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Chapter Text

Astro jolted awake as the elevator came to an abrupt, aggressive halt, feeling a sharp, metallic poke in his shoulder. He blinked, trying to shake off his sleepiness, and saw Goob standing there, having been at fault for the jab, with his usual wide grin, obviously bursting with something to share.

Goob was a decent bit taller than Astro, with no ordinary arms but metallic, colourful ones, stretchy and bendy, with claws that made the playful poke seem like a painful shot in his shoulder.

Under the blanket he always kept wrapped around him, Astro rubbed the spot Goob's sharp finger hit vigorously and, with a grumble that soon ceased, asked the first questions that came to mind upon his rise to the land of the conscious.

"How long had I been sleeping?" The answer was a mild, undescriptive "a while", which got on his nerves just a little.

"Where are we?" This next one was the only reply that satisfied Astro since the expedition mission he had gone on was finally back where they were supposed to be: the Gardenview Center. That means he would be able to see his best friend, Dandy.

Dandy had recently become an odd fellow, though Astro found him to be always a bit strange, and the recent events weren't all that different.

The most peculiar thing of all Dandy's peculiarities had been his newest obsession with ichor, which the rest of them had come to know as their life force, their blood. This 'obsession' led the former cast of Dandy's World (except for Dandy, who provided supplies for everyone) to begin going on ichor expeditions to extract as much as possible. Plodding through the twists and turns of rusted machinery and avoiding the ever-present danger of overexposure to ichor made returning to their former home a harrowing experience. Despite the risks of their missions, Dandy had taken on the role of self-proclaimed leader, so engaging in pointless arguments was futile as it would only lead them back down into the treacherous depths of the elevator shaft.

Astro nodded slowly to Goob, a soft smile now making its way onto his face. On cue of the ceasing of voices, the elevator door flew open, and the four others that had come along with Astro, as did Astro himself, poured out like the ichor to the collection tubes.

As he had thought to do on the elevator, he went right over to the right of him, down the hallway and under the giant, painted sign of Dandy's shop, a literal hole in the wall where it was more of a chatting session than him rather than buying his wares.

Dandy was a bit shorter than Astro, perhaps by six or seven inches. His permanent, bright smile was the tiniest bit unsettling as it rested ever unfailingly. He was similar to his character on the show, consistently keeping his rainbow-dyed hair in the vague shape of flower petals and retaining a mildly gentlemanly appearance with his green suit and pitch-black tie, though adding a little more childishness with pinstriped pants and the occasional throw of glitter onto the outfit.

To Astro's disappointment, he did not see Dandy, but rather a sign written by him with white paint, stating "I'll be back soon!" with a small rainbow dandelion sticker next to the exclamation mark. With a drawn-out, tired sigh, Astro turned away from the counter of the tiny shop, knowing the second likely place Dandy could be.

The cast rooms were a train ride and a decently long walk away from the Gardenview Center, the repetitive routine of going back and forth between the two no longer bothering Astro as it had in the past.

On his walk down the rainbow hallway into the waiting area for the train. It was a pleasant sky blue, off-white clouds painted on the walls and windows, showing through to various meet-and-greet rooms, with their windowsills dusty and unkept, despite the cast's best efforts. There was a small tree with a concrete border around the soil on one side and a pile of multi-coloured beanbags in the corner of the other. On the side with the tree and the dustier window, there was a wooden double door leading to the community cafeteria, which the cast used when the ride to their ordinary lunchroom was far too long, having their food prepared by the bakers and chefs of the crew. Previously, it was used only by the guests of the Gardenview Center, but they had long gone, along with the children who drew drawings of themselves with select members on the walls. He looked over to one in particular, a poorly drawn rendition of a scene in one of the episodes where he was comforted by his dear friend, Dandy.

He found one of his fellow main characters, Sprout, with his best friend, Cosmo. The tall, red baker man turned around at the sound of Astro's light footsteps, walking toward him as soon as Astro was spotted, like a magnet. There was a gentle clinking around in that strawberry bag of Sprout's, likely trinkets he had bought from Dandy or found on his own. Astro glanced down at it for a second or two before slowly blinking up to meet Sprout's eyes.

"Have you talked to Dandy today?" Sprout asked with a slight sense of urgency in his voice.

"I was on my way to," Astro raises his eyebrow at the peculiar tone. "Why?"

"Nothing too terrible, no, no," he gestures to calm the already incredibly calm Astro. "I just haven't seen him today, is all."

"Is that so? I saw him just this morning in his shop."

"Ah, then I must've missed him," Sprout began to reassure himself. Astro nodded along.

"I shouldn't leave you hanging much longer. I know better than anyone that the train ride is excruciatingly long, and I'd hate for you to suffer waiting for it." Astro nodded again, this time longer and slower, and Sprout moved aside to allow him passage.

Astro strode along as a princess would in their big ballgowns, his feet seeming to float lightly off the ground rather than press into the carpet, making his way toward the turnstiles as light as a feather.

Sprout had walked back over to Cosmo, anxiously fidgeting with the light red strap of his bag until he could no longer see the dreamlike sight of the tired man leaving. Astro could barely make out the sound of them talking once more on the station platform.

The station must've had a name before, but the cast didn't know it anymore due to the weathering of all of the signs. That's what plenty of the platform portrayed: saddening, wilted commercials of their past episodes posted on the other side of the tracks, and a previous sky blue of a wall turned into an ashen, almost off-white colour. Astro felt the distant rumble of the train rolling into the station on the ground, shaky with dust covering every inch the crew didn't dare touch. The rumbling got even worse on his skinny legs, having to hold onto a wall until he saw the bright lights of the front of the subway and knew it was safe to let go.

Upon boarding the train (which was kept a bit better than the station), he was pleasantly surprised to be met with Rodger, a renowned detective on their show who loved solving mysteries and Toodles, his unofficial, eight-year-old helper in said mysteries. Astro sat across, though not directly as to set a boundary, subtly watching over the two. Toodles kicked her feet and hummed to the familiar tune of their show's main theme song, and, to break the slightly annoying sound, as anticipated, Rodger's curious nature caused him to stir up conversation.

"Hello there, Astro. Why are you heading back to the rooms?"

He yawned before answering, "Going to find Dandy."

"Find? He's at his shop, is he not?"

"That's what Sprout and I thought too, but now I assume he's gone to his room for a nap or a snack or...what-not."

"Ah, as are we. Someone-" Rodger must've been referring to Cosmo, "gave Toodles here too much sugar, and she's sure to crash soon."

"She doesn't seem too hyper."

"She's always been calmer than most. Can't say the same for the kids we used to get back at the Gardenview Center!" He cracked a grin, forcing out a hearty chuckle, which Astro did likewise, though much more quietly.

Rodger then concluded his fit of laughter with a lengthy sigh.

"Don't you miss the good ol' days, Astro? When we got to play with the children, excited to meet us, and where we didn't have to lose sleep, terrified that we'd succumb to the same fate as our friends?"

"Sure I do, but what's with the sudden solemnity?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to see how you'd react."

Rodger winked with his single eye, the other covered with a bandage, and gave Astro a wide grin. Astro, on the other hand, looked at him unblinkingly, more curious than Rodger was of him.

"You're acting funny, Mr. Rodger!" Toodles said, letting out a childish giggle, still kicking her feet beside the detective. Roger gave her a gentle pat on the head, and abruptly, the train ceased movement.

"This is your stop."

Astro nodded quietly, rising from his seat and moving towards the now-opening subway doors onto the cast room station.

Unlike the Gardenview Center's station, the one where the cast resided daily remained clean due to the combined efforts of the crew. Astro thought of the situation, reminding himself that, unlike many others, he didn't have a specified job, only instructed by their head cleaner, Tisha, to "give good dreams to everyone". Of course, he mostly listened, only giving nightmares to those who deserved it.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, the "he" in question being the one Astro most loved to give nightmares to: Shrimpo.

One would think, with his reputation, that Shrimpo was a fearful creature, striking terror just from the looks of him. In contrast, he was short (even more so than Dandy), though still decently muscular, with plenty of body hair to confirm his masculinity.

Through the various nightmares Astro had put him through, he discovered that the tough persona that Shrimpo constantly put on was fragile, easily wrecked by a single mention of his childhood or the events that caused him to become so defensive in the first place, especially the ones revolving around Dandy.

No matter how much he heard Shrimpo cry at night or how many holes in the wall he created by banging his head against the rigid material, Astro knew that Shrimpo, after his relentless bullying of the entirety of the cast, deserved it.

Astro smirked as he looked down at Shrimpo, who was now in front of him with unfamiliar dark circles under his eyes. Astro had known it was only a matter of time before the short, orange man learned that not sleeping led to not getting nightmares. Shrimpo kept an angry posture, though, from the lack of a hopeful glint in his eyes, it didn't seem to be about his dreams this time.

"Dandy," Shrimpo spoke with a booming voice, the name making more of an impact alone than it would with any other word. Astro's smirk faded off his face.

"Yes? What about Dandy?"

"I'm going to talk to him," he spoke loudly again, "my dreams convinced me."

"I was on my way to talk to him now. Would you like to come with me?"

"I hate going with people to talk to Dandy!" he said before pausing, looking off to the side, and rubbing his hairier arm. "But yes."

Astro gestured down the hall as if to say, "Lead the way". Dandy's was just around the corner in the Main Character section, as Astro's was. Upon seeing the hand movement, Shrimpo looked away from the carpeted floor and stomped towards said section.

When outside the ichor expeditions, Shrimpo didn't complain or purposefully slow himself down, contrasting quite fast compared to the moon. Astro was only halfway down the hallway when he heard a girlish scream, now speeding up to about the same speed as Shrimpo had been.

However, when he arrived at the door, Shrimpo was nowhere to be found. Astro assumed that from the new, slightly familiar scars now on Dandy's door, he must've been dragged inside the room or told Dandy of his visit beforehand. Regardless of the reason, Astro pushed his ear against the door, attempting to listen in on whatever Shrimpo was adamant about speaking up over.

He had heard a frightened shout, a scream much like the girly one from only a few moments ago, suddenly silenced with a giggle and an echoey clap against the skin.

"You should learn to shut your mouth, Shrimpo," the moon heard the familiar Dandy say, "maybe this will do the trick~!"

He heard another slap, although this one was more squelchy, and entirely ceased any verbal fighting he had heard from Shrimpo. After a moderate amount of more quiet thrashing, he overheard a final hit, this time assumedly to Shrimpo, and a large thud as a body fell.

Personally, Astro was more confused than scared. He had no idea Dandy was prone to sudden bursts of emotion, though with the unexpected arrival of the ichor expeditions, an attack such as this didn't surprise him much if that were the case.

With how surprising it all seemed, he perceived that a panic response wasn't what was happening here. Between the scream and knowing how to shut Shrimpo up, this "sudden attack" looked to be planned, and Astro planned on finding out what Dandy was scheming.

First, he knocked.

"Dandy? Are you in there?"

Astro heard a harsh, gruff "Shit", unfamiliar for the rainbow-haired man to be saying. He'd never condone cussing if it were another person, let alone himself.

"Dandy?" Astro called out again.

"Just a moment, buddy!"

He put his ear against the door once more, listening intently, as he heard the heavy body of Shrimpo being dragged off, likely to Dandy's closet or under his bed.

Finally, Dandy opened the door, wiping a bit of black substance off his cheek. Ichor was the likely culprit.

"Are you bleeding, Dandy? What happened?" Astro asked, feeling genuine concern pushing itself out, although he forced himself to fight it back, knowing that his best friend wasn't hurt and this wasn't the Dandy he had come to know and love.

"Just scratched my head on the drawer, is all," he said, wiping his cheek again, "tripped and fell-gosh, what a klutz I am!"

"Reminds me of Shrimpo," Astro said, subtly becoming direct. "Where is he? Do you know?"

"Since when have you wanted to see Shrimpo, pal?" Dandy raised an eyebrow, looking to be catching on.

"He had a little midday nap, so I wanted to see how it affected him."

The "observation" made Dandy's eyebrow drop, giggling as he had when silencing Shrimpo.

"You sadist, you! Torturing that shrimp of a man!"

"It's my favourite pastime, what can I say?"

"I thought hanging out with me was your favourite pastime," Dandy puffed, crossing his arms.

"Why don't we combine them, then? I hang out with you, and we cause Shrimpo emotional distress together. All we need to figure out is where he is."

"Surely he should be in the Gardenview Center! Let's go look there-" but Dandy was interrupted by Astro's stopping finger, coming out from under his blanket.

"He told me he was coming to you, Dandy," Astro attempted to peek behind, but Dandy got on his toes to block the sight. "Are you hiding him from me, or did he already leave?"

"He already left! I'd never keep him in my room for longer than a minute!"

"What did you two talk about, then?"

"Well..." Dandy looked down and away, putting on a show of guilt that looked almost too natural. Astro's guard dropped at the sight, and he dug his arms deeper into each other, crossing them tighter.

"We talked about you. Not directly, of course, but more about the dream you've gifted Shrimpo about me. See, they've deeply affected him, having him wake up in the dead of night bawling his eyes out..." he pauses as if he were genuinely going over the conversation. Astro had begun to believe he was being honest, and the faulty, stoic appearance he gave turned to pity.

"He came to say sorry to me."

That cut Astro out of the floaty words Dandy spoke.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, he came to say sorry for all his relentless bullying of us, but mostly me, and he wanted my help to do so! I never knew he could muster such empathy, but he must be a big softie inside that tough shell!"

"You mean he must've been," Astro snapped.

Dandy tilted his head like a confused puppy, his smile unfaltering.

"Whatever do you mean, pal?"

"I heard from outside the door sounds of you and Shrimpo fighting. What did you do to him?"

"You sneaky bastard," Dandy's eye twitched, "you always were too stealthy for your good."

"Let me in the room, and we can get this done. I thought you could tell me anything, or are you not Dandy?"

"Me? Not Dandy? Now you're being ridiculous, Astro, but fine. Come on in, buddy. You'll have quite a sight to see."

Dandy was lying, his room neat and perfect, as always. There were no splotches of ichor on the colourful carpet, no new marks that appeared on Dandy, and undoubtedly no sign of the now-missing Shrimpo. That was until Astro turned to Dandy's ink-black closet, sprinkled with the same rainbow dandelion sticker he had seen on the sign back at the shop.

"Can I see your closet?" Astro turned back to Dandy, pointing to the closed doors.

"Go right ahead." He spoke lowly, with an even wider grin than before.

Astro walked over and gently opened the door.

Chapter Text

Poppy had always been a bubbly girl, and Boxten was fairly envious of it. Her ease of making friends, her permanent smile that was even brighter than Dandy's; all of it made him the slightest bit green, but all-in-all, she still decided to be his friend, and he could never repay her for that.

It was an ordinary day in the Gardenview Center. They passed by familiar faces such as Sprout offering up cookies or Glisten giving Boxten flirts that went right over Boxy's head, but it was a pretty nice day, and Boxten felt nothing could bring him down from this pleasant morning.

"I'm kinda thirsty," Poppy said, looking up at Boxten and breaking the silence. "I'm going to grab a Pop. Wanna come with?"

He replies with a nod, walking with her to the kitchen's soda machine, Poppy's bright smile on the cover, holding a blue, unbranded beverage.

She inserted her quarter, watching with twinkling eyes as it disappeared. The sound of a metal can rolling around clanged in her mind.

Poppy's bright eyes faded as, instead of a blue can, it had provided her with a yellow one.

"That's strange. The soda can usually matches the machine," Poppy pointed out, yet still took the can into her palm.

"Maybe Dandy messed up while restocking," Boxten assures them both, "Let's go tell him."

"Nah, it's a minor mistake, and I'm still thirsty. Bottoms up!"

Poppy lifted her head back after popping the tab, gulping the soda down. Boxten noticed, however, that the liquid was noticeably pitch black, and paid no mind to the unusual colour change until Poppy began to gag.

"Poppy!" He shouted, mostly an exclamation but also to try and get help without having to leave her side. "Poppy, what's wrong?!"

He reached to touch her, but Poppy's face was now coated in the black substance, even her bow being stained.

Boxten steps back, his legs shaky and weak.

"Poppy..."

He didn't have to bear with the sight much longer, as he felt a blunt force come onto his head, and his knees fell below him. Onto the ground, he went, with a wide-grinned shopkeeper behind him holding a hammer.

"Fourth time this week," Dandy spat at Boxten's unconscious body. "Poppy just can't back away from the drinks, now, can she?"

---

Shrimpo had grown weary of being a bully. It had given him nothing but anguish. Despite his bullying behaviour and the resulting worsening of his situation, he felt he had no other choice and, therefore, was deeply hated by everyone at the Gardenview Center.

So, to combat this, what did Shrimpo do?

He said he hated them right back, of course. Possibly even more than they hated him. He was forced into an eternal competitive stance, hating every breathing thing that entered the facility. Fighting was the only solution, other than the blatant choice of talking it out, though he believed it was far too late to think up solutions together.

That was until he met Goob. Around this time, Goob was a new cast member, along with his sister, and rose to popularity faster than Shrimpo could land a hit on someone. Between his metallic, stringy arms and his charming, cheerful personality, it was no surprise that Goob was the new favourite. Shrimpo had only gone ever lower in the rankings among the Dandy's World crew of "best character".

Shrimpo learned it was only a matter of time before he had to go on an ichor expedition with the popular Goob, grumbling at the lack of an escape plan and a face he could complain to without worry of persecution.

The elevator consisted of only three people: Shrimpo, Goob, and the orange man's acquaintance, Finn.

Shrimpo could only call Finn an acquaintance in his head because after all that Shrimpo had done, how could Finn consider him a friend? To be transparent, Shrimpo had only been slightly agitated one day, and that irritation is what sparked the rumours, but that moves aside from the point he wasn't allowed to have 'friends'.

Despite this untiring need to call Finn an unfriendly acquaintance , Finn had thought of Shrimpo very differently, and Shrimpo could tell through the way Finn leaned in a bit closer and began to whisper about Goob to him.

"He’s so freaky, isn’t he?"

"Not as freaky as the guy who carries around a fishbowl and insists the fish inside isn’t plastic." Shrimpo gestured to the strap of the bag Finn clutched, a toy fish with a tiny motor whirring around nonsensically, often persistently bouncing against the walls.

"I don't know what you're talking a boat ," Finn began on his fish puns, making Shrimpo groan in annoyance, "I'm shrimp ly going on with my day with Barnaby Wilkiers here."

Barnaby Wilkiers was the motor fish, its painted face contrasting the fancy name, rather stupid-looking when compared. When Finn mentioned it, Shrimpo looked down at the toy with disdain, crunching his nose bridge.

"Don't look at him like that, pal! He did nothing wrong!"

"I hate being called 'pal'! It reminds me of Dandy, and Dandy left me in here with you two!" Shrimpo yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at Finn's chest.

At the sudden shouts, Goob turned to witness the interaction. A large red hand with blue claws held on by his iron wire arms was placed on his cheek to simulate a contemplative expression. However, he looked more like a confused puppy than something with thoughts behind his eyes.

"If you didn't want to be stuck in here with us, why didn't you tell Dandy?" He asked, falling into the dog ideology as he tilted his head and gave even bigger eyes.

"I hate elevators!" Shrimpo ignored the question, balling his fists and burning his throat with the anguishing volume of the screams. "I hate how slow they are! When are we going to arrive?!"

As if the gods (or perhaps Dandy, as he is the one who controls the elevators) heard him, the heavy metal door shot open. They were met with the sight of a former library, now rundown and splattered in a substance they had discerned as their blood and lifeforce: ichor.

Ichor was a strange thing to Shrimpo. If it was already inside him, why was it so bad to have a little more? Well, according to rumours he managed to overhear, consuming more ichor than necessary, especially for the main crew of Dandy's World such as Astro or Sprout, caused them to, in simple words, go insane. Formally the titular character himself, Dandy, called those who 'went insane' Twisteds.

Based on the scant information available, Shrimpo had formulated a theory. He believed that the ichor expeditions were established to cleanse the ichor from the floors of the now-closed Gardenview Museum, thus preventing the creation of more Twisteds. It was the first idea that had resonated with him, but he kept it to himself. After all, who would want to listen to his logical argument anyway?

"Shrimpo! Hurry up! You've been standing there for three minutes! If you don't get going, Poppy will get you!" Finn shouted from another room.

The fishbowl fiend was partially correct since Poppy was distracted by Goob, his arms swishing behind him as he ran in circles in the middle of the floor.

The phenomenon of his cast members becoming black-stained, freaky-looking monsters would never cease to terrify and amaze him. This Twisted version of Poppy was not as terrifying as others had been, in contrast to someone like Sprout, her only change was her now dirty bow and dribbling mouth, leaking ichor.

Shrimpo shook his head, then shook it more when he had to scour for machines. He walked to the right side leisurely (although to the onlooking Goob, he moved his legs as if Shrimpo were running) and spotted what he thought to be a pipe connecting to an ichor machine, only for his eyes to trick him, it instead being a ladder. Luckily for him, when he turned around with a hefty sigh, Shrimpo had located one of the machines with a blaring red light, beckoning to be completed.

The process of extracting from the machines was simple, but it seemed to Dandy that the world as a whole was simple, so no one ever knew for sure. All one had to do was twist the red valve in the middle of the machine, and when the user heard a shrill 'Ding!', saw the glass tube of the machine filled with black, and the light above that was commonly red turned green, the cast member can say with a grin that they had completed their machine. Sometimes, the ichor machine's light would turn orange, and the completionist had to turn the valve at the right time. If turned at the precise moment, it would help the machine's gauge, but if the timing were off, it would make a sharp squeak and attract Twisteds that could hear it to the machine.

The mere thought of trudging through this process made Shrimpo want to punch a hole through his bedroom wall again, but he decided against it. Shrimpo was resolute in enduring the gruelling routine, fully aware that it was the key to a speedy escape back to the sanctuary of his room.

To be candid, he struggled with the machines. It seemed that no matter how hard Shrimpo twisted the valve or banged his head on the glass to make the liquid sputter out quicker, he was far too slow compared to the rest of the cast, even more so than Goob, who had no proper arms to twist with. Don't even get him started on the "skill checks", which was the event when the machine turned orange. He began to believe Dandy purposefully made him struggle on it, his time slot much tinier than someone like Finn. When he eventually failed those skill checks (which happened often), the Twisteds on the floor noticed him much quicker, even if someone was watching adjacent to him. Understandably, the machines were a literal and metaphorical pain in the ass.

Shrimpo reluctantly placed his hands on the valve, starting to twist the rusted machinery slowly. When the pace grew unbearable, he began banging his head harshly against it. No one, not even the Twisteds, paid mind to it, though, finding it ordinary for the aggressive, violent man at this point. As he felt the impact on his forehead, he glanced up and noticed that the machine light had changed to orange. He leaned back, attempting to judge the perfect moment to make the turn. He just about hit the point of contentment before leaning back into the machine again.

After two agonizing minutes of twisting, with no end in sight, the machine finally lit up green and chimed a familiar 'Ding!'. He didn't realize he had taken so long until he also heard the elevator doors open, and looked to his left to spot Goob running towards him, with Poppy no longer pursuing him.

"Get to the elevator, Shrimpo!" Finn shouted, letting out a small yelp when Poppy began to pursue him instead.

Shrimpo did so, walking unhurriedly a second time with his hands in his pockets and the same irritated expression on his face. Goob ran past, his feet hitting the tiled floor before turning sharply around to face Shrimpo, his arms menacingly launching forward. Shrimpo tried to sprint but was seized in the red and blue tangle of Goob's arms, and pulled in for a hug.

Shrimpo had to process his position momentarily before beginning to thrash, screaming and kicking his feet to get Goob off of him. Goob, not wanting to risk harm to himself, let go as soon as the meltdown started. He huffed out a partial bit of agitation, then pointed to Goob, his eyebrows furrowing harder than when he was screaming his lungs out.

"Don't touch me like that again! I hate hugs!"

"If I didn't hug you, Poppy would have hurt you," Goob put his hands together, looking away regretfully.

"I would rather get hurt! I hate touching you!"

Goob let out a gentle, dog-like whine, his hair seeming to flatten cartoonishly like puppy ears behind his head.

The statement gives Finn a noticeable pause, which Shrimpo attacks immediately.

"What are you looking at, fish boy?! You aren't safe either," the aggressive man spits, turning his index to face the now-victimized fishbowl-wielding boy.

"Hey, hey," Finn nervously chuckles, putting his hands up, "Calm down there, buddy, I..." he tried to make another fishy pun, but his words failed him.

Shrimpo put down the finger with a sigh, but the other two failed to notice the gesture due to the elevator doors sliding open with grit in its gears. With another sigh, expressing further his frustration with the whole situation, he went to find another machine to waste his time on.

Unfortunately, he passed by a twisted version of Boxten, some shy weirdo who had gotten his head sliced open, ichor-stained brains pouring out in the middle of pure ichor arms that grew inside the poor guy's skull.

When Shrimpo first encountered this creature that could barely be described as a man, he started to gag and needed to hide from the others in crates to get ahold of himself. Now, the sight barely phased him, another issue in the way of him and his bedroom.

He rolled his eyes, then rolled his head back as he bumped into Finn, who had been reaching toward an uncompleted machine. Shrimpo rubbed his head and groaned adjacent to a violent dog's growl.

"Watch where you're going, you dumbass, fishbowl-carrying bitch !" Shrimpo turned his face upward to meet Finn's, who, unlike the defenceless Goob, did not back down, instead cradling the swishing fishbowl in his hands and turning with less of a furious look on his face than Shrimpo, but a negative one regardless.

"I was trying to do a machine! More than I can say for you !" Finn sputtered out, then covered his mouth right after, surprised by his harshness.

Shrimpo found himself unable to tolerate such blatant disrespect, especially when he usually dishes it out. As fury clouded his vision, his sight took on a furious red hue. Without fully comprehending his actions, his arms instinctively moved toward Finn's torso, forcefully pushing him and delivering a final kick before Shrimpo even had a chance to assess the aftermath of the damage he had caused.

Shrimpo's gut didn't take too kindly to sights of gore, even minor ones like the scene in front of him, but he still held back vomit, covering his mouth with one clasped hand.

" Shit ," was all Shrimpo could manage.

In front of him, Finn had been pushed back into a machine, stumbled into the tube, and broke the glass, it shattering onto his head. One could imagine birds soaring over in a circle with lines drawn to mark their path as Finn's head rocked side-to-side on his loose neck, bleeding from the heavy cuts the glass struck into him.

Shrimpo started to say "Sorry", but he felt 'Shrimpo' wouldn't feel sorry for such an action, so he made a stupid remark alternatively.

"Fine! Keep your dumb machine! I'll do my own!" he shouted, staring for a moment more out of guilt, then running off to a different collection tube.

It seemed to drag on endlessly. During the trifling matter, Goob dashed past with Boxten and Tisha in hot pursuit, wondering what in the world was taking so long. Bluntly, Shrimpo revealed that he had completed two machines and that this was the last one.

"Where's Finn?" Goob inquired, to which Shrimpo could only shake his head and dismiss Goob without saying anything more.

After a purgatorial eternity, the machine turned green, and the elevator doors jerked open. With no time to waste, Shrimpo reached towards the dim, fluorescent lights of the shaft, the sign pointing to a well-deserved rest.

Goob slid in next to the orange man, then turned curiously, first to the left, then to the right.

"Where's Finn?" Goob asked once more.

" Fuck ."

With that single word, he ran out onto the wooden floor, and to the first machine he spotted, where he found a blatant nothing.

Shrimpo called out.

"Finn?"

No response.

" Finn ?"

Nothing answered him back.

"Hurry up, Shrimpo, the door's closing soon!" Goob hollered from across the room.

"Coming," Shrimpo muttered under his breath, turning on his heel and leaving the shattered machine and puddle of ichor resting on the floor, discounting the black trail slithering behind a wall, where the faint sound of choking could be heard.

---

Peace. Peace was all Shrimpo had asked for, and peace was what he had received, now lying on his dirtied bedsheets and leaning his head against his peeling walls, some chipping off and floating down into the cracks and onto his crappy wooden floor.

That was, until he heard an abrupt knock, breaking the silence and making him painfully aware of the party taking place a few doors down from his room. With a grunt, he rolled off his stained mattress and strolled to the door, throwing it open and barking, "WHAT?!"

Shrimpo let out a gargled noise when he saw who was behind the door, like Barnaby Wilikers if he freed from his bowl and his motors were left to rust.

"You silly shrimp fellow! You've been in here all day! Why didn't you go down to the elevator and do some expeditions today?"

"I hate dumbasses like you! I already went on an expedition today. With Goob and you !"

"What? Shrimpo, don't be silly," Finn waved his hand as he gave his signature toothy grin, "I've been in the Gardenview Center all day, helping Sprout around the kitchen! Though, I guess you wouldn't know that with how you're always so cooped up in here. Maybe get a breath of fresh air from timeout to time. Ooh, or fish with me! That'd be exciting, right?"

Shrimpo shivers.

"Did Dandy put you up to this?"

"Put me up to what?"

"Whatever prank this is, it isn't funny. I pushed you into a machine today."

"Pushed me into a machine?! Shrimpo, why would you lie about such dangerous things?!"

"Get out of my room."

The fishbowl-wielding man didn't get a choice, as if Shrimpo was kind enough to give him any comeback anyway. He slammed the door in Finn's face, stepping over to his bed and letting himself naturally fall onto it.

"That can't be Finn."

"Finn died ."

Chapter Text

Hi there!

I'm going to be working on a new Dandy's World fanfiction, starring Dyle and Shrimpo instead. It'll be a little less revolved around mystery and rather the relationships between the toons, but I would still like it if the readers of this would check it out instead! A chapter for it will arrive shortly. Happy reading!