like Magic - Nobody expects Candle to regress. Yet when Clover discovers her wandering near her butterflies in an oh-so-certain way, she winds up with an idea up her sleeve. And it involves one of Clover's own favorite regressed pasttimes.]

Little Cabby + CG Goo [All The Words to Tell Me - Whenever she regresses, Cabby struggles with reading. As such, she's very worried that she doesn't know anything! But add Goo to the mix, and he'll bring some lost cheer right back - as well as lend a general hand. Cheer Factory honour!]

Little Blueberry + Tissues + CG Cheesy ['Play'date - Both Blueberry and Tissues are very gloomy and shy regressors. It's hard to really see them smile, even when they get together while they're both regressed. But someone seems awfully determined to change this.]

Little TK + CG Lifering [Bubbles - Regression is new to TK. She doesn't get why it makes her happier to be doted over than doting over others... though while she questions the exacts of it, something catches her eye. Since that happens, Lifering discovers a fresh side to the usually motherly figure.]

~

Well, I can't guarantee a certain order for anything. But I do hope to write these out at some point or another. But the point still stands, being I'm very thankful for the 100 kudos.

Now and furthernore, I hope to keep making you guys happy!

Chapter Text

For the relationship that Pen, Eraser and Blocky had, it was simple and loose. Three guys from three different teams just having gotten along to the point of falling in love.

As in, all at once. That's how poly relationships work, I think?

So they all knew their strengths. Pen was a death preventer and was otherwise pretty relaxed, and Eraser was mostly lazy but generally able to hold himself up.

Then you had Blocky. The one everybody saw as reckless, a wild prankster with no signs of sympathy for who 'accidentally' stumbled upon his tricks.

And none of them really considered a form of change.

….at least until a certain walk. Pen and Eraser were just going about and trying to find the third piece of their bluntly epic puzzle.

Finding him was easy. But it was also easy to see him hiding half of his body behind a bush.

"Oh, uh… hey guys. Bit… busy at the minute," Was the block's initial reaction to being found. Funny. He wasn't usually so secretive.

The two objects didn't really think much of it, but were curious.

An extra noise and voice more or less sealed the curiosity for them, though.

"Hey, hey you're alright… try to get a little sleep. You are really tired, you know…"

Taco? Who was she even talking to? And it was the middle of the day, who would even need to be… helped with having a nap?

Though Eraser couldn't really get it, Pen took a better lead on this. At least with whispering instead of a normal tone.

"Taco," he asked. "Could I… come around the bush? See what's going on?"

"Go ahead. Just be quiet."

Wandering about, the sight in question… wasn't new to Pen.Taco had been talking to Woody, who was just curled up by her with a mound of stuffed animals around him - some kind of orange paci barely visible behind the fluffy mound.

Also a lot of stickers were now adorning a lot of Blocky's body. Safe to say that was Woody's doing.

Hence why he was hiding himself.

With Pen observing the situation, Eraser had just coughed lightly. "Can we… move away for a second? Just to talk?"

"Yeah. I doubt this little woodchip here's gonna be waking up for a bit."

"Uh, thanks."

The now trio wandered off to a bit more of a secluded space. Unlike him, shortly after they got there, Blocky had immediately started to panic but tried to keep it mild.

It was fair for the other two to hear. It wasn't what that looked like, pretend you saw nothing… so on and so on.

Though that was disrupted by one of the stickers on his body being peeled off, and a comment coming from Pen.

"Huh… Woody knows good stickers, doesn't he."

"What? I-I was just saying…"

A click of realisation. Although Blocly was panicking over this side of him, neither of them were acting the same. They got what was going on.

…right?

"...so you get what I mean?"

"Dude, loads of people watch over… What was that? Regression? Yeah that was it. I do that, man."

"Same. Worst case scenario is Free Food just becomes a daycare of sorts…"

"All of them?"

"I'm not about to question what's going on in HIS head. So no, all of us but one."

Pen and Eraser sharing their own situations suddenly made this far less foreign. Less embarrassing and more… right.

So he lightened up and glanced down at his stickery mess, sighing in a happier tone. Then he just cleared his throat. "Right, uh… could I explain the stickers?"

The other two nodded.

"Cool. So… Woody's really got a thing for cuddles and such. Clingy little guy. So Taco had the bright idea of a game. He had to put as many on as he could before I could notice."

"How long did you let it go on for?"

"Half an hour. I just pretended to not notice him, though when I did? Just gave him the biggest darn hug I could do. And the little guy was so cuddly that he…"

Pen and Eraser just nodded as the tale unfolded further on, glad to reassure their pal of a bit of softness not meaning it was bad. Not by any means, no.

So the trio enjoyed their company before eventually splitting off for the day to do things with other folk.

And it was good to see Blocky happier on his return instead of more upset. I can confirm, even if I'm not Woody's happy cuddles.

Chapter Text

Step, step, a bit more.

Gold Nugget was regressed. She had been wandering around a little bit, a little spacy and unsure of just what to do.

She had her phone tucked in a little bag, and was carrying a blanket and stuffie with her as she wandered.

Her little steps were noticed rather swiftly, with her location of near Team 2 Mountain making her caregiver notice her quickly.

"Oh, starlight! Just over here!"

"Eh…? Oh! Mush!"

Yep. Spore, the curious crystal obsessed object in the mountain, knew just enough about age regression to take on a caregiver role.

So they waited on Gold Nugget to come over, offering her a peaceful hug when the two were close enough.

After they let go, Spore brightened up.

"Alright then. You're sure you have all you need for tonight?"

"Mhm. Got m'phone, blanket 'n Glitter, all good."

"Ah… missing one thing there, stardust."

"Oh…?"

"A smile. You look a little sad... .what's the matter?"

As the two wandered into the cave, Gold Nugget opened up about her emotions. Apparently she had told her team about this (saying it waa just a walk).

And if she were right, Domino had been the most concerned. He'd probably come looking for her.

Spore sighed, giving her head a light pat.

"I promise that if he comes, I'll make it all okay. Got it?"

The two walked further inside of the cave, eventually coming to a small area. Gold Nugget had been bringing stuff here for a while now, essentially making a little nursery of sorts.

With their taught knowledge on Gold Nugget's little routine for going to sleep, Spore worked on it. Getting her a small drink, before getting her on a little mattress.

Then Spore had gotten her phone out, having the little nugget help to pick a video to doze off to.

When that was decided, she was all tucked in with what she loved - prompting the mushroom to hug her.

"Alright… sleep well, little crystal."

"...right… night mushy."

Though it looked like the nugget was peaceful, it wasn't quite that way then Spore left.

It was just now her little self realised how… scary sleepovers were. Even if you had all that helped make you sleepy, it was still somewhere new.

So in the quiet, Gold Nugget turned over and whimpered while cuddling her trusty cat friend, Glitter. Maybe she'd fall asleep soon.

Passing about half an hour, some mumbling caught Gold Nugget's attention. Spore was talking to someone.

She couldn't process who before finding him sat beside her and started talking to himself.

"Okay, Domino… it's just regression. It's not harmful… you can do this. Okay."

"...m'no?"

"Ah. Oh… you scared me a bit."

He glanced off briefly. Of course he was worried for Gold Nugget, so he had tracked her down to here - and grew shocked when he learnt why Gold Nugget slipped away.

But Spore had asked him of one thing.

"...say, nugget? Look at the crystals."

Gold Nugget did. It was honestly just like a plethora of nightlights scattered in the cave, which captured her attention in a flash.

A sleepy, twinkly flash.

With that step out of the way, Domino nodded to himself. Next step of the plan.

"They look just like stars, don't they?"

"Yeah."

"I know a song about stars, actually. Do you want me to get it on your phone?"

"You sing it? Please…?"

"Aw, alright. If you insist."

Spore was happy with this. They heard his voice singing to their little crystal, eventually peeking a glance from where they were.

Gold Nugget seemed to be fast asleep thanks to the song, all settled and soothed by the creative mindset Domino held. As he carefully left, the mushroom stopped him briefly.

"Thanks."

"It's okay. Make sure she comes home safe."

Now that Spore was alone again, they started humming his tune from memory. Her little starlight loved it, after all.

No harm in learning.

Chapter Text

This was one thing and one thing only - a task of perseverance.

By now, Test Tube had been taken out of the room for the second time. A room that held exactly what Test Tube wanted in her moment of littlespace.

Dragons. Well just a movie about them.

Still! No matter what and where Test Tube tried to go to watch it, Fan had always pointed her out and brought her right back to bed.

And each time, she had made an excuse for why she wasn't in bed. Just to come back and try again somewhere new.

Fan knew she was only in it for the dragons.

So he wasn't very angry at Test Tube's sudden yet repeat appearances. Nobody really did mind, actually. To the hotel residents, age regression was as common as a cold.

So, to no surprise, Fan was expecting her again.

"I know she really wants to watch this… twice that I've done this now. And I at least know what to do next time."

Soon enough, Test Tube came back. She opted for a new spot this time, just behind the couch. It was a bit hard to see the movie.

But who cares! Success. It seemed that way for at least a minute.

Right when it was looking to get fun, mostly because it had dragons involved, it seemed to… pause.

"Wha? S' stopped...?"

"I think I'd know that voice anywhere."

That voice was...

Sweet golly that was Fan. Although Test Tube tried to scamper off, she was very quickly bumped into. As such, despite her being so huffy, her hand was taken as the duo went back to her room.

To the surprise of nobody, Fan was still treating this calmly. "So… what's wrong this time for you to be outta bed?"

"The dragons, Fan! The dragons…!"

"Hmm…"

By chance, Fan had noticed something. Slightly covered by a certain baby blanket that she had seemed to be, well, a plushie of a dragon. Her one.

So that gave him a plan.

If Test Tube's little self couldn't watch the movie, he'd give her a thing or two to work with.

"Say, how about this. If you stop being all grumpy and let me help you get ready for bed… I'll tell you what happens in the movie."

Her face just sparkled to life about that idea. As such, she nodded and stood right on up. So her next step was to hop over to a container of sorts, pulling out some green and white pyjamas that had a shape-covered pattern to it.

Following a nod from Fan, he helped Test Tube get in them - as well as complement how good she happened to look like that.

After that, she willingly got into bed whilst Fan tucked her stuff in around her.

"Okay, so. You're absolutely, totally sure you wanna know how this movie goes?"

Although the young, curious spirit nodded, her face was just already radiating with sleepiness. A routine always got her right to sleep, see.

As such, Fan simply let things be. Once that little Test Tube got sleepy, there was very little turning back.

"Well, gummie… that's a story for big you. You best get to sleep."

Test Tube did feel a tiny bit let down, but her special nickname made it better in a blink. Fan just watched for a minute as she ended up dozing off with her stuff in tow.

He also noticed that she was snuggling that dragon plushie of hers while that little blanket was on top of it.

Ensuring that her stuffie was just as comfy as she was…

"Smart as ever, aren't you."

Chapter Text

Oh, great…

As it always was, Telescope had blurry sight and a wet face due to his predicament right now. Waking up from nightmares sucked.

Particularly when Telescope was regressed. So right now, yes.

And it was already starting to slip from his head so he couldn't even tell… hold on.

Hold on.

See, his regressed self had been taken under Blanket's wing most of the time. Meaning that of course she was the first person Telescope wished to turn to.

Besides, she was always so… sweet and cuddly. Literally.

One trouble, though. He remembered dozing off with her earlier, but now she was just gone. And as far as he knew, she had all of his gear…

So despite Telescope's shaky self, he had stood up and began lightly running around in pursuit of her.

"Blahn?! Blahn! Blahhn?"

Telescope was quickly growing hopeless at this. He was separated from her from one minute while all tiny and now Telescope was a mess. Great.

And so his tiny self just sat down and started bawling while his legs just balled right on up.

Very few of the other contestants did end up hearing his panic, though nobody fretted over it. Regression was as common as a cold here.

As were caregivers, luckily.

And that came in the form of Bone. He was still up rather late at night, mostly from a few sad thoughts plucking at his head like flower petals.

Until that crying caught his attention.

See, Bone never saw Telescope as one to cry. But he WAS aware of regression and all… so he had decided to follow his pure, albeit somewhat hated heart.

"Hey… Telescope? What's the matter…?"

"Blahn! Where'd she go?!"

He was lashing out at Bone. Ohh… poor guy.

"Blanket…? She's just outt… getting some new surprises for you. Yep."

"...liar!"

Oh come on, surely with the literal demigod here that'd be a little believable. Either way, Telescope refused to really calm down until he was met with a certain question.

"You wanna hug…?"

To little shock, Bone noticed Telescope stumble right on into his arms. He was sensitive and fragile without his cuddly friend by him in scary times.

Bone wasn't that, but he would do.

"I-I just… bad, real bad… but I forgot…"

"That's okay, pal. We just need to try some deep breaths, okay? Does Blanket do them with you?"

"Mhm… help…?"

"Can do, little pal. Follow my lead."

With Telescope now slowly warming up to this, he was happy to let Bone's gentle reassurance gently slip on in to his tiny mind. And it felt good to do at least something that reminded him of Blanket.

He needed it, swiftly calming down. After that, Bone nodded and gently shifted his position a bit. "Okay… you wanna go back to sleep, Tel? You tired?"

"Yuh… bu-but…"

Telescope briefly glanced away, suddenly sniffling some more. Bone could tell why.

Although he wanted to drift off once more, no signs of comforting little gear was in sight. And judging by Telescope's upset, his little self wouldn't settle without something.

Something he had. But there was no sign of it.

"Hm… hey. Can you do me a super big favour?"

"What…?"

"I want you to stay right here and keep your eyes shut. I promise that it'll make this surprise even better, okay?"

"Okay… okay."

So Bone went off as Telescope complied.

Having his eyes shut… did feel a bit calmer. But at the same time, the dark was scary. So he was starting to worry again.

Lucky enough, his new company returned in a flash. "Okay! You can open your eyes again!"

It kinda looked like Bone had a blanket draped over him like a cape, having an empty pillowcase as a hat of sorts. It was… very, very silly.

But Telescope was confused enough to not burst out laughing at first. Though some explaining quickly triggered the little guy to melt into a giggly puddle.

"I just went and… got asked by my friend to come by, yep! And Bone went to go talk with Blanket to make sure she's all okay!"

"You're still…! Silly!"

"Heyy, no way! I'll show you one thing Bone can't do!"

The playful tone was quickly matched by the two quickly winding up in a silly and playful blanket pile on the floor. And Telescope was having the time of his life at the minute.

Tonight would be fine… totally.

Or at least until someone showed up.

"Hey, um… lil' neb?"

"Wha? Blanh?!"

Bone wasn't stressed at him suddenly hopping out of the pile to be met by Blanket. In truth, she was hardly even that far away - he had just donned this silly disguise to lighten the mood.

For now, he calmly listened to the two.

"I'm so sorry that I left you alone… I didn't know you were gonna go and have a nightmare, Tele."

"'S okay. Things went fine."

"Aw… thank you. You wanna come back with me, now? To get back to sleep? I have your stuff right here."

A first for him, Telescope glanced behind him. Then he opted to shake his head.

"Um… can I be by him tonight? Like a…"

"Oh, like a sleepover? Of course you can do that. Here, I'll give Bone your stuff so you can be alright. And… Please behave for him, okay?"

"Okay! Promise!"

Both of the male objects seemed cheerful at the concept, and it was lucky enough that Blanket gave the idea the permission. She was always a very sweet caregiver.

Hardly said no to anything.

So for now, she offered a light forehead kiss to the small Telescope, waving him a goodbye for the night. After that, the dressed up Bone lit up.

"Well… where were we, huh?"